2019/05/22 01:00:02Welcome 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 Chris Faure for The Saker Blog The Trading Community I grew up in the dark continent on farms, where, in the local trading town, my parents owned the meat businesses, the Jews owned the general store, the Indians owned the fabric store and sold shoes and pointy bras. My mom owned the fashion store and hairdresser. Of course, there was the mechanic who fixed cars and tractors and big
By Pepe Escobar – posted with permission It’s geopolitical, geoeconomic war. Cold, so far, but now about to descend to deep freeze. The US National Security Strategy unmistakably spells it out. China is a strategic competitor and must be contained, no holds barred, on all fronts: economic, military and most of all, technological. Enter the current, concerted offensive across the spectrum, from 5G and AI to moves attempting to prevent the
by Ghassan Kadi for The Saker Blog As the American military build-up continues around the Strait of Hormuz, and as a potential American-Iranian war looms, many analysts are convinced that war is imminent. I beg to differ. Ever since the “War on Syria” started, I kept reiterating that America would never launch a full-on attack on Syria, and for very good reasons, and not long ago, I finally felt compelled
Syrian War Report – May 20, 2019: Hama Ceasefire Initiative Failed. Clashes Ongoing On May 17 and May 18, the Syrian Air Defense Forces (SADF) intercepted several unidentified aerial objects over Damascus and the southern part of the country. In both cases, the intercepted targets came from the southern Syria border, near the contact line with Israel. Some sources speculated that the SADF was repelling Israeli strikes. However, no explosions
By Olga Samofalova Translated by Ollie Richardson and Angelina Siard cross posted with https://www.stalkerzone.org/ukraine-will-be-able-to-restore-its-economy-only-by-cooperating-with-russia/ source: https://vz.ru/economy/2019/5/19/978334.html Ukraine is beginning to realise the scale of the damage that it caused to itself due to cutting economic ties with Russia. In only five years the country managed to lose about $80 billion and to stop many industrial enterprises. How much time will it need to return to the level of 2013? And
by Pepe Escobar : posted with permission Talk about a graphic display of soft power: Beijing this week hosted the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations. Organized under the direct supervision of President Xi Jinping it took place amid an “Asian Culture Carnival.” Sure, there were dubious, kitschy and syrupy overtones, but what really mattered was what Xi himself had to say to China and all of Asia. In his keynote
The system down for 20 min today. A routine upgrade to the most current release of Debian will be applied. Regards Herb
Note by The Saker: I normally don’t post open letters, but in this case I made an exception since this latter is also an analysis and because of the importance of this issue. by Peter Koenig for The Saker Blog To the Editor in CHIEF NYT – 18 May 2019 Venezuela’s Collapse Is the Worst Outside of War in Decades, Economists Say Subtitle: Butchers have stopped selling meat cuts in
By Aram Mirzaei for the Saker blog Tensions are reaching critical levels as Washington continues to threaten Iran while the madmen Bolton and Pompeo are growing bolder by the day. It seems as if the White House fool Trump has given up on foreign policy altogether and allowed Bolton and Pompeo to have free reigns on pushing Washington further into the abyss. Bolton has reportedly requested 120 000 troops to
2019/05/18 13:30:01Welcome 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 Denis A. Conroy for the Saker Blog America’s self-imagined custodianship of human rights and freedom epitomize problems associated with fake prophesies. That Americans now rally behind the latest battle-cry of the Republic, ‘Make America Great Again’, indicate that they are indifferent to the fact that their country has been barnstorming across the globe these past six decades killing vast numbers of innocent people with the objective of creating a
[This analysis was written for the Unz Review] Last week saw what was supposed to be a hyperpower point fingers for its embarrassing defeat not only at Venezuela, which successfully defeated Uncle Shmuel’s coup plans, but also at a list of other countries including Cuba, Russia, China and Iran. It’s is rather pathetic and, frankly, bordering on the comically ridiculous. Uncle Shmuel clearly did not appreciate being the laughingstock of
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog Ever since the start of the Yellow Vest movement – which has been violently repressed for an entire half-year – many people have hoped that French police would put flowers in their rubber bullet guns and join the side of the righteous. To me… such a hope is not based on reality. It is certainly not based on history. But French thinkers like
Video link: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x78fbi5 Description: A spokesman of Yemen’s Iran-allied Ansarullah (Houthi) movement said that the ‘qualitative drone operation’ against vital Saudi oil facilities represents a ‘strategic turning point’ in the Saudi-led war in the impoverished country. This translated video also contains other analytical excerpts from Al-Mayadeen Tv dealing with details and possible ramifications of the major drone operation deep within Saudi territory that was announced by Yemen’s (Ansarullah-led) Armed Forces days
by Pepe Escobar : Posted with permission Russia is uneasy over the destabilization of Tehran, and on other hotspots the powers’ positions are clear. Even veiled by thick layers of diplomatic fog, the overlapping meetings in Sochi between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov still offer tantalizing geopolitical nuggets. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov did his best to smooth the utterly intractable,
by George Eliason, Special Correspondent for the Saker Blog in Novorussia Victory Day 2019 in Lugansk People’s Republic For the last five years, I was given the opportunity to break a lot of news and human interest stories from Donbass. More specifically, I’ve lived in what became Lugansk People’s Republic since 2012 and I’ve been writing from there since the trouble started before the Ukrainian coup happened. The video from
2019/05/15 02:00:01Welcome 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
Press TV reports: A high-ranking member of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement says US President Donald Trump’s administration is in a state of confusion concerning the developments unfolding in Middle East, stating that Washington’s schemes in the region will not thrive. “(The United States of) America knows that its ability to change equations in the region is weak because there are resistance fighters and a resistance front. Therefore, it cannot dictate what
