Knock! Knock! Idlib: Who's there? Syrian Arab Army.

"This will be a decisive victory with Damascus regaining control over most of the M5 [highway] and a good part of Idlib governorate."

I wish a very merry Christmas to the Syrian Arab Army and the militias supporting them. Godspeed! Now go get 'em!

SAA at the gates of Ma’arat Al-Nu’man
By TTG

Sic Semper Tyrannis

December 23, 2019

[Begins with Southfront map and quotes from Al-Masdar News report; see website and links below]

The SAA has been preparing for an offensive to take Ma’arat Al-Nu’man for several weeks at least. In addition to the 25th Division, the 5th Corps and Liwaa Al-Quds are spearheading the offensive along with a host of supporting troops and militia units. Enough mass, I believe, to sustain the offensive until victory is achieved.

Just prior to the start of the SAA offensive, the jihadis of HTS launched their own offensive, a spoiling attack. The gamble did not pay off. The jihadis were able to advance in the first few hours, but were then beaten back… badly. Jihadi losses were around two hundred KIA/WIA along with a lot of equipment. These losses left the jihadis ill-prepared to face the SAA offensive. Jihadi defensive positions, already shattered by weeks of aerial and artillery bombardment, fell quickly all along the front.

In four days of fighting, the SAA took 35 towns and villages.

This will be a decisive victory with Damascus regaining control over most of the M5 and a good part of Idlib governorate. The Turks will probably have to relocate two, if not three, of their OPs.

In the meantime, Christmas celebrations continue in Aleppo. [see website for pix of celebrations]

Through the efforts and sacrifices of the SAA, these scenes will one day be possible throughout Syria. 

FIDO, my brothers, FIDO!

TTG

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-nearly-at-the-gates-of-maarat-al-numan-in-southeast-idlib/


https://southfront.org/russian-military-200-militants-killed-wounded-in-southern-idlib-clashes/


https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-scores-another-big-advance-in-southeast-idlib-3-towns-captured/


https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-completes-encirclement-of-turkish-military-post-in-southeast-idlib/

********

"US, EU begin ditching the Syrian opposition." Where is my Kleenex box?

"The majority of the Syrian opposition groups are now based in Turkey, which is who they receive most of their support from, along with Qatar."

Turkey and Qatar. Muslim Brotherhood supporters.  

Well, here's the report, from Al-Masdar News, published November 22. 

More Syria News:

Here's the transcript of the Phoenix TV (Hong Kong) interview with President Bashar al-Assad, published December 16 at SANA.  After a discussion about situations related to China, Assad talks about the United States of America.   

The Syria you won’t see: Max Blumenthal on visiting Damascus after the proxy war; Grayzone Project, September 24

"Newsweek reporter resigns after accusing outlet of SUPPRESSING story about OPCW leak that undermines Syria ‘gas attack’ narrative;" RT, December 8. 

See also Moon of Alabama's December 15 in-depth backgrounder report on the same incident, "Media Suppressed Evidence Of The OPCW's 'Chemical Attack' Manipulations - There Is Now More Of It."

"Scientific paper arguing Assad not responsible for Syria chemical attack [in Khan Sheikoun] shelved after Bellingcat-led backlash;" RT, October 7

The Road to Damascus: How the Syria War was Won; Pepe Escobar for Consortium News, October 18.

" ‘You’ve been duped by spooks & terrorists’: Russian military reveals flaws in NYT’s report on Syria hospital bombings;" RT, October 14

Syria’s new border crossing gives Russia land route to the Mediterranean; Al-Masdar News, October 2

********

The oil data revolution, but societies run on the velocity of information exchange, not its accuracy

In March 2007 I wrote about one of the more amazing revelations of the last decade, Who runs the world? You're about to find out:

The world is run by five clerks who work above a grocery store in Geneva, Switzerland. I am not making this up, except the number could be more than five depending on the amount of square footage above the store.

The clerks work for a company called Petrologistics, which is the world's only source for OPEC oil production numbers that come from outside OPEC. That means Petrologistics is the only definitive source for sets of numbers that underpin the entire global financial sector and thus, Petrologistics keeps modern civilization from falling back into the dark ages.

[...]

Actually, civilization did manage to function on the packs of lies that the biggest governments in oil-producing nations routinely posted, but it was getting harder to totter along as globalized economic events moved faster and in an increasingly erratic fashion. Petrologistics changed the picture. Now satellite data is changing the picture again, as Irina Slav reported for Oil Price in October 2019:

Satellite data has become instrumental in providing reliable oil supply and production information to an increasingly volatile market. Companies such as Kayrros, OilX, and TankerTrackers.com all use data from satellites as well as other sources to paint a more or less comprehensive picture of oil’s fundamentals and help inform trading decisions.

The growing importance of satellite data in the oil market became acutely evident recently, following the drone and missile attacks on Saudi oil production facilities, MarketWatch’s William Watts wrote last week. He noted that the increasingly frequent satellite launches and the advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence that have combined to create a new, “alternative data” segment in the oil fundamentals market.

[...]

After a number of paragraphs that should be read, if you're plugged into the issue of transparency in vital statistics, Irina points  out a snag:

Satellites and artificial intelligence are changing every aspect of the oil industry and oil markets as well, it seems. They can apparently provide much more accurate data about the global supply and production than traditional reports of the sort the EIA releases weekly and OPEC and the IEA monthly. What’s even more important, they can provide it in much shorter timeframes.

On the one hand, this removes some uncertainty from the oil market. On the other, this data could actually increase price volatility when enough of it accumulates.

[...]

She ends by observing:

Perhaps traders still prefer to wait for the traditional sources of information to confirm something satellite data providers have registered earlier. Such is the power of authority and reputation. But it is possible the scales could tip the other way as the reliability of the information these “alternative data” sources provide becomes more public.

Yes, very possible. What can we expect then? The cynical answer would be "Not much" because if the velocity of data reporting threatens to destabilize the narratives that mask reality, governments would respond in typical fashion. They would distort satellite data by one means or another or outright quash the information, as they did with the booming oil trade between the Islamic State and Turkey. It took Vladimir Putin passing around photos at a G20 meeting to bust up the Western narrative that they had no real idea where Islamic State was getting all its money from.

But things will be different, as the alternative data sources multiply and become public. Governments will be forced to respond ever more quickly to the sheer velocity of information exchanges.

As long as I'm on the subject of energy, here are other reports that I thought important enough to pass along:

China’s Ultimate Play For Global Oil Market Control; Yossef Bodansky for Oil Price, August 15.  This report is as much about the vast changes underway in the Middle East as in the global oil market. Seffy begins:

All attention is focused on the twists and turns of the very noisy US-Iran dispute in the Persian Gulf, but all the while the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is rapidly and quietly consolidating a dominant presence in the area with the active support of Russia.
Beijing, as a result, is fast acquiring immense influence over related key dynamics such as the price of oil in the world market and the relevance of the petrodollar. The PRC and the Russians are capitalizing on both the growing fears of Iran and the growing mistrust of the US. Hence, the US is already the main loser of the PRC’s gambit.

The dramatic PRC success can be attributed to the confluence of two major trends:

(1) The quality and relevance of what Beijing can offer to both Iran and the Saudi-Gulf States camp; and

(2) The decision of key Arab leaders — most notably Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin ‘Abd al-’Aziz al Sa’ud (aka MBS) and his close ally, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (aka MBZ) — to downgrade their traditional close ties with the US, and reach out to Beijing to provide a substitute strategic umbrella.

[...]

**** 
As to whether China's galloping strides in the Middle East are a factor in U.S. backchannel diplomacy with Iran, I'd say it's a distinct possibility. See Debkafile's September 30 report, 
Crack in the anti-Iran front: US persuades Saudis to engage Tehran in regional deals. The same could be a big factor in the U.S. deployment of large amounts of equipment and 3,000 troops to Saudi Arabia -- supposedly to counter Iranian actions -- that Riyadh approved in October.

Finally, here is RT's helpful Story of 5 major pipelines explains Europe’s love-hate relationship with Russian energy, published September 26.  

  
*******

"Deciphering confusion about the Kurds" and the plot to overthrow Trump

Lee Smith, writing for The Washingon Times; January 22, 2019. Map posted in the report:

See also Lee's recently published e-book about the attempted soft coup against President Trump: 

"The Plot Against the President: The True Story of How Congressman Devin Nunes Uncovered the Biggest Political Scandal in U.S. History"

********

Here is exactly how Erdogan stays in power in Turkey

He does it through an ancient system that while fragmented in most parts of the world today is intact in Turkey.  Ahval lays out the details in their April 26 report, The wheel of fortune that keeps Turkey’s Erdoğan in power.

And while Ahval doesn't make an issue of it, do you notice something odd about the wedding photo in the report? 

That doesn't look like an Islamist wedding dress to me. Could it be that one's financial status in the country is a big determinant of how much Turks must toe the Islamist party line?  

More on Turkey

Turkey Joins Russia's Ruble-Based Alternative To SWIFT; October 9, ZeroHedge 

What the Media Aren’t Telling You About Turkey and the Kurds; Anti-war, October 17

Two from Debkafile:

October 12: Turkey is short of military strength to achieve Erdogan’s ambitious goals in Syria

October 14: Task of stopping Turkey passes from Trump to Putin. Syrian army defends threatened Kurdish towns

Three from SANA:

UN: Turkish aggression forced thousands of people to leave home; October 12, SANA

Protests in Hasaka and Qamishli condemning Turkish aggression on Syrian territories

Protest in Deir Ezzor countryside against Turkish aggression on Syrian territory

I might have already posted this October 10 Independent report from Bel Trew but Erdogan's threat can't be emphasized enough:

Erdogan threatens to flood Europe with 3.6 million refugees as Syria offensive forces tens of thousands to flee. 

********

Yes, the flip side of Open Borders is Brain Drains

“[T]hese nations cannot reach their potential if a generation of youth abandon their homes in search of a life elsewhere.”

-- From Donald Trump's September 24 address to the UN General Assembly

More of Graham Noble's quotes from the speech, which he titled, "Trump To UN: The Future Does Not Belong To Globalists."  I hope he's right. Noble posts at Liberty Nation. 

********

Brace yourself

I am cleaning out the 'history' section of articles I've collected this past year but didn't get around to posting.  I will now proceed to post those articles I still consider important enough to pass along to readers. Here goes -- 

**********

How to stop illegal migration to the USA

Today the Associated Press published a detailed description of the multi-billion dollar business of smuggling people across the American southern border. ($4 billion annually according to U.S. estimates, $6 billion according to Mexico's government.)  The report begins with a Sinaloa cartel moneyman explaining to an American AP how they smuggle so many people: “We control all the territory” along the frontier with Arizona.

I don't know how that moneyman kept a straight face.  Now for the benefit of the Associated Press reporter and all other Americans who were born yesterday -- that being 96 percent of the populace -- the smuggling industry is run by governments, not crime cartels. 

The governments want USD remittances in large amounts, which is a big slice of their foreign exchange.  

That's been what it's all about ever since the World Bank and China's government with help from banking lobbies that wanted in on the remittances gold rush talked President George W. Bush into making it easy for foreign workers to remit wages earned in the U.S. to relatives in their home country.

That's the ball game, that is what explains the hugeness of the smuggling industry. Everything else -- all the other explanations -- is crap.  Absolute bullshit.   

So, for Americans who are always wondering how is it that these dirt-poor 'economic migrants' are able to scrape together enough in their funny money to pay the smugglers in many thousands of dollars: They're not scraping it together; they're not passing the hat among their relatives, not in many if most cases. They're being paid to get into the United States and get a job, wages from which will, in large measure, be remitted.

That's how important remittances are to governments who are willing to fund the migrations -- funding which goes to crime cartels, which then pass the bulk of the payments they receive back to the governments in the form of bribes or outright payments. Then the governments recycle the payments into funding yet more illegal migrations. 

And so it goes, while the government's coffers from skimming off remittances get bigger and bigger, but without this spent on projects that would encourage their citizens to work in their own country. This for Americans who can't figure out how the governments can afford to keep paying citizens to migrate. The money goes round and round. 

If you ask isn't this self-defeating in the long run? In the long run, we're all dead.  

Now if you know all this, then a solution presents itself, one so simple it hardly needs description. Yes, just make it harder once again to remit wages.  Presto! Ilegal immigration nosedives and without the U.S. spending billions in the attempt to interdict the human wave of illegals at the border and chase them down inside the U.S.   

Here we come to a snag: the financial institutions that clean up by charging a pittance per remittance transaction would have hysterics. Not to mention hysterics from governments that got used to relying on a USD foreign exchange, made possible by large numbers of their citizens working in America.  

But I'm just saying. If Americans are serious about stopping the waves of illegal immigration to the USA, go after the remittances industry instead of trying to empty the ocean with a sieve. 

None of the above should discourage you from reading the Associated Press report, which is interesting as far as it goes. But the report is describing what is in essence window dressing.

********

The mother of all Black Swan events is upon us

For the sticklers who say there's really no such thing as a Black Swan event, in the way Nassim Taleb describes it, well, how about 'big surprise?' What creates a big surprise for humanity at large?  An unforeseen convergence of situations coupled with chain reactions or domino effects associated with one or more of the situations. 

The massive die-offs among bird and insect populations are not in themselves unimaginable. And taken singly the reasons that scientists have offered to explain the massive number of deaths are not hard to imagine. But the big surprise is the number of reasons for these die-offs and how they are converging.  

In November Sputnik reported on a new study from Tufts University that found what seems to be a significant causal connection between insect die-offs and nighttime artificial light. The study's authors concluded on a hopeful note:  by reducing reliance on artificial light and shielding outdoor lights, the worst of the problem should be relatively simple to solve.  

Ah but those scientists in the United States weren't mucking around in English cornfields with Simon Leather, a professor of entomology at Harper Adams University in Shropshire.  Last year, Professor Leather delivered some very bad news to a reporter for the Guardian's article Where have all our insects gone?

The fact that insect biomass has been declining at a steady rate for almost three decades strongly suggests some profound influences must be at work. Most entomologists believe habitat change lies at the heart of the problem. “There have been massive alterations to the way we use the land and it is hard not to believe these are closely involved in what we are seeing,” said Leather.

As he points out, intensively farmed wheat and cornfields support virtually no insect life, and this means that as intensive agriculture spreads there are fewer and fewer islands of natural habitat left to support them.

But, but, intensive agriculture is going to save the human race! Do try to keep up, Professor Leather.  

Now you might be happy to know that not everyone is seeing apocalypse around the corner. Consider this November article for Phys.org, Scientists find no evidence for 'insect Armageddon' but there's still cause for concern. However, those scientists, who did their research at the University of York, were focusing on their little patch -- namely, moths. Meanwhile, to return to the Guardian report, scientists in Scotland were nailing down a connection that the moth researchers hadn't been looking for:

Further confirmation of the link between insect and bird numbers was provided last week with the publication of a study by Aberdeen University researchers which showed that the plunge in numbers of cuckoos in some areas of England was closely linked to declines in tiger moth caterpillars on which cuckoos feed.

“There is now a lot of correlational evidence to show that when certain insects do badly, very often the birds that feed on them get into trouble as well,” said David Gibbon, of the RSPB.

Methinks all this is also known as Complexity Theory. Historians are learning that rarely is there one single event that brings down a civilization or society, although there can be a final straw, a single calamitous event suddenly revealing the weaknesses created by many convergences and chain reactions.

But can the birds and the bees bring down the entire human race?  One thing is by now clear. We're going to learn the answer very soon.

*****
Above photograph of a garden tiger moth caterpillar by H. Lansdown/Alamy, published in the Guardian report.

********

"U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan" This is news?

Another bombshell report, but one that Soros and his buddies can use as part of their new anti-war push. Will that make a difference? Not unless NATO is shut down, the governments in the most powerful Arab Gulf states are wiped out, and England is swallowed up by the sea. Now can we look forward to bombshell reports telling us that U.S. officials -- that would include high-ranking military -- failed to tell the public the truth about the U.S.-led wars in Syria and Iraq and the uh 'operation' in Libya?  As soon as the cows come home.  

Well, here is the bombshell, first published 7 hours ago by The Washington Post. MSN has published an "optimized" version of the report for "offline reading on your apps" but urges readers to read the entire version at Wapo's site. I see that Sputnik hasn't picked up the report yet. I can't wait until they do -- and they will. I hope they publish their version of the report in every language they publish in, which I think is at least 10 ten including Russian and English, of course.  

WaPo's version: 

Confidential documents reveal U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan

********

Actually, it's well established that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 US election

November 21, BuzzFeed News:

Fiona Hill addressed Republican members of Congress promoting the conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election: "This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves."

November 22, from Yasha Levine's Ukraine and Meddling in 2016

I know I’ve written about this before, but I feel like I have to address it again — seeing how just about every impeachment witness has repeated the claim that meddling by Ukrainian government officials did not happen in 2016 and that anyone who says otherwise is spreading toxic Russian propaganda. I’ve been dipping into these hearings every now and again and I’ve heard this said over and over. It reminds me of those new-age quantum mind-over-matter types in The Secret: Repeat the mantra often enough and convince yourself it’s true and -- it is!

Let’s start with a fact: Meddling in the 2016 election by Ukrainian politicians and government agencies happened.

The above is true and no amount of denial is going to change that. What’s more: Ukrainian nationals didn’t just meddle on their own, they also worked with Americans — including Ukrainian-American political operatives on the payroll of the [U.S.] Democratic Party. Not only did all this happen, it was written up as fact by establishment papers and outlets as varied as Yahoo, Politico, and the Financial Times in 2016 on the eve of the election. (See this by me here.)

 The involvement of Ukrainian pols and officials in all of this has never been secret. It was acknowledged at the time. The principle actors openly talked and bragged about their exploits in the press. And why not? Back in 2016, no one thought that Trump would win the presidency. So why bother hiding it?

[...] 

Read on for the truth, and the twisted efforts to wipe truth from the record.  

******** 

If their lips are moving the British are lying

I respect MoA Bernhard's careful analysis of the Skripal case and his retraction today in light of the OPCW scandal:

[...]

The OPCW explained the BZ find by claiming that it had mixed BZ into the probe to test the laboratory. Something which it said it regularly does. At that time I still believed in the OPCW and found that explanation reasonable:

[...] 

In light of the OPCW management manipulation or suppression of the reports of its own specialists for the purpose of attributing the Douma incident to the Syrian government I have to change my opinion. I hereby retract my earlier acceptance of the OPCW's explanation in the Skripal case.

 As we now know that the OPCW management manipulates reports at will we can no longer accept the 'control probe' excuse without further explanations or evidence.

[...]

My own approach to analyzing such matters is simpler: Did it happen in England? Did it have anything to do with Russia? If yes, then the British did it. How they did it makes no matter because discovery could take a half-century. This noted, of course an evidence-based approach to uncovering the truth is always preferable. But the beauty of applying my method of analysis is that one will never have to publish a retraction. 

******** 

Two Reports on Fake News at its Most Vicious

OPCW Manufactured A Pretext For War By Suppressing Its Own Scientists' Research; Moon of Alabama, November 29

American Obamaite Democrat media project mimics local journalism to influence voters in local districts; RT, November 29

The OPCW fake news is already known to those who closely follow the Syrian War, but MoA's Bernhard, who's been on the OPCW story since the beginning, pulls it all together in his November 29 post.  

I've changed the headline in the second report because I think it's more immediately descriptive, especially for American readers. The original headline reads, Dems’ new strategy for defeating Trump: Liberal 'media' project mimics local journalism to influence voters. 

In my view, the people who thought up the tactic aren't so much Democrats as fanatical followers of Barack Obama. I cling to the belief that many actual Democrats would recoil from the media project's fakery although I could be wrong. Maybe they are so far gone that they no longer care how low their political party has fallen.  

RT has classified the report as an op-ed but while it's not 'original' reporting, the story of Courier will probably be news to anyone who doesn't closely follow Bloomberg News.  The really scary part, as Bloomberg notes:

“... nothing alerts readers that Courier publications aren’t actually traditional hometown newspapers but political instruments designed to get them to vote for Democrats.”

Yes, it's not just one. The plan is to blanket targeted areas of the United States with fake local newspapers. 

See also WikiLeaks OPCW Douma Docs, Internal Email; November 23.  

********  

"Do you know who owns all the land in Canada? Not its citizens"

So who owns the land? Three guesses.

RT, September 19, 2019:

The second-largest country in the world by total area, Canada, is one of the most highly urbanized globally. However, none of its citizens have the right to own physical land in the country.

Land in Canada is solely owned by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, who is also the head of state.

Canadian law in most provinces evolved from British common law, so instead of directly owning land, Canadians have land tenure. That means they can only own an interest in an estate.

Only 9.7 percent of the total land is privately owned, while the rest is Crown Land. It is administered on behalf of the Crown by various agencies or departments of the government of Canada.

Of the land owned by the Queen, 50 percent is managed by the provincial government and the rest by the federal government. All of those lands are held as public (known as Crown Lands) and mainly used as national parks, forests, private homes, and for agriculture.

According to the latest United Nations estimates, the current population of Canada is more than 37 million people.

[Reuters photo]

[END REPORT]

Um, isn't that something like Communist China?

Anyhow, see also RT's 2015 report, Monarchies account for 40% of global debt - Standard & Poor’s. I wonder, idly, where things stand today in that regard. 

********

"Global de-dollarization is underway"

The U.S. dollar is still the safety currency of choice, but from FARS, November 23:

TEHRAN (FNA)- The trend toward the de-dollarization of economies in the world is becoming more than ever apparent these days.

We see how countries like Iran, Russia and China are seriously diversifying their foreign exchange reserves, increasing investments in other currencies, and switching to settlements in national currencies among themselves. The main task is to reduce their dependence on the world's main reserve currency – the US dollar.

Why are more and more countries striving to switch to settlements in national currencies? Perhaps the most active participant in the process of de-dollarization is Russia. According to the Kremlin's calculations, the de-dollarization process has achieved significant success within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union – 72 percent of settlements are carried out in national currencies.

However, it is important to note that the process of de-dollarization has gained even greater momentum with the onset of the trade war between the United States and China. Today, some countries are taking real practical steps to reduce dependence on the dollar.

In this regard, it is appropriate to recall the interesting proposal by the Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, voiced in November 2019 at a meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government in Tashkent. He invited Russia's allies to develop mechanisms for switching to settlements in national currencies among the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and invited SCO financiers and banking experts to participate in a round table on this topic in Moscow.

The process of de-dollarization in settlements between Russia and China is also gaining momentum. On June 28, 2019, the countries agreed to switch to trade in national currencies. First, the ruble and yuan will be used by large companies with state participation, such as producers of energy resources and agricultural products.

Another country - Iran, together with Russia, is switching to settlement in national currencies. The central banks of Russia and Iran have concluded an agreement on settlements in national currencies under arms contracts. Now both parties are working on the issue of switching to settlement in national currencies when making international transactions.

Previously, India was also very restrained in such a matter, but now it is showing interest. The reason for this was the fact that in recent years, relations between India and the United States have not developed in the best way.

First, Trump terminated preferential trade status for India, which led to problems in foreign trade between the two countries, and then the US government rebuked India for the purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems. Today, Russia, China and India are united against the dollar and have come up with a way to organize settlements in case of disconnection from SWIFT. As its analog, it is proposed to link the Chinese and Indian payment systems with the Russian financial message transfer system.

Besides, the Trump administration is constantly threatening to impose sanctions on its strategic ally, the European Union. Therefore, it is not surprising that some European countries are looking for ways to circumvent US sanctions so that their business with Russia, China and Iran does not suffer.

For example, the EU plans to expand cooperation with Russia in rubles and euros. In the summer of this year, the Russian Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov held talks with the Vice President of the European Commission for the Energy Union Maros Sefchovich. They agreed to create a working group to promote the issue of transferring mutual settlements into rubles and euros.

It seems that in England, a strategic ally of the United States, people gradually come to understand the need to abandon the dollar. Back in August of this year, the head of the Bank of England Mark Carney said that in order to stabilize the global financial system, it is necessary to abandon the dollar as a reserve currency and replace it with electronic means of payment, as trade wars adversely affect the global economy.

Indeed, trade and tariff wars have a negative effect on business around the world and the negative consequences of this are felt not only by direct, but also by indirect participants. The US is gradually losing its advantage and position in world markets. Trade, tariff wars, the application of sanctions by the US hinder the development of the countries themselves, and the world economy as a whole. In a multipolar world, a multipolar currency is needed. The only way out of this situation is negotiations and unity in purpose.

[END REPORT]

See also:

 One of the world’s largest oil companies just ditched the dollar; RT, October 25, 2019

Ditching the dollar: National currency payments key to boosting Russia-India trade, says Putin; RT, September 4, 2019

Chile's current unrest could have something to do with lithium

If there is indeed a foreign-based lithium angle underlying the Chilean protests, this points to issues involving the increasingly desperate struggle by governments around the world to capture an adequate share of what is now a vital natural resource.  

This said, I am only guessing but it's not a guess that Chile's government muffed what was a very lucrative trade in lithium. There is also a Russian angle to this, and by now everyone should know what that means: If the Russians, even partnering with Canada, are moving in on Chile's lithium resources, the Get Russia crowd in the West is not going to take this lying down. Would that crowd go so far as to foment an insurgency in Chile? Sure, if getting rid of Pinera meant throwing a monkey wrench in the government's lithium deal with Russia.

Of course, several issues have fueled the protests in Chile, but if lithium is involved, then all the reforms in the world are not going to stanch the bleeding until Pinera's government falls or he nixes lithium business with the Russians.

I'll add that aside from any foreign meddling, indigenous people who live near the lithium deposits have legitimate reasons to protest the extractions.  

All right. Here's SouthFront's very clear map of lithium deposits in Chile. Note that the accompanying article, headlined,  SOUTH AMERICA LITHIUM TRIANGLE (MAP UPDATE) says nothing about lithium. It's all about Evo Morales and his troubles in Bolivia, which is also in the lithium triangle. Did an SF editor mess up?  Are they so stressed about their November fundraising drive (one day left PLEASE send those people money) that they got their reports and headlines mixed up? Possibly, or possibly they are signifying something for which they have no proof but which has raised their suspicions. 

Here's an extensive report on the Russia angle at S&P Global headlined Chile project could be path to lithium supply for Russia's Rosatom. Note that the Russians have come up with a technique that lessens the environmental issue with lithium extraction in Chile.  

There are lots of reports posted at Google on the lithium angle and Chile; here are two backgrounders:

Chile, once the world's lithium leader, loses ground to rivals; Reuters May 30, 2019

Lithium firms depleting vital water supplies in Chile, analysis suggests; E&T, August 21, 2019.

I wish I could give more time to this issue but I'm barreling through my computer's 'history' section in the effort to clear the cache of important news reports, which I've let pile up for months. One of those reports, a recent one, points to what might be the mother of all black swan events. Against this report, the current unrest in Chile and other LATAM countries is small chips. Indeed, everything else is small chips, at least in my book.    

********

So if Obama did it, it was okay

Initially, the news organizations assumed it happened on President Trump's watch. 
  

Wrong narrative? AFP & Reuters scrub story about 100,000 detained migrant children after UN says it happened on Obama’s watch
The report is from RT. Where else would you find it?

********

For this crap they slapped sanctions on numerous Russians

Anti-Russian sanctions based on fraudster’s tales? Spiegel finds Magnitsky narrative fed to West by Browder is riddled with lies - November 24, RT

The massive propaganda campaigns against Russia will not end until Western publics become better informed -- a task that the Western press has largely shunned. But at least Germany's Spiegel has been doing some digging.

********

"Russia Sponsors Israeli Welfare System"

SouthFront reported November 28 on the strange state of affairs. As to why the Russians are making this expensive and totally unnecessary gift to the Israeli government, darned if SouthFront knows but they make two guesses:

• This is a part of the Israeli-Russian deal on Syria and (or) Ukraine;
• This is a public demonstration of the influence of the Israeli lobby in the Russian political establishment.

I wonder what deal was made about Syria. All I know is that the Russian government has officially condemned Israel's bombing sprees in Syria, evidently to no avail up to this point. 

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You can keep reading reports I post from Sputnik and RT or --

Or -- you can start reading those news sites yourself, which I'd advise if you want an idea of what's actually going on in the world.  Granted, it's the Russian view of the world, specifically, the Kremlin's view. RT (Russia Today) is misleadingly titled because they don't actually report much about what's going on in Russia and I'd assume it's the same with Sputnik. However, Sputnik publishes in a number of languages; from that, I'd assume those publications feature more reports specific to countries where, say, Arabic or French is spoken than they do in Sputnik English.

In any case, English-language Sputnik, which I check at least three times a day (their headlines keep changing), also reports on issues from around the world. 

RT and Sputnik are more interested in knowing what's going on than in propagandizing via what is supposed to be news reportage, which I think makes them valuable news sources.  Of course, there's a "Kremlin" view of what's happening in those reports but this is distinguished from the news by what are clearly identified opinion pieces -- very few of which I read.

Also, RT/Sputnik reports quote Western 'wire service' news reports from big Western mainstream organizations such as AP, AFP, and Reuters and other Sputnik/RT articles discuss numerous reports in newspapers such as The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. So the Russian sites are almost news aggregators although they write entire reports around the news reports they quote. 

But I venture that after checking in daily with Sputnik and RT  for about two weeks, many American readers would ask, 'Why can't we have this kind of reporting in the USA?'  and also, 'We keep being told by the US and British governments that these Russian publications are terrible. What's so terrible about them?'  

Perhaps the same guess would cover the answer to both questions: Because the American government would prefer that the U.S. public is not well-informed about what's going on in the world?

Anyhow, here are reports dated today that I find interesting:

Almost 50 percent of Sweden’s homeless population is foreign-born – report (RT)

Russia & China complete their first cross-border mega highway bridge (VIDEO) (RT)

Finland, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden Join INSTEX Mechanism for Trade With Iran (Sputnik)

Venezuela Supplies Nearly $4 Billion Worth of Oil to Cuba, China Amid Sanctions, US Envoy Claims (Sputnik)

Against the Odds: China Expanded Quotas For Rare-Earth Metals

And this one for good luck:


Pay to breathe? ‘Oxygen bars’ hit New Delhi as India chokes under pollution & declares health emergency (RT)

And by the way, Sputnik never sleeps. Headlines keep changing, hour after hour.  

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