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The Year Ahead - Biosecurity

James Corbett
Corbett Report
Sun, 17 Jan 2021 22:13 UTC
Biosecurity
© Corbett Report
I don't need to tell you that we are living through world-historical times right now. The frequency of world-changing events is accelerating even as the impact of these events on our day-to-day lives is increasing.

As Lenin rightly observed: "There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen." Perhaps there are years in which centuries happen.

With that in mind, I am taking my annual look at the year ahead and splitting it into three parts.

Last week, I looked at the tectonic shifts that are taking place in the global monetary space and consider what these changes portend for the future of the world economy.

This week, I will examine the ongoing (generated) COVID crisis and what we can expect as the Era of Biosecurity continues to unfold.

Finally, next week I will turn my attention to world geopolitics, analyzing the types of conflicts that we can expect to see over the course of this year and explaining how these conflicts will set the stage for even more dramatic events over the course of the decade.
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Take 2

'Take two': Biden fills State Department slots with more Obama vets, including Ukraine 'coup plotter' Victoria Nuland


RT
Sat, 16 Jan 2021 22:18 UTC
Victoria Nuland
© Reuters
Victoria Nuland
President-elect Joe Biden is getting the old interventionist-foreign-policy team back together, including Ukraine coup engineer Victoria Nuland, signaling a hardline Russia stance as he fills out top posts in the State Department.

"These leaders are trusted at home and respected around the world, and their nominations signal that America is back and ready to lead the world, not retreat from it," Biden said on Saturday in a statement announcing his picks to fill top positions under his nominee for secretary of state, Anthony Blinken.

Like Blinken, the five latest State Department picks are veterans of the Obama-Biden administration. Nuland, a neoconservative who was named undersecretary for political affairs, goes all the way back to former President Ronald Reagan's administration and was a foreign policy adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Comment: Wasn't Pompeo the baddest news? Oh wait...here comes Nasty Nuland! (Again.)





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Arrow Down

Despair, depression, and the inevitable rise of Trump 2.0: Glenn Greenwald tells RT his Biden administration predictions


RT
Sun, 17 Jan 2021 09:41 UTC
Hedges/Greenwald
© RT screenshot
RT's Chris Hedges • Journalist Glenn Greenwald
America, Joe Biden says, "is back." Beyond the sloganeering, journalist Glenn Greenwald reckons that means "militarism, imperialism, and corporatism," he told RT's Chris Hedges.

Glenn Greenwald is a lawyer who turned to journalism in 2005 to protest the suppression of Americans' civil liberties under the Bush-Cheney 'war on terror'. Greenwald came to international fame by breaking the Edward Snowden NSA whistleblower story in 2013. He later co-founded the Intercept, but quit the outlet in October after saying editors there suppressed his coverage of Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden.

"I don't think it's particularly difficult... to know what to expect from the Biden administration," the acclaimed American journalist told Chris Hedges, host of RT's On Contact, on Sunday. Biden, Greenwald continued, has enjoyed a five-decade career in Washington and made his policy priorities well known over these years.

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Hammer

79% of Americans think the US is falling apart. That's no surprise when one half of the country wants to crush the other

Michael Rectenwald
RT
Fri, 15 Jan 2021 17:27 UTC
crumble flag image
© Getty Images/Lance Larson
"Old Glory"
Both Democrats and Republicans think America is disintegrating. But the newspeak narrative says that Trump and his supporters must be cleansed from the nation before it can heal. This totalitarian mindset could be the US' undoing.

A recent Axios-Ipsos poll suggests that 79 percent of Americans believe that the nation is disintegrating. Axios AM reporter, Mike Allen writes:
"The question, asked Tuesday and Wednesday, reflects the collision of crises besetting the country — the backdrop of a pandemic, recession, decoupling of red/blue America, and racial injustice and the immediacy of the Capitol insurrection, followed by Impeachment II."
But the question of whether the US is now a failed national project is meant to put a stake into the heart of the Donald Trump presidency and to destroy, entirely, the movement he mobilized. The purpose of the poll is to leave no doubt in the minds of readers that Trump is responsible for these national crises and must be removed from office, and never allowed to run again. The objective is to separate Trump and his supporters, to purge both from the public square, and likewise to leave no alternative to the ruling Democratic-RINO, Big Tech, mainstream media, corporate-state hegemon that threatens to impose its technologically enforced totalitarian rule.

Comment: At least with the Trump experiment, the political scab has been ripped off the country and no longer hides the growing totalitarian infection inside. Some see and hear. Some choose not to. The fight is through us, not for us.

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No Entry

Russian opposition figure Navalny detained at passport control after returning to Moscow following almost five months in Germany


RT
Sun, 17 Jan 2021 18:03 UTC
Navalny
© Reuters/Polina Ivanova
Alexey Navalny • Sheremetyevo Airport, Moscow, Russia • January 17, 2021
Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny has been detained by police at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport after returning from Germany, where he had been recovering following an alleged poisoning attempt last summer.

Navalny and his wife Yulia left [for] the plane together on Sunday evening with the rest of the passengers and drove to the terminal in a bus. The activist was arrested at the immigration desk.

Russia's prison authority has confirmed the detention. Navalny, who was wanted for breaching the terms of his probation from a previous criminal case, will remain in custody until the court rules on pre-trial restrictions against him, it said.

Navalny's plane touched down at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, having been diverted from Vnukovo Airport where a large crowd of his supporters had gathered. There were minor scuffles with police and several arrests at the latter location. His close associates Lyubov Sobol and Ruslan Shaveddinov were among those held.



Earlier this week, it was revealed that Navalny had been placed on a wanted list in Russia shortly before the new year.

Comment: Navalny seems to bring out the crowds, evident at Vnukovo International Airport:
Tensions were high at Vnukovo International Airport, located 10 kilometers southwest of Moscow, where a flight from low-cost airline Pobeda with Navalny aboard was initially scheduled to land on Sunday. A large crowd of opposition supporters gathered in Vnukovo in order to greet the man on home soil. The Moscow prosecutor's office said earlier that the gathering at the airport has not been duly cleared by the authorities, and warned against violating the laws on public assembly.

Videos from the scene showed police in full riot gear pushing the demonstrators outside of the airport building. More than a dozen arrests have been made, with Lyubov Sobol and several other of Navalny's close associates among those detained.


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Megaphone

Iran asks watchdog not to publish 'unnecessary' nuclear program details, Zarif slams France's hypocritical foreign minister


AP
Sun, 17 Jan 2021 20:05 UTC
Rouhani
© Iranian Presidency Office via AP, File
FILE - In this Aug. 26, 2020 file photo, released by the official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Hassan Rouhani, right, welcomes Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Rafael Mariano Grossi for their meeting in Tehran, Iran. Iran urged the United Nations' nuclear watchdog to avoid publishing "unnecessary" details on Tehran's nuclear program, state TV reported Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021, a day after Germany, France and Britain said Tehran has "no credible civilian use" for its development of uranium metal.
Iran urged the United Nations' nuclear watchdog to avoid publishing "unnecessary" details on Tehran's nuclear program, state TV reported Sunday, a day after Germany, France and Britain said Tehran has "no credible civilian use" for its development of uranium metal.

The report quoted a statement from Iran's nuclear department that asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to avoid publishing details on Iran's nuclear program that may cause confusion.

"It is expected the international atomic energy agency avoid providing unnecessary details and prevent paving ground for misunderstanding" in the international community, the statement said. It did not elaborate.

Comment: RT reports:
'Absolute nonsense': Iranian FM rejects French claim that Tehran is building up nuclear weapons capacity


"Dear colleague: You kick-started your cabinet career with arms sales to Saudi war criminals. Avoid absurd nonsense about Iran," Zarif said, bringing up Riyadh's campaign in Yemen, as well as the gruesome murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

"Reality check: YOU are destabilizing OUR region. Stop protecting criminals who chainsaw their critics and use YOUR arms to slaughter children in Yemen."

The furious remarks came in response to Le Drian's interview with the Journal du Dimanche published on Saturday. While condemning the US stance on Tehran under President Donald Trump, the diplomat unequivocally accused Iran of heading towards nuclear weapons production.

"The Trump administration chose what it called the maximum pressure campaign on Iran. The result was that this strategy only increased the risk and the threat," Le Drian said. "This has to stop because Iran and - I say this clearly - is in the process of acquiring nuclear [weapons] capacity."

The French FM effectively doubled down on the accusations raised by France, Britain and Germany - the European signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran - on the same day.


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Syringe

And there it is: German minister Heiko Maas suggests lockdown relaxation for vaccinated people


Deutsche Welle
Sun, 17 Jan 2021 20:27 UTC
Heiko Maas
© REUTERS
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas' remarks contrast with the rest of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet. Officials oppose easing restrictions for those who have been vaccinated, fearing it will lead to inequalities in society.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that COVID-19 restrictions must be eased for citizens who have already been vaccinated against the virus.

"Vaccinated people should be able to exercise their basic rights again," he said, adding that they should be able to go to restaurants and cinemas.

"If there are only vaccinated people in a restaurant or a cinema, they can no longer endanger each other," Maas told the newspaper.

Comment: Heaven forbid just ending the hygiene theater lockdowns. Won't happen though, they serve as a conditioning exercise to control a nation's citizenry. Those poor people lining up for the BioNTech-Pfizer concoction are in far worse danger:

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Eye 2

Counter-gang von Hayek Revives Mandeville's Hellfire Club in the 20th Century

Matthew Ehret
The Strategic Culture Foundation
Wed, 13 Jan 2021 18:11 UTC
Friedrich von Hayek
© The Strategic Culture Foundation
Friedrich von Hayek, Adam Smith, Lion of Britain
In Book 8 of The Republic, Plato's protagonist Socrates observes astutely that
"the ruin of oligarchy is the ruin of democracy. The same disease magnified and intensified by liberty overmasters democracy- the truth being that the excessive increase of anything often causes a reaction in the opposite direction and this is the case not only in the seasons and in vegetable and animal life, but above all in forms of government".
Plato continues saying:
"the excess of liberty, whether in states or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery and so tyranny naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme form of liberty."
In writing these words, Plato revealed that societies are controlled through false dualisms that cause its victims to slip from one extreme to the other in an endless cycle. This vacillation will forever occur under the condition that the people remain ignorant of certain fundamental facts of life pertaining to the co-existence of our unique freedom-loving individuality and our obligation recognize our participation within a larger social unit and higher moral law.

Comment: Parts 1 & 2 of this series:

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Control Panel

Deutsche Bank: Green New Deal requires 'certain degree of eco-dictatorship'

Dr. Benny Peiser
The Global Warming Policy Forum
Sun, 10 Jan 2021 00:00 UTC
what we must do to rebuild
An analysis published by Deutsche Bank sharply criticises the "dishonest debate" with which the EU is selling its "Green Deal" to the people of Europe. The massive risks of the project for prosperity, the economic system and democracy itself should not be concealed, but should be addressed openly.

Eric Heymann, a senior economist at Deutsche Bank Research, warns that Europe's Green Deal and its goal of climate neutrality by 2050 threatens a European mega-crisis, leading to "noticeable loss of welfare and jobs". And he warns: It won't work without "a certain degree of eco-dictatorship".

The analyst describes it as dubious that the Green Deal is being touted across the board as "a new growth strategy" which would allow the EU to become a "fair and prosperous society." While this may look good on paper, Heymann writes, in order to achieve carbon neutral by 2050, Europe's economy and its entire political and legal systems will have to be changed fundamentally.

For the time being, the revolutionary consequences of the EU's climate agenda for everyday life are "still relatively abstract" and for most households "still acceptable." Soon, however, the path towards climate neutrality will require drastic interventions in the choice of means of transport, the size of housing, the means of heating, the possession of electronic consumer goods, as well as restrictions in the consumption of meat and tropical fruits.

Comment: How dare a member of Deutsche Bank ask some reasonable questions and point out a few (of the many) big problems the Green New Deal is likely to present going forward. Which side is he on anyway!?

See also:

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Pirates

UK Police Chief: 'Now is really not the time for freedom of speech, right to assembly'


Breitbart
Fri, 15 Jan 2021 03:22 UTC
uk police
© Matt Cardy/Getty Images
The chief constable of Dorset Police has urged lockdown protesters to accept that "now is really not the time" for freedom of speech and the right to assembly.

Chief Constable James Vaughan was speaking after the controversial arrest of two women for, seemingly, being recorded leaving home more than once and "sitting on a bench", in an incident the police now allege was "stage-managed" by lockdown protesters, as one of the women is a Covid sceptic — although she denies any pre-planning.


Comment: The police withdrew the fine from the women so it would appear that they themselves realised they were in the wrong.


"We appealed to them [the protesters] last weekend to say: 'Look guys, we respect your right to freedom of speech and right to assembly but now is really not the time, it is too dangerous. Please don't come, we have got other things we need to do,'" said the chief constable in comments to The Telegraph.


Comment: The police want the power to break into the homes of SUSPECTED 'lockdown breakers', it's obvious where their priorities lie.


Comment: Note that these same nonsensical rules are being enforced throughout Europe, with countries acting in lockstep, which leads one to suspect that they're not calling the shots and, instead, there's a greater agenda afoot:

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