Many people are aware of the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracking site and its cool, end-of-the-world looking dark mode maps with all their data about the coronavirus. Here is what it looks like at the time of this writing:
By John Laforge | CounterPunch | September 18, 2020
We need a broad public debate … about the sense and nonsense of nuclear deterrence.
—Rolf Mutzenich, German Social Democratic Party Leader
The poisoning of Alexei Navalny has created intensified support by pro-U.S., and especially pro-NATO, officials in the European Union, to block the nearly completed NordStream 2 natural-gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, and to import into the EU, instead, far costlier U.S. LNG, liquefied natural gas. A very real possibility thus now exists that the poisoning of Navalny will turn out to have been worth many billions of dollars to U.S. frackers, by causing the nearly-completed NordStream 2 to be turned to waste so that fracked U.S. LNG will sell in Europe.
Paul ROBINSON
The Navalny poisoning story keeps getting odder. After the Russian oppositionist fell ill on a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk, his supporters claimed that he was likely poisoned by a cup of tea he consumed at Tomsk airport. Now we’re told that the poison was in a bottle of water he drank in his hotel in the same town. Alexei Navalny’s team have released a video showing them packaging up materials from Navalny’s hotel room including a couple of water bottles. This, we must suppose, is meant to corroborate the bottle poisoning thesis.
Sputnik – 18.09.2020
MOSCOW – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday questioned why the items that could serve as evidence in the case of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny were taken out of the country.
There is an old saying that allegedly came out of the French Revolution, that revolution, like the god Saturn, devours its own children. It was reportedly uttered by Georges Danton at the trial that preceded his execution and could be applied equally to the demise of Trotsky after the Russian Revolution. It meant that the leaders that drove the dramatic political developments frequently get a taste of power and become resistant to any further change. They often end up turning on their own former followers who have different ideas on how to run the country.
By Svetlana Ekimenko – Sputnik – 16.09.2020
Nord Stream 2, a joint venture between European energy companies and Russia’s Gazprom, has battled challenges such as obtaining clearances from involved countries and US sanctions. It now faces threats from the German government to halt construction over Russia’s purported role in the yet-to-be-proven poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny.
The Financial Times ran a piece on September 10th about the doctor in Sweden who charted that country’s course through the COVID-19 pandemic without shutting the country down. Many people have probably heard at least something about this, but probably not much detail. Here we present selected excerpts of the FT piece (and of course a link to the whole piece), supplemented by additional material and comment.
Over the past few weeks I've been occasionally blogging about the emergence of a new geopolitical reality that I've been calling "The Quadruple Entente," […]
The post AND THE KAISER WILHELM AWARD FOR THE MOST INEPT DIPLOMACY GOES ... appeared first on The Giza Death Star.
RT | September 15, 2020
When asked by RT, German government representatives failed to explain the mystery surrounding Alexey Navalny’s associate M. Pevchikh, who was with him at the time of the alleged poisoning and fled for Germany shortly.
German government spokespeople were grilled by RT Deutsch during a press conference on Monday. The officials, however, failed to provide any actual answer about the woman identified by Russian authorities as Marina Pevchikh.
