Non-Catholic

Foreword to Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities.

Chapter 1 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities.

Chapter 4 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities.

Chapter 7 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities.

Chapter 10 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities.

Chapter 13 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities.

Chapter 16 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities.

Chapter 19 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities.

Ryan McMaken's Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities in audiobook format. Narrated by John Quattrucci.

China has criticized Washington’s decision to provide new military assistance to the self-governed island

Washington’s latest decision to supply arms to Taiwan increases the risks faced by the self-governed island instead of bolstering its security, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Taipei is set to get $8 billion in security assistance under a bill recently approved by the US Congress. The US decision to arm what it  recognizes offficially as a part of China was met with resignation in Beiging, with Wang Wenbin, the spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, criticizing the decision during a press briefing on Wednesday.

“It will only increase tensions and the risk of conflict across the Taiwan Strait, and will ultimately be an act of shooting oneself in the foot,” he warned.

Congress approved $95 billion in foreign aid, most of it military, on Tuesday, with most of the spending related to Ukraine. President Joe Biden is set to sign the bill into law this week.

Taiwan was the last refuge of nationalist forces during the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, and has since remained de facto independent from Beijing and allied with Washington. The One-China policy, which forms the core of its government’s relationship with Taiwan, states that there is only one Chinese national state.

Read more US would beat China in a war – intel official

Under the policy, Beijing seeks the peaceful reintegration of the island and the prevention of any attempt to declare it a sovereign nation, threatening the use of military force if necessary. China has claimed that some political forces in the US are encouraging Taipei to secede, and that the military support offered by Washington fuels separatist sentiments which are part of a US strategy to contain Beijing.

Military ties with the US cannot “save the doomed fate of Taiwan independence,” Wang warned, urging Washington not to create new tensions in the region with its arms supplies.

The rebuke coincided with the arrival of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in China for a three-day visit. According to Western media, one of his key goals is to put pressure on Beijing over its friendly relations with Moscow, and its decision to reject economic restrictions on Russia relating to the Ukraine crisis.

“We see China sharing machine tools, semiconductors, other dual-use items that have helped Russia rebuild the defense industrial base,” Blinken stated last week after a G7 meeting.

READ MORE: US denies submarine pact will trigger arms race

The US is drafting measures to punish Chinese banks involved in such trade, and Blinken intends to use that threat as “diplomatic leverage” during the talks, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Justice (sic) Department Conspired with Biden, FBI, National Archives, and NY Times to Concoct a “Documents Case” against Trump

Paul Craig Roberts

The absence of integrity in the US Department of Justice (sic) is one of the many unremarked threats to American freedom.

Recently unsealed documents that the DOJ gangster special counsel Jack Smith tried to keep secret reveal that the Biden White House colluded with the National Archives, FBI and apparently the New York Times to concoct a DOJ documents case against Donald Trump. [Remember, Biden was cleared of the same charges by the DOJ on the grounds that Biden was “not mentally competent” to stand trial–but he is competent to be president.]

In other words, the documents “case” against Trump was the product of a conspiracy at the highest levels of the American government to frame Donald Trump on a fake charge. Zero Hedge reports: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fking-clown-show-unsealed-court-docs-reveal-biden-doj-colluded-national-archives-target

Tucker Carlson Explains that Watergate Was an Orchestration to Remove President Nixon from Office

Paul Craig Roberts

I have several times reported the same. Nixon was removed because he was making arms limitation agreements with the Soviets and opening to China. This was normalizing the enemy that the military/security complex needed for its budget and power. It was for the same reason that President Kennedy was assassinated by the military/security complex. The growing suspicion about Kennedy’s assassination meant that the military/security complex could not risk a second violent assassination, so Nixon was politically assassinated.

The same strategy was applied to Trump. When Trump said he intended to normalize relations with Russia, he presented himself as the same threat to the military-security complex as Kennedy and Nixon. That is what Russiagate was about, and what documentsgate, Jan 6 Insurrection, and two failed impeachments are all about. When Russiagate and the impeachments failed, they decided to steal the election. When Trump’s support survived all of this, they decided on the indictments. In the least, the indictments will keep Trump off the campaign circuit and use up his resources in legal fees.

It is the determination and ability of the military/security complex to protect its budget and power that makes peace impossible and wars our way of life.

https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1781484602756124759

“War Is a Racket” — US Marine General Smedley D. Butler

Paul Craig Roberts

The Western military security complex has orchestrated a “Russian threat” for the purpose of keeping profits rolling into the coffers of armaments manufacturers and their marketing teams. It has reached such absurd levels as tiny Estonia’s finance minister proposing a “security tax” so that Estonia can protect itself from Russia. And this absurdity is taken seriously.

No amount of “security tax” could protect Estonia from Russia. Moreover, only Estonian stupidity could cause Russia to attack the tiny country. All over Europe there is a ramping up of government agitation for more “defense” spending against a non-existing threat. Remember, it is Washington and NATO that has consistently refused all Russian efforts in behalf of a mutual defense treaty.

As Europe has little capability in armaments manufacture, the spending will flow into the pockets of the US armaments companies–more US fighter jets, missiles, tanks. It is a racket. Stir up a threat and profits rise and executive “performance bonuses” with them.

https://www.rt.com/news/596499-estonia-defense-spending-security-tax/

Moscow ‘condones’ online scams that target the UK’s elderly, Ben Wallace has claimed

The UK is facing certain forms of “unconventional warfare” waged by its enemies, potentially including Moscow-backed online scams that target the elderly, former British Secretary of Defence Ben Wallace has claimed.

The Conservative MP, who resigned from the cabinet last August, told Sky News on Wednesday that the world today reminded him of the interwar periods during the last century.

The situation, Wallace explained, is similar to “the 1930s, but with an added challenge of terrorism and a challenge of unconventional warfare.” As examples of the latter, he cited “disinformation campaigns, the enemies in this country using cyber to divide us, to rob from us, to spy on us, and to create frictions in our society.”

When asked by host Kay Burley which nation posed the biggest threat to the UK, Wallace said it was Russia.

READ MORE: Canadians are ‘target No.1’ for Ukrainian scammers – media

”Many of the big cyber-crime syndicates are based in Russia, curiously protected by the Russian state,” he claimed. “They are the ones robbing your granny and my parents with phishing emails. So, Russia is directly challenging us at all levels.”

Earlier this month, British police reported busting a UK-founded international ring of scammers, which since 2021 alone has stolen from some 70,000 victims in the country. Thirty-seven people were arrested around the world in the LabHost case, the force reported. The statement didn’t mention Russia.

Moscow ‘condones’ online scams that target the UK’s elderly, Ben Wallace has claimed

The UK is facing certain forms of “unconventional warfare” waged by its enemies, potentially including Moscow-backed online scams that target the elderly, former British Secretary of Defence Ben Wallace has claimed.

The Conservative MP, who resigned from the cabinet last August, told Sky News on Wednesday that the world today reminded him of the interwar periods during the last century.

The situation, Wallace explained, is similar to “the 1930s, but with an added challenge of terrorism and a challenge of unconventional warfare.” As examples of the latter, he cited “disinformation campaigns, the enemies in this country using cyber to divide us, to rob from us, to spy on us, and to create frictions in our society.”

When asked by host Kay Burley which nation posed the biggest threat to the UK, Wallace said it was Russia.

READ MORE: Canadians are ‘target No.1’ for Ukrainian scammers – media

”Many of the big cyber-crime syndicates are based in Russia, curiously protected by the Russian state,” he claimed. “They are the ones robbing your granny and my parents with phishing emails. So, Russia is directly challenging us at all levels.”

Earlier this month, British police reported busting a UK-founded international ring of scammers, which since 2021 alone has stolen from some 70,000 victims in the country. Thirty-seven people were arrested around the world in the LabHost case, the force reported. The statement didn’t mention Russia.

NATO member Estonia is considering a new measure to ‘protect’ itself from Russia, its finance minister has told local media

Growing defense costs would leave Estonia with no other option but to introduce a security tax in the coming years, the EU country’s Finance Minister Mart Vorklaev said on Tuesday.

The Estonian government had already agreed to increase the nation’s defense budget to 3% of GDP between 2024 and 2027, up from 2.85% last year, and sharply up from NATO’s 2% threshold, as it seeks to counter a supposed threat from Russia. The former Soviet republic, which shares a 284-kilometer border with Russia, joined the EU and NATO in 2004.

Vorklaev was commenting on an initiative by Estonian Defence Forces’ chief General Martin Herem, who earlier this week proposed increasing his country’s defense spending to 5% of GDP. According to Herem, this would enable Tallinn to buy €1.5 billion worth of ammunition to “deter Russia or destroy its infrastructure” in the event of an attack.

Speaking to news outlet ERR, Minister Vorklaev said that when allocating 5% of GDP to defense, Estonia would have to introduce a broad-based security tax, adding, however, that the new tax would not be introduced until 2026.

The proposal has already sparked criticism, with Vadim Belobrovtsev, a member of the Center Party parliamentary faction, saying he could not imagine where €1.5 billion could come from. Authorities should keep the national economy in focus and think about “how we get out of this economic hole,” the politician said.

Read more Every NATO member has military personnel in Ukraine – Estonia

Last year, the Baltic country’s GDP decreased by 3%, to €37.7 billion ($40.8 billion), data shared by Statistics Estonia shows.

Estonia, along with Latvia and Lithuania, has been on the frontline of the West’s confrontation with Moscow since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.

Earlier this year, multiple senior officials from NATO member states, including the UK, Germany, and Estonia, alleged that Russia was planning an attack on the bloc within the next few years.

Moscow has consistently denied the claims, with President Vladimir Putin insisting that Russia “has no interest … geopolitically, economically or militarily ... in waging war against NATO.”

NATO member Estonia is considering a new measure to ‘protect’ itself from Russia, its finance minister has told local media

Growing defense costs would leave Estonia with no other option but to introduce a security tax in the coming years, the EU country’s Finance Minister Mart Vorklaev said on Tuesday.

The Estonian government had already agreed to increase the nation’s defense budget to 3% of GDP between 2024 and 2027, up from 2.85% last year, and sharply up from NATO’s 2% threshold, as it seeks to counter a supposed threat from Russia. The former Soviet republic, which shares a 284-kilometer border with Russia, joined the EU and NATO in 2004.

Vorklaev was commenting on an initiative by Estonian Defence Forces’ chief General Martin Herem, who earlier this week proposed increasing his country’s defense spending to 5% of GDP. According to Herem, this would enable Tallinn to buy €1.5 billion worth of ammunition to “deter Russia or destroy its infrastructure” in the event of an attack.

Speaking to news outlet ERR, Minister Vorklaev said that when allocating 5% of GDP to defense, Estonia would have to introduce a broad-based security tax, adding, however, that the new tax would not be introduced until 2026.

The proposal has already sparked criticism, with Vadim Belobrovtsev, a member of the Center Party parliamentary faction, saying he could not imagine where €1.5 billion could come from. Authorities should keep the national economy in focus and think about “how we get out of this economic hole,” the politician said.

Read more Every NATO member has military personnel in Ukraine – Estonia

Last year, the Baltic country’s GDP decreased by 3%, to €37.7 billion ($40.8 billion), data shared by Statistics Estonia shows.

Estonia, along with Latvia and Lithuania, has been on the frontline of the West’s confrontation with Moscow since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.

Earlier this year, multiple senior officials from NATO member states, including the UK, Germany, and Estonia, alleged that Russia was planning an attack on the bloc within the next few years.

Moscow has consistently denied the claims, with President Vladimir Putin insisting that Russia “has no interest … geopolitically, economically or militarily ... in waging war against NATO.”

A common knock on libertarianism is that it is so individualistic that it rejects the concept of community. (Think of the political cartoon in which the libertarian lifeguard let people drown.) In truth, strong communities also need free individuals.

How Nvidia Uses Gold Tyler Durden Wed, 04/24/2024 - 06:30