Day: August 11, 2022

On This Day in History: Federal prisoners land on Alcatraz

Ms. Cat

A group of federal prisoners classified as “most dangerous” arrives at Alcatraz Island, a 22-acre rocky outcrop situated 1.5 miles offshore in San Francisco Bay, on August 11, 1934. The convicts—the first civilian prisoners to be housed in the new high-security penitentiary—joined a few dozen military prisoners left over from the island’s days as a U.S. military prison.

Federal prisoners land on Alcatraz

UK waged ‘dirty’ propaganda operation in Africa

Ms. Cat

Secretive British ‘dirty tricks’ unit smeared Kenya’s leftist vice president during the Cold War

A covert unit within the British Foreign Office targeted Kenya’s first vice president, Oginga Odinga, in the 1960s as part of a “black propaganda” campaign, The Guardian reported on Saturday, citing newly declassified documents. After Kenyan independence from the UK in 1963, London perceived the left-wing politician as a threat to its interests, according to the papers.

UK waged ‘dirty’ propaganda operation in Africa

DIEGO GARCIA: STEALING A NATION AND HOW ‘INTERNATIONAL RULES’ DON’T APPLY IF IT IS THE US OR UK

Ms. Cat

One of John Pilger’s most remarkable documentaries, bringing a little-known story to a wide audience, is Stealing a Nation, about how British governments ruthlessly expelled the population of the Chagos Islands, a crown colony in the Indian Ocean, in the late 1960s and early 70s to make way for an American military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island.

DIEGO GARCIA: STEALING A NATION AND HOW ‘INTERNATIONAL RULES’ DON’T APPLY IF IT IS THE US OR UK

Producing New Enemies for No Reason Whatsoever

Ms. Cat

A good friend of mine, learning of the impending visit of Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, recalled Homer’s description of Helen of Troy, “The face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the towers of Ilium.” Well, Nancy ain’t no Helen of Troy, but she might nevertheless be in the business of launching warships and burning cities due to her bizarre interpretation of her foreign policy prerogatives as Speaker.

Producing New Enemies for No Reason Whatsoever

How Ukraine Lost Its Riches

Ms. Cat1 Comment

How Ukraine Lost Its Riches

If the ‘west’ really wants to deprive Russia of money it must immediately lift the sanctions and restart importing oil, gas and coal from Russia at then much lower prices.

Russia will not lack money to finance the rebuilding of Novorossiya’s great industries. Once that is done those areas are evidently able to support themselves and to guarantee a high standard of living. They will also have enough money to militarily defend themselves against anything the poor rest of Ukraine will be able to finance.

At the end of March, after negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey, there was nearly an agreement on a ceasefire and on the end of the war. Joe Biden then tasked Boris Johnson with telling Zelensky to continue the war. The ‘west’ would otherwise stop paying him. Zelensky did as he was told and stopped all negotiations with Russia.

An agreement with Russia at that time would have kept the Ukraine mostly as one state with only minor losses in the Donbas. But the decision to continue the hopeless war also ended all chances for Ukraine to keep its riches.

It will be poor and helpless while its ‘western’ neighbors will feast on it.