Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Monday, August 5, 2019
Sunday, August 4, 2019
The Western Alliance Is Falling Apart
"Ever since Imran Khan became the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan in August 2018, the winds have changed. While his predecessors, though generally leaning eastwards, have often wavered between the US and the China orbit, Khan is in the process of clearly defining his alliances with the east, in particular China. This is for the good of his country, for the good of the Middle East, and eventually for the good of the world.
A few days ago, RT reported that China, in addition to the expansion of the new port in Gwadar, Balochistan, has entered agreements with Pakistan to build a military/air base in Pakistan, a new Chinese city for some half a million people, as well as several road and railway improvement projects, including a highway connecting the cities of Karachi and Lahore, reconstruction of the Karakoram Highway, linking Hasan Abdal to the Chinese border, as well as upgrading the Karachi-Peshwar main railway to be completed by the end of 2019, for trains to travel up to 160km / hour..."
at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52027.htm
A few days ago, RT reported that China, in addition to the expansion of the new port in Gwadar, Balochistan, has entered agreements with Pakistan to build a military/air base in Pakistan, a new Chinese city for some half a million people, as well as several road and railway improvement projects, including a highway connecting the cities of Karachi and Lahore, reconstruction of the Karakoram Highway, linking Hasan Abdal to the Chinese border, as well as upgrading the Karachi-Peshwar main railway to be completed by the end of 2019, for trains to travel up to 160km / hour..."
at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52027.htm
Hybrid War On Russia Keeps Rolling On
"The latest demonstrations in Moscow are part of a crude hybrid war US strategy against Russia. But Russia is not easily pliable Brazil. Russians on the scene, sent me their impressions. Example: "It was a farce. Incidents were created right before my eyes with one eye on the newsreels and the other on the police to be sure they were being filmed. There was nothing spontaneous. One demonstrator struck the police and then the cameras were turned on. This happened all over."
Crude hybrid war will be back. And sanctions remain. The ultimate target of sanctions - a neocon wet dream - would be to undermine the government of Russia for good, and replace it with a new Yeltsin mob to restart mass looting..."
at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52031.htm
Crude hybrid war will be back. And sanctions remain. The ultimate target of sanctions - a neocon wet dream - would be to undermine the government of Russia for good, and replace it with a new Yeltsin mob to restart mass looting..."
at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52031.htm
US senator to Pentagon: F-35 fighter jet program 'plagued' by troubles
"Budget overruns and technical issues that have “plagued” the program of the Pentagon’s F-35 stealth aircraft have endangered the lives of American pilots and resulted in financial waste, a US senator says.
In a letter to the US Defense Secretary, Mark Esper, on Thursday, Senator Chuck Grassley urged the Pentagon to give clear explanations and prepare full reports on the program’s costs and installed parts that were not ready for use.
These failures, he added, have ended in “financial waste and further delays to the mission readiness” of the plane and have “potentially jeopardized the lives” of pilots who fly the F-35..."
at https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/08/02/602468/US-Senator-Chuck-Grassley-F35-fighter-jet-Pentagon
In a letter to the US Defense Secretary, Mark Esper, on Thursday, Senator Chuck Grassley urged the Pentagon to give clear explanations and prepare full reports on the program’s costs and installed parts that were not ready for use.
These failures, he added, have ended in “financial waste and further delays to the mission readiness” of the plane and have “potentially jeopardized the lives” of pilots who fly the F-35..."
at https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/08/02/602468/US-Senator-Chuck-Grassley-F35-fighter-jet-Pentagon
How Can Russia Undermine US Plans for Iran?
"Russia hasn’t ruled out the possibility of joining Instex, while participants are considering including oil in this European mechanism for trade with Iran. Sputnik has discussed the future of Instex with Nazanin Armanian, an Iranian political scientist and author based in Spain.
According to Nazanin Armanian, the European proposal to launch the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges with Iran (INSTEX) has three main objectives:
“to hide its inability to comply with the nuclear agreement with Iran, despite the fact that only the US, one of the seven signatories of the nuclear agreement [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)], has abandoned it”;
“to give Iran an empty box of candy to keep it within the nuclear agreement”;
“not to lose the huge Iranian market, filling it with surpluses of its pharmaceutical and food products, the two groups of articles on which Instex is cantered”..."
at https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201908021076431583-how-can-russia-undermine-us-plans-for-iran/
According to Nazanin Armanian, the European proposal to launch the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges with Iran (INSTEX) has three main objectives:
“to hide its inability to comply with the nuclear agreement with Iran, despite the fact that only the US, one of the seven signatories of the nuclear agreement [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)], has abandoned it”;
“to give Iran an empty box of candy to keep it within the nuclear agreement”;
“not to lose the huge Iranian market, filling it with surpluses of its pharmaceutical and food products, the two groups of articles on which Instex is cantered”..."
at https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201908021076431583-how-can-russia-undermine-us-plans-for-iran/
Armed forces ministry looks for new AI solutions
"Designed to encourage the emergence of a French AI leader, France's Artemis programme is looking increasingly uncertain as the armed forces ministry looks at alternatives..."
at https://www.intelligenceonline.com/grey-areas/2019/07/31/armed-forces-ministry-looks-for-new-ai-solutions,108367913-art
at https://www.intelligenceonline.com/grey-areas/2019/07/31/armed-forces-ministry-looks-for-new-ai-solutions,108367913-art
With Alvarium, Ken Costa shuttles between Doha and Riyadh
"London financier Ken Costa, Britain's new emissary to MBS's Vision 2030 strategic project, also heads the Al Thani family's investments..."
at https://www.intelligenceonline.com/due-diligence/2019/07/31/with-alvarium-ken-costa-shuttles-between-doha-and-riyadh,108367908-art
at https://www.intelligenceonline.com/due-diligence/2019/07/31/with-alvarium-ken-costa-shuttles-between-doha-and-riyadh,108367908-art
Primer puts AI to work for intelligence analysts
"Primer, a startup backed by In-Q-Tel and Mubadala Investment Company, is hoping to land business in the intelligence community by slashing the time it takes to analyze data..."
at https://www.intelligenceonline.com/surveillance--interception/2019/07/31/primer-puts-ai-to-work-for-intelligence-analysts,108367909-art
at https://www.intelligenceonline.com/surveillance--interception/2019/07/31/primer-puts-ai-to-work-for-intelligence-analysts,108367909-art
Defence contracts: Malaysian gold rush tentatively halted
"The defence sector is facing a new era in Malaysia under Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who is looking to rein in defence spending. Foreign companies fear changes in deal-making channels..."
at https://www.intelligenceonline.com/corporate-intelligence/2019/07/31/defence-contracts-malaysian-gold-rush-tentatively-halted,108367878-eve
at https://www.intelligenceonline.com/corporate-intelligence/2019/07/31/defence-contracts-malaysian-gold-rush-tentatively-halted,108367878-eve
Iran's FM Zarif Was Secretly Invited By Rand Paul To Meet Trump In Oval Office
"A hugely significant revelation via The New Yorker at the end of a week wherein the US took the dramatic step of sanctioning Iran's top diplomat FM Javad Zarif:
Last month, amid a rapid-fire escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, received an unexpected invitation—to meet President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. The diplomatic overture was made by Senator Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican, during a meeting with Zarif in New York on July 15th, according to American and Iranian sources and a well-informed diplomat.
Paul, it must be remembered, was handpicked by President Trump as his emissary to mediate with Iran after the Kentucky senator reportedly proposed the idea during a round of golf last month.
The report describes that an intermediary initially extended an invitation to meet with Sen. Paul in New York as Zarif traveled to the US for scheduled UN meetings. Zarif is reported to have rejected the meeting after expressing concerns that it would be little more than a photo opportunity. Zarif had further expressed that he could not meet with Trump without approval from Tehran.
Though a surprising US overture, given the timing in terms of a "hot" and intensifying summer of drone shoot downs and "tanker wars" in the Persian gulf, the Iranians do doubt felt the meeting would be used by Washington to claim its "maximum pressure" campaign has brought Tehran to its knees.
The New Yorker report revealed details of what led up to the "back channel" White House invitation:..."
at https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-03/irans-fm-zarif-was-secretly-invited-rand-paul-meet-trump-oval-office
Last month, amid a rapid-fire escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, received an unexpected invitation—to meet President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. The diplomatic overture was made by Senator Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican, during a meeting with Zarif in New York on July 15th, according to American and Iranian sources and a well-informed diplomat.
Paul, it must be remembered, was handpicked by President Trump as his emissary to mediate with Iran after the Kentucky senator reportedly proposed the idea during a round of golf last month.
The report describes that an intermediary initially extended an invitation to meet with Sen. Paul in New York as Zarif traveled to the US for scheduled UN meetings. Zarif is reported to have rejected the meeting after expressing concerns that it would be little more than a photo opportunity. Zarif had further expressed that he could not meet with Trump without approval from Tehran.
Though a surprising US overture, given the timing in terms of a "hot" and intensifying summer of drone shoot downs and "tanker wars" in the Persian gulf, the Iranians do doubt felt the meeting would be used by Washington to claim its "maximum pressure" campaign has brought Tehran to its knees.
The New Yorker report revealed details of what led up to the "back channel" White House invitation:..."
at https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-03/irans-fm-zarif-was-secretly-invited-rand-paul-meet-trump-oval-office
America's Collapse: Paul Craig Roberts Exposes An Economy Based On Plunder
"Authored by Paul Craig Roberts,
Capitalists have claimed responsibility for America’s past economic success. Let’s begin by setting the record straight. American success had little to do with capitalism. This is not to say that the US would have had more success with something like Soviet central planning.
Prior to 1900 when the frontier was closed, America’s success was a multi-century long success based on the plunder of a pristine environment and abundant natural resources. Individuals and companies were capitalized simply by occupying the land and using the resources present.
As the population grew and resources were depleted, the per capita resource endowment declined.
America got a second wind from World War I, which devastated European powers and permitted the emergence of the US as a budding world power. World War II finished off Europe and put economic and financial supremacy in Washington’s hands. The US dollar seized the world reserve currency role from the British pound, enabling the US to pay its bills by printing money. The world currency role of the dollar, more than nuclear weapons, has been the source of American power. Russia has equal or greater nuclear weapons power, but it is the dollar not the ruble that is the currency in which international payments are settled.
The world currency role made the US the financial hegemon. This power together with the IMF and World Bank enabled the US to plunder foreign resources the way vanishing American resources had been plundered.
We can conclude that plunder of natural resources and the ability to externalize much of the cost have been major contributors right through the present day to the success of American capitalism. Michael Hudson has described the plunder process in his many books and articles, as has John Perkins in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.
Essentially, capitalism is a plunder mechanism that generates short-run profits by externalizing long-run costs. It exhausts natural resources, including air, land, and water, for temporary profits while imposing most of its costs, such as pollution, on the environment. An example is the destruction of the Amazon rain forest by loggers. The world loses a massive carbon sink that stabilizes the global climate, and loggers gain short-run profits that are a tiny percentage of the long-run costs..."
at https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-03/americas-collapse-paul-craig-roberts-exposes-economy-based-plunder
Capitalists have claimed responsibility for America’s past economic success. Let’s begin by setting the record straight. American success had little to do with capitalism. This is not to say that the US would have had more success with something like Soviet central planning.
Prior to 1900 when the frontier was closed, America’s success was a multi-century long success based on the plunder of a pristine environment and abundant natural resources. Individuals and companies were capitalized simply by occupying the land and using the resources present.
As the population grew and resources were depleted, the per capita resource endowment declined.
America got a second wind from World War I, which devastated European powers and permitted the emergence of the US as a budding world power. World War II finished off Europe and put economic and financial supremacy in Washington’s hands. The US dollar seized the world reserve currency role from the British pound, enabling the US to pay its bills by printing money. The world currency role of the dollar, more than nuclear weapons, has been the source of American power. Russia has equal or greater nuclear weapons power, but it is the dollar not the ruble that is the currency in which international payments are settled.
The world currency role made the US the financial hegemon. This power together with the IMF and World Bank enabled the US to plunder foreign resources the way vanishing American resources had been plundered.
We can conclude that plunder of natural resources and the ability to externalize much of the cost have been major contributors right through the present day to the success of American capitalism. Michael Hudson has described the plunder process in his many books and articles, as has John Perkins in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.
Essentially, capitalism is a plunder mechanism that generates short-run profits by externalizing long-run costs. It exhausts natural resources, including air, land, and water, for temporary profits while imposing most of its costs, such as pollution, on the environment. An example is the destruction of the Amazon rain forest by loggers. The world loses a massive carbon sink that stabilizes the global climate, and loggers gain short-run profits that are a tiny percentage of the long-run costs..."
at https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-03/americas-collapse-paul-craig-roberts-exposes-economy-based-plunder
As US Ditches INF, Mid-Range Missiles To Be Deployed In Asia "Within Months"
"A mere day after the US officially exited the landmark Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF) which had cooled the Cold War arms race, preventing a build-up in Europe, the Pentagon is looking to deploy intermediate range conventional missiles in the Pacific region "within months".
Noting that it will most certainly provoke the ire of China, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Friday of the plans, “It’s fair to say, though, that we would like to deploy a capability sooner rather than later.” Esper made the remarks from Australia. “I would prefer months. I just don’t have the latest state of play on timelines.”
at https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-03/us-ditches-inf-mid-range-missiles-be-deployed-asia-sooner-rather-later"I would prefer months... but these things tend to take longer than you expect," Esper stated..."
The Citadels Of America's Elites: Fractured And At Odds With Each Other
"Authored by Alastair Crooke via The Strategic Culture Foundation,
Something is ‘up’.
When two Financial Times columnists – pillars of the western Establishment – raise a warning flag, we must take note:
Martin Wolf was first off, with a piece dramatically headlined: The looming 100-year, US-China Conflict. No ‘mere’ trade war, he implied, but a full-spectrum struggle.
Then his FT colleague Edward Luce, pointed out that Wolf’s “argument is more nuanced than the headline. Having spent part of this week among leading policymakers and thinkers at the annual Aspen Security Forum in Colorado,” Luce writes, “I am inclined to think Martin was not exaggerating. The speed with which US political leaders of all stripes have united behind the idea of a ‘new cold war’ is something that takes my breath away. Eighteen months ago the phrase was dismissed as fringe scaremongering. Today it is consensus.”
A significant shift is underway in US policy circles, it seems. Luce’s final ‘take’ is that “it is very hard to see what, or who, is going to prevent this great power rivalry from dominating the 21st century”. It is clear that there is indeed now a clear bi-partisan consensus in the US on China. Luce is surely right. But that is far from being the end of it. A collective psychology of belligerence seems to be taking shape, and, as one commentator noted, it has become not just a great-power rivalry, but a rivalry amongst ‘Beltway’ policy wonks to show “who has the bigger dick”.
And quick to demonstrate his, at Aspen (after others had unveiled their masculinity on China and Iran), was the US envoy for Syria (and deputy US National Security Adviser), James Jeffrey: A US policy boiled down to one overriding component: ‘hammering Russia’. “Hammering Russia” (he insisted repeatedly), will continue until President Putin understands there is no military solution in Syria (he said with heightened verbal emphasis). Russia falsely assumes that Assad has ‘won’ war: “He hasn’t”, Jeffrey said. And the US is committed to demonstrating this fundamental ‘truth’..."
at https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-03/citadels-americas-elites-fractured-and-odds-each-other
Something is ‘up’.
When two Financial Times columnists – pillars of the western Establishment – raise a warning flag, we must take note:
Martin Wolf was first off, with a piece dramatically headlined: The looming 100-year, US-China Conflict. No ‘mere’ trade war, he implied, but a full-spectrum struggle.
Then his FT colleague Edward Luce, pointed out that Wolf’s “argument is more nuanced than the headline. Having spent part of this week among leading policymakers and thinkers at the annual Aspen Security Forum in Colorado,” Luce writes, “I am inclined to think Martin was not exaggerating. The speed with which US political leaders of all stripes have united behind the idea of a ‘new cold war’ is something that takes my breath away. Eighteen months ago the phrase was dismissed as fringe scaremongering. Today it is consensus.”
A significant shift is underway in US policy circles, it seems. Luce’s final ‘take’ is that “it is very hard to see what, or who, is going to prevent this great power rivalry from dominating the 21st century”. It is clear that there is indeed now a clear bi-partisan consensus in the US on China. Luce is surely right. But that is far from being the end of it. A collective psychology of belligerence seems to be taking shape, and, as one commentator noted, it has become not just a great-power rivalry, but a rivalry amongst ‘Beltway’ policy wonks to show “who has the bigger dick”.
And quick to demonstrate his, at Aspen (after others had unveiled their masculinity on China and Iran), was the US envoy for Syria (and deputy US National Security Adviser), James Jeffrey: A US policy boiled down to one overriding component: ‘hammering Russia’. “Hammering Russia” (he insisted repeatedly), will continue until President Putin understands there is no military solution in Syria (he said with heightened verbal emphasis). Russia falsely assumes that Assad has ‘won’ war: “He hasn’t”, Jeffrey said. And the US is committed to demonstrating this fundamental ‘truth’..."
at https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-03/citadels-americas-elites-fractured-and-odds-each-other
Saturday, August 3, 2019
George Soros Expands Influence Over US Politics
"Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,
Billionaire financier George Soros is launching a super PAC ahead of the 2020 election and, at $5.1 million, he has already made the single biggest contribution so far this election cycle compared to any other megadonor..."
Facebook Wants To Read Your Mind
"Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,
Facebook is one step closer to reading your mind. The social media giant has become one step closer to developing a working brain-computer interface, capable of reading users’ thoughts.
CNBC reported that Facebook has taken yet another step in developing its brain-computer interface, with the company’s Reality Labs division working alongside researchers from the University of California, San Francisco to develop a device that can decode speech directly from the human brain onto a screen. A new report published in the journal Nature Communications reveals that researchers are becoming closer than ever to connecting human brains directly to computers.
Researchers reportedly worked with three patients currently undergoing treatment for epilepsy in order to develop the device. The patients had electrodes implanted into their brains and researchers will spend the next year testing the technology. Researchers from UCSF stated that the findings of the research could help to give patients that are unable to speak due to severe brain injuries a new way to communicate. –Breitbart News
Researchers have claimed that successful trials are more likely to be used as part of Facebook’s efforts to develop augmented reality glasses.
“It’s currently bulky, slow, and unreliable,” Facebook said. “But the potential is significant, so we believe it’s worthwhile to keep improving this state-of-the-art technology over time.”
Many other Silicon Valley companies are also researching computer-brain interfaces, with Elon Musk’s firm Neuralink working on a similar project.
Musk claimed at a recent event that the company expects to start human trials before the end of 2020. Facebook is quickly jumping into artificial intelligence and mind reading at a time when humanity is quickly approaching “singularity.” or the point of no return when it comes to machine learning.
Singularity is the point in time when humans can create an artificial intelligence machine that is smarter. Ray Kurzweil, Google’s chief of engineering, says that the singularity will happen in 2045. Louis Rosenberg claims that we are actually closer than that and that the day will be arriving sometime in 2030. MIT’s Patrick Winston would have you believe that it will likely be a little closer to Kurzweil’s prediction, though he puts the date at 2040, specifically. –SHTFPlan
Kurzweil has said that the work happening right now “will change the nature of humanity itself.” He said robots “will reach human intelligence by 2029 and life as we know it will end in 2045.” There is a risk that technology will overtake humanity and make human society irrelevant at best and extinct at worst..."
at https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-02/facebook-wants-read-your-mind
Facebook is one step closer to reading your mind. The social media giant has become one step closer to developing a working brain-computer interface, capable of reading users’ thoughts.
CNBC reported that Facebook has taken yet another step in developing its brain-computer interface, with the company’s Reality Labs division working alongside researchers from the University of California, San Francisco to develop a device that can decode speech directly from the human brain onto a screen. A new report published in the journal Nature Communications reveals that researchers are becoming closer than ever to connecting human brains directly to computers.
Researchers reportedly worked with three patients currently undergoing treatment for epilepsy in order to develop the device. The patients had electrodes implanted into their brains and researchers will spend the next year testing the technology. Researchers from UCSF stated that the findings of the research could help to give patients that are unable to speak due to severe brain injuries a new way to communicate. –Breitbart News
Researchers have claimed that successful trials are more likely to be used as part of Facebook’s efforts to develop augmented reality glasses.
“It’s currently bulky, slow, and unreliable,” Facebook said. “But the potential is significant, so we believe it’s worthwhile to keep improving this state-of-the-art technology over time.”
Many other Silicon Valley companies are also researching computer-brain interfaces, with Elon Musk’s firm Neuralink working on a similar project.
Musk claimed at a recent event that the company expects to start human trials before the end of 2020. Facebook is quickly jumping into artificial intelligence and mind reading at a time when humanity is quickly approaching “singularity.” or the point of no return when it comes to machine learning.
Singularity is the point in time when humans can create an artificial intelligence machine that is smarter. Ray Kurzweil, Google’s chief of engineering, says that the singularity will happen in 2045. Louis Rosenberg claims that we are actually closer than that and that the day will be arriving sometime in 2030. MIT’s Patrick Winston would have you believe that it will likely be a little closer to Kurzweil’s prediction, though he puts the date at 2040, specifically. –SHTFPlan
Kurzweil has said that the work happening right now “will change the nature of humanity itself.” He said robots “will reach human intelligence by 2029 and life as we know it will end in 2045.” There is a risk that technology will overtake humanity and make human society irrelevant at best and extinct at worst..."
at https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-02/facebook-wants-read-your-mind
Friday, August 2, 2019
‘It’s Disturbing’: Pentagon Launches Mass Surveillance Balloons Across US
"...However, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) raised concerns over the mass surveillance operation.
“We do not think that American cities should be subject to wide-area surveillance in which every vehicle could be tracked wherever they go,” Jay Stanley told the Guardian.
“Even in tests, they’re still collecting a lot of data on Americans: who’s driving to the union house, the church, the mosque, the Alzheimer’s clinic,” he added. “We should not go down the road of allowing this to be used in the United States, and it’s disturbing to hear that these tests are being carried out, by the military no less.”
at https://sputniknews.com/us/201908021076445651-its-disturbing-pentagon-launches-mass-surveillance-balloons-across-us/
“We do not think that American cities should be subject to wide-area surveillance in which every vehicle could be tracked wherever they go,” Jay Stanley told the Guardian.
“Even in tests, they’re still collecting a lot of data on Americans: who’s driving to the union house, the church, the mosque, the Alzheimer’s clinic,” he added. “We should not go down the road of allowing this to be used in the United States, and it’s disturbing to hear that these tests are being carried out, by the military no less.”
at https://sputniknews.com/us/201908021076445651-its-disturbing-pentagon-launches-mass-surveillance-balloons-across-us/
F-22 Stealth Coating Problems Revealed in Stunning Photo
"The F-22 was a pioneer fifth-generation jet in the US Armed Forces, combining multirole strike capabilities with the ability to stay off most radar screens due to its stealth coating. However, as it turned out, the latter comes at a price both in terms of maintenance time and money.
An F-22 fighter jet, with its low observable (LO; also known as "stealth") material cracking and chipping on the plane's nose, was spotted by a reporter with The Drive magazine during the EAA Airventure Air Show in Wisconsin. The photo of the plating right under the canopy reveals how much has it succumbed to corrosion, air friction, and the extreme pressure that the aircraft endures when in flight..."
at https://sputniknews.com/military/201908011076431443-f-22s-problems-with-stealth-coating-revealed/
An F-22 fighter jet, with its low observable (LO; also known as "stealth") material cracking and chipping on the plane's nose, was spotted by a reporter with The Drive magazine during the EAA Airventure Air Show in Wisconsin. The photo of the plating right under the canopy reveals how much has it succumbed to corrosion, air friction, and the extreme pressure that the aircraft endures when in flight..."
at https://sputniknews.com/military/201908011076431443-f-22s-problems-with-stealth-coating-revealed/
China Accuses US Of Orchestrating Hong Kong Protests
"Around the same time that the White House hinted that a military conflict may be imminent in Hong Kong after it said it was monitoring what a senior administration official called a "congregation of Chinese forces" on Hong Kong’s border, China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday claimed the recent protests in Hong Kong are "the work of the U.S.," adding that the United States owes the world an explanation.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "thinks that the recent violence in Hong Kong is reasonable because everyone knows that this is the work of the U.S.," spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing, referring to when Pompeo said China should "do the right thing" in dealing with protests in Hong Kong, in an interview with Bloomberg Television last week.
According to Kyodo, as evidence Hua provided examples of recent U.S. "interference" in which, she claims U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton and Pompeo met with opposition figures multiple times throughout the weeks-long protests over a controversial extradition bill. And while some may be quick to dismiss her allegations, it was similar "interference" by the US state department that was observed in Ukraine just days before the fateful Maidan protests that brought down the president and thanks to Victoria "Fuck the EU" Nuland, set the world on its current path of cold war-era confrontation between the US and Russia, which in turn has virtually assured another global military conflict in the future.
"There have been many American faces in the violent parade in Hong Kong, and even some American flags," Hua said.
In urging the United States to "let go" of the Hong Kong issue, Hua warned, "Those who play with fire only get themselves burned."
China's remarks came just hours before the ministerial-level trade talks between the two nations in Shanghai collapsed without even a glimmer of progress after just a few hours of discussions, with the future of trade negotiations in limbo..."
at https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-31/china-accuses-us-orchestrating-hong-kong-protests
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "thinks that the recent violence in Hong Kong is reasonable because everyone knows that this is the work of the U.S.," spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing, referring to when Pompeo said China should "do the right thing" in dealing with protests in Hong Kong, in an interview with Bloomberg Television last week.
According to Kyodo, as evidence Hua provided examples of recent U.S. "interference" in which, she claims U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton and Pompeo met with opposition figures multiple times throughout the weeks-long protests over a controversial extradition bill. And while some may be quick to dismiss her allegations, it was similar "interference" by the US state department that was observed in Ukraine just days before the fateful Maidan protests that brought down the president and thanks to Victoria "Fuck the EU" Nuland, set the world on its current path of cold war-era confrontation between the US and Russia, which in turn has virtually assured another global military conflict in the future.
"There have been many American faces in the violent parade in Hong Kong, and even some American flags," Hua said.
In urging the United States to "let go" of the Hong Kong issue, Hua warned, "Those who play with fire only get themselves burned."
China's remarks came just hours before the ministerial-level trade talks between the two nations in Shanghai collapsed without even a glimmer of progress after just a few hours of discussions, with the future of trade negotiations in limbo..."
at https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-31/china-accuses-us-orchestrating-hong-kong-protests
How Real Mind Control Works
"Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.com,
When people are confronted with the idea of “mind control” they often think of something out of television or film media; a lone prisoner tortured, chemically dazed and conditioned into a hollow zombie as his captors squeeze information from him or use him to complete a task he would not normally do or morally accept. And while there is actually some truth to this kind of Hollywood depiction, as is evidenced in the exposure of government programs like MK Ultra, the most insidious forms of mind control are far more subtle.
Governments and the elitists behind them do not necessarily need to physically cage, drug and brutalize people in order to influence how they behave. All they need to do is manage their perceptions, expectation and assumptions. This can be accomplished with large portions of the public, rather than one person at a time.
The elites have always been fascinated with the idea of mass hypnotism. In the 18th century Franz Mesmer was famous for entertaining European royalty with displays of what he called “animal magnetism”, which included what we now know as hypnosis of individuals and groups. Mesmerism has since become synonymous with the attempt to befuddle people and dictate their actions while in a kind of trance. Hypnotism is still a very active subject in psychiatric circles and the US government took avid interest in hypnotism as a weapon during their MK Ultra experiments in the 1950's.
People involved in the field of hypnotism are quick to point out that a hypnotized person cannot be made to do something that goes against their code of ethics, but this is not exactly the whole story. A hypnotist makes suggestions that the subject chooses to follow (or refuses to follow) while in a trance state, however, what if they can be convinced (or fooled) through hypnosis into believing that a particular action is in their best interest in spite of their moral code or sense of self preservation?
This type of control over a subject can and has been accomplished in hypnotic therapy, and examples of “covert” hypnotherapy are also on record, including the example of an Ohio divorce attorney that used covert hypnotism against multiple female clients and is suspected of using it against some court employees to disarm their psyches and then rape them without memory of the incident.
About two thirds of any given population are capable of being hypnotized to varying degrees. Stanford University has been avidly searching for a brain pattern that acts as a fingerprint for those that are more prone to hypnotic influence, and they believe they have found certain factors involving areas of the brain that handle heightened focus and attention. Reduced peripheral awareness also helps to increase the subject's vulnerability to hypnosis and vastly increases suggestibility.
These conditions can in fact be encouraged in large crowds of people. Consider this for a moment – What daily activity is the average person involved in that hyperfocuses their attention on a single point in space for long periods of time and removes almost all of their peripheral awareness? If you said “cell phone use” then you win a chicken dinner. Beyond creating an artificial and constant low dose of dopamine in the human brain leading to addiction, cell phones and other small electronic devices actually create the perfect conditions for a person to be hypnotized as they rip them away from all peripheral awareness and make them highly suggestible to those who know how to use covert methods.
To reiterate, a hypnotic state can be induced in large groups of people for extended periods of time with the correct long term stimulus. Watch here as mentalist Darren Brown hypnotizes or “brainwashes” an entire shopping mall of people into raising their hands exactly when he wants them to without them being aware of why they are doing it. Notice that around two thirds of the crowd complies.
Hypnotic suggestions last as long as the subjects continue to believe that the suggestions are correct. Hypnotism is essentially an agreement between the hypnotist and the persons being hypnotized that a particular belief is true (even if it is not). In the case of a victim of an attack, the person may want to believe that the traumatic event did not happen, and thus they can be convinced through hypnosis to forget it. In the case of a group of people, the hypnotist would have to identify an idea or fear that they all share and WANT to believe is real, and then exploit it.
I think some of the political applications of this are obvious.
The false left/right paradigm is a perfect petri dish for obtaining or manufacturing the consent of the masses to be hypnotized. They WANT to believe that their team, which they have willingly joined, is the correct team and that the leadership of that team has their best interests at heart. They want to believe that the actions of their party, through legislation or direct means, are always rational and morally sound. And, even when the leaders of their party do things which are completely contrary to the beliefs and morals of the people who make up the party, those people still want to believe that there must be some logical reason behind these decisions that they do not yet grasp.
Beyond this, the threat of the “other party” or team is an ever constant stimulus in the form of fear. We watch the scripted battles of these two fabricated teams play out in elaborate forms of Kabuki theater, yet nothing ever really changes except that the global elites grow more powerful. Still, many people actually believe these battles to be real, and invest immense amounts of energy and focus into them as if the fate of the world is being decided within the antics of a political soap opera.
When people are afraid or hyperfocused on an outside threat, they once again become more suggestible. This is why mainstream political discussions focus less on understanding of the threat (the "How" and the "Why") and more on perpetuating the threat. With understanding of the enemy (or false enemy), the threat can be assessed and fear is reduced, even if the threat is real. Without understanding, fear only increases. Political powers seek to constantly remind us that threats exist without allowing us the benefit of context. They do not want us to have an in-depth knowledge of the mechanics behind the threats.
We are told that our system works in a particular way that seems logical, but it only makes sense to us so long as we want to believe that the system functions as we were taught. We have to have blind faith that what we were initially told was absolutely true. The question is, why should we? Isn't it better to remain skeptical of most things and to study what is handed to us? If we're given a strange elixir by an utter stranger and we're told to "drink up!", would we not question what's in the frothing brew and what it does? Would we not investigate?
In the case of information and proclamations some people would not investigate, because it is more comfortable to believe the lies, or perhaps because they will be rewarded for going along with the status quo. Only when we become willing to sacrifice comfort, when we stop wanting to accept everything we are told at face value and start questioning the reality that is handed to us, only then will the mass hypnosis we were once influenced by lose its power.
The hypnosis of the elites requires ever increasing forms of distraction and stimulation in order to keep the public entranced. The creation of fear and confusion is vital to the execution of mass mind control, and this is a factor that many people absolutely refuse to recognize or take into consideration. The idea that the elites would build a system only to then deliberately destroy it is just too much for many to fathom. But again, what better way to hyperfocus an entire population and make them malleable to suggestions that they would not normally consider otherwise?
In past articles I have outlined the incredible array of similarities between global elitist groups and the behaviors and character traits of narcissistic sociopaths (also known as narcopaths or psychopaths). I have even theorized that globalists are actually a highly organized group of narcopaths who recruit other narcopaths into the fold. Many high level narcopaths are intuitively knowledgeable on the dynamics of suggestibility and the human psyche. I would call this their primary survival trait.
Narcopaths are well known for creating confusion around them in order to gain control of the people in their lives or the people in a room. They are also known for being willing to build up certain routines and acclimating people around them to a particular environment, only to suddenly disrupt it all as a means to stun their victims and create subservience. It is important to realize that these people do NOT necessarily care about stability. In fact, they often will actively sabotage stability to obtain something they care about more – control.
The strategies that individual narcopaths exhibit on a small scale are simply magnified thousands of times when we talk about the behaviors of the global elitists. People who consider themselves rational are hard pressed to comprehend this kind of behavior, but there is a devious tactical logic to it. Mind control of others can be achieved by keeping those people infinitely off-balance. Conjuring moments of tenuous peace, and then striking with cycles of unpredictable crisis. Before we know it, many years of instability have gone by and the organized narcopaths in power have gained even more control. We wonder where all that time went, and why we were not able to change things? It is because we have been hypnotized into inaction, or the wrong actions in the name of meaningless political stagecraft.
Real mind control and mass hypnosis requires, as already mentioned, our consent, but it is consent that is conned out of us. It is conned out of us by fake leaders with intentions and actions that do not match their promises. It is conned out of us by a system that breeds conformity of thought and tells us that those who think outside the widely accepted norm are aberrant and “crazy”. It is conned out of us by our own weaknesses – our desire to go along to get along, our fear of confronting the crowd and telling them they are wrong, our fear of losing what we think is stability, or our fear of being on our own.
Real mind control is not about torture and force, it is about quietly induced acceptance. We can remove our consent from the hypnotists anytime we wish, but we have to be willing to stop ignoring certain realities. We have to be willing to feel the pain that comes when we recognize we have been conned and controlled in the past, and we have to revel in our ability to refuse to conform. It must become a part of who we are – the people who do not take what we are told at face value. The people that question almost everything. The people who cannot be mesmerized..."
at https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-31/how-real-mind-control-works
When people are confronted with the idea of “mind control” they often think of something out of television or film media; a lone prisoner tortured, chemically dazed and conditioned into a hollow zombie as his captors squeeze information from him or use him to complete a task he would not normally do or morally accept. And while there is actually some truth to this kind of Hollywood depiction, as is evidenced in the exposure of government programs like MK Ultra, the most insidious forms of mind control are far more subtle.
Governments and the elitists behind them do not necessarily need to physically cage, drug and brutalize people in order to influence how they behave. All they need to do is manage their perceptions, expectation and assumptions. This can be accomplished with large portions of the public, rather than one person at a time.
The elites have always been fascinated with the idea of mass hypnotism. In the 18th century Franz Mesmer was famous for entertaining European royalty with displays of what he called “animal magnetism”, which included what we now know as hypnosis of individuals and groups. Mesmerism has since become synonymous with the attempt to befuddle people and dictate their actions while in a kind of trance. Hypnotism is still a very active subject in psychiatric circles and the US government took avid interest in hypnotism as a weapon during their MK Ultra experiments in the 1950's.
People involved in the field of hypnotism are quick to point out that a hypnotized person cannot be made to do something that goes against their code of ethics, but this is not exactly the whole story. A hypnotist makes suggestions that the subject chooses to follow (or refuses to follow) while in a trance state, however, what if they can be convinced (or fooled) through hypnosis into believing that a particular action is in their best interest in spite of their moral code or sense of self preservation?
This type of control over a subject can and has been accomplished in hypnotic therapy, and examples of “covert” hypnotherapy are also on record, including the example of an Ohio divorce attorney that used covert hypnotism against multiple female clients and is suspected of using it against some court employees to disarm their psyches and then rape them without memory of the incident.
About two thirds of any given population are capable of being hypnotized to varying degrees. Stanford University has been avidly searching for a brain pattern that acts as a fingerprint for those that are more prone to hypnotic influence, and they believe they have found certain factors involving areas of the brain that handle heightened focus and attention. Reduced peripheral awareness also helps to increase the subject's vulnerability to hypnosis and vastly increases suggestibility.
These conditions can in fact be encouraged in large crowds of people. Consider this for a moment – What daily activity is the average person involved in that hyperfocuses their attention on a single point in space for long periods of time and removes almost all of their peripheral awareness? If you said “cell phone use” then you win a chicken dinner. Beyond creating an artificial and constant low dose of dopamine in the human brain leading to addiction, cell phones and other small electronic devices actually create the perfect conditions for a person to be hypnotized as they rip them away from all peripheral awareness and make them highly suggestible to those who know how to use covert methods.
To reiterate, a hypnotic state can be induced in large groups of people for extended periods of time with the correct long term stimulus. Watch here as mentalist Darren Brown hypnotizes or “brainwashes” an entire shopping mall of people into raising their hands exactly when he wants them to without them being aware of why they are doing it. Notice that around two thirds of the crowd complies.
Hypnotic suggestions last as long as the subjects continue to believe that the suggestions are correct. Hypnotism is essentially an agreement between the hypnotist and the persons being hypnotized that a particular belief is true (even if it is not). In the case of a victim of an attack, the person may want to believe that the traumatic event did not happen, and thus they can be convinced through hypnosis to forget it. In the case of a group of people, the hypnotist would have to identify an idea or fear that they all share and WANT to believe is real, and then exploit it.
I think some of the political applications of this are obvious.
The false left/right paradigm is a perfect petri dish for obtaining or manufacturing the consent of the masses to be hypnotized. They WANT to believe that their team, which they have willingly joined, is the correct team and that the leadership of that team has their best interests at heart. They want to believe that the actions of their party, through legislation or direct means, are always rational and morally sound. And, even when the leaders of their party do things which are completely contrary to the beliefs and morals of the people who make up the party, those people still want to believe that there must be some logical reason behind these decisions that they do not yet grasp.
Beyond this, the threat of the “other party” or team is an ever constant stimulus in the form of fear. We watch the scripted battles of these two fabricated teams play out in elaborate forms of Kabuki theater, yet nothing ever really changes except that the global elites grow more powerful. Still, many people actually believe these battles to be real, and invest immense amounts of energy and focus into them as if the fate of the world is being decided within the antics of a political soap opera.
When people are afraid or hyperfocused on an outside threat, they once again become more suggestible. This is why mainstream political discussions focus less on understanding of the threat (the "How" and the "Why") and more on perpetuating the threat. With understanding of the enemy (or false enemy), the threat can be assessed and fear is reduced, even if the threat is real. Without understanding, fear only increases. Political powers seek to constantly remind us that threats exist without allowing us the benefit of context. They do not want us to have an in-depth knowledge of the mechanics behind the threats.
We are told that our system works in a particular way that seems logical, but it only makes sense to us so long as we want to believe that the system functions as we were taught. We have to have blind faith that what we were initially told was absolutely true. The question is, why should we? Isn't it better to remain skeptical of most things and to study what is handed to us? If we're given a strange elixir by an utter stranger and we're told to "drink up!", would we not question what's in the frothing brew and what it does? Would we not investigate?
In the case of information and proclamations some people would not investigate, because it is more comfortable to believe the lies, or perhaps because they will be rewarded for going along with the status quo. Only when we become willing to sacrifice comfort, when we stop wanting to accept everything we are told at face value and start questioning the reality that is handed to us, only then will the mass hypnosis we were once influenced by lose its power.
The hypnosis of the elites requires ever increasing forms of distraction and stimulation in order to keep the public entranced. The creation of fear and confusion is vital to the execution of mass mind control, and this is a factor that many people absolutely refuse to recognize or take into consideration. The idea that the elites would build a system only to then deliberately destroy it is just too much for many to fathom. But again, what better way to hyperfocus an entire population and make them malleable to suggestions that they would not normally consider otherwise?
In past articles I have outlined the incredible array of similarities between global elitist groups and the behaviors and character traits of narcissistic sociopaths (also known as narcopaths or psychopaths). I have even theorized that globalists are actually a highly organized group of narcopaths who recruit other narcopaths into the fold. Many high level narcopaths are intuitively knowledgeable on the dynamics of suggestibility and the human psyche. I would call this their primary survival trait.
Narcopaths are well known for creating confusion around them in order to gain control of the people in their lives or the people in a room. They are also known for being willing to build up certain routines and acclimating people around them to a particular environment, only to suddenly disrupt it all as a means to stun their victims and create subservience. It is important to realize that these people do NOT necessarily care about stability. In fact, they often will actively sabotage stability to obtain something they care about more – control.
The strategies that individual narcopaths exhibit on a small scale are simply magnified thousands of times when we talk about the behaviors of the global elitists. People who consider themselves rational are hard pressed to comprehend this kind of behavior, but there is a devious tactical logic to it. Mind control of others can be achieved by keeping those people infinitely off-balance. Conjuring moments of tenuous peace, and then striking with cycles of unpredictable crisis. Before we know it, many years of instability have gone by and the organized narcopaths in power have gained even more control. We wonder where all that time went, and why we were not able to change things? It is because we have been hypnotized into inaction, or the wrong actions in the name of meaningless political stagecraft.
Real mind control and mass hypnosis requires, as already mentioned, our consent, but it is consent that is conned out of us. It is conned out of us by fake leaders with intentions and actions that do not match their promises. It is conned out of us by a system that breeds conformity of thought and tells us that those who think outside the widely accepted norm are aberrant and “crazy”. It is conned out of us by our own weaknesses – our desire to go along to get along, our fear of confronting the crowd and telling them they are wrong, our fear of losing what we think is stability, or our fear of being on our own.
Real mind control is not about torture and force, it is about quietly induced acceptance. We can remove our consent from the hypnotists anytime we wish, but we have to be willing to stop ignoring certain realities. We have to be willing to feel the pain that comes when we recognize we have been conned and controlled in the past, and we have to revel in our ability to refuse to conform. It must become a part of who we are – the people who do not take what we are told at face value. The people that question almost everything. The people who cannot be mesmerized..."
at https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-31/how-real-mind-control-works
Asked About China & Iran In Venezuela, Trump Signals US "Blockade" Coming
"How much more US "pressure" can be brought to bear on Venezuela after Washington early this year went so far as to back a failed military coup attempt? Perhaps the Syria treatment: after covert war comes the long "blockade" and economic squeeze precipitating total societal collapse. Perhaps this is what the White House now has in mind after mainstream media attention on Venezuela and its 'alt-president' Juan Guaido has dropped off a cliff, via Reuters:
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was considering a quarantine or blockade of Venezuela, as the United States steps up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro to relinquish power.
Is this in addition to the near total oil blockade on state-owned PDVSA? No details were given in the Thursday statement in terms of what such a "quarantine" or "blockade" would look like.
Pro-Maduro protesters blame the US for Venezuela's ills.
However, an interesting reference to powerful external backers of the Maduro government was made, bringing up the possibility of a "proxy war" situation developing, as we've discussed previously. Reuters continued:
Asked by a reporter whether he was considering such a measure, given the amount of involvement by China and Iran in Venezuela, Trump said: “Yes, I am.” He gave no details.
And there it is. While confirmation has remained murky, over the past months there's been widespread reports of Chinese and Russian military advisers working with the Venezuelan national forces.
Many observers, however, consider recent Trump administration claims of a deep and extensive Hezbollah presence inside the Latin American socialist country a stretch. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has repeatedly made the charge since at least February..."
at https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-01/asked-about-china-iran-venezuela-trump-says-us-blockade-possible
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was considering a quarantine or blockade of Venezuela, as the United States steps up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro to relinquish power.
Is this in addition to the near total oil blockade on state-owned PDVSA? No details were given in the Thursday statement in terms of what such a "quarantine" or "blockade" would look like.
Pro-Maduro protesters blame the US for Venezuela's ills.
However, an interesting reference to powerful external backers of the Maduro government was made, bringing up the possibility of a "proxy war" situation developing, as we've discussed previously. Reuters continued:
Asked by a reporter whether he was considering such a measure, given the amount of involvement by China and Iran in Venezuela, Trump said: “Yes, I am.” He gave no details.
And there it is. While confirmation has remained murky, over the past months there's been widespread reports of Chinese and Russian military advisers working with the Venezuelan national forces.
Many observers, however, consider recent Trump administration claims of a deep and extensive Hezbollah presence inside the Latin American socialist country a stretch. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has repeatedly made the charge since at least February..."
at https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-01/asked-about-china-iran-venezuela-trump-says-us-blockade-possible
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Art Cashin – Then The Other Shoe Fell…And The Bottom Began To Fall Out
at https://kingworldnews.com/art-cashin-then-the-other-shoe-fell-and-the-bottom-began-to-fall-out/
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