2021/11/15 02:30:01Welcome 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 Dmitry Orlov, posted by permission of the author General Mark Milley, America’s highest-ranking military officer, has recently gone public with a revelation of his: the world is no longer unilateral (with the US as the unquestioned world hegemon) or bilateral (as it was with the US and the SU symmetrically balancing each other out in an intimate tango of mutual assured destruction). It is now tripartite, with three major
There is a lot of speculation about the current US/NATO operations in the Black Sea region. I would like to offer the following bulletpoint comments about what I believe is going on. If we add up all the US+NATO forces involved in this operation, they fall far short of what would be needed for an attack on Russia. Thus, in purely military terms, this is just a Kabuki theater, not
Rostislav Ishchenko develops his theme first posted here: Russian World as a global project into global multipolarity and covers why and how the West ran into a dead end, and where the multipolar situation may lead. Please note it is a machine translation with some human assistance, and it is not a perfect document. It however makes his points clear enough, for the discussion on this massive global change. Today
Original link: http://middleeastobserver.net/nasrallah-israel-in-deep-existential-crisis-yemen-victory-to-have-huge-regional-effects/ Description: The following are English-translated excerpts from a speech delivered by Hezbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on November the 11th, 2021. Source: Spot Shot Video (YouTube) Date: November 11, 2021 (Please help MEO keep producing independent translations for you by contributing a sustainable monthly amount https://www.patreon.com/MiddleEastObserver Transcript: Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General: Israel is suffering from an unprecedented, deep existential crisis Israel during the ‘Arab Spring’ era began to speak
By Thorsten J. Pattberg for the Saker Blog In 2016, a video game influencer and Youtube superstar going by the handle of Markiplier uploaded a 5-minutes long video of him gazing at a banana. That video immediately got 3 million views. The baby face with fiery-orange top hair wanted to prove his theory that because he is a celebrity, people will watch his content no matter how moronic. And they did. And this
The President answered questions from Pavel Zarubin, a journalist with Rossiya 1 TV channel. Pavel Zarubin: Mr President, tensions are escalating on the border between the EU and Belarus. The European Union has already deployed army troops. Moreover, they are building up the contingent. You spoke with Angela Merkel twice, and you also spoke with Alexander Lukashenko. Why they do not speak to each other directly is probably also a question I would like to ask you. In general, what do you think of the developments
by Francis Lee for the Saker Blog Moral Hazard: Circumstances that increase the probability of loss because of an applicant’s personal habits or morals. For example, if the applicant is a known criminal or engages in suspect financial dealings. (Dictionary of Business Terms) Economic Rent: Payments and remuneration over and above normal profits which arise from a monopolistic market position. (Cf. David Ricardo – Theory of Ground Rent). For our
https://smiruss.ru/minoborony-rf-vystupilo-s-eks/ The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation issued an emergency statement on the situation in the Black Sea The United States is creating a multinational group near the Russian borders in the Black Sea, and is also studying the theater of possible hostilities in the region. This is stated in the message of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, the correspondent of “PolitNavigator” reports. The ministry stressed that we
Players unite and face off so fast Eurasian integration’s chessboard feels like musical chairs prestissimo by Pepe Escobar for the Saker Blog and cross-posted with Asia Times The Eurasian chessboard is in non-stop motion at dizzying speed. After the Afghanistan shock, we’re all aware of the progressive interconnection of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and of the preeminent roles
Following the furore created by my post yesterday, I want to point out something which is hilarious, scary and quite amazing, all at the same time. In the late Soviet Union one way to deal with dissidents/opponents of the Communist rule was to declare them insane, usually with what they called “slowly evolving/latent schizophrenia” (вялотекущая шизофрения). Now, truth be told, quite a few of those dissidents did have weird personalities
Original link: http://middleeastobserver.net/video-saudi-lebanese-guests-clash-over-diplomatic-crisis/ Link to subtitled video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ga1OAOuoBQ Description: In a recent talk show program on RT Arabic, Saudi Major General Abdullah Ghanem al-Qahtani and Lebanese journalist Khalil Nasrallah engaged in tense, back-and-forth exchanges over the roots of the current diplomatic crisis between their two countries. Source: RT Arabic (YouTube) Date: November 5, 2021 Please help MEO keep producing independent translations for you by contributing a sustainable monthly amount https://www.patreon.com/MiddleEastObserver?fan_landing=true A recent note by MEO on why
Propaganda is easy to unpack once you get down a few basic rules. One of them is this: “the louder the slogan, the bigger the lie“. That is also the case with Veteran’s Day in which US Americans thank their veterans for their “service”. Now even setting aside the true reasons why US Americans sign up, there is a much more important fact which the US propaganda machine is trying
2021/11/11 15:00:01Welcome 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
US trained and armed Afghan security forces are joining ISIS-K, which makes the US ‘withdrawal’ from Afghanistan look more like an American ‘repositioning’ to keep chaos humming By Pepe Escobar with permission and cross-posted with The Cradle Something quite extraordinary happened in early November in Kabul. Taliban interim-Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov got together to discuss a range of political and economic issues. Most
By Walt Garlington for the Saker Blog The existential questions regarding the future of the present American union continue to grow more complex and more dire: What comes after liberalism? Can nationalism restore unity and purpose? At the heart of these questions and others like them is a problem that has plagued the States since their independence in 1776: the belief that a political ideology is enough to create a
by Chris Faure for the Saker Blog Daniel Ortega and the Sandinista alliance won the election with over 70% of the votes. This is the 4th time that the Nicaraguans declare themselves satisfied with their government and with Ortega. Prior to the election, Facebook cancelled most of the younger Sandinista voices, claiming they were bots. They went onto Twitter and posted photos of themselves and made short speeches to show
This is just one comment which the moderators intercepted, but which I decided to share with you to illustrate why I speak so often of “nutcases” or “ignorant idiots”. They are real. This one used “Judge & Executioner” as his handle. Check him out: QED.
Foreword: almost exactly two years ago I wrote a column entitled “Deconstructing Islamophobia“. Yesterday, I posted an article about immigration which, alas, generated a few truly idiotic comments about “The Muslims they… bla bla bla” which I initially planned to reply to, but which I simply deleted in utter disgust. Here I need to clarify, I was not disgusted by anybody’s dislike (or even hatred) for Islam or Muslims, not
Foreword: Today I am starting what might well turn out into a series of articles about the interaction between immigration, ethnicity and religion. I happen to believe that this is a topic I know pretty well for the following reasons: I myself was born in a family of immigrants who went from Russia, to Serbia, to Germany, to Argentina, to Holland and then to Switzerland were I was born. I
