The Russian Ministry of Defense has released the following document:
Analysis of satellite imagery released on the Internet by the Security Service of Ukraine on July 30, 2014
First of all, one needs facts to level grave accusations or make conclusions. It is widely acknowledged that geo-reference and astronomical time are necessary for satellite images to count as factual evidence in order to pinpoint specific satellites in a constellation that was flying over the area at the time and take into consideration their technical characteristics and capacities. All satellites orbiting the Earth move in accordance with predetermined trajectories.
In connection to this, we can state that according to the Russian space surveillance system, Ukrainian satellites Sich-1 and Sich-2 were not flying over this territory from 10am to 1pm Moscow time (GMT+4; 9am-12pm GMT+3) on July 12, 16, 17 and 18, 2014.
At the time specified in the images, the American electro-optical reconnaissance satellite of the Key Hole series was flying over the crash site area, so the source of the images for Ukrainian Security Service is obvious.
As for the images, the analysis goes as follows.
The first two slides show almost identical images from the Ukrainian and Russian sides. The important detail is that the SBU’s image is dated several days later.
Slide 1
Slide 2
The images on Slides 3 and 4 require a more detailed review.
Slide 3
In the images released by SBU, the shadows point north-east. Thus, these images were not only made on a different day, but also in the afternoon, which means the specified time has been deliberately falsified.
That is an indisputable fact. The images released by the Russian Defense Ministry on July 21 are absolutely accurate in terms of the location and time.
Moreover, it is clearly visible that in the SBU’s image the circled tree belt has been deliberately distorted. The Russian satellite image does not have these distortions.
Additionally, according to all weather reports for Avdeyevka on July 17, the area had 70 to 80% cloud coverage and cloud base height of 2,500m. The information can be easily verified through a number of independent sources. Russian satellite image shows exactly that.
Please note that the SBU’s Slide 4 shows clear skies and sunny weather on the same day. No comments are necessary.
The resolution of the Russian satellite image on Slide 5 has been deliberately lowered, which resulted in the outlines the terrain (i.e. field) looking smeared.
Slide 5
High-quality image of area as presented by the Russian Defence Ministry
The Ukrainian image on Slide 7 is identical to the Russian one, except it was made 5 days (!) later. It is unclear what the SBU was trying to prove with it.
Slide 7
In the 14 satellite images presented by the SBU one can make out some vehicles and their tracks with no latitude or longitude, or references to time and date.
Half of the images (Images 2 through 7) show some field roads that, according to the SBU, are located partly in Russia and partly in Ukraine.
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4
Image 5
Image 6
Image 7
Considering the quality of the images, it remains unclear how the vehicles were identified as tanks, armored vehicles or trucks, let alone as property of the Russian Federation and not of the Ukrainian military or border patrol.
The same goes for the two images (images 4 and 14) which allegedly show evidence of fieldworks.
Image 4
Image 14
Image 11
Image 12
Image 13
As for the alleged shelling with Grad rocket launchers from the Ukrainian (!) village of Grigoryevka controlled by the Ukrainian military (Images 8-10), this is clearly an exercise in conspiracy theories and an attempt to lay the blame on someone else’s shoulders, which is clearly reminiscent of Kiev’s earlier allegations of Russia’s involvement in the Maidan and the tragedy in Odessa.
Image 8
Image 9
Image 10
***
However, its quality, as well as the SBU’s arguments allegedly proving Russia’s involvement, are absolutely implausible.
Apparently, the reason why the true owners of these images have not put their names to these publications is to make sure the myth of their mighty space intelligence keeps going.
The Russians wish to persuade the international community of their case, but they released these photos with no English commentary? Sigh.
Busted. Again.
And with scant regard will keep offering lies.
Here is Mr. David Stockman appalling Mr. Buchann’s take on the Empire’s Ukrainian Debacle.Read the whole article at link.
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/my-thoughts-on-pat-buchanans-brilliant-and-incisive-take-on-washingtons-ukrainian-fiasco/
Money nugget:
“More importantly, if Ike could invite Khrushchev to tour America and pow-wow with him at Camp David after the suppression of the Hungarian freedom fighters and his bluster over Berlin, what in the world is Obama doing attempting to demonize Putin and make him an international pariah? The fact is, Crimea had been part of Russia for 200 years, and the Donbas had been its Russian-speaking coal, steel and industrial heartland since the time of Stalin.
Putin’s disagreements with the Ukrainian nationalists who took over Kiev during the Washington inspired overthrow of its constitutionally-elected government in February are his legitimate geo-political business, but have nothing to do with our national security. And whatever his considerable faults, Putin is no totalitarian menace even remotely in the same league as his Soviet predecessors. In that regard, Hillary Clinton’s sophomoric comparison of him to Hitler is downright preposterous.
At the heart of the matter is the War Party’s desire to punish Putin for pushing back against American interventionism in Syria, Iran, Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. For that Washington has now ensnared itself in an ancient ethnic struggle that has roiled Russia’s borders for centuries; and has landed smack in the middle of an attempt by Kiev’s nationalists to violently maintain the “territorial integrity” of a nation who’s boundaries have been meandering all over the map since the middle ages.
In that context, Senator John McCain’s call to arm the ruffians, opportunists, oligarchs and neo-fascists who took power in a street level coup in Kiev is downright lunatic. It causes Buchanan to ask,
“Who is the real problem here?”
Anon Mongoose
To the saker:
Let’s understand the time frame of the media events. It has been two weeks since the crash. Already the first perception has become an assumption for the 90%. There will be little to no discussion of the details of the satellite images in the main stream media (MSM). So in terms of perception, the headline that accompanies the images is all that counts – and it will confirm the popular perception. In the same way most people today believe the UN investigation found the Syrian government responsible for gas attacks, when in fact it was the exact opposite.
Novorussia continues to loose the PR war and it continues to be slowly squeezed into ever tighter pockets. The two top military and political commanders of the Novorussian entity are not Ukrainian. Either Russia does not give enough of the right weapons, or there are too few people to use them to gain significant victories. Either way – the conclusion cannot be good if things remain the same. Sadly, things do not remain the same and Nato help is increasing.
If Russia is waiting for winter for Ukraine to collapse economically, it won’t. the US/Nato group have dozens of ways of keeping a dead weight afloat when needed. If Russia is hoping for Ukrainian popular opinion to overthrow the current system- it won’t be allowed.
Just what can they be waiting for? If they are not waiting for some external situation… then either get in and get things done or make it clear to the guys on the ground you are pulling the plug, get a political deal to keep Nato missiles out, and end the suffering.
No one can win them all.
@ Anonymous, 14:30
Yes, this is really frustrating. I have already complained about this here a few days ago.
When will Russia learn that in times of universal deceit and propaganda, well presented, truthful and multi-lingual (!) PR is vital for the country’s reputation and for its global image?
These images will not load.
I think Russia has given up attempting to persuade English speaking segments of its’ position, perhaps mistakenly.
But, why bother? All of the media outlets are reading from the same scripted page and objectivity will not penetrate the Truthspeak of the day.
News outlets have gotten away with this for decades. Why stop now? I’m witing for another false flag, another attrocity that will be blamed on the enemy of the moment that will successfully incite the great unwashed sports fans to a new offensive.
Plenty of red pills to be had.
In America, we may conclude that the slow rolling military/intelligence/corporate coup that started in 1947 has been executed. The result is a domestic police state and a policy of conducting foreign wars of aggression. As Mr. Pragma said, the only option for the Americans in Ukraine is: leave or die. The speed of the death of America, and the collateral damage in Europe, is the only unknown variable.
Kiev and Washington can’t go more than 48 hours without concocting some new bullshit. They are compulsive liars.
Google Chrome is blocking access to http://eng.mil.ru/ and none of the photos appear in this post.
The slides are not loadable..
The link didn’t work and the pictures don’t load is just me?
Saker,
The Winter Patriot wrote an article that deals with your issue of the craziness of the Anglo-American Empire to go to war:
http://winterpatriot.com/node/912
His guess is that the US can back out, just as it did in Georgia. But it wants a Cold War.
Incredible that 90 percent of the Dutch never read this. Not because they can’t read English, they can. Not because they don’t know where to look for it, they can. But… they don’t read English.
Simple as that.
So maybe this is an idea:
Are here Dutch peoples who think that it’s a good idea to translate critical articles about the Ukraine to present them to all alternative media in The Netherlands? I guess the impact of these concealed facts are so more real for everyone to read them in their mother tongue – not just in the Dutch.
It should be an “pool” where one could found articles that have to be translated, next to articles someone is working on, and/or could use a helping hand? The pool-site itself could then publish the finished items too, when that’s not an obstacle to publish them-for an quantitative optimal audience reach-on denser populated distribution media (Joop.nl have such a condition).
In my mind the content of the articles in such a pool, should hold an actuality value of 6 month; visions based on facts, in such a way that besides the presentation of an actual reality, they also could have the strategic advance to influence events based on developing facts that are (as so) projected in a contextual perspective.
A strong examples of such an articles is Paul Craig Roberts’ “Washington Is Escalating the Orchestrated Ukrainian “Crisis” to War” and the powerful notification with the same axiom of the Saker a month ago.
Beside that, excerpts of Mind Control described, developed and practiced by Edward Bernays, Goebbles and their contemporary brood. Reflecting their facts on the ground—“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality,” as Karl Rove put it—should also be a shocking revelation and realization for my compatriots in The Netherlands; concepts that are beyond believe for 90 percent of them—as they were for me, demonstrating how successful the American version of these devilish machinations are on us. Machinations—year after year since our kindergarten, 24/7—on television, radio, social media, the printed press and on screen, literal in front of our eyes, and not seen…
Feng Chsang
None of the images or the URL to the documents are loading.
@14:30
The Russians trash the Ukrainian proof at RT
“Apparently, the reason why the true owners of these images have not put their names to these publications is to make sure the myth of their mighty space intelligence keeps going.”
I love the fact that the Russian MoD took the time in an official report and statement to the public to burn the US intelligence branches like that.
Having 47 years of film experience, 8 years of aerial and satellite image experience, I’d say the whole presentation and analysis is barely interesting.
And I’ve worked with top secret US Army imagery, just in 2006, and prior CIA Corona project 70mm film dropped from satellites, shot over China in the sixties.
Without the technical details of image capture, what you see in photos from any source is suspect.
The integrity of photo interpretation begins with absolute integrity of specifications.
The most important item that jumps out at me is the resolution of the imagery. Today’s least modern satellites (not the best, the least) offer 4-6 inch resolution. This stuff is far from that, much less the kind that the US Keyhole brand can generate.
I’ve worked with film negatives and sensors (CCD and CMOS), black and white, color, infrared, and this imagery is weak.
Therefore, the most telling aspect is that the purpose is merely to cloud the issue, muddy the message from Moscow, propagandize the situation.
We’ve been through this over and over. The message is propaganda because the truth is unacceptable.
And wasting time hunting through the bushes and trellises for tanks and trucks and mobile missile units with imagery like this is a joke. I could photoshop-clone in a division of tanks and manpower.
Where’s Waldo? They have us playing games while they kill more civilians and distract us from the truth.
@EVERYBODY
I checked with FireFox and Chrome – the images do load. This is probably a slow connection issues (some of the images are big). You can always get the same text and images here:
http://eng.mil.ru/en/analytics.htm
Cheers,
The Saker
Hi Saker,
I will provide some suggestions and scenarios on Russia’s involvement. It is clear that Ukraine has been completely hijacked by the USA/NATO combine. Russia need to do some proactive strategic thinking (surely they are into it). There should be two scenarios so far as Russia is concerned:
scenario 1: refrain from entering into Ukrainian territory until and unless there is a direct attack on Russian soil, provide support to separatists >
outcome 1a) Donbass separatists withstand Ukrainian military attacks till say another 6 months by which Ukrainian economy is completely shattered … Russia should broker peace, and push Ukraine for Donbass independence.
outcome 1b) Donbass separatists can’t withstand Ukrainian military attacks, get defeated by say another 3 months … Russia should stage false-flag incidents to justify using its military for fighting in Donbass leading to its independence.
scenario 2: proactively create the ‘SERBIA’ break-up scenario (done by NATO) to break up Ukrainian territory even if there is no direct attack on Russian soil >
outcome 1a) provide massive military and financial support openly to Donbass separatists, and create odessa, mykolaiv, kherson, zaporizhia, kharkiv separatist groups providing all military and funding assistance – all the groups should supported and helped to win the war for ‘novorossia’ independence.
outcome 1b) if the separatists are not confident, Russian military should undertake quick strikes up to Dnieper east & entire Black sea coast to create state of ‘novorossia’ (pulling odessa+mykolaiv+kherson+zaporizhia+lugansk+donetsk+kharkiv).
In either of the above scenario, for any of the outcome, there can be two scenarios so far as USA/NATO is concerned:
scenario 1: refrain from putting USA/NATO military on ground in undivided Ukrainian territory, and only provide all types of support to Ukrainian military and right sector.
scenario 2: proactively deploy military forces in Ukrainian territory, repeat of IRAQ invasion into Donbass region.
I am NOT considering any possible outcome from USA’s perspective, because in the historic land of Rus, Russia can’t allow a geopolitical mess permanently on its current border (which anyway should have been inclusive of novorossia). To ensure win, Russia should declare nuclear first-use as a principle:
(a) first strike at all installations that has anything to do with anti ballistic missile project including satellites in orbit
(c) first strike at all missile launching and bomber sites
(d) simultaneously declare that NO nuclear strike will be launched against any USA/NATO city/township.
It is a difficult situation, but surely Russia will again prove any hostile action against it will be defeated as history proved it time and again in 1810s and 1940s.
Regards,
Anonymous Indian
So, we have NATO confirmation on RT of ballistic missile use by Ukies.
Ballistic Missiles
500 kg warheads. Ought to take out the whole kindergarten, church or supermarket with these.
And they can be 150 kilometers away from ground zero. That will be comforting to the psychopaths.
I can see the pictures fine, but note that they are totally ignored in the Austrian mainstream media. I think that even if Russia provided complete proof of Kiev’s or Washington’s culpability it simply would not be reported.
Another thing – as of yesterday one of the Austrian papers, Die Presse, eliminated the “disapprove” button on comments, now you can only approve. The paid NATO trolls had been getting too many down votes. The propaganda war is still in full swing, and the Ebola threat is getting head billing right now. Another distraction? It certainly seems to work. People are worried about it, for whom Ukraine is not even on the radar.
The economic collapse of the USA is speeding up, by the way, no matter how many false statistics they publish. I second the suggestion of some readers that you check out economic websites like Zero Hedge etc. The economic/monetary aspect is a crucial part of this puzzle.
les,
The Soviets lost the PR war inside Nazi Germany till the papers and radio stopped. Russia is not trying to convince those folks; it is trying to convince people in Europe, particularly in a few key countries, such as Germany. And the movers and shakers, who are not so stupid as to believe the mainstream media.
As for who is winning the war, how do you know that Kiev is winning? The rebels have had to build a command structure and get equipment, plus get rid of those working for oligarchs, something that the US didn’t have to worry about so much. If the positions on the ground stay the same for the next month, that will be a significant improvement for the position of the rebels. Yes, Kiev can draft old men to fight, but it is far from obvious that Kiev is actually united and even wants this war.
@ Saker
No it is not a speed issue. Nothing from that site will load on either Chromium or Firefox at my location. What we need to know is the Internet Service Provider and Country.
My provider is Comcast in Usanistan.
ISP’s can easily block any domain by a simple entry in a table on their Gateway Router. Anybody on Comcast seeing the images?
Anon Indian,
The rebels might be able to take Kiev if they had some decent supplies. This whole war has been full of holograms and illusions. Even now, one can have doubts about how seriously the Russians are trying to have the rebels win, at least in the short term, and Poroshenko might be happy to see all National Guard or Nazis killed. He also probably does not see a Russian invasion as such a good thing. He could end up dead or in prison.
Your strategies may come into play, but the Russian goal is to change Kiev without entering a new Cold War. Perhaps impossible.
For those people whom the pictures doesn’t load:
try to click upon all the photos: a new window will be open at the time showing the picture.
Then close this window (in “X” at up right corner).
Try to reload the page and…bingo! the pictures will be displayed.
It works for me.
Austrian, whatever other value Zero Hedge might have, insight into the economic/monetary aspect cannot be gained there. Those who write at Zero Hedge do not understand how a modern fiat monetary system works. All of the economic analysis there is therefore completely wrong. However, I take it by the nom de plume you have chosen for yourself that you will likely not listen to such injunctions.
One cannot predict the world or take effective action within it if one does not understand, at a basic factual level, how it works. Those waiting for the US to go bankrupt from debt or for hyperinflation will be waiting a long, long, long time (meaning it ain’t gonna happen). This is not to say that the US economy is a model of health, but it is to say that you and others at Zero Hedge are barking up the wrong tree.
I agree with Austrian. They are totally ignored in Sweden, too.
I wonder if one reason Putin has not recognized and supported Novorossiya as much as is needed is because he isn’t sure they will obey him.I think when they went ahead with the referendum that he became worried about being able to control them.As I see it he is only letting them be on life-support,and it doesn’t appear that can last much longer.I think he is making a tragic mistake for Russia’s future.I don’t know how the fall of Novorossiya will be seen in Russia.But in the West and Ukraine it will be seen as a great victory for them.And will lead to moves against Crimea.Probably mostly terrorism and continuing of the sanctions.The propaganda that the media in Ukraine puts out will make any friendship with Russia impossible and the triumphant feeling they will have will lead to actions to humiliate Russia as much as possible.I also wouldn’t doubt due to “Russia’a aggression” NATO might agree to let Ukraine join NATO in a fast track move.Even if it breaks their rules on membership.
As I see it,Putin could stop that by standing up to them before its too late.The sanctions and cold war are here.He can’t change that its a done deal.And Russia will have to just overcome them.So he isn’t constrained by that concern and needs to realize that.
In response to the violence taking place there.He should recognize Novorossiya as a co-belligerent in a civil war.He should declare a no-fly zone in the East and order the two sides to a cease-fire and the pull back of Ukrainian Junta forces.Telling the so-called “world community” that if the cease-fire is not agreed to Russian peacekeepers will be sent to enforce one.Then order the two sides to a conference for a peace settlement.Chaired by the EU and Russia.With again the threat of peacekeeping troops if they don’t agree.Let NATO understand that their interfering will be considering an attack on Russia.
Wow- the neo-Nazis lie and the truth shall set us free. And lollipops will rain from the sky, and we’ll all live in a gumdrop paradise.
Meanwhile in the REAL world the demonic zionist filth of Israel, explicitly and proudly backed by every single leader of the West, continued their Holocaust at an accelerated rate, and the zionist controlled mainstream media cheered loudly.
In a situation like this THE TRUTH DOES NOT MATTER. Wasting time laying out a nerdy academic paper simply encourages the ‘train-spotters’ on our side to engage in completely self-defeating chatter.
Grow up. Accept the fact that out enemies lie, and their lies disseminate with 100% success through their enormous zionist propaganda machine. Trivial and tedious counter propaganda will not work. At best it “preaches to the choir”, and we already accept the fact that everything Kiev says is a lie.
Yes, a big counter-propaganda fact (like proving Kiev shot down the airliner) would have some impact- but even then far less than 95% of you here believe.
If anything should be promoted here day after day, it should be the launch of those 4 SS21 ballistic missiles. After the Pentagon accidentally ‘leaked’ the truth to a senior CNN reporter (because the Pentagon could not believe that Russia had successfully shot down all 4), the zionist press (including sites like Alex Jones’ Prison Planet) were instructed to kill the story.
Posters here who post in other forums should post comments in these other places telling people Kiev fired 4 terrible evil WMD devices, and link to the CNN story as ‘source’. The monsters genuinely fear this fact reaching the ears of the sheeple.
You see, many here make the mistake of thinking that in the light of daily acts of unthinkable, gas-chamber-equivalent, Jewish-Israel genocide in Gaza, the sheeple will be nonplussed by a tale of Kiev using WMDs in East Ukraine. This isn’t how the psychology of the sheeple works. Every news story has a different emotional ‘weight’. The zionist filth train the sheeple to be ‘overwhelmed’ by the acts of zionist mass murder in Gaza. But they hide the truth about the zionist mass murder of Humans in Novorussia. Why?
Because their market research tells them the sheeple, if aware of the truth about the Crimes against Humanity carried out by the ‘friends-of-Israel’ in Novorussia, will get very upset indeed.
Why do you think the zionists are working so hard to label the people of Novorussia and Russia as the ‘new Hamas’. It ain’t because they intend to give them flowers and kisses.
PS notice how every major Jewish extremist media figure in the USA hides behind a fake Anglo-Saxon name. Curious, when you are told Jews are so ‘proud’ of their ‘Jewishness’. Not so curious when you understand they do this, in order to better sell their unthinkably evil brand of race hate to the US sheeple.
MH17 was destroyed and brought down by 30mm cannon fire from a Ukrainian Su25 aircraft.. I think the window of reasonable doubt is closing a little more every day on that one…Not that it matters. The US used it to get to cheap-shot sanctions…they and their Ukrainian stooges will move on the next outrage and the media will drop MH17…they already have dropped it in fact.
On the issue of what difference proofs and evidence make:
I am an American. I talk to other Americans. I try not to spend my time with complete fools. I would guess most of my friends could find Ukraine on a map. I know that all of my friends opposed the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and most demonstrated against the invasion. Most or all of my friends simply laughed at the demonization of Saddam, of Assad, of Noriega, of Milosevic, of Qaddafi. All of my friends old enough to have been around for VietNam were protesters and one went to prison for opposition to that war. I did too.
All of the Americans I’ve spoken to about Ukraine spit, snarl, become apoplectic when naming Putin. He is labelled a KGB thug, a monster, an imperialist, an oligarch, etc. etc. The hatred is palpable and very personal. The name Putin is a Pavlovian signal. All need for rationality vanishes. One friend who is by profession a copy editor and fact-checker, who always speaks calmly and precisely with perfect grammar, refuses to accept any distinction between RF and USSR, speaks of Politburo and Central Committee in the present tense. Putin is routinely called a Communist and an unreformed Stalinist. I could go on.
Ninety-seven years of Russophobia has done its work. Americans hate Russia. Facts and evidence are of no further significance.
The one friend who does not fit the mold is a retired FAA accident investigator. Before MH17 he was anti-Russian and anti-Putin but with a measure of restraint. As someone who carefully appraises evidence he will not speculate on precisely what brought down the plane, but is very clear that the theories offered by mainstream media and US government are rubbish and preplanned rubbish. Since MH17 he just says we’re going to war. Because America has always wanted a war with Russia.
What western populations believe don’t amount to a hill o’beans because they are powerless because we are offered only fleas spiders and scorpions to vote for.
It is governments that have resources. Hopefully the Kremlin is consciously aware that the governments of the very many BRICS associated nations are the ones to offer the truth.
There is nothing we Anglos can do—because, if y’ask me, my suggestion is repeatedly ignored that moral élites within our frantic populations invade their countries’ main political parties wherein Masonic numbers are minuscule. The strategy is just ignored so tactics are never investigated. Ah me.
Old Ez @ 15:12
http://eng.mil.ru/ loaded immediately for me in east Oz in both Google Chrome and Firefox.
To ee:
Thanks for your response, BTW I am not an adherent of the Austrian school of economics, but an actual Austrian living in that country.
My belief that the US economy is folding is not so much rooted in the analysis of Zero Hedge or similar sites, however the news they highlight is interesting raw material.
In fact the evidence of decline is all around us, if even such a highly qualified professional as the Saker needs the contributions he gets. Just this morning I read a bewildered post on a writers’ website, about an unexpected foreclosure for a mere 16 000 dollars, not that large a sum. One third of US citizens apparently have debts in collection, and all too many live paycheck to paycheck. What I see is the end point of the gradual immiseration of the US working and increasingly middle class. Plus the neglect of maintaining infrastructure…
Since these people have been brainwashed into rejecting anything even approaching socialism, they are atomised and helpless in such a situation, each one thinking it is their own fault or bad luck, rather than a systemic failure.
Of course, how much effect this will have on the US foreign policy, and how quickly, is hard to say. But the constant rah-rah triumphalism of the regime has to be sounding pretty hollow already.
I “dare” to go against the grain, on this list, a second time, as a new wind is starting to blow. Let’s be more optimistic on a Friday afternoon. I sense that Biden and the State Department are sort of being “revealed” as the bad guys. Obama and Putin have agreed on the need to talk. Big change!
In parallel, the anti-Israel sentiment is becoming more open, especially in Western Europe. Kolomoisky is on the wanted list.
Israel in Gaza, Kolomoisky as perpetrator of the MH17 false flag, and the end of the empire of the dollar — all are converging at the very same time. To what extent were they set up? Nothing is outside the realm of possibility.
Cheers!
Learning from Sadaam, Sadaam learning from US.
As US intelligence was aware, Sadaam Hussein pretended to have “weapons of mass destruction” to discourage Iran as well as his own population.
Iran was aware of this but since it had no designs on Iraq, Iran had no need to act on this intelligence.
This pretence was encouraged by US intelligence and others, since this has always been part of their own practice as others have known, but generally decided not to act on that knowledge directly.
So to remind you of the answer to- Who will benefit from MH17?
Those who are the opponents of those who don’t benefit – ergo the rest of the world excepting the opponents.
I expect the generals are smiling, even some who are presently thought to be numbered amongst the opponents.
From what I can see, these images are all in the red part of the spectrum, and are not from satellites but from airplanes, using 1950s technology (which was absolutely superior! (thinking about Metragon lenses!!!)) The coloration of the first images seem a ´false color´, but very non standard protocol.
In remote sensing, current satellites record images in many spectral bands, including UV, visual, near and far IR, thermal, but also including elevation etc. Often, this image is presented as a ´ false color´ image, like the Hubble space telescope images (mostly Green, Red and IR, represented as Blue-Green-Red).
In scientific articles the protocol is always defined, or just ´standard´.
The data presented: I would have done the same: First analyze, select and find a proper representation. Then stick it into Word, and pinpoint areas of interest with crude ellipses and demarcations.
However, if one does not want to know the truth, one can manipulate any image and present it as well. But in most of the cases, a hidden trail can be found.
Unless ´the result´ is flattened into a bitmap or JPG image, often also diminished in resolution: the Raw images contain MANY megabytes of data per pixel, but a bitmap only 3 x 512 Kb, and a JPG even a lot less
RAW data! From Russia, Ukraine and the US!!! For all of us to analyze!
ee said… 01 August, 2014 16:39
“Austrian, whatever other value Zero Hedge might have, insight into the economic/monetary aspect cannot be gained there. “
I tend to agree. The dollar has been in trouble since at least 1995, for different reasons, but that does not mean it will implode completely. Take a look at the British pound. It is no longer the dominating currency, but it is still very important. That being said, yes, the dollar will suffer, and to some extent it already does, but its fall is not imminent. BRICS is still in its infancy and the greatest danger to the dollar and the US economy is the insane speculation we have seen since around 1969 or so. Americans already suffer from it and so does the rest of the world.
Like France and the UK, the US will be smaller in the future, but it will still be a power to reckon with. If we survive this crisis, that is.
“However, I take it by the nom de plume you have chosen for yourself that you will likely not listen to such injunctions.”
He may or may not be a student of the Austrian economic school. I think he is simply a citizen of Austria and a contributor to the blog.
Here is a a very thorough report on the Ukie military pre-war, buildup and action and results up to date.
It is shines a light on underestimates of losses and overestimates of gains. Seems Ukies can’t face reality and militia magnifies results.
But you get the sense that the militia is now at a large disadvantage if it expects to defeat the Ukies.
Comprehensive order of battle details.
Drop it into Yandex for translation.
http://politikus.ru/articles/25884-chem-i-kak-voyuet-v-donbasse-ukrainskaya-armiya.html
@
ee said
Austrian, whatever other value Zero Hedge might have, insight into the economic/monetary aspect cannot be gained there. Those who write at Zero Hedge do not understand how a modern fiat monetary system works. All of the economic analysis there is therefore completely wrong.
Is that why Zerohedge is frequently cited as a source by top financial analysts, other prestigious websites, economists and Think-tanks? SEC is known to act on Zerohedge’s investigative revelations.
Examples of Citations:
GlobalEurope Anticipation Bulletin http://www.leap2020.eu [you may select your language]
The Globe and Mail Report on Business, Canada
JSMineset.com [do look up Mr. James Sinclair’s credentials]
Financial Times US /UK edition
Bloomberg News
The Telegraph, (UK) Finance. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
you continued:
However, I take it by the nom de plume you have chosen for yourself that you will likely not listen to such injunctions. One cannot predict the world or take effective action within it if one does not understand, at a basic factual level, how it works. Those waiting for the US to go bankrupt from debt or for hyperinflation will be waiting a long, long, long time (meaning it ain’t gonna happen). This is not to say that the US economy is a model of health, but it is to say that you and others at Zero Hedge are barking up the wrong tree.
01 August, 2014 16:39
Blow me over with a feather! The US is indeed bankrupt. It is an economy built on DEBT and it will end badly. Ain’t gonna happen eh?
Take a read:
the situ at June 2003; A Fate Worse than Debt: Can the U.S. Deficit rise to $45.47 trillion?
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/?s=Fate+worse+than+Debt
“The U.S. government’s future obligations outweigh its projected revenues so heavily that it would need a permanent income tax increase of 66% or the immediate elimination of all federal discretionary spending to put it on track for balancing its finances.”
“Such is the startling conclusion of a report by Wharton insurance and risk management professor Kent Smetters and Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank economist Jagadeesh Gokhale. The two argue that the government’s accounting system is backward looking and so has failed to properly account for future outlays such as Social Security and Medicare. […]”
And at 2014
Substituting Debt for Income is not success, it’s a failure on an epic scale
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/substituting-debt-for-income-is-not-success-its-failure-on-an-epic-scale/
Take note:
Give it another 3 years. The collapse is before your wide shut eyes. Chairwoman Yellen cannot print forever. The basis of new global governance and a new international monetary system is now in place and the USA is not invited.
Anon Mongoose
Did Obama just blink?
Not only did NATO confirm Ukraine’s use of ballistic missiles against its own people, but “Putin and Obama discuss situation in Ukraine” says the headline at http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/743280
“Despite considerable differences in assessments of a number of key aspects, both sides stressed that the top priority task was to immediately stop hostilities in Ukraine’s southeastern regions and launch a political process,” the press service said.
“In this context, the leaders of the two countries positively assessed the Minsk consultations of the Contact Group and stressed the necessity of continuing negotiations in this format,” the Kremlin said.
“The presidents agreed that the current state of things is in the interests of neither of the two states. In this context, they exchanged views on the prospects for the Russia-U.S. dialogue,” the press service said.
The telephone conversation was initiated by the U.S. side.”
@Feng
I´m Dutch and I read this and other alternative sources. But you´re right 90% , probably 99,9% , of Dutch citizens don’t read this. Mostly because 90% of the population lacks intelligence and critical thinking, and most people just don´t care about what´s happening around them. I think it´s the same in other countries.
Fortunately there are also people who do understand, or try to understand, what´s happening.
massachusetts comcast pictures load no problem.
The real game is money and whose pals end up with it, so obviously part of that great game is energy. The south stream, fracking Ukraine, and most importantly either LNG from USA or fracking central Europe. Preferably both. War is just a product strategy for these souless vampires.
THIS Is the definition of Fascism put forward by Georgi Dimitrov, a Marxist Theorist who was a Hungarian by birth and a citizen of the Soviet Union by choice. NO ONE studied Fascism as deeply or with more insight as Dimitrov:
“Fascism is an open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, the most chauvinistic, the most imperialistic elements of the financial capital… Fascism is neither the government beyond classes nor the government of the petty bourgeois or the lumpen-proletariat over the financial capital. Fascism is the government of the financial capital itself. It is an organized massacre of the working class and the revolutionary slice of peasantry and intelligentsia. Fascism in its foreign policy is the most brutal kind of chauvinism, which cultivates zoological hatred against other peoples.”
I think this describes the present govts. of the US, Israel and the EU members states very well. Fascism is the rule of finance capital. It is the most degenerate and violent, intellectually and morally vile sector of all capitalism. The part about how fascists instill a dehumanizing, zoological (bestial) hatred of any people they call enemies is right on the mark.
Excellent, thank you. I’m copying that and spreading it around, great quote and comment. Nailed it.
You say latest satellites have resolution of 6ins say 0·15 meters. Assume minimum orbit 200km. That gives tangent of resolved angle of 1/1333333 using classical optics and assume it is imaging with light of wavelength about 0.7 micron this circle of confusion angle would imply an aperture of the order of 9 meters in the imaging telescope. Pretty big for a satellite. I suppose they must rely on shorter wavelengths and deconvolution to get what you claim. But there will be a trade-off of resolution and field of view you can not capture that resolution over a wide area or the data rates on the downlink become prohibitive.
@ Anonymous 20:24
Isn’t there a way to mobilize those Dutch that haven’t lost their integrity yet, to act against this created(!) ignorance in a practical way—like the translation pool of English-/Dutch articles e.g?
I can set up a site that serves such purpose and would do that if there are enough (Dutch) people who wanna participate in translating, editing, checking on grammatical errors, evaluating the content of the choice against the mission statement that is mentioned in my comment at 15:17, checking the copyrights, etc.
Where should I look for them. Are they only on the web or should one also scan universities and other institutes of education?
What are your ideas?
In fact, I am talking about preventing WWW3 on a planet that we hired from our children and grandchildren.
Sincerely yours,
Feng Chsang
Thanx Solerso, I read it already somewhere these days, but your interpretation is very insightful.
Feng
A few more news items to cheer about besides the above mentioned wind of change.
1. The Empire’s 20-year push for the Global Trade Deal was blocked 2 hours before the deadline by India’s Mori. End of the global liberalization.
2. Turkey’s Erdogan openly calling Israel on “Hitler-like fascism”.
3. Izyum, 52 Km NW of Slavyansk, 3 American officers and the top American General responsible for the punitive strategy against Novorossyia were made “inoperative”.
Austrian said: “Thanks for your response, BTW I am not an adherent of the Austrian school of economics, but an actual Austrian living in that country.
Ha. Yeah, I realized that after I posted! An unfortunate coincidence. I agree with you that the US has major problems, including major economic problems, and that private debt (not public debt) is one of them–in fact, the build up of private debt was the main culprit of the 2008 recession. One of the causes of too much private debt, however, is inadequate government spending. Insufficient net spending by the federal government–which is what funds the private sector–is endemic to our society. The problem for the ruling class is that government spending empowers the public, which is why most government spending that does occur is funneled directly to the ruling class (e.g., military-industrial complex, corporations, etc.) instead of to the broader public and why what does go to the broader public (e.g., social security) is always sought to be cut. Keeping the broader public indebted is obviously good for the ruling class as a whole (low wages) and especially good for Wall Street (financing).
Apologies for jumping to conclusions about the name you chose!
@Anon Mongoose
Your post betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of how fiat monetary systems function in general and that of the US in particular. You cannot fix something if you have no real understanding of how it actually works. You’ll always bring the wrong tools to the job.
The Nixon administration closed the door forevermore to the right of foreign holders of US debt instruments to demand conversion of these assets to gold upon request in 1971. Ever since the US dollar has been a
‘fiat’, non-convertible currency that is backed by nothing more than the promise (never broken) that the US government will accept it to settle all obligations owed and that interest on US Treasury Securities will be paid in US dollars only. The only way that the US can be forced to involuntarily default on its obligations would be if it owed debts in a foreign currency which of course it cannot issue. This we know is not the case for every cent the US “owes” is in a currency that it issues via keystrokes.
The United States is a sovereign monetary issuer of the currency and is not operationally constrained by the need to borrow, sell an asset, or earn an income before it may fiscally spend. These constraints are reserved for users of the currency such as households, businesses, and municipalities who don’t have the benefit of a printing press.
The United States can never run out of the currency that it creates at will anymore than the scorekeeper at a football game can run out of points, or a carpenter can run out centimeters or inches. “Money” is merely the medium of exchange over which the State has a monopoly enforced by a tax obligation which is alone sufficient to drive demand for the currency.
US Treasury Securities are the functional equivalent of holding a savings account at the Federal Reserve that pays interest and nothing more. These “debts” can never be defaulted on (save voluntarily) and are merely the US government’s offer to those holding dollars the opportunity to exchange one government asset that earns no interest (US dollars) for one that does (Treasury Securities). Making these interest payments is an effortless exercise for the US since these “debts” are promised in dollars which are created via keystrokes on a computer.
US dollars are first “spent into existence” via fiscal spending before anyone in the broader economy–including foreign exporters–can ever exchange the dollars that they accumulate (rather than “lend”) for Treasury Securities. The US need never borrow that which it creates in the first place.
The only true constraint are the availability of real resources for these cannot be created via keystrokes. How those resources are allocated is a political issue not a fiscal one.
Furthermore, for the US dollar to be effectively supplanted by another currency as the new reserve currency then its issuer must, like the US, be willing to become a net importer of the world’s output and run consistent trade deficits if others are to acquire this currency in sufficient quantities.
America’s highly destructive polices in Ukraine and elsewhere are ultimately doomed to failure in my view, however, that failure will have little at all to do with the status of the US dollar.
@Feng I’m doing the best I can to inform the Dutch.
Please check http://johnito.nl/blog/2014/07/25/woede-en-verdriet-om-mh17-zijn-terecht-maar-baseer-ze-niet-op-fabels/ and http://johnito.nl/blog/oekraine-donbass-mh17/
Thanks for the update @Saker. Linking to it.
Dutch investigators to RT: ‘We had no possibility to visit the MH17 crash site
http://rt.com/news/177420-dutch-investigators-mh17-crash/
This, however, is bad news:
Quote:
Since we did not have an opportunity to start an investigation at the crash site, we more or less worked in a reverse way and started collecting information from data recorders, satellites images, and radar information from air traffic control.
They have collected so much information that broader information at the crash site is not necessary any more.
End Quote
Translation: There will be no wreckage investigation. Which means the fix is in, based on falsified ATC recordings and the like.
Where are the stark conclusions to be drawn “Ukraine Satellite imagery was Falsified!!” “Ukies caught lying about Satellite evidence!”
Are they waiting for the Western press to do their job and extract these conclusions from the dry presentation?
Why did we have to wait for Pepe Escobar’s article (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/CEN-02-010814.html http://www.anderweltonline.com/wissenschaft-und-technik/luftfahrt-2014/shocking-analysis-of-the-shooting-down-of-malaysian-mh17/) to be told that there is clear evidence of the cockpit of the aircraft being strafed by cannon fire that could only have come from an aircraft?
They information war is a rout in favor of the anti-Russian alliance and it seems it is taking a long time to for that lesson to be learned.
@ Coldtype said at 01 August, 2014 22:36
“Furthermore, for the US dollar to be effectively supplanted by another currency as the new reserve currency then its issuer must, like the US, be willing to become a net importer of the world’s output”.
China is already the biggest importer of raw bulk commodities in the world, it already imports more crude oil than the USA. Thus the petroyuan is likely to supplant the dollar in the next ten years. But yes I agree that mission failure in Ukraine for the hellspawn in DC won’t have anything to do with the dollar’s pending collapse.
Yes the Federal Reserve/US Treasury may keystroke all the dollars they like into existence, but the rest of the world (and Washington’s ability to coerce it militarily, ultimately) shall determine whether they’re accepted or as Jim Willie has suggested, it all becomes the domestic ‘sheiss’ dollar while a new monetary unit is created for America’s foreign trade.
To: coldtype
Pleasure to read your post explaining the working of the international monetary system based on the dollar. The internet is SO full of nonsense about the coming collapse of the dollar as the international medium of exchange. But you did miss out one part in your post. Money as a medium to store wealth. In the long run, that is where currencies run into trouble. When currencies start depreciating, people limit their holdings based on transactional demand, and diversify their store of wealth. There is no evidence that the international transactional demand for USD is decreasing, though foreign holders are limiting their exposure to USD as a store of wealth. Transactional demand is something which can only change VERY slowly, as new economies develop, geographic spread of industries change, patterns of international trade change, and countless other factors. A lot of the talk predicting the demise of the USD is based on wishful thinking, not logical scientific analysis. Yes, a move away from the dollar in international usage HAS started, but for it to become significant will take at least a decade or two for it is a PROCESS, not a trigger.
@Dacian said…Obama and Putin have agreed on the need to talk. Big change!
@Nora said… Did Obama just blink?
My feeling is that both of you are right. I was sure that after the mysterious episode of the “disappearance” of the 4 missiles, doves would start to fly again, as it happened after the downing of the cruise missiles meant to start the Syrian bombing.
Paul II,
You are right in doubting Russian seriousness. And, Russian leadership is right about NOT feeling bullish on going to war directly or indirectly.
Strategy i mentioned in Scenario1 assumes victory without taking a blame of invasion. Russia should pursue that (and they are doing it). Entering into war is definitely not a good economic and political solution (except for 1% oligarchy and plutocracy of Anglo-Zionst camp). Window for Scenario1 is open till Decembr’14.
Since Russia can’t afford to lose, strategy in Scenario 2 becomes important. By December it will be clear if Scenario 1 is failing. It will be nasty in Scenario 2, but well-planned well-executed operation can break any super-power whatever capability it may posses. If Russian Bear steps out putting boots-on-ground and with nuclear first-use policy, the Anglo-Zionst camp is not that fool to continue pushing further…
However, all of us can rest assured that cold war II has already started in Europe UNLESS the ongoing Germany-Russia negotiations on Ukraine is signed by next 2 months before the winter sets in. Only point in that is, Russian leadership must be able to keep autonomous powers
for novorossian regions within Ukraine boundary.
Anonymous Indian
Thank you, Nora! One bright moment as we enter the month of August.
@ All with problems loading images or accessing eng.mil.ru website.
This may have one of the following reasons:
– Your ISP is blocking on a DNS level (Domain Name System). You could remedy this by following the instructions on the Wikileaks page: http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Alternative_DNS
Other sources of help could be found by searching for “change dns server windows”, i. e. http://www.opennicproject.org/configure-your-dns/how-to-change-dns-servers-in-windows-7/
– Second possible reason: Your browser does the blocking due to built-in censoring mechanisms known as “safe browsing” or other euphemistic bs-neologisms. You need to help yourself on how to disable this, but finding help is only a web search away.
In any case, more detailed explanations of the error messages shown would be *very* helpful to find solutions. For example, if an image doesn’t load, right-click on it and click for example “Open image” – this will give a textual error description in the case of an error.
Cheers,
jb
@ Paul Cockshott 21:35:
I also was wondering about the same, so I started with a simple calculation. Diffraction limited resolution of a perfect optical system can be approximated by:
wavelength / aperture diameter
Assuming 500nm visible light and equating to the angular resolution for a typical orbit:
500e-9 / D = 0.15 / 300e3
D = 1 meter
For an image, “resolution” becomes more complicated, and is better described by the MTF. There will be imperfections and atmospheric distortions, also. So a somewhat larger aperture will be necessary.
The foregoing estimate and the earlier cited resolution comport with this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_Kennan
From the wiki:
“Assuming a 2.4-meter mirror, the theoretical ground resolution with no atmospheric degradation and 50% MTF would be roughly 15 cm (6 inches).”
What if MH17 was shot down by a fighter plane?
Here are 4 testimonies to that:
A. — The most well known OVSE man, Michail Bociurkiw, says he sees clear machine-gun holes in the fusillage.
B — A german pilot sees holes in the cockpit that look exactly like the holes that are produced by the guns you find on Ukraïnian jet fighters. Anti-tank guns that cause an explosion inside the plane, which also explains why the wreckage looks as it does.
C — Villagers who saw the plane come down , also saw a jet fighter very near to it.
D — The Russian civil-radar information shows that there was a jet fighter very close to MH17 at the moment when it lost speed and fell down from the sky.
See my blog for all the links and information: http://tiny.cc/apeyjx
To the Dutch:
I am Dutch, and my blogs were mostly in the Dutch language in the last two weeks.
I invite Feng Chsang and others to send translations of articles.
But I think that my blog has a mission statement that may scare off new readers.
So maybe start your own blog Feng, and just start writing. Thats the easy part. Getting people to read your stuff is more difficult.
I write many many posts a day on many Dutch news sites, constantly referring them to The Saker,InformationCH, Global Research, and sometimes my own blogs.
My conclusion:
Its very difficult to change people’s minds. Very few people want to know the truth. But there is nothing else we can do but repeat and repeat. Using solid proof against bullshit arguments.
Best wishes, JV.
Like the subject of a recent piece here:
If it walks like a nazi duck, screeches unfounded accusations supported by poorly fabricated evidence in fits of impotent rage like a nazi duck-
It’s US State Dept certified 100% Grade A pathologically lying nazi duck.
Feng has risen to the Saker’s challenge. He’s recruiting helpers to create a Dutch version, to expand the Saker’s reach into the Low Countries, because his eyes have opened, and he thinks that, like himself, 90% of his fellow countrymen can’t conceive that their leaders would act so wickedly.
Immediately, Anonymous jumps in to blunt his enthusiasm, accepting his point, then twisting it out of all recognition:
But you´re right 90% , probably 99,9% , of Dutch citizens don’t read this. Mostly because 90% of the population lacks intelligence and critical thinking, and most people just don´t care about what´s happening around them. I think it´s the same in other countries.
Fortunately there are also people who do understand, or try to understand, what´s happening.
Who are these “people who do understand”, I wonder, who bask in their Chosen status high above their bovine contemporaries? They must have some common bond. I’ve seen the argument before. But where? Tricky, tricky.
Good luck, Feng. You’re a better man than I am. Your instincts are sound. Don’t let anyone discourage you.
@Writer
I was using the same formula but got a decimal point wrong in doing the calculation on my phone, for the altitude and wavelength I assumed the aperture should have been 93 cm big, but still plausible.
Does anyone know the locations surrounding the 4 missing SS-21 missiles:
[a] where they were fired from, and
[b] where they were intercepted/crashed.
I found a couple of photos apparently showing missile components on the ground but without location info. It was via Yandex, so it may have “translated” the placenames.
I’ve been looking for this info without success. I’m sure I read something somewhere (maybe a Russian site), but can’t find it for the life of me now.
I’m thinking that if we knew, we may learn something about RU’s capability.
Erebus
@Feng
I have become, unfortunately, rather cynical about trying to inform people about the things we discuss around here. The people who want to know are the ones who are searching for real answers already. I have tried for some time to inform people about these things, but most of the people just don´t care or don’t believe you no matter what you tell and show them. The majority of the people only will learn from experience. So when all their freedom is gone and bombs start to fall on their heads they will learn, but then it will be too late.
I´m only in my early twenties and already sound like a cynical old man, haha! No seriously, I don’t know if there is a way to mobilize those Dutch that haven’t lost their integrity yet and if you manage to mobilize them, what are you planning to do exactly?
If you want to inform the Dutch you should, I think, try to contact the ones who have already set up a website to inform the Dutch people and try to cooperate with them, or start your own blog. The people you´re looking for are probably on the web. I don’t know if you will find these people at Dutch universities. From my own experience most teachers and students are firmly trapped in the Western media created ‘reality tunnel’.
Or you could do what Jan Verheul also does: post a lot of comments on Dutch news sites, constantly referring to alternative sources. But I have to agree with Jan, it´s very difficult to change people’s minds.
Russia is under attack and the main reason for that IS the petrodollar; the linchpin of the Empire’s power and influence.
Those who don’t believe in a dollar crisis fail to understand how the “reserve status” of that currency really works.
Formally the US will never default on its debt. That’s correct. The US can print as much dollars as it wants and US debt is nominated in dollars. The US will never “default” in the traditional sense.
But what would happen if a new currency or basket of currencies came along, perhaps pegged to some precious metal and to more productive economies like the BRICS?
Sure. The dolar would still be around but what value relative to other major currencies is it expected to retain in the long run?
The problem for the Empire and for the soundness of the dollar is that the American economy is a consumer one. It consumes much more than it actually produces.
To keep it going it needs to import oil and all the cheap suff on sale on Wal-Mart.
Conversely, with the exception of a few giant companies, is there anything the US produces that the world really needs?
Would the world’s economy grind to a halt if suddenly there was no more Coca-cola, Big macs, Apple stores or Nike sneakers?
Of course not.
Having to operate without the benefit of printing the world’s reserve currency, the US would find themselves in the situation of a suddenly “poor” country.
Not because they would become poor in absolute terms, but because their economy, the REAL economy, the one that actually produces useful items and services, is much smaller than its acccounted for.
The US would be unable to finance their overconsumption, buy cheap goods from abroad, and finance 800 or so military bases around the world.
Since they import much more than they export, without the dollar being accepted in international trade, they would be forced to concentrate on the essentials.
The dollar, being the worlds trade currency, allows to fund all this profligacy.
If the dollar becomes just one more sovereign currency, all that changes overnight.
The US would be able afford to buy abroad only as much as its trade balance could fund.
American trade has been in deficit for a long time now.
It’s productive and export capabilities have been gutted and outsourced.
In fact, without the petrodollar, the American economy becomes a rather weak one, belonging to a society with enormous problems.
The pension system, already strained, would implode. Medicare and all that “social” spending to keep the poor from revolted. How would it be funded?
I’m not sure American society wouldn’t collpase because the fractal points are so many and so deep.
The adaptation process to this new monetary reality would be a slow and painful one. It would take at least some 20 years and the superpower status would be gone forever.
Thereforeb one has to conclude that the petrodollar is the backbone of the Empire and the new BRICS monetary instruments being created are a sword pointed at the throat of the Empire.
I believe the US will stop at nothing to preserve their hegemony.
They won’t dare a conventional war with Russia.
They probably couldn’t win it even if they had the full support of NATO.
But a false flag in American soil, a new 9/11, could be the trigger event to a nuclear confrontation which the Petagon planners believe they can “win”.
90% of mankind would certainly loose.
The danger is great.
Ignore it at your peril.
Portuguese knight.
@What if MH17 was shot down by a fighter plane?
It might be decisive. Normally the perpetrators should be indicted for war crimes. Probably this is why you hear rumors that a settlement is on the pipe line.
Did anyone else spot the dates that the sbu give? 23 july again. Nearly all of the cideos photos uploads of twitter have been on 23rd!
Portuguese knight,
The petrodollar is not the linchpin of the Empire’s power and influence. It is its economy and, mostly, its military strength. If the rest of the world decided to stop being a net exporter to the US and, as a consequence, the dollar declined in value relative to other currencies, you are correct that imports will become more expensive. However, American produced goods will then become more attractive (cheaper) to the rest of the world. While the US economy is consumerist—the size of which is the real basis of the US dollar as an international currency reserve—it will respond by producing more internally. What would be the effect of this, however, on the US’s global power? Very little, I’m afraid, as the petrodollar is not the basis of the US’s military strength. It’s also highly unlikely that the world will choose to stop being a net exporter to the US anytime soon, given the size and wealth of its consumer market, makes all of this moot from the jump. For real change to occur, Americans will need to overthrow their ruling class and introduce meaningful democratic governance. Unfortunately, that requires work and is a lot harder than waiting for the dollar to stop being an international reserve currency.
I reacted too soon: many of the images are kind of ´raw´, but squeezed into BMP or JPG, and possibly made smaller in size.
The faded Ukie images lack contrast: it goes from grey to black.
When the edits would be removed, one could perform a ´stretch´ operation; ´levels´ in photoshop.
Most of the Russian material has been properly processed, and most of it has been recorded, just like the airplane ortho-imaging from the ´50s, only from a higher altitude, with better optics.
Sorry for the confusion!
How to fire a Buk.
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/07/30/need-to-fire-a-buk-missile-look-online/
@ Coldtype
“Your post betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of how fiat monetary systems function in general and that of the US in particular.
Continue to hug your thoughts that >>
The only way that the US can be forced to involuntarily default on its obligations would be if it owed debts in a foreign currency which of course it cannot issue. This we know is not the case for every cent the US “owes” is in a currency that it issues via keystrokes.
The United States is a sovereign monetary issuer of the currency and is not operationally constrained by the need to borrow, sell an asset, or earn an income before it may fiscally spend. [snip]
The United States can never run out of the currency that it creates at will anymore than the scorekeeper at a football game can run out of points, or a carpenter can run out centimeters or inches. [snip]
US Treasury Securities are the functional equivalent of holding a savings account at the Federal Reserve that pays interest and nothing more. These “debts” can never be defaulted on (save voluntarily) and are merely the US government’s offer to those holding dollars the opportunity to exchange one government asset that earns no interest (US dollars) for one that does (Treasury Securities). Making these interest payments is an effortless exercise for the US since these “debts” are promised in dollars which are created via keystrokes on a computer. [snip]
And fwiw, in MSM, The Telegraph.co.uk: 19 July 2014
Imho, it will be Less than a decade. Please view the charts – source:World Bank
The dollar’s 70-year dominance is coming to an end
Within a decade, greenback’s could be replaced as the world’s reserve currency.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/liamhalligan/10978178/The-dollars-70-year-dominance-is-coming-to-an-end.html
Money quoteL
[.]
The key to the dollar’s future is petrocurrency status – whether it’s used for trading oil and other leading commodities. Here, too, change is afoot. China’s voracious energy appetite and America’s increased focus on domestic production mean the days of dollar-priced energy look numbered.
Beijing has struck numerous agreements with Brazil and India that bypass the dollar. China and Russia have also set up rouble-yuan swaps pushing America’s currency out of the picture. But if Beijing and Moscow – the word’s largest energy importer and producer respectively – drop dollar energy pricing, America’s reserve currency status could unravel.
That would undermine the US Treasury market and seriously complicate Washington’s ability to finance its vast and still fast-growing $17.5 trillion of dollar-denominated debt.
[.]
BRICS specifically Russia and China are leading the movement away from the dollar.
In a few months, wait for the Saudi’s announcement!
Note this in on your 2014-2018 calendars:
I happen to agree and am observing, IN 2011, GEAB shockingly wrote the stages of this second financial crisis after 2008 are follows:
[excerpt]
-end of 2013, banks can no longer be saved and bail-ins are put in place; [In fact bail-ins were put in place early 2013]
-2014-2015, international management of the crisis, together with Euroland and the BRICS impose a new international monetary system and lay down the basis of new global governance;
– 2015, the least affected regions have exited the crisis definitively;
–2018, It will take the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan five years to purge themselves of the crisis with, ultimately, a greatly reduced standard of living and a considerable loss of global influence (resulting from their refusal to participate in re-casting of global governance on new basis)
LEAP/E2020 site is http://www.leap2020.eu
Cheers
Anon Mongoose
Soarintothesky:
When considering a case it is worth walking through some of the ‘known knowns’ before speculating.
In this case we do not know that a BUK missile was used to bring down the plane. We do not know who bought down the plane but by examining the known known we can eliminate one possibility as to who did the job and how.
Here’s the key: following the mistaken shooting down by Ukrainian forces a few years ago all Ukrainian surface to air missiles similar to BUK were fitted with a system to ensure that accidents of that type would not happen again. All firings of all equipment required launch codes only obtainable from higher in the command structure than the BUK units. Without those codes Ukrainian BUK systems are useless.
The rebels did not use Ukrainian equipment to shoot down a plane. It does not matter how easy it might be to fire the system, it will not fire without those codes.
Next among the known knowns, there is no evidence of a system having been moved from Russia, indeed UN inspections confirm that there’s no evidence of Russia supplying the rebels with materiel. The only evidence provided to support that case has been shown to be faked.
As yet, we don’t know who shot down the plane or how but we do know who didn’t do it. It was not the rebels in South eastern Ukraine.