Tag: Free Markets

U.S. Press Starts To Figure Out College TikTok Bans Are A Dumb Performance

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

U.S. Press Starts To Figure Out College TikTok Bans Are A Dumb Performance

One, the bans are generally designed to agitate a xenophobic base and give the impression the GOP is “doing something about China.” But the party that couldn’t care less about rampant corruption or privacy violations isn’t doing much of anything meaningful to thwart China. In fact, letting adtech, telecom, and app companies run rampant with little oversight runs contrary to any such goal.

Two, the bans distract the public and press from our ongoing failure on consumer privacy and security issues. Banning TikTok, but doing nothing about the accountability optional free for all that is the adtech and data-hoovering space, doesn’t actually fix anything. China can just obtain the same data from a universe of other international companies facing little real oversight on data collection.

Three, the ban is really just about money. Trump gave the game away with his proposal that TikTok be chopped up and sold to Oracle and Walmart. That cronyistic deal fell through, but it’s pretty clear that this moral panic is designed to either help TikTok’s competitors (Facebook lobbyists are very active on this front), or force the sale of the most popular app in modern history to GOP-allies. At which point they’ll engage in all the surveillance and influence efforts they pretend to be mad about.

Related:

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Jeffrey Sachs Discusses The War in Ukraine, ‘Shock Therapy,’ and More

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Jeffrey Sachs Discusses The War in Ukraine, ‘Shock Therapy,’ and More

Perhaps the most stunning bit of information in the interview comes from Sachs’s disclosure of the reason for the failure of “Shock therapy” in Russia. “Shock therapy” is the name given to the abrupt transition from the Soviet-style command economy to a market-oriented economy. It was a success in Poland, but a failure in Russia where it led to a depression deeper and more costly than our own Great Depression. Why? Sachs was an advisor to Poland and then Russia for the “therapy.” So he had witnessed a “controlled experiment,” as he put it elsewhere. At a certain point it the process, financial help from the outside was needed to revive the economy on a new basis. It was provided to Poland; but when Sachs called for the same help in Russia, it was refused by the West, specifically by the White House. This happened despite Sachs’s direct pleas to the White House. The depression that followed was neither accidental nor a surprise. Far from it. This was the first time that the US attempted to “weaken” post-Cold War Russia, an attempt that was eventually reversed under Putin.

Related:

Russian aid controversy:

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded a project by the HIID to help rebuild the Russian economy on the basis of western concepts of ethics, democracy and free markets. Jeffrey Sachs was said to have “packaged HIID as an AID consultant”. USAID were glad to accept help from Harvard, since they lacked expertise for such a project. The HIID oversaw and guided disbursement of $300 million of US aid to Russia with little oversight by USAID. HIID advisers worked closely with representatives from Russia, notably Anatoly Chubais and his associates. Once USAID accepted help from the HIID, HIID was in a position to recommend U.S. aid policies while being a recipient of that aid. It also put the HIID in a position of power overseeing some of their competitors. The project, which ran from 1992 to 1997, was headed by economist Andrei Shleifer and lawyer Jonathan Hay. HIID received $40.4 million in return for its activities in Russia, awarded without the normal competitive bidding approach.

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Biden was elected to start a war with Russia

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The ongoing US war against Russia has elevated American-allied Nazis to the international stage as ‘freedom fighters,’ resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians, raised the risk of nuclear war, ended any effective international cooperation on environmental issues through rekindling energy geopolitics, assured Europe of one or more Great Depression type winters with limited heating fuel, and more probably than not will soon produce the total annihilation of Ukraine as a modern state by the Russians.

The Americans Started the US War with Russia

Orinoco Tribune Editor: There Was a Coup Against Pedro Castillo in Peru + Some Notes

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Orinoco Tribune Editor: There Was a Coup Against Pedro Castillo in Peru

Rodríguez remarked that the appointment of Vice President Dina Boluarte as the de facto president is a measure adopted by the Peruvian Congress to disguise the coup d’état. “Naming Dina Boluarte as the de facto president is a halfway solution between Pedro Castillo and José William Zapata, the president of Congress, who is a right-wing military man accused of corruption and drug trafficking and what have you,” he opined. “So, I believe they chose Dina Boluarte to prevent greater tension or political instability in Peru… In fact, José William Zapata was the president of Peru for some minutes and then transferred power to Dina Boluarte. This was all that was behind the coup in Peru.”

Some notes, to self, on José Williams, Hernando de Soto, Institute for Liberty and Democracy, Omidyar Network, & Atlas Network:

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Ukraine Peace Talks: Pathetic U-Turn by 30 Dems & Curious Case of Jeffrey Sachs

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Ukraine Peace Talks: Pathetic U-Turn by 30 Dems & Curious Case of Jeffrey Sachs

Related:

Full Video: The Pathway to a Negotiated Peace in the Ukraine with Jeffrey Sachs via Brooklyn For Peace

New US strategy in Africa: serious program or another bluff?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

On October 12, just a couple of months before the loudly announced US-Africa summit, the White House released a rather lengthy document, “The US Strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa”. It defines Washington’s main objectives on the African continent, and details the goals it intends to pursue and the mechanisms of cooperation.

New US strategy in Africa: serious program or another bluff?

Liz Truss Quits as British Prime Minister After Just 44 Days in Office + Daily pictures: Long Live the Lettuce!

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

It’s official—Liz Truss had the shortest tenure of any prime minister in British history. Just 44 days after arriving in Downing Street, Truss’ regime was officially killed off on Thursday along with the United Kingdom’s ability to pretend any longer that it hasn’t fallen into absolute kakistocracy.

Liz Truss Quits as British Prime Minister After Just 44 Days in Office

Related:

Daily pictures: Long Live Larry!

Source: Nicolas Cinquini.

The lettuce won! 🥳

Thailand: US-backed Opposition’s Violence Intimidates Critics, Paves Way for Regime Change

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Oct 19, 2022 – The US-backed opposition in Thailand replicates in many ways the violence and intimidation the US sponsored in Ukraine from 2014 onward – just as Ukraine is meant as a proxy against Russia – a US client regime in Thailand would transform the country into a proxy against China.

An alarming incident of violence where a Thai opposition leader publicly assaulted his critic is dangerously being portrayed as “heroic” by Western-sponsored opposition media to encourage further violence and intimidation – creating the same division and destruction throughout Thai society that is currently consuming Ukraine.

Thailand: US-backed Opposition’s Violence Intimidates Critics, Paves Way for Regime Change (Odysee)- The New Atlas

Resources:

The Complete Guide: US Government Role in Thailand’s “Student Protests”

The New Atlas – Why is Washington Backing Violent Mobs in Thailand?