EN — LARRY ROMANOFF: History of America’s Labor Movement

  

History of America’s Labor Movement

By Larry Romanoff

 

Bloody Thursday (July 5th, 1934) street fighting. Source

 

 

 

EST — LARRY ROMANOFF: Ameerika Kodusõda: Finantsilise sõnakuulmatuse sõda

 

Ameerika Kodusõda: Finantsilise sõnakuulmatuse sõda

Autor: Larry Romanoff 

Kõik pole kuld, mis hiilgab

Kuni 1968. aastani oli Ameerika Ühendriikide sõdurite deserteerumise määr Vietnamis madalam kui varasemates sõdades. Aastaks 1969 oli deserteerumise määr aga neljakordistunud. See ei piirdunud Kagu-Aasiaga; deserteerumise määr Ameerika sõdurite seas kasvas kogu maailmas. Lahinguväljal olevate sõdurite jaoks sai allumatusest oluline osa, et vältida kohutavaid vigastusi või surma. Juba 1969. aasta keskel istus kogu 196. kergejalaväebrigaadi kompanii lahinguväljal maha. Samal aastal hiljem keeldus kuulus 1. Air Cavalry Division CBS televisioonis otsesõnu ohtlikul teel edasi liikumast. Järgmise 12 kuu jooksul registreeriti 1. Air Cavalry Division’is 35 lahingust keeldumist. Allikas

 

 

 

 

 

CHRIS HEDGES: The Machinery of Terror

   

The Machinery of Terror

The Trump administration is consolidating the familiar machinery of terror of all authoritarian states. We must resist now. If we wait, it will be too late.

Chris Hedges

Jan 11, 2026

The Missing Link - by Mr. Fish

I have seen the masked goons who terrorize our streets before. I saw them during the “Dirty War” in Argentina, where 30,000 men, women and children were “disappeared” by the military junta. Victims were held in secret prisons, savagely tortured and murdered. To this day, many families do not know the fate of their loved ones.

Full Transcript – The Geopolitics of Peace - Jeffrey Sachs in the European Parliament

EN — LARRY ROMANOFF: If America dissolves . . . (Revisited)

 January 31, 2021

 If America dissolves...

By Larry Romanoff  

 

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Russia Showed Its Doom’s Day Weapon In Action

 Russia Showed Its Doom’s Day Weapon In Action

 https://southfront.press/russia-showed-its-dooms-day-weapon-in-action/

 

Illustrative Image

On November 21, the modern warfare entered its new stage. The war between Russia and the West has changed forever. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation launched their advanced medium-range ballistic missile.

The missile struck the State Factory “Production Union Pivdennyi Machine-Building Plant named after O.M. Makarov”, officially abbreviated as Pivdenmash or Yuzhmash in the city of Dnipro (Dnepropetrovsk). According to local reports, the large industrial facility suffered strategic destruction. All communications and traffic were blocked in the area, a lot of ambulances arrived on the spot. Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) came to the area. The scale of destruction is likely to be shown by the satellite imagery soon.

The Ukrainian military claimed that Kinzhal missiles were also used in the attack. Another Patriot system was reportedly destroyed on the outskirts of the city before the main blow.

https://s5.cdnstatic.space/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/strike-1.mp4?_=1

Download video

Moscow showed its Doom’s Day weapon in action. The RS-26 Rubezh ballistic missile was reportedly launched from the Kapustin Yar test site in Astrakhan Oblast. The flight time to the target located about 800 kilometers away is estimated to be less than 5 minutes. The speed of the combat units at the final stage of the flight was about 5-7 kilometers per second.

The RS-26 Rubezh is a ballistic missile of medium range, which is normally designed to carry nuclear warhead. It was developed by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering as part of the Avangard program. It was created on the basis of the RS-24 Yars. Information about this mobile missile system, like its rocket, is completely classified.

The RS-26 reportedly has a starting weight of about 40-50 tons and is capable of delivering 4 separate combat units at a distance of 2,000 to 6,000 kilometers. Its warhead is three times larger than the Iskander’s warhead. Accordingly, it is much more powerful.

It has an advanced protection against the missile defense system and reportedly four individual thermonuclear warheads with a capacity of 150-300 kilotons each. No foreign air defense system is reportedly able to intercept it.

 

https://s5.cdnstatic.space/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/strike-2.mp4?_=2

The Rubezh missile is aimed at carrying out nuclear strikes but in apparently in today’s attack the combat units were equipped with metal blanks. The published footage drom Dnipro shows the kinetic effect of the use of such ammunition. It is possible that the rocket was equipped with a Avangard-R hypersonic glider.

 

The footage also shows that the launched rocket had 6 combat units with 6 warheads in each. It is possible that the Russian military used its secret RS-27 or Yars missiles of the same type.

 https://s5.cdnstatic.space/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/zakh.mp4?_=3

Download video

 

Moscow does not officially comment on the strikes but Russian diplomacy played well the media game that Kiev and its Western patrons imposed. LINK After the strikes, the spokeswomen of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mariya Zakharova held a media briefing, during which she had a ‘surprise’ call. Everyone clearly heard that the strikes reported by the media should not be commented. Thus, this was unofficial confirmation of the attack.

Apparently, Moscow warned the NATO countries about the impending strike in advance. That is why there was hysteria in Kiev the day before. Russian revenge was not long to wait but Kyiv and its patrons were surprised by its scale, target and timing.

After today’s strikes, the world will not be the same. Showing its advanced missile systems in action, Russia has demonstrated that it possesses unique missile technologies and is ready to use them effectively. In the event of the transformation of the conflict in Ukraine into a full-scale war with NATO, such complexes can already be used with standard nuclear ammunition.

Moscow responded to the strikes with NATO missiles on Russian territory in a sophisticated manner, giving a clear sign to Western warmongers.  There is no point no point on the European map protected from attacks by such Russian missiles. Today, NATO countries have no ability to intercept them, at least over the territory of Europe.

The exact number of missiles of this type in service with the Russian military is secret. According to open sources, the Russian Federation possesses at least 200 RS-26 Rubezh and PC-24 Yars missiles, which is more than enough to deal series of devastating blows on its enemies.

Russia responded to escalation. Now the ball is in Western court. The further steps are yet to come but it is clear that the provocations, including strikes with Western cruise missiles on Russian critical military, transport and energy infrastructure will be paid at too high price.

 

Paul Craig Roberts: At This Time in the World There Is Only One Important Decision Waiting to be Made

  

At This Time in the World There Is Only One Important Decision Waiting to be Made

October 4, 2024 | Categories: Articles & Columns | Tags: |  Print This Article

 

 

At This Time in the World There Is Only One Important Decision Waiting to be Made

Paul Craig Roberts

Except for the neoconservatives whose agenda it is, I sometimes wonder if I am the only other person who understands what the Ukraine conflict is about.

In 2007 Washington declared war on Russia without announcing it. Putin provoked Washington’s secret declaration of war when he rejected Washington’s uni-polar hegemony at the Munich Security Conference.

REPORT OF PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBÁN TO CHARLES MICHEL, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL

• 18/07/2024
• SOURCE: CABINET OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER

Dear President,

Please find below a summary evaluation of my recent discussions with leaders of Ukraine, Russia, China, Türkiye and President Donald J. Trump, as well as a few suggestions for your consideration.

U.S.-Saudi Petrodollar Pact Ends after 50 Years

  

U.S.-Saudi Petrodollar Pact Ends after 50 Years

June 11, 2024 — 11:01 am EDT

Written by Paul Hoffman for TipRanks ->

 

The 50-year-old petrodollar agreement between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia was just allowed to expire. The term “petrodollar” refers to the U.S. dollar’s role as the currency used for crude oil transactions on the world market. This arrangement has its roots in the 1970s when the United States and Saudi Arabia struck a deal shortly after the U.S. went off the gold standard that would go on to have far-reaching consequences for the global economy. In the history of global finance, few agreements have wielded as many benefits as the petrodollar pact did for the U.S. economy.

A Boon to U.S. Bonds

The petrodollar agreement, formalized after the 1973 oil crisis, stipulated that Saudi Arabia would price its oil exports exclusively in U.S. dollars and invest its surplus oil revenues in U.S. Treasury bonds. In return, the U.S. provided military support and protection to the kingdom. This arrangement was a win-win situation for both; the U.S. gained a stable source of oil and a captive market for its debt, while Saudi Arabia secured its economic and overall security. 

Status as the Reserve Currency

Oil being denominated in U.S. dollars alone has significance beyond the categories of oil and finance. By mandating that oil be sold in U.S. dollars (DXY), the agreement elevated the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency. This, in turn, has profoundly impacted the U.S. economy. The global demand for dollars to purchase oil has helped to keep the currency strong, making imports relatively cheap for American consumers. Additionally, the influx of foreign capital into U.S. Treasury bonds has supported low interest rates and a robust bond market. 

In his recent book, Bonfire of the Sanities (December 2023), bestselling author and investment manager David Wright argues the strength of the dollar is a key factor behind America’s high standard of living. Wright declares that the reason why people in the U.S. enjoy “as high of a standard of living as we do is because the dollar is strong.” Wright then explains this strength is partly because of faith in our economy “and because energy can’t be bought without U.S. dollars.”

Potential to Disrupt the Global Financial Order

However, the petrodollar’s dominance may be facing its most significant challenge yet. The agreement between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia expired on June 9, 2024. This expiration has far-reaching implications, as it has the potential to disrupt the global financial order. 

The shifting power dynamics in the oil market are a critical factor in this development. The rise of alternative energy sources, such as renewables and natural gas, has reduced the world’s reliance on oil. Furthermore, the emergence of new oil-producing nations, such as Brazil and Canada, has challenged the traditional dominance of the Middle East. 

U.S. Dollar’s Future

The petrodollar’s expiration could weaken the U.S. dollar and, by extension, the U.S. financial markets. If oil were to be priced in a currency other than the dollar, it could lead to a decline in global demand for the greenback. This, in turn, could result in higher inflation, higher interest rates, and a weaker bond market in the United States. 

Key Takeaway – A Significant Shift in Global Power Dynamics

The expiration of the petrodollar agreement represents a significant shift in global power dynamics. It highlights the growing influence of emerging economies and the changing energy landscape. While the full implications of this shift remain to be seen, investors should at least be aware that on a macro level, the global financial order is entering a new era. The U.S. dollar’s dominance is no longer guaranteed.

The Canadian ETF Market, Retail and Institutional Usage of ETFs, Liquidity, Execution, and TradingThe Canadian ETF Market, Retail and Institutional Usage of ETFs, Liquidity, Execution, and Trading

Saudi Arabia ends 50-year petrodollar agreement with U.S.

  Saudi Arabia ends 50-year petrodollar agreement with U.S.

https://obektivno.bg/sauditska-arabiya-slozhi-kraj-na-80-godishnoto-sporazumenie-sas-sasth-za-petrodolara/

PAD

13.06.2024

Author:Objectively

Photo: Pixabay

Significant financial turmoil lies ahead in the financial world as Saudi Arabia has decided not to renew its 50-year petrodollar agreement with the United States. The deal, which expired on Sunday, June 9, was a cornerstone of American global economic dominance, The Business Standard commented.

Signed on June 8, 1974, the treaty included the creation of two joint commissions: one based on economic cooperation and the other on Saudi Arabia's military needs.

U.S. officials at the time expressed optimism that the deal would motivate Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production. They also saw the agreement as a plan to promote economic cooperation between Washington and other Arab countries.

The decision not to renew the contract allows Saudi Arabia to sell oil and other commodities in multiple currencies, including Chinese RMB, euros, yen and yuan, instead of just U.S. dollars.

This latest development marks a major departure from the petrodollar system established in 1972 when the U.S. decoupled its currency from gold, and is expected to accelerate the global move away from the U.S. dollar.

The dominance of the U.S. dollar is waning as Russia and Saudi Arabia consider using the Chinese yuan for oil deals and investors may need to start reconsidering their long-term investment strategies, said the CEO and founder of one of the world's largest independent financial advisory and asset management firms, DeVere Group.

Nigel Green's warning states that the change in the way global oil trade is conducted will have far-reaching consequences for economies and, therefore, for investors around the world.

"One of the most significant results of the three-day summit in April between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping was that Putin announced that Russia now supports the use of the Chinese yuan for oil agreements," Green said. This suggests that the world's second-largest economy – China – and Russia are actively intent on reducing the dominance of the US dollar as the basis of the international financial system.

"Separately, Sudanese oil company Aramco plans to supply two Chinese companies with a total of 690,000 barrels per day of crude oil, reinforcing its position as China's largest supplier of crude," Green added. "It was reported that Saudi Arabia is also in talks with Beijing to pay in yuan instead of dollars."

Aramco is one of the largest oil producers in the world and is wholly owned and controlled by the Saudi government.

It seems that the rivals of the United States, led by China, are forming a new large economic bloc. If Saudi Arabia, which has vast oil reserves that are estimated to be the largest in the world, really switches to the yuan, it will bring about a huge change in the global economic system.

Cross-border CBDC transactions

Saudi Arabia has announced its participation in mBridge, a project that is exploring a central bank digital currency platform (CBDC) shared between central and commercial banks from different countries. The platform allows instant cross-border payments and foreign currency transactions.

The project involves more than 26 countries with observer status, including the South African Reserve Bank, which received the green light as a member this month.

The more prominent observers of mBridge are the Bank of Israel, the Bank of Namibia, the Bank of France, the Central Bank of Bahrain, the Central Bank of Egypt, the Central Bank of Jordan, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Federal Reserve, the Bank of New York, the Reserve Bank of Australia, and the World Bank.

The project's steering committee created a personalised governance and legal framework, including a rulebook, tailored to the decentralized nature of the platform.

Evolution of the mBridge project

The mBridge project is the result of an extensive collaboration that began in 2021 between the BIS Innovation Hub, the Bank of Thailand, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, the Digital Currency Institute of the People's Bank of China, and the Monetary Authority of Hong Kong.

In 2022, a pilot project was carried out with transactions of real value. Since then, the mBridge project team has been exploring whether the prototype platform can evolve to become a minimum viable product (MVP) – a milestone that has already been reached.

mBridge is now inviting private sector companies to propose new solutions and use cases that could help develop the platform and show its full potential.

Putin confere a Snowden a cidadania russa

 Putin confere a Snowden a cidadania russa

Em 2013, Edward Snowden tornou pública a informação sobre os métodos de vigilância electrónica dos serviços especiais dos EUA e do Reino Unido, bem como o facto de transferirem dados pessoais dos seus cidadãos entre si.

ENGLISH   PORTUGUESE

MOSCOVO, 26 de Setembro. /TASS/. Foi concedida a cidadania russa a Edward Snowden, antigo funcionário da Agência de Segurança Nacional dos EUA, de acordo com o decreto do Presidente russo Vladimir Putin, publicado na segunda-feira.

"Edward Joseph Snowden, nascido a 21 de Junho de 1983 nos Estados Unidos da América", referia a lista de novos cidadãos russos publicada pelo decreto.

Em 2013, Snowden tornou pública informação sobre os métodos de vigilância electrónica dos serviços especiais dos EUA e do Reino Unido, bem como o facto de eles transferirem dados pessoais dos seus cidadãos uns para os outros.  Snowden afirmou também que os serviços especiais destes países estavam envolvidos no controlo ilegal de conversas entre dirigentes de países estrangeiros. Fugindo da perseguição nos EUA, enviou pedidos de asilo a alguns governos, incluindo o russo. Em 2014, recebeu a primeira autorização de residência na Federação Russa e mais tarde o direito a uma estadia indefinida no país.

CHRIS KANTHAN -- NEW WORLD ORDER 2.0 IS INEVITABLE

 

CHRIS  KANTHAN --  NEW WORLD ORDER 2.0 IS INEVITABLE

The attack on Russia is the biggest geopolitical gamble in America’s history. If it succeeds, America will be the indisputable hegemon of the world, leading to a truly one-world government. On the other hand, if it fails, the American Century and the U.S. dollar’s status as the global currency will collapse unceremoniously. We are living through a momentous and dangerous arc of history.

Time is running out for America

Let’s start with the big picture. America’s preeminence is rapidly fading. The US’ share of global GDP is shrinking, and America’s debt is exploding. How long can the US dollar enjoy its “exorbitant privelege”? Max 10-15 years. America’s democracy is also faltering and the country is deeply divided.

Meanwhile, anti-American forces like China, Russia, and Iran are getting stronger. Russia has hypersonic missiles with multiple nuclear warheads that US missile defense systems cannot stop. China’s GDP is whopping $18 trillion now. And if Europe has peaceful relations with Russia (provider of cheap energy) and China (provider of cheap manufactured goods), the so-called Eurasia will have an economy twice as large as the US’. Even vassal states like Saudi Arabia are now starting to rebel, daring to sell oil for Yuan. Thus, something has to be done.

Plan A: Contain China

The US tried to contain and decouple from China during the Trump administration. However, that failed miserably: USA-China trade was whopping $650 billion in 2021. The next option could have been to isolate China by pulling Russia away from China’s orbit. Sort of like what President Eisenhower did when he invited the Soviet leader Khrushchev to the White House in 1959. (In 1972, Nixon did the divide-and-conquer in the other way by allying with China and isolating the USSR).

Plan B: Crush Russia, Strengthen Dollar

ERIC ZUESSE -- Human Rights Watch Charges Russia But Not America with War-Censorship

 

 

Human Rights Watch Charges Russia But Not America with War-Censorship

 

Eric Zuesse, February 28, 2022

 

On February 28th, Human Rights Watch (HRW) headlined “With War, Censorship Reaches New Heights”, and reported only against this censorship as practiced in Russia, as-if it were not also being done in America. The only even mention of its being practiced in America was in the second — the subordinate — clause of their sentence “Roskomnadzor announced that it would partially restrict access to Facebook in Russia, in retaliation for Meta, Facebook’s parent company, blocking four Russian state media accounts.” In other words: only implicitly — not at all explicitly — did HRW so much as even acknowledge — in that thousand-word-long article — that Russia’s Government was acting in response to the (CIA-affiliated) U.S. company Meta’s “blocking four Russian state media accounts,” or to any of the many other U.S.-Government anti-Russia censorship operations. Furthermore, any keen reader of that lone sentence would also immediately recognize that for (the CIA-front firm) Meta to have been “blocking four Russian state media accounts” was more severe censorship than was for the Russian Government to have been “partially restrict[ing] access to Facebook in Russia” — in other words: Russia’s response was actually milder than was the censorship that it was responding to. However, any regular fool who would be reading HRW’s propaganda-piece would come away from it thinking that Russia is a dictatorship, and that America is not. (America certainly IS.)

 

Actually, the U.S. Government routinely does censor out the most of the important facts — eliminates such facts virtually altogether, from its media’s international ‘news’-reporting, as it did, for example, regarding “Saddam’s WMD” in preparation for the subsequent American invasion, conquest, and occupation of Iraq; and such as it did regarding America’s bloody coup, conquest, and continuing control over Ukraine, by means of the coup-operation that U.S. President Barack Obama started planning in 2011, and successfully carried-out during February 2014 in Kiev Ukraine — and which bloody coup all of America’s CIA-controlled ‘news’-media reported as-if it had been instead a “democratic revolution” there. (It was anything but  that.)

 

TASS -- Russian Forces carry out precision missile strike on Ukrainian military infrastructure

 

 26 FEB, 07:29

Russian Forces carry out precision missile strike on Ukrainian military infrastructure

Russian Armed Forces destroyed over 800 Ukrainian military infrastructure objects

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. Russian Armed Forces carried out a precision cruise missile strike via air-and naval-based cruise missiles on Ukrainian military infrastructure objects, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov announced Saturday.

"During the night, Russian Armed Forces carried out a long-range precision strike via naval-and air-based cruise missiles on Ukrainian military infrastructure objects," Konashenkov said.

Russian Armed Forces destroyed over 800 Ukrainian military infrastructure objects, Konashenkov added.

"Russian Armed Forces hit a total of 821 Ukrainian military infrastructure objects, including 14 military airstrips, 19 control centers and communication nodes, 24 S-300 and Osa missile air defense systems, 48 radar stations," he said.

"A total of seven military planes, seven helicopters and nine drones have been downed. A total of 87 tanks and other armored vehicles, 28 multiple launch rocket systems, 118 special military automobile vehicles have been eliminated. Russian Navy destroyed eight Ukrainian military patrol boats," the spokesman added.

Russian Armed Forces took the Ukrainian city of Melitopol under total control, Konashenkov announced.

"Russian Armed Forces units gained total control over the city of Melitopol. Russian servicemen take all measures to ensure the safety of civilians and to rule out provocations from Ukrainian intelligence and nationalists," he said.

 

Russia vetoes UN Security Council resolution that condemns its operation in Ukraine

The draft resolution was supported by 11 countries while China, India and the UAE abstained

UNITED NATIONS, February 26. /TASS/. Russia used its veto power in the UN Security Council to block a resolution proposed by a group of Western countries that would have condemned Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, according to a TASS reporter at the scene.

The draft resolution was supported by 11 countries while China, India and the UAE abstained.

The resolution sought to condemn Russia for violating the UN charter, demand that Russia stop using force against Ukraine and pull back its troops. The document would also have condemned Russia’s recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics as independent and demanded that Russia rescind the decision.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 announced a special military operation in Ukraine in response to appeals by the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian troops are not targeting cities, but are incapacitating only military infrastructure and therefore there are no threats to the civilian population.