To Russia, with food, tons of it (archived)
Related:
Jeffrey Sachs Discusses The War in Ukraine, ‘Shock Therapy,’ and More
Tag: GAO
On the strategic relationship between Venezuela and China
During a state visit to the People’s Republic of China in September 2023, Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro met president Xi Jinping and both agreed to strengthen the relationship of their countries by establishing seven sub commissions to elevate it to the level of ‘all-weather strategic partnership’. This is the culmination of a relationship that began with president Hugo Chavez’s first visit to Beijing in 1999, the very first year of his presidency.
On the strategic relationship between Venezuela and China
US Military Modernization – Are We Doing it Right?
Doesn’t sound good!
Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso sign mutual defence pact
Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso sign mutual defence pact
Mali has, in addition to fighting jihadists linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group, seen a resumption of hostilities by predominantly Tuareg armed groups over the past week.
Related:
Mali peace deal under threat following increase in attacks by armed Tuareg groups
Read More »Don’t Be So Quick To Listen To America’s Retired Generals On Ukraine
Don’t Be So Quick to Listen To America’s Retired Generals on Ukraine: Americans have always loved military leaders, especially generals; the 1970 movie Patton, about the life of the United States’ greatest World War II commander, is still popular in America. When the current crop of active and retired generals speak today, it is unsurprising that most in our country reflexively accept what they say at face value. Especially as their assessments and advice relate to American vital national interests in the Russia-Ukraine War, however, such trust should be reassessed.
Don’t Be So Quick To Listen To America’s Retired Generals On Ukraine
He doesn’t think that we’re in a proxy war with Russia?!
Related:
Jeffrey Sachs Discusses The War in Ukraine, ‘Shock Therapy,’ and More
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:
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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[2008] Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.
Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
Sheila Bair, Former Chair of the FDIC, Is Now an “Organizer/Director” of a Cayman Islands Crypto Company that Got a U.S. National Bank Charter Last Year
On November 17, Sheila Bair, the former Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) during the financial crisis of 2008, went on CNBC to lament the lack of controls leading to the collapse of the crypto currency exchange, FTX. During the interview, Bair used the phrase “nobody looking behind the curtain.”
Sheila Bair, Former Chair of the FDIC, Is Now an “Organizer/Director” of a Cayman Islands Crypto Company that Got a U.S. National Bank Charter Last Year
Related (why no one was prosecuted for the financial crisis of 2007–2008 + another comment):
Read More »The Latest Digital Token Scheme from Hell: New York Fed Teams Up with Citigroup and Sullivan & Cromwell
Just two business days after the crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy and headlines swirled around the world suggesting it had used its crypto token to perpetuate a massive fraud reminiscent of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, the New York Fed thought this would be an ideal time to announce it was launching a digital token pilot with the serial fraudster, Citigroup. (See here for the unintelligible, jargonized version from the New York Fed; here for the decrypted translation from CoinDesk; and here for a sampling of Citigroup’s rap sheet.)
The Latest Digital Token Scheme from Hell: New York Fed Teams Up with Citigroup and Sullivan & Cromwell
Hundreds of Key U.S. Warplanes Aren’t Ready for Combat, Government Report Finds
Hundreds of Key U.S. Warplanes Aren’t Ready for Combat, Government Report Finds
The GAO says the Department of Defense “generally concurred” with its recommendations to “prioritize and complete required sustainment reviews” faster in order to develop plans to fix the availability shortfalls. “The Navy,” the GAO states, “did not agree to complete sustainment reviews in a timelier manner, citing resource limitations.” Just to be clear, the Navy’s budget in 2021 was $161 billion, and yet it claimed it did not have enough resources to figure out the depth of the problems that are grounding half of its fighter jets.
Advertisement for more funds for the Navy?! 🤷🏼♀️
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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