Rethinking the Holiday Centerpiece Enlightened Omnivore
Brutal Beats Orion Magazine. On brutalist architecture and pirate radio in the UK.
Can We Really Claim That Civilization is on the Steady Path of Progress? Lit Hub
Rob Reiner, wife found dead inside Brentwood home in apparent homicide KTLA
Climate/Environment
To Feed Data Centers, Pennsylvania Faces a New Fracking Boom Yale Environment 360
Recent droughts hit the top cattle counties hardest Investigate Midwest
The EPA was considering a massive lead cleanup in Omaha. Then Trump shifted guidance. Flatwater Free Press
Shade Equity: To Understand the Problem — and the Solutions — Look to Tucson The Revelator
Polar bears are rewiring their own genetics to survive a warming climate NBC News
Pandemics
A new RECOVER study of 6.4M health records shows Long COVID risk has not decreased from 2020–2024. Incidence stayed stable across variants, reinforcing Long COVID as an ongoing public health priority.
Read the study: https://t.co/RN66kGhyxM pic.twitter.com/j93jKQCxML— RTHM (@RTHM_Health) December 10, 2025
Japan
Japan to create ministerial post for envisioned national intelligence bureau Japan Times
China?
China’s economy stalls in November as calls for reform grow Business Times
U.S. Forces Raid Ship, Seize Cargo Headed to Iran From China WSJ
Geopolitical Competition Intensifies: Dirt Wars Karl Sanchez
SpaceX Alleges a Chinese-Deployed Satellite Risked Colliding With Starlink PC Mag
The Chinese Billionaires Having Dozens of U.S.-Born Babies Via Surrogate WSJ
India
INDIA AND RUSSIA COMBINE TO RESIST TRUMP’S INDIAN OCEAN STRATEGY John Helmer
Thailand- Cambodia Conflict
Thailand launches new offensive as Cambodia halts all border crossings Al Jazeera
Sydney Shooting
Mossad sent warnings to Australia about antisemitic terror attack risks Jerusalem Post
Indications point to possible Iranian link to deadly Sydney attack, officials say Ynet
Israeli Narrative Debunked- Bondi Terrorists Were Tied To ISIS. The Dissident
Syraqistan
Israel’s Gaza proxy strategy is collapsing +972 Magazine
Trump vows to respond to alleged ISIS attack on US forces in Syria Anadolu Agency
US special forces carry out arrest campaign in Syria following killing of three Americans New Arab
The coming conflagration in Lebanon and Syria will very probably be a shared US-Israeli effort. This will also send Gaza and a fabled ‘phase 2’ to oblivion
— Alon Mizrahi (@alon_mizrahi) December 13, 2025
What the hell is going on? https://t.co/4uE5yLufnP
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) December 13, 2025
US takeover of Iraq’s West Qurna field sidelines Russia, reasserts energy dominance The Cradle
Old Blighty
Britain ‘seeking a quarter of global lithium’ The Ecologist
European Disunion
🧵 Part 1/2 – Merz stood before his CDSU party and did two things in the same speech that should have stopped Europe cold.
He declared that “Pax Americana is over.” And he reached for Europe’s darkest memory… Munich, the Sudetenland, Hitler, to argue that Russia “won’t… pic.twitter.com/msPDyUSvbC
— THE ISLANDER (@IslanderWORLD) December 14, 2025
Guest post : War clouds over Europe? By Johann Rossouw Emmanuel Todd
Estonian court sentences pro-Russian politician to 14 years in prison for treason ERR
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine’s Zelensky offers to drop NATO bid as Trump envoy sees progress in peace talks France24
⚡️⚡️⚡️BREAKING: Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy has tasked lawmakers with drafting a bill to enable elections during martial law.
Sources said the media friendly to Zelenskyy’s team, that now Kyiv expects that the U.S. will make pressure on the Kremlin to stop the shelling and… pic.twitter.com/1JBR0FiwVp— Iuliia Mendel (@IuliiaMendel) December 15, 2025
Erdoğan pushes Putin on limited ceasefire for ports, energy facilities Turkish Minute
The EU’s Reparation Loan vote needs to fail Intellinews
‘The frontline is everywhere’: new MI6 head to warn of growing Russian threat The Guardian
South of the Border
Pilot narrowly avoids ‘midair collision’ with US air force plane near Venezuela The Guardian
Argentina’s President Javier Milei:
The left retreats. Freedom advances. pic.twitter.com/X9BXfxkolR
— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 15, 2025
Trump 2.0
US intelligence chief warns of ‘direct threat’ from suspected terrorists inside country Anadolu Agency
Asked if he’d carry out an attack on a presidentially declared domestic terror org on US soil (e.g. Antifa), NORTHCOM Commander Gen. Guillot says he would – as long as it was lawful.
SENATOR REED: if the president declared an organization, a terrorist organization, or a DTO,… pic.twitter.com/vpxwq0SolK
— Ken Klippenstein (NSPM-7 Compliant) (@kenklippenstein) December 13, 2025
Good question:
Was Purdue Pharma a narco-terrorist?
— Rudy Havenstein, Senior Markets Commentator. (@RudyHavenstein) December 1, 2025
“Trump and ‘the end of history.’” Patrick Lawrence
Accelerationists
AI billionaires’ 2026 intimidation campaign is already working Rolling Stone
Democrats en déshabillé
Spook Country
How Did the C.I.A. Lose a Nuclear Device? New York Times
Immigration
20 states sue Trump administration over H-1B visa fee: 9 notes Becker’s Hospital Review
Judge Condemns the Trump Administration’s Illegal and “Impermissibly Punitive” Use of Guantánamo to Hold Migrants Andy Worthington
Imperial Collapse Watch
The AI Bubble in 2026 (1/4) Edward Ongweso Jr. On the “new imperial strategy.” Well worth a read.
On the Strategy of Coalition Warfare Policy Tensor
U.S. Navy Now Wants A New Frigate And Fast The War Zone
The U.S. Navy Isn’t Losing to China at Sea — It’s Losing in the Shipyard
By any measure, the U.S. Navy should not be struggling to build ships. It has the world’s largest defense budget, unrivaled operational experience, and decades of technological leadership. And yet, as the… pic.twitter.com/YWBcNbaMMN
— Ignis Rex (@Ignis_Rex) December 14, 2025
Fashion
The Unlikely Rise and Uncertain Future of Lockheed Martin Streetwear Business of Fashion
Healthcare?
Anthem’s 62% Profit Margin in Federal Employees Health Benefits Contract HEALTH CARE un-covered
AI
Ownership of the means of thinking Archedelia
Idea: AI earrings that whisper to you and help you make decisions. pic.twitter.com/sOemSliQe5
— Shivers (@thinkingshivers) December 14, 2025
“I was forced to use AI until the day I was laid off.” Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry Blood in the Machine
It’s crazy to me that adobe products were always known to be expensive for us artists, plus, have faced criticism with their hidden fees and difficult cancellation process. They were never user friendly and now they’re letting people who erase art use their product for free. https://t.co/V7kxOoqxCy
— Raph (@RaphDeee) December 13, 2025
Podcast industry under siege as AI bots flood airways with thousands of programs Los Angeles Times
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Denmark plans to severely restrict social media use for young people AP
Gunz
Sports Desk
Economy
The US labor market ground to a halt in 2025. The risk in 2026 is that it ‘cracks.’ Yahoo! Finance
Mr. Market’s Bright Horizons
Not ‘very hawkish at all’: Wall Street optimistic on stock market rally in 2026 after Fed rate cut Yahoo! Finance
Basically all of US growth is being driven by the enormous AI investment boom and the “wealth effect” the stock market boom is having on consumption. This likely accounts for the mixed polling on the economy in spite of seemingly robust headline growth. 🫧🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/RDXCYrj8Nq
— Philip Pilkington (@philippilk) December 15, 2025
Class Warfare
Secret Documents Show Pepsi and Walmart Colluded to Raise Food Prices Across the Economy BIG by Matt Stoller
NEW: Behind Italy’s beauty (and parmesan) is a radical tradition of cooperatives.
In some areas, they make up nearly a fifth of the GDP.
We went to Emilia-Romagna, one of the richest regions in the country, to investigate how Italy’s workers built a more democratic economy. pic.twitter.com/3NbfuxsJwU
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) December 12, 2025
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
94 comments
Comments are closed.
“Pilot narrowly avoids ‘midair collision’ with US air force plane near Venezuela”
Trying to imagine what would happen if an America airliner like this Jetblue plane had a midair with a USAF plane because that the USAF plane had it’s transponder turned off, was not bothering to check their onboard radar or was even looking out the window. Bonus points when it is likely Venezuelan air crash investigators have to sort out what happened – with the Pentagon denying any request for information or help. No wonder the Pentagon did not reply with a comment. You can’t defend the indefensible.
And you’d have thought the naval fleet near by would have had both planes on their radar and have been able to make sure the tanker pilot was aware of nearby civilian air craft.
The Navy doesn’t talk to the Air Force.
‘THE ISLANDER
@IslanderWORLD
🧵 Part 1/2 – Merz stood before his CDSU party and did two things in the same speech that should have stopped Europe cold.
He declared that “Pax Americana is over.” And he reached for Europe’s darkest memory… Munich, the Sudetenland, Hitler, to argue that Russia “won’t stop,” projecting expansionist intent onto Moscow while erasing the long trail of Western promises broken and red lines ignored.’
I bet by now that a lot of Germans are finding themselves nostalgic for Olaf Scholz. For all his faults, he never did this sort of crazy talk.
Both of them are incredibly weak and pathetic compared to Angela Merkel and Gerhard Shroeder. I don’t know what happened.
From what I have heard, it was Angela Merkel wrecking the system of government in Germany for her own gain that led to there being only weak leaders to follow. Sort of like Germany’s Bill Clinton.
link?
Heard in talks over the years by the guys at The Duran. Mama Merkle was not who she seemed to be and it was under her, for example, that Ursula von der Leyen rose to power in spite of a proven track record of incompetence and corruption. In the same way that you can say that Trump was Obama’s legacy, Ursula is Merkle’s legacy. And look where that is taking Europe.
I’ve heard someting similar as well. Promoted under the wing of Chancellor Kohl (“Kohl’s girl”), the once “naive” political initiate from the East quickly learned the ropes, successfully knocking out any potential rivals in her own party, the CDU – including Merz at that time. Some observers claim that this decimated the party by starving it of new talent. But I doubt whether this can be considered “wrecking the system of government in Germany”. There is a whole body of literature on the “Merkel effect” but I think this primarily concerns her response to such crises involving the Eurozone and Syrian refugees.
And even more so compared to Willy Brandt and Egon Bahr, who in the Cold War of the early 1970s initiated their version of Realpolitik, Change through Rapprochement, to replace the hardliner cul-de-sac policies of the Adenauer era. Present leadership could take a page out of their book.
Project Gladio, one must assume. Or whatever its successor is called.
US out of Europe! Only when you stop murdering and corrupting here can we sustainably heal the wounds you have been dealing us this past century.
The only model of power, potency and politics the German political élite have is a misreading of Hitler, who, at the very least, understood the need for diplomacy. He also understood that Germany needed a leader who concerned himself with easing the pressures of the world recession, re-building the military, and provided pensions for the elderly and the men who had served in the military, and generally increased the prosperity and prospects of the people he governed while shaking off the reparation shackles and US creditors. It’s a trope, I know, but if Hitler had checked out of this life after freeing German minorities in Czechoslovakia, he would be remembered with fondness as a great and daring statesman. Unfortunately, Merz is just another ranting head of lettuce incapable of understanding the world he rots in, but he has watched some of Der Führer’s speeches and taked delight in delivering his content free, anti-charismatic versions of them and, like so many of Europe tawdry political élite, insists on providing Russia with grounds for a series of pre-emptive strikes.
Rethinking the Holiday Centerpiece. Rethinking social organization with cooperatives, the video.
I’ll mix my comments. First, as to meaty centerpieces, there are other possibilities besides a big chunk of meat. For Thanksgiving, I bought handsome duck breasts at — FiorFood (in Galleria San Federico) — part of the major Coop grocery chain in Italy.
Funny, the U S of A used to have co-op groceries.
https://www.coop.it/noi-coop-e-chi-siamo/storia
The web site for Co-op mentions that the cooperative economic and social structure is mentioned in the Italian Constitution at Article 45 as something to promote. And indeed it is.
The first co-op grocery, natch, was here in Torino, not so far away from where I live.
Which leads to:
Second, John Russell in Italy. He’s highly talented and has a great “screen presence.” Note (lyman alpha blob!) the discussion of keeping farmers on the land with herds as small as 20 cows. Note the stress on worker self-management (diptherio!). Note the discussion of how the reach of cooperatives has meant that the reach of big business in Italy is blunted. So much for the neoliberal advice that what Italy truly needs is more multinationals — see the currently failing FIAT / Stellantis as testimony to the emptiness of that line of thinking.
So think cooperatively. Buy the big meat centerpiece from an independent butcher or coop. (Or make a big dish of lentils, instead.)
And note that one of the reasons Italy never seems to be on the same track as France or Germany or England is, well, the good common sense of the Italians.
After all, you wouldn’t want a Piedmontese to tell you that you are “sensa cognission”~!
In a rare bit of good news, I can report that the u.s. still has co-op grocery stores. The can be a mixed bag, some being more cooperative than others.
I like to pan-sear duck breasts. Once, H made a memorable cranberry/juniper sauce with the juniper berries picked out behind the camp. Yum
For a listing from National Co+op Grocers, see: ncg.coop
The US does have co-ops and, as you say, they’re a mixed bag. I’d been lucky enough to be a member of two worker-only food coops first about ten years in Syracuse, NY and then another 25 years with the notorious Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, NY — a place I came to call “a great grocery store but a lousy coop as they centralized decision-making with the full-time staff and board, eventually fighting against labor boycotts like voting down support for the BlackCat bakery strikers and famously, abusing the bylaws to resist even a member vote on whether to stop selling items from occupied Palestine.
What I experienced and what was explained to me is that as grocery chains began carrying products that had been the core of Food Coop networks, like local organic produce & vitamins / tinctures and other often pricey ‘health store’ products. That pressure created fear in the cooperative movement and there was pressure to move to “open shopping models,” notably pressure by the supply networks (for us it was Northeast Cooperative distribution), but also from conservative elements on boards and staff to be “fiscally responsible” as neoliberalism became supreme.
In practice, worker-only coops ofter deeper discounts on purchasing or, as with the Park Slope Food Coop, and flat markup across the board on all items creating the legendary low prices there for everything from organic produce to cheese and spices. The limitation is that only members can shop in the store and members are required to trade labor either once a week or, at Park Slope, work was about three hours every five weeks.
In contrast, open shopping models mean anyone can walk in and shop but usually ofter a membership granting members a small discount at the checkout counter. If there’s an option to be a working member the result of your weekly or once-monthly work shift is usually a higher discount (say, non-members get 3% discount, working members get 7%).
The unfortunate reality of course is that open-shopping rarely increases walk-in traffic enough to compete with the larger grocery stores and many coops either become expensive stores for virtue-signaling shoppers, or go under.
Distribution networks also made it more difficult to start a coop, at least in the north east. Sadly, whereas in the 90s (early 00’s?) anyone could get a handful of interested parties together, get a Northeast Cooperatives catalog, and start a buying club where weekly or monthly bulk goods get ordered, delivered, and distributed among that small group who sometimes planned to eventually grow to a Food Coop, now the distributor requires the fledgling group to have a brick-and-mortar address before they can start ordering bulk goods, basically putting the store before the cart.
My understanding is that there are very few member-only coops left in the US though hopefully there’s a renewed interest for the cheaper, healthy benefits of worker cooperatives — as with recent (sometimes lockdown-inspired) interest in mutual aid buying clubs, or worker associations as alternatives to top-down unions.
Part of the less tangible loss is that worker coops are community centers in the traditional sense (like union halls used to be), where people meet, spend hours working together and talking, which in my experience always led to political and artistic networks or collaborations.
I love food cooperatives (and believe that coops of many kinds should be a vital part of any ‘alternative’ local economy). About a year ago I relocated from Brooklyn to the lower Hudson Valley and with no local worker-coop available, I now use eight or ten vendors to find what I used to get at one store, often paying higher prices.
Thanks DJG – I would have missed that one. Very encouraging!
Another official should offer fries to go with this nothingburger. When they seize a shipment for Yemeni missile program, at least they show photos of some random junk.
“Destroyed”, uh huh, color me skeptical. These items are now available for purchase on the Dept of War’s eBay store! would be more believable. Ours is not an administration that throws money overboard.
Isn’t this sort of behaviour generally known as Piracy?
I wonder what country’s flag that ship was flying.
I can imagine the anticipation in the boardrooms of the Private Army Companies at the profits possible from Privateering.
Stay safe. Do send off for the prospectus for Pyrates R Us NLC (No Liability Corporation.)
Fascinating little piece. Not sure what to make of it, but it sure is interesting. I imagine there are hard limits to it considering it doesn’t seem feasible for rats to ever understand symbolic systems (i.e. language and therefore objectives and purpose) so it’s perhaps not all that important, but at least it doesn’t involve actively torturing the poor things so even if little comes out of it it’s not as bad.
“Erdoğan pushes Putin on limited ceasefire for ports, energy facilities”
Erdogan must be feeling badly pressed about missing out on all the profits of sending ammo and gear to the Ukraine but what he says here in a nonstarter. Russia tried a ceasefire with the Ukraine with ports – the grain deal agreement – and the Ukrainians used it to attack the Russian Navy. As for a ceasefire on energy facilities they can forget that one as well. Russia tried that for a full month last year and all that happened was that the Ukraine attacked Russian energy facilities nearly every damn day of that one month period. And certainly someone like Erdogan would never hold Zelensky to account to make sure that any agreement was held. With the war coming to a close, it may be that the Russians don’t need to appease Erdogan so much anymore.
Re Rob Reiner–the story links another source suggesting the couple were stabbed to death by their son who had a history of addiction and living on the streets and was back home. As they say…developing…
TMZ.com is saying that their son has been arrested and that he slit their throats.
I can’t imagine anything much worse for a family.
That is truly awful. I don’t know what might be worse, but this one was about as gut-wrenching as it gets;
4 dead, including two children, in Tiffin murder-suicide
That was from a month ago. Enraged ex husband kills his own 7 month old son who was in a car seat, then a 7 year old and his father. Then kills himself. Small town Ohio so you never hear about it. It did make the regional news.
The little town had a vigil later that week. The turnout was incredible. The entire community was heartbroken, stunned, and in disbelief of what happened.
That’s a terrible story. I did hesitate over my comment (above) but went ahead with it because all these stories (and there are too many to count) are horrific.
I’m with you katebird. It is incredible what humans will do to each other. So sad. I wasn’t trying to out horrible story you, but that one is still fresh in my mind. :-(
I live there, about 3 blocks from where it all went down. I know a half dozen people on that street. Our entire small rural community was devastated. I watched the vigil as I couldn’t bring myself to go. Watching thousands of my fellow citzens holding candles and crying like babies is something you don’t forget.
Trump thinks it’s all about him.
https://nypost.com/2025/12/15/us-news/trump-suggests-murdered-rob-reiner-drove-people-crazy-with-trump-derangement-syndrome/
I have that in Links for tomorrow, but too vile not to get big time traction fast. He has totally lost his mind.
Whatever political acumen Trump once had seems to have completely deserted him.
My hope is that Trump has finally gone too far, so far that his massive impunity no longer works and his supporters see through his bulls**t. This has been my hope for Israel as well. Given the current split among MAGA types over Israel related issues, maybe they will help do each other in. Doubtful, but one can dream.
That’s horrible.
Lockheed Martin flak jacket?
“Israeli Narrative Debunked- Bondi Terrorists Were Tied To ISIS.”
Before the bodies were even cold, Netanyahu tried to blame the Aussie PM because supporting Palestine made Australia all antisemitic you know. He then crawled back under his rock. This was repeated by local Netanyahu supporters because, you now, we have weekly pogroms here in Oz and a Kristallnacht every other month. A lot will now depend on the interrogation of the son that survived to see how they became converts to ISIS and if they self-radicalized. A guy who worked alongside him said that there was no indication that he could do something like this but did say that he wanted to be remembered for something. I heard that when he was on the ground, somebody jumped on his head before the police could stop him. The death toll is now at 16 so hopefully no more will pass away. And the guy that tackled the father and wrestled away his rifle? My daughter tells me that there is a GoFundMe for him and it has topped a million dollars. I joked to my wife & daughter that much of that was probably from goodhearted Americans who were wondering how he will ever be able to pay his medical bills. It’s going to be a long week.
Let me see if I understand this:
Jews like Eli Schlanger and Arsen Ostrovsky push for other countries to fight wars for the benefit Israel.
Wars fought for Israel create refugees.
Jews like Barbara Spectre push for open borders and refugee resettlement inside the countries that supported or fought on behalf of Israel.
Refugees from wars for Israel and other Muslim migrants attack Jews like Schlanger and Ostrovsky inside the countries that supported wars and opened their borders for the benefit of Israel.
Jews like Benjamin Mileikowsky blame the countries who have done everything demanded of them, and demand more be done.
Jews like Noam Chomsky pretend Israel is really just a pawn in all this.
Do I have this right?
Here’s something about the man who wrestled away the gun from one of the shooters.
‘Heroic’ bystander who wrestled gun from Bondi Beach attacker is son of refugees and father to two
“A bystander who wrestled a gun from one of the alleged attackers during a mass shooting at Bondi Beach has been identified as Ahmed al Ahmed, whose refugee parents had just arrived from Syria, according to Australian officials and media. ”
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/15/australia/bondi-beach-shooting-bystander-hero-intl-hnk
I hate to sound so cynical but the Lucky Country got very lucky in having a Muslim hero in this horrible story. Takes the air out of the anti-Semitism storyline attempting to be planted.
The natives can correct me, but having lived in Sydney for 2 years, it struck me as very secular. If you were religious, no one cared as long as you didn’t try imposing it on others. The Jews I ran into were generally Reform, as in well assimilated. There was also a very successful financial firm, Investec. run by South African Jews. Its head (David Gonski?) was VERY well respected and quoted regularly in the financial press.
Yes Yves, you are correct. Very secular compared to most countries. The larger problems the last few decades are Islamophobia & Sinophobia driven by our US aligned MSM. The only countries with significant sway in government are the USA & Israel (with UK now a long way behind in 3rd & whoever is 4th and beyond virtually invisible)).
Sydneysiders showed on the harbour bridge not long ago how protest is expected to be done in Oz, peacefully.
This horrendous attack was a massive own goal if the perpetrators intended to denounce Bibi, but the Muslim hero has undoubtedly taken wind out of the sails.
You might also not be aware from afar that this also has given the media an opportunity to highlight any past terrorist attacks and unsurprisingly there is no mention of the white, far right Australian who massacred 50 people in Christchurch NZ not that long ago
In another link under Syndey Shooting today we find that Mossad claims to have repeatedly warned Australia about potential attacks.
In the Israeli Narrative Debunked link, the author notes that Netanyahu is not at all fond of Australia’s official recognition of Palestine and also claims that the shooters were affiliated with ISIS, but more importantly they cite this Haaretz link which quotes Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman admitting that Israel funded those anti-Hamas Palestinian “criminal gangs” which emerged several months ago and, surprise!, are also quite ISIS-friendly –
“Israel is providing weapons to a Jihadist group in the Gaza Strip affiliated with ISIS, Opposition lawmaker and former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Thursday.
Netanyahu was then forced to admit to arming the ISIS-linked gang, saying in response, “Israel is working to defeat Hamas in various ways, on the recommendation of all heads of the security establishment”.”
In addition, Nima’s interview with Larry Johnson today featured a clip from anti-Zionist Jewish historian Avi Shlaim which lends some context to the current situation – it starts at about the 56:10 mark here. [I think he may also be the author of an excellent essay from the 80s featured in links here last week discussing Zionist history??] Shlaim’s family are originally Iraqi Jews and he describes how until 1948 there were large Jewish populations in many Arab countries. After Israel was founded, Iraq in 1950 offered Iraqi Jews the right to leave the country but there were few takers at first because life in Iraq was good. Not long after, there were several explosions in Jewish neighborhoods, causing a large Jewish exodus. Shlaim claims the bombs were planted by Zionists in Israeli intelligence to encourage Iraqi Jews to leave for Israel, which most did. According to his wikipedia page, Shlaim’s family was one of those which emigrated ion the early 50s. I really don’t know much about Shlaim or his academic reputation so I can’t vouch for how credible he is. But Nima is not known for featuring complete crackpots either, and as NC readers are well aware, the Zionists do have a certain form when it comes to these types of things.
Given all of the above, it will be really interesting to see what narrative we hear from the CNNs, etc. as to the ultimate motivations behind this shooting and the cui bono of it all.
James Li’s response to this event. utube, ~16+ minutes.
The Bondi Beach Story Just Doesn’t Add Up…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3HRi7xZNns
I believe that the book “Ropes of Sand” (1980) by Wilbur Eveland covers this period of Iraqi history.
Last week’s article from 1980 was written by Israel Shahak.
Thank you both.
“U.S. Navy Now Wants A New Frigate And Fast”
Coupla links based around this theme. One partial solution might be to recruit a permanent force of men and women to build ships in modernized shipyards in the US. When they aren’t working on ships, give them training course to extend their skills and knowledge rather than to fire them only to have to replace them with ex-McDonalds workers. Make sure they have high wages, good conditions including health benefits and a good union so that it is a respected job and give them career paths that they can follow. And if you believe that any of this can happen, I can get you a good price on the Brooklyn bridge.
I went to the liberty of using the handy-dandy pirate-talk translator and here’s the article verbatim, well sort of…
If the US Navy does not just buy one of the available Japanese / Korean / Spanish / British frigates off-the-shelf and forgets about modifying its design, then this new naval acquisition programme will inevitably fail.
Let us see what the new goal is:
“The U.S. Navy says it is aiming to have the first of a new class of frigates based on an existing American design “in the water” by 2028. The U.S. Coast Guard’s Legend class National Security Cutter is reportedly the basis for the design in question.”
Great, they are just reusing an existing design. Except that, no:
“At the same time, the National Security Cutter design would have been modified significantly to meet Navy mission requirements for a frigate.”
Ho, hum.
“Navy requirements for sensors and other systems missions, as well as other design features, would also differ from what the Coast Guard has laid out for the Legend class, which would require significant changes to the existing design.”
Ouch! But there is more:
“There is also the matter of the Navy’s distinct shipbuilding and survivability standards for surface warships. Power generation, cooling, and even tweaks to propulsion could be needed.”
That new programme is doomed.
As the article remarks:
“It is important to remember, as mentioned, that a central factor in the collapse of the Constellation class program was the excessive changes between that design and the Franco-Italian FREMM (which stands for Fregata Europea Multi-Missione, meaning European Multi-Mission Frigate in English), from which it was derived. The Navy had expressly intended to reduce risks for that program by starting with a proven, in-production warship.”
You don’t say.
All the elements that led to the failure of the Constellation-class are thus present. If somebody believes the USA will have a new Legend-class frigate “in the water” by 2028 — as advertised — then forget about buying the Brooklyn Bridge from the Rev Kev: instead, you can get the Francis Scott Key Bridge from me — an exclusive offering at a bargain price!
Will you accept a Letter of Credit from the Banco National de Caracas for the bridge?
As for surface units, back at the port: https://www.stripes.com/branches/coast_guard/2025-12-02/coast-guard-cutters-shipbuilding-delays-gao-19952777.html
Saw this today too:
Navy Partners With Palantir for $448 Million AI Submarine Shipbuilding Deal
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/12/10/navy-partners-palantir-448-million-ai-submarine-shipbuilding-deal.html
I wonder if this application of AI also has delusions. That seems like it might be an issue of it has anything to do with the BOM.
I certainly agree with your comments regarding shipyard workforce too. I would add that a pension works wonders for retaining a talented workforce, but like you, I doubt it has much of a chance of becoming reality.
I do get chances to sit down and have a chat with my old Navy buddies about how things are going at the yard. About when I left the service, contracting out all the work rather than just hiring more yard workers was the overwhelming trend to save on labor costs, but now that practice is entrenched, the contract costs are higher than just using yard workers, and much less capable (i.e. critical skills and capabilities are being lost). Ouch!
I recommend looking into how Palantir got started offering intel services wrt the Afgan conflict. PowerPoint on roids. It seems the O Class/Intel … cough public servants[tm] and political operatives have some shared dependency issues in abdication of cognitive functions for such devices.
Better yet how Palantir then became/seen as a means to reform the MIC supply chain [efficiency thingy] yet somehow becomes the same thing its supposed to fix ….
Isn’t that the one that is in partnership with a Korean company?
Maybe it will work if so.
Sorry, I should have been more specific. I’m in the PNW so the yard is the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. No Korean partnership there (I think).
> US intelligence chief warns of ‘direct threat’ from suspected terrorists inside country Anadolu Agency
What’s reported here corresponds fairly well with what Seth Harp described on Chapo Trap House a couple of weeks ago (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj1NMOKZ_sg approx the first 30 mins). Summarizing his account as I recall it: the Karzai cartel was a huge opium/heroin operation meeting most of the world’s demand. The US was involved in providing security. Part of that apparatus was so-called Zero Units which were Afghan death squads organized and employed by the CIA, there being work to do too dirty even for American special forces. After the 2021 regime change some of these Afghan CIA employees immigrated to the USA on visas sponsored directly by CIA agents. Harp estimated about 10,000 Afghans entered the country this way. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who shot Andrew Wolfe and Sarah Beckstrom of the WV Nat Guard last month, was one.
Anadolu Agency’s deck is “Tulsi Gabbard accuses Biden administration of failures in vetting, citing official figures of 18,000 allegedly known or suspected terrorists allowed into the country” and could be acceptable if we accept that “known or suspected terrorists” means the same as “US’ Afghan allies”.
So it seems ten thousand or more former Afghan death squaddies may be in the US on temporary visas completely dependent on their CIA sponsor if they get into visa trouble.
Where I said “After the 2021 regime change…” it was surely also before.
I’m surprised there are people who believe that kind of thing, much less broadcast it. Still you learn something every day. All of this has been gone into in great detail and lots of information is publicly available. I suppose it’s possible that the journalist(?) concerned was in Afghanistan more recently than I was, but I’d be surprised if the outcry about the US-sponsored poppy eradication programme, which deprived famers of their livelihood and encouraged young men to join the Taliban had died down. There’s plenty of archive film of burning crop fields, and a lot of people there will tell you about the stupidity of the policy and the clumsiness with which it was conducted. by the US.
It was known that the Karzai family were implicated in opium production, and there were several cases of members of the clan being arrested at the airport on the way to Dubai with suitcases full of money. (There was also an expensive drug-sniffing system at the airport, as I recall.) But Karzai was untouchable because he was Our Man, and so a blind eye was turned to the trade in which his family was involved. Quite a number of the senior military were also involved (I had personal experience of that.) The opium was moved through various routes, often by military transport, to the frontiers with Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan, and onward to Europe.
The Zero Units are well known. They were an adjunct to the US Special Operations Forces (not the CIA to my knowledge) and used in surprise attacks on Taliban targets. They were nothing to do with the drug trade. Because the vast majority of the Afghan Army was useless, corrupt or both, these units were set up from people who were believed to be absolutely trustworthy and not corrupt. It was said that they were the only capable units in the ANA. But to my knowledge, they never numbered more than scores, perhaps a hundred people. On the other hand, very large numbers of Afghans did work for NATO and the US, as drivers, cleaners, and in other humble jobs, but also as interpreters, and as staff of organisations effectively set up by the US, such as the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. Few of them wanted to stay around after the Taliban took over. But I’d be astonished if more than a handful of actual Taliban went to the US: there would be no point, since they were essentially Afghan patriots, and had expelled the enemy from their country. To call the refugees “terrorists” is simply silly.
Ex CIA officer and whistleblower John Kirakou disagrees with this take regarding the US posture on heroin. When he worked for John Kerry, post CIA, as a senior investigator for the Senate Intelligence Agency, he went to Afghanistan and found out with a trivial effort that the US had told farmers to stop planting traditional crops (where they could plant 2x a year) v. opium poppies (one crop a year). His handlers on that trip yanked him away from sources as soon as Kirakou got the scoop but it was too late.
Kirakou brought it to Kerry who initially seemed interested but quickly decided to drop it. He wanted to be Secretary of State so badly he could taste it and dropped it.
So I don’t buy this poppy eradaction program being remotely bona fide.
Just like one can use National Anti-Corruption Bureau to get rid of political opponents, one can use Islamic National Army of Afghanistan to get rid of competing opium operations.
All the while getting good press.
I hate how cynical I’ve become.
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who haven’t got it.
G.B.Shaw
I do not know if this cheers you up, but anyway…
Re the Brutalism article
Brutalism has had its defenders here and pushed back against those of us who compared it to Rommel’s Atlantic Wall artillery emplacements. The movie The Brutalist used the protagonist’s choice of style as a kind of cri de coeur against what was done to him during the Holocaust but I thought the whole thing was a bit of a contrivance. It could be the Auteur theory of architecture has feet of clay to match the film version. Meanwhile our presidential auteur wants to tear all the Brutalist buildings down.
Any thoughts on the movie ? (not yet watched)
Think I just did. I didn’t care for it. And it’s not enough that the hero is stacked as the artist versus the Philistines but there’s moral stacking as well.
I wasn´t sure where you meant “The Brutalist” or just Brutalism.
Sorry, not being attentive enough.
I have heard surprising views by people who I had expected to judge very differently.
When I saw the trailer I had my doubts. I still do. But eventually I might take a look…
Brutalism often made/makes for great on location shooting. At least it corresponds with my taste (of course it depends on what you do).
There was an indie film that tried to level the character-oriented narrative with one that gave the actual buildings a core place, “Columbus, Ohio” from 2017. Nothing revolutionary but I liked the approach and it sticking to it.
Also it features the great Parker Posey and John Cho.
For anyone that missed it, here is Rockstar games doing a big layoff.
And still no release date for GTA6.
Doesn’t bode well for the AAA games industry…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp89990rgdno
re: Russian assets – a timeline
German ANTI-SPIEGEL blog
use google translate
The chronology of the dispute over the theft of frozen Russian assets
Since the dispute over the theft of Russian assets frozen in the EU will dominate the headlines in December, I want to outline the chronology of the dispute here, because it really reads like a thriller.
https://anti-spiegel.ru/2025/die-chronologie-des-streits-um-den-raub-der-eingefrorenen-russischen-vermoegenswerte/
wow! slowly we are getting to a genuine autocracy
MOON OF ALABAMA
EU Sanctions Swiss Intelligence Expert Jacques Baud
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2025/12/eu-sanctions-swiss-intelligence-expert-jacques-baud.html
“(…)The sanctions against Jacques Baud were published today and are now official. In Annex 57 the ‘Statement of Reasons’ claims:
Jacques Baud, a former Swiss army colonel and strategic analyst, is a regular guest on pro-Russian television and radio programmes. He acts as a mouthpiece for pro-Russian propaganda and makes conspiracy theories, for example accusing Ukraine of orchestrating its own invasion in order to join NATO.
Therefore, Jacques Baud is responsible for, implementing or supporting actions or policies attributable to the Government of the Russian Federation which undermine or threaten stability or security in a third country (Ukraine) by engaging in the use of information manipulation and interference.(…)”
The official EU link to the statement (it includes further names of now sanctioned individuals)
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=OJ:L_202502572&qid=1765811542533
OMG!!!
He has always been very careful and measured in his many YouTube appearances.
He also wrote a book in French about Putin which I thought about buying despite my French now being very rusty.
This isn’t just about silencing him. You can be sure he is also being stripped of his pension.
I was told Baud appears to be calm. He is Swiss fortunately.
And even in Germany you cannot be just stripped of pension without a court case.
Of course I don´t know the case if sanctioned by EU.
Some protest notes are being prepared apparently…
Or being sanctioned by a loopy Estonian whose mind seems to have worked loose and falled out of her ears All that’s left is a flapping mouth linked to a tre-recorded message.
“You can be sure he is also being stripped of his pension.”
He probably draws a “composite” pension out of his stints in various countries. Those partial pensions from EU countries will be cut (since organizations in the EU are no longer allowed to transfer funds to him), but the Swiss portion of his pension is probably safe (since Switzerland does not follow all EU sanctions on persons).
However, for all practical purposes, he can no longer get it: paid on a bank in Switzerland, the money cannot be transferred to a EU correspondant bank; if Baud travels to Switzerland to cash it, he will be prevented from re-entering the EU; is somebody makes the trip to bring money to him, that person may be arrested for violating the financial sanctions.
De-banking and freezing funds is probably one of the nastiest and most efficient measure to crack down on unwanted opinion. The modern equivalent of the ancient ostracism: once you are struck, your only chance is exile out of the EU.
There is an English translation, now.
I wonder if the sanction might affect availability of his books, especially in ebook format. :/
Yves Smith: Kaja Kallas’s hit list at Eur-lex lists Baud’s nationality as Swiss, and the EU doesn’t have jurisdiction. I am not sure about his pension being in jeopardy, but she is trying to bully his publishers outside Switzerland and block his royalties. He will now have trouble at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Note the five people connected to the Valdai Discussion Group, hardly a propagandistic organization. This group seems to be the target of the decree.
And in case anyone has any doubts about Kaja Kallas bring a war criminal …
His pension comes from Switzerland. They can always send him cash. Swiss are not in EU.
It’s a good thing that Jacques Baud is Swiss as if he was from an EU country, there is a very good chance that he would be arrested and charged with some trumped-up charge. The EU has literally lost their minds. Will they now demand that any talk of his be removed from YouTube as well?
Col. Jacques Baud has now been sanctioned by the EU which is extremely grim. Wonder if it will expand to more of the commentators that regularly appear with Judge Napolitano, Dialogue Works, Daniel Davis, even Glenn Diesen. Dissent against the narrative will not be tolerated
This does not bode well
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2025/12/eu-sanctions-swiss-intelligence-expert-jacques-baud.html
Enough is enough.
There needs to be resistance to this shit.
No court could stand by this highly illegal strike.
In hindsight I feel he knew something was coming.
In a recent show with Nima he argued less explicitely than the years before…
We have taken enough shit of this incompetent stupidity in the EU by a bunch of uneducated, moronic, and malicious opportunists.
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE???!!!
They have to be dragged into the light of public scrutiny.
The stupid it hurts. And you know, this obsession with sanctions, sanctions, sanctions! in my opinion is symptomatic of insecurity by the idiots in charge. Following b’s advice i have just bought another book from Baud: “Covert Wars in Ukraine”. Yes i want more of that “Putin propaganda and disinformation” because i cannot stand any more these idiots.
Not yet read.
What is so infuriating is how easy it would be to disprove any of these incredible allegations in a public court for everyone to witness.
Maybe some expert here can explain to me how it is possible that not a single lawyer or law firm has taken up the case against this EU sanctions regime. How can this be congruent with EU law???
Seriously.
The terms of “Russian propaganda” and “disinformation” have no scientific basis and do not concur with academic standards.
This by the way was uttered again by Ulrike Guérot in November who now has taken her case to the highest German court in a not entirely disimilar case. It looks different in formal categories but the essence is the same. Apparently in the most recent trials some elementary principles were not discussed and established like the rules of quotations, citations, commentaries in academic work.
It sounded like banana republic.
In both cases truth lies with the defendant. (Not to speak of the other cases Röper, Dogru, Lipp.)
But with Baud and Guérot it is hitting actual academic work beyond any doubt.
It appears as if Trump by all means still has been checked more times by a Rep. dominated SCOTUS than the EU leadership by a EU Court.
It’s right there in the CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION:
and
and
Of course, Baud being a Swiss is not an EU citizen, I assume, but two of these articles begin with everyone, so it’s supposed to be general declaration, not just EU wide.
And as everyone already know, EU has merrily stomped on all these while the media has applauded. We have always been at war with Eastasia.
Thanks for looking it up!
So my question to lawyers remains.
There must be some due process principle to fight this decision.
No conviction without trial if at all a trial can be justified (which actually cannot.)
The story in the links states Estonian court sentences pro-Russian politician to 14 years in prison for treason simply for wanting better relations between Estonia and Russia despite Article 11.1.
The EU never enforces its own rules governing the right of free speech, etc, and it refuses to follow them itself.
I think the only successful conclusion to the problems facing both Russia and the EU will be the result of a general war and Russia will make sure that there is one person left in every state to willingly sign the Peace and Reparations Treaties the Russians impose as a result of their losses during these unnecessary years of war in Ukraine.
Things could soon become less friendly for Baud in Switzerland as well, because the Swiss government already sees itself threatened by the consequences of a European war against Russia:
“If the war escalates within Europe, Switzerland could be affected even without Russian tanks on its border“, which is why up to 55 to 70 modern fighter jets are needed “in the medium term“, Defense Secretary Pfister said in an Interview.
And this means on the ideological front:
>Pfister believes it is important for society to become more resilient, for example, against disinformation. “Today, we also need a kind of intellectual national defense, but not a cultural policy program; rather, a resistance and resilience program.”
The Federal Council intends to review the extent to which school curricula teach how to deal with disinformation. “Because disinformation tends to threaten freedom of expression and democracy.“<
Pfister uses the term 'geistige Landesverteidigung', which explicitly refers to the Second World War, which is unintentionally funny, because even back then, for certain parts of the Swiss population and their political representatives, Russia (at that time still the communist version) was the greater threat.
https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/bundesrat-im-interview-pfister-fordert-eine-geistige-landesverteidigung-2-0
thanks
From outside Switzerland it sometimes appears like there too is some interior conflict raging between professionals on this matter.
I cannot believe the apparatus Baud has been part of for decades (intelligence & military) would seriously assume Baud all of a sudden would lie or make things up. I mean you just look into his footnotes and you have your answer. It´s not that difficult to prove that it is the EU which is the propagandist spreading sickening and dangerous disinformation and simply lies.
That´s what EU officials are: pathological liars who belong into a court to be tried. The alternative is incompetence. Then they need to be removed from their posts if there is no other way.
Judge Nap has regularly said to some of his guests (Larry Wilkerson, IIRC also Douglas Macgregor and Scott Ritter) that he expects they will be targeted by the US anti terrorism regime, which basically makes any criticism of anything official prohibited speech.
Because “Israel” I assume?
(Haven´t listened to Nap recently)
That’s just really bad
I suppose it’s just a matter of time before it reaches Substack and all these independent blogs…
Trump does not look well,at all.
And over the next few Months it will become clear that many of the policies of this “Stable Genius” are failing spectacularly, to the point that even the suckbutts surrounding him can’t hide the failures.
At that point I expect Trump will blow a gasket, at full volume.
Unless he has a stroke, which is not unlikely given his age and health.
Then we get Vance, who has little in the way of a political base other than “Bloodbags” and some of the other tech bro’s.
It’s gonna be lit.
Hello COVID yet again
From Podcast industry under siege as AI bots flood airways with thousands of programs
“Allies” includes the US and Trump
Ukraine and its allies settle on security guarantees for a peace. NYT
So Trump goes all-in. Maybe WW3 will start, after all. Can’t see how this “satisfies” Russia after 4 years.
NATO-like guarantees is the same thing as de-facto membership of NATO which the Russians will never go for. And if Trump was ever thinking about a no fly zone over the Ukraine, how many F-35s is he prepared to lose – which will effect future foreign sales of that ill-fated plane?
FWIW: German evening news made a difference between what the EU said and what Trump. And Trump agreed to nothing.
As of the NYT quote: “But last summer he offered to patrol the skies and enforce a no-fly zone, in addition to continuing to provide Ukraine with intelligence from U.S. satellites and signals intercepts. Senior officials say that offer still stands.”
If you read it the way I do that means nothing. “last year” Trump could claim all kinds of things – he was not the POTUS. And an “offer” is also meaningless.
And when it comes down to today´s actual events they evade and quote “Senior officials” speaking of an offer. i.e. the NYT as usually has not a shred of news to report.
Russia and the US have a rapprochement. What happens? At 5 to 12 EU pulls a rabbit out of their ass called “EU peace troops”. Which of course Trump then rejects. And this back-and-forth-shit will accompany us the coming months.
p.s. It will be interesting how things will progress after Trump.
I even speculate Kushner is there to ensure a family line in the administration to prepare a “dynasty” (after all we had various dynasties of POTUSes or administration officials before.) What else is he going to do in his life? Shark hunting?
On the other hand: military strategic realities will not change. And I am all Martyanov here: Eventually superior force will dictate the major decisions. Regardless who is in the WH by then.
p.p.s. I know Mamdani has much bigger problems. But if it will matter I wonder if his advisors will have the knack to align with Russian and Chinese interests to take wind out of DNC sails against him. And pull away from GOP those voters who just want to leave the world alone and be left alone.
UK´s terrorism case against Richard Medhurst dropped
Great 4 minutes by him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtS6Q5Cz-CE
Hope he stays attentive. Israel if they think it´s necessary would try to kill him, without a doubt.
p.s. I cannot prove it but one never knows whether these positive outcomes are not also due to the public organizing and resisting in one way or another.
Regarding the whispering earrings, see also the famous tale by squid314 from 2012, Clarity didn’t work, trying mysterianism.
A near-transcendent prognostication. Thank you, had not seen that before.
I can’t believe that there are no comments on the WSJ reporting about deranged Chinese billionaires using American surrogates to father hundreds of babies. On an already horrible news day this actually has to be the most diabolically evil and insane thing I have ever seen.
The practice is completely illegal in China, but in neoliberal and misogynist America women’s bodies are simply another commodity to be monetized. Raised by a succession of low-wage nannies or in dysfunctional foster care, what sort of people will these children grow up to be?
I’m simply horrified.
If that WSJ reporting* is the most diabolically evil and insane thing you have ever seen, then you have probably never heard about the Ukraine (and many other places and things, too).
*If WSJ reported that Sun came out this morning, I would still have doubts.