World Politics

[auscyclefan94]

Kiwis re-elect a centre-right government in a thumping victory.

 

[thrawn]

Kiwis re-elect a centre-right government in a thumping victory.

Not that much of a surprise is it? Looks like Labour & Green lost ground, whilst the New Zealand First were the main beneficiaries of this.

 

[Echoes]

I'll be honest, i 'm deeply uncomfortable with displays of nationalism of any sort, I think the majority of Scots made the right decision for now...

If you consider Britain as the nation, did they still make the right decision?

The SNP is not nationalist. They are pro-EU, pro-Euro and pro-Nato. They belong to the European Free Alliance in the Euro-parliament, a group consisting of separatist parties of all kind of regions (Cornwall, Savoie, Catalunya, Friesland, formerly the Flemish N-VA, etc.) and associated with the Green party, which is the most anti-nationalist and globalist of all political parties in Europe. A nation cannot be sovereign if they are not independent in terms of defense (Nato), economic and foreign policy (EU) or monetary policy (Euro).

The right vote for nationalists was the No vote. Scots are not different than English(wo)men. They speak the same language (Maarten showed it quite well), which is the biggest cement for a national identity. I'm aware that this is an argument for splitting up my country, which I don't wish at all but at least many people can speak the other main language, more than people think in both communities and there's more to it anyway. But how can you consider a community to be separate from another one while they all speak the same language on the same territory.

Yeah the "Scots" language. It's just English with less French borrowings and slight nuances. Besides, English is still the language of education, administration and Justice in Scotland.

It's not a matter of nationalism, it's a matter of regionalism/feudalism. Divide & Conquer! The Scottish is not an isolated case, it's part of a broader programme by the EU Commission to disintegrate our nation states as we know them today, in order to control them better.

 

[python]

did the apocalypses just happen ?

according to some ukrainian media sources quoting their defense minister:
Ukraine Defence Minister: Russia used tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/2gyuhl/ukraine_defence_minister_russia_used_tactical/

that's about it...the nukes were 'used' according to the top man in the ukrainian military (allegedly) yet, the super duper nato and american intelligence are silent.

must be some sort of new russian nuclear bomb that avoids detection by dispersing vodka mist...or the respectable minister of ukraine's defense was drunk...as the russian foreign office hinted at

 

[laurel1969]

I like wee Nicola though

Hmm...

If that ever develops into an infatuation and you feel the need for an urgent cure, click on this link:

CLICK

 

[ToreBear]

I've read, and the maps appear to show it, that most of the off-shore oil is north of the border, and most of the gas south. Getting on to shale gas then England is projected to have far more than Scotland.

Sorry for late reply. Lets just agree to disagree. Right now the issue is subject to the yes and no campaigns different "experts", so finding neutral information is too time consuming.

There is also the issue of field recovery percentages. Current investment in fields, etc. To much time to spend on an area I'm not that interested in.

 

[python]

now that shooting in ukraine has significantly declined, the below mentioned development may prove very significant considering the complicated chess game the sides are playing...

to appreciate the development, i'll throw in a brief backgrounder.

...several months back ukraine, because of arrears (btwn 3 to 5 billion euros), was cut russian natural gas. the russian move was risky b/c ukraine provides transit pipes for about 60% of russian gas to europe. this mutual dependence has in the past resulted in 'gas wars', that is, effectively cutting gas to europe. the last shutdown in 2009 was accomplished in stages - as ukraine helped itself by diverting gas from a transit pipe, russia would decrease supply by the corresponding amount...this slide downwards was repeated until the flow completely stopped. of course, the ukrainians and the russians blamed each other, while the europeans freezed.

but in reality the 2009 gas war was the game of chicken and ukraine blinked first. their pm ( she later was imprisoned for 'exceeding her duties') signed a contract on putin's terms. ever since, the contract price both for gas transit and for ukraine's own needs, was fixed and more or less enforced w/o problems.

then, the glorious revolution took place and the new govt refused to pay. thus the huge arrears and eventually cutting the russian gas.

how did ukraine plan to cope with the russian embargo while being obliged to transit the gas faithfully to their de facto european masters and creditors ?

while it was summer it was simple - by implementing the so called reverse supply. that is, the excess russian gas already purchased by several euro companies at discount being resold to ukraine for less than what the russians wanted from the ukis..tsounds simple, right ? the scheme imo arrogantly neglected the simple fact that the seller may not appreciate being undercut and may do something...

what did the russians do ? they waited until it got colder and cut their transit to 'contractual minimum' to THOSE customers that agreed to help ukraine to undermine gasprom's contract. the cheap summer 'excess gas' was no more...

the long story short, today hungary - one of the key reverse suppliers - abruptly stopped its 'reversal' to ukraine. the fact was confirmed by the 3 parties involved.

the official commentary by the ukrainian side was particularly curious. they accused hungary of not keeping up with european values.

slovakia may be next as they have been reporting a 20% decrease on a daily basis.

i dont know who will wing the chess gam...e but to assume that the russians while holding all the cards will play a punching bag seems stupid to me

 

[blackcat]

Pythie, sounds remarkably what kennyy lay (dubbya is my mate) and good ol boy jefffffy skilling did with the power to the California market circa 1998ish.


i think i might be conflating one summer during the TdF in the last 6 years, an unreasonably hot summer where alot of elderly french citzenry died because of insufficient, lacking, or no cooling measure.

now, for some reason, circa 1998/1999 when Enron were really tweaking the Cali power market just after the deregulation, that some folks were fatalities due to this, and I am not assuming winter or summer. I think i may have all these anecdotes confected.

But wrt Gas and Ukraine and Vlad and Gazprom and FC Schalke sponsorships, I knew this has some antecedent with Enron and California and the governor preceding Bush that was turfed out cos he was on the wrong side of Enron.

the best guy from the imbroglio that was Enron was not Fastow or Skilling or Lay, it was the Asian guy who married a dancer from Houston's equivalent of Yellow Rose. He married a stripper and took his 100 million in stock and sold over before Ch11 and went to live in Hawaii. Funny stuff. Only in America.

A man knows, if you are gonna marry a stripper, you have to go to Austin and marry a Yellow Rose stripper. Lance swears by them. He has a plaque in his name, in the private room.

 

[blackcat]

Lou Pai.

fantastic name too

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5411422


racist anecdote: Mao did away with Strippers in the cultural revolution and great leap forward so Lou Pai was just getting in touch with his cultural roots so to speak

 

[blackcat]

some Pepe Escpbar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=928zEzibs-w


both Ukraine and ISIS.



now, why dont the media ever mention the counter factuals, and funding anti-Assad forces or give dubai and riyadh and wide berth to fund them. and those emirati. that is where all the money and guns are being channelled from. The last route may well be from the north and turkey, but the genesis is from these other sunni wahabbi *******s...

 

[blackcat]

think it is the Dan Sanchez one below that i was getting some good material from, but listening to all 2 hours of Horton's interviews, i cant remember who was who, apart from Cockburn cos every knows the brothers etc and CPunch, tho sometimes i am thinking one bro died about 18mnths back, but i could be conflating hitchens from 3 years ago. who knows.

anyway, like following Armstrong for a decade, I never had to read the recent books from Albergotti at al, cos the anecdotes were just white noise when i had a more accurate meta narrative. i knew the truth, so the anecdotes and details were superfluous to need.


http://scotthorton.org/interviews/2014/09/22/092214-dan-sanchez/

09/22/14 Dan Sanchez

Dan Sanchez, Director of the Mises Academy, discusses his article “Playing with Fanatic Fire: How the Saudis (and the U.S.) have perilously exploited radical Islam in their pursuit of power.”

http://scotthorton.org/interviews/2014/09/23/092414-peter-van-buren/

09/23/14 Peter Van Buren

Peter Van Buren, author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People, discusses his article “Apocalypse Now, Iraq Edition: Fighting in Iraq Until Hell Freezes Over.”

http://scotthorton.org/interviews/2014/09/23/092314-patrick-cockburn/

09/23/14 Patrick Cockburn

Patrick Cockburn, an award winning columnist for The Independent and author of The Jihadis Return, discusses the incomprehensible US strategy in Syria and Iraq; whether the videotaped beheadings are a deliberate provocation or a sign of the Islamic State’s overconfidence; and ISIS’s recruiting success from the Sunni underclass.

 

[blackcat]

lol Pepe just called Samatha Power

Samantha bat$hit crazy Powers baby

 

[rhubroma]

think it is the Dan Sanchez one below that i was getting some good material from, but listening to all 2 hours of Horton's interviews, i cant remember who was who, apart from Cockburn cos every knows the brothers etc and CPunch, tho sometimes i am thinking one bro died about 18mnths back, but i could be conflating hitchens from 3 years ago. who knows.

anyway, like following Armstrong for a decade, I never had to read the recent books from Albergotti at al, cos the anecdotes were just white noise when i had a more accurate meta narrative. i knew the truth, so the anecdotes and details were superfluous to need.


http://scotthorton.org/interviews/2014/09/22/092214-dan-sanchez/

http://scotthorton.org/interviews/2014/09/23/092414-peter-van-buren/

http://scotthorton.org/interviews/2014/09/23/092314-patrick-cockburn/

The Iranian Secretary of State, Zarif, said his country won't be entering into the anti-ISIS coalition because he has "doubts about the seriousness of the US in the struggle against the jihadists. It's deplorable that a country that, because of its actions and who it has supported, has helped terrorism infect our region with the evil that the Islamic State represents, permits itself to criticize Iran." Now it's up to the international political experts to assess how much Shiite Iran's refusal to contribute to the war against Sunnite fanaticism is motivated by reasons of opportunity, convenience or internal propaganda. In any case, rereading Zarif's declarations one is hard pressed to find even a word that needs correcting.

And you don't need to be a strategic genius to understand that the developing Mideast catastrophe has, among its causes, the boneheaded pretense of America and its allies to manipulate and orient history and geography in regions rather far away from Washington, by arming every band of "friends" today who tomorrow become the worst of enemies.

Even if one wants to put the ethical and political legitimacy of the US to determine the fate of other nations in parenthesis, there remains the sensation of a ghastly f-uck-up. If today the paranoid psychopaths of ISIS can dare to compare themselves with the Vietnamese, falsifying history and blaspheming the truth, its only thanks to the enormous pretense that American interventionism in every corner of the globe has furnished them.

 

[blackcat]

good post rhub, i agree.

freedom at home (unless you are black), and a foreign policy that exhorts freedom abroad but actually avails tyranny abroad. that is not a meta-freedom.

meta-freedom will have that axiom as foundation of the foreign policy, at the very least, just stay out.

it is determined tho. the MIC and K-street lobbying for Koch and MIC, and the standing army, (Maslows law of instrument), DC as the centre of power in the world, and bureaucracies being more natural organisms that have an inexorable trend to growth. They cannot retire, or rescind, or maintain. Its like an amoeba.

Without Exxon and bigOil there could be solutions to CO2 emission. Without the scoreboard of net wealth and the rockefellar robber baron and seagrams murals to ameliorate sins and bask (or iban mayo basque) in conspicuous consumption and reflected glory and high art and BS from charlie saatchi and his patronage of damian hirsts schlock

here is some good words on hirsts art by THE australian intellectual Guy Rundle. Australia does intellectuals like Germany does nude beaches, crap, cover your eyes, nothing to see too much to see. But Rundle brings it, if he went to Exeter or Phillips Academy he could have been like Mailer and Vidal.
http://dailyreview.crikey.com.au/martin-creed-and-art-for-money-arts-sake-or-nothing-at-all/5609

 

[RetroActive]

good post rhub, i agree.

freedom at home (unless you are black), and a foreign policy that exhorts freedom abroad but actually avails tyranny abroad. that is not a meta-freedom.

meta-freedom will have that axiom as foundation of the foreign policy, at the very least, just stay out.

it is determined tho. the MIC and K-street lobbying for Koch and MIC, and the standing army, (Maslows law of instrument), DC as the centre of power in the world, and bureaucracies being more natural organisms that have an inexorable trend to growth. They cannot retire, or rescind, or maintain. Its like an amoeba.

Without Exxon and bigOil there could be solutions to CO2 emission. Without the scoreboard of net wealth and the rockefellar robber baron and seagrams murals to ameliorate sins and bask (or iban mayo basque) in conspicuous consumption and reflected glory and high art and BS from charlie saatchi and his patronage of damian hirsts schlock

here is some good words on hirsts art by THE australian intellectual Guy Rundle. Australia does intellectuals like Germany does nude beaches, crap, cover your eyes, nothing to see too much to see. But Rundle brings it, if he went to Exeter or Phillips Academy he could have been like Mailer and Vidal.
http://dailyreview.crikey.com.au/martin-creed-and-art-for-money-arts-sake-or-nothing-at-all/5609

If you haven't seen it -
Exit Through The Gift Shop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9rnyCyLFtE

 

[Jagartrott]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/26/mahmoud-abbas-un-israeli-withdrawal-occupied-territories

Harsh words from Abbas.
I agree that the peace process under the leadership of the USA has been a disaster. Nothing constructive happened (except literally, in the construction of illegal settlements, to which the US always says "tsk tsk, but OK, let's move on"), and the mistrust on both sides is a high as it ever was. Complete and utter failure. New approach is needed.

 

[python]

Pythie, sounds remarkably what kennyy lay (dubbya is my mate) and good ol boy jefffffy skilling did with the power to the California market circa 1998ish.
......
But wrt Gas and Ukraine and Vlad and Gazprom and FC Schalke sponsorships, I knew this has some antecedent with Enron and California and the governor preceding Bush that was turfed out cos he was on the wrong side of Enron

those corporate shenanigan almost erased from my mind...amazed you still keep this in memory...yeah there are similarities but the gasprom/ukraine/eu natural gas 'reverse supply' gambit is somewhat different in at least 2 respects that the sides interpret in diametrical opposition (i once took care to research the issue b/c of an argument with a ukrainian canadian friend - he's a professional in the field - with whom i xski each year) :

1) the eu considers the reverse supply absolutely legal as once purchased it belongs to the buyer and thus ia redistribution 'promotes european energy security'
2) the gasprom considers it illegal b/c:
a) the reversal is not written into any contracts;
b) the 'reversal' is virtual (not always). meaning, since the transit pipe is designed to pump in only one direction (east to west), the 'deliveries' to ukrine are basically siphoning off of gasprom transit gas BEFORE it crossed into a european buyer's distribution pipes (a legal issue)
c) since gasprom has different pricing contracts with different customers (volume discounts, transit costs etc), they complain the reversal undercuts their business.

thus, the whole issue of gas reversal to ukraine became much bigger than the corporate shenanigans you, cat, referred to....it is a full blown economic war btwn the eu and vlad and the us and vlad....

excepting several quite valid european concerns (like russian politicization of pricing and questioning the gasprom business model of owning both the sources and distribution), the gas reversal to ukraine is basically a complicated politico-economic chess game btwn the eu and russia. the eu is interested in helping its new client state they just tore off russia. And the risskies want keep their gas dominance and continue influencing the price as before.

part of the same chess game are the gas transit pipes (both those existing and projected) that bypass ukraine to the north and south.

any common sense would seem to suggest that europe would only gain (at least in enetgy security supply) by avoiding the the regular clusterforks and shutdowns the slavic 'brothers' expose them to.

right ? wrong ! the european commission under the threat of penalties has explicitly directed bulgaria and others to stop constructig the 'south stream pipeline' that gasprom is dieing to finish asap. moreover, the eu (via germany) has warned it may restrict gas delivery to europe via one of the already complited and fully operational parallel branches on the 'north stream'.

has good ol europe gone mad by urinating upon itself ?

the eu big wiggs certainly dont think so. in their own minds, knowing full well how much russia's one-sided economy depends on the mineral revenew, they imagine they can force vlad to play by europe's rules. keeping up with the same scenario, they floated stories of america flooding europe with its shale gas or (just yesterday) with rumours of iranian gas..

of course, the industry professionals, both in the west and east, had long warned of not getting delusional...the american gas wont become available untill at least 2017(no lng ships and lng ports yet) and even then it will cost x2 the gasprom's...the pipe to transport the iranian gas DOES NOT EXIST or runs thru....russia

i dont think the european big wigs had gone mad. i think they are respectable folks who wish the best for their nations. I just think, very unfortunately for europe and america, they are lead by shytty chess players, by people who cant hold a candle to putin. much less to churhill and rousvelt.

proofs ? they are easily available in a public record. the last one, keeping up with my main subject, the eu has just yesterday given gasprom guarantees of ukraine paying up part of its debt ($3.1 bills) by the year's end, 'persuading' ukraine to pay the price ($385/ 1000 cu ft) russians insisted on all along 3 month ago. of course, it was declared as ukraine's flexibility

 

[blackcat]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/26/mahmoud-abbas-un-israeli-withdrawal-occupied-territories

Harsh words from Abbas.
I agree that the peace process under the leadership of the USA has been a disaster. Nothing constructive happened (except literally, in the construction of illegal settlements, to which the US always says "tsk tsk, but OK, let's move on"), and the mistrust on both sides is a high as it ever was. Complete and utter failure. New approach is needed.

no, the line is unhelpful.

And if Kerry or anyother Secretary of State, has said anything against them, or POTUS, the next time they fly into Tel Aviv airport, either a few days before, a few days after, or during the trip, they always anounce another 3 thousand settlements. You can set a watch to the announcement, the contempt the cabinet and knesset have for you suckers in DC

 

[blackcat]

yeah there are similarities but the gasprom/ukraine/eu natural gas 'reverse supply' gambit

i did quickly look at the first post. but now i will have another more in depth look at them in the chronology, especially this latest one.

...just on asset classes and banking. Post gfc, the bulge bracket Wall Streeters, if there are actually any left (ok, only half said in jest) ofcourse there is still the bulge bracket left Citi Goldmans MorganStanley JPMorgan, they moved their "new market" that is, lets pump prime this new market and sell it off to suckers like teamsmen pension funds, from the CDO financial assets, to the Chicago commodity exchange and commodities and are looking to manipulate this <commodities> market.

I think JPMorgan always held the wield hand in trading there.

ofcourse, this has prolly since past and my info about 5 years dated like sour milk.

What was the point i wished to make... was there a point? Oh yeah, new markets, where is Wall Street syphoning all the money now? <i am about to posit the answer>

And Gazprom should have done something with their money like the marines' bases in Afghanistan, if one believes the conspiracy, and i lean to belief v disbelief without really drilling down (sic) and researching the issue, Gazprom needed to put all their money into a new Peace Race across Central Europe/Eastern Europe for the ProTour instead of giving the largest sponsorship in all of German Sport to FC Schalke. or is it SchalkeFC.

but that is coming from a cycling person, even though i gave up on following cycling about 5 years back. Then i knew cycling, now i just rely on Libertine Seguros for my hazy memory on esoteric cycling stuff.

 

[python]

big news, just in (swedish)

http://www.dn.se/nyheter/lofven-sverige-ska-erkanna-palestina/

'sweden will recognize palestine as a sovereign state', said new pm.

if so, i believe sweden will be the 1st and only european state with balls.

 

[ToreBear]

big news, just in (swedish)

http://www.dn.se/nyheter/lofven-sverige-ska-erkanna-palestina/

'sweden will recognize palestine as a sovereign state', said new pm.

if so, i believe sweden will be the 1st and only european state with balls.

Good news. I think Norway did it some time ago, possibly Iceland too. Might be the first EU country though.

 

[Jagartrott]

Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovakia already recognise Palestine.

 

[python]

though wiki isn't normally my 1st choice, but according to the richly referenced and extensively explained tables there, the above list appears a dream list, albeit stated as fact.

specifically, norway and malta are explicitly listed in the table titled 'no diplomatic recognition'

regarding, bulgaria, the czech republic, hungary, malta, poland, romania and slovakia, their 'recognition' is technically defunct b/c it is dated to 1988 BEFORE they became the eu members. since the eu does not recognize palestine explicitly, those countries de facto position isthe same as the eu's...here's the illustration (the czech position):
"ČR v současné době toleruje status quo palestinského zastoupení v Praze, a to přesto, že de facto existenci palestinského státu neuznává."
(english - no de facto recognition)

only one small Cyprus can claim a genuine support for palestine as they recently reiterated.

yes, the absolute majority of european governments are cowardly succumbing to israeli and american pressure whilst 134 united nations members have not !!

 

[Jagartrott]

Sorry, didn't know - I was just parotting what I read in the newspaper.
I doubt that other 'Western' countries will have the guts to follow Sweden though.

 

[blackcat]

though wiki isn't normally my 1st choice, but according to the richly referenced and extensively explained tables there, the above list appears a dream list, albeit stated as fact.

specifically, norway and malta are explicitly listed in the table titled 'no diplomatic recognition'

regarding, bulgaria, the czech republic, hungary, malta, poland, romania and slovakia, their 'recognition' is technically defunct b/c it is dated to 1988 BEFORE they became the eu members. since the eu does not recognize palestine explicitly, those countries de facto position isthe same as the eu's...here's the illustration (the czech position):
"ČR v současné době toleruje status quo palestinského zastoupení v Praze, a to přesto, že de facto existenci palestinského státu neuznává."
(english - no de facto recognition)

only one small Cyprus can claim a genuine support for palestine as they recently reiterated.

yes, the absolute majority of european governments are cowardly succumbing to israeli and american pressure whilst 134 united nations members have not !!

first tenet in Kissinger and Brzezinski's strategy and worldview, apart from American exceptionalism, manifest destiny, and the 51st state
“Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”
― Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War