rattlesnake

If you are serious in your endeavour to understand the inner workings of deep world politics, then you probably know how important it is to read books on the matter. There are dozens one could list, but regarding this particular topic, in addition to the two I mentioned earlier in this thread, I strongly recommend reading: - Anthony Sutton: Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler - John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt: The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

"She went to the studio as a tattoo model for the artist and received the service for free."

The US government, as part of its defence activities, purchases equipment (uniforms, weapons, vehicles…) from private firms. These contracts are very lucrative as the US defence budget amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars. These private defence contractors, which are very close to the government through very influential lobbies, de facto have an incentive to influence foreign policy and encourage military interventions for financial gain. This is what is colloquially referred to as the military-industrial complex, the business of war for private financial profit, never in the interest of the nation.

The military-industrial complex and high-level stakeholders will be weakened, certainly not the average person who has zero benefit in their tax dollars being spent on forever wars, nor in an open, unregulated market.

Still significantly lower than G7 countries, but increasing fast nonetheless. https://www.statista.com/chart/30641/gdp-per-capita-in-brics-and-g7-countries/ https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/RUS/russia/gdp-per-capita Another important metric is the debt level: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-by-national-debt To me, however, the most significant change brought about by BRICS is on a geopolitical and diplomatic level.

Essentially trade and political agreements, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization or the Belt and Road initiative. Also diplomacy, for instance Saudi Arabia recently signed historic diplomacy deals with Iran and Syria, brokered by China and Russia. Also, an important addition to what I said earlier about the Quincy agreement: Saudi Arabia has announced a plan to accept payment for oil in Chinese yuan instead of US dollars.

Multilateral agreements precisely aim to safeguard individual nations' interests, based on protectionist and sovereign approaches, without supranational interference.

It isn't openly strategic, but it de facto has strategic implications. Its recent expansion to include Saudi Arabia and the UAE (the Arab world’s two largest economies) will create new investment opportunities and increase its influence. It is interesting to note that Saudi Arabia was historically pretty much under American control (cf. Quincy agreement).

The BRICS now hold a total of 32 percent of the world's GDP, compared to 30 percent held by the G7 countries.

Yes.

Yes, I believe it is an excellent development as I am a firm believer in protectionism, which is why I also support Trump.

America has already lost its preeminent standing in the world. As I said earlier, Pax Americana is over and we are entering an era of multilateralism. Legacy Western media outlets (which seem to be the sole source of information of this forum's users) are entertaining the fantasy that Western powers still have significant influence on the world stage, while the truth is they are bankrupt in every sense of the term. Below are two examples from the Financial Times which perfectly illustrate the level of denial the West has reached: March 2022: Running a siege economy: Russia prepares to endure pain of sanctions Deep recession is expected as country begins to diversify and rely on trade with allies https://www.ft.com/content/47121812-621a-404a-b60f-e2a7f62c5236 February 2024: The surprising resilience of the Russian economy The Russian economy’s resilience has stunned many economists who had believed the initial round of sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago could cause a catastrophic contraction. https://www.ft.com/content/d304a182-997d-4dae-98a1-aa7c691526db

Yes I am.

Pretty much throughout the 2Oth century. For some indispensable background information, I recommend reading Zbigniew Brzezinski's The Grand Chessboard and Anthony Sutton's Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution.

Direct quote from Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger.

From the article: He told Lockdown TV that “if only one version of the facts is allowed then that gives a huge incentive to wealthy and powerful people to seize control of things like Wikipedia in order to shore up their power. And they do that.” He said it (Wikipedia) “seems to assume that there is only one legitimate defensible version of the truth on any controversial question. That’s not how Wikipedia used to be.” [...] Mr Sanger cited the example of an article about US President Joe Biden and says it doesn’t include information from the Republicans’ perspective. I'll pass on the Pavlovian anti-Putin drivel.

Kasparov is a great chess player and he should stay at the chessboard, the "regime change" he advocates is a thing of the past, Pax Americana and everything it entails is over and "the West" no longer calls the shots, it should be obvious by now.

What Sanger says is that Wikipedia is not an objective outlet and overwhelmingly leans towards the political views of those who run it. Based on this premise, it is not a valid source to be quoted as fact. I am sorry for Navalny, his wife and children. But as always, I am wary of simplistic dichotomies and am aware of the nuances and gray areas of someone who is clearly a very dubious character. And I can only laugh cynically at the hypocrisy of those who hail him as a hero because the media says that is how it is, but will readily turn a blind eye to Julian Assange who is facing the same fate in the UK and USA, which are of course incredibly democratic countries without a drop of blood on their hands.

And the next three paragraphs: He told Lockdown TV that “if only one version of the facts is allowed then that gives a huge incentive to wealthy and powerful people to seize control of things like Wikipedia in order to shore up their power. And they do that.” He said it (Wikipedia) “seems to assume that there is only one legitimate defensible version of the truth on any controversial question. That’s not how Wikipedia used to be.” Wikipedia is visited by millions every day and is the first online repository of information for many.

You can't expect to know the truth if you read sources such as Wikipedia. Here is what its co-founder Larry Sanger says about it: Nobody should trust Wikipedia, says man who invented Wikipedia https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/wikipedia-founder-larry-sanger-democrats-b1885138.html

He was a convicted crook who had a long-standing history of corruption and embezzlement with his brother Oleg. Russian investigators accuse Alexei and Oleg Navalny of defrauding a Russian subsidiary of the French cosmetics company Yves Rocher out of about 26m roubles (about $811,000; £505,000). [...] In a further charge, the Navalny brothers are charged with laundering 21m roubles (about $656,000, £408,000) in funds. [...] In that case, he was found guilty of heading a group that embezzled timber worth 16m roubles from the Kirovles state timber company, while working as an adviser to the governor of the Kirov region, Nikita Belykh. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24731503

Some people really need to get help.

All one needs to do is read books such as Times of Feast, Times of Famine: A History of Climate Since the Year 1000 by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie. The world has always been through cycles of cold and heat. We are currently entering a warmer cycle, yes. But the doctrine put forward by the likes of John Kerry? A political agenda, solely based on "findings" by dubious bodies such as the GIEC, which will not stand the test of time.

For what it's worth, the smaller scooters always give me lower back pain after a few km. Never a problem with a larger one such as PCX and above, due to better riding position and weight distribution of the bike. With those small scooters, you're always compensating with your body one way or another, even without realising it.

The whole world has seen a dramatic drop in birth rates over the past couple of years. Very compelling. What is the common denominator?