by Postfataresurgo for the Saker Blog Years ago, as Italy’s real estate market was spiraling upward after the euro came into effect, I strived to be of assistance to a couple of friends from the Bay Area who had set their minds on becoming home owners in Tuscany. After reading what had become a popular book among Tuscany cognoscenti about a lady who buys an abandoned home in southern Tuscany
By Intibah Kadi for the Saker Blog With COVID-19 capturing almost total world attention, eyes are not focused on the numerous alarming events occurring around the world. In Lebanon, a disaster has been unfolding; a place in the long past described as the “Land of milk and honey” and even when one now wanders the hills, it still rings true to an extent. The fact is that now the ordinary
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog The headline says it all – why even write the article? Journalism has – of course, and with universal unanimity – become merely the relaying of the statements of Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci is not just an immunologist – he’s an economist, historian, judge, legislator (national, state, county, city and village), manufacturer, landlord, employer, son, daughter, mother, lawyer for both the prosecutor and
by Pepe Escobar – crossposted with Strategic Culture Foundation With the specter of a New Great Depression hovering over most of the planet, realpolitik perspectives for a radical change of the political economy framework we live in are not exactly encouraging. Western ruling elites will be deploying myriad tactics to perpetuate the passivity of populations barely emerging from de facto house arrest, including a massive disciplinary – in a Foucault
by Nat South for the Saker Blog This week, in an interview with TASS, the head of the Russian Border Guard Service spoke about the increase in intelligence activities along the Russian sea borders. “Seaward parts of Pacific and Arctic oceans, Baltic and Black Seas are increasingly becoming areas of intelligence[-gathering], naval exercises, in which foreign ships and aviation of several states are involved” Vladimir Kulishov, First Deputy Director of
by Jimmie Moglia for The Saker Blog The Coronavirus phenomenon has left so many attired in wonder that they know not what to say – including the undersigned who runs the positive risk of losing some or all of his 25 readers. Writing objectively about the reported death of thousands and the predicted demise of millions is impossible. For the very questioning of the figures triggers a perception of callousness,
by Eric Zuesse for The Saker Blog Some people say that Hillary Clinton had no achievements as the U.S. Secretary of State; but that view is factually false. She had a huge and enduring impact, on at least three countries, as will here be documented via the links: HONDURAS: When the dozen oligarchs who control Honduras overthrew Honduras’s popular democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya on 28 June 2009, and installed a
by Pepe Escobar – posted with permission With Sinophobic hysteria reaching new heights in US, China’s counter play is a massive new economic plan Stranger things have happened. Everyone was expecting US President Donald Trump to go nuclear by de facto sanctioning China to death over Hong Kong. In an environment where Twitter and the President of the United States are now engaged in open warfare, the rule is that
by Ramin Mazaheri for the Saker Blog It is often boasted in the US that they forced the implosion of the USSR via military overspending, as if recklessly creating a dangerous and useless arms race was something to brag about. However, the spoiled American rich kid is about to get his comeuppance and learn that money does not equal virtue. The coronavirus hysteria, the West’s foolish Great Lockdown and the
by Francis Lee for The Saker Blog Unquestionably, the world – circa 2020 – seems currently to be moving away from democratic forms of rule and transmuting into more totalitarian systems (liberal totalitarianism if you will – see below). This has been a prolonged historical metamorphosis beginning in the late 19th century and ultimately borne out by a complete rejection of the Enlightenment and its values. The late 19th and
Both sides have sent reinforcements to disputed Ladakh line, as Beijing flexes its muscles around Asia by Pepe Escobar – posted with permission It would be counter-productive for BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization members India and China to come to blows on account of some extremely remote – albeit strategically important – snowy mountain passes. But when one looks at the 3,488-kilometer-long Line of Actual Control, which India defines as
by Ramin Mazaheri for the Saker Blog TITANIC LARGEST SHIP IN THE WORLD SINKING personally I am not sure that the twelvehour day is bad for employees especially when they insist on working that long in order to make more money — John Dos Passos, The 42nd Parallel, part one of the U.S.A. trilogy What if the bailouts actually work? Naturally, socialists aren’t inclined to explore this question, but
Patreon has started a system of charging sales tax according to jurisdiction. So, if you are a subscriber from say Germany, they will charge VAT according to the German tax model. For the US, it would be according to the tax model of your state. The reason for this is because so many have now started selling or giving away t-shirts, books and other merchandise on Patreon. For normal donations
[this analysis was written for the Unz Review] At this time of writing, it is too early to declare the danger over, but at least three out of five Iranian tankers have made it safely to Venezuela (confirmation from TeleSur and PressTV). Furthermore, while we should never say “never”, it appears exceedingly unlikely that the US would let three tankers pass only to then try to impede the arrival of
by Denis Conroy for The Saker Blog Statistics suggest that one and a half billion day-labourers throughout the world need work to avoid starvation. This fact suggests that clarity of mind may only exist apropos of external conditions. This thought of itself suggests that man’s inhumanity to man is really a war on human rights. Clarity of mind may be the ace in the pack, but the problem is, the
By Aram Mirzaei for the Saker blog In recent weeks, Western and Empire-aligned media outlets have been launching a misinformation offensive over an alleged agreement between Tehran and Moscow to remove Assad, apparently in an effort to “speed up the Syrian peace process”. An alternative version of this allegation insisted that Tehran was not part of the deal, rather it insisted that Moscow had had enough of “Assad’s incompetence and
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog Since the West’s Great Lockdown started I’ve been warning the West that they can’t do it – a capitalist-imperialist system cannot do an immediate 180 and copy China, Iran, Vietnam and others. I gave so many reasons why that was a catastrophically bad idea: The “sports-journalisation” of their media, the unbloody flag of Y2K, counting on Germany as “reliable partners”, the perilous idea
Dear friends, In a recent Facebook post Pepe Escobar wrote the following: The low down – on the economic measures, on the Hong Kong question, and on The Big Picture. All in a 5-minute read that… Posted by Pepe Escobar on Sunday, May 24, 2020 This is just the latest in a long series of compliments that I heard from many top commentators (most recently from Catherine Austin-Fitts)! The credit for
Translated by Sasha and captioned by Leo. Have you noticed that since the beginning of the Coronavirus epidemic the “Putin Dumped the Kuril Islands” topic quietly died out? Not only this but many similar topics disappeared from the opposition publications as if they never existed. Now the liberals scribble, while the authorities ‘conceal’ it, in support of the Western discourse of supposedly existing in Russia understating the COVID-19 death rate.
