It's surprising to me that this transaction wouldn't be
considered in violation of sanctions as it is effectively a business
transaction with a Russian company. Lukoil may not be directly targeted but the
spectrum of sanctions is sweeping enough that I'm sure regulatory officials and
prosecutors could make a case to block this sale if they wanted to.
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/boltons-big-error-on-china-and-north
Larison states what should be obvious to all – John Bolton is
not qualified to speak on this topic. His record as a warmonger and
miscalculator is well-established.
*Updated 16 October 2024
https://theintercept.com/2023/01/18/genaro-garcia-luna-trial/
Ten days after winning the Mexican presidency in 2006, and
encouraged by the Bush administration, Felipe Calderon launched the Mexican Drug
War. Less than two decades later over 500,000 are dead and even these figures
are misleading as they don't include all of the tangential deaths involved in
connection to drugs – nor do mere numbers explain what the war has meant for
the industry, its markets, and societies ranging from South America to the
Canadian border.
Mainstream media has all but ignored Seymour Hersh's latest Substack
piece in which he states emphatically something that many of us have suspected
all along – that the Nordstream Pipelines were sabotaged by the US Navy.
The hypocrisy of the United States knows no boundaries. We've seen this time and again, but it's still shocking to behold.
The latest episode is with regard to Ukraine. The US is
threatening that China would be crossing a red line if it provides lethal arms
and other weaponry to Russia. It would be unacceptable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUxZeEaa7BI
I had not realized to just what extent Glenn Beck was
reaching out and engaged in a kind of functional if informal ecumenism. I knew
he had made tremendous inroads into the Evangelical sphere deceiving many
people into thinking him a Christian. And now apparently he's even gaining
traction among Roman Catholics.
This story makes one's head spin. Peace activists opposing
German policy and state support for Ukraine (especially in light of Germany's
history with Russia) are now being punished by laws that ostensibly would have
been drafted to silence Nazis and Neo-Fascists in the post-war setting.
These are stressful times for the AKP leadership in Ankara
and many wonder if its long tenure is nearing its end. Erdogan has been on the
West's blacklist for years but his recent moves to block Sweden from joining
NATO have earned him a new set of enemies and with elections in the spring, the
pressure is starting to mount. These moves by the US Treasury Department are
only going to pour fuel on an already intensely burning fire.
Two headlines at The Christian Post recently caught my eye. As expected the Evangelical outlet wants to praise the Christian football players involved in the Super Bowl.
Here we go, I thought as I heard the BBC lead-in on the death of Pervez Musharraf. As expected the story was for the most part an exercise in spin and disingenuous reflection.
https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/italy-and-libya-reach-8b-deal-on-offshore-gas-development
Money is moving all around and when you take a moment and
squint through the fog you realize that in the deal, Italy is getting more
military cooperation to block migrants – Libya being one of the primary hubs
for the refugee trails coming out of Sub-Saharan Africa.
BBC's Newshour recently ran a story on Myanmar and the forgotten internal war that country faces, a conflict exacerbated by the February 2021 coup and takeover by the military. Two years later, the news outlet wanted to revisit the story – or so it seemed.
The Orwellian nature and blatant contradictions of the Western narratives surrounding The Ukraine War continue to become more pronounced – sometimes to the point of being comic.
South Africa has been catching quite a bit of flak as of late from the Western media. The ruling ANC has refused to openly condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and worse, they are planning to participate in military exercises in February with both China and Russia.
I was disappointed but hardly surprised to find that a local 'Bible-believing' church leader posted anti-Covid material on Facebook.
In this case he couldn't believe the 'libtards' made such a
big deal about a virus that only had a .004% death rate.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50670613
This double windfall for capitalism is most clearly
demonstrated by recent events in France. President Macron has announced pension
reform. He argues (contrary to the numbers) that the present system is
unsustainable and as such he wants to raise the minimum retirement age and
expand the contribution requirement resulting in lower payouts for some. The
money just isn't there, he argues.
Russia's Wagner Group has been in the news a lot lately. It's painted as the ultimate evil – indeed all mercenary groups fall under that label. And interestingly many of the charges levied at Wagner could also be brought against organisations such as Blackwater (or whatever name it goes by these days), as well as DynCorp, Aegis, Paladin, and many others. Western media is particularly determined to paint Wagner with the darkest of hues and I don't doubt they're a nasty bunch. Whether some have prison records or not makes little difference. There are myriad American soldiers and veterans that are criminals whether or not they've ever been convicted by a court of law.
As is often the case, the real story is found in the lack of
media coverage. With a few paltry exceptions, Western media continues to ignore
reports of weapons bound for Ukraine ending up elsewhere.
https://www.democracynow.org/2022/10/12/mexico_military_drug_cartels_ayotzinapa_ministry
The GOP is screaming once again about the border. Biden
visited El Paso on his way to a North American Summit meeting in Mexico City.
The Right has been howling for months about his failure to visit the actual
border. So then when he shows up they go on the attack.
'How dare he!'
'It was a mere photo-op!'
Undoubtedly this is the case. This is what politicians do.
Here's the question. If Biden had showed up and took a list of demands made by
the governors of Florida and Texas and agreed to meet all their demands, what would
they say?
There's another missed story the media seems unwilling to focus on. The January 6 Committee (working parallel to the Department of Justice) largely focused on the foot soldiers and militia thugs who participated in the event. Consequently the committee provided a degree of cover for the high-level architects and congressional collaborators who participated in the attempted coup. Trump was certainly cast under a shadow but his allies in the congress, his cabinet, the Supreme Court, and even in law enforcement and the military were all effectively given a pass.
In the past when leaders made bold or revolutionary political moves, they either believed in their cause, or at the very least in themselves. They put it all on the line and risked all in order to grasp the power they coveted. Some were even willing to risk their lives.
Even as Polish support for The Ukraine War has led to
tensions with fellow V4-member Hungary, Warsaw is not entirely happy with the
Zelenskiy government. 1 January marked the birthday of Stepan Bandera, the
fascist OUN-B leader and Nazi collaborator whose paramilitaries (such as the
UPA) were responsible for tens of thousands of Polish and Jewish deaths during
the World War II.
https://www.politico.eu/article/moment-of-truth-for-polish-hungarian-toxic-relationship-approaches/
As regular readers will know, I have been keen for some time
to follow the Visegrad Four or V4 group, a faction within the EU. The loose
alliance came together as three nations in the early 1990's, and then became
four with the Czech-Slovak split. All four nations joined the EU in 2004 –
certainly with some mixed feelings. While the four countries (Poland, Czech
Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary) have never been fully unified, the bloc was
established to preserve common interests among these nations of Central (and
once 'Eastern') Europe.
There have been on again off again discussion for the past month or so over Christmas in Ukraine. And once again this has come up in the news cycle as a result of Putin's suggestion of temporary ceasefire for the Orthodox holiday.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/11/25/the-world-according-to-cpac/
This article caught my eye because of the growing sense of a Right-wing
International. And it's one that certainly incorporates the Evangelical
community but is not exclusive to them.
Articles like this make you throw up your hands into the air.
Christian influence on society has declined and as a result society has become
morally ambiguous.
https://julieroys.com/how-battle-christian-nationalism-often-starts-with-homeschooling/
This is the kind of frustrating article that has almost
become the norm. Everything about it is off. We are thankful that our kids are
all past the time of schooling but some of the anxieties and fears being raised
today were with us twenty years ago when we started. These tensions are not
new. They've just gotten worse.
In 1998, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) released a statement on moral character and public officials. Many will recall this was at the height of tensions between the Clinton administration and the GOP. The Culture Wars were raging and many Evangelicals were in a state of apoplectic rage, convinced that Clinton was a communist determined to bring America down. They and their allies were doing all they could to combat his administration.
Anthony Cordesman has received some unsought coverage lately for comments he made on the war in Ukraine. This along with a thirty year old paper I discovered, provide substantial and significant reasons to question key points of the media narrative surrounding the war.
This article doesn't reveal anything that I haven't already
read in numerous books and articles that have appeared over the past twenty
years. Every few years reports emerge of some new conference or gathering that
reveals the direction that these political movements are headed. They represent
the nexus of Christian-Right activism, academia, and the political order. It's always
changing but always the same.
There are a few noteworthy exceptions and points worth
highlighting in the case of this article.
In contrast to the claims made in the article, one could wish
that anything associated with Billy Graham and his legacy actually involved a
clear gospel presentation. Instead, what the audience received was undoubtedly the
Finneyite Altar Call message – the cheap grace gospel of the Evangelical
movement and it's affirmation of worldliness in the form of watered down faith,
tepid repentance, and its Dominionist imperative.
Croatia was quick to sign up to America's suggestion of
creating an LNG infrastructure, and now in this new deal with Austria and
Bavaria, that capacity is set to double. Croatia is set to become an energy hub
for southern and central Europe as LNG can be brought in via the Adriatic.
Have you noticed the shift in coverage regarding China? For months Western media outlets have voiced criticism regarding Beijing's Zero-Covid policy. They referred to it as draconian and despite the fact that only a few thousand people have died within a country over a billion people – as ineffective.
It seems that about every other military and weapons story is
related to drone development. As many things in the world are changing, so is
the way of waging war.
And a follow-up:
I've had these links in my backlog for a few months now. The
stories appeared on the same day. The combined reporting could be described as
both lies and attacking liars – covering up and exposing at the same time. It's
enough to make your head spin.
https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/finland-and-germany-starting-lng-imports
It has been nothing less than impressive to witness the rapid
development of this new LNG infrastructure. No doubt everything has been
categorized as a 'rush order'. And even with the red hot production
time-tables, their coming 'on line' isn't soon enough as ships are already piling
up in the Atlantic and we read of other nations eager to export LNG – and get a
piece of the lucrative European market and its high demand.
God be praised, we've made more progress. After just about fifteen weeks in a brace, my son is finally getting to take it off. Not all at once of course, but we've started the process of weaning him from it. He has a new lease on life. He's able to lie on his side in bed and yes, take a shower. Needless to say he's in good spirits.
https://julieroys.com/ohio-church-refuses-embrace-partisan-politics-shrinks/
The article was good and even refreshing to a degree, but it
was not elaborated enough. It felt like there should have been a lot more
explanation as to why these positions (what some take to be non-positions) are
taken.
The confusion is demonstrated in the comments after the
article.
If you read the article carefully, the argument can be made
that the headline is guilty of sensationalism. America is clearly in the
position of supremacy but that margin of domination is not what it was thirty
years ago. This I think is probably self-evident and hardly surprising to
anyone.
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=107221718125272
Matt Slick antedates the rise of New Calvinism – I remember
him from the 1990's, but in many respects he's one of several figures that
anticipated the movement and even now can and should be identified as a member
of that camp.
I'm not referring to gender confusion but to the conflation
of pronouns when it comes to the Church and the world. All things considered,
it's far more concerning than the sodomite rot that now dominates mainstream
airwaves.
I am fully aware that many consider John Stonestreet to be
something of a lightweight and yet, when I find his commentaries appearing on
Calvinistic websites like The Aquila Report, it indicates a growing
appreciation for him. As such, I feel compelled to respond, since no one else
seems willing to do so. There is much to be learned from his Evangelical-Kuyperian
(or Colsonite) errors and the convoluted thinking his commentaries represent.
I'm not sure what that says about the likes of The Aquila
Report.
As missiles fall on Poland, and there are talks of escalation and retaliation, it's a good moment pause.
Recently, I received a message from AFR. Their longtime morning host is retiring – yet another Right-wing liar and deceiver who promotes mammon, war, and nationalism.
But who is replacing her? Another Christian feminist of an even
worse stripe: Jenna Ellis
https://www.christianpost.com/voices/the-death-of-christian-pacifism.html
Tooley's powers of
perception must immediately be questioned when he asserts that Neo-Anabaptist
Christian Pacifism was so prevalent in 2015. The position has always been (since the fourth century) an
almost inconsequential minority at best.
Lately I've been encountering some articles concerning homeschooling in Hungary. To the surprise of many in the American Right and within the Christian Right – Viktor Orban of Hungary and his government have actually moved to restrict homeschooling.
Aside from the numerous articles and testimonials in local newspapers, I happened to overhear a conversation in which two grandparents were discussing the Veterans Day assembly at the local school. As to be expected they were quite proud of their grandchild's participation in it.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/27/life-surge-conference-evangelical-money-finance
American Evangelicalism has created a fusion of capitalism
and Christian piety. Sacralism and Evangelical Dominionism place great stock in
power and status, the middle class values of respectability and security. Those
that understand this are not surprised by the so-called Prosperity Gospel. It
is but an exaggerated expression of an impulse that already exists. It may be
tacky, working class, philistine, and grossly overdone which certain cultural
contexts tend to fuel – but in the end it's the same Cultural Christianity that
produced ostentatious palaces, cathedrals in one generation and capitalist
empires in another.
I've touched before on how many American based missions organisations cannot be fully trusted when it comes to reporting the news. They often echo US State Department lines and when it comes to certain countries (such as China) there is a tendency to utilise talking points and narratives provided by the American Right.
An Associated Press story ran in Friday's paper on 'Contrasts in faith' in the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race. The article echoed a point that many others have already made – that Doug Mastriano's political rallies are being blended with what must be described as an Evangelical-style worship service.
Ken Starr has died and while his name will be forever associated with the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, he remained a well-known and active figure in Right-wing circles, even into the Trump era.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-62980394
https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-unionist-nightmare-in-ulster.html
This represents a rather noteworthy change in the
demographics of Northern Ireland – and at a particularly interesting time. Sinn
Fein now holds power which in some respects is the outward expression of this
now verified demographic reality.
I had to drive down into AFR world today – that is I had to drive within range of the American Family Radio signal. This station, considered a titan in the Evangelical world is to put it simply a disgrace. Every time I listen to it I have to shake my head in disbelief. The programming is appalling. Clearly the Wildmon clan exist to serve the interests of the GOP and the various monied interests of the American Right.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2022/09/16/germany-military-best-equipped/
This story appeared last month. To be honest, I'm surprised
it didn't get more attention. Scholz's statements are a more than subtle
indicator regarding German militarisation and its true goals. This isn't about
Ukraine, this about German leadership in Europe and it tacitly suggests that
Berlin is thinking in terms beyond NATO.
In light of battlefield defeats, the Putin regime has turned to punitive attacks, and a form of total warfare. Using airstrikes and drones, he's now targeting Ukrainian infrastructure, primarily hitting water and power stations. The goal is to generate suffering, break morale, and degrade Ukrainian society's will and ability to continue the war. He wants to force them to the negotiating table – all the more as Putin is desperate for a way out of the conflict. NATO can keep pouring weapons into the country but if Ukrainian society is falling apart the will to continue will fail.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/9/turkey-resumes-gas-exploration-in-the-eastern-mediterranean
Under Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey continues to carve out what
can only be described as an independent geopolitical course. Long viewed as an
essential member of NATO, due to its unique cultural and geographical position,
under Erdogan's AKP the Eurasian nation continues to anger its longtime allies
and sponsors by reaching out to Western rivals and adversaries and in pursuing
policies that the EU and NATO would describe as reckless, defiant, and even
treacherous.
It's very sad to read of this couple that has been seemingly
kidnapped by Russian soldiers. Being in Eastern Ukraine, their congregation has
undoubtedly suffered from schism, the horrors and violence of war – and now
this.
This episode of Fresh Air encouraged a deluge of thoughts and
considerations. Listening to the account by the former US Attorney and his reports
of the corruption in the Trump administration and specifically of former
Attorney General Bill Barr, I could not help but immediately think of LPR's
Issues Etc.
The US for its part is returning to the George Bush posture of post 9/11 – you're either with us or against us. In other words if you're not on board with Washington's global design, you're being relegated to the enemy column. And yet the Bush threat of 2001 carried more weight than it does under Biden in 2022. This is not because Biden is weak per se, but rather he presides over a nation that is undergoing social disintegration and even while it flexes its international muscle – domestically it faces deep systemic problems and is even now living under the shadow of civil conflict. And as things presently stand it looks like there's a good chance Trump could be president again in a couple of years which will effectively dash America's standing on the world stage.
One feels as if the propaganda has reached a new level, and with it the stakes and danger have become even greater. At the end of September a series of explosions heavily damaged the Nordstream pipelines which bring natural gas across the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. The two Nordstream 1 lines were rendered inoperable and apparently despite the explosions one of the two Nordstream 2 lines remains viable. In other words, three of the four pipelines have sustained serious damage.
