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Catte's back! And pushing the 'all-in-it-together' thesis again. Left a comment -

Politics
#1

SELFQUOTE:

I find it a difficult call, Catte, between the scenario that you offer here, with all your usual panache (and with which your editorial colleagues clearly agree), and the other alternative.

Have to stay open-mindedly sceptical, I guess; a stance which I find myself forced to adopt in spades these days, on all matters to do with large-scale public affairs: WTF is going on!? I dunno. Too confusing to indulge in certainties - in any direction.

i’ve never been convinced by Off-G’s AIIT thesis. It seems to me, on the contrary, that the wearisomely-inevitable deadly rivalry between the world’s power blocs is entirely real, and is indeed simply the latest iteration of a - now quite unnecessary - animus between rival clans, that goes back into our remote past, and which is based solely on our irrational instincts as a social species which defends territory against rival groups, simply as a survival strategy. A viable strategy amongst animals living the instinctual life in a global wilderness (works very well for wolves and other pack-canids, for example), but clearly not in the homsap-overloaded world which we have now.

So - how to explain that lockstep unanimity with which all the blocs, and all their satellite-states, imposed the ‘measures against covid’, if it really wasn’t a case of AIIT?

Someone at Moon of Alabama suggested that the ruling factions within the power-structures in China and Russia started out thinking that the WHO’s announcement of a PHEIC (pronounced ‘fake’) pandemic might just be genuine, so - better to take precautionary steps quickly, just in case. But then, savvy people within those two blocs saw, as many of us did quite quickly, that it was all a big swindle. Without benefit of any state intelligence I was already there myself within a week or two of the March, 2020 launch of the covid swindle. I was pretty certain it was a fake. I can’t believe that others within the power-structures didn’t see it pretty quickly too.

But then, the Russian and Chinese ruling factions decided to play along with the pretence. They both knew that a whole lot of criminal jiggery pokery had been going on in the Anglozionist empire’s biowar laboratories, attempting for many years to develop catastrophically-lethal pathogens for use against rivals - preferably racially-targetable, of course - just as they themselves - the Russians and the Chinese - had been doing in their own semi-secret biowar labs.

Also, it beggars belief to imagine that the Chinese didn’t know about the US scams being attempted actually within the Chinese labs, as in Wuhan for example. Of course they grasped that, how could they not, and they were watching, war-gaming, and counter-moving all along. God knows where Shi Zhengli stands in all this. Probably in a somewhat similar situation to Lee Harvey Oswald, who shouted out to the media at one point during his arrest that he was the patsy… Er yes, exactly so Lee/Shi. What took ya so long?

I find no difficulty in entertaining the hypothesis that there are people within both the Russian and the Chinese power-structures who would like to join with their counterparts within the West - multibillionaire oligarchs all - and would like to organise the AIIT-style globalist-fascist racket which Off-G describes; the Jack Ma’s and Khodorkovski’s and their ilks. Sure they would. Twits like that really seem to think that because they have this one lonely talent - to be Olympic-class money-grubbers - they just must be highly superior to we mere hoi-polloi plebs, and that therefore they’re wholly entitled to manage - and cull - us as their cattle (the poor delusional farts!).

But - as has been pointed out by several street-savvy commentators - when it comes to a face-down between the schmucks who command huge dragon-hoards of wealth, and the other schmucks who have fanatically-loyal bands of professionally-competent killer-thugs at their command - military, police, mafia-hitmen, etc., it’s the violence-wielders who have the upper hand. So, the multibil-oligarch farties get told:

“Yeah sure, you can go on money-grubbing - so long as we get our protection-money cut, natch: “ten-percent for the big guy” - but don’t ever try to call the shots. That’s our prerogative; step out of line from our policies and you’ll be gone in a moment; most unfortunate, unsuspected heart weakness or some such misfortune…”

And the ollies calculate that their own merely hired-gun muscle are never going to be as loyal to them as are the heart-and-mind followers of the violence-wielding schmucks to them. So the ollies uncle, and go along quietly.

In other words: there’s no clear-cut AIIT consensus amongst the true power-wielders in the blocs. And their apparent deadly rivalry is not only apparent but absolutely real. Do the good folk here at Off-G really imagine that the Stavka class - the steadfast true Russian patriots of the military and the intel outfits (including Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin) - or their equivalent true Chinese patriots in China - would go along meekly with the grubby scams of the globalist oligarch fascist delusionals? Really? Ya think…?

If so, may I suggest that you must be globalist-inclined strangers to the life-and-death passions of patriotism yourselves. That sort of footloose deracination does seem to come over some members of the uni-plankton intelligentsia…

Obviously, it would be entirely possible for all humans, worldwide, to agree to work together to climb down very carefully and humanely from the precarious ecological-overshoot pinnacle on which we now teeter, and then set about bringing in a world where everyone has enough, and we all have (real) democracy and basic human rights, and we honour and take care of the living Earth, to ensure that we don’t fuck it over ever again. Of course we could do that. It’s technically possible. But we’re Earthings, not Vulcans, and we don’t do constant cool rationality at all times. No, we think like wolves: ‘My pack against the world!’

That being so, the AIIT thesis really doesn’t convince.

PS: Wolves are fellow-Earthlings whom I absolutely adore. No disrespect ever intended to them! :slight_smile:

UNQUOTE

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#2

I didn’t see much panache in Catte’s article personally, boilerplate OffG stuff, unfortunately. The hypothesis you advance @RhisiartGwilym, that the PTB in China and Russia played along with the Scamdemic for their own reason, looks pretty sound to me.

I liked CK_'s comment, tl;dr: a Big thing - possibly another Polar shift - is upcoming, and this is known to the most elite crooks who are prepping. The downside of such theories, alas, is to conclude that we are fecked and can’t do much about it. Might as well fiddle while Rome burns.

Off on a tangent: in the meditation group I ‘attend’ (mainly via videoconference) several people were frankly admitting, last night, to high levels of existential anxiety, feeling run-down, insomniac. It’s not a large sample but 3 out of 6. The other three were a chap who’d just come back from a holiday in Sri Lanka, then there was me, and the last person didn’t really say much at all, and seldom does, but he chipped in to agree enthusiastically when I urged people to turn off their tell-lie-visions. Specifically “the news,” I said, “is designed to create anxiety”.

Whatever the source, there’s certainly a lot of it about and Catte might be right that severe cognitive dissonance (and I don’t claim immunity) is a massive factor.

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#3

True, this particular piece is not one of Catte’s best. But I always like her style.

The Big Thing that you feel pressing up into consciousness from your intuition-well, K, is, I surmise, precisely the gathering storm of global human ecological overshoot, as discussed with such vivid clarity by Nate Hagens and Bill Rees here:

I’ve already posted this link a couple of times here, and several times elsewhere, every time to absolutely deafening silence! :slight_smile:

As I already know, it’s a hugely unpopular topic, which virtually no-one wants to think about. But some of us are confronting it. And it isn’t always just people like me and Nate and Bill. The gics know about it too, some of them at least, the particularly tough-minded cold-bloods. And their response runs something along these lines:

'This is an imminent, and absolute catastrophe, right on the horizon now, and bearing down. Those of us [gics] who are still under forty are probably going to cop it along with all the cattle. Clearly, none of the airy-fairy do-gooders have any actually workable ideas about what to do. We have an actually realistic idea, but the cattle would be so utterly appalled if they ever twigged our steely clear-thinking that they’d just go berserk.

'Cold-blooded study of other existential crises that have hit the Earth in paleontological time shows that the Gaian principle seems toughly capable of surviving, and, over time, recovering the fecundity of the planet. But those natural recoveries take thousands, if not millions, of years.

'We under-40 really important people haven’t got that amount of time. If we’re going to salvage anything for ourselves - and for those few about whom we actually care, if we have any such at all - we have to move decisively to do two things:

One - get the cattle under MUCH stricter control.

And Two - cull their numbers drastically, in an on-going crash-priority reduction programme. In that way, desperate though such a throw is, we might be able to mitigate the worst of what ecological overshoot is causing, and thus we may have some chance of saving our own skins, our WealthPowerStatus hoards, and our own ruling-elite positions amongst the survivors.’

Ring any (covid-swindle/great-reset) bells?

There had to be some reason, beyond just the huge ripoff of wealth that the swindle enabled, that motivated this truly astonishing (when you think about it) con which the gics have tried. There have been a number of dry run ‘pandemic’ scares since the turn of the millennium, each with its suspicious planning activities just preceding. Then came the big one, launched about three years ago just now; still not entirely defeated by human unherdability, and still on-going. And actually grokking this for what it really is, is still far out in ‘hopeless conspiracy-theory’ limbo as far as the great bulk of good-thinkers dare to venture: “…Mankind cannot bear very much reality…”

If the gics really see what I think they do, as outlined above, then this effort won’t stop, even if the covid thing turns out to be a bust in the end.

For my own part, I feel optimistic-but-resigned. I think that we shall be going through the valley of the shadow of death over the next few decades, because obviously, just as Nate and Bill discuss, we won’t get our collective act together as a species to do the necessary. We’re simply not up to it; not collectively on a planet-wide basis.

But the invariable homeostasis mechanisms that the Earth’s natural life-systems operate - Man Gaia rolling up her sleeves and getting to work, in my conception - will force us all to cut back in our demands (because there just won’t be enough of the goods physically available to satisfy them); and we shall reproduce less, again without the option.

There will be a lot of Interesting Times, with a good deal of angst and suffering. But they will pass, and the waters will calm again. Doubtless the hardest-faced personalities amongst the gics will go on attempting to make their malign contribution to the shake-out. But you know my belief, K: Neither they nor any of the rest of we little human farties are anything like as potent in this situation as we like to kid ourselves. Our inputs, whether lilywhite good or Calibanically evil, will only have minor impacts. Mam Gaia is in charge here, not us. And her planet will survive and she’ll re-beautify it - in her own time…

And probably quite a few hom-saps will survive. Wojja think: will we accumulate enough nous to say ‘Never again!’, and actually make it stick next time…?

Answers on a post-card please; not more than one syllable. :slight_smile:

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#4

Riding into the Valley of Death, in decades? I’m with you in most of this RG, only I think you may be crediting the Western juggernaut, the Rough Beast, with too much humanity and honesty. While we Putinistas have known since the day it blew that NS was sabotaged by “the West” we didn’t know the details or have the proof till Sy Hersh dropped his bombshell on February 8th, and this changes everything. As VVP says, the West is entirely responsible for the war in Ukraine, which Russia must fight for its survival and that of the Russian speaking Ukrainians it has protected. Hersh’s only fault is in not giving the UK/MI6 sufficient credit for their collaboration.
And for OffGuardian, I’m afraid that Kit Knightly sealed its fate for me this week, and I even start to wonder if it has been infiltrated by the enemy itself; it is now a perfect place to suck in all the conspiracy theorists into one place that can be ignored. Even to suggest that Russia could somehow have agreed on a scheme to blow its own pipeline - and Germany’s to pieces is ludicrous and stupid, and shows a complete misreading and misunderstanding of what is happening in Europe. I had my doubts for a while, since in fact they wouldn’t publish my “American Genie” article.

Last week I had a letter published in my rather recently untrusty local paper, which I think will repeat what happened 9 years ago after Ghouta. It explains the context. Other than this, and three articles in Pearls and Irritations, the NS sabotage story has NOT been mentioned, while our leaders vow to Stand with Ukronazis ‘as long as it takes’. This is a copy of my letter:

Letter on Hersh 24th Feb 2023
Letter on Hersh 24th Feb 2023935×850 205 KB

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#5

The clue is in the name.

I tried it. It was where I first noticed @RhisiartGwilym posting prolifically around the tubes (good few years ago too).

It’s all a bit too perfect.

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#6

Kit Knightly and Catte Black yes, but not our Rhisiart! I’ve been collaborating and discussing with him since back in Media Lens MB days, before the various shipwrecks that stranded us here. I was also with RG in April 2020, writing about “The building 7 of the COVID crisis”, when Australia pumped $180 Billion into the banks a week after the UK despite our having almost no virus cases in the country. and no ‘poison stabs’ for me!
On that, hyper astonishingly, today it was said that we need to prepare for winter by getting our boosters of the new Bivalent vax, which works against the Wuhan strain (last seen two years ago) and the Omicron BA4 and 5 (last seen almost a year ago) Apparently people are still getting sick (because they are vaxed!) and are sucking up the toxic $1000 anti-virals kindly pushed by Pfizer. Australian seems unaware that other countries have abandoned and forgotten the plague…

4 Likes
#7

David, as you see from my post at the top of this thread, it’s still possible to post a short-essay length comment btl at Off-G. One good thing about them despite their blind-spots about AIIT and the ecological/population-overshoot crisis, is that the don’t seem to censor comments much, if at all. They seem to stick stoutly to a total free-speech policy, not even chiding some of the posters who eff-and-blind a good deal. The editors are also well up to speed on the no-pandemic/power-grabbing realities of the covid scam.

There are also plenty of people hanging out btl who are clearly realists, and who see the global-overshoot/Peak-Everything emergency for what it is, right alongside the AIIT troobleevers and the cornucopianist, no-limits-to-growthforever fantasists.

Quite a lot a robust argument goes on there between the clear-seers and the fantasists. My posts get a regular mix of up and down votes. And I always take care to piss-take and laugh at the fantasists - and to offer serious links to meaty information sources, to those open to having a look.

I wish you’d post there btl regularly. We could do with a dose of your solid realism. No need to restrict word-count. Just let it rip. Plenty do. Cheers bro! :slight_smile:

#8

I’ve been banned by Off-G for more than a year now; not that I really care.

Free speech internet is now shrinking like a pin and a balloon.

We all know the old saying (paraphrase) I might not agree with what you’re saying, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

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#9

That’s interesting, Rob. What happened? You sure you’re actually banned?

#10

Your precis seems fairly accurate to me Rhis. I’d take that every time over a two-hour video, sorry.

I think those in power ought to level with us, and tell the truth about what they see ahead and what they think the answers are. It could just snap people out of their (our) herd behaviour.

It’s implicit anyway e.g. in the dumb favouring of electric cars, which obviously could only be feasible for a much smaller ‘fleet’ than currently exists. (I glance out the window at a neighbour with four cars on the drive, two being Range Rovers, and that’s not even all that unusual.)

My plan is to move within the next year to somewhere where I can find the things I need within walking distance and then retire the car, before attempting to achieve more self-sufficiency. When I’m no longer able to walk I’ll think up another plan. But a year at a time is plenty for me. Selling off crap via eBay is one small element of that (and I made about 60p on the crappy Billy Bragg CD in the end, result :wink: )

If this truth were revealed no one would believe it, of course, because all politicians lie. Maybe that’s what cute little Greta is destined for?

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#11

Bravo David. The US military-political spokespuppets are already hinting at war with China and that Japan and Australia will be the staging points for accumulating the necessary hardware, ammo, and people. We knew this already because of the creation of AUKUS, and the warning shot fired when Shinzo Abe was extinguished.

Great letter, and I agree re OffG as holding pen, too.

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#12

Every little helps, K. Keep downsizing; hope spouse is on-board with the realities too.

To my mind, one of the best easy/productive-ratio skills that people can develop now is intensive gardening - if you only have a small space available - and as much ground under cultivation for standard food veggies - cabbage, taters, roots, etc. - as you can finagle. Be warned: it will probably take beginners about three seasons before they get anywhere near up to speed! Always opt for no-till cultivation, preferably mulch gardening. Imitate wild nature, rather than trying - futilely - beat it into grovelling submission. Tillage is an absolute disaster for the legion small creatures of the soil-community, and condemns it’s practitioners to the constant soil-feeding treadmill, which mulching no-tilllers simply don’t need.

At one time I did a fair bit of gardening - for crop-share rent - of borrowed gardens. Search on YT for Pete Kanaris/Jim Kovelski vids, to see how amazingly far this can be carried. Jim is practically a full-scale guerrilla farmer, shuttling between Maine in Summer and Florida in Winter. He earns thousands each year, just supplying farmer’s markets and eateries. And his veggie-bed soils are fed exclusively by mulching with scythed grass, toute seule! “Grass-fed vegetables!”

Also, develop low-energy preserving techniques (drying vegs in a passive-solar structure is good). Look into the traditional mid-European superfood lactic-acid-preserve sauerkraut, and its Korean technicolour version kimchi: transforms raw cabbage into a treat-food! And - perhaps most important - try to get a trade going with any excess you produce, as locally as possible. Just give it away to start with; try selling at farmers’ markets later, if there are any around; or start your own otherwise.

Local trading and barter are going to become important as the Times get ever more Interesting. And to facilitate this, it’s worth looking into Local Employment and Trade Systems - LETS.

I’ve had experience of these. They tend to spring up when times get tight, then evaporate again when things ease up. Should see a rise of those again before long.

Re mobility: I still cycle a couple of miles at a go, and may be able to get back to longer journeys if this heart-valve replacement adventure comes to pass. But I also have another sort of bike, which I designed myself, and which is proving to be a seriously-useful mobility aid. It’s basically an adult version of a toddler’s run bike; you know, the ones without pedals, where the saddle height allows you to put both feet flat on the ground without teetering: they’re modern versions of the Draisienne/Dandy run-bikes of the early Nineteenth Century, forerunners of pedal bikes.

They’re much easier to ride for people who feel leery of pedal bikes, where the rider is higher up, and needs to be good at dynamic balance. Not everyone’s cup of tea! The run-bike is much kinder than that. Mine is also a folder, so I take it on buses too. Like a pedal bike, it transforms personal mobility when walking starts to get more of a fag than it used to be (around 75). And, like a standard bike, it carries loads of freight, all on wheels; none of the drag of having to walk your own weight up and down several inches with every step, along with bags! Real energy-saver, mobility-extender. And any time you get out of puff, you just stop, with feet on the ground, bum on seat, elbows on handle-bars, like a bloke relaxing on a bar-stool. Perfect! :slight_smile:

And a KEY liberator: As soon as possible, get rid of cars completely! One of the major money hyper-tapeworms of the modern Pampered-Twenty-Percenter lifestyle. If I still kept a car, I’d have no spare money at all, instead of living in serene, fully-provided-and-to-spare comfort as I do now, on half (sic!) my single-person state pension. Being permanently off the mortgage/overdraft treadmill helps mightily, too.

It’s low-key, deeply-unsexy, grassrootsy communitarian stuff like this which is going to keep the savvy people going relatively comfortably over the next few decades. ‘Collapse early, and avoid the rush!’ :slight_smile:

#13

PS: One two-hour video, at least, is altogether too crucial to skip, in it’s absolutely vital insights into our real, all-underlying situation in this present time. That’s the conversation between Nate Hagens and retired systems-ecologist Professor William Rees. If you force yourself to make time for at least one vid, make it this one. It reveals, concisely, the basic understanding which we all need, in order to transit into strict real-world living, and into getting soberly ready for what’s coming. I’m on my third listen right now :slight_smile: ):

#14

Off-G never actually ban you (it would destroy their street cred). Instead they put you in ‘moderation hell’; which in my case meant that my comments would not show up until days after I’d made them. On a high volume board like Off-G this is effectively being banned. Lots of btl commentators have had the same experience and no longer post there. In my opinion this has really weakened the btl at Off-G. After all, ‘comment is free’ is supposed to be what the site is all about.

For the record, I was put in ‘moderation hell’ by the Admin called Sophie, because I disagreed with her about a certain Mr James Corbett, who Sophie dotes over.

Also for the record, I have no problem with Off-G. All organisations have their faults, and Off-G still remains a valuable source of information.

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#15

Ah, Sophie, the moderator who likes to join in and bad-mouth commentators who dare swerve from the party line. A definite downward trend since she or he came on board, all hotly justified by repeatedly screeching “we don’t have to do this you know”.