Steve Bull's Blog, page 29
May 23, 2024
A Lawless World Driven to Brink of War and Political Assassinations. “Signs of Endgame Collapse”
On Monday May 20th, with the UN’s International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant along with three Hamas leaders for war crimes, and President Joe Biden again repeating, “What’s happening is not genocide. We reject that,” still insisting that Zionist Israel is not engaging in genocide against Palestinian people, we live in an increasingly dangerous world. This comes just days after a failed assassination attempt on an EU national leader, and then the sudden death of Iran’s president and foreign minister, today’s outrageous tempo of disturbing world events is extremely ominous.
The fact is, every single day now we are waking up to more perilously foreboding signs of endgame collapse, imminent world war between top nuclear powers, political assassinations, and yes, a polarized, seemingly out-of-control world, chaotically growing exponentially more unstable and violent by the week. This unending stream of unfolding incidents signify escalating global destabilization, the globalists’ deliberate controlled demolition of our planet gone mad. None of this is by chance nor by accident. It simply reflects the systematic breakdown by diabolical design of all life as we’ve known it. Destructive omens of accelerating upheaval and potential mass death appear near daily now, coming in large shocking doses.
Image source
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was nearly murdered last Wednesday May 15th. He is only one of two EU national leaders friendly to Russia opposing military aid to Ukraine, and the only national leader alive in this world investigating Pfizer and the powerbroking co-conspirator culprits behind the COVID kill shot holocaust, determined to publicly hold them criminally accountable.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Insane Footage Shows Tornado Destroying Wind Farm In Iowa
Shocking footage from Iowa this evening shows multiple tornadoes wreaking havoc on massive wind turbines. This is yet another reminder that wind is not a reliable power source.
Here’s the aftermath.
Two months ago, a solar farm in Texas with hundreds of acres of ground-based panels was destroyed by a hail storm.
Hail-shattered panels at the solar farm in Fort Bend County, Texas (FOX26 and Houston KRIV via Fox News)Despite the evident challenges and risks, radical leftists continue pouring billions of dollars of taxpayer funds into unreliable green energy.
… and perfect timing! “Twisters,” a standalone sequel to the 1996 film “Twister,” is set to debut this summer.
Menace on the Menu: The Financialisation of Farmland and the War on Food and Farming
Between 2008 and 2022, land prices nearly doubled throughout the world and tripled in Central-Eastern Europe. In the UK, an influx of investment from pension funds and private wealth contributed to a doubling of farmland prices from 2010-2015. Land prices in the US agricultural heartlands of Iowa quadrupled between 2002 and 2020.
Agricultural investment funds rose ten-fold between 2005 and 2018 and now regularly include farmland as a stand-alone asset class, with US investors having doubled their stakes in farmland since 2020.
Meanwhile, agricultural commodity traders are speculating on farmland through their own private equity subsidiaries, while new financial derivatives are allowing speculators to accrue land parcels and lease them back to struggling farmers, driving steep and sustained land price inflation.
Top-down ‘green grabs’ now account for 20% of large-scale land deals. Government pledges for land-based carbon removals alone add up to almost 1.2 billion hectares, equivalent to total global cropland. Carbon offset markets are expected to quadruple in the next seven years.
These are some of the findings published in the new report ‘Land Squeeze’ by the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES), a non-profit thinktank headquartered in Brussels.
The report says that agricultural land is increasingly being turned into a financial asset at the expense of small- and medium-scale farming. The COVID-19 event and the conflict in Ukraine helped promote the ‘feed the world’ panic narrative, prompting agribusiness and investors to secure land for export commodity production and urging governments to deregulate land markets and adopt pro-investor policies.
However, despite sky-rocketing food prices, there was, according to the IPES in 2022, sufficient food and no risk of global food supply shortages. Despite the self-serving narrative pushed by big agribusiness and land investors, there has been no food shortage…
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
May 22, 2024
Ecological Disruption and Militarization of Antarctica Will Push the Planet Closer to Tipping Points
Antarctica, a continent about 40% larger than Europe in area, has also been called the world’s largest desert and the coldest, windiest, loneliest continent. Such descriptions do not exactly make this the most attractive continent, but in keeping with our times, those looking for minerals and geo-strategic advantages can find their own allurements.
So far this continent has been among the relatively better managed places in the world, but this can change rapidly with the increasingly emerging fearful possibilities of ecological disruption and even militarization.
If such a drift takes place, this will be a tragedy much beyond this continent as Antarctica has a very important role in protecting the badly endangered ecology of the entire planet.
The vast ice sheets which cover this continent almost entirely make an important contribution in maintaining heat balance by naturally deflecting sun rays, and this has an increasingly more protective role for earth. This continent contributes also by maintaining the water circulation system.
The glaciers here are estimated to have 70 per cent of the freshwater supply of the world.
This is a habitat for many species which are found only here, and some of the species found here, such as the larger whales, have important protective roles on their own.
Although best known for its many species of penguins and seals, Antarctica is also home to its unique krills which provide food for many species apart from playing other ecologically important roles.
Although ecologists have been warning against increasing dangers of plastics, other pollutants and above all invasive species being introduced here in recent times as well as the threat posed by destructive fishing practices, on the whole the continent has been reasonably well protected so far in terms of any locally caused ruin…
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
EU Commission VP: “We Believe Our Fact-Checking Is Already Influencing User Behavior”
If you’re tired of censorship and surveillance, join Reclaim The Net.
The European Parliament (EP) elections are taking place next month and, considering that the president of the European Commission (effectively, “the EU government”) and all its commissioners are confirmed by the EP, no wonder many of them are currently on a campaign trail.
One is European Commission Vice President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova, and she is toeing the line the EU has taken ahead of this election: fear mongering about misinformation, AI, and Russia.
This is then used to make sure current, contested, and controversial policies remain at a minimum unchanged, and best-case scenario, from the EU bureaucrats’ point of view – ramped up.
What those policies amount to is succinctly demonstrated in just one recent statement by Jourova: not only is the bloc embracing “fact-checking”, and not only is this supposed to take car2 of “misinformation” – the intent seems far more profound, and threatening to democracy : fact-checking is already influencing user behavior, bragged Jourova.
“We believe our fact-checking is already influencing user behavior. We see that when people realize something is wrong with the material, they often refrain from sharing it with friends on social media,” she said.
She chose to take her “Democracy Tour” to a number of EU countries that are likely believed to be the most susceptible to her message of an impending “misinformation” doom around the election (the message framed around by and large unproven allegations of misinformation campaigns).
To promote current EU leadership policies, Jourova talks up all those things that have put the EU and its understanding of democracy and freedom of expression under so much scrutiny over the last years: various new regulations that allow for mass censorship and/or surveillance, and continued reliance on “fact-checkers.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Where You (Shouldn’t) Store It: Nine Places
Think like a thief…
A marketing email just came from Michael Major, author of a book called No Grid Survival Projects, on where NOT to hide your valuables. His ideas are sometimes counterintuitive, which makes them potentially useful:
9 Hiding Spots In Your House Where Looters Always Look FirstYou may think you already have it figured out for how you can keep your stockpile a secret and hidden from any thieves or looters who may break in.
Unfortunately, thieves and looters can be a bit smarter than you may think. They’re already taking a major risk by breaking into any home, and they won’t want to leave empty-handed in exchange for taking that risk.
Furthermore, many thieves and looters will already be experienced and know exactly where to look in your home for your valuables or stockpiles.
That’s why it’s critical to be extra creative with where you hide your stockpiles and avoid hiding them in areas where looters are likely to look first.
Here are the nine hiding spots in your house that looters will always look for first:
Attics And Basements
It’s common practice for preppers to stockpile their food, water, and other supplies either in the attics or the basements of their homes.
The logic for doing so certainly makes sense. This way their stockpiles are out of the way and out of sight of any guests who come to visit. It’s important to keep your stockpiles as much of a secret as you can.
Just because your neighbors and regular guests are friendly now doesn’t mean that they won’t come knocking on your door demanding supplies later.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
AP Condemns Israeli Raid, Seizure of Broadcast Equipment
Israeli authorities conducted a raid on the premises of The Associated Press, based in the southern town of Sderot, where they confiscated broadcasting equipment and a camera on Tuesday. Israeli officials justify their enforcement action, claiming infringements of the country’s recent ban on Al Jazeera, of which the AP is one among thousands of clients.
The Associated Press condemned the Israeli government’s decision emphatically, viewing it as a serious violation of their commitment to visual journalism. Lauren Easton, the Vice President of Corporate Communications at the AP lambasted the Israeli authorities stating, “The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our longstanding live feed showing a view into Gaza and seize AP equipment.” She further explained that the shutdown did not relate to the content of the feed but amounted to an ill-advised use of the country’s novel foreign broadcaster law by Israeli officials. Easton called for the returned equipment and the immediate reinstatement of their live feed.
Before the Israeli Communications Ministry officials made their way into the AP premises and confiscated the broadcasting paraphernalia, which was authorized by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, the feed exhibited a generic view of northern Gaza.
The seized live shot regularly portrayed smoke billowing over the territory.
Unheeding a verbal directive given last week to terminate the live transmission, the AP chose to continue its broadcasts. The seizure of the equipment came as a subsequent enforcement action.
Utilizing the novel law, Israeli officials had already forced the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network to shutter its offices, seized their equipment, and placed a ban on their broadcasts on the 5th of May.
China Just Dumped the Largest Amount of U.S. Debt in History
Dropping It Like a Hot Potato, the Lowest level of U.S. Debt Ownership in Decades, Not Just a “China-Leaning” Countries Problem
At this point, the government is completely and totally bankrupt. It’s like Wile E. Coyote that’s walked off a cliff, but doesn’t really realize it yet.
~ Doug Casey
We just learned that China has accelerated its de-dollarization efforts with record sales of U.S. debt.
Turns out, China dumped a staggering $53.3 billion worth of U.S. Treasuries and U.S. agency bonds in the first quarter of this year.
Interestingly, the Chinese government announced the sale right after issuing a joint statement with Russia, where both nations emphasized their resolve to keep moving away from reliance on Western countries.
No doubt, this will seriously dent the appeal of U.S. debt on the international market. But let’s take a closer look to see exactly why.
Yes, It Is a Big Deal...Now, this isn’t the first time China has unloaded a portion of the U.S. debt it owns. For example, the country sold $21 billion in U.S. Treasuries and agency bonds in late 2023.
But what makes this latest dump stand out is that it’s the first time China has shed such a big chunk of debt so quickly.
The move brings the nation’s holdings of U.S. government debt to around $767 billion. That’s the lowest level of ownership in decades.
It’s quite something when you think about it… Just a few years back, China was leading the pack in investing in U.S. debt. Things changed around 2018 though, when the trade war with the U.S. began. By 2019, China ceded the position to Japan as the biggest holder of U.S. debt.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
2024 & the Inevitable Rise of Biometrics
Perhaps you are asked to do captchas to “prove you’re human” and they seem to be getting more complex all the time or simply not working at all?
Why do you think that might be?
We’ll come back to that.
Did you know we’re in a “breakthrough year” for biometric payment systems?
According to this story from CNBC, JPMorgan and Mastercard are on board with the technology and intend a wide rollout in the near future, following successful trials.
In March this year, JPMorgan signed a deal with PopID to begin a broad release of biometric payment systems in 2025.
A Mastercard spokesman told CNBC:
Our focus on biometrics as a secure way to verify identity, replacing the password with the person, is at the heart of our efforts in this area,”
Apple Pay already lets you pay with a face scan, while Amazon have introduced pay-by-palm in many of their real-world stores.
VISA showcased their latest palm biometric payment set-up at an event in Singapore earlier this year.
As we covered in a recent This Week, PayPal is pushing out its own biometric payment systems in the name of “preventing fraud”.
As always, this is not just an issue in “the West”.
Chinese companies have been leading this race for a while, with AliPay having biometric payment options since 2015.
Moscow’s Metro system has been using facial recognition cameras for biometric payments for over a year.
And it’s not just payments, “replacing the password with the person” has already spread to other areas.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Biospheric Cognition
If we are going to nurture into being an ecological civilization, or an ecological culture, we’re going to require what in this writing I will call “biospheric cognition”.
Cambridge Cognition offers a limited and insufficient first stab at defining cognition here.:
“Cognition is defined as ‘the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.'”
This is almost a fully adequate account of cognition, because it includes ‘understanding’ with knowledge. But it fails to give an appropriate place to invention and innovation in thought and understanding — because it doesn’t mention these.
Biospheric Cognition is a radical innovation in human cognition which is emerging now, and could only have emerged and evolved in our time in history. It could not have emerged or evolved in the ancient world, or before modernity, because the sciences which enable biospheric cognition to fully realize itself didn’t exist then.
“The term “biosphere” was coined in 1875 by geologist Eduard Suess, who defined it as the place on Earth’s surface where life dwells.” – Wikipedia, Biosphere
That we live within ecosystems has been well known by traditional people for a very, very long time, since a time even more ancient than ancient civilizations. But even the word and concept of ecology is modern. Modern (and postmodern, amodern, etc.) ecology is a particular kind of knowledge and knowing, and it differs from other-than-modern conceptual schemas. But this hardly means that non-modern people lacked ecological insight or wisdom. It was just different in the premodern and nonmodern context.
We now know things about our world which were not possible to know until recently in history. We know how the atmosphere relates to the ecosystems and the biosphere in a very rich and complex way which would not have been possible even two hundred years ago, or even a hundred years ago.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
