theduran--2020-03-09--Al Qaeda Thanks Turkey for Protecting It Against Assad, Russia, Iran

On March 7th , Al Qaeda ’ s now largest branch , which is its Syrian organization that used to be called Al Nusra , praised Turkey ’ s President Tayyip Erdogan because his Government stands up for Al Qaeda , and for other jihadist organizations which are trying to overthrow Syria ’ s secular Government , which is led by Bashar al-Assad .
Al Qaeda in Syria now calls itself Hay ’ at Tahrir al-Sham , and their announcement basically reaffirms their continuing 9-year war against Syria ’ s Government ( which war has been armed and funded mainly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) , and it especially damns Russia for assisting that secular Government ’ s efforts to destroy Al Qaeda and all other jihadist groups in Syria , which fight to eliminate all secular government and to replace it with God ’ s government .
Before this group was called Hay ’ at Tahrir al-Sham , it called itself al-Nusra , but it is simply Al Qaeda in Syria , and it was the backbone of America ’ s effort to overthrow Syria ’ s secular Government and replace it with one that would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Hay ’ at Tahrir al-Sham announcement is titled “ The Moscow Agreement : A New Mirage ” and it is signed by a pro-jihadist scholar , Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi .
However , the CIA-edited and written Wikipedia ’ s article on him includes a section titled “ Criticism ” that quotes CIA assets such as the Bellingcat website as having ceased to endorse him because “ his analysis was becoming more and more just pushing that narrative of the groups [ ISIS ] themselves.
” That section of the Wikipedia article closes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ‘ I think there ’ s something to be said that I did try to ingratiate myself in these circles to get information , I agree that that was unethical.
’ [ 2 ] He has also defended himself in an article posted on his blog.
” He routinely does sign articles that he publishes in English but that were originally in Arabic or some other language and not actually written by himself , and therefore the article in this case is almost certainly of that type : one that he had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ translated into English .
( In that case , he would have been more honest to have said “ posted and translated by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi.
” ) The document ’ s authenticity will probably be challenged like virtually all such documents are , but Al-Tamimi ’ s reputation as a scholar of jihadism would be on the line if Al Qaeda ’ s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri were to disown it as not expressing Al Qaeda ’ s views .
The document has been online for more than 24 hours , and no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ authenticity .
Furthermore , there is a statement by al-Tamimi in his introduction to the Hay ’ at Tahrir al-Sham statement , “ Hay ’ at Tahrir al-Sham has issued its own statement on the new Turkey-Russia agreement , which I translate in full for this post .
In sum : ” and “ Below is the full statement with translation.
” Consequently , the alleged Hay ’ at Tahrir al-Sham statement should be accepted as being authentic unless and until there is an official Al Qaeda denial of it .
Tamimi ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at Tahrir al-Sham Statement on Ankara-Moscow Agreement ” , and it concerns the agreement that Turkey ’ s leader Tayyip Erdogan reached with Russia ’ s leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on March 5th regarding Syria ’ s most-jihadist province , Idlib , which Erdogan wants to seize for Turkey , and where his forces in Idlib have been protecting Hay ’ at Tahrir al-Sham .
Russia , Syria , and Iran , have been opposing Turkey ’ s attempts to do this .
( The U.S. and its allies have supported Turkey @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appear unwilling to provide military backing to Turkey for this effort to actually seize Syria ’ s Idlib Province . )
After Tamimi ’ s introduction comes the Hay ’ at Tahrir al-Sham statement itself .
It praises : the course of ten continual years of the blessed Syrian revolution and three-hundred days of fierce battles in defence of the capital of the revolution and its civilization in the liberated north , supported by its mujahideen hero sons , and their civil and political administration with a slogan written in blood : death @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no return or compromising on the aims of the blessed revolution .
The jihad and resistance are a legitimate path for the peoples whose abode has been usurped , and freedom taken captive , and sons bound behind bars , so let them defend themselves and their land by force and arms and patience and insistence and in that the rights are regained , and the fate of the lands is that they should return to their people however long the night of the oppressors lasts and the occupier through its grip takes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ peoples .
It condemns “ the criminal gang in Damascus , supported by Russia and Iran.
” It praises Turkey : “ We thank the Turkish government for clearly standing with and supporting the Syrian revolution and participating with it in defending the civilians and protecting them in the recent battle.
” It does not mention the United States nor any other NATO nation than Turkey .
Though it is clear against Russia and against countries that cooperate with Russia , including Shiite Iran , it is not critical against the U.S. Government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It is consistent with the policy of the Saud family who own Saudi Arabia , and who agreed with the jihadist Sunni cleric Mohammed bin Wahhab , in 1744 , to do war against any non-believers , including against any Shiites , until the entire world become followers of Wahhab and of his interpretation of the Quran .
Turkey is led by a fellow-Sunni , Tayyip Erdogan , all of whose schooling took place in schools that taught a Sunni interpretation of the Quran .
Basically , Syria ’ s Al Qaeda , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ used to be the U.S. Government ) , is praising Erdogan for his effort to conquer Bashar al-Assad and to seize for Turkey Syria ’ s most pro-jihadist province , Idlib , where Hay ’ at Tahrir al-Sham is headquartered .
Hay ’ at Tahrir al-Sham praises Turkey , for trying to protect them .
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author , most recently , of They ’ re Not Even Close : The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records , 1910-2010 , and of CHRIST ’ S VENTRILOQUISTS : The Event that @ @ @

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Eric Zuesse
On March 7th, Al Qaeda’s now largest branch, which is its Syrian organization that used to be called Al Nusra, praised Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan because his Government stands up for Al Qaeda, and for other jihadist organizations which are trying to overthrow Syria’s secular Government, which is led by Bashar al-Assad. Al Qaeda in Syria now calls itself Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, and their announcement basically reaffirms their continuing 9-year war against Syria’s Government (which war has been armed and funded mainly by the U.S. and the Saud family), and it especially damns Russia for assisting that secular Government’s efforts to destroy Al Qaeda and all other jihadist groups in Syria, which fight to eliminate all secular government and to replace it with God’s government. Before this group was called Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, it called itself al-Nusra, but it is simply Al Qaeda in Syria, and it was the backbone of America’s effort to overthrow Syria’s secular Government and replace it with one that would be selected by the Saud family.
The Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham announcement is titled “The Moscow Agreement: A New Mirage” and it is signed by a pro-jihadist scholar, Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi. However, the CIA-edited and written Wikipedia’s article on him includes a section titled “Criticism” that quotes CIA assets such as the Bellingcat website as having ceased to endorse him because “his analysis was becoming more and more just pushing that narrative of the groups [ISIS] themselves.” That section of the Wikipedia article closes with “In response he has said, ‘I think there’s something to be said that I did try to ingratiate myself in these circles to get information, I agree that that was unethical.’[2] He has also defended himself in an article posted on his blog.” He routinely does sign articles that he publishes in English but that were originally in Arabic or some other language and not actually written by himself, and therefore the article in this case is almost certainly of that type: one that he had received from a jihadist organization and merely translated into English. (In that case, he would have been more honest to have said “posted and translated by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi.”) The document’s authenticity will probably be challenged like virtually all such documents are, but Al-Tamimi’s reputation as a scholar of jihadism would be on the line if Al Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri were to disown it as not expressing Al Qaeda’s views. The document has been online for more than 24 hours, and no one has come forth to deny its authenticity. Furthermore, there is a statement by al-Tamimi in his introduction to the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham statement, “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham has issued its own statement on the new Turkey-Russia agreement, which I translate in full for this post. In sum:” and “Below is the full statement with translation.” Consequently, the alleged Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham statement should be accepted as being authentic unless and until there is an official Al Qaeda denial of it.
Tamimi’s article is titled “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham Statement on Ankara-Moscow Agreement”, and it concerns the agreement that Turkey’s leader Tayyip Erdogan reached with Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on March 5th regarding Syria’s most-jihadist province, Idlib, which Erdogan wants to seize for Turkey, and where his forces in Idlib have been protecting Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. Russia, Syria, and Iran, have been opposing Turkey’s attempts to do this. (The U.S. and its allies have supported Turkey against Syria and its supporters, but appear unwilling to provide military backing to Turkey for this effort to actually seize Syria’s Idlib Province.)
After Tamimi’s introduction comes the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham statement itself. It praises:
the course of ten continual years of the blessed Syrian revolution and three-hundred days of fierce battles in defence of the capital of the revolution and its civilization in the liberated north, supported by its mujahideen hero sons, and their civil and political administration with a slogan written in blood: death and not humiliation, for there is no return or compromising on the aims of the blessed revolution.
The jihad and resistance are a legitimate path for the peoples whose abode has been usurped, and freedom taken captive, and sons bound behind bars, so let them defend themselves and their land by force and arms and patience and insistence and in that the rights are regained, and the fate of the lands is that they should return to their people however long the night of the oppressors lasts and the occupier through its grip takes root over the hearts of the defenceless peoples.
It condemns “the criminal gang in Damascus, supported by Russia and Iran.”
It praises Turkey: “We thank the Turkish government for clearly standing with and supporting the Syrian revolution and participating with it in defending the civilians and protecting them in the recent battle.”
It does not mention the United States nor any other NATO nation than Turkey. Though it is clear against Russia and against countries that cooperate with Russia, including Shiite Iran, it is not critical against the U.S. Government, nor against any U.S.-allied government. It is consistent with the policy of the Saud family who own Saudi Arabia, and who agreed with the jihadist Sunni cleric Mohammed bin Wahhab, in 1744, to do war against any non-believers, including against any Shiites, until the entire world become followers of Wahhab and of his interpretation of the Quran.
Turkey is led by a fellow-Sunni, Tayyip Erdogan, all of whose schooling took place in schools that taught a Sunni interpretation of the Quran. Basically, Syria’s Al Qaeda, in this document (whose main protector used to be the U.S. Government), is praising Erdogan for his effort to conquer Bashar al-Assad and to seize for Turkey Syria’s most pro-jihadist province, Idlib, where Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham is headquartered. Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham praises Turkey, for trying to protect them.
—————
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
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theduran--2020-03-08--What If Donald Trump Were Accused Of Colluding With…

Although the ludicrous claim that Donald Trump somehow colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election ( and give Hillary Clinton the popular vote ) has been thoroughly debunked , the same liars and lunatics are back with essentially the same story attempting to gaslight the American people and the world again .
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph , Nick Allen pointed out that in a members only event at the Oxford Union , Christopher Steele said he stood by the integrity of “ our work ” .
The reality is that Steele had not visited Russia for a decade @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dossier , that ’ s if he was the sole , co , or indeed any author , because as Dan Bongino has pointed out , essentially the same smear was used against John McCain during Obama ’ s first election bid , and has simply been tailored to fit Trump .
Leaving that aside , no end of politicians and commentators continue to attack Trump with claims of Russian collusion without specifying exactly what this collusion might be , apart from a few on-line advertisements that draw little if any attention from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ electorate , or anyone else .
Anytime Trump or any leading Republican speaks to a Russian , the word collusion is thrown around .
Some time ago , Vladimir Putin himself commented amusingly on this nonsense saying the only thing with which he could compare it is anti-Semitism .
Now there ’ s an idea , after all , Donald Trump has far more contact with Jews than with Russians .
Let ’ s see what we can make of this .
Trump ’ s eldest daughter Ivanka is married to Jared Kushner @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Two of his lawyers are also Jews : the rather obviously named Michael Cohen – who is currently in prison – and Jay Sekulow .
Although he didn ’ t need it , Trump also received a substantial donation from Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson for his 2016 campaign .
Trump ’ s support of Israel is also both uncritical and undisguised .
Some of Trump ’ s major detractors are also Jews , including the most rabid , Adam Schiff , but wait , Schiff is so far off the planet , perhaps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or Trump , or both , or perhaps Trump and Vladimir Putin are also Jewish puppets ?
Could it be that Adam Schiff is managed opposition , that he only appears crazy ?
This thesis could be expanded to take in every Jewish business person , lawyer , and politician in America .
At times the crazies have done this , ignoring the much simpler explanation that some Jews like Trump , others hate him , and probably the vast majority like the vast majority of Gentile Americans have more important priorities .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ s the economy , stupid .
Also , the problem with this sort of twisted logic is that there is no debating with it .
Anyone who dared to raise these kind of arguments in the mainstream media would soon find himself out of a job .
Which begs the question , why does the media tolerate , excuse and even promote this Russophobic nonsense with far less justification , and when will those in a position to , put a stop to it ?

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Although the ludicrous claim that Donald Trump somehow colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election (and give Hillary Clinton the popular vote) has been thoroughly debunked, the same liars and lunatics are back with essentially the same story attempting to gaslight the American people and the world again. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Nick Allen pointed out that in a members only event at the Oxford Union, Christopher Steele said he stood by the integrity of “our work”.
The reality is that Steele had not visited Russia for a decade when he put together his now infamous dossier, that’s if he was the sole, co, or indeed any author, because as Dan Bongino has pointed out, essentially the same smear was used against John McCain during Obama’s first election bid, and has simply been tailored to fit Trump.
Leaving that aside, no end of politicians and commentators continue to attack Trump with claims of Russian collusion without specifying exactly what this collusion might be, apart from a few on-line advertisements that draw little if any attention from people in positions of influence, the electorate, or anyone else. Anytime Trump or any leading Republican speaks to a Russian, the word collusion is thrown around.
Some time ago, Vladimir Putin himself commented amusingly on this nonsense saying the only thing with which he could compare it is anti-Semitism. Now there’s an idea, after all, Donald Trump has far more contact with Jews than with Russians. Let’s see what we can make of this.
Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka is married to Jared Kushner, who is an Orthodox Jew. Two of his lawyers are also Jews: the rather obviously named Michael Cohen – who is currently in prison – and Jay Sekulow. Although he didn’t need it, Trump also received a substantial donation from Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson for his 2016 campaign. Trump’s support of Israel is also both uncritical and undisguised.
Some of Trump’s major detractors are also Jews, including the most rabid, Adam Schiff, but wait, Schiff is so far off the planet, perhaps he is working for Russia too, or Trump, or both, or perhaps Trump and Vladimir Putin are also Jewish puppets? Could it be that Adam Schiff is managed opposition, that he only appears crazy? This thesis could be expanded to take in every Jewish business person, lawyer, and politician in America. At times the crazies have done this, ignoring the much simpler explanation that some Jews like Trump, others hate him, and probably the vast majority like the vast majority of Gentile Americans have more important priorities. As the man said: It’s the economy, stupid.
Also, the problem with this sort of twisted logic is that there is no debating with it. Anyone who dared to raise these kind of arguments in the mainstream media would soon find himself out of a job. Which begs the question, why does the media tolerate, excuse and even promote this Russophobic nonsense with far less justification, and when will those in a position to, put a stop to it?
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theduran--2020-03-09--Greek PM to CNN, “We have every right to protect our sovereign borders” (Video)

The Duran ’ s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis ’ interview with CNN on Friday .
The Greek Prime Minister told CNN that “ right now , let ’ s be honest , the [ EU-Turkey ] agreement is dead , and it ’ s dead because Turkey has decided to completely violate the agreement because of what happened in Syria.
” Mitsotakis said that their was “ a conscious attempt by Turkey to use migrants and refugees as geopolitical pawns to promote its own interests , ” pointing out that people crossing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from Syria but have been living in Turkey for a long period of time , assisted by Turkish authorities .
Mitsotakis said that Turkey has “ systematically assisted , both at land and at sea , people in their effort to cross into Greece .
Europe is not going to be blackmailed over this problem by Turkey.
” Subscribe to The Duran on YouTube – Find us on BitChute .
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Migration crisis talks were set to be held between Turkish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials in Brussels on Monday ( 9 March ) , as Germany said the bloc was considering taking in 1,500 child refugees .
Tens of thousands of asylum-seekers have been trying to break through the land border from Turkey for a week after Ankara announced it would no longer prevent people from trying to cross into the European Union .
Turkey , which hosts around four million mostly Syrian refugees , has repeatedly railed against what it describes as unfair burden-sharing .
Erdoğan called on Greece to “ open the gates ” to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gas and water cannon in skirmishes with crowds at the border .
“ I hope I will return from Belgium with different outcomes , ” he said at a speech in Istanbul on Sunday as he announced the meeting .
“ Hey Greece !
I appeal to you… open the gates as well and be free of this burden , ” he said , adding : “ Let them go to other European countries.
” Early on Monday , Germany said the EU was considering taking in up to 1,500 migrant children who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ A humanitarian solution is being negotiated at the European level for a ‘ coalition of the willing ’ to take in these children , ” the government said in a statement .
Berlin was ready to take in an “ appropriate ” share , it added , saying the country wanted to support Greece in the “ difficult ” situation it is facing .
Concern over the plight of the minors have grown as they either require urgent medical treatment or are unaccompanied by adults .
On Friday , Erdoğan ordered the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crossings after more than 1,700 migrants landed on Lesbos and four other Aegean islands from Turkey over the past week .
The coastguard however said Turkey ’ s policy of allowing migrants and refugees to leave by land was untouched , and the instruction only affected sea crossings .
The Turkish president will meet European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at 6pm ( 1700 GMT ) on Monday .
They will “ discuss EU-Turkey matters , including migration , security , stability in the region and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s spokesman said on Twitter .
In 2016 , Turkey and the EU agreed a deal whereby Brussels would provide billions of euros in aid in exchange for Turkish authorities curbing the flow of migrants .
But Ankara has repeatedly accused the bloc of not fulfilling promises that were made while Europe suffered its worst refugee crisis since the Second World War .
Over a million people fled to the continent in 2015 .
Erdoğan ’ s top press aide has said one of the unmet conditions was that the EU would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Michel met Erdoğan in Ankara on Wednesday as Turkey demanded greater support over the conflict and migrants .
After the talks , Borrell promised an additional €170 million in aid for vulnerable groups in Syria .

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ interview with CNN on Friday.
The Greek Prime Minister told CNN that “right now, let’s be honest, the [EU-Turkey] agreement is dead, and it’s dead because Turkey has decided to completely violate the agreement because of what happened in Syria.”
Mitsotakis said that their was “a conscious attempt by Turkey to use migrants and refugees as geopolitical pawns to promote its own interests,” pointing out that people crossing into Greece via Turkey are not mainly from Syria but have been living in Turkey for a long period of time, assisted by Turkish authorities.
Mitsotakis said that Turkey has “systematically assisted, both at land and at sea, people in their effort to cross into Greece. Europe is not going to be blackmailed over this problem by Turkey.”
Support Free Speech:
Subscribe to The Duran on YouTube – Find us on BitChute.
The Duran Audio Podcast:
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Via Euractiv…
Migration crisis talks were set to be held between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and senior EU officials in Brussels on Monday (9 March), as Germany said the bloc was considering taking in 1,500 child refugees.
Tens of thousands of asylum-seekers have been trying to break through the land border from Turkey for a week after Ankara announced it would no longer prevent people from trying to cross into the European Union.
Turkey, which hosts around four million mostly Syrian refugees, has repeatedly railed against what it describes as unfair burden-sharing.
Erdoğan called on Greece to “open the gates” to the migrants after Greek police used tear gas and water cannon in skirmishes with crowds at the border.
“I hope I will return from Belgium with different outcomes,” he said at a speech in Istanbul on Sunday as he announced the meeting.
“Hey Greece! I appeal to you… open the gates as well and be free of this burden,” he said, adding: “Let them go to other European countries.”
Early on Monday, Germany said the EU was considering taking in up to 1,500 migrant children who are currently housed in Greek camps.
“A humanitarian solution is being negotiated at the European level for a ‘coalition of the willing’ to take in these children,” the government said in a statement.
Berlin was ready to take in an “appropriate” share, it added, saying the country wanted to support Greece in the “difficult” situation it is facing.
Concern over the plight of the minors have grown as they either require urgent medical treatment or are unaccompanied by adults.
On Friday, Erdoğan ordered the Turkish coastguard to prevent risky Aegean sea crossings after more than 1,700 migrants landed on Lesbos and four other Aegean islands from Turkey over the past week.
The coastguard however said Turkey’s policy of allowing migrants and refugees to leave by land was untouched, and the instruction only affected sea crossings.
Aid agreements
The Turkish president will meet European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at 6pm (1700 GMT) on Monday.
They will “discuss EU-Turkey matters, including migration, security, stability in the region and the crisis in Syria,” Michel’s spokesman said on Twitter.
In 2016, Turkey and the EU agreed a deal whereby Brussels would provide billions of euros in aid in exchange for Turkish authorities curbing the flow of migrants.
But Ankara has repeatedly accused the bloc of not fulfilling promises that were made while Europe suffered its worst refugee crisis since the Second World War. Over a million people fled to the continent in 2015.
Erdoğan’s top press aide has said one of the unmet conditions was that the EU would take in refugees from Turkey.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Michel met Erdoğan in Ankara on Wednesday as Turkey demanded greater support over the conflict and migrants.
After the talks, Borrell promised an additional €170 million in aid for vulnerable groups in Syria.
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theduran--2020-03-10--Busting HYSTERICAL headlines in the era of #coronahysteria

CNBC : Here ’ s why the coronavirus may clobber your retirement plans Reality : for many of us….clobbering of retirement plans has been ongoing since 2008…..your retirement plans have been clobbered ever since the nominal interest rate on your retirement plans fell behind the increase in the consumer price index for your basket of goods and services… .
The Guardian : ‘ The new normal ’ : China ’ s excessive coronavirus public monitoring could be here to stay Reality : that excessive monitoring has a lot to do with enabling Chinese doctors to quickly realize that there was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aetiology ” , to sequence the genome and implement draconian but effective measures….which have saved lives… .
You can ’ t have your cake and eat it too…and I ’ m writing from “ locked down “ Lombardy ” .
Maybe the Guardian needs to stop focusing on Chinese civil liberties and focus on Julian Assange ’ s civil liberties , the only person in the U.K. who seems to come under no human rights protection law from anywhere on our planet .
Washington “ Democracy Dies in Darkness ” Post : Is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wuhan Virus ’ ?
No Washington Post it is not more racist than calling the bubonic plague the Washington plague .
CNN : Why CNN is calling the novel coronavirus outbreak a pandemic Because duh , the coronavirus is threatening to overtake the CNNvirus in the amount of global chaos and panic it can cause for little apparent reason .
Let ’ s be clear the CNNvirus is a global pandemic in and of itself .
Want to strengthen your immune system ?
Stop watching CNN and reading hysterical headlines from corporate media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far not the only offender .
New York Times : Why Did the Coronavirus Outbreak Start in China ?
Let ’ s talk about the cultural causes of this epidemic…..
Still waiting to hear from the New York Times on the cultural causes of the second coronavirus outbreak starting in Italy because you know….cultural causes unique to Italy… The swine flu pandemic of 2009 global pandemic started in the U.S.A. because of which cultural factors unique to lefty liberals in California and right illiberals in Texas….
?
?
?
Remind me again , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ USA has done for the coronavirus compared to Italy ’ s 50,000 tests as of March 9 , 2020 ?
I think it ’ s a little under 2,000 ?
And no , this has nothing to do with Trump .
The element of statistical chaos in the American healthcare system goes back a few decades… .
Had the rest of the world heeded China ’ s warnings from Dec 31 , 2019 onwards…this thing could have been managed globally with far less panic and chaos .
But no , our attention was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trying to start WWIII in the first weeks of January 2020 by proudly assassinating Iranian and Iraqi military officials .
Deutsche Welle : Massive flu wave grips Germany : Almost 80,000 cases have been recorded since autumn .
Almost half of those were confirmed within the last two weeks ( i.e .
between Feb 6-20 ; article dated 02 02 2020 ) Ok , so this is the antithesis of a hysterical headline in the sense that flu is not scary , flu is not manufactured in China as Der Spiegel claimed on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Let me get this straight : you have 80,000 cases of flu since fall 2019 ; 40,000 of those happened in two weeks and you have done how many tests for coronavirus on these 40,000 people ?
The article , conveniently , does not say .
The number of coronavirus tests which had been done in Germany until recently seems to have been a state secret .

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
CNBC: Here’s why the coronavirus may clobber your retirement plans
Reality: for many of us….clobbering of retirement plans has been ongoing since 2008…..your retirement plans have been clobbered ever since the nominal interest rate on your retirement plans fell behind the increase in the consumer price index for your basket of goods and services….
The Guardian: ‘The new normal’: China’s excessive coronavirus public monitoring could be here to stay
Reality: that excessive monitoring has a lot to do with enabling Chinese doctors to quickly realize that there was “a cluster of pneumonia of unknown aetiology”, to sequence the genome and implement draconian but effective measures….which have saved lives…. You can’t have your cake and eat it too…and I’m writing from “locked down “Lombardy”.
Maybe the Guardian needs to stop focusing on Chinese civil liberties and focus on Julian Assange’s civil liberties, the only person in the U.K. who seems to come under no human rights protection law from anywhere on our planet.
Washington “Democracy Dies in Darkness” Post: Is it racist to call coronavirus the ‘Wuhan Virus’?
No Washington Post it is not more racist than calling the bubonic plague the Washington plague.
CNN: Why CNN is calling the novel coronavirus outbreak a pandemic
Because duh, the coronavirus is threatening to overtake the CNNvirus in the amount of global chaos and panic it can cause for little apparent reason. Let’s be clear the CNNvirus is a global pandemic in and of itself. Want to strengthen your immune system? Stop watching CNN and reading hysterical headlines from corporate media which is the worst, but by far not the only offender.
New York Times: Why Did the Coronavirus Outbreak Start in China? Let’s talk about the cultural causes of this epidemic…..
Still waiting to hear from the New York Times on the cultural causes of the second coronavirus outbreak starting in Italy because you know….cultural causes unique to Italy…
The swine flu pandemic of 2009 global pandemic started in the U.S.A. because of which cultural factors unique to lefty liberals in California and right illiberals in Texas….???
Remind me again, New York Times how many tests the USA has done for the coronavirus compared to Italy’s 50,000 tests as of March 9, 2020? I think it’s a little under 2,000? And no, this has nothing to do with Trump. The element of statistical chaos in the American healthcare system goes back a few decades….
Had the rest of the world heeded China’s warnings from Dec 31, 2019 onwards…this thing could have been managed globally with far less panic and chaos. But no, our attention was diverted while the USA was very busy trying to start WWIII in the first weeks of January 2020 by proudly assassinating Iranian and Iraqi military officials.
Deutsche Welle: Massive flu wave grips Germany: Almost 80,000 cases have been recorded since autumn. Almost half of those were confirmed within the last two weeks (i.e. between Feb 6-20; article dated 02 02 2020)
Ok, so this is the antithesis of a hysterical headline in the sense that flu is not scary, flu is not manufactured in China as Der Spiegel claimed on its utterly stupid February 1 cover. Let me get this straight: you have 80,000 cases of flu since fall 2019; 40,000 of those happened in two weeks and you have done how many tests for coronavirus on these 40,000 people? The article, conveniently, does not say. The number of coronavirus tests which had been done in Germany until recently seems to have been a state secret.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/09/the-new-normal-chinas-excessive-coronavirus-public-monitoring-could-be-here-to-stay
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/02/heres-why-the-coronavirus-may-clobber-your-retirement-plans.html
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/09/health/coronavirus-pandemic-gupta/index.html
https://www.dw.com/en/massive-flu-wave-grips-germany/a-52445643
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theduran--2020-03-10--The Dutch Government’s Show-Trial About MH17

The Dutch Government began on March 9th a show-trial which will present evidence that a Russian-made Buk missile on 17 July 2014 brought down the Malaysian airliner MH17 which had 196 Dutch passengers , all of whom were killed .
The trial will exclude a great deal of evidence , such as that on 7 August 2014 , just weeks after the MH17 downing , a secret agreement was drawn up between four U.S. allies to serve together as constituting an official “ Joint Investigation Team ” about the event , and the terms of that agreement have not been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As I reported back on 24 August 2014 , a secret agreement had been signed on August 8th between Netherlands , Ukraine , Belgium , and Australia , that Ukraine would have veto-power over any finding that their official “ Joint Investigation Team ” ( “ JIT ” ) would issue regarding the shoot-down of the MH17 .
Malaysia was excluded from the Team , but was finally admitted , after agreeing to their secret terms — including not to blame Ukraine .
Russia ’ s RT headlined on 20 November 2014 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ secret deal ’ into MH17 crash probe ” and revealed that the Dutch Government was refusing to comply with its own Freedom of Information law by keeping this agreement secret .
On 14 June 2016 , the website “ What Happened to Flight MH17 ” headlined “ The vague role of Malaysia in the Joint Investigation Team ” and reported that the JIT had actually been officially formed on 7 August 2014 , and noted that , “ In the limited number of public communications by JIT it is not mentioned what the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ investigation.
” ( Malaysia , unlike those other four nations , isn ’ t a member of America ’ s core anti-Russia alliance , which includes NATO and Australia , but is instead a neutral nation and therefore considered untrustworthy by the others . )
Since when does the prime suspect in a murder , here a mass-murder , that suspect being Ukraine itself , get a seat on the jury to judge the prosecution ’ s case against another — and far less likely — suspect : in this case , Russia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ investigation , the Netherlands-headed “ Joint Investigative Team ” ( JIT ) , was on 24 May 2018 , and it headlined “ Update in criminal investigation MH17 disaster ” .
It said : The JIT is convinced that the BUK-TELAR [ missile and launcher ] that was used to down MH17 , originates from the 53rd Anti Aircraft Missile brigade ( hereinafter 53rd brigade ) , a unit of the Russian army from Kursk in the Russian Federation .
… This fingerprint has been compared with numerous images of BUK-TELARS , both @ @ @ @ @ @ @ BUK-TELAR on which this combination of characteristics also was found , is a BUK-TELAR that was recorded several times when it joined a convoy of the 53rd brigade on 23 – 25 June 2014 .
Consequently , the JIT presumes that within the 53rd brigade and within the circle around it , people have knowledge about the operation in which that particular BUK-TELAR was deployed .
… Already in September 2016 , the JIT disclosed that MH17 was downed with a BUK missile of the 9M38 series .
… Four months later , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ministry of Defense youtubed its response , which is titled “ Briefing on newly discovered evidence pertaining to the crash of the MH17 flight ” .
It presented the actual history of the Buk missile and launcher which Ukraine and the other Governments on the JIT said had brought down the MH17 .
( The JIT includes four countries , Netherlands , Ukraine , Belgium , and Australia , with a fifth , Malaysia , having been brought in only later , after it finally agreed to allow Ukraine a veto over any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Malaysia ’ s participation started on 4 December 2014 ; but whether Malaysia has actually been allowed to play a role in the ‘ investigation ’ isn ’ t clear . )
Russia ’ s Government documented there that four serial numbers which were printed onto the missile-fragments that the U.S.-allied team had presented to the public on May 24th — 8868720 , 1318869032 , 886847379 and 9M38 — were all from a Buk missile that , though manufactured in Russia , had been transferred to Ukraine in 1986 , and was never @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Russian Government .
It stayed in Ukraine .
As you can see there by clicking on each , and especially onto the “ Briefing ” itself , this missile and its launcher had always , and constantly since their transfer to Ukraine in 1986 , remained in Ukraine , and never again were located in Russia .
So : if the JIT ’ s supplied evidence is authentic — which the Ukrainian team asserts it to be — then it outright convicts Ukraine .
This is an evidentiary checkmate , against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Dutch Government ignores the detailed documentary evidence from Russia regarding the service-history and ownership of that missile starting with the time of its manufacture and extending up to the present , which show that since 1986 it was owned by the Ukrainian Air Force .
They have to ignore it , because their ‘ case ’ is built upon those missile fragments .
( However , they ’ ve never yet put forth any reason to believe that those fragments come from a missile or launcher that was actually involved with bringing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fragments are from equipment that since 1986 has been in Ukraine ’ s military , then the Dutch Government ’ s ‘ case ’ is entirely fake .
Furthermore , throughout , the Dutch Government has refused to consider both witness and other , more direct physical , evidence indicating that definitely the MH17 had bullet-holes in it ( and here that is closer-up ) , especially around the pilot ’ s cabin ( suggesting that he was specifically targeted ) , and that at least one and perhaps two Ukrainian military jet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right before it came hurtling down from the sky .
All of that evidence was refused by the Dutch ‘ investigators ’ .
Furthermore discrediting the Dutch prosecution ’ s case and ignored by them are several reports from the great American investigative journalist John Helmer who has reported from Moscow for decades .
One , on 13 September 2015 , opened : The Dutch Government has decided to launch a missile attack on Moscow in October .
By suppressing all evidence obtained from the bodies of victims of the crash of Malaysian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Safety Board and associated Dutch military officers , police and prosecutors are preparing to release a report on the crash with a gaping hole in its veracity .
At the same time , and apparently unknown in The Netherlands , an Australian coroners ’ report on the identification and forensic testing of the bodies carried out in The Netherlands reveals post-mortem evidence to show that in their public statements the Dutch government officials have been lying about metal evidence they claim to have found .
This evidence has not only been buried with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been buried by the Dutch Government and by coroners in the UK and Australia , who are now legally required to investigate independently what caused the deaths of citizens in their jurisdiction .
All are withholding the CT scans , X-rays , autopsy and other post-mortem results , including metallurgical assays , the documentation of which accompanied the coffins of the aircraft ’ s victims from The Netherlands to their homelands .
More recently , there is this from him : “ MH17 Evidence Tampering Revealed by Malaysia – FBI Attempt to Seize @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Telephone Tapes ; Ukrainian Air Force Hid Radar Records ; Crash Site Witness Testimony Misreported ” A new documentary from Max van der Werff , the leading independent investigator of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 disaster , has revealed breakthrough evidence of tampering and forging of prosecution materials ; suppression of Ukrainian Air Force radar tapes ; and lying by the Dutch , Ukrainian , US and Australian governments .
An attempt by agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) to take possession of the black boxes of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Malaysian National Security Council official for the first time .
The sources of the breakthrough are Malaysian — Prime Minister of Malaysia Mohamad Mahathir ; Colonel Mohamad Sakri , the officer in charge of the MH17 investigation for the Prime Minister ’ s Department and Malaysia ’ s National Security Council following the crash on July 17 , 2014 ; and a forensic analysis by Malaysia ’ s OG IT Forensic Services of Ukrainian Secret Service ( SBU ) telephone tapes which Dutch prosecutors have announced as genuine .
Watch it in full @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Malaysian Government ’ s evidence for judging the [ Joint Investigative Team ] JIT ’ s witness testimony , photographs , video clips , and telephone tapes to have been manipulated by the Ukrainian Security Service ( SBU ) , and to be inadmissible in a criminal prosecution in a Malaysian or other national or international court .
For the first time also , the Malaysian Government reveals how it got in the way of attempts the US was organizing during the first week after the crash to launch a NATO military attack @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for that was to rescue the plane , passenger bodies , and evidence of what had caused the crash .
In fact , the operation was aimed at defeating the separatist movements in the Donbass , and to move against Russian-held Crimea .
The new film reveals that a secret Malaysian military operation took custody of the MH17 black boxes on July 22 , preventing the US and Ukraine from seizing them .
The Malaysian operation , revealed in the film by the Malaysian Army colonel who led it , eliminated the evidence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ German Government ’ s opposition to the armed attack , and forcing the Dutch to call off the invasion on July 27 .
Although German opposition to military intervention forced its cancellation , the Australians sent a 200-man special forces unit to The Netherlands and then Kiev .
The new film reveals in an interview with Colonel Mohamad Sakri , the head of the Malaysian team , what happened next .
Sakri ’ s evidence , filmed in his office at Putrajaya , is the first to be reported by the press outside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ago , Sakri gave a partial account of his mission to a Malaysian newspaper .
“ I talked to my prime minister [ Najib ] , ” Colonel Sakri says .
“ He directed me to go to the crash site immediately.
” At the time Sakri was a senior security official at the Disaster Management Division of the Prime Minister ’ s Department .
Sakri says that after arriving in Kiev , Poroshenko ’ s officials blocked the Malaysians .
“ We were not allowed to go there…so I took a small @ @ @ @ @ @ @ secretly.
” Sakri goes on to say he was asked by the [ nominally nonpartisan ] OSCE ’ s special monitoring mission for Ukraine to hand over the black boxes ; he refused .
He was then met by agents of the FBI ( Min 6:56 ) .
“ They approached me to show them the black box .
I said no.
” He also reports that in Kiev the Ukrainian Government tried “ forcing me to leave the black boxes with them .
We said no .
We can not .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ handover ceremony in Donetsk , July 22 , 2014 : on far left , the two black boxes from MH17 ; in the centre , shaking hands , Alexander Borodai and Mohamad Sakri .
Van der Werff and Yerlashova contracted with OG IT Forensic Services , a Malaysian firm specializing in forensic analysis of audio , video and digital materials for court proceedings , to examine the telephone tapes .
The Kuala Lumpur firm has been endorsed by the Malaysian Bar .
The full 143-page technical report can be read here .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on camera are that the telephone recordings have been cut , edited and fabricated .
The source of the tapes , according to the JIT press conference on June 19 by Dutch police officer Paulissen , head of the National Criminal Investigation Service of The Netherlands , was the Ukrainian SBU .
Similar findings of tape fabrication and evidence tampering are reported on camera in the van der Werff film by a German analyst , Norman Ritter .
And more recently , as I wrote on March 8th at Strategic Culture ( likewise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the matter ) : “ Bonanza Leaks ” on 24 February 2020 shows photos of the official transcriptions of the witnesses ’ testimony to the official Joint Investigative Team ( JIT ) which the U.S-allied Dutch Government operates in order to convict Russia for the shoot-down of the MH17 Malaysian airliner on 17 July 2014 above the civil-war zone in Ukraine .
It includes an accompanying video presentation of these documents , from a day earlier , on February 23rd , titled “ Bonanza Media LeaksTalk ” .
That video includes this : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ authentic documents ” ( in response to Bonanza Media ’ s having supplied Australian police with the photos ) , and “ these are original documents , ” which their video shows .
Then , they showed their documents to the JIT ’ s own office in Netherlands , which refused to comment .
One document , from the Director of the Military Intelligence and Security Service of the Netherlands , to the public prosecutor of the National Prosecutor ’ s Office on Counter Terrorism , P.O .
Box 395 , 3000 AJ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opens ( this being the official Dutch translation , but the original Dutch being also shown ) , “ Herewith , I am informing , pursuant to Section 38 of the Intelligence and Security Services Act 2002 , of data that is possibly of importance for the criminal investigation into the crashing of flight MH17.
” After stating the evidence they had accumulated from witnesses and from allied-Government intelligence agencies , this document closes : “ On this basis MIVD [ Dutch military intelligence agency ] draws the conclusion that from these two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ na Dona [ the only two Russian bases that possibly would have been associated with the shoot-down of the MH17 ] no missile launch took place on 17 July 2014.
” More information about the Bonanza Leaks disclosures can be found from the investigative journalist John Helmer in Moscow , headlining on February 25th , “ NATO Military Intelligence Agencies Repeatedly Reported in Secret There Was No Evidence of a Russian Buk Missile in Eastern Ukraine or Firing on MH17 ” .
Was there any missile-launch , or did the MH17 get downed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two Ukrainian military planes ?
( You can see here , here , here , and here , witness and other testimony backing up that account .
Some of the physical evidence for it is shown here . )
On 13 October 2015 , the BBC reported that , the Russian side disputed the Dutch findings insisting that only older warheads and missiles of the 9M38 type still in the hands of the Ukrainian army could have been used as they were the only weapons with ‘ butterfly or bow-tie ’ fragments .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
‘ The 9M38M1 missile has no H-shaped striking elements , ’ Yan Novikov , the head of Buk missile company Almaz-Antey said .
In their submission to the Dutch report , the Russian experts argue that investigators should not have discounted other potential reasons for plane ’ s destruction , such as an air-to-air rocket .
This is completely rejected by the Dutch Safety Board .
Bullet-holes are clear in the physical evidence , but holes that could have come from a missile ’ s shrapnel are not so unambiguously indicated .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ headlined at Global Research , “ The MH17 Pilot ’ s Corpse : More on the Cover-Up — Even His Family Was Blocked from It .
Here ’ s Why.
” It was the same reason why the coroners ’ reports and the black box contents have also been muzzled and hidden : The Dutch Government is obviously lying through its teeth .
On March 9th , Asia Times bannered “ Is Malaysia ’ s position on MH17 tragedy shifting ?
” and reported that , just as the trial was starting , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ministers in Malaysia , and that the “ newly-appointed government requested the colonel not to address the gathering.
” That “ colonel ” happens to be the person who had secretly retrieved the black box immediately after the 17 July 2014 downing , and he was going to talk publicly about what it contained .
There are a lot of secrets , and this trial in the Netherlands is to be yet another show-trial in a ‘ democracy ’ .
Regarding the motive for the crime , here is what I had said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Update on the MH17 Case ” : “ I knew that U.S. President Barack Obama had become desperate for something to happen that would persuade German Chancellor Angela Merkel to endorse added sanctions against Russia regarding Ukraine , but I had had no idea , until now , as to what direct involvement , if any , he had had in the actual setting-up of the MH17 shoot-down.
” Obama was desperate because if he couldn ’ t cook up a ‘ Russian ’ provocation fast , then the window of opportunity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s hiked anti-Russian sanctions over ‘ Russia ’ s invasion of Ukraine ’ would soon be gone .
He told Poroshenko to get it done , and fast .
( Incidentally : the Netherlands Government was , along with the U.S. Government and George Soros , one of the top three funders behind Ukraine ’ s main TV station , Hromadske TV , propagandizing for ethnic cleansing to get rid of the residents in Ukraine ’ s far east where the democratically elected President whom Obama ’ s coup in Ukraine had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the people ’ s votes .
So , the Dutch Government were in this from the get-go , along with Obama .
These people were ‘ progressive ’ — as a PR term , anyway , to fool the liberal gulls .
They can more honestly be called “ liberal fascists.
” That ’ s somewhere , perhaps a millimeter , to the left of extremely fascist .
After all , ethnic cleansing , and mass-murder that ’ s set up so as to be blamed on persons whom the planner knows had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pretty far to the right . )
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author , most recently , of They ’ re Not Even Close : The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records , 1910-2010 , and of CHRIST ’ S VENTRILOQUISTS : The Event that Created Christianity .

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Eric Zuesse
The Dutch Government began on March 9th a show-trial which will present evidence that a Russian-made Buk missile on 17 July 2014 brought down the Malaysian airliner MH17 which had 196 Dutch passengers, all of whom were killed. The trial will exclude a great deal of evidence, such as that on 7 August 2014, just weeks after the MH17 downing, a secret agreement was drawn up between four U.S. allies to serve together as constituting an official “Joint Investigation Team” about the event, and the terms of that agreement have not been made public even to the present day. As I reported back on 24 August 2014, a secret agreement had been signed on August 8th between Netherlands, Ukraine, Belgium, and Australia, that Ukraine would have veto-power over any finding that their official “Joint Investigation Team” (“JIT”) would issue regarding the shoot-down of the MH17. Malaysia was excluded from the Team, but was finally admitted, after agreeing to their secret terms — including not to blame Ukraine. Russia’s RT headlined on 20 November 2014 “Dutch government refuses to reveal ‘secret deal’ into MH17 crash probe” and revealed that the Dutch Government was refusing to comply with its own Freedom of Information law by keeping this agreement secret. On 14 June 2016, the website “What Happened to Flight MH17” headlined “The vague role of Malaysia in the Joint Investigation Team” and reported that the JIT had actually been officially formed on 7 August 2014, and noted that, “In the limited number of public communications by JIT it is not mentioned what the role of Malaysia is in the criminal investigation.” (Malaysia, unlike those other four nations, isn’t a member of America’s core anti-Russia alliance, which includes NATO and Australia, but is instead a neutral nation and therefore considered untrustworthy by the others.)
Since when does the prime suspect in a murder, here a mass-murder, that suspect being Ukraine itself, get a seat on the jury to judge the prosecution’s case against another — and far less likely — suspect: in this case, Russia?
As I reported on 31 December 2018:
—
The last announcement from the official investigation, the Netherlands-headed “Joint Investigative Team” (JIT), was on 24 May 2018, and it headlined “Update in criminal investigation MH17 disaster”. It said:
The JIT is convinced that the BUK-TELAR [missile and launcher] that was used to down MH17, originates from the 53rd Anti Aircraft Missile brigade (hereinafter 53rd brigade), a unit of the Russian army from Kursk in the Russian Federation. … This fingerprint has been compared with numerous images of BUK-TELARS, both Ukrainian and Russian ones. The only BUK-TELAR on which this combination of characteristics also was found, is a BUK-TELAR that was recorded several times when it joined a convoy of the 53rd brigade on 23 – 25 June 2014.
Consequently, the JIT presumes that within the 53rd brigade and within the circle around it, people have knowledge about the operation in which that particular BUK-TELAR was deployed. … Already in September 2016, the JIT disclosed that MH17 was downed with a BUK missile of the 9M38 series. …
The missile engine’s casing shows the number 9 д 1318869032. …
Four months later, on 17 September 2018, the Russian Ministry of Defense youtubed its response, which is titled “Briefing on newly discovered evidence pertaining to the crash of the MH17 flight”. It presented the actual history of the Buk missile and launcher which Ukraine and the other Governments on the JIT said had brought down the MH17. (The JIT includes four countries, Netherlands, Ukraine, Belgium, and Australia, with a fifth, Malaysia, having been brought in only later, after it finally agreed to allow Ukraine a veto over any conclusions that the team will publish. Malaysia’s participation started on 4 December 2014; but whether Malaysia has actually been allowed to play a role in the ‘investigation’ isn’t clear.) Russia’s Government documented there that four serial numbers which were printed onto the missile-fragments that the U.S.-allied team had presented to the public on May 24th — 8868720, 1318869032, 886847379 and 9M38 — were all from a Buk missile that, though manufactured in Russia, had been transferred to Ukraine in 1986, and was never thereafter in Russia nor in the possession of the Russian Government. It stayed in Ukraine. As you can see there by clicking on each, and especially onto the “Briefing” itself, this missile and its launcher had always, and constantly since their transfer to Ukraine in 1986, remained in Ukraine, and never again were located in Russia. So: if the JIT’s supplied evidence is authentic — which the Ukrainian team asserts it to be — then it outright convicts Ukraine. This is an evidentiary checkmate, against the Ukrainian side.
—
And yet still the Dutch Government ignores the detailed documentary evidence from Russia regarding the service-history and ownership of that missile starting with the time of its manufacture and extending up to the present, which show that since 1986 it was owned by the Ukrainian Air Force.
They have to ignore it, because their ‘case’ is built upon those missile fragments. (However, they’ve never yet put forth any reason to believe that those fragments come from a missile or launcher that was actually involved with bringing down the MH17.) If those fragments are from equipment that since 1986 has been in Ukraine’s military, then the Dutch Government’s ‘case’ is entirely fake.
Furthermore, throughout, the Dutch Government has refused to consider both witness and other, more direct physical, evidence indicating that definitely the MH17 had bullet-holes in it (and here that is closer-up), especially around the pilot’s cabin (suggesting that he was specifically targeted), and that at least one and perhaps two Ukrainian military jet planes had flown up to the airliner right before it came hurtling down from the sky. All of that evidence was refused by the Dutch ‘investigators’.
Furthermore discrediting the Dutch prosecution’s case and ignored by them are several reports from the great American investigative journalist John Helmer who has reported from Moscow for decades. One, on 13 September 2015, opened:
The Dutch Government has decided to launch a missile attack on Moscow in October. By suppressing all evidence obtained from the bodies of victims of the crash of Malaysian Airlines MH17, officials of the Dutch Safety Board and associated Dutch military officers, police and prosecutors are preparing to release a report on the crash with a gaping hole in its veracity.
At the same time, and apparently unknown in The Netherlands, an Australian coroners’ report on the identification and forensic testing of the bodies carried out in The Netherlands reveals post-mortem evidence to show that in their public statements the Dutch government officials have been lying about metal evidence they claim to have found. This evidence has not only been buried with the passengers’ remains. It has been buried by the Dutch Government and by coroners in the UK and Australia, who are now legally required to investigate independently what caused the deaths of citizens in their jurisdiction. All are withholding the CT scans, X-rays, autopsy and other post-mortem results, including metallurgical assays, the documentation of which accompanied the coffins of the aircraft’s victims from The Netherlands to their homelands.
More recently, there is this from him:
—
“MH17 Evidence Tampering Revealed by Malaysia – FBI Attempt to Seize Black Boxes; Dutch Cover-Up of Forged Telephone Tapes; Ukrainian Air Force Hid Radar Records; Crash Site Witness Testimony Misreported”
John Helmer, 21 July 2019
A new documentary from Max van der Werff, the leading independent investigator of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 disaster, has revealed breakthrough evidence of tampering and forging of prosecution materials; suppression of Ukrainian Air Force radar tapes; and lying by the Dutch, Ukrainian, US and Australian governments. An attempt by agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to take possession of the black boxes of the downed aircraft is also revealed by a Malaysian National Security Council official for the first time.
The sources of the breakthrough are Malaysian — Prime Minister of Malaysia Mohamad Mahathir; Colonel Mohamad Sakri, the officer in charge of the MH17 investigation for the Prime Minister’s Department and Malaysia’s National Security Council following the crash on July 17, 2014; and a forensic analysis by Malaysia’s OG IT Forensic Services of Ukrainian Secret Service (SBU) telephone tapes which Dutch prosecutors have announced as genuine.
Watch it in full here. …
The film reveals the Malaysian Government’s evidence for judging the [Joint Investigative Team] JIT’s witness testimony, photographs, video clips, and telephone tapes to have been manipulated by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), and to be inadmissible in a criminal prosecution in a Malaysian or other national or international court.
For the first time also, the Malaysian Government reveals how it got in the way of attempts the US was organizing during the first week after the crash to launch a NATO military attack on eastern Ukraine. The cover story for that was to rescue the plane, passenger bodies, and evidence of what had caused the crash. In fact, the operation was aimed at defeating the separatist movements in the Donbass, and to move against Russian-held Crimea.
The new film reveals that a secret Malaysian military operation took custody of the MH17 black boxes on July 22, preventing the US and Ukraine from seizing them. The Malaysian operation, revealed in the film by the Malaysian Army colonel who led it, eliminated the evidence for the camouflage story, reinforcing the German Government’s opposition to the armed attack, and forcing the Dutch to call off the invasion on July 27.
Although German opposition to military intervention forced its cancellation, the Australians sent a 200-man special forces unit to The Netherlands and then Kiev.
The new film reveals in an interview with Colonel Mohamad Sakri, the head of the Malaysian team, what happened next. Sakri’s evidence, filmed in his office at Putrajaya, is the first to be reported by the press outside Malaysia in five years. A year ago, Sakri gave a partial account of his mission to a Malaysian newspaper.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/
“I talked to my prime minister [Najib],” Colonel Sakri says. “He directed me to go to the crash site immediately.” At the time Sakri was a senior security official at the Disaster Management Division of the Prime Minister’s Department. Sakri says that after arriving in Kiev, Poroshenko’s officials blocked the Malaysians. “We were not allowed to go there…so I took a small team to leave Kiev going to Donetsk secretly.”
Sakri goes on to say he was asked by the [nominally nonpartisan] OSCE’s special monitoring mission for Ukraine to hand over the black boxes; he refused. He was then met by agents of the FBI (Min 6:56). “They approached me to show them the black box. I said no.” He also reports that in Kiev the Ukrainian Government tried “forcing me to leave the black boxes with them. We said no. We cannot. We cannot allow.”
Photo: The handover ceremony in Donetsk, July 22, 2014: on far left, the two black boxes from MH17; in the centre, shaking hands, Alexander Borodai and Mohamad Sakri.
Van der Werff and Yerlashova contracted with OG IT Forensic Services, a Malaysian firm specializing in forensic analysis of audio, video and digital materials for court proceedings, to examine the telephone tapes. The Kuala Lumpur firm has been endorsed by the Malaysian Bar. The full 143-page technical report can be read here.
The findings reported by Akash Rosen and illustrated on camera are that the telephone recordings have been cut, edited and fabricated. The source of the tapes, according to the JIT press conference on June 19 by Dutch police officer Paulissen, head of the National Criminal Investigation Service of The Netherlands, was the Ukrainian SBU. Similar findings of tape fabrication and evidence tampering are reported on camera in the van der Werff film by a German analyst, Norman Ritter.
—
And more recently, as I wrote on March 8th at Strategic Culture (likewise summarizing Helmer’s lengthy report on the matter):
“Bonanza Leaks” on 24 February 2020 shows photos of the official transcriptions of the witnesses’ testimony to the official Joint Investigative Team (JIT) which the U.S-allied Dutch Government operates in order to convict Russia for the shoot-down of the MH17 Malaysian airliner on 17 July 2014 above the civil-war zone in Ukraine. It includes an accompanying video presentation of these documents, from a day earlier, on February 23rd, titled “Bonanza Media LeaksTalk”. That video includes this: “Australian police confirm that these are authentic documents” (in response to Bonanza Media’s having supplied Australian police with the photos), and “these are original documents,” which their video shows. Then, they showed their documents to the JIT’s own office in Netherlands, which refused to comment. One document, from the Director of the Military Intelligence and Security Service of the Netherlands, to the public prosecutor of the National Prosecutor’s Office on Counter Terrorism, P.O. Box 395, 3000 AJ Rotterdam, dated 21 September 2016, opens (this being the official Dutch translation, but the original Dutch being also shown), “Herewith, I am informing, pursuant to Section 38 of the Intelligence and Security Services Act 2002, of data that is possibly of importance for the criminal investigation into the crashing of flight MH17.” After stating the evidence they had accumulated from witnesses and from allied-Government intelligence agencies, this document closes: “On this basis MIVD [Dutch military intelligence agency] draws the conclusion that from these two Russian ground based air systems near Rostov na Dona [the only two Russian bases that possibly would have been associated with the shoot-down of the MH17] no missile launch took place on 17 July 2014.” More information about the Bonanza Leaks disclosures can be found from the investigative journalist John Helmer in Moscow, headlining on February 25th, “NATO Military Intelligence Agencies Repeatedly Reported in Secret There Was No Evidence of a Russian Buk Missile in Eastern Ukraine or Firing on MH17”.
Was there any missile-launch, or did the MH17 get downed ONLY by the cannonfire from one or two Ukrainian military planes? (You can see here, here, here, and here, witness and other testimony backing up that account. Some of the physical evidence for it is shown here.) On 13 October 2015, the BBC reported that,
the Russian side disputed the Dutch findings insisting that only older warheads and missiles of the 9M38 type still in the hands of the Ukrainian army could have been used as they were the only weapons with ‘butterfly or bow-tie’ fragments. The Russian army had phased them out. ‘The 9M38M1 missile has no H-shaped striking elements,’ Yan Novikov, the head of Buk missile company Almaz-Antey said.
In their submission to the Dutch report, the Russian experts argue that investigators should not have discounted other potential reasons for plane’s destruction, such as an air-to-air rocket. This is completely rejected by the Dutch Safety Board.
Bullet-holes are clear in the physical evidence, but holes that could have come from a missile’s shrapnel are not so unambiguously indicated. Back on 5 August 2015, I headlined at Global Research, “The MH17 Pilot’s Corpse: More on the Cover-Up — Even His Family Was Blocked from It. Here’s Why.” It was the same reason why the coroners’ reports and the black box contents have also been muzzled and hidden: The Dutch Government is obviously lying through its teeth.
On March 9th, Asia Times bannered “Is Malaysia’s position on MH17 tragedy shifting?” and reported that, just as the trial was starting, there had been a change of Prime Ministers in Malaysia, and that the “newly-appointed government requested the colonel not to address the gathering.” That “colonel” happens to be the person who had secretly retrieved the black box immediately after the 17 July 2014 downing, and he was going to talk publicly about what it contained. There are a lot of secrets, and this trial in the Netherlands is to be yet another show-trial in a ‘democracy’.
Regarding the motive for the crime, here is what I had said on 7 October 2019 under the headline “Update on the MH17 Case”: “I knew that U.S. President Barack Obama had become desperate for something to happen that would persuade German Chancellor Angela Merkel to endorse added sanctions against Russia regarding Ukraine, but I had had no idea, until now, as to what direct involvement, if any, he had had in the actual setting-up of the MH17 shoot-down.” Obama was desperate because if he couldn’t cook up a ‘Russian’ provocation fast, then the window of opportunity to get the EU onboard with America’s hiked anti-Russian sanctions over ‘Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’ would soon be gone. He told Poroshenko to get it done, and fast. (Incidentally: the Netherlands Government was, along with the U.S. Government and George Soros, one of the top three funders behind Ukraine’s main TV station, Hromadske TV, propagandizing for ethnic cleansing to get rid of the residents in Ukraine’s far east where the democratically elected President whom Obama’s coup in Ukraine had overthrown had received over 90% of the people’s votes. So, the Dutch Government were in this from the get-go, along with Obama. These people were ‘progressive’ — as a PR term, anyway, to fool the liberal gulls. They can more honestly be called “liberal fascists.” That’s somewhere, perhaps a millimeter, to the left of extremely fascist. After all, ethnic cleansing, and mass-murder that’s set up so as to be blamed on persons whom the planner knows had nothing to do with it, is pretty far to the right.)
—————
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
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theduran--2020-03-10--Why the Coming Economic Collapse Won’t be Caused by Coronavirus PART 2

This Thursday , the markets took a 1000 point hit which was more than a little startling for many investors since the last 1000 point fall only happened three days prior… all in all bringing the financial markets to lows not seen since April 2008 , and veering dangerously close to a precipice which has 1929 written all over it .
Across the internet , panicky discussion has erupted over whether this foretells another 1987 collapse as Donald Trump warned , or something more akin to Black Tuesday of 1929 .
Others have pondered whether this is more similar to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ millionaires overnight ( not much to celebrate when bread costs billions ) .
The fact of the oncoming collapse itself should not be a surprise- especially when one is reminded of the $ 1.5 quadrillion of derivatives which has taken over a world economy which generates a mere $ 80 trillion/year in measurable goods and trade .
These nebulous bets on insurance on collateralized debts known as derivatives didn ’ t even exist a few decades ago , and the fact is that no matter what the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new rupture of this overextended casino bubble of an economy in recent months , nothing has worked .
Zero to negative percent interest rates haven ’ t worked , opening overnight repo loans of $ 100 billion/night to failing banks hasn ’ t worked- nor has the return of quantitative easing which restarted on October 17 in earnest .
No matter what these financial wizards try to do , things just keep getting worse .
Rather than acknowledge what is actually happening , scapegoats have been selected to shift the blame away from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crisis is actually being blamed on fluxes of immigration to Europe , China ’ s “ bad economic behavior ” , or even Coronavirus !
In the previous installment , I outlined the deeper causes of today ’ s oncoming economic meltdown by reviewing a 70 year history of bank de-regulation that began before Franklin Roosevelt ’ s body was cold .
Today , I ’ d like to continue the story by analysing the real causes of the oncoming meltdown from a slightly different angle .
Let me just state outright : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be the catalyzer for the oncoming financial blowout , it is the height of stupidity to believe that it is the cause , as the seeds of the crisis goes deeper and originated much earlier than most people are prepared to admit .
To start getting at a more truthful diagnostic , it is useful to think of an economy in REAL ( vs. purely financial ) terms- that is : simply think of the economy as total system in which all cultures , nations and families of the world exist .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of production of food , clothing , capital goods ( hard and soft infrastructure ) , transportation and energy production .
After raw materials are transformed into finished goods , these physical goods and services move from points A to B and are consumed .
All of this change is made possible by the application of energy to perform work .
This is very much akin to the metabolism that maintains a living body .
Now since populations tend to grow geometrically , while resources deplete arithmetically , constant demands on new creative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to meet and improve upon the needs of a growing humanity .
This last factor is actually the most important because it touches on the principled element that distinguishes humanity from all other forms of life in the ecosystem which Lincoln identified wonderfully in his 1859 Discoveries and Inventions Speech : During a 1994 address to Russian scientists in Moscow , a modern adherent to Lincoln ’ s system ( the late economist Lyndon LaRouche ) addressed this concept from a modern perspective by asking : What these men laid out in their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but elementary facts of life which even the most ardent money-worshipper can not get around .
Of course money is a perfectly useful tool to facilitate trade and get around the awkward problem of lugging bartered goods around on your back all day , but it really is just that : a supporting element to a physical process of maintenance and improvement of trans-generational existence .
When fools allow themselves to lose sight of that fact and elevate money to the status of a cause of all value ( simply because everyone wants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far outside the sphere of reality and in the Alice in Wonderland world of Alan Greenspan ’ s fantasy world where up is down , good is evil , and humans are little more than vicious monkeys .
So with that in mind , let ’ s take this concept and look back upon today ’ s crisis .
Greenspan and the Controlled Disintegration of the Economy When Alan Greenspan confronted the financial crisis of October1987 , markets had collapsed by 28.5 % and the American economy was already suffering from a decay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was removed from the fixed exchange rate and was “ floated ” into a world of speculation .
This departure from the 1938-1971 Industrial growth model ushered in a new paradigm of “ post-industrialism ” ( aka : nation stripping ) under the new logic of “ globalization ” .
This foolish decision was celebrated as the consumer-driven , “ white collar society ” which would no longer worry about “ intangible things ” like “ the future ” , infrastructure maintenance , or “ growth ” .
Under this new paradigm , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ monetary profit within 3 years , it wasn ’ t worth doing .
Paul Volcker ( Greenspan ’ s predecessor at the Federal Reserve ) exemplified this detachment from reality when he called for the “ controlled disintegration of society ” in 1977 , and acted accordingly by keeping interest rates above 20 % for two years which destroyed small and medium agro industrial enterprises across America ( and the world ) .
Greenspan confronted the 1987 crisis with all the gusto of a black magician , and rather than re-connect the economy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ industrial base , he chose instead to normalize “ creative financial instruments ” in the form of derivatives , which quickly grew from several billion in 1988 to $ 2 trillion in 1992 to $ 70 trillion in 1999 .
When Bill Clinton repealed Glass-Steagall bank separation of commercial and investment banks as his last act in office in 1999 , speculators had un-bounded access to savings and pensions which they used with relish and went to town gambling with other people ’ s money .
This new bubble continued for a few @ @ @ @ @ @ @ derivatives time bomb found a new trigger and the subprime mortgage market nearly burned the system down .
Just like in 1987 , and the collapse of the Y2K bubble in 2001 , the Mammon worshipping wizards in the ECB and Fed solved this crisis by creating a new system of “ bailout ” which continued for another decade .
Today , western economies have been hollowed out of the very life blood that caused value by supporting human life in the first place .
New “ sub-prime ” bubbles have been created @ @ @ @ @ @ @ risen to over $ 13.8 trillion ( up 16 % from the year earlier ) .
A quarter of which is considered junk , and another half graded at BB by Moodies ( a step above junk ) .
This sum is greater than the 2006 subprime bubble and a default on any of this could trigger a chain reaction collapse .
Household debt , student and auto debt has skyrocketed and since wages have not kept up with inflation causing even more unpayable debts have been incurred .
A default on any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ collapse .
National debts have also hit record highs as the post 1971 consumer society system of finance predicates the issuance of money upon debt without any obligation to have those debts connected to investments in the real world .
A national default on a debt currently from any part of the world could trigger a chain reaction collapse .
Industrial jobs have collapsed consistently since 1971 , and low paying service jobs have taken over like a plague .
Financial services have risen in tandem with the collapse of highly skilled jobs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ labor markets abroad and Trans-Atlantic infrastructure has been permitted to fall into complete decay .
The last report from the American Society of Civil Engineers concluded that America desperately needs to spend $ 4.5 trillion just to bring its decayed infrastructure up to safety levels .
Roads , bridges , rail , dams , airports , schools all received near failing grades with the average age of dams clocking in at 56 years , and many water pipes over 100 years old , and transmission/distribution lines are well over 60 years .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are long outsourced , and much of the productive workforce that had that living knowledge to build a nation are retired or dead leaving a generation gap in knowledge in its place filled with millennials who never knew what a productive economy looked like .
American and European farmers have probably been the most devastated in all this with dramatic population losses across the entire farm belt of America and the average age of farmers now 60 years .
It was recently reported that 82 % of US agricultural family income comes from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taken over all aspects of farming ( from upstream equipment/supplies to downstream packaging/distribution and everything in between ) .
Why was this permitted to happen ?
Well besides the obvious intention to induce “ a controlled disintegration of the economy ” as Volcker so coldly stated , the idea was always to create the conditions described by the late Maurice Strong ( sociopath and Rothschild cut-out extraordinaire ) in 1992 when he rhetorically asked : How do we get back to health ?
Like any addict who wakes up one morning at rock @ @ @ @ @ @ @ death is nigh , the first step is admitting we have a problem .
This means simply : acknowledging the true nature of the current economic calamity instead of trying to blame “ coronavirus ” , immigrants or China ’ s BRI , or some other scapegoat .
The next step is to begin to act on reality instead of continuing to take heroin ( a fine metaphor for the addiction to derivatives speculation ) .
An obvious first step to this recovery involves restoring Glass-Steagall in order to 1 ) break up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2 ) impose a standard of judging “ false ” value from “ legitimate ” value which is currently absent from the modern psyche that lost all sense of needs vs wants ( ie : if you think prostitution , gambling and drug dealing should be considered legitimate forms of “ value ” factored into global GDP , you should not be considered qualified to be an economist or elected official ) .
Doing this would allow nations to purge of the unpayable fictitious debt and other claims from the system while preserving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( whatever is directly connected to life ) .
This process is sort of akin to the surgical removal of a cancer , and this would look very similar to what Franklin Roosevelt did in 1933 which I outlined in my recent paper How to Crush a Bankers ’ Dictatorship .
At this point nation-states will have re-asserted their true authority over the pirates of private finance controlling the Trans-Atlantic financial system , and an honest discussion between sovereign nation states could occur in an honest fashion .
President Trump and other sane @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then have to figure out how to start the long but vital process of forcing credit to regenerate the destroyed productive base of America and Europe with a focus on advanced infrastructure , science and technological progress .
This later investment into space science , atomic power , and transportation ( high speed and magnetic levitation ) would drive new breakthroughs necessary to overcome the current “ limits to growth ” that Green New Dealing oligarchs believe justify reducing the world population to less than two billion .
Where Franklin Roosevelt had to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , today ’ s America luckily has a China-Russia alliance that have created a powerful “ New Deal ” of win-win cooperation in the form of the evolving Belt and Road Initiative with invitations for western nations to jump on board .
Matthew Ehret is the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Patriot Review , a BRI Expert on Tactical talk , and has authored 3 volumes of ‘ Untold History of Canada ’ book series .
In 2019 he co-founded the Montreal-based Rising Tide Foundation and can be reached at [ email protected ]

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Originally published on Strategic Culture
This Thursday, the markets took a 1000 point hit which was more than a little startling for many investors since the last 1000 point fall only happened three days prior… all in all bringing the financial markets to lows not seen since April 2008, and veering dangerously close to a precipice which has 1929 written all over it. Across the internet, panicky discussion has erupted over whether this foretells another 1987 collapse as Donald Trump warned, or something more akin to Black Tuesday of 1929. Others have pondered whether this is more similar to a 1923 Weimar hyperinflation where Germans became millionaires overnight (not much to celebrate when bread costs billions).
The fact of the oncoming collapse itself should not be a surprise- especially when one is reminded of the $1.5 quadrillion of derivatives which has taken over a world economy which generates a mere $80 trillion/year in measurable goods and trade. These nebulous bets on insurance on collateralized debts known as derivatives didn’t even exist a few decades ago, and the fact is that no matter what the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank have attempted to do to stop a new rupture of this overextended casino bubble of an economy in recent months, nothing has worked. Zero to negative percent interest rates haven’t worked, opening overnight repo loans of $100 billion/night to failing banks hasn’t worked- nor has the return of quantitative easing which restarted on October 17 in earnest. No matter what these financial wizards try to do, things just keep getting worse.
Rather than acknowledge what is actually happening, scapegoats have been selected to shift the blame away from reality to the point that the current crisis is actually being blamed on fluxes of immigration to Europe, China’s “bad economic behavior”, or even Coronavirus!
In the previous installment, I outlined the deeper causes of today’s oncoming economic meltdown by reviewing a 70 year history of bank de-regulation that began before Franklin Roosevelt’s body was cold. Today, I’d like to continue the story by analysing the real causes of the oncoming meltdown from a slightly different angle.
Deeper than COVID-19
Let me just state outright: That while the coronavirus may in fact be the catalyzer for the oncoming financial blowout, it is the height of stupidity to believe that it is the cause, as the seeds of the crisis goes deeper and originated much earlier than most people are prepared to admit.
To start getting at a more truthful diagnostic, it is useful to think of an economy in REAL (vs. purely financial) terms- that is: simply think of the economy as total system in which all cultures, nations and families of the world exist.
This co-existence is predicated on certain necessary powers of production of food, clothing, capital goods (hard and soft infrastructure), transportation and energy production. After raw materials are transformed into finished goods, these physical goods and services move from points A to B and are consumed. All of this change is made possible by the application of energy to perform work. This is very much akin to the metabolism that maintains a living body.
Now since populations tend to grow geometrically, while resources deplete arithmetically, constant demands on new creative discoveries and technological application are also needed to meet and improve upon the needs of a growing humanity. This last factor is actually the most important because it touches on the principled element that distinguishes humanity from all other forms of life in the ecosystem which Lincoln identified wonderfully in his 1859 Discoveries and Inventions Speech:
“All creation is a mine, and every man, a miner. The whole earth, and all within it, upon it, and round about it, including himself, in his physical, moral, and intellectual nature, and his susceptibilities, are the infinitely various “leads” from which, man, from the first, was to dig out his destiny… Man is not the only animal who labors; but he is the only one who improves his workmanship. This improvement, he effects by Discoveries, and Inventions.”
During a 1994 address to Russian scientists in Moscow, a modern adherent to Lincoln’s system (the late economist Lyndon LaRouche) addressed this concept from a modern perspective by asking:
“Mankind is different than any other animal; how do we prove this? And how does that bear on this question of technology? If the hominids (mankind) were higher apes or animals, we would have the population potential (approximately) of higher apes, baboons (which some people behave like), or chimpanzees. In that case, in the past 2 million years of the interglacial period, at no time would the human population of this planet have exceeded 10 million persons approximately. We have increased the world population to 5.3 billion people. Twenty or twenty-five years ago, we had the basis for, in a normal fashion, going to 25 billion people without any great problem. In the past 30 years, we have destroyed so much of the planet’s productive technology and productive capacity that we are in a disaster.”
What these men laid out in their own manner are not mere hypotheses, but elementary facts of life which even the most ardent money-worshipper cannot get around.
Of course money is a perfectly useful tool to facilitate trade and get around the awkward problem of lugging bartered goods around on your back all day, but it really is just that: a supporting element to a physical process of maintenance and improvement of trans-generational existence. When fools allow themselves to lose sight of that fact and elevate money to the status of a cause of all value (simply because everyone wants it), then we find ourselves far outside the sphere of reality and in the Alice in Wonderland world of Alan Greenspan’s fantasy world where up is down, good is evil, and humans are little more than vicious monkeys.
So with that in mind, let’s take this concept and look back upon today’s crisis.
Greenspan and the Controlled Disintegration of the Economy
When Alan Greenspan confronted the financial crisis of October1987, markets had collapsed by 28.5% and the American economy was already suffering from a decay begun 16 years earlier when the dollar was removed from the fixed exchange rate and was “floated” into a world of speculation. This departure from the 1938-1971 Industrial growth model ushered in a new paradigm of “post-industrialism” (aka: nation stripping) under the new logic of “globalization”. This foolish decision was celebrated as the consumer-driven, “white collar society” which would no longer worry about “intangible things” like “the future”, infrastructure maintenance, or “growth”. Under this new paradigm, if something couldn’t generate a monetary profit within 3 years, it wasn’t worth doing.
Paul Volcker (Greenspan’s predecessor at the Federal Reserve) exemplified this detachment from reality when he called for the “controlled disintegration of society” in 1977, and acted accordingly by keeping interest rates above 20% for two years which destroyed small and medium agro industrial enterprises across America (and the world). Greenspan confronted the 1987 crisis with all the gusto of a black magician, and rather than re-connect the economy to physical reality and rebuild the decaying industrial base, he chose instead to normalize “creative financial instruments” in the form of derivatives, which quickly grew from several billion in 1988 to $2 trillion in 1992 to $70 trillion in 1999.
When Bill Clinton repealed Glass-Steagall bank separation of commercial and investment banks as his last act in office in 1999, speculators had un-bounded access to savings and pensions which they used with relish and went to town gambling with other people’s money. This new bubble continued for a few more years until the $700 trillion derivatives time bomb found a new trigger and the subprime mortgage market nearly burned the system down. Just like in 1987, and the collapse of the Y2K bubble in 2001, the Mammon worshipping wizards in the ECB and Fed solved this crisis by creating a new system of “bailout” which continued for another decade.
Today, western economies have been hollowed out of the very life blood that caused value by supporting human life in the first place.
The Ugly Truth of Today’s Crisis
New “sub-prime” bubbles have been created in the Corporate Debt sector which has risen to over $13.8 trillion (up 16% from the year earlier). A quarter of which is considered junk, and another half graded at BB by Moodies (a step above junk). This sum is greater than the 2006 subprime bubble and a default on any of this could trigger a chain reaction collapse.
Household debt, student and auto debt has skyrocketed and since wages have not kept up with inflation causing even more unpayable debts have been incurred. A default on any of these could trigger a chain reaction collapse.
National debts have also hit record highs as the post 1971 consumer society system of finance predicates the issuance of money upon debt without any obligation to have those debts connected to investments in the real world. A national default on a debt currently from any part of the world could trigger a chain reaction collapse.
Industrial jobs have collapsed consistently since 1971, and low paying service jobs have taken over like a plague. Financial services have risen in tandem with the collapse of highly skilled jobs which have increasingly been outsourced to cheap labor markets abroad and Trans-Atlantic infrastructure has been permitted to fall into complete decay.
The last report from the American Society of Civil Engineers concluded that America desperately needs to spend $4.5 trillion just to bring its decayed infrastructure up to safety levels. Roads, bridges, rail, dams, airports, schools all received near failing grades with the average age of dams clocking in at 56 years, and many water pipes over 100 years old, and transmission/distribution lines are well over 60 years. The factories which once supplied those infrastructure needs are long outsourced, and much of the productive workforce that had that living knowledge to build a nation are retired or dead leaving a generation gap in knowledge in its place filled with millennials who never knew what a productive economy looked like.
American and European farmers have probably been the most devastated in all this with dramatic population losses across the entire farm belt of America and the average age of farmers now 60 years. It was recently reported that 82% of US agricultural family income comes from off farms, as mega cartels have taken over all aspects of farming (from upstream equipment/supplies to downstream packaging/distribution and everything in between).
Why was this permitted to happen? Well besides the obvious intention to induce “a controlled disintegration of the economy” as Volcker so coldly stated, the idea was always to create the conditions described by the late Maurice Strong (sociopath and Rothschild cut-out extraordinaire) in 1992 when he rhetorically asked:
“What if a small group of world leaders were to conclude that the principal risk to the Earth comes from the actions of the rich countries? And if the world is to survive, those rich countries would have to sign an agreement reducing their impact on the environment. Will they do it? The group’s conclusion is ‘no’. The rich countries won’t do it. They won’t change. So, in order to save the planet, the group decides: Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?”
How do we get back to health?
Like any addict who wakes up one morning at rock bottom with the sudden terror that his death is nigh, the first step is admitting we have a problem. This means simply: acknowledging the true nature of the current economic calamity instead of trying to blame “coronavirus”, immigrants or China’s BRI, or some other scapegoat.
The next step is to begin to act on reality instead of continuing to take heroin (a fine metaphor for the addiction to derivatives speculation).
An obvious first step to this recovery involves restoring Glass-Steagall in order to 1) break up the Too Big to Fail banks and 2) impose a standard of judging “false” value from “legitimate” value which is currently absent from the modern psyche that lost all sense of needs vs wants (ie: if you think prostitution, gambling and drug dealing should be considered legitimate forms of “value” factored into global GDP, you should not be considered qualified to be an economist or elected official).
Doing this would allow nations to purge of the unpayable fictitious debt and other claims from the system while preserving whatever is tied to the real economy (whatever is directly connected to life). This process is sort of akin to the surgical removal of a cancer, and this would look very similar to what Franklin Roosevelt did in 1933 which I outlined in my recent paper How to Crush a Bankers’ Dictatorship.
At this point nation-states will have re-asserted their true authority over the pirates of private finance controlling the Trans-Atlantic financial system, and an honest discussion between sovereign nation states could occur in an honest fashion.
President Trump and other sane patriots from both parties of America would then have to figure out how to start the long but vital process of forcing credit to regenerate the destroyed productive base of America and Europe with a focus on advanced infrastructure, science and technological progress. This later investment into space science, atomic power, and transportation (high speed and magnetic levitation) would drive new breakthroughs necessary to overcome the current “limits to growth” that Green New Dealing oligarchs believe justify reducing the world population to less than two billion. Where Franklin Roosevelt had to drive this process solo in the 1930s, today’s America luckily has a China-Russia alliance that have created a powerful “New Deal” of win-win cooperation in the form of the evolving Belt and Road Initiative with invitations for western nations to jump on board.
Matthew Ehret is the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Patriot Review , a BRI Expert on Tactical talk, and has authored 3 volumes of ‘Untold History of Canada’ book series. In 2019 he co-founded the Montreal-based Rising Tide Foundation and can be reached at matt.ehret@tutamail.com
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