Headlines

Iran Buckles As Turkey’s Influence Grows in Azerbaijan

Mark Clouse September 28, 2021

The unholy triumvirate known as Turkey, Russia, and Iran that has dominated most of the outcomes in Syria has always had a tenous hold on its union, but that potential is becoming even more strained as Iran begins to see a different type of triumvirate forming in the region to the north of Iran, Azerbaijan, where Turkey has now gained a foothold after equipping Azerbaikanis in their recent dust-up with Armenia with killer drones that tilted the balance of power to the Azerbaijanis significantly.

As you might imagine, given the fact that Turkey, through Erdogan, sees itself as the apex of a worldwide Muslim caliphate, Iran is none too keen to see this contender for the caliphate throne gain influence to their northern frontier. The dynamics of Syria are sure to become a bit more unstable as the tension between Iran and Turkey grows.

Iran Increasingly Alarmed By The Turkey-Azerbaijan-Pakistan Axis

From greekcitytimes.com
2021-09-27 14:40:04

Excerpt:

Since the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, tensions between Iran and the emerging Turkey-Azerbaijan-Pakistan Axis have significantly escalated. It is now glaringly obvious that Iran grossly miscalculated the new reality that would emerge with Azerbaijan capturing Armenian-held territories in the South Caucasus.

A major motivating factor of Azerbaijan’s insistence on controlling Nagorno-Karabakh is the Greater Pan-Turkic project, where Turkey sees itself as the domineering center of a sphere of influence stretching from Istanbul to Western China. Rather than dealing with this project, which supports Turkic separatist ideals in Iran, Tehran decided on pan-Islamic optics and continually congratulated and praised Azerbaijan’s capture of historically-demographically-culturally Armenian territories.

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Bezos Wants to Work More on Space than Earth

Ivo Fysic September 28, 2021

Jeff Bezos is chasing the ghost of Elon Musk, having already beaten him to “space” in a surely heroic effort. He wants to unseat the private space giant, and he wants to do it now, so he’s doubling his time commitment to his Blue Origin project in a bid to be this generation’s first space billionaire explorer hoping to build a space empire that will make him a space trillionaire tycoon.

All praize the Bezos.

Jeff Bezos doubles Blue Origin time to focus more on his space company

From www.cnbc.com
2021-09-27 15:45:26

Excerpt:

Jeff Bezos has called Blue Origin his life’s most important work – and the hours he is devoting to the space company are growing accordingly.

Historically, Bezos had dedicated Wednesday afternoons to either updates and discussions at Blue Origin, people familiar with the situation told CNBC – meetings which were in person before the Covid pandemic, and have been by phone since. However, within the past month he added Tuesday afternoons as well, those people said.

While Bezos’ increased engagement with the company has been previously reported, just how much he’s involved with Blue Origin has not. As one of the richest people in the world, and still involved at Amazon as the company’s executive chairman, demands on Bezos’ time are high, so spending twice as much time with his space company represents a significant added commitment.

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Infrastructure Loses AOC

Parker Davis September 28, 2021

AOC to Vote ‘No’ on Infrastructure Bill

From www.newsweek.com
2021-09-28 14:32:21

Excerpt:

With the clock ticking to avoid a partial shutdown of the government on Friday, President Joe Biden’s economic agenda is facing a crucial challenge on Capitol Hill as Democrats scramble to get enough votes to pass two key spending bills.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delayed the vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill until Thursday amid efforts to unify progressives and moderates.

Democrats will need to bridge these internal divisions to pass the infrastructure bill and the $3.5 trillion spending package before the Senate can vote on a stopgap funding bill that would head off a federal shutdown.

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China Was About to Bomb Us, Milley Infers in Defense of “The Call”

Parker Davis September 28, 2021

General Milley claims the reason for contacting the Chinese behind Donald Trump’s then Presidential back was to assuage fears China allegedly had that Donald Trump might be launching a military strike. This was allegedly based on intelligence that asserted China was nervous Donald would launch a nuclear attack on his way out.

Is Milley asking Americans to believe that the Chinese were about to launch a nuclear strike against us for fear of Donald launching one on them? Why did Donald not know this call took place at all? Why did Milley not tell the Donald that such a call had been made in the first place? Questions, many questions, and little hard questions from the folks in the corporate media offices using news platforms as fan fiction production centers that all imagine the party is the answer and all outside the party are imepdiments to human dignity itself.

Milley defends call to Chinese at end of Trump presidency

From news.yahoo.com
2021-09-28 14:15:35

Excerpt:

The top U.S. military officer told Congress on Tuesday that he knew former President Donald Trump wasn’t planning to attack China and that it was his job to reassure the Chinese of that fact in phone calls that have triggered outrage from some lawmakers.

Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, delivered a full-throated defense of two calls he made to his Chinese counterpart, saying he was responding to “concerning intelligence” that China was worried about a U.S. attack.

“I know, I am certain, that President Trump did not intend to attack the Chinese and it was my directed responsibility to convey presidential orders and intent,” Milley told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. “My task at that time was to de-escalate. My message again was consistent: Stay calm, steady, and deescalate. We are not going to attack you.’

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House Dems Buckling on Infrastructure Bill

Ivo Fysic September 28, 2021

Nancy Pelosi reiterates infrastructure vote plans as some Democrats continue to push back

From abcnews.go.com
2021-09-28 02:37:11

Excerpt:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately rallied Democrats in a caucus meeting Monday evening as the House began debate over the bipartisan infrastructure package.

Pelosi signaled she plans to push forward with a Thursday vote on the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure bill, regardless of the status of negotiations on the larger Democratic policy package with the Senate.

Members believe it’s an attempt to pressure key senators to reach an agreement on the social spending plan, and some remain skeptical that the package will be ironed out with the backing of enough Democrats to clear the chamber by then.

Pelosi’s announcement to Democrats was a reversal of her earlier pledge to move both pieces of legislation together. It’s also a test of progressives’ vow to block the Senate-passed legislation unless it’s paired with the social spending package.

President Joe Biden and White House press secretary Jen Psaki both indicated earlier Monday afternoon that negotiations could stretch beyond this…

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Israel Alleges Iran’s Nuclear Program Has “Crossed All Red Lines”

Mark Clouse September 28, 2021

Iran’s nuclear program has crossed ‘all red lines’: Israel PM

From www.france24.com
2021-09-27 21:40:14

Excerpt:

Issued on: 27/09/2021 – 23:40

United Nations (United States) (AFP)

Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Monday Iran had breached all the “red lines” aimed at curbing its nuclear weapons program, but that Israel “will not allow” Tehran to get the bomb.

In his first address to the United Nations General Assembly, Bennett claimed the Islamic republic had in recent years taken “a major leap forward” in its nuclear production capacity and ability to enrich weapons-grade uranium.

“Iran’s nuclear weapon program is at a critical point, all red lines have been crossed,” said Bennett, who took office in June.

“There are those in the world who seem to see Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons as an inevitable reality, as a done deal, or they have just become tired of hearing about it,” the 49-year-old premier told the world body.

“Israel doesn’t have that privilege. We cannot tire. We will not tire. Israel will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.”

Iran responded rapidly, with its ambassador to the UN, Majid Takht Ravanchi, saying on Twitter that Bennett’s speech was “full of lies.”

“That regime is in no position to discuss our peaceful program when it has hundreds of nuclear warheads,” he said.

Iran, which says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, said Friday that it expected talks to resume soon on reviving a 2015 landmark agreement scaling back its program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The agreement started to fall apart in 2018 when the US withdrew from it and reinstated sanctions. Iran in turn again started to ramp up its nuclear activities.

– After Netanyahu –

Bennett’s predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in power from 2009 until June, was among the world’s fiercest critics of the accord, regularly condemning it at international forums and cheering former US president Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw.

Bennett, a foreign policy hawk who heads…

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Facebook is Built on Anger, and They Know It

Parker Davis September 27, 2021

The social media platform that wears its moral supremacism on its sleeve, Facebook, has a problem living up to its own moral supremacist standards, which is more often than not when dealing with moral supremacists in general.

The Wall Street Journal has conducted a study that shows that Facebook is LITERALLY relying on the emotion of anger as its best marketing tool. It’s what sells and what builds. Anger is the energy that Facebook must sustain and cultivate if it hopes to continue its unquenchable desire for more. If it wants to gain members, grow revenues, and everyone does, it seems, then it must continue to make hundreds of millions of people angry every day to do so.

But hey, at least they”re not racist or bigoted, though.

Facebook knowingly makes people angry and have worse body image, Wall Street Journal report finds

From www.vox.com
2021-09-21 13:00:00

Excerpt:

Reading the findings from the Wall Street Journal’s massive, three-part investigation into Facebook — that the platform makes people angry and depressed, and that the company exempts a huge class of VIP users from its rules regarding harassment and incitement of violence — my reaction was: Well, obviously.

Anyone who spends a decent amount of time online knows what happens when you shove a bunch of strangers into the same place. We replicate existing power dynamics, we form groups, we troll, we project our biases, we yell until only the most extreme voices are the ones that get heard. We expect the companies that own these platforms to fix it, but nobody can agree on how.

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EU Picks France Over America in Submarine Conflict

Mark Clouse September 27, 2021

After the United States essentially negated a multimillion dollar deal with France and Australia when it gifted Australia better submarines than the ones Australia was set to buy, the EU has take the side of France in the affair ,who remains a disgruntled broker.

The mere choice of taking a public side by the EU is news in and of itself, but choosing France over America while doing so is a pretty strong message that Europe no longer wishes to mostly reflect American foreign policy.

This most likely is the fruit of a perception from Europe that America no longer represents the fundamental economic power of the world anymore. With China, and even India, rising in economic signficance, opportunities for economic winfall are increasingly no more overwhelmingly American.

EU backs France in submarine dispute, asking: Is America back?

From www.reuters.com
2021-09-21 12:21:00

Excerpt:

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 20 (Reuters) – European Union foreign ministers expressed support and solidarity with France on Monday during a meeting in New York to discuss Australia’s scrapping of a $40 billion submarine order with Paris in favor of a U.S. and British deal.

Speaking after the closed-door meeting on the sidelines annual U.N. gathering of world leaders, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said “more cooperation, more coordination, less fragmentation” was needed to achieve a stable and peaceful Indo-Pacific region where China is the major rising power.

Australia said last week it would cancel an order for conventional submarines from France and instead build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines with U.S. and British technology after striking a security partnership with those countries under the name AUKUS. read more

“Certainly, we were caught by surprise by this announcement,” Borrell said.

The decision enraged France and earlier on Monday in New York French Foreign…

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US Treasury to Prosecute Crypto Exchanges that Allow Ransomware Hackers to Get Paid

If You Pay Hackers, You Could Go to Jail

Ivo Fysic September 27, 2021

It seems the US Treasury Department is about to put its own government agencies between a rock and a hard place as they vow to attempt to shut off the methods by with ransomware hackers get paid. These hackers break into computer networks, taking them hostage, until the agency targeted pays them, throughy cryptocurrency exchanges. They mostly target governmment agencies because these groups have magic sources to money and the agencies simply must pay because they need that data fundamentally to perform their duties.

Now, with Treasury cutting off the method of payment, will this end the ransomware attacks or will it create a black market for government agencies to continue to pay the ransomware hackers as they have little choice but to do so? If so, will Treasury find itself prosecuting municipal managers for finding a way to pay the hackers through exchanges that might not be under US Treasury jurisdiction? I am betting that the latter will happen and the people in government who find themselves targeted will most likely choose expediency over cost, as governments are most often wont to do.

Treasury Department will sanction crypto exchanges that help channel payments to hackers

From www.washingtonpost.com
2021-09-21 17:06:06
Gerrit De Vynck
Excerpt:

The U.S. government is stepping up its efforts to disrupt the infrastructure hackers use to make money from breaking into and holding hostage computer networks, announcing sanctions against one virtual currency exchange and warning U.S. companies it could be legally risky for them to pay off hackers that hit their systems.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions Tuesday against Suex, an exchange that lets people buy and sell virtual currencies with regular credit cards, according to its website. The government said as much as 40 percent of known transactions run by Suex were criminal. Other exchanges could be hit with sanctions, too.

“We are going to continue to look at the ecosystem and look for actors that are taking similar actions,” Anne Neuberger, the White House’s deputy national security adviser on cybersecurity, said during a call with reporters.

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The Left Are Being Played Fools By The Authoritarian Right

Bill Collier September 27, 2021

Leftists who are willing to use authoritarianism, beware! The ruling class playing you and pushing your buttons to make you feel so hateful toward all non-leftists aren’t actually on your side. You are just a battering ram meant to clear the decks and pave the way for totalitarianism. When this is acheived, all your alt-gendered rainbow wokism and social justice hyperbole will be tossed and you will find the new Caesar you ushered in is actually quite right-wing.

Caesar knows that all this unnatural behavior and the destruction of the birth rate caused when most young people in their prime are identifying as some form of alt-gendered experimental, theoretical, fantasy of human sexuality and gender will eventually lead to a collapse even they cannot escape the consequences of.

Basically, the ruling class are right-wing authoritarians using your wokism and cancel culture authoritarianism to distrupt society and pave the way for Caesar. You are focused on things that are non-essential to the survival of a civilization and even if you temporarily acheive your goals, you will find that Caesar will toss you like garbage into the dumpster fire that is the history of a dying civilization.

You can choose, and you should choose, your own sociocultural norms and reality in free association with fellow travelers. In a free and pluralistic society, you don’t need anyone’s approval to live as you choose, but neither are you owed their approval.

Your own desire to be free and to not be treated as “less than” is admirable and we support it. But your insistence that we be canceled because we find your choices to be unhealthy, which only means we won’t make them or applaud them, is immoral because it is authoritarian. What is more, you are setting up an authoritarian framework that, once built, will betray you even though you and your cancel culture screeching made it possible.