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Communiqué of the French-Speaking Saker (+translation)

Communiqué du Saker Francophone Dans la nuit du 9 au 10 mars, un incendit a détruit une partie du DataCenter de Strasbourg d’OVH, notre hébergeur. https://www.phonandroid.com/ovh-la-cause-de-lincendie-identifiee.html Comme 3 à 4 millions de sites, notre site ne repond plus. Nous sommes maintenant tributaire d’OVH pour un retour à la normale entre le 22 et le 25 Mars. Il faudra s’armer de patience pour retrouver un service normal. On remercie tous ceux

Iranian tankers and covert attacks

By Nat South for the Saker Blog The WSJ published an exclusive article on covert Israeli targeting of Iranian ships and shipments going to Syria, going back several years. Here is the headline: “WSJ News Exclusive | Israeli Strikes Target Iranian Oil Bound for Syria” To shed some light on the matter and give some broader context to the WSJ exclusive, I produced a draft visual timeline of notable events,

Chinese Foreign Policy Outlook

By Zamir Awan for the Saker Blog China achieved miraculous progress during the last four decades, which were never seen in humankind’s known history. There must be many reasons for its rapid developments, but its foreign policy was one of the significant reasons. In simple words, China opted for a reconciliation policy and avoided any confrontation with any other nation or country. It helped China to focus only on developments

Sitrep: China by the numbers

By Godfree Roberts – selected from his extensive weekly newsletter : Here Comes China plus editorial notes. You can get it here: https://www.herecomeschina.com/#subscribe – The consumer price index (CPI) declined 0.2% YoY in February. Food prices dropped 0.2 %, lowering consumer inflation by 0.05%. Read full article $ → Ed:  This is in sharp contrast from the Zone A sphere where the reporting is of food price increases.  – China’s

Bernays and Propaganda – Propaganda Continues Unabated – Part 5

By Larry Romanoff for the Saker Blog In most nations, when a particular criminal conduct reaches epidemic proportion, the government finally acts decisively to eradicate it. Not in America; they solve the problem by legalising it. They did this with influence-peddling (lobbying) and drugs, the same now occurring with domestic propaganda which has been against the law for a very long time to protect citizens from psychological manipulation and control by their own

Our lives between the covers of the Raging Twenties

By Pepe Escobar – posted with permission and first posted at Asia Times     I have a new book out, Raging Twenties: Great Power Politics Meets Techno-Feudalism. For those who don’t use Amazon, here is a mini-guide on how to order and buy the book. The journey of a book finding its readers is always an idiosyncratic, mysterious and fascinating process. To set the scene, permit me a short presentation

Is the Ukraine on the brink of war (again)?

[this analysis was written for the Unz Review] Just a few weeks ago I wrote a column entitled “The Ukraine’s Many Ticking Time Bombs” in which I listed a number of developments presenting a major threat to the Ukraine and, in fact, to all the countries of the region. In this short time the situation has deteriorated rather dramatically. I will therefore begin with a short recap of what is

Two Popular Votes in Switzerland: Right Wing Colonial Thinking and Left Wing Colonial Thinking

Paul Schmutz Schaller for The Saker Blog a) Definitions I must start by defining what I understand by „colonial thinking“. This means the conviction in Western countries that their country, their system, their culture, their general mentality is much better than in the other parts of the world. One may add the conviction that the religion („Western“ Christianity) is better than other religions. Or the conviction of white supremacy; but

Feminism as social pathology

by Ljubiša Malenica for the Saker Blog As we move into the third decade of the twenty-first century, we can undoubtedly claim, taking into account all the important elements of social life, that women have achieved equal status with men. Moreover, in some cases, women can justifiably be considered more privileged. According to research by Sonia Starr, men usually serve 63% more severe sentences than women who have committed the

Iran-Russia Relationship: Requisites for Transition from Meager Tactical Actualities to Actualization of Deep Strategic Potentials

by Mansoureh Tajik for the Saker Blog Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim, “In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. On March 12, 2001, a near-comprehensive agreement was reached between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation in Moscow. The agreement was signed by Mohammad Khatami, Iran’s president at the time, and Vladimir Putin as the Russian president.[1] It has been in place for 20 years and is about

A sea change in deployments

By Nat South for the Saker Blog This short analysis outlines a recent small but subtle “sea change” in Russian naval deployments that took place recently. Firstly, the list below outlines an abridged overview of the current elements underpinning Russian naval policies to date: The backbone of the Russian Navy lies in its multipronged capacity to field a range of ships, to support its littoral defence and also deploy primarily

A “Cruise Missile Revolution” Took Place in Russia

Source: Sonar 2050 – В России состоялась «крылатая революция»  Translated by Sasha and subtitled by Leo. As it usually happens in Russia, the most important information passes unnoticed. This time too only specialists noted that Russia has achieved a truly revolutionary progress in the field of missile arms, which allows us to review our defeat in the technological race on one of the important fronts of the Cold War. Details

Copenhagen Syndrome

by Francis Lee for the Saker Blog The naval Battle of Copenhagen (1801) occurred during the War of the Second Coalition when a British naval fleet commanded by Admiral Sir Hyde Parker defeated a Danish fleet anchored just off Copenhagen. Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson led the main British attack. During the battle, he was famously reputed to have disobeyed his senior officer, Sir Hyde Parker’s, order to withdraw by holding

TV report on “huge operation” targeting Saudi capital by Yemeni forces

Middle East Observer Video Link Source RT Arabic:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xI1Dir-1oM Description: TV report on the “huge operation” targeting the Saudi capital & other cities by Sana’a-based Yemeni forces Important Note: Please help us keep producing independent translations for you by contributing as little as $1/month here: https://www.patreon.com/MiddleEastObserver?fan_landing=true) Transcript: Reporter: Sana’a sought to send several messages through its (latest) strikes that targeted what it described were “sensitive and important” sites in Saudi Arabia. The

The shape of things to come in China

New Five-Year Plan aims for ‘high-quality’ economic reform, a tech leap forward and new era of common prosperity By Pepe Escobar with permission and first posted at Asia Times It’s Lianghui (“Two Sessions”) time – the annual ritual of the Beijing leadership. The stars of the show are the top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference; and the traditional delivery of a work report by the Prime

Biden becomes the fourth successive President to bomb Iraqis: how far could this latest round of escalation go?

By Aram Mirzaei for the Saker blog Another president, another act of aggression. For the past few decades, it’s almost like a mandatory rite of passage for US presidents to bomb Muslim countries. I don’t think many of us are surprised to see that current US President Joe Biden turned out to be no different to his predecessors, when Washington once more bombed Iraqis last week. Continuing the same policy

The Bamiyan Buddhas: an Afghan tale

by Pepe Escobar with permission and first posted at Asia Times In the beginning, they were the Bamiyan Buddhas: the Western Buddha statue, 55 meters high, and the Eastern, 38 meters high, carved for decades since 550 A.D. from porous sandstone cliffs, the intricate details modeled in clay mixed with straw and coated with stucco. Xuanzang, the legendary traveling monk of the early Tang dynasty who journeyed to India in

Sitrep: Eradicating absolute poverty in China

By Godfree Roberts – selected from his extensive weekly newsletter : Here Comes China plus editorial notes. You can get it here:  https://www.herecomeschina.com/#subscribe The Biggest News Xi declares ‘complete victory’ in eradicating absolute poverty in China The final 99 million poor rural Chinese are free of poverty, along with 832 impoverished counties and 128,000 villages. China met the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development  goal 10 years ahead of schedule. (Ed…) 

Bernays and Propaganda – The Transition to Education and Commerce – Part 4

By Larry Romanoff for the Saker Blog The success of Lippman and Bernays did not go unnoticed in many segments of American society. Universities in particular realised the potential of these new propaganda techniques to form, manipulate and control social perceptions and behavior. Schools and Universities in the US had never been viewed as an educational system but more as tools of a public disciplinary system, a method both of

Book review: “Disintegration” by Andrei Martyanov

[This book review was written for the Unz Review] This is the third book by Andrei Martyanov that I am reviewing, the first one was “Book Review – Losing Military Supremacy: the Myopia of American Strategic Planning by Andrei Martyanov”, while the second one was “Book Review: Andrei Martyanov’s The (Real) Revolution in Military Affairs”. I also interviewed Andrei about this second volume here. The book I am reviewing today,

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