Puppet MastersS


Chess

Energy insecurity: Trump is a hostage to internal politics and an illusory 'free market' in the oil price game

Scott Ritter
RT
Fri, 10 Apr 2020 18:47 UTC
trump
© AFP / Brendan Smialowski
Having bragged repeatedly of America's energy independence, President Trump must confront the harsh realities of a global oil market no longer able to sustain inefficient US oil producers as he prepares to negotiate with the G20.

The global economy struggles to adapt to the one-two punch of reduced oil demand brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and the Russian-Saudi Arabian price war, which has seen the oil markets flooded with cheap oil, threatening to drive the price per barrel to historical lows.

The G20 will meet today in virtual session (hello, global social distancing) to try and work out a deal for universal production cuts to stabilize oil prices and, in doing so, facilitate global economic recovery. While both Russia and Saudi Arabia have tentatively agreed to massive cuts in their production, such a deal is contingent upon the US making similar cuts. Domestic political realities, however, may tie President Trump's hands, killing the deal before it even gets started.
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Snakes in Suits

What crisis? UK parliament on holiday till April 21st while some furious MPs demand recall immediately

Dan Bloom
Mirror
Sun, 12 Apr 2020 09:23 UTC
House of Commons
© PAThe House of Commons will return as planned on April 21 - but MPs are demanding more
Jacob Rees-Mogg has confirmed the Commons will return as planned on April 21 in virtual form. But MPs have gone further by demanding an 'immediate' recall

MPs from across the political divide today demanded an urgent recall of Parliament as plans to come back on April 21 were branded not enough.

Leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg today insisted Parliament will return in nine days' time as planned after a month-long Easter break.

Options are "being prepared" in the next week for how to use virtual technology to keep the Commons going without MPs coming too close in person.

But Mr Rees-Mogg stressed the return will only be for parliament's "essential constitutional functions".

Comment: Considering the state of the elected government's recent appearances, one can understand why they may be reluctant to put this lot back to work and under public scrutiny:

See also:

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Attention

Meet the companies poised to build the Kushner-backed "coronavirus surveillance system"

Whitney Webb
The Last American Vagabond
Sat, 11 Apr 2020 20:48 UTC
The three companies behind the leading proposal to build a "national coronavirus surveillance system", an initiative spearheaded by Jared Kushner, boast deep ties to Google, intelligence-linked venture capital firms as well as one of last year's eerily predictive "pandemic" simulations.

jared kushner
On April 7, Politico reported that the President's son-in-law Jared Kushner was spearheading an all-private sector taskforce that aims to build a "national coronavirus surveillance system" in order to "give the government a near real-time view of where patients are seeking treatment and for what."

This proposed nationwide network, according to that report, would be used to better inform government decision-making regarding which parts of the United States may "safely relax social-distancing rules" and those that may not. Politico treaded lightly in its discussion of such a system's likely effects on civil liberties, but did note that some critics have compared this proposed system "to the Patriot act enacted after the 9/11 attacks."

According to Politico, three companies collectively sent out a memo on March 22 to three administration officials - Jared Kushner, Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Alex Azar. The memo was "widely circulated" throughout the administration relative to other submitted proposals. Those companies - Collective Medical, PatientPing and Juvare - asserted in the memo that they could collectively "supply the government with information on where and how many patients are seeking care across 80 percent of the U.S. 'in short order.'"

Two of those companies, Collective Medical Technologies and PatientPing, declined to comment on the memo and its contents. A representative from Juvare, however, stated that the company has "spoken with officials across several federal agencies including FEMA, HHS and the CDC about its various emergency preparedness and data tools."

Comment: See also:

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Mr. Potato

Ocasio-Cortez says Trump's 'xenophobic COVID response' scaring people away from hospitals

David Krayden
Daily Caller
Sat, 11 Apr 2020 16:58 UTC
AOC ocasio-cortez
© REUTERS/Andrew KellyU.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks to media before participating in a Census Town Hall at the Louis Armstrong Middle School in Queens, New York City, U.S., February 22, 2020.
Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed Saturday's that people in her Queens constituency are "too scared to go to the hospital" because of President Donald Trump's "xenophobic COVID response."

"Corona, Queens is the most heavily COVID-impacted zip code in America," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. "I can tell you 1st hand that many ppl are too scared to go to the hospital & continue to work bc of Trump's xenophobic COVID response."

Comment: So let's get this straight - because Trump called the virus "foreign" and has referred to it as the "China virus" people are afraid to go to the hospital? How fragile does AOC think her constituents are? If people really are afraid to go to the hospital, which is debatable, isn't it more likely that they've succumbed to the constant fear-mongering about the virus played 24/7 in the MSM and on social media? They really seem to be giving enormous power to Trump's innocuous words. He's not a wizard.

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Pills

Choosing profits over people: Anti-coronavirus drugs could be produced for pennies

Alan Macleod
Mint Press
Fri, 10 Apr 2020 00:00 UTC
Instead, those drugs are being sold for thousands of dollars each, proving once again that the private, for-profit pharmaceutical industry is ill-equipped to handle a global public health crisis like COVID-19.
Pharma lab
© Peter Steffen | dpa via AP
Anew article in the Journal of Virus Eradication published yesterday explored the cost of mass producing several drugs that have shown distinct promise in the global fight against the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. The research, headed by Dr. Andrew Hill from the Department of Translational Medicine, University of Liverpool, found treatments like Remdesivir, a drug used to treat SARS and Ebola, could be produced for just $0.93 per daily dose, and a combination of Hepatitis C medications Sofosbuvir and Daclatasvir can be made for just $0.39. This would translate to just $9 and $5 respectively for a full course of treatment.

"If favorable results are shown from these new trials, there is the potential to rapidly upscale production of the most promising drugs," the team of researchers writes. "The safety profiles of these drugs have already been established from clinical trials for other diseases, so they could be rapidly deployed to treat COVID-19 before vaccines become available. Trials of a number of different drugs are underway across the world. Should repurposed drugs demonstrate efficacy against COVID-19, they could be manufactured profitably at very low costs, for much less than current list prices," they conclude.

Comment: See also:

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Pyramid

SOTT Focus: Episode 375 of the Corbett Report: Corona World Order

James Corbett
corbettreport.com
Sat, 11 Apr 2020 20:00 UTC
kissinger covid-19 world order
Some are suggesting that the current crisis is the end of globalization, or that it will wipe out the New World Order altogether... but they are wrong. In fact, this crisis is the globalists' dream, and what we are witnessing is the birth of a totalitarian control grid the likes of which could scarcely have been imagined before this pandemic panic kicked off. Welcome to the Corona World Order.

For those with limited bandwidth, CLICK HERE to download a smaller, lower file size version of this episode.

For those interested in audio quality, CLICK HERE for the highest-quality version of this episode (WARNING: very large download).

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USA

Is this the American turning point?

Robert E. Wright
American Institute for Economic Research
Wed, 08 Apr 2020 00:00 UTC
sharkjump
© Unknown
The phrase "to jump the shark" at first referenced the point at which a television program started to lose its moorings, and its audience.

Specifically, it referred to the episode of Happy Days (1974-84, ABC) when "the Fonz" (played by Henry Winkler, now better known for his role as an acting teacher on HBO's Barry) jumped over a shark tank on water skis. Ratings for the show did stay up after the episode because there were only 3 or 4 channels available back then. Many fans, including this then eight-year-old, however, became mere viewers after that episode.

Today, though, the phrase has expanded to include any turning point eventually ending in disaster.

Lots of folks, from politicians to used car salesmen, are trying to calm fears associated with the COVID-19 pandemic by harkening back to America's glorious past.

"We" can get through this, they say, because "we" successfully traversed worse travails. The problem with that analysis is the "we" has changed. Yes, America suffered invasion and the destruction of the national capital in 1814, a long, bloody Civil War, and so forth. But the Americans who preserved or prevailed then are all long gone, as are many of the nation's most important institutions.
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Star of David

IDF tweets: 'Look closely, we see you!' a cryptic warning to Syrian Army over Hezbollah ties


Sputnik
Fri, 10 Apr 2020 14:18 UTC
Israel's IDF
© CC BY 2.0The IDF on patrol
Hezbollah, a Lebanese political party and militant group, has played a key role in Syria's fight against a broad collection of terrorist groups in recent years. At the same time, the group is designated as a terrorist organization by Israel and its US and European allies.

The Israeli military has published a video which it says shows a meeting between a senior Syrian military commander and Hezbollah militia somewhere in Syria, warning that Tel Aviv "won't allow" the militia "to entrench itself militarily" in the Arab Republic.
Avichay Adraee, the head of the IDF's Arabic-language media division, offered more details about the video in an Arabic-language tweet, alleging that the video was shot in the Syrian-controlled portion of the Golan Heights, and warning that Israel would "not tolerate" the "entrenchment" of Hezbollah forces in the area.
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Oil Well

Russia: Oil producers outside OPEC+ expected to cut oil production 5M barrels


RT
Fri, 10 Apr 2020 22:39 UTC
oil pump jack
© Reuters/Regis DuvignauIt's all rigged.
On top of the OPEC+ deal that will see oil output cut by 10 million barrels per day, producers outside the group are expected to slash the supply by at least five million more, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said.

"We believe that, in addition to the 10 million barrels [cut], which was undertaken by OPEC+, there would be another 5 million barrels from oil producers outside of OPEC+," Novak said Friday, while speaking to Russian television.

Canada, for instance, was ready to cut its output by some 1 million bpd. The minister did not give any estimates on how much the US or others might contribute to the output reduction.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that Washington would reduce its output by an additional 250,000 bpd to make up the difference from Mexico, which only agreed to lower its production by 100,000 bpd rather than 400,000 that OPEC+ requested.

Comment: Trump: US to make up the difference:
The US will slash oil output by another 250,000 barrels a day to make up the difference for Mexico and help OPEC+ boost the price.

"The United States will help Mexico along and they'll reimburse us some time at a later date when they're prepared to do so," Trump told reporters.

Between the price collapse and the drop in demand due to coronavirus lockdowns, US oil producers have already drastically cut output by around 600,000 barrels a day, according to some estimates.


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Pistol

US commander discusses 'need to reduce violence' with Taliban officials


RFE/RL
Sat, 11 Apr 2020 07:37 UTC
Gen. Austin Miller
© Muhammad Sadiq EPA/EFEU.S. Army General Austin Miller
The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Austin Miller, has met with representatives of the Taliban's political office in Doha to discuss the reduction of violence, officials said.

A spokesman for the U.S. military, Sonny Leggett, said Miller had a meeting with "select Taliban leaders" in which they discussed the "need to reduce the violence." Leggett said the meeting late on April 10 was "part of the military channel" established in a February deal between the United States and the Taliban. He did not provide further details.

Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban office in Doha, said on April 11 that the group had asked the U.S. military not to attack noncombat areas. The Taliban published video footage claiming to show a house bombarded by U.S. forces in Badakhshan Province on April 10. Its authenticity could not be independently verified.

The claim comes as the militant group has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Afghanistan in the past two days.
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