2019/12/06 08:30:01Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of the issues of the day. The ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’ will have two new open threads each week. The Saker stated moderation policy will apply eg ‘no caps’, no obscenity … etc to all post. The Cafe is now open for
By Fabio Reis Vianna for The Saker Blog In 1914, Countess Kleinmichel, a typical representative of the Russian aristocracy, offered her nieces what for her would be a “modest” fantasy ball: 300 guests divided into small and full tables, as was customary in the high-wheels of that society as divided as it was unequal. While the extravagant elites of Moscow and St. Petersburg lived in exuberant mansions filled with works
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog On December 5th France’s long, long, LONG-awaited General Strike against austerity measures began, and it was a huge success: 90% of trains were shut down nationwide, there was an unprecedented walk out by teachers, and as many as 1.5 million people marched despite temperatures near zero. And yet the march in Paris was a total failure. For nearly four hours I watched perhaps
by Alpha for The Saker Blog The NATO Summit, dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Alliance, was held in London on December 3 and 4 and was marked by an atmosphere of controversy between the leaders of the participating countries. The members of the alliance were not able to come to a common decision and determine the guidelines for development. The discord that was felt throughout the
[This article was written for the Unz Review] Last year I reviewed Andrei Martyanov’s book “Losing Military Supremacy: the Myopia of American Strategic Planning” for the Unz Review. In that book, Martyanov explained why the era of easy US victories over pretty much defenseless countries was over and what that meant for US force planners. This year it is my immense pleasure to review his latest book “The (real) Revolution
By Pepe Escobar, Khorgos, Kazakhstan : posted with permission Central Asia, between China and Europe, is bustling We are cruising on a pristine, 380 km-long four-lane superhighway from Almaty to Khorgos – finished in 2016 for $1.25 billion, 85% of the cost covered by a World Bank loan. And then, suddenly, riding parallel to us, there’s the real superstar of New Silk Road connectivity. Meet Yuxinou, the container cargo train
by Eric Zuesse for The Saker Blog Writing or otherwise saying lies should be civilly but not criminally illegal, but publishing lies needs to remain entirely legal unless the publisher has not practiced due diligence to exclude falsehoods. The responsibility to avoid expressing lies is 100% the responsibility of the violator, the person who lies; but the U.S. First Amendment principle, that “Congress shall make no law … abridging the
Dear friends, Here is the latest installment of my quarterly conversations with Catherine Austin Fitts. This one was recorded on November 6th. You can listen to the interview on the original Solari Report page: The Emerging Multipolar World with the Saker – The Unraveling Accelerates Listen or download the interview here: https://home.solari.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/sr20191107_InterviewHQ.mp3
By Ramin Mazaheri for the Saker Blog (cross-posted with PressTV) Over the decade I have lived in France I have never seen a social protest movement win their economic objective. Wait… that’s not true: in 2015 Francois Hollande gave in to the demands of protesting police even before their protest ended. That was pretty pathetic. And then we also have the exception of exceptions, the ever-constant Yellow Vests. They have
by Jon Hellevig for The Saker Blog Introduction and Executive Summary The United States runs the by far biggest and most bloated healthcare sector in the world when measured as a share of the total economy. Its annual value was $3.7 trillion, amounting to 17.9% of GDP (2018). That is nearly double the average of developed Western countries (as a share of GDP). The enormous expense does not buy Americans
Dear friends, As some of you know, once a year I like to pretend that the Saker blog is also some kind of wannabe Time Mag and I like to chose one (or several) “men” of the year. We are in December, so I am doing this again – this is a little silly, but still fun for me. But, before I begin, let me clearly state the following: First,
2019/12/02 21:00:03Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of the issues of the day. The ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’ will have two new open threads each week. The Saker stated moderation policy will apply eg ‘no caps’, no obscenity … etc to all post. The Cafe is now open for
By Pepe Escobar, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan : posted with permission The pros and cons of being the Heartland in the 21st century Crossing Tajikistan from west to northeast – Dushanbe to the Tajik-Kyrgyz border – and then Kyrgyzstan from south to north all the way to Bishkek via Osh, is one of the most extraordinary road trips on earth. Not only this is prime Ancient Silk Road territory but now is
by arras for The Saker Blog When you hear about the war in Ukraine, you might think of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia Western corporate media has been jellying at you about for five years. That war is fake, as fake as Trump-Russia collusion story. If there ever has been a war between Ukraine and Russia, it would have been over a long time ago. As Vladimir Putin famously
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog The West’s central banks – so uniformly promoting the neoliberal version of capitalism, so willing to subvert democratic votes and with such an atrocious track record – are obsessed with inflation; for the European Central Bank it is the only job they are officially tasked with. Personally, given these realities…. I think inflation must be good! I’m not being willfully contrarian because the
By Aram Mirzaei for The Saker Blog Since October, riots and unrest have wrecked havoc across Lebanon, Iraq and Iran. Iraq has suffered the worst as reports suggest over 300 people have been killed in the riots. In Lebanon, the US and its vassals have been busy hijacking the people’s grievances over the massive corruption among government officials. Followers of US puppets Samir Geagea and Saad Hariri have been blocking
by Denis A. Conroy for The Saker Blog American nationalism binds the whole-to-its-parts by using narrative to weaponize emotions and broadcast the idea of American ‘wholeness’ as somehow exceptionally greater than the sum of its parts. There can be no doubt that zealotry became the dynamic forging the American character . First and foremostly, enunciations spat out by bearded prophets were carried on the winds of ontological time and eventually
2019/11/29 09:30:01Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of the issues of the day. The ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’ will have two new open threads each week. The Saker stated moderation policy will apply eg ‘no caps’, no obscenity … etc to all post. The Cafe is now open for
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog cross-posted with PressTV (Ramin Mazaheri is the chief correspondent in Paris for Press TV and has lived in France since 2009. He has been a daily newspaper reporter in the US, and has reported from Iran, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, South Korea and elsewhere. He is the author of the books ‘I’ll Ruin Everything You Are: Ending Western Propaganda on Red China’ and the
by Jeff J. Brown for The Saker Blog Crosslinked with: https://chinarising.puntopress.com/2019/11/28/hong-kong-ensnared-in-the-wests-color-revolution-hot-box-the-latest-news-and-analysis-china-rising-radio-sinoland-191128/ https://youtu.be/OkRstvdK0JY https://soundcloud.com/44-days/hong-kong-ensnared-in-the-wests-color-revolution-hot-box-the-latest-news-and-analysis I have a file on Hong Kong (HK) as thick as my hand and several concerned people have emailed me, asking me to write something. So, here is an update. I wrote about the long, sordid history of colonial and post-colonial Hong Kong at great length in The China Trilogy. It makes for fascinating reading, from Britain’s
