Links 3/17/2022

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1. The Rev Kev March 17, 2022 at 7:29 am

   Working link for “The Russians probably aren’t too worried about the F-35 fighter” article at-

   https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/03/16/the-russians-probably-arent-too-worried-about-the-f-35/

   Maybe soon we can see a Lockheed F-35 go up against a Russian Sukhoi Su-35 and find out if all that money was wasted or not.
   1. Louis Fyne March 17, 2022 at 8:03 am

      This week the Pentagon announced that it was buying fewer F-35 next year. just after Germany-Scholz agreed to buy some F35s

      Last year, announced that it was buying a revised version of the disco music era F-15.
   2. Jules Dickson March 17, 2022 at 8:53 am

      Fixed it. Thanks!
   3. Raymond Sim March 17, 2022 at 9:39 am

      Does anybody know if they ever actually got around to building the test range needed to actually prove out the F-35’s electronic warfare systems?

      The F-35 has a spiritual ancestor, the Convair F-102, and more broadly the whole SAGE system and all the associated weapons, like Nike and BOMARC. It’s interesting to compare and contrast. There’s not that much new under the sun in the world of military procurement corruption.
      1. Polar Socialist March 17, 2022 at 3:34 pm

         Nope. Says in the linked article that Navy may have one ready by summer 2023.
   4. Kouros March 17, 2022 at 3:23 pm

      J-20s’ alleged close contact with F-35s over E.China Sea ‘countermeasures against US activities’

      https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202203/1255110.shtml
2. Toshiro_Mifune March 17, 2022 at 7:53 am

   What If This Is Just the Way Things Are Now

   Wow…. that is almost the living breathing embodiment of NPR-listening “concerned” liberal idpol-ism…. To the point that it’s almost self-parody.
   1. super extra March 17, 2022 at 9:33 am

      I suggest reading that link and What You’re Feeling Isn’t a Vibe Shift back to back for a primer in how those writing these pieces are literally unable to speak about or name the problems in our society without using the terms defined by our leaders that they don’t really understand. The vibe shift piece, for example, uses the term ‘rules-based order’ four times without apparently understanding that it differs from ‘the rule of law’.
      1. Mr. Phips March 17, 2022 at 11:08 am

         Couldn’t agree more. Yes, all these bloggers have internalized the “Zeitgeist”. Personal observation: Before the Pandemic I noticed in my travels that almost everywhere in the West people, mostly the younger ones, all spoke alike (mostly in English as that was/is still “required” for the Neo-liberal mindset), liked the same things, worried about the same issues, watched the same movies, and so on. “Brave New world” I guess…..
         1. Joe Renter March 17, 2022 at 12:26 pm

            The mindset of conformity. Same as it ever was.
         2. Mildred Montana March 17, 2022 at 1:41 pm

            Memes and cliches, cliches and memes. Another pandemic.

            Let me get out my “tool-kit” and “back-fill” your comment (oh my gawd, I’m starting to talk like our leaders or, at least, their acolytes and media spokespersons).

            Orwell often pointed out that cliches are deadly to intelligent discourse. They numb thinking while encouraging an insidious and pervasive uniformity of thought or, rather, opinion. In other words, as he repeated over and over, ???????? ?? ?????????.
   2. fresno dan March 17, 2022 at 10:20 am

      TM
      The more immediate question for American democracy is: Why did more people vote for Donald Trump in 2020 than in 2016? Surely they didn’t miss the news cycle of his entire presidency. It’s impossible to have missed him systematically subverting the institutions that governments rely on. So could it be that they bought the story that the institutions were unworthy of redemption? Did his presidency confirm something about decay in general social trust?
      ….
      Though it’s easy to be dismissive of Trump’s crass nihilist threat, it’s far harder to contend with the realities that enabled him to succeed. After decades of letting inequality worsen, those with their hands on the levers of American democracy suddenly found the will and drive to send thousands of dollars into the bank accounts of every American. US households grew their wealth by $13.5 trillion in 2020 thanks in part to generous government spending to keep the economy afloat. This may solve one big problem — how people were supposed to pay their rent and mortgages while work was closed — but it introduced a new one: Wait, so the government could’ve done this any time it wanted?
      …
      It’s possible — at times rational, even — to conclude that successive American governments have not considered widening income inequality to be an urgent problem. It’s rational to conclude that successive American governments have been asleep at the wheel, content with general economic growth while not paying attention to where that growth was going.
      ============================================
      I think my critique of the article can be summed up in this line:
      It’s rational to conclude that successive American governments have been asleep at the wheel, content with general economic growth while not paying attention to where that growth was going.
      Actually, I think the government, elites, oligarchy, call it what you will, KNEW exactly where the growth was going, and it happened that way because they wanted it to happen that way
      Whether it was Obama, who not only failed to stop digging, but continued to dig (not debt, but doubling down on neoliberal policies) or nothing will fundamentaly change Biden, the “stability” the author admires was really the corporate media enamored of the rich getting richer, and ignoring the poor getting poorer.
      1. Bruno March 17, 2022 at 3:42 pm

         Trump’s signature line was “You’re Fired!” Against the Obama/frauClinton gang, that was enough.
3. jimmy cc March 17, 2022 at 8:06 am

   while we are discussing russian pr failures, trying to convince the qorld that the country who couldnt hold the donbasd or Crimea is a threat to Russia may also be a hard sell.
   1. Paleobotanist March 17, 2022 at 8:09 am

      Link not correct for the second Covid article.
      1. Keith in Modesto March 17, 2022 at 8:15 am

         It should be:

         https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-says-rise-covid-cases-is-just-tip-iceberg-2022-03-16/
         1. Jules Dickson March 17, 2022 at 8:53 am

            Fixed it. Thanks!
   2. Raymond Sim March 17, 2022 at 9:50 am

      the country who couldnt hold the donbasd or Crimea…

      That would be the U.S. And what with all our nuclear weapons, many of which might work, our inability to find our own ass with both hands is genuinely alarming.
   3. DanB March 17, 2022 at 9:50 am

      It’s a proxy war, Jimmy.
   4. Kouros March 17, 2022 at 3:28 pm

      A neutral Ukraine is not a threat to Russia. A Ukraine bristling with US weapons and US military is.
4. Louis Fyne March 17, 2022 at 8:08 am

   Korea decided to let it rip too. More than 1% of the population is catching covid daily when it used to be under 1,000 per day for most of the epidemic

   Vax rates near 90% and >60% triple vaxxed.
5. dougie March 17, 2022 at 8:16 am

   Even Mild COVID Can Increase the Risk of Heart Problems Scientific American

   I just want to express my extreme gratitude for the crew at NC for helping me stay safe! With Covid in our area at 2-3% positive tests, cases down, etc., I was just about to decide that today was going to be a great day for my first indoor session at the brewpub in 2 years.

   After reading this article, I decided to call in and have a case bottled for pickup. It seems that many of my contemporaries, all seniors, have decided to “let ‘er rip”. While I wish them the best, I won’t be attending their funerals, either, should the need arise.

   Cue the drinking alone music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E9ydw_aDMg
   1. The Rev Kev March 17, 2022 at 8:46 am

      Good grief. That was Chips Rafferty in some of those clips (about the 3:40 mark). He has been gone for half a century now and his career paralleled John Wayne who was also on those clips.
   2. Yves Smith March 18, 2022 at 2:46 am

      Preserving the health of readers one at a time! Thanks!

      Even though I am the only one in the house now, I had 2 Corsi boxes made for when I have inspectors and repair people in…
6. Mikel March 17, 2022 at 8:24 am

   “Some hospitals ask patients, visitors to remove N95s, citing CDC”

   They’ve lost their minds. Hospitals and clinics are exactly where the people with co-morbidities go.
   What the hell???

   So hospitals and climics become ground zero for the spread of disease.
   This is a whole new level of psychotic.

   All I can ask now is who do they think they are killing? And why does it make them feel so good?
   HOSPITALS? NO MASKS? And waves of covid sick people still showing up at…Hospitals.
   1. IM Doc March 17, 2022 at 9:22 am

      There are days when I see all this going on around me that I just want to assume the fetal position.

      There are extreme consequences to turning over your health care system to MBAs. They care far more about good satisfaction surveys than patient outcomes. I am most definitely not kidding, this is not snark.
      1. Sad Example March 17, 2022 at 9:58 am

         > There are extreme consequences to turning over your health care system to MBAs.
         > They care far more about good satisfaction surveys than patient outcomes.

         How true. About ten years ago, my mother died after a week in the ICU. Due to family circumstances, the funeral Mass was delayed for two weeks. On the day, just as we were leaving for church the mail arrived. It contained a questionnaire from the headquarters of the HMO in whose hospital my mother had died. It was auto-generated, of course, but it was dated four days after the death occurred. It began ‘Dear Mrs. Example, Our records show that you were recently a patient in HMO Hospital. We would very much like to hear what you thought blah blah blah.’

         It was a just sad coincidence that it arrived on the very day of the funeral — but if the left hand knew what the right hand was doing it should never have been sent. My father was grieving deeply enough anyway (they had been together for 59 years) and that was yet another blow that he didn’t need.
      2. TimH March 17, 2022 at 11:26 am

         Also hospitals save money by not providing masks and managing the procurement, use, and disposal.
   2. Katniss Everdeen March 17, 2022 at 10:11 am

      So now the mask mandate brigade gets a taste of its own medicine. It beggars belief that that brigade managed to convince itself, yet again, that this time what goes around won’t come around.

      What part of “they’re just effin’ with ya” does absolutely everybody not understand?
      1. lambert strether March 17, 2022 at 4:49 pm

         Masks are cheap, safe, effective, easy, and would have been mandated and marketed if the United States were a serious country (or if the elites didn’t have a yen for slaughtering the citizenry, as some suggest).

         This comment is lethal nonsense. Stop it.
      2. Maritimer March 17, 2022 at 5:05 pm

         In my jurisdiction, Mask Mandate removed on the same day the first Cruise Ship will arrive. Tourist season begins, Covid begone! These same Big Pharma Perps, as one of their first emergency actions, allowed Takeout Booze while at the same time preventing AA and other addict meetings. And, at the height of Covid a dentist traveled to Tibet to participate in the Everest traffic jam and was hailed as a hero!

         And one is supposed to take these Perps seriously.
   3. PlutoniumKun March 17, 2022 at 11:28 am

      There was a tweet this morning from the main emergency hospital in Dublin, pleading with people not come unless its a really emergency (this being St. Patricks morning, there would expect to be full ER rooms by midnight). It says they are overflowing with covid cases and have severe staff shortages due to covid.

      In the meanwhile, every pub is overflowing with people from all over the world this afternoon and the only people I see wearing masks are Asian. Quite the super spreading event.
7. The Rev Kev March 17, 2022 at 8:26 am

   “Annotated Transcript: Zelensky’s Speech to Congress”

   Quite the chameleon is our Mr. Zelensky. But at least he was honest by saying what he was all about by starting his speech with a ‘Glory to heroes’. So a quick review. When Zelensky spoke before Britain’s House of Commons last week, he invoked Winston Churchill. When Zelensky spoke before Congress, he invokes Pearl Harbour, 9/11 and MLK. And when he will speak before Israel’s Knesset soon, he will invoke the Holocaust and him being Jewish. It’s almost if he had western advisors telling him what buttons to press for maximum effect. But he did make a few mistakes talking to Congress. Netanyahu could have told him that a cartoon always works well with Congress as that speaks to their level. And where he was asking for powerful antimissile defense systems, such as the S-300, you know that that will never be allowed by Congress. Raytheon would demand that he be supplied with American-made Patriot missiles – whether they work or not. But the way he keeps on going on about no-fly zones is just nuts as that would lead to a shooting war between America and Russia and who would benefit with that? In some ways he is starting to be like Russia’s crazy ex-girlfriend. You know the stories. The type that will deflate your car tires, run over your cat, call your boss and say you are doing drugs while making anonymous calls to the FBI saying that you have inappropriate images. Here Zelensky is calling for the entire country to be treated the same, no matter how petty the attacks. And people are listening to him and saying yeah, that that is a good idea.
   1. OIFVet March 17, 2022 at 8:53 am

      You are wrong about the S-300 request being a wrong step. Lloyd Austin is in Slovakia and in Bulgaria today to try to arrange the transfer of their S-300s to Ukraine. The reason: Ukrainians know how to use them immediately, Patriots will take some time to train for. No worries about Raytheon, those Slovak and Bulgarian S-300s will have to be replaced. Take a wild guess with what. Poland’s [thus far] failed play to trade MiGs for F-16s amounted to the same scheme, US arms sales. So no worries, such transfers and this war in general is very profitable for US MIC.

      About Zelensky’s speech before Congress, am I the only one to notice the symbolism of Zelensky on a big screen, with congress critters arranged like students in a lecture hall being enlightend and harangued by professor Zelensky? Planned or simply a matter of circumstance? In any case, I am thoroughly fed up with Zelensky’s moralizing and tendless haranguing, and him being praised for it. He is a clown and a puppet and every bit as responsible for this war as everyone else. It’s sickening to have to continue to endure the myth-making narrative and imagery elevating a puppet into the next Gandhi.
      1. Polar Socialist March 17, 2022 at 9:12 am

         Regarding the S-300, I believe that the Slovakian ones are much never than Ukrainian (as in next generation version), while the Bulgarian ones are part of an integrated air-defense network which would have to be completely replaced with something else if they give up their S-300.

         Anyway, we’re making an assumption that there are surviving Ukrainian air-defense personnel trained in S-300 to man these hand-me-downs, which may not be the case.
         1. The Rev Kev March 17, 2022 at 10:15 am

            That’s a good point about them being part of an integrated air-defense network. Its not like you can pack them up and drive them right away to another country. And to replace them, you would need another network which could take months to properly set up. I can’t see a country like Bulgaria leaving a huge hole in their defence grid in the middle of all these war tension all that time, especially after that drone flew across three NATO countries the other day.
            1. Lambert Strether Post authorMarch 17, 2022 at 2:22 pm

               > That’s a good point about them being part of an integrated air-defense network. Its not like you can pack them up and drive them right away to another country.

               An increasingly obvious mental tic possessed by our symbol manipulators is that material objects are fungible; oil, for example, or S-300s. That is, I think, because they’ve been trained to think in spreadsheets, where everything is indeed fungible. Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes they don’t.

               Anyhow, I heard Ukraine’s airforce was doing great. What do they need S-300s for?

               (Would be interesting if those clever Russkies installed any back doors in the software.)
               1. Young March 17, 2022 at 9:39 pm

                  Hacking S-300 systems constitutes a cyber attack against NATO. No?/s
         2. PlutoniumKun March 17, 2022 at 11:23 am

            I follow a few aviation warfare mavens and its interesting how they are slowly coming around to the conclusion that this is a very different type of air war than they expected. The Russians simply don’t place so much value on air superiority – it was assumed that because Ukraine is a sub-peer competitor the Russians would follow the western lead and attempt to completely control the skies – but they’ve never really tried. Their fixed wing sortie rate is very low and very selective. Only their helicopters have really been in the thick of the fighting.

            They seem to be taking the same approach to the air war as with the ground war – a long slow battle of attrition to at all levels. The downside of this is that the Russians have had significant losses, including possibly some very modern aircraft. Plus, they’ve failed to stop the Ukrainian drone threat to ground forces (my guess is that the Russians underestimated this threat and are still trying to figure out how to stop it). There is evidence that the Ukrainians have taken out Russian helicopters by drone as well as ground troops. But the Russians seem to have preferred this as a more certain, low risk approach than trying to take full air control in a missile rich environment – not least because they need their best aircraft in reserve. Given the losses we know for certain about though, it does seem that the Russians significantly underestimated the Ukrainian ability to take down their aircraft.

            The US is going all out to buy S-300’s around the world, not just Europe. Additional S-300’s would certainly be a problem for the Russians, but it would not be a game changer. It would just prolong the war a little. The Russians will steadily attrit any new ones as they are wiping out the existing launchers one by one.
            1. russell1200 March 17, 2022 at 12:17 pm

               The go slow approach sounds good. Except that they told their conscripts going in that it was a joint military exercise. The evidence that they expected it to be something close to Hitler’ march into Austria is pretty strong. You do note the “underestimation” but I think it we need a word that is an order of magnitude stronger: gobsmacked might be closer.

               The big “change” is that they didn’t expect that the Ukrainians had learned anything from the 8 years of fighting.

               At this point, the go slow is likely because the Russians – like just about every military on the planet since 1939 – has gone big on equipment and less so on ammunition, logistical repairs, etc. Wasn’t it like after only 6 days that NATO ran out of bombs in Libya – came crying to the US. The advantage Ukraine has is that they can pretty quickly get restocks from non-fighting friendlies. Apparently China is a little slower helping Russia.
            2. Polar Socialist March 17, 2022 at 1:06 pm

               You can point the wondering mavens towards Air and Space Forces. Theory and Practice, a publication of the Zhukovsky – Gagarin Air Force Academy (Russian knowledge required). Everything publicly available about Russian doctrine should be there.

               I do recall from my earlier life as airwar geek that Soviets (and thus Russians) only believed in temporary local air superiority, mainly due to the huge size of the battlefields in Great Patriotic War. The air force basically has two tasks: defend the own airspace and support the ground operations.
               1. PlutoniumKun March 17, 2022 at 1:16 pm

                  I find that a lot of people are quite capable of holding two contradictory views at once – I’ve read many times about the lower priority Russians give to the type of air support thats considered normal in western military doctrine – but they still somehow expect it and assume if it does not appear its due to lack of co-ordination or targeting pods or whatever. And when its obviously causing problems (drones hitting Russian columns, helicopters getting shot down), I guess its natural to assume its a screw up instead of part of the strategy.

                  To be fair, in Syria (a very different environment of course), the Russians definitely used air power to a high degree, but it was obviously easier to fly in aircraft than ship in full artillery and armoured brigades.
      2. Nikkikat March 17, 2022 at 9:21 am

         Agreed, sick of seeing this obvious puppet, with his photo ops and calculated speeches. He really has a flair for the dramatic. I had to laugh when he claimed in one video that this might be the last time he was seen alive. I would also like to see if someone can rustle him up some clothes. That Tee Shirt with the iron cross looks to be a donated item at a garage sale.It was as sad looking as his brown sweat suit that he seemingly wore for about a week.
         Is he trying to portray himself as a poor little peasant?
         1. OIFVet March 17, 2022 at 9:48 am

            It’s the wartime version of “roll up the sleeves” statesman image. I read that Macron is now aping it. Ditch the macho makeover, Monsieur Macron: Trying to copy Zelensky – a REAL hero president – is just a sick ploy using the war to win a few votes. I think that we are witnessing the birth of this century’s Mao jacket.
         2. TimH March 17, 2022 at 11:29 am

            Z. hasn’t studied history much. Puppet leaders tend to get killed when they outlive their usefulness to the US.
         3. Wukchumni March 17, 2022 at 12:07 pm

            The t-shirt screams i’m in the military, and you know how horny our evangs are for a cross wearer, it’s kismet-the ensemble.

            Please give now, operators are standing by.

            Google just promised to match what I give for Ukraine relief, it’s a given, the propaganda putsch.
      3. lyman alpha blob March 17, 2022 at 1:13 pm

         The tear jerking war porn montage at the end was truly appalling. Pretty sick of having our intelligence insulted every day with propaganda like that.

         Too bad there wasn’t some clandestine activist in attendance who could have run up in front of the screen and yelled “Now do Yemen!”
      4. ArvidMartensen March 17, 2022 at 10:58 pm

         Professor Zelensky in a different role
         https://youtu.be/vQxsWHvbuHI
   2. Sardonia March 17, 2022 at 8:55 am

      “In some ways he is starting to be like Russia’s crazy ex-girlfriend.”

      Like Russia’s crazy ex-girlfriend who is wandering into bars trying to talk bigger guys into coming over to beat up her ex-boyfriend.
   3. flora March 17, 2022 at 9:38 am

      When I saw Z was giving a speech via zoom to the US Congress, who were gathered in an auditorium to see it, I flashed on the memory of this early 1980’s Apple Macintosh ad.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtvjbmoDx-I
   4. Joe Renter March 17, 2022 at 12:36 pm

      Rev Kev 8:26
      Well, he is an actor after all. Follows the script pretty well. And like more than one actor, reportable has a drug problem. But the billion dollars he has (according to the Panama papers), should cover rehab, if he lives to see that day.
   5. Oh March 17, 2022 at 1:35 pm

      The Congress is really stupid to send time listening to that rat. He’s jewish, yet has forgotten that there are Nazis in his midst. Of course the ninnies in Congress don’t want to know that or don’t care. It’s all about the Benjamins for them.
      1. Anthony G Stegman March 17, 2022 at 5:26 pm

         Zelensky may have been physically threatened by the Ukrainian Nazis, so he is merely protecting his own butt. During WWII a fair number of death camp inmates cooperated with their captors simply so they could stay alive for another day. Zelensky may be playing the same game. Another thing to consider – the pursuit of fortune is an agnostic exercise. Being Jewish won’t necessarily prevent one from working with Nazis in order to pillage and plunder Ukraine for personal gain.
      2. Art_DogCT March 17, 2022 at 7:00 pm

         There is a history of collaboration between fascists and Jews, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haavara_Agreement (It’s Wikipedia, with apologies). I suspect Zelenzkyy’s tolerance for fascists in his midst is purchased. He has a golden parachute should he live long enough to enjoy it (see https://www.icij.org/investigations/swiss-leaks/explore-swiss-leaks-data/). I’ve read that Kolomoiskyy has provided a home in Miami for him, but I’ve forgotten the (possibly unreliable) source, so more than your RDA of salt on this one. If Helmer is right, that Z is in Poland, the odds are improved enormously that he’ll get his payday.
   6. sam hill March 17, 2022 at 4:34 pm

      They know the buttons to push but there’s a place reserved in Hell for Ze, his woke Blob speech writers, and his audience that cheered. Martin Luther King: Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam – Full Speech -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyE4eo_leX8

      How much is forgotten, how much is lost and, and all so quickly.
8. johnherbiehancock March 17, 2022 at 8:36 am

   Re: Gopnik

   I seem to recall “gopnik” is Russian for “idiot” or if not “idiot” exactly, than a less-than-intelligent person, or something like that.

   edit: I found an answer; I guess it’s more akin to the British “yob” or “chav”
   1. Sailor Bud March 17, 2022 at 9:56 am

      Yes, it is a Russian chav, but with their own flavor. You must note their propensity for squatting (physically squatting down on haunches, not the act of taking over a derelict house) or else it’s not a gopnik. They’re also quite fond of shashlik, but so are most Russians I’ve met.

      There was an eXiled (Ames, Taibbi, & Dolan’s old Moscow rag) article about the gopniki once that is worth a read if you can search engine it. I can’t figure out how to link the exact article, but just search ‘meet the gopniks exiled’ and you’ll have it in the first two search results.

      As for idiot, you’re probably thinking of ’durak,’ which is fairly well known to westerners in the form of screen names, etc.
      1. square coats March 17, 2022 at 7:52 pm

         I took Russian for a few years in college and we were taught idiot was идиот ([ɪdʲɪˈot] – idiót – practically identical), and though our professors never taught us блядь, they did teach us to take exams properly and say к чёрту! (go to hell!) in response to their ни пуха ни пера! (good luck!)
         1. Sailor Bud March 18, 2022 at 2:00 am

            You’re good with that, but in line with the gopnik thing, I figured durak was what jhh was thinking of. Durak is just Russian slang for fool, idiot, etc. Search engine that plus the word ‘slang,’ or else you’re likely just to see the old card game as first result.
9. DJG, Reality Czar March 17, 2022 at 8:38 am

   Gopnik. This would be a pitiable showing if it weren’t so clueless and plain stupid. It is ineptitude with footnotes (Bakhtin, indeed).

   The money shots:
   “In American terms, it would not be hard to imagine the late George Carlin or Richard Pryor—or, for that matter, Carl Reiner or Mel Brooks—in the same kind of role, familiarly self-satirizing, suddenly sober and serious.”

   George Carlin as Zelenskyy?
   Richard Prior?
   And let’s throw in Dave Chapelle.

   The New Yorker sure doesn’t get out much.

   Next up?
   Zelenskyy as Childish Gambino rapping out This Is America…

   And this pearl of wisdom:
   “It is no accident that so many on the Russian autocratic front today, like Patriarch Kirill, are so bizarrely obsessed with gay-pride parades, despite their harmless and far-from-soldierly nature, exactly because they embody the carnival spirit in contemporary dress, or undress. The parade, the public festival of difference, is what’s threatening.”

   Two or three problems here: Freedom-fighting government of Poland is notoriously anti-“public festival of difference.”* Two, if Gopnik thinks that gay pride parades are “harmless,” he has no understanding of the history or meaning of the parades. (Dare I mention Stonewall Inn?) Three, gay pride parades are “harmless” only as to how much they have been infested by corporations. I am reminded of the time I was on a float between, ohhh, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Arthur Anderson.

   And Glory to Ukraine! Is that the new Springtime for Hitler and Germany?

   *footnote in honor of Gopnik’s scholarliness:
   Wikipedia sez this about freedom-loving Poland: By June 2020, some 100 municipalities (map)[12] and five voivodeships, encompassing a third of the country, had adopted resolutions which have been characterized as “LGBT-free zones”.[13][14] In September 2021, four of the voivodeships withdrew the measures, after the EU threatened to withhold funding
   1. The Rev Kev March 17, 2022 at 8:49 am

      Zelensky is more like the guy in the following clip. Hint – it is not the John Travolta character-

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0-wTrm9VSQ (33 secs)
   2. Safety First March 17, 2022 at 9:05 am

      Yesterday, I ended up in an impromptu conversation about who might play Zelensky in the inevitable Hollywood propaganda piece on the Ukraine conflict coming to theatres next year or so. Recall that Saakashvili was played by Andy Garcia. Still not sure what big or semi-big name would make sense for Zelensky, as you need to combine small stature and a deep voice, but thought Benedict Cumberbatch might have a go at it. Considering the utterly psychedelic trip that “Five Days in August” turned out to be, actually kind of looking forward to it a bit…
      1. Steve H. March 17, 2022 at 9:30 am

         Rachel Maddow to take a break from the news to work on, what else, a Ben Stiller movie
      2. The Rev Kev March 17, 2022 at 9:33 am

         Jeremy Renner’s name has come up because he looks like him-

         https://nypost.com/2022/02/28/fans-beg-jeremy-renner-to-play-president-zelensky-in-biopic/
      3. Bart Hansen March 17, 2022 at 9:37 am

         How about Dinklage?
      4. Raymond Sim March 17, 2022 at 9:58 am

         Alan Tudyk strikes me as the guy to play Zelensky.

         “Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! Aggggh … oh God.”
         1. jax March 17, 2022 at 12:52 pm

            Nah. That baby face on Zelensky is doing half the work. I say Daniel Radcliffe.
   3. hunkerdown March 17, 2022 at 9:43 am

      The Puritan West defending the carnivalesque? It would be funnier if they didn’t have a history of tacitly encouraging youth gangs to violently advance their social and economic agendas. Has Adam Delinquent been in the broom closet with Steve Bannon again…
   4. Darthbobber March 17, 2022 at 12:25 pm

      Only those who don’t follow the Nationalist partisans throughout eastern and central Europe could see rampant homophobia as differentiating pro-Russian nats from Ukrainian or other variants. Pravy Sector, Svoboda, Azov, et al are relentless gay bashers, and in the habit of violently attacking pride parades. One of the usually russophobic outlets, I think it was the Atlantic, featured a “Yes, Ukraine has a far right problem” article a couple years back, which focused entirely on that aspect, apparently failing to find any of the other behavior problematic. (And to give an idea of how things work, that article mentioned that the authorities had proven that they COULD prevent violent attacks at the big Kiev Pride parade, which is also the only one that draws western media, but was mystified as to why participants in such gatherings were taking their lives in their hands anywhere else in the country.)
   5. lambert strether March 17, 2022 at 4:56 pm

      > And Glory to Ukraine! Is that the new Springtime for Hitler and Germany?

      It even scans–

      Springtime for Ukraine
      And Bandera….

      Which is unfair to the majority of Ukraine’s people. But as for Zelensky, lie down with dogs, get up fleas.
10. petal March 17, 2022 at 8:39 am

    “Neoliberalism Inside”-they could use the same NI logo that the Azov Battalion does.
    1. CaliDan March 17, 2022 at 1:47 pm

       Ha! Thank you for the levity this morning. Just what I needed.
11. Steve H. March 17, 2022 at 8:40 am

    > I have collected some thoughts on the immediate impact of sanctions on the Russian economy

    Putin’s recent speech (meeting on socioeconomic support for regions) directly addressed some of these points, but the transcript is from Russia and I can’t seem to get access.

    It’s a really important speech.
    1. square coats March 17, 2022 at 8:02 pm

       I think they have the full translation up at thesaker now and a commenter provides a link to view on rt, though depending on where you are in the world you may need to use a vpn to see the rt video.
12. Mikel March 17, 2022 at 8:40 am

    “What the Media Might Have Missed About South Korea’s Elections” RAND

    Everybody in the pic is wearing a face mask.

    The death cult economy assimilition has not yet been totally completed, but it is still on the pathway.
13. LawnDart March 17, 2022 at 8:42 am

    This article comes from a staunchly, pro Soviet-Russian source and was likely inspired, if not penned, by the Spawn of Satan himself, V. Putin. I post this as an example of Kremlin counter-propaganda that seeks to foster disunity amongst our loyal US/NATO allies and of efforts to disparage the good name of the heroic Azov Battalion. The writer of this piece is clearly delusional, a liar, and has things totally backwards: read at your own risk. /S!

    Ukrainian Disinformation? ‘Destroyed’ Russian Warship Vasily Bykov Seen Unscathed In Crimean Port

    The reports of the destruction of the Vaily Bykov are just one of the many propaganda stories that have been successfully disguised as real news by the Ukrainians. While both the Russians and Ukrainians have spread such false narratives, the Ukrainian ones have been readily lapped up by western media outlets eager to show the “underdog” is winning against the “aggressor.”

    https://www.ibtimes.com/ukrainian-disinformation-destroyed-russian-warship-vasily-bykov-seen-unscathed-3440690
14. Wukchumni March 17, 2022 at 8:53 am

    Google hit me up with their (rubs thumb vigorously up and down tips of fingers) invisible hand in donating to Ukrainian relief efforts, which has got me wondering when the relief concert is coming?

    Live Fire Aid ’22
    1. Sardonia March 17, 2022 at 9:25 am

       Next week, at Wembley Stadium. Zelensky will be one of the performers on stage.
       1. OIFVet March 17, 2022 at 9:34 am

          Puppetier offers to exfiltrate clown, clown refuses to leave clown car. Mounts a machine gun turret, TOW and S-300 systems on car instead, and drives off to Moscow to bring Putler to ICC. Crowd goes wild, appoints clown moral arbiter of all things freedumb and liberal duh-mocracy.

          Dunno about Wembley, but I totally see it as next year’s Super Bowl halftime show.
       2. Wukchumni March 17, 2022 at 9:45 am

          {translated onstage from Ukrainian…}

          “And everybody in England knows that there would be no charge of the light brigade if the UK hadn’t gone to war with Russia, and also the balaclava would have needed to be named something else, maybe an uber- toque?

          Send me your arms!”
       3. pjay March 17, 2022 at 10:20 am

          David Gilmour will perform. Roger Waters will be unavailable.
          1. Lambert Strether Post authorMarch 17, 2022 at 2:17 pm

             > David Gilmour will perform. Roger Waters will be unavailable.

             There you go. The clearest possible signal. And I loved Pink Floyd.
    2. Joe Renter March 17, 2022 at 12:43 pm

       I got that message too. What scum.
    3. CaliDan March 17, 2022 at 1:53 pm

       I don’t know ’bout y’all, but last week-ish I recieved a fun email poll from my congressperson, Anna Eshoo, which basically read: how much do you love Ukraine? Undontionally or just enough to want a no-fly zone?
15. Gumnut March 17, 2022 at 9:03 am

    Re: What is killing the millenials? Unacceptable Jessica

    @Lambert interesting choice to place this under ‘class warfare’ other than ‘covid’ – the vaccinated to be seen as a class? Combining with ‘Go die’ this makes the nuclear armed Karen swarm theory look pale by comparison.

    On that note – Denmark sitrep:

    https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/aa41b29149f24e20a4007a0c4e13db1d/page/page_5/
    Last 7 days 1663 hospitalisations with covid19 of which 175 unvaxxed (10,5%) vs 1488 vaxxed (89.5%). Given a population vax rate of 83%, this – as has been the case for all of Omikron since Dec – means an average vaxxed Dane has a 89.5/83 * 17/10.5 = 175% chance to be hospitalised with cov19 vs. an unvaxxed Dane.

    Excess mortality in e.g. Denmark, Portugal & South Korea:
    https://ourworldindata.org/excess-mortality-covid
    – has a clear behaviour change in 2021. Warum?
    1. lambert strether March 17, 2022 at 5:02 pm

       It’s not under “Class Warfare,” it’s adjacent to it.
16. Mikel March 17, 2022 at 9:07 am

    “US supplied bomb that killed 40 children on Yemen school bus” Guardian. I don’t think it’s “whataboutism”

    It’s kids being bombed in the context of international relations, so it’s relevant.
    But they’ve got you feeling like you need to justify your criticism of their continuing insanity. Like you have to prove you aren’t crazy.
    1. NotTimothyGeithner March 17, 2022 at 9:27 am

       “Yeah, but Ukraine has strong cultural bonds and Kiev is a centuries old city”-msm addict when they know they can’t say “white”
       1. Stephanie March 17, 2022 at 11:58 am

          Special Report: Not Your Typical Third World War:

          https://youtube.com/shorts/DBBvl3TL88E?feature=share
       2. Katniss Everdeen March 17, 2022 at 12:44 pm

          From Diana Johnstone:

          Putin’s announced goal of “denazification” also might have been expected to ring a bell in the West. But if anything, it illustrates the fact that “Nazi” does not mean quite the same thing in East and West. In Western countries, Germany or the United States, “Nazi” has come to mean primarily anti-Semitic. Nazi racism applies to Jews, to Roma, perhaps to homosexuals.

          But for the Ukrainian Nazis, racism applies to Russians. The racism of the Azov Battalion, which has been incorporated into Ukrainian security forces, armed and trained by the Americans and the British, echoes that of the Nazis: the Russians are a mixed race, partly “Asiatic” due to the Medieval Mongol conquest, whereas the Ukrainians are pure white Europeans.

          https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/16/diana-johnstone-for-washington-war-never-ends/
17. roxan March 17, 2022 at 9:30 am

    Re: Hospitals taking our N95 masks–that seems to be the policy everywhere around here. When I went for PT, there was a particularly zealous clerk who was not satisfied with my wearing a flimsy surgical mask over it. As a consequence, I wore a hospital issue mask while I had therapy in a tiny room with therapist in close contact and soon caught covid after she was out sick with a ‘cold’. Now, I am having neuro problems, many expensive tests and have an altered sense of taste and smell.
    1. Paul Jurczak March 17, 2022 at 2:55 pm

       This is insane. Is this another clumsy attempt at managing supply of PPE for (top echelon) of health care professionals? The doctors I’ve seen recently had good quality N95 masks and goggles on. The lesser workers, just surgical masks.
    2. Yves Smith March 18, 2022 at 3:08 am

       I am so so sorry.

       You probably don’t have the energy, but I am the sort who would get that clerk fired. I believe that people who are menaces deserve to suffer.
18. M Quinlan March 17, 2022 at 9:32 am

    Just when things were looking bad for the UK supply chain they only go and get worst.
    P&O will have to reflag all the vessels to be able to do this legally.
19. Seth Miller March 17, 2022 at 9:49 am

    For the “neoliberalism inside” logo, you can’t top Kurt Vonnegut’s drawing, from Breakfast of Champions, of an asshole:

    https://miro.medium.com/max/374/1*hCBj1-h4n7iZm6v-v8gNSw.png
    1. lambert strether March 17, 2022 at 5:04 pm

       Now I know what “with an asterisk” really means….
    2. Susan the other March 18, 2022 at 2:18 pm

       that’s as funny as the graph of chaos (just a solid black blob)
20. Jon Cloke March 17, 2022 at 10:01 am

    There’s a thing about Ukraine which is blowing my mind… Apparently, Ukrainian companies have been heavily involved in shipping arms to Myanmar to the post-coup regime to allow them to commit the same crimes against their citizens that Russia is in Ukraine (https://www.justiceformyanmar.org/press-releases/ukraine-arms-transfers-to-myanmar-are-enabling-the-juntas-terror).

    At the same time that Zelenskyy is asking NATO to redress the moral wrongs of the Russian invasion the Ukraine, having signed a UN agreement not to, is *still* providing weapons to the Myanmar military.

    This is weird enough, but the post-coup Myanmar regime has *backed* the Russian invasion of Ukraine! (https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-regime-backs-russias-invasion-of-ukraine.html) Ukraine has therefore been arming a regime that makes Putin look like an amateur and which is supporting its’ destruction….
    1. Glossolalia March 17, 2022 at 12:21 pm

       It’s like when France, after being liberated from Nazi occupation, went back to their heavy-handed colonial ways in Vietnam.
    2. lyman alpha blob March 17, 2022 at 1:39 pm

       Well to be fair, apparently Russia has been arming the Myanmar junta too – https://www.voanews.com/a/human-rights-expert-myanmar-junta-using-weapons-from-russia-and-china-against-civilians-/6453749.html

       So see, Russia and Ukraine really do have a lot in common!
    3. K.k March 17, 2022 at 11:38 pm

       No contradiction there. The Ukrainian State too has been at war with segments of its own population for several years now.

       I imagine its just business.
       As many here already understand Ukraine inherited a weapons manufacturing base after the dissolution of the USSR. Take India for example. We all know India relies heavily on Russia for it military platforms. However, India also has a relationship with the Ukrainian defense manufacturers. The following article discusses Indias reliance on Ukraine. India relies on aircraft manufacturer Antonov and gas turbine maker Zorya-Mashproekt in Ukraine. Both manufacturers came under fire from the Russians recently and there are supposedly pictures of their facilities on fire. Zorya has been an important supplier of gas turbines for Indias navy. In fact India buys the turbines and then sends them over to Russia for its frigates. India has also been purchasing various parts for its soviet era platforms for the past couple decades from Ukraine undercutting Russian prices. There was a minor tussle over this between the three in the early aughts. In the short term I imagine Indias navy is concerned. But it also sounds like they are salivating at getting a chance chance to bring Zorya Mashproekt to Indian soil for a joint venture to build in India. I recall they had been trying similar ventures with the Ukrainians but they never really took off.

       https://theprint.in/defence/why-russian-strikes-on-ukraines-defence-industry-sites-are-worrying-indian-navy-iaf/872948/
21. The Rev Kev March 17, 2022 at 10:07 am

    ‘As we know, elites — i.e., donors — really, really hate masking requirements, so it’s quite natural that college administrators would follow their lead.’

    This has tugged at a memory and now I know what it is. I was reading “Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World” by Nicholas Shaxson and in it, he relates a story that happened in the Bahamas on one of those islands. So this guy was visiting someone on his motorcycle when this wealthy guy came out and went absolutely feral at him. Was it because the guy ran over his cat or rode through his rose garden? No. It was because this guy was smart and so wore a motorcycle helmet. But this enraged this wealthy guy’s libertarian beliefs something chronic and so I began to wonder. This mask-hating emanating from the top. Is it like the motorcycle helmet which offends rich libertarians and so this has been filtering down? It’s not like a politician will tell a wealthy donor that they are wrong about masks and to get bent. So perhaps it is extremist libertarian beliefs among the wealthy that is setting the tone with mask-wearing.
    1. antidlc March 17, 2022 at 12:03 pm

       “So perhaps it is extremist libertarian beliefs among the wealthy that is setting the tone with mask-wearing.”

       https://www.dailyposter.com/how-dark-money-shaped-the-school-safety-debate/
       How Dark Money Shaped The School Safety Debate

       As schools started reopening under the new Democratic administration, Koch-affiliated groups adopted a harder line. In the lead-up to the 2021 state elections, the organizations began opposing in-school mask requirements for students and teachers in addition to closures.

       Observers say business interests likely saw masks as a damper on the return to pre-pandemic economic normalcy, given that they are a reminder of the ongoing public health crisis. Although the economy was recovering in 2021, it would still fall short of pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year, in terms of the number of workers and jobs. As of January 2022, the economy had 4.4 million fewer jobs and 2.7 million fewer workers.
       1. JBird4049 March 17, 2022 at 4:09 pm

          Maybe I’m stupid, but just how does being stupid about one’s health makes a person a good libertarian? I thought that doing what one wants and being responsible for one’s own actions is part of whatever variety of libertarianism you look at.

          There is a disease that one can reduce the chance of by wearing even a cheap, cloth mask and motorcycle accidents are a major supply of donor organs, which can be reduced by wearing a helmet; does being a “libertarian” or wealthy mean that imposing being suicidal is a good thing even if the fix to being not suicidal will not affect their own decisions about their life?

          I’m thinking that the foolish among us need validation for their actions by insisting that others do the same. It is like a drunk driver insisting that others drive drunk to show how fine it is.
          1. Kfish March 17, 2022 at 10:56 pm

             I think openly acknowledging that death is a possibility is what offends. People who can buy anything don’t like being reminded they can’t buy their way out of death.
             1. Skunk March 18, 2022 at 5:20 am

                Yes. I think you nailed it, Kfish. I’ve noticed that if you wear an N95, it makes people nervous. They suddenly have to face the prospect that there is actually is virus still out there, and that they themselves are at a certain risk. It pulls them out of La La Land.
22. Sailor Bud March 17, 2022 at 10:07 am

    A little over a minute of light-hearted sarcasm about the current Ukraine situation just from a few days ago, about US sanctions.

    Greetings to America from Natasha of Russia:

    https://youtu.be/qQiAlB8QMGg
    1. The Rev Kev March 17, 2022 at 10:10 am

       At least this time around I know that she is wearing a hat. :)
       1. britzklieg March 17, 2022 at 10:35 am

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C99ZPoKkGmg
          1. The Rev Kev March 17, 2022 at 10:41 am

             I’m a fan of the original Joe Cocker version myself.
    2. jrkrideau March 17, 2022 at 11:58 am

       cannat remember where i saw it but:
       Russia has already been cut off from CNN, Pornhub and Facebook. The US is now working on depriving Russians of McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. If they keep going with these sanctions, Russians will soon be alone the healthiest ,well adjusted, and at best informed people on the planet.
       
23. antidlc March 17, 2022 at 10:25 am

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jeff-zients-white-house-covid-response-coordinator-to-leave-post/ar-AAVc7yJ

    Jeff Zients, White House COVID response coordinator, to leave post

    Jeff Zients, the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator, will be leaving his post with the Biden administration in April, the White House said Thursday. He will be replaced by Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health and a general internist.
    1. Tom Stone March 17, 2022 at 11:37 am

       Does this mean the CDC will no longer be following the Zients?
    2. petal March 17, 2022 at 12:31 pm

       I am curious about what Zients be doing next.
       1. antidlc March 17, 2022 at 1:04 pm

          I was wondering the same thing!
    3. Nikkikat March 17, 2022 at 1:26 pm

       They are replacing the Wall Street investor with a Doctor? Oh say it ain’t so Joe! By the way anyone know where Fauci has been hiding. He seems to have a very low profile lately.
       1. antidlc March 17, 2022 at 1:36 pm

          What you need to know about Jha…

          Great thread by Justin Feldman:
          https://twitter.com/jfeldman_epi/status/1504424757038616576
       2. lambert strether March 17, 2022 at 5:09 pm

          Jha is a Dean. He’s a universiry administrator with a talking head side-hustle, not a practicing scientist.
24. Grumpy Engineer March 17, 2022 at 10:25 am

    “Glenmark launches Nitric Oxide spray against COVID”

    Nitric oxide is an air pollutant. Emissions from tailpipes are heavily regulated, and OSHA and NIOSH have set the permissible exposure limit at 25 ppm for workplace environments.

    And now we’re supposed to deliberately spray it up our noses? Sigh… This isn’t going to end well.
    1. djrichard March 17, 2022 at 3:41 pm

       I’ve been using https://salinex.ca/protect/ . Contains carrageenan. So far so good.
    2. djrichard March 17, 2022 at 4:29 pm

       I was looking into this some more and I think you’re thinking of nitrogen oxide. “Nitric oxide is a compound in the body that causes blood vessels to widen …”
       1. Grumpy Engineer March 17, 2022 at 10:16 pm

          I specifically listed details for nitric oxide (NO). Even though it’s less chemically aggressive than nitrogen dioxide (NO2), it can still react with the hydroperoxy radical to form NO2, which in turn reacts with a hydroxyl radical (OH) to produce nitric acid (HNO3) that attacks the lungs. That’s why OSHA and NIOSH have specifically established limits for NO.

          It’s not as scary as straight NO2 (where the limit is a mere 0.2 ppm), but breathing it still isn’t a good idea.
    3. Roger March 17, 2022 at 7:30 pm

       Nitric oxide only has one nitrogen atom and one oxygen atom (NO), its very different to nitrogen oxide that has two oxygen atoms (NO2) or nitrous oxide that has two nitrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (N2O).
       – N2O is a greenhouse gas and is also known as “laughing gas” with quite a few medical uses.
       – NO2 is a powerful air pollutant.
       – NO is used in our bodies, but is toxic above a certain concentration and even depletes the ozone layer.
25. Basil Pesto March 17, 2022 at 10:50 am

    Zients is being replaced

    … by Ashish [F]. Jha.

    No words. Everything is loony.
26. Acacia March 17, 2022 at 10:51 am

    Louise Mensch…. does not sound like much of a Mensch.
27. scarnoc March 17, 2022 at 11:09 am

    By the time the Russians have wrapped up the invasion to their satisfaction, westerners will believe that RF lost 50 generals, 100,000 tanks, and a million soldiers. The fakery and propaganda around this conflict surpasses even Syria by enormous factors. I have never seen anything like it. Much of the fakery is easy to spot (recycled images from other conflicts, usually). But much of it is like the the image neo-nazi hugger Mensch posted. It is possible that we are looking at the corpse of a general. It’s also unlikely, easy to fake, and the source is completely unbelievable. That lack of certainty allows for great inventiveness. Either way, western media has poisoned the well for hundreds of millions of people, very successfully.
    1. AnArchitect March 17, 2022 at 12:06 pm

       Agree that the media organs of the West are continuing the long tradition of distortion. But perhaps, just maybe, and in spite of the House of Mirrors approach to video journalism these days, Russia should not have invaded? I would love to know, as would everyone in the world, what “their satisfaction” actually means in a concrete sense. The onus has to be on the invader to define these terms, no?
       1. Polar Socialist March 17, 2022 at 12:36 pm

          I think they have been the same since before the invasion. And at least I have seen them many times.

          – neutral Ukraine with regards to any military alliance.
          – Russian as second official language of Ukraine, abolish laws prohibiting use of Russian.
          – recognise Crimea as Russian.
          – recognise Donetsk and Lugansk as independent.
          – demilitarisation / no weapons that could be a threat to the Kremlin.
          – banning ultra-nationalist organisations.

          These are the official demands in the negotiations. There has also been talk about the people of Ukraine (read: regions) being able to freely decide their future (read: federation). This may refer to demands for autonomy of Zakarpattia by Hungary and Zakarpathians alike. Also the Kherson region seems to be turning towards Russia already.
       2. Mr. House March 17, 2022 at 12:37 pm

          Perhaps maybe we shouldn’t have coup’d the ukraine government favorable to Putin that borders his country? Consider: China installs a government in Mexico, gives them weapons and tells them to make problems on our border? How would .gov react?
       3. scarnoc March 17, 2022 at 12:42 pm

          The Russian government has published these war aims repeatedly:

          1. Enforced neutrality in Ukraine – No participation in NATO or de facto coordination with NATO

          2. Demilitarization of Ukraine – Their armed forces must be legally prevented from activity, including armament and training, that could be used offensively

          3. Denazification of Ukraine – All neo-nazis and their enablers must be removed from positions of authority and anyone who participated in criminal activity must be tried for those crimes

          4. DPR and LPR must be recognized as independent

          Those are the core of what Russia means to accomplish. More might be added, of course.These aims should be viewed within the context of the declarations by the Russian government about their views on a new joint-security architecture in Europe last year, and also in the context of the joint declaration about multipolarity and global security issued by Moscow and Beijing earlier this year. IMHO, this action in Ukraine is part of a global process of actions against USA power that is going to expand extensively. Call it World War Three if you like.
       4. Lex March 17, 2022 at 12:53 pm

          Well they said a demilitarized and denazified Ukraine, and on the latter they do not mean that all Ukrainians are Nazis but that “Nazis” have managed to occupy important posts in the political and military structure of Ukraine. They’ve been bad about defining “Nazi” but likely because for Russians the word basically means Western fascists, while in the West it’s tightly bound to to antisemitism alone and the German historical experience. Most of the time, Americans forget that the list of subhuman people was not limited to Jews but happened to include all of the Slavs. Of course the OUN did proclaim loyalty and fealty to Adolf Hitler personally in 1941, so I suppose you could argue that ethnic-ultra nationalism in Ukraine is directly related to German Nazism.

          This may surprise Americans, but for many Russians the mere idea of having ultra-nationalist fascists that consider Slavs to be subhuman, armed by NATO sitting on Russia’s doorstep is both terrifying and disgusting. The last time ultra-nationalist fascists from Europe came calling it cost 27M lives.

          In a concrete sense, it most likely means that Russia will not allow Ukraine to pose a military threat to Russia in any way. Recall that the 1991 Ukrainian declaration of independence established neutrality. Recall also that Russia presented the US/NATO with concrete “demands” for security in Europe months ago with the expectation that honest negotiations be undertaken leading to legally binding agreements. They were ignored and laughed at. It’s probably worth referencing those “demands” when determining the concrete definition of the terms and aims of Russia.
          1. Kouros March 17, 2022 at 4:12 pm

             https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalplan_Ost
28. jo6pac March 17, 2022 at 11:38 am

    Natylies friends in Russia check in with their thoughts.

    https://natyliesbaldwin.com/2022/03/feedback-from-my-contacts-in-russia/
29. Michael March 17, 2022 at 11:42 am

    Spokesperson for Chinese mission to the EU: (Getting bolder every day)

    The Chinese can fully understand the pain and suffering of other countries because we will never forget who blew up our embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. We don’t need lectures on justice from a violator of international law.

    Let’s keep bringing up Yugoslavia!

    Interesting stmt the other day about killing Ukies while they were standing in line to by bread. What next? Will we see a musician playing a cello out front every day for two weeks? (Exc book – The Cellist of Sarajevo)
    1. lance ringquist March 17, 2022 at 1:16 pm

       agreed, its blowback time over nafta billy clinton s disastrous world policies.

       https://www.globalresearch.ca/globalisms-first-victim-natos-war-on-yugoslavia/5633684

       “n 1999, NATO said it was attacking Yugoslavia to force it to sign the Rambouillet “peace agreement” (even though the Vienna Convention states that any treaty obtained by force or the threat of force is void).

       Significantly, Rambouillet stipulated:

       “The economy of Kosovo shall function in accordance with free market principles” and “There shall be no impediments to the free movement of persons, goods, services and capital to and from Kosovo.”

       During the war, Bill Clinton elaborated:

       “If we’re going to have a strong economic relationship that includes our ability to sell around the world Europe has got to be the key; that’s what this Kosovo thing is all about… It’s globalism versus tribalism.”

       “Tribalism” was the word used by 19th century free trade liberals to describe nationalism. And this war was all about threatening any nation which might have ideas of independence.

       Yugoslavia had a domestically controlled economy, a strong publicly owned sector, a good (and free) health care system and its own defence industry. It had many employee owned factories — its population was resisting wholesale privatization.

       It produced its own pharmaceuticals, aircraft and Yugo automobile. It refused to allow U.S. military bases on its soil. According to the speaker of the Russian Duma:”

       we now know yugoslavia and milosivic were found innocent: Bill’s deeds have lessons for Americans. Had we learned them, maybe no U.S. forces would be fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and elsewhere.

       http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/10/14/1575064/-Bill-Clinton-s-war
    2. mary jensen March 17, 2022 at 5:35 pm

       Yet nother cellist, yet another war:

       https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/valery-gergiev-palmyra-syria-concert/

       “Battle of the Bands”
30. steve2241 March 17, 2022 at 11:45 am

    I haven’t seen this mentioned in today’s links. It’s an english translation from a spanish newspaper article today using google translate. I can’t locate the original english-language BBC article (maybe it’s been taken down), only articles condemning the common man:

    Putin’s threatening message against “scum and traitors” among Russian oligarchs who align with the West

    The Russian president has lashed out at wealthy Russians who have pro-Western leanings around the invasion of Ukraine.

    “I am not judging everyone who has a villa in Miami or on the French Riviera. Or who cannot live without foie gras , oysters and so-called gender freedom. The problem here is not that, but the fact that many of those people, by their very nature, are mentally located there and not here. Not with our people, not with Russia.”

    https://www-laprensagrafica-com.translate.goog/internacional/El-amenazante-mensaje-de-Putin-contra-la-escoria-y-los-traidores-entre-los-oligarcas-rusos-que-se-alinean-con-Occidente-20220317-0002.html?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
31. flora March 17, 2022 at 11:53 am

    Glenn Greenwald’s newest substack article, no paywall:

    The NYT Now Admits the Biden Laptop — Falsely Called “Russian Disinformation” — is Authentic

    https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-nyt-now-admits-the-biden-laptop?s=r
    1. fresno dan March 17, 2022 at 12:16 pm

       flora
       The backlash against this reporting was immediate and intense, leading to suppression of the story by U.S. corporate media outlets and censorship of the story by leading Silicon Valley monopolies. The disinformation campaign against this reporting was led by the CIA’s all-but-official spokesperson Natasha Bertrand (then of Politico, now with CNN), whose article on October 19 appeared under this headline: “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.”
       These “former intel officials” did not actually say that the “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo.” Indeed, they stressed in their letter the opposite: namely, that they had no evidence to suggest the emails were falsified or that Russia had anything to do them, but, instead, they had merely intuited this “suspicion” based on their experience
       ==========================
       The phrasing, ironically (well, actually I don’t know if it is ironic – I guess it depends on what your definition of ironic is…) is Clintonesque. And how convenient that, according to Goolge, it was 519 days ago…
       Seriously, we see that the Agenda is paramount, and objective reporting is only the CIA cover
    2. Mr. House March 17, 2022 at 12:39 pm

       Which comes back to my question i posted on another article the other day: If a color revolution happened in the United States, what would it look like and how would the media report it?
       1. Lex March 17, 2022 at 12:56 pm

          Jan 6 was a color revolution that failed, probably only because no counter protestors showed up.
          1. Mr. House March 17, 2022 at 12:59 pm

             I think over time we’ll learn more so that Jan 6th was the reichstag fire then the way its being presented now.
             1. Yves Smith March 18, 2022 at 3:17 am

                If you believe this, you are utterly immune to evidence.

                This was cosplay, as made explicit by the goofy Viking-emulating headdress of the most photographed intruder. They got inside, took pictures, stole a few items, and left PEACEFULLY.
       2. Duke of Prunes March 17, 2022 at 2:47 pm

          My working theory on RussiaRussiaRussia! and BLM is that it was / is a color revolution. The CIA & co did to us what they’ve practiced across the world. They got rid of Trump, but, so far, not for good. Queue up a skirmish in Ukraine and continue to tie Trump to ever evil Putin. After months of MSM silence on all things Trump, now he’s back on the news, but only in stories that bind him to Putin. Once this bind is strong enough, pesto-chango, orange man bad is gone for good. This is all about saving the D’s from a total washout in 2022, and if it hasn’t had enough time, we’ll extend it to 2024. Certainly worth risking nuclear war…
          1. Mr. House March 17, 2022 at 2:54 pm

             I echo what Fresno Dan says below, i’ve never understood the utter hatred for Trump that people with signs in their yards that state hate has no home here spewed towards him and anyone else who didn’t agree with their agenda. What frightened them so much that they lost their minds?
             1. Mr. House March 17, 2022 at 3:17 pm

                “Certainly worth risking nuclear war…”

                I get the feeling something is in the Ukraine that the Dems or establishment or whatever, don’t want the Russians to get their hands on.
             2. drumlin woodchuckles March 18, 2022 at 2:48 pm

                Some of them were functionallly psychological Monarchists for their beloved Queen Hillary. She was coronated the DemPrez nominee and was supposed to be coronated Queen Hillary the First. But the Evil Usurper, the Dark Prince Donald, stole her rightful throne. So the millions of Pink Pussy Hat Clintonites hate Dark Prince Donald, the Evil Usurper , for stealing the throne which was rightfully Hillary’s.

                And some just don’t like Trump’s style or his class position beyond his “social status”. They regard him as the Butt Crack Plumber who somehow got billions of dollars and then got elected. How?

                ( And some among the International Free Trade Conspiracy thought Trump actually meant it about no more Free Trade . . . . as if Trump was intelligent enough to actually mean anything for long).
          2. fresno dan March 17, 2022 at 8:12 pm

             DoP
             After months of MSM silence on all things Trump, now he’s back on the news, but only in stories that bind him to Putin.
             I think you are correct. Technically, treason only occurs during war, so as there was no war they really couldn’t charge Trump with treason. Now, will a de facto war be enough, or do we need some de jure NATO legalism to be at war so we can have Mueller II… (of course, someone more “focused” than Mueller)
             Think about what Trump pursuers did – would they really risk war with a country that has ICBM’s??? It was not a conspiracy of a few – it was a lot of people at the highest reaches of government willing to do some quite extraordinary things…
             Are people tired of Trump? As Ukraine gets old, but ever newer gas prices get higher, I think Trump could come back…
          3. Yves Smith March 18, 2022 at 3:20 am

             No. no, no.

             BLM was organic and grass roots. Then Dem operatives and NGO types made a largely successful takeover from the top. But some locals are still independent.

             The point of the takeover was to neuter it. The die-ins were enormously effective theater and attracted significant non-POC participation. Those stopped as of the establishment hijacking.
             1. Duke of Prunes March 18, 2022 at 3:18 pm

                I agree that BLM started as organic and grass roots. Perhaps I should have been more specific. I believe that most of the activity after George Floyd was not organic. “Spontaneous” demonstrations across ~100 cities didn’t strike me as organic. It looked too similar to stuff the CIA foments around the world to overthrow govts. As you mention NGOs, aren’t they the preferred instigators of CIA led change? And, of course, the Ds were involved since they were the “new” government. Then again, I have no proof, and I suppose with social media nationwide “spontaneity” is possible, although I would argue unlikely. As I said, this is a theory.
    3. Screwball March 17, 2022 at 1:15 pm

       Thanks for this link.

       The money line IMO; “The real reason most liberals and their media allies do not want to hear about any of this is because they believe that the means they used (deliberately lying to the public with CIA disinformation) are justified by their noble ends (defeating Trump).”

       I think that sums it up. The people who suffered the most from TDS wanted him out so bad they didn’t care what it took – illegal or not – to get rid of him. The problem is, they are still suffering from TDS. You cannot say ANYTHING about Biden, or the democrats in general – because Trump. That is their default answer to everything.

       This story will get no traction. If brought up, they will just say – but Trumps kids, and/or Trump did… End of discussion. They lived 4 years of Trump hell and are not done with revenge on anything that smells Trump. Trump, his kids, the Russians, and of course the dreaded Trumpers themselves. Those slime ball knuckle dragging mouth breathing red neck hicks who voted for him.

       Hell hath no fury like a PMC scorned (by a Trumper). Laws, ethics, morals, common sense, the truth be damned. Trump broke PMC brains to the point of no return. The problem now seems to be – their bloodlust for anything Trump (like Putin/Russia) is hurting the rest of the country – and possibly getting us nuked in the process.
       1. fresno dan March 17, 2022 at 2:07 pm

          Sb
          To me, the interesting question is why the PMC hates Trump sooooo much. If you look at what Trump actually did, it boils down to tax cuts and Supreme court nominations. Standard republican policy.
          And of course, every republican president is portrayed as dumber and more evil than the last (why they keep beating the dem nominees is never really addressed). Undoubtedly, social media magnifies this effect.
          And Trump certainly isn’t going to do anything in fact to address inequality. So why is Trump perceived as such an existential threat? Or is Trump merely Kabuki to maintain distraction (or profit)?
          It would be ironic indeed if Trump has lost influence because even Trump can be overexposed…
          1. britzklieg March 17, 2022 at 2:31 pm

             why the PMC hates Trump sooooo much

             it’s all about the Clintons.
          2. drumlin woodchuckles March 18, 2022 at 2:50 pm

             He also set about ” decnstructing the Administrative State” as much as he could, by appointing saboteurs and moles everywhere he could into it . . . . anti-EPA-ist Pruitt at EPA, for example.
          3. Rory March 18, 2022 at 7:04 pm

             For a lot of reasons I suppose, but the one that stays in my mind is that he won the election. They, not he, are supposed to run things and the “deplorables” who voted him in are supposed to follow directions, not give them.
       2. lambert strether March 17, 2022 at 5:17 pm

          > The money line IMO; “The real reason most liberals and their media allies do not want to hear about any of this is because they believe that the means they used (deliberately lying to the public with CIA disinformation) are justified by their noble ends (defeating Trump).”

          I think the best formulation I’ve seen of this idea is that the PMC/liberal Democrats declared a “state of exception” (Nazi legal theorist Carl Schmitt, ironically enough) as part of coming to class consciousness 2016-2020. Having experienced it, they don’t want to give it up
       3. Mr. House March 17, 2022 at 6:03 pm

          “You cannot say ANYTHING about Biden, or the democrats in general – because Trump.”

          Actually it started before that, I remember critiquing many Obama policies and uh, you were racist if you didn’t agree with everything he did. What does that remind you of?
    4. Kouros March 17, 2022 at 4:17 pm

       Are they trying to pry the “No Fly Zone” out of Biden’s clenched fist?
32. antidlc March 17, 2022 at 11:56 am

    RE: Opinion: Two years into covid-19, has Congress learned nothing? Leana Wen

    Wait, I’m confused. Wasn’t Wen one of the “return to normalcy” cheerleaders just a few weeks ago?
    1. flora March 17, 2022 at 12:02 pm

       A weathervane in the political winds of big pharma. / ;)
       1. antidlc March 17, 2022 at 1:31 pm

          Maybe she’s mad Jha got the job and she didn’t?

          Was she auditioning all this time and didn’t get the part?
33. Wukchumni March 17, 2022 at 11:59 am

    I know who i’d want to be our fellow traveling the street in Kiev corresponding: Dashiell ‘Dacha’ Hammett, no stool pigeon-he.

    The fog of war would be more fun…

    Hammett devoted much of his life to left-wing activism. He was a strong antifascist throughout the 1930s, and in 1937 joined the Communist Party.

    Hammett testified on July 9, 1951, in front of United States District Court Judge Sylvester Ryan, facing questioning by Irving Saypol, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, described by Time as “the nation’s number-one legal hunter of top Communists”. During the hearing, Hammett refused to provide the information the government wanted, specifically the list of contributors to the bail fund, “people who might be sympathetic enough to harbor the fugitives.” Instead, on every question regarding the CRC or the bail fund, Hammett declined to answer, citing the Fifth Amendment, refusing to even identify his signature or initials on CRC documents the government had subpoenaed. As soon as his testimony concluded, Hammett was found guilty of contempt of court.

    Hammett served time in a West Virginia federal penitentiary, where, according to Lillian Hellman, he was assigned to clean toilets. Hellman noted in her eulogy of Hammett that he submitted to prison rather than reveal the names of the contributors to the fund because “he had come to the conclusion that a man should keep his word.” (Wiki)
34. fresno dan March 17, 2022 at 12:05 pm

    https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/digital-exclusive/these-are-the-top-10-fictional-fresnans/

    Although Bennie from Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is not a fictional Fresnan, his line is the best line about Fresno ever in a movie.

    https://parallax-view.org/2010/05/13/bring-me-the-head-of-alfredo-garcia/
    That Benny signally stands in for his creator has been evident throughout the film, in those emblematic, impenetrable glasses, in many mannerisms of behavior and delivery, and even in the tipping of such autobiographical incunabula as Benny’s remark about the quality of his and Elita’s last hotel room: “You oughta be drunk in Fresno, California—this place is a palace!” Now Peckinpah launches himself in overt assault upon the audience—that portion of the audience at least that by now he knows has come to loathe him.
    1. Wukchumni March 17, 2022 at 12:20 pm

       Fresno has always had an anti-cannabis vibe, seeing it as the abyss and it would know. A 2 fisted drinking town though.

       Sometimes you’ll see liquor stores on 3 out of 4 stoplight intersection corners…
       1. fresno dan March 17, 2022 at 1:35 pm

          Wuk
          I see ’em at 5 out of 4 stoplight intersection corners…and on Staint Patrick’s day, maybe even 7or 8 stoplight intersection corners…
          1. Pate March 17, 2022 at 3:49 pm

             An Irish traffic circle?
          2. Anthony G Stegman March 17, 2022 at 6:14 pm

             You and Wuk make me laugh so much!!!! :)
35. antidlc March 17, 2022 at 12:08 pm

    1,943 US Covid deaths “tolerated” yesterday.
    https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/cumulative-cases
    1. Martin Oline March 17, 2022 at 4:01 pm

       1,000,000 U.S. deaths in three days. Just in time to be ignored by the Sunday morning talk shows.
36. OIFVet March 17, 2022 at 12:23 pm

    You know we have reached peak liberal cause celebre when Bono enters the scene: Pelosi to read poem Bono wrote about Ukraine at lunch.
    1. hunkerdown March 17, 2022 at 12:30 pm

       Not yet. Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones did not manage to rearrange “We Are the World” for COVID-19, and Ukraine might be their last clear chance to ride a wave.
       1. britzklieg March 17, 2022 at 12:44 pm

          and who can’t wait for Sean Penn’s docudrama?
    2. Screwball March 17, 2022 at 1:19 pm

       We get Bono when we really need George Carlin
    3. fresno dan March 17, 2022 at 1:33 pm

       https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10590733/Tesla-driving-Stephen-Colbert-preaches-surging-gas-prices-worth-clean-conscience.html

       Colbert, who earns $16 million a year from his late night gig and drives a Tesla Model S, said Americans shouldn’t complain about having to pay up at the pump because it’s the right thing to do.
       =======================================
       I guess driving an electric car helps…
       1. Pat March 17, 2022 at 1:48 pm

          I, personally, am writing my Congress and Senate representatives and demanding an immediate 30% sur tax (regardless of source as in earned and investment) of all Americans making over 5 million dollars a year. This would be used to pay for the gas for all the plebes who cannot afford to pay for expensive gas but would love to support the Ukraine. Oh and it cannot be reduced by any deductions nor can it be used as deduction when you figure out the rest of your income tax. You make 5 million you pay $1,500,000 just to begin with.

          Then I want to hear about how Americans shouldn’t complain because its the right thing to do….
          1. fresno dan March 17, 2022 at 8:21 pm

             Pat
             I am so old, I can remember tieing my dinosaur to the school hitching post. AND when gas prices when up, there wan an excess profits tax
             https://www.cga.ct.gov/2008/rpt/2008-R-0532.htm#:~:text=The%20windfall%20profit%20tax%20on,excise%20tax%20on%20oil%20producers.
             It is amazing how much modern life is like The Village, a movie about not talking about that which they can not talk about. The MSM is the same when it comes about talking about sacrifices of the rich, i.e., it can NEVER be spoken of. Sacrifice is first, only, and ever for just the 99%.
             1. Art_DogCT March 17, 2022 at 8:58 pm

                The MSM doesn’t talk about sacrifices of the rich because they have never seen any.

                I will say that on first glance “sacrifices of the rich” gave rise to the most wonderful of misunderstandings. Several of the deities I honor would welcome the offerings.
    4. jr March 17, 2022 at 1:56 pm

       Followed moments later by the ballistic regurgitation of said lunch. For me, Bono is a smirking, genetically self assured avatar of the PMC mindset; a privileged, candy-a$$ed brat who has come to believe all the gritty black and white photos of him with desert or urban backdrops make for aged-leather authenticity. They’re so real.

       When they emerged from whatever corporate egg sack they were incubated in a million years ago, all the “preppies” and jocks and other high school conformites instantly fell in love. Nothing sells in America like ersatz rebellion. U2 was the latest incarnation of “The Boss”, that hero of the working man who now trades quips and quiet moments with another hollow man and enemy of the worker, Obama. While discussing his bazillion dollar guitar collection or what not and why the US rocks steady, on and on, no matter what reality says.

       If memory serves, when U2 appeared on the scene in a noxious cloud of piety the story was that they had fought their way tooth and nail from the ghettos of Belfast. How American! One could almost get the sense they were veterans of some unnamed conflict. In truth, at least Boner Vox grew up in the safety and comfort of a high rise overlooking the peasants.
    5. Maritimer March 17, 2022 at 5:23 pm

       Hey don’t you mean Phono? And proof once again of the truth of my sainted Gaelic Mother’s saying: “They blame everything on the Irish!”
37. McWatt March 17, 2022 at 12:57 pm

    On excess deaths for millenials, one thing we can look at is fentanyl. In my town I have seen several deaths from accidentally ingesting the drug when you thought you were taking something else.
38. Joe Renter March 17, 2022 at 12:58 pm

    Hunkerdown
    Thats funny. It would be tough to do though since Quincy is rearranged out of the physical realm.
    sidenote… I worked at Pike Place Market in Seattle and his mother use to shop at the produce stand I was employed with. She was a hoot. Dementia was apparent, but she really proud of her Son.
39. antidlc March 17, 2022 at 1:13 pm

    So Jha is the new covid response guy.

    Check this out:
    CDC announces the new mask guidelines on Feb. 25:
    https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/25/cdc-relaxes-mask-guidance-allowing-most-people-to-ditch-masks-if-hospitalizations-remain-low.html

    On the SAME DAY, an opinion piece by Jha appears in the NY Times:
    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/opinion/cdc-covid-guidelines.html
    We’ve Entered a New Phase of the Pandemic. It’s Time for New Metrics.

    If the opinion piece appeared on Feb. 25, then Jha would have submitted it prior to Feb. 25, the date of publication. So…he knew about the guidelines ahead of time, right?

    (h/t to Justin Feldman)
    https://twitter.com/jfeldman_epi/status/1497425778287468548

    Anyone find it weird that a public health dean wrote about these policies approvingly before they were even announced (given the publishing timeline) and then administration officials highlight it as evidence their own policies are supported by the scientific community?
40. Jason Boxman March 17, 2022 at 1:16 pm

    “I agree with the easing of restrictions, because you can’t think of it as an emergency after two years,” said Antonella Viola, professor of immunology at Italy’s University of Padua.

    I guess insofar as the house has burned to the ground at this point, this statement is correct. That’s a disaster and a tragedy, but not really an emergency.
    1. newcatty March 17, 2022 at 5:43 pm

       Tragic Capitalism. Beyond Disaster.
       1. square coats March 17, 2022 at 11:13 pm

          Maybe in keeping with the noun + noun formulation, Tragedy Capitalism? (not meaning to nitpick, I totally dig your phrasing/idea!)
41. Pat March 17, 2022 at 1:38 pm

    Is the Azov Regiment trying to rewrite history or going with we had really really bad graphics people as a defense for their symbols? It is clearly BS either way.

    And while I recognize that the response of the American and European people to these last weeks has been sadly lacking in logic and cognitive thinking, the mere fact that anyone can write that without expecting the public to recognize it for the bunkum it is shows not just the level of propaganda but how little our betters and so-called journalists think of the public.
    1. das monde March 18, 2022 at 2:43 am

       stylized versions of the letters N and I,

       The letters are stylistically rotated. The N might as well be Z.
42. Kris March 17, 2022 at 2:18 pm

    Modern Capitalism Is Weirder Than You Think:

    “Given the deleterious economic effects of unchecked warming, maximizing long-term asset values requires a green transition. And since Exxon’s largest shareholders are asset managers — who have more to gain from high asset prices than high Exxon profits — a green transition is in the financial interest of Exxon’s largest shareholders.”

    Shows the blinders the author can’t see past: reducing emissions – and all the other crises due to having expanded beyond our resource base – requires actually shrinking the entire economy and throughput, which is most definitely NOT in the interests of any asset manager.
    1. Susan the other March 18, 2022 at 2:51 pm

       That is a very good point Kris. I was going to praise Eric Levitz for composing a reasonably good capitalist manifesto. But you are right. Global warming and climate change are on a collision course with “asset prices” – clearly the situation requires big changes across the board. Maybe this stage of asset management capitalism will lead to an equal distribution of value adjustments – like controlled demolition – from the old extraction and socialization-of costs-economy to one based on very long term thinking. No quick profit taking anywhere in a new economy so as to prevent the sudden collapse of the stock market. Otherwise when one domino falls, the rest won’t be far behind – so do whatever it takes to stop that first one from falling. Hold it up, subsidize it, reconfigure a corporate governance that does not need profits… but can still be capitalism because it will be a process of capitalizing on ESG improvements in order to survive. So seeing into the future “shareholder value” (already an oxymoron) will be to maintain good corporate business practices sans profits – the dividend will be a better future and probably even a better today. Can’t get too much worse.
43. drumlin woodchuckles March 17, 2022 at 2:32 pm

    ” WHO says global rise in COVID cases is ‘tip of the iceberg’ Reuters ”

    Hmmm . . . . mission accomplished?
44. drumlin woodchuckles March 17, 2022 at 2:44 pm

    The Azov Regiment’s symbol is a Nassi Swassika. It is meant to evoke the Nazi Swastika while being just “different” enough to provide some plausible deniability. But the deniability lacks plausibility.

    There are quite a few Nassi Swassikas used by different groups. If all the Nassi Swassikas were laid out and illustrated and explained in one handy article, it might make the concept more clear and easy to understand.

    Here is a Nassi Swassika that not too many people know. It is from the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.
    https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/l/lb%7Dssnp.gif

    That’s just one example to illustrate the concept.

    And what do you know . . . someone has already attempted such an article. Here is the website.
    https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/qt-z.html
45. OverOverB March 17, 2022 at 3:06 pm

    Akgae fans seem positively quaint compared to the sasaeng fans. Absolute nutters.
46. RobertC March 17, 2022 at 3:26 pm

    Military analyst Chen Feng article in AsiaTimes From Russia, will US expand economic war to China? New sanctions against China would leave Beijing less reason to forebear in strategic matters including Taiwan

    Note: “Observer” columnist Chen Feng points to what he considers fundamental areas of weakness in the US position: The deindustrialization of the US economy, America’s dependence on debt, and an accelerating shift of US dollar trade settlement and reserves following the Russian sanctions. China exercises forbearance in strategic matters, including Taiwan, because of the mutual benefits of US-China trade; if the United States applies new sanctions to China, it will have less reason to do so.

    He summarizes

    If China is the greatest threat to US long-term interests, Taiwan is the last lock that holds China in place. When this lock is opened, the Pacific Ocean and the entire world will be wide open. Wishing to strike China with an economic war, the US ends up with a broken defense militarily – which is not a good deal in any way.

    It is in the best interest of the United States to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. By extension, the United States cannot expand its economic warfare against China indefinitely and avoid breaking the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.

    You can’t rule out the possibility of the US going crazy. In this event, then China will not be afraid to cash in on the worst possible scenario.
47. RobertC March 17, 2022 at 3:51 pm

    Tomorrow (Friday 18 March) Biden and Xi hold virtual conference:

    Politico Biden will talk to Xi Friday amid Russian war in Ukraine

    TheHill Biden to speak with Xi Jinping on Friday
    1. Yves Smith March 18, 2022 at 3:28 am

       OMG this may force me to look at official readouts.

       Looks like the US initiated the call as a result of Jake Sullivan (deservedly) hitting a brick wall Monday.

       What do you want to bet Biden repeats the US canard that Russia asked China for military support re Ukraine (the reason this is clearly bollocks is the start of a comparatively short war is way too late to ask, particularly given delivery lead times)?. Or worse threatens China with sanctions? The Chinese interlocutor to Jake Sullivan in Rome (Yang I think) already got super pissy about both ideas.
48. Dave in Austin March 17, 2022 at 4:07 pm

    A few tidbits from the timesofIsreal site:

    Total population of the Ukraine excluding the breakway regoins and Crimea is 37 million;

    Before the conflict there were 1.4 million Ukrainians working in Poland so the “1 mllion Ukrainians in thr EU’ number is obvoiusly wrong;

    186,000 refuges have gone to Russia plus the UNHRC 2/21-2/23 number of 50,000 from the breakaway regions. Also, a significant number of the refugees in the south are taking refuge in Russian controlled areas, but this may simply be for personal safety and convenience.
    1. Yves Smith March 18, 2022 at 4:01 am

       No, 186,000 refugees is way low. Even NPR conceded over 1 million to Russia:

       https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/04/02/470375761/ukrainians-who-fled-to-russia-find-the-welcome-is-no-longer-warm

       This puts the number even higher because it was of course Russia’s fault:

       https://www.usip.org/publications/2015/11/ukraines-invisible-crisis-15-million-who-fled-war-russia
       1. Polar Socialist March 18, 2022 at 4:47 am

          Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations claims that something like 2.6 million Ukrainians have requested evacuation to Russia or Belarus (trough humanitarian corridors) but Ukraine refuses.
49. jr March 17, 2022 at 4:11 pm

    “I am increasingly convinced that the next decade will be one of similar relentlessness, and we will all have to grapple with the wounds and scars in different, defining ways. It’s a terrifying prospect, really: to know just how much tumult and change we will endure. But our future is not fixed. Where are we prepared to guide it?”

    Metatron save us from the monkey-house inanities of PMC cultural criticism. It always sees things, even “The Big Picture”*, through the blinkering lenses of it’s own 300$ sunglasses. It takes exactly zero predictive psychic abilities, algorithms, Ouija boards, economists, chicken innards, or Tom Friedmans’ to know that the next several decades are going to be a long, sweaty, relentless slide down Satan’s a$$-crack for the vast majority of the human race. Those that avoid that will probably have lost all semblance of their humanity, having become some bio-plastic enveloped blob of self-satisfied consumerism incarnate, endlessly marveling at the latest iteration of the NFT. Oh, we will be “defined” all right, perhaps into the fossil record of extinct species. Yes, it really, really, is terrifying but this author has no real clue as to what those horrors will be and therefore for her and her cohort of self-righteously concerned windbags there is no guarantee of enduring anything, let alone guiding anything anywhere other than right back up their intellectual tailpipes…

    *Yes, it is.
    1. cobo March 17, 2022 at 6:40 pm

       “Do not go gentle into that good night”
50. RobertC March 17, 2022 at 4:16 pm

    Most analysts focus on commodity sanctions, which is easy because they are physical entities publicly measured and traded.

    Some analysts dig deeper into semiconductor sanctions, which is more difficult because the trade is mostly private and business-sensitive.

    A very few analysts examine software sanctions, which are more obscure than semiconductors.

    And yet the impact of these software sanctions is growing. The sanctions can be on the sales of the software; on the continued use of the software (license renewal); and on the purpose for which the software is used (eg, semiconductor design).

    And China is responding with its own software replacements.

    At AsiaTimes David Goldman wrote an article (now in AT+) discussing, among other things, China’s establishing engineering centers in Russia engaging 50K+ engineers (both Russia and the US have about 250K STEM graduates yearly).

    Russia’s historical engineering innovations and abilities combined with China’s resources and entrepreneurial drive is a Strategic-Level resource for global technology leadership.
51. Maritimer March 17, 2022 at 4:39 pm

    These Afghans Are Using a Giant Slingshot to Shoot Drugs Across the Border Vice (Re Silc). Man the tool maker.
    *************
    How about some enterprising Yanks rigging this up to shoot Ivermectin into Canada’s uniform Covid Wasteland with no prophylaxis or early treatment. Just stay at home ’til you get real sick. Thanks, Doc.

    You can now get Ivermectin OTC in New Hampshire:
    “The New Hampshire’s state House approved a bill making ivermectin available by a medical prescribers’ “standing order,” meaning pharmacists will be able to dispense the medication without individual prescriptions.” OTC folks.
    https://trialsitenews.com/ivermectin-house-approves-ivermectin-otc-bill-for-standing-order-in-pharmacy/

    So Truckers transiting New Hampshire load the rig up with Iver and help those in restricted jurisdictions. Hats off to the Live Free Or Die State!
52. cobo March 17, 2022 at 6:06 pm

    “NATO proposes a major force expansion in Europe to address the long-term threat posed by Russia

    Washington Is Ramping Up Its Campaign To Draw NATO Into War With Russia”

    Immediate – Universal Conscription 18 – 50 “all” There Is No Alternative
53. Polar Socialist March 17, 2022 at 6:34 pm

    Russian media is reporting that on Wednesday Russia was due to pay $117.2m Eurobond to Citibank in London. On Monday Russian Ministry of Finance gave the payment order from it’s frozen reserves, and apparently US Treasury authorized the transaction.

    A case of Schrödinger’s assets? You don’t know whether you have them or not until you use them…
    1. Yves Smith March 18, 2022 at 4:04 am

       I believe the deal was those assets could be used for bond payments through May or June. Don’t ask, it makes no sense.
54. Acacia March 17, 2022 at 6:36 pm

    In “Putin is the only major leader to utter a few simple truths about the role of the United States… ,” Perry Anderson notes:

    For 20 years after the Cold War, it is striking that the balancing process traditional realist theory would have expected to see failed to emerge. According to this, if one great power becomes too dominant, other powers will band together to form a counterbalance to it. But this is not what happened. If you looked at China, Russia, the E.U. or India—let alone Japan—in this period, in each case their relation to the U.S. was more important than relations among themselves. There was no formation of a set of balancers.

    Perhaps it just took a few years longer than expected. He did call the next part correctly:

    Paradoxically, however, it’s not the most powerful of potential rivals to the United States, as realist theory would expect, that has broken ranks first. It’s the weaker of the two former adversaries of the high Cold War—not China but Russia.
55. Acacia March 17, 2022 at 6:49 pm

    Schrödinger’s assets indeed. I was struck that the Western media first talked about this as a “Russian default” but upon digging deeper it turns out they paid and the hold-up was in Citigroup.

    Separately, Putin gave a speech yesterday, in which he noted that by freezing Russian reserves overseas, the US and EU have reneged on their contractual obligations. He predicts financial consequences as “now everyone knows that a state’s reserves can simply be stolen.”
56. Clark March 17, 2022 at 8:53 pm

    Not sure which thread to add this to … A commenter wrote a few days ago that there was a lot of Azov Battalion merch available on Amazon. I checked and it was true — there were cups and shirts & stuff with Azov Battalion symbols (the Black Sun, the yellow patches), all available. I found this by searching “Azov Ukraine” in the “All” category on the website. … Just repeated that experiment today — all gone. You have shirts with the trad revolutionary fist in appropriate colors with the caption “Black Sea Freedom.” But no more Azov merch. Sold out?
57. The Rev Kev March 17, 2022 at 9:04 pm

    Just saw this at the ABS Military News site-

    ‘During the offensive on Marinka the stronghold of the 1st mech. battalion of the 54th brigade ?? , Multiple NATO weapons were captured including NLAW, SMAW , AN / TPQ-48 radars and personal belongings of American “instructors” who fought on the side of the Ukrainian Nazi battalions. A US Tennessee flag and other items were found in a backpack near the remains of the killed militants, according to which the dead militants were identified as follows: Captain Michael Hawker (Cpt. Michael Hawker), Lieutenant Logan Shrum (Lt. Logan Shrum) and Lieutenant Cruz Toblin (Lt. Cruz Tomblin). One more American was just killed moments ago during the Russian offensive on Chernigov.’

    https://gab.com/ASBMilitary/posts/107972916930568402

    The Russians say that they also fought American soldiers in the 2008 Georgian War and captured at least one of them.
    1. Louis Fyne March 17, 2022 at 9:20 pm

       it’s probably gear-gifts that those guys left behind as military trainers

       One of those guys has a gofundme from the aftermath of a bad motorcycle accident in september.

       doesn’t detract from that the US left its fingerprints all over SE Ukraine.

       https://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-secret-cia-training-program-in-ukraine-helped-kyiv-prepare-for-russian-invasion-090052743.html
58. Susan the other March 18, 2022 at 3:02 pm

    Thank you for the Aron Mate clip with Col. Macgregor. With such an informed authority able to tell the straight truth, it really raises the question, How on earth does the MSM spew its garbage all over the world? Complete with fake documentaries on how brave Zelensky is, how “churchillian”. Only insofar as Churchill was as big a fake. Talk about the insidious danger of misinformation being “official” information. That’s really an untenable situation. Don’t all the major news broadcasters have a license chartered by clear constraints on outrageous propaganda? I mean, even Judy Woofwoof is on that bandwagon. I’m beyond disgusted; I’m furious.

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