Sunday, July 31, 2022
Saturday, July 30, 2022
Some Covid news from Australia
Three myths about COVID-19 — and the biggest challenge that lies ahead “So what's my plan, now that I know the risk of heart problems and other poor health outcomes is just as high on a second or third infection, and in the absence of a vaccine to stop BA.5 infection?
I'm dropping my COVID hubris and donning a mask.”
Thursday, July 28, 2022
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Monday, July 25, 2022
Sunday, July 24, 2022
Saturday, July 23, 2022
Thursday, July 21, 2022
Monday, July 18, 2022
Coronavirus reinfections
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01914-6 ‘
One coronavirus infection wards off another — but only if it’s a similar variant’
Sunday, July 17, 2022
Saturday, July 16, 2022
Americans advised to leave Ukraine
Is mentioned as the evidence that the war won’t stop anytime soon. Serbian President Vucic: “I know what awaits us. As soon as Vladimir Putin has done his work in Seversk, Bakhmut and Soledar, after reaching the second line Slaviansk-Kramatorsk-Avdeevka, he will come up with a proposal. And if they [the West] don’t accept it, – and they won’t – all hell will break loose.” It seems that this has become an existential threat to both Russia and America.
Dmitry Orlov speaks
Old way, new way He comments several times in the discussion, seems to be an acerbic old man.
Friday, July 15, 2022
Another update from military summary
A discussion of the Himars threat by Lonewolf in the comments here https://thesaker.is/sitrep-operation-z-back-to-hot-steel-rain/#comment-1121839
Thursday, July 14, 2022
The rule of nihilists
Xi Jinping’s speech from January 2013 by Branko Milanovic in Globalinequality blog.
“Two points are worth highlighting. Xi’s interpretation of the end of the Soviet Union, and his accent on ideology.
Xi sees the break-up of the Soviet Union and the end of the CPSU as the result of “ideological nihilism”: the ruling strata have ceased to believe in the advantages and the value of the system, but lacked any other ideological coordinates within which to situate their thinking. (Incidentally, I have noticed that when I recently read Andrei Kozyrev’s, Yeltsin’s minister of foreign affairs, book of memoirs, reviewed here;the book is striking by its total absence of any ideology.)
Here is Xi: “Why did the Soviet Union disintegrate? Why did the Communist Party of the Soviet Union fall to pieces? An important reason is that in the ideological domain, competition is fierce! To completely repudiate the historical experience of the Soviet Union, to repudiate the history of the CPSU, to repudiate Lenin, to repudiate Stalin was to wreck chaos in Soviet ideology and engage in historical nihilism. It caused Party organizations at all levels to have barely any function whatsoever. It robbed the Party of its leadership of the military. In the end the CPSU — as great a Party as it was — scattered like a flock of frightened beasts! The Soviet Union — as great a socialist state as it was — shattered into pieces.”
The lack of belief in the system stemmed from the failure of the Soviet Union in the economic arena, and inability to propose a system of participation in the decision-making that appealed to, or was acceptable to, most of its population. The roots of the debacle were both economic and ideological. Once the party loses the control of the ideology, Xi argues, once it fails to provide a satisfactory explanation for its own rule, objectives and purposes, it dissolves into a party of loosely connected individuals linked only by personal goals of enrichment and power.”
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Friday, July 08, 2022
Reviving old mango trees
Girdling technique “Girdling or ring-barking refers to the removal of a complete ring of the bark from a stem, branch or trunk. A horticultural method, it forces fruit-bearing plants to produce bigger and sweeter fruit.
Using a clean, sharp knife, an inch-long ring of the bark is cut away and the section is treated with a paste made of geru mitti and pesticide to prevent infection. If done correctly, these repairs will provide a path for critical sugars. In time, the tree will grow new layers that will cover the cut. Shah performs the girdling procedure around Diwali when the humidity level is around 70 per cent.
According to Shah, girdling should be performed on trees that are aged 35 years and above and on branches that are at least 15 to 20 ft above the ground. “The branch should have a minimum girth of 30cms,” he says.“
𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘇𝗲𝗯'𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗵 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗵
French tourist Bernier writes that when Aurangzeb was a child, Shah Jahan appointed a scholar, Mullah Saleh, to be his teacher. Once Aurangzeb Alamgir’s education was complete, Mullah Saleh submitted a thorough report to Shah Jahan that the prince had access to all sciences, different languages and he has strengthened his mind with political philosophy. Shah Jahan was happy and rewarded Mullah Saleh with agricultural lands near Kabul. He happily accepted and settled there. Many years passed before Mullah Saleh heard the news of the first civil war and then the victory of his student Aurangzeb Alamgir.
When he learned that the war was over, he hurried to Delhi. He hoped that in the reign of his disciple he would be counted among the nobles of the kingdom. Arriving in Delhi, he reached out to Princess Roshan Ara and other elites to facilitate him to the King’s court. For three months, Aurangzeb was unaware of the presence of his former teacher in a crowded court. When Aurangzeb Alamgir came to know about his arrival, he summoned him separately. At that time he was accompanied by only a few close advisors. One of Aurangzeb’s companions later narrated this story.
𝗔𝗨𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗔𝗭𝗘𝗕’𝗦 𝗟𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗢 𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗥
Sir! What do you expect from me? Is there any justification in your asking that I, in my capacity of a famous ruler of the world, should take you into my court? May be your request would have been reasonable if you had imparted education to me in proper way. A student, who receives good education, should respect his teacher as he respects his father. But, what have you taught me?
Firstly, you taught saying that Europe means a small island called Portugal, that the king of that country alone is great, in the next position is the king of Holland and then comes the king of England. You also said the king of the France and Spain are like the petty rulers in our country and that the King of Mughal dynasty is greater than all those Kings, that they are the emperors who conquered the whole world and the kings of Persia, Uzbek, Tartar, China, Eastern China, Pegu, Machina, will shiver at the mere mentioning of the names of Mughal emperors.
Ah! You have taught excellent history and Geography, indeed! Instead, you should have taught me about the different countries in the world and their varied interests, the strengths and weaknesses of those kings, their war strategies, their customs, religions, Government policies, the advantages, History, progress, downfall, what disasters and blunders had led to great changes and revolutions-you should have taught me all these things.
I did not learn anything from you regarding the great men, who established the Mughal empire. You did not teach me anything about their life histories. You did not teach about the policies and the strategies that they followed to achieve glorious victories.
You wanted me to learn how to read and write Arabic. You wasted much of my time on something, which cannot be mastered unless I worked hard for ten to twelve years. Perhaps, in your opinion, it is a great thing if a prince becomes a great linguist and a perfect grammarian. May be you thought this esteem is enhanced by learning other languages and foreign languages instead of learning his mother tongue, the language of his people and the languages of neighboring states! Infact, he does not need these languages. Time is quite precious during the childhood for the people like me, who belong to the royal family, since we have to shoulder so many responsibilities. There is an urgent need to learn many things during the limited time that is available to us. You have wasted all my time in teaching Arabic for such a long time, which was boring activity. Study of an Arabic was tragic event in my life. It was useless pursuit. I had to learn it with extreme reluctance. It has even blunted my intellect. (Persian was the official language at that time). Don’t you know that happy childhood memories are preserved forever, that thousands of things can be learned which makes everlasting impression on the young minds and that because of their influence, he can be mentally prepared to take up greater responsibilities? Is it not possible to learn the laws, prayers, and sciences in our mother tongue instead of learning them in Arabic?
You have told my father Shah Jahan that you would teach me philosophy. I distinctly remember it. For several years you have fed my mind with half knowledge of many things which would not satisfy me. All that fanciful stuff is not at all useful to human society. It is very difficult to understand them but very easy to forget. I cannot say how long you had taught me that kind of speculative knowledge. I could only remember that those ugly and horrible vocabulary which could surprise and confuse even the most intelligent people. Ignorant egoists like you, who would like to hide their bad qualities, must have created such words. By listening to such bombastic words, we should think that you are knowledgeable and omniscient! We should think that those wonderful words contain some wonderful inner meaning, which could be understood only by scholars like you!
You should have trained me to be a person with analytical thinking. You should have taught me the techniques of being a person of equanimity and imperturbable mind! You should have told me the laws and grandeur of the universe and the fundamental principles of life. You should have filled my mind with this kind of practical philosophy. Had you done these things, I would have shown you same kind of reverence that Alexander showed to his teacher Aristotle. I would have helped you more than that.
Instead of raising me to the skies with flattery, you should have taught me the essentials of being a good king. You should have given me the knowledge of a king’s responsibilities towards his subjects and their responsibilities towards the king.
You should have foreseen that a day would came when I should use the sword in the battle with my brother. You should have taught me how to lay siege to a town and rally the soldiers who are scattered in confusion.
However, I learned all these things from others, but not from you.
Therefore, now you must go to your village. I will not help you in any manner. Let not the people know who are you. Lead the rest of your life as an ordinary citizen.
Post Credit: Ali Haider
Thursday, July 07, 2022
Yves Smith on Ukraine
The Coming Sanctions-Induced Economic Tsunami?
“Today I am risking being too glib, but my excuse is aspiring to meet the Einstein standard, “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” It’s not hard to see that as rough as economic conditions are now, they are set to get worse. And it’s not hard to see that despite the considerable blowback from the sanctions against Russia, the West is not going to relent.
Here’s a simple baseline forecast. Russia wins in Ukraine. The West may try to define it somehow as not a victory, but it’s hard to see how Russia does not take the entire Black Sea coast plus Ukraine east of the Dneiper by the end of the year, and I hazard to guess sooner, say October-November. What Russia decides to do with the western part is path dependent and so in play (consider how possible military coup/Zelensky flight, Democratic November wipeout, rising political strife in Europe, Poland deciding to get expansionist could all factor into Russian decisions).”
Wednesday, July 06, 2022
Putin’s oligarchs
It is not clear to me what his economic policies are though they seem successful at the moment. He does not seem to be a communist. John Helmer Indi tea that he is soft on oligarchs. Here is a post which is linked by Larry Johnson, I think Meet Russia’s Oligarchs, A Group Of Men Who Won’t Be Toppling Putin Anytime Soon
Tuesday, July 05, 2022
Near future In the Ukraine war, quagmire
“On the other side, Russian progress on the ground and the intensifying attrition of Ukrainian forces offer no incentive to halt the war and simply settle for its original, probably minimal war goals of ‘denazification’ and ‘demiitarization of Ukraine and seizing all Donbass up to the administrative borders of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions – the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR and LNR) as they are regarded in Moscow, Crimea, and Donbass – in support of their independence recognized by Moscow three days before its invasion. Every inch of territory Moscow seizes beyond the former ‘occupied territories’, as regarded by Kiev, including the additional Donetsk and Luhansk regional territories makes implementation of a ceasefire and withdrawal more complicated. They also make Kiev less likely to negotiate in the short- to mid-term, in lieu of an almost inevitable existential threat to the Ukrainian state such as it exists. By that time there will be a rump Ukraine territorially, a decimated Ukraine economically, and an unstable Ukraine politically.” from Avoiding a Russian Quagmire, the Improbable Ukrainian Peace, and the Risk of Direct Russo-NATO War
Another https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/06/how-to-lose-big-in-ukraine/
Monday, July 04, 2022
Some celebrations
From a comment in Saker’s blog: Some videos for today.
The Victory Banner was raised over the LPR town of Belogorovka, completing the liberation of 100% of the LPR’s territory:
https://rutube.ru/video/88b869e04652d0c1d263640b252b16d6/
Chechen troops greeted in liberated Lisichansk:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/vINfmtTZ8GEe/
Another video showing the people of Lisichansk greeting their liberators:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/94jjm1PKsvRj/
Abandoned Kiev regime trenches near Lisichansk:
https://rutube.ru/video/ab0bb32efc8b899be6ec4e5cb4f449dd/
Shows troops clearing out Lisichansk:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/juUD8B2VKzz3/
Russian artillery taking out a US-supplied M777 howitzer:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/CEwg2RAJJEZS/
US mercenaries admit to suffering casualties in recent video:
Friday, July 01, 2022
Russia gives up snake island
Russia makes 'goodwill gesture' to alleviate food crisis
May be this is one of the differences between the sides. Russia is prepared to cut its losses and proceed Whereis Ukraine seems unwillining to give up untenable positions.
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