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In the new 'multipolar world' globalists still control all the players

Kabuki kids
© unknown
The greatest tool at the disposal of globalists is the use of false paradigms to manipulate public perception and thus public action. The masses are led to believe that at the highest levels of geopolitical and financial power there is such a thing as "sides." This is utter nonsense when we examine the facts at hand.

We are told the-powers-that-be are divided by "Left" and "Right" politics, yet both sides actually support the same exact policy actions when it comes to the most important issues of the day and only seem to differ in terms of rhetoric, which is meaningless and cosmetic anyway. That is to say, it's nothing but Kabuki theater.

We are told that corporate power must be balanced by government power and that government power must be balanced by "free markets," when in reality corporations are chartered and protected by governments and free markets simply don't exist in today's economy. In the case of social media "censorship," we are told that the solution is to use government power to enforce "fairness" instead of simply launching our own alternative platforms. Yet, social media corporations exist in the form of monopolies exactly because of government power and intervention in business. The abuses of one "side" are being used to push us into the arms of the other side, which is just as abusive.

In terms of geopolitics, we are told that national powers stand "at cross-purposes;" that they have different interests and different goals, which has led to things like "trade wars" and sometimes shooting wars. Yet, when we look at the people actually pulling the strings in most of these countries, we find the same names and institutions. Whether you are in America, Russia China, the EU, etc., globalist think tanks and international banks are everywhere, and the leaders in all of these countries call for MORE power for such institutions, not less.

These wars, no matter what form they take, are a circus for the public. They are engineered to create controlled chaos and manageable fear. They are a means to influence us towards a particular end, and that end, in most cases, is more social and economic influence in the hands of a select few. In each instance, people are being convinced to believe that the world is being divided when it is actually being centralized.

Comment: See also:


Light Sabers

"Surgical strike 2.0" or big Bollywood spectacle?

Pakistani reporters and troops
© AP Photo
Pakistani reporters and troops visit the site of an Indian airstrike in Jaba, near Balakot, Pakistan
India is portraying its first aerial violation of the Line of Control (LoC) in nearly half a century as another "surgical strike" against Pakistan that followed in the footsteps of the operation that it claimed to have pulled off without evidence in 2016, but in the absence of any proof to once again back up its assertion and considering that Pakistan already presented contradictory photographic evidence proving that the so-called "attack" only destroyed a couple of trees, it's clear that this was just another big Bollywood spectacle for infowar purposes.

Facts First

India dramatically claimed to have pulled off another "surgical strike" against Pakistan in the early hours of 26 February, declaring that 200-300 members of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) were killed in retaliation for the group's involvement in the Pulwama attack. The country's media is wildly celebrating what their government portrayed as a massive victory over Pakistan after the Indian Air Force violated the Line of Control (LoC) for the first time since the 1971 war with their neighbor and didn't instantly trigger a larger conflict. The message being conveyed to their citizens is that India can "surgically strike" Pakistan at will without repercussions, but the actual facts of the matter state something altogether different and show that this is nothing more than a big Bollywood spectacle for infowar purposes.

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Gold Bar

Return to the gold exchange standard

Dollar/Gold
© unknown
This article makes the obvious point that a return to a gold standard is the only way nations can contain the interest cost of servicing debt, given the alternative is inflationist policies that can only lead to far higher interest rates and currency destruction. The topic is timely, given the self-harm of American economic and geopolitical policies, which are already leading America into a cyclical slump. Meanwhile, American fears of Asian domination of global economic, monetary and political outcomes have come true. The upcoming credit crisis is likely to kill off the welfare state model in the West by destroying their unbacked paper currencies, while China, Russia and their Asian allies have the means to prosper.

The fragility of state finances

In my last Goldmoney article I explained why the monetary policies of inflationist economists and policy makers would end up destroying fiat currencies. The destruction will come from ordinary people, who are forced by law to use the state's money for settling their day-to-day transactions. Ordinary people, each one a trinity of production, consumption and saving, will eventually wake up to the fraud of monetary inflation and discard their government's medium of exchange as intrinsically worthless.

Attention

Weeks prior to Ukraine vote, Poroshenko comes under fire over smuggling claim

Yulia Tymoshenko
© Pyotr Sivkov/TASS
Yulia Tymoshenko calls for the impeachment of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at a parliament session in Kyiv on February 26, 2019.
Ukrainian presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko has called for the impeachment of President Petro Poroshenko, accusing him of treason after a media outlet aired a program alleging that people close to the incumbent enriched themselves by smuggling spare parts for military equipment from Russia.

With the March 31 election less than five weeks away and polls indicating that she and Poroshenko are among the three front-runners, former prime minister Tymoshenko told a parliament session on February 26 that her Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party and others have launched an impeachment process.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a comedian who some polls have put in the lead in the presidential race, sharply criticized Poroshenko in a social media post.

The report on media outlet Bihus.Info's program Nashi Hroshi (Our Money) threw an explosive new element into a campaign in which Poroshenko -- the pro-Western tycoon who came to power after Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych was pushed out by protests known as the Maidan -- is seeking to overcome a steep drop in popularity to win a new term amid a continuing war against Russia-backed separatists and persistent economic challenges.

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Rocket

UN warning: EU to be most affected by possible INF treaty collapse

rocket launch USS Barry
© Flickr/US Department of Defense
The guided missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG52) launches a Tomahawk cruise missile.
Europe would be most vulnerable to any negative consequences of the potential collapse of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, stressing the inadmissibility of a new arms race.
"The demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, should it be allowed to happen, would make the world a more insecure and unstable place. That insecurity and instability will be keenly felt here in Europe. We simply cannot afford to return to the unrestrained nuclear competition of the darkest days of the Cold War."
The UN chief also called on Russia and the United States to use the time remaining before the agreement's official termination to engage in a sincere dialogue on issues relating to the deal.

"It is very important that this treaty is preserved," Guterres stressed.

Comment: See also:


Arrow Down

To be peace at last? US Democrats introduce bill to provide formal end to the Korean War

Korean War banner
© Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji
US House Democrats have introduced a bill calling for a formal end to the Korean War - which never really ended even when both sides stopped shooting - on the eve of President Trump's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Acknowledging that "the persistence of a state of war represents a constant risk and threat to the national security of the United States and its allies," the bill calls on Trump to declare an end to the "state of war with North Korea" and recommends "serious, urgent diplomatic engagement" in pursuit of a binding peace agreement between all three countries. It does not, however, call for the withdrawal of the 28,000 American troops stationed in South Korea, or make any recommendations regarding the repeal of sanctions on the North.

Comment: See also:


X

As voice after voice is purged from social media, still think there's no censorship?

Free speech sign
© Global Look Press/Creative Touch Imaging Ltd
For a civilization that considers freedom of speech one of its fundamental principles and universal human rights, the West sure does a lot of censorship - and no, farming it out to 'private companies' does not change what it is.

It happened again on Tuesday: British activist Tommy Robinson was erased from Facebook and Instagram. The social media behemoth said it has to act "when ideas and opinions cross the line and amount to hate speech that may create an environment of intimidation and exclusion for certain groups in society."

As online polemicists are fond of saying, "citation needed!" Yet Facebook offers none: no evidence of specific violations, not even a definition of "hate speech," just an arbitrary standard - and a threat of further bans for people who "support... hate figures." Whatever that means.

Binoculars

Taliban spokesman says close to reaching withdrawal agreement with US

taliban delegation
© Qatari Foreign Ministry / AFP
Qatari officials (center) take part in a meeting between U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad (second from left) and the U.S. delegation, and Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai (sixth from the right) and the Taliban delegation, in Doha on February 26.
A spokesman for the Afghan Taliban has said the group is close to reaching an agreement with the United States on the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

Spokesman Suhail Shaheen made the comment in Doha, Qatar, following the second day of negotiations with U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad on February 26.

"If we do not reach a solution in this round of talks, then we will in the next round of talks," he told AP.

Khalilzad's past rounds of talks with the Taliban focused on U.S. troop withdrawal in exchange for guarantees of no attacks against the United States, but it was unclear how close he was on a deal on those issues.

He said that in exchange for a U.S. withdrawal, the Taliban would offer guarantees that Afghanistan would not be used as a staging area for anti-American attacks.

Star of David

Batya Ungar-Sargon, delusions of Liberal Zionism

Baruch Marzel
© Unknown
Jewish Power party member Baruch Marzel
This weekend, mainstream Israel lobby organizations condemned the far-right Jewish Power party, which Prime Minister Netanyahu helped secure a place in a future coalition. This included AIPAC, who affirmed that "AIPAC has a longstanding policy not to meet with members of this racist and reprehensible party".

For Forward editor Batya Ungar-Sargon, this meant a revitalizing of her "Liberal Zionist dream", and she spoke on behalf of the "American Jewish imagination":
In the American Jewish imagination, Zionism is the promise that Jewish safety can coexist with Jewish values like justice, welcoming the stranger, and equality. And if the State of Israel hasn't been able to completely live up to that perhaps dialectical standard, for American Jews, this was not because of something inherent in its character, as the anti-Zionists would have it, but rather due to tragic circumstances, circumstances that surely will end soon enough. That is the liberal Zionist dream. And in betraying it so severely and so explicitly, Netanyahu just revitalized it. By destroying the illusion that his Israel could be their Israel, Netanyahu reminded American Jews of what their Israel is supposed to be - and what it's not and never will be under his leadership.
Notice how Ungar-Sargon finds it centrally important to mention anti-Zionism? She sees this moment as discrediting anti-Zionists because pro-Israeli lobbies criticized Israel, which shows that Zionists are complex and not a monolith.

This is very similar in feeling to New York Times columnist Bari Weiss, who was also over the moon about this, tweeting:
This is Jewish leadership. And it exposes the strawman erected by anti-Zionists: That legitimate criticism of Israel is smeared as anti-Semitic. This is criticism of Israel. No one mistakes it for something else.

Light Sabers

India-Pakistan crisis rundown: 'Neither can afford a miscalculation' - PM Khan

india pakistan
© REUTERS / Danish Ismail
Indian soldiers stand next to the wreckage of Indian Air Force's helicopter after it crashed in Budgam district in Kashmir February 27, 2019.
New Delhi and Islamabad cannot afford a new war with the weapons they now have, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said, adding that he and Indian PM Narendra Modi have to find a way out of the ongoing security crisis.

In a short televised address on Wednesday, Khan said neither he nor his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, would be in control of the situation, if the ongoing hostilities escalate further.

"History tells us that wars are full of miscalculation. My question is that given the weapons we have, can we afford miscalculation? We should sit down and talk."

Comment: RT provides more details on the recent confrontations between the two countries:
India v Pakistan: What you need to know about Kashmir flare-up that may push nuclear rivals to war

Tension is escalating rapidly between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan after air combat between the rivals ended with the reported loss of aircraft by both nations.

The ongoing flare-up started on February 14 with the suicide bombing of Indian police troops in Kashmir, a divided region in the north that has been contested by Islamabad and New Delhi since 1947.

Some 40 people were reportedly killed in the attack. The militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), that wants all of Kashmir to become part of Pakistan, claimed credit for the attack, which was the deadliest in decades.

Indian air raid

Early on Tuesday morning, the Indian military aircraft crossed into Pakistani airspace for a raid against what India called a JeM training camp. Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said "a very large number" of JeM fighters were killed in the raid, which targeted an area near the town of Balakot in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
Kashmir map
"The existence of such training facilities, capable of training hundreds of jihadis, could not have functioned without the knowledge of the Pakistani authorities," Gokhale said. Indian media claimed as many as 300 militants had been killed.

The town is located some 50km (32 miles) from the UN-mandated Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, which serves as the de facto border in the disputed region. India hasn't launched incursions that deep into Pakistani territory since the war of 1971, the bloodiest conflict fought by the two nations.

Pakistan pledges retaliation

Pakistan, which denies harboring jihadists, rejected India's justification for the attack, which was that Islamabad refused to deal with JeM insurgency on its own.

Pakistani military denied Indian claims of mass casualties on the ground, saying Indian jets dropped their munitions in a desolated area while being chased away by Pakistani warplanes. Neither side's version of events could be corroborated independently.

Islamabad condemned the incursion into its airspace and said it reserved the right to retaliate against India at a time and place of its choosing.

On Tuesday evening, there were reports by Indian officials of heavy artillery shelling coming from the Pakistani side injuring several Indian troops in Kashmir.

Islamabad strikes back

The promised retaliation materialized on Wednesday and has brought with it as much confusion over what exactly happened as events on Tuesday. Pakistan stated that its aircraft attacked targets across the LoC, but stayed in Pakistani airspace.

Pakistan has "taken strikes at non military target, avoiding human loss and collateral damage," the country's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "Sole purpose being to demonstrate our right, will and capability for self defense."

Then, according to the Pakistani side, the Indian Air Force launched its aircraft into Pakistan's airspace. In the ensuing fight, two Indian aircraft were shot down, and two pilots captured.


India says both nations lost aircraft on Wednesday

The Indian government took a pause before commenting on the developments on Wednesday. An Indian official based in Kashmir told Reuters that at least three Pakistani aircraft violated the border and were confronted by Indian fighter jets deployed to intercept them.

There were also claims in the Indian media that a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet was shot down and crashed in the Rajouri district of Kashmir - presumably by the Indian Air Force responding to an incursion.

Hours later, the Indian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the air force lost one of its MiG-21s during an engagement with Pakistani forces. Its pilot is listed as missing in action, Raveesh Kumar, the spokesman for the ministry, said.

He added that one Pakistani fighter jet was shot down by the Indian side, falling on the Pakistani side of the border. He stressed that the Pakistani aircraft were targeting Indian military installations on the ground.

At least one other Indian aircraft crashed on Wednesday in Budgam, a district in the India-controlled part of Kashmir. However it was not a fighter jet but rather a Mi-17 helicopter, which reportedly went down due to a malfunction while returning to base. The Pakistani military said it did not engage that aircraft. The helicopter was earlier misidentified as a MiG-21 fighter jet in some media reports.

Security concerns

Amid the flare-up, air traffic was shut down on both sides of the LoC. Airports in the cities of Amritsar, Pathankot, Jammu, Leh and Chandigarh have been shut down and all flights canceled on the Indian side. Pakistan closed its entire airspace to flights amid the tension.


The move is a clear indicator that both countries fear further escalation of hostilities after two days of exchanges of fire. Both governments publicly stated they want to defuse the tensions though.

Several nations, including the US, China and Russia, as well as the European Union issued calls for restraint addressed to Islamabad and New Delhi.
Analysts question India's motivation in retaliating in the way they have:
Domestic posturing or true escalation? Analyst fears new Kashmir incident prelude to global conflict
Indian soldiers
© REUTERS/Danish Ismai
Indian soldiers stand next to the wreckage of Indian Air Force's helicopter after it crashed in Budgam district in Kashmir February 27, 2019.
India's raid into Pakistan was a calculated provocation, and if New Delhi isn't just playing to its home electorate, major world powers will be dragged into a war, a political analyst tells RT.

"What would they expect to happen? They are quite aware of Pakistan's right to defend its territory. What is India hoping to gain?" Darius Shahtahmasebi, a New Zealand-based political analyst, says.

"Either India is making a statement, posturing for its domestic population that it is doing something about Kashmir. Or they are actually trying to escalate the issue further, because they know that eventually Pakistan will respond"

While Islamabad preached "restraint" on Wednesday, if it does strike back, India could unleash a full-scale war. And Shahtahmasebi believes that even if the two countries decide to leave their nuclear arsenals off the table and engage in conventional localized warfare, the impact will be global.

He notes that Pakistan is the nexus of Saudi geopolitical ambitions in the area, and India is a rising superpower, able to rely on support from Western allies. For China, the region is the main artery for its ambitious One Belt-One Road project.

"It's not a minor conflict the rest of the world can close its eyes to. It would bring in China, it would bring in Saudi Arabia, it would bring in the United States, though as a former or current ally of both adversaries, it is now unclear quite where it stands during the Trump administration," Shahtahmasebi told RT.
Local celebrities weigh in on the dispute:
'Mess with the best, die like the rest': Pakistan & Indian celebs split on Twitter as tensions rise

Fahad Mustafa; (R) Mahira Khan
© Wikimedia Commons
(L) Fahad Mustafa; (R) Mahira Khan
As tensions escalate between India and Pakistan, celebrities in both countries have hit Twitter to show support for their armies, although many famous faces are also calling urgently for peace.

Pakistani actress Mahira Khan said there was "nothing uglier," and "nothing more ignorant" than cheering for war. Meanwhile, Mawra Hocane tweeted a Christopher Holliday quote saying there can be "NO winners in war," and called on the media to "stop being provocative."

Fahad Mustafa, a Pakistani actor, echoed their push for peace, saying "war does not determine who is right...only who is left."




Not everyone was calling for peace, however. Pakistani actor Hamza Ali Abbasi tweeted: "Well done India. Much improvement from the fake 'Surgical Strike' claim," before calling on Pakistan's forces to retaliate.



Indian actor and director Ajay Devgn showed his support for the Indian army, with a strongly-worded tweet, saying: "Mess with the best, die like the rest. Salute #IndianAirForce."


Responding to a tweet by MP Rahul Gandhi saluting pilots of the Indian Air Force, actor and former chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India Anupam Kher said: "Today will be a good day to start saluting Prime Minister Narendra Modi too."



Celebrities like actor Mohanlal Viswanathan and ordinary Indians alike are tweeting a play on a popular phrase from a recent Bollywood movie, Uri: The Surgical Strike, "How's the josh?" Instead of 'josh' they are asking, "How's the Jaish?" referring to India's strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). They then answer their own question with the quip: "Dead sir."

Most analysts don't believe this will escalate much further:
Nuclear Armageddon v new-found equilibrium: How far can current Indo-Pakistani confrontation go?

There remains the risk that the tensions between two bitter rivals will result in the worst-case scenario, Sultan Mehmood Hali, a retired group commander of the Pakistan Air Force, told RT.


"If pushed against the wall... Pakistan will be forced to retaliate with nuclear weapons, which could, of course, lead to very serious destruction in the region," he said.

"Unfortunately, once you have this kind of weapons on both sides and if there is a desperate situation, then a desperate situation will lead to desperate measures."

"We don't want this to escalate to mutually assured destruction," Hali said, while admitting that his nation would be at a disadvantage in an all-out fight.

"India is the superior power. Its armed forces are three times the size of Pakistan's. Its economy is much broader. It can sustain a lot of hits," the Air Force veteran said.

"Pakistan, being the weaker country, will be on the receiving end."

Agreeing with the last point, the former foreign secretary of India, Kanwal Sibal, noted that Pakistan is in "no position to have an all-out war unless it wants self-destruction." The Muslim-majority country is in the midst of "a terrible financial crisis," seeking assistance from the World Bank, the ex-diplomat said.

He added that the US and Pakistan's longtime ally in the region, China, called on the parties to maintain restraint, but the nation "disregarded that." Speaking to RT, Harsh V. Pant, professor of international relations at King's College London, noted that the politicians in New Delhi and Islamabad are not "so suicidal" to push a conflict "to a nuclear level."

"I don't think it is in the interest of both sides to take it beyond a certain point, given that both are nuclear-weapon states. After the initial bout of instability... we will find equilibrium."


Professor Pant said that India "was cognizant of the risks" when conducting Tuesday's air raid over its neighbor's territory. Pakistani-based jihadist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has stepped up attacks across the border in recent years, including a convoy bombing two week ago, which killed 44 Indian police officers.

"The feeling in India after being struck every single year and month with terrorism is 'enough is enough,'" he said.

"India has now put the ball squarely in Pakistan's court."

The government in New Delhi justified the airstrikes on Pakistan's territory by claiming that Islamabad doesn't do anything to combat terrorists.

Addressing India's concern, Sultan Mehmood Hali said New Delhi should share "actionable intelligence" on the terrorist groups with Pakistan. "Our prime minister [Imran Khan] has assured: we will take definite action," he told RT.
While a major consumer of Bollywood movies, Pakistan will attempt to introduce an official ban on them:
'No Indian movie will be released': Pakistan bans Bollywood films & ads after air raid

Pakistani Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry has ordered an embargo on all Indian-made films and advertisements, following India's air strike in its territory on Tuesday.

Chaudhry announced the boycott on Twitter.


The ban is the latest setback in the always-fragile cultural relations between the two neighbors.
Finally:
India to 'isolate' Pakistan after suicide car bomb attack on police convoy kills 44

"We believe art and films are universal languages that transcend borders and bring people closer. We hope we can all play a positive role in reducing tensions, and supporting policies that bring peace and prosperity to the people of the entire region," said All Pakistan Exhibitors Association Chairman Zoraiz Lashari in a statement.
Indian soldiers
© REUTERS / Younis Khaliq
Indian soldiers examine the debris after an explosion in Lethpora in south Kashmir's Pulwama district February 14, 2019.



indian soldiers
© REUTERS / Younis Khaliq
For more on the behind the scenes maneuvering, see: Pakistan-India showdown: What you're not being told