Thursday, September 29, 2022

Nord Stream sabotage will permanently shift global trade - analysis

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN - 

The destruction of two important pipelines that run from Russia to Europe will likely herald a new global phase of trade as Europe and the West cements its rupture in ties with Russia and becomes more self-reliant. Decades in which European countries sought to tie themselves to Moscow via energy deals and in which they believed that free markets and global trade would make regimes like Russia and China more friendly, have now led to a permanent shift.

A road sign directs traffic towards the Nord Stream 2 gas line landfall facility entrance in Lubmin, Germany, September 10, 2020.
(photo credit: REUTERS/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE/FILE PHOTO)

The reasons for this shift have been a growing trend. The US has been warning for years about the problems with Nord Stream. According to the Nord Stream website, the two “1,224-kilometre offshore pipelines are the most direct connection between the vast gas reserves in Russia and energy markets in the European Union.” Construction on the first line was completed in 2011. This was billed as a “secure gas supply for Europe” and the lines were supposed to transport a combined total of 55 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas a year. But over time the US and other critics became concerned that this would enable Russia to have its hand on the spigot and use energy as a weapon; making Europe too dependent.

The US began sanctioning Nord Stream 2 in 2017. But European countries, especially Germany under Angela Merkel, were in favor of the projects.

Now the pipelines are damaged in a mysterious incident that unfolded over the weekend. It is widely believed to be sabotage and it appears Russia is behind it. It came as a new Baltic pipeline was being inaugurated. It appears to send a message to the West that pipelines and energy are not safe and it is a kind of mafia blackmail where European countries are now being told “you never know when this might happen again.”

A worrying picture


View towards Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline and the transfer station of the Baltic Sea Pipeline Link in the industrial area of Lubmin, Germany, August 30, 2022. 
(credit: REUTERS/LISI NIESNER)© Provided by The Jerusalem Post

Headlines on September 29 painted an increasingly worrying picture. CNN says that European security officials say Russian ships were in the waters near the pipeline when the leaks occurred. A fourth leak was discovered on Thursday. According to Reuters “NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday attributed the leaks on the Nord Stream pipelines to acts of sabotage and said he had discussed the protection of critical infrastructure in NATO countries with the Danish defense minister.” Reports say that seismic meters recorded the explosions that damaged the lines. Now there is concern that a new phase of “hybrid war” may be coming and Russia could use these kinds of incidents to upset the global order.

It's worth thinking about what this means globally. Nord Stream was seen as an important project worth tens of billions of dollars. It was mostly financed by banks in Europe and by Gazprom. Reports said that Gazprom’s investments were driven by Moscow’s interests and geopolitics. Moscow was not only working on these lines, bypassing Baltic states and trying to literally get Europe addicted to the line from Moscow directly; but also Russia was moving ahead with Turk Stream, a project under the Black Sea to Turkey. This means that Turkey was also angling with Russia to make Europe dependent.
How does this impact Israel?

This matters also for Israel and the Middle East because Israel, Greece and Cyprus wanted to partner on an East Med line. It’s not a coincidence that Iranian-backed Hezbollah has threatened the Karish gas field off the coast. Iran has exported drones to Hezbollah and Hezbollah has tried to use drones to threaten the infrastructure working the field. Russia is also acquiring Iranian drones and using them against Ukraine. The threat that Hezbollah poses to offshore gas platforms, and which Russia apparently poses to undersea pipelines going to Europe links to related aspects of this hybrid war and shows how non-western regimes may work together to wreak havoc on energy supplies.

The realization that Russia cannot be trusted to supply gas securely to Europe is leading to an earth-shaking once-in-a-generation event; in which global economies which have been marching zombie-like in one direction towards globalization and knitting everyone together; are now moving in a new direction. This regional protectionism is embodied not only by Europe’s shift away from relying on Russian gas, but also embodied by forums like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization; where Russia, China, Turkey, Iran and other regimes recently met. Those countries want to work together and they are almost all authoritarians. Meanwhile, the US, Europe and western states, and their allies in Asia such as Japan, South Korea, and India, want to work together. Israel’s growing ties with the UAE and also with South Korea, with free trade talks resulting in a new deal recently; represent an important step for the global economy and the Eastern Mediterranean. Connecting the dots between Europe, the US, Israel, the UAE, India, Australia, and other countries makes economic sense; but it also showcases how global trade networks are shifting.
 
COVID enters the scene


At the same time the Covid crisis and China’s decision to crack down internally and cut itself off from the world reversed decades of countries' relying on and investing in China. Apple recently shifted some iPhone production to India, according to reports. This is a big shift in manufacturing strategy, CNBC says. Indeed, many companies and countries are now more wary of China. China’s endless lockdowns and chaos and also the crackdowns in Hong Kong and other trends make it unclear how companies and countries can rely on China.

The lack of a full investigation into Covid origins and missteps in handling the outbreak in December and January 2020, means that countries know they can’t rely on an authoritarian regime for their health security, or rely on them for metals and microchips and other things. Now the West and big consumer countries will think twice.

The globalization trend was part of the US-led global world order inaugurated in the 1990s. The end of the Cold War brought economic and political liberalization. Neo-liberal agendas were supposed to wash away protectionism. However, this didn’t work and the global war on terror and other trends sabotaged the march toward a liberal rules-based world order.

Instead, the new world order that George H.W. Bush had promised has turned into an authoritarian world order. Democracies are finally understanding that hitching their economies to Moscow or Beijing can have catastrophic consequences. The damage to Nord Stream is important, symbolic and also will likely usher in a new global economic world order, amid a rise in tensions between the West and Russia.
ECOCIDE
Fourth leak detected at Russian gas pipeline to Europe

Agence France-Presse
September 29, 2022

An aerial photo provided by the Danish Defense Command shows the Nord Stream 2 gas leak near Bornholm. Following the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea, authorities in Germany and Denmark continue to search for the cause. 
Danish Defence Command/dpa


A fourth leak has been detected in undersea gas pipelines linking Russia to Europe, the Swedish Coast Guard said Thursday, after explosions were reported earlier this week in what NATO called "reckless" sabotage.

The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines link Russia to Germany, and have been at the centre of geopolitical tensions as Russia cut gas supplies to Europe in suspected retaliation against Western sanctions following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The Swedish Coast Guard confirmed Thursday there were four leaks in total on the pipeline in the Baltic Sea -- two on the Swedish side and two on the Danish side. Three leaks were previously reported.

While the pipelines -- operated by a consortium majority-owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom -- are not currently in operation, they both still contained gas.


On Thursday, NATO declared that the damage was "the result of deliberate, reckless and irresponsible acts of sabotage".

"These leaks are causing risks to shipping and substantial environmental damage," the Western military alliance said in a statement.

Russia has denied it was behind the explosions -- as did the United States, saying Moscow's suggestion it would damage the pipeline was "ridiculous".

Russia's security service launched an "international terrorism" investigation into the gas leaks, saying the damage had caused "significant economic damage to the Russian Federation".


It said Thursday suspects a foreign state of being behind the leaks.

The UN Security Council will meet Friday to discuss the matter.

'Constant' gas flow


The vast leaks have caused underwater gas plumes, with significant bubbling at the surface of the sea several hundred metres wide, making it impossible to immediately inspect the structures.

Seismic institutes on Tuesday reported they had recorded "in all likelihood" explosions in the area, prior to the leaks being detected.

A Swedish Coast Guard search and rescue vessel was patrolling the area.

"The crew reports that the flow of gas visible on the surface is constant," the agency said in a statement.

Danish authorities said the leaks will continue until the gas in the pipelines is exhausted, which is expected to occur on Sunday.


Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said at a symposium in Paris that to him it was "very obvious" who was behind the leaks.

He said natural gas shortages in the wake of the war in Ukraine could make for a tough winter in Europe.

"In the absence of a major negative surprise, I think Europe, in terms of natural gas, can survive this winter with a lot of bruises in our bodies in terms of prices, economy and social issues, but we can go through that," Birol said.

According to climate groups, Nord Stream 1 and 2 contained some 350,000 tonnes of natural gas -- methane.

Greenpeace says the leaks could have the effect of almost 30 million tonnes of CO2, or more than two-thirds of the annual emissions of Denmark.

© 2022 AFP
Tucker Carlson suggests US blew up Nord Stream pipeline – and lists possible Russian ‘retaliations’

Gino Spocchia - Yesterday 

Tucker Carlson segment focused on the purported “sabotage” of the Nord Stream gas pipelines connecting Russia and Europe, which the Fox News anchor appeared to blame on the US.


Screenshot 2022-09-28 at 17.46.32.png© Fox News

Speaking following reports of leaks in the Nord Stream pipeline on Tuesday, Mr Carlson suggested that the Biden administration was behind the “sabotage” and act of “environmental terrorism” and warned of a Russian counter-response.

“Blow up the Nord Stream pipelines? OK, we’ve entered a new phase, one in which the United States is directly at war with the largest nuclear power in the world,” said the Fox News anchor.

While the US has not designated the leaks as an act of sabotage, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said the leaks were the result of acts of “sabotage” on the critical piece of energy infrastructure on Tuesday.

Finland, Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom – as well as Russia itself – cited a deliberate attack on the pipeline that prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, supplied Europe with millions of cubic metres of gas annually. Now, that figure is effectively zero.

Citing US opposition to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline connecting Russia and Germany, Mr Carlson suggested that the US president had pre-warned of an attack on the pipeline by playing a clip from a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in February.

Speaking two weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mr Biden said “there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2 ... We will bring an end to it”, if Russia did invade and when asked by a reporter how the US could “end” the pipeline, responded, “I promise you, we will be able to do it.”

The Fox News host, who said he did not believe Russia was responsible for the leaks, added: “Notice how he phrased that. He didn’t say, ‘I will pause the delivery of gas from Russia to Germany.’ He said there won’t be a Nord Stream 2. We’ll put an end to it. We’ll take it out. We’ll blow it up.”


He continued: “If you are Vladimir Putin you would have to be a suicidal moron to blow up your own energy pipeline—that’s one thing you would never do...Natural gas pipelines are the main source of your power and wealth. And most critically, your leverage over other countries.”

Despite those remarks, Russia had already stopped gas supplies to Europe and had been operating Nord Stream 1 and 2 at very limited capacity before the leaks occurred, amid sanctions placed on Russia for the war and other retaliations by European governments.

Russia, which Mr Carlson suggested could cut undersea power cables between the US and Europe to cause an economic crisis and “third world” conditions – amid other possible acts of retaliation – said that it would call a United Nations Security Council meeting over the damage.

Ursula von der Leyen says Nord Stream gas pipeline leaks are 'act of sabotage'
Duration 1:00
View on Watch



In the UK, defence sources told The Times that the most likely cause of the leaks were a Russian drone used to detonate holes in the pipes, which are now leaking gas into the Baltic Sea. That remains to be confirmed however.

Mr Carlson’s comments on Russia and Ukraine were not the first to appear sympathetic to, or in line with, Russian president Vladimir Putin after he called Western support for Ukraine “the largest political flashmob in American history” in March.

Clips of Mr Carlson’s Fox News show are meanwhile used on Russian-state owned television to prove Russia’s point over its invasion of Ukraine, which has dragged on for seven months.

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Early signs Canada could be moving towards a wage-price spiral: Economist

Michelle Zadikian - Yesterday -Yahoo Finance Canada


As more employees demand higher salaries in the face of 40-year-high inflation, one economist says there are early signs a wage-price spiral is in the cards.


As more and more workers demand higher pay in the face of sky-high inflation, economists are debating whether Canada is in for a wage-price spiral. 
(R.J. Johnston/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

“I think we're getting some signals that we're moving that way. I think we've avoided one so far, but let's be honest, we've had above-target inflation for 18 months now,” said Warren Lovely, the managing director of economics and strategy at National Bank Financial Markets, said in a phone interview with Yahoo Finance Canada.

“After enough time has passed, when inflation has been so elevated for so long, it's not unreasonable for workers to demand cost of living adjustments and higher wages.”

A new survey from consulting firm Eckler Ltd. found Canadian employers expect the national average base salary to rise 4.2 per cent this year, the highest in two decades. The survey, which was conducted between July and August and polled 269 Canadian firms across various sectors, said the results were similar to 2022 base pay increases.

“I think what we're starting to see more and more evidence of in these surveys and, in fact, in some of the wage agreements that we're seeing, is a little bit more embedding of higher wage increases, which could make this inflation problem more persistent,” Lovely said.

A wage-price spiral, when higher wages and inflation continuously feed into each other, is something the Bank of Canada is trying to avoid.

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem issued a word of caution to business owners in July.

“My one bit of advice is, the high inflation we see today is not here to stay. So, when you’re entering into longer-term contracts, don’t expect that inflation is going to stay where it is now. You should expect that it’s going to come down,” Macklem told an audience at a Canadian Federation of Independent Business event at the time.

Lovely said the central bank is “desperate” to prevent a wage-price spiral from taking hold since it requires an even tougher monetary policy response, resulting in greater damage to the economy.

So many of the factors driving inflation have been quite global in nature.Brendon Bernard, senior economist, Indeed.com

While the conditions for stronger wage growth, such as runaway inflation and a persistent labour shortage, have been building for some time, not all economists are convinced the country is headed towards such a spiral.
Related video: 9 in 10 Canadians cutting back on spending amid inflation: Angus Reid survey Duration 1:56   View on Watch
Canadian inflation slows but grocery costs are still soaring

“Looking at where inflation has been really strong and has picked up of late, I don't think, at least the story of inflation so far, has been mainly around a wage-price spiral. So many of the factors driving inflation have been quite global in nature,” said Brendon Bernard, a senior economist at job seeking website Indeed.com, via phone.

He acknowledged that a spiral could develop but added that rapid Bank of Canada interest rate hikes could “short circuit” that process.

The Eckler survey also showed pay increases were the number one way employers plan to attract and retain talent amid a tight labour market.

The push for productivity


Higher wages could also be the final push employers need to ramp up their adoption of machinery and technology, where they have traditionally heavily relied on labour for productivity, the economists said.

Hiring challenges can impact business productivity in a number of ways, according to Bernard, including the implementation of more automation or businesses having to hire less experienced workers and train them on the job.

A study from Statistics Canada released in July 2022 found businesses that faced a labour shortage were nine per cent more likely to plan the adoption of new or additional digital technologies.

“More recently, you know, the productivity data leave a lot to be desired. Now, we're at a stage where there really just doesn't look to be a lot of available workers to plug into the economy to meet that marginal sale or that marginal bit of demand,” Lovely said.

“And if we start to see more persistent wage pressure, if labor becomes more expensive, the one thing that would be reasonable to expect is that businesses might shift their focus, and it might provide the incentive for businesses to invest in that other factor of production: machinery and equipment. And that might eventually see some improvements in productivity.”

Michelle Zadikian is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow her on Twitter @m_zadikian.

Political violence casts a shadow over Brazil’s general election

Agence France-Presse
September 29, 2022

Jair Bolsonaro (AFP:Evaristo SA)

Upcoming elections in Brazil are the most polarized in recent history and also the most radicalized – across the country, the electoral campaign has been marked by physical attacks, death threats and even murder. It is a source of growing concern as the October 2 vote draws closer, with more than 67 percent of the population saying they fear becoming a victim of violence for their political choices, according to a recent survey by the Datafolha polling firm.

“I’m going to send someone to kill you, I know where you live.”

Chico Alencar, a congressional candidate for the left-wing Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), received this terse Instagram threat a week ago. The author of the threat, a supporter of President Jair Bolsonaro, compared communism – which Bolsonaro partisans believe to be a grave threat to Brazil – to Nazism.

Alencar, a 72-year-old veteran of left-wing politics in Rio de Janeiro, is no stranger to such hostility. Still, the Rio city councillor has taken extra precautions since receiving this threat: He now travels to work in an armored vehicle accompanied by a bodyguard.

Having filed a complaint with the state’s civil police, Alencar met this week with a local official, Fernando Albuquerque, to get an update on the investigation and the possible arrest of his harasser.

“We’re seeing lots of isolated cases that, when you add them up, form a mosaic of shocking violence,” Alencar says. “These attacks are provoked by people who question the legitimacy of the electronic voting system, who denounce electoral fraud, who say that we are evil incarnate. There is unbelievable radicalization. The perception is that political rivals should be eliminated.”

Physical and verbal attacks target not only political candidates and their supporters but also polling firms, which are accused of bias by the Bolsonaro camp. Since the start of the campaign, Datafolha has recorded around a dozen attacks on its field workers across the country.

Politically motivated murder


The radicalization of the campaign has taken a dramatic turn in the last few weeks. At a bar in Cascavel, a small town in the northeastern state of Ceara, one man stabbed another to death on September 24 after the victim announced his support for former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (known as "Lula"). A Bolsonaro supporter was fatally stabbed a day later after a bar fight in the south of the country.

These were politically motivated murders, according to police investigations, adding to the toll of deadly election violence. In the central state of Mato Grosso on September 8, a Bolsonaro supporter killed his pro-Lula colleague after an argument by stabbing him at least 70 times with a knife and an axe. In Foz do Iguaçu in the state of Parana in July, a police officer fatally shot Marcelo Arruda, treasurer for the local branch of the left-wing Workers’ Party, during the victim’s Lula-themed birthday party. Witnesses said the murderer shouted, “This is Bolsonaro territory! Lula is a thief!”

Nine political parties have denounced this escalation of violence with the Superior Electoral Court, the country's highest electoral authority, calling for it to guarantee security on the day of the election and to establish a telephone hotline to report incidents of political violence.

'A population living in fear'

According to Datafolha, 67.5 percent of the population fears being physically attacked for their political beliefs.

“What we have here is a population living in fear. Around 3 percent of the survey respondents, which would be equivalent to 5 million Brazilians, said they have been the victim of political violence,” says Mônica Sodré, a political scientist and director of the Political Action Network for Sustainability, the organization behind the survey.

“This shows the gravity of the situation. We can’t ignore the fact that we have a head of state whose rhetoric is pro-gun and pro-violence. The way a leader behaves and talks has repercussions on how the population interprets this language and behaves,” she adds.

Since he took office in 2019, Bolsonaro has issued more than 40 executive decrees making it easier for civilians to own firearms. The gun market has since exploded, with Brazilians purchasing an average 1,300 firearms per day.

When questioned during a televised debate aired on the SBT channel on September 24, Bolsonaro rejected any responsibility for the violence committed in his name. The famously provocative president initially made light of the situation, comparing political attacks and murders with brawls between rival football fans. He then went on the attack, criticizing journalists for posing the question: “Trying to hold me responsible for this violence is not serious journalism,” he said.

‘High likelihood’ of violence on election day

Sodré says Bolsonaro’s statements could pose a threat to Brazilian democracy itself. “If we live in a system that is no longer capable of guaranteeing people’s security and freedom of expression, thus imperiling lives, democracy is at risk."

Among Brazilian voters, 40 percent believe there is a “high likelihood” of violence on the day of the vote, according to another Datafolha poll. As a result, 9 percent of those surveyed say they are considering not turning out.

Meanwhile, the Superior Electoral Court has authorized the deployment of the armed forces to 568 municipalities on election day to guarantee that Brazilians can freely exercise their right to vote.

The possible reaction of the Bolsonaro camp to any election result they don't like is a real source of concern. The president has already repeatedly questioned the reliability of Brazil's electronic ballots, and his supporters spread more disinformation daily about the possibility of the vote being rigged despite a lack of evidence. The US embassy in Brasilia called Brazil's election system a "model for the world" in July.

It remains unclear whether Bolsonaro will accept the results, given that some polls are now predicting a first-round victory for Lula.

But Sodré says that she finds reassurance in another of the poll’s findings: “90 percent of those surveyed believe that the winner of the election must be sworn in on January 1, 2023, no matter what happens.”

This article has been translated from the original in French.
'They seem stunned': Bloomberg publishes Navy records of Donald Trump’s theatrical visit to Japan

Brandon Gage, Alternet
September 29, 2022


USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) - Wikipedia

Former President Donald Trump's 2019 visit to Japan included an incident involving his ego and an American warship. On Thursday, Bloomberg Business Investigative Reporter Jason Leopold published the White House Military Office's records of the debacle that he obtained after a long-awaited fulfillment of a Freedom of Information Act Request.

Leopold summarizes the partially-redacted emails between officials in the United States Pacific Command and the Navy in a Twitter thread.

View them at this link:


NEW: Remember when Trump took a trip to Japan back in 2019 and reports surfaced that the WH requested the move the USS John McCain out of view so it wouldn't upset Trump? Well, I #FOIA'd the military for docs about this & 3 yrs later they just arrived.

'This just makes me sad'

The White House Military Office passed along a request to keep the USS John McCain out of sight when Trump visited Japan.

How the sequence of events unfolded:

An email describing how the directives to keep the USS John McCain out of sight during Trump's 2019 visit to Japan were passed to US Indo-Pacific Command and the Navy.

Navy officials wanted names of the individuals responsible for requesting the USS John McCain be kept out of view during Trump's visit to Japan. They seem stunned.

All of the White House Military Office emails about the discussions to keep the USS John McCain out of sight during Trump's visit to Japan are classified and redacted except for one.

Trump denied that these events occurred.


Ban on Aleister Crowley lecture at Oxford University – Guardian archive, 1930

4 February 1930: Disciplinary action will be taken against university Poetry Society if Crowley is allowed to give talk on a 15th century magician

FACSIMILE PAMPHLET banned_lecture_text.pdf (100thmonkeypress.com)

From our correspondent

THE GUARDIAN
Tue 4 Feb 2020 

Oxford, Monday

A lecture which was to have been given to the University Poetry Society to-night by Mr Aleister Crowley has been officially banned. Mr Crowley, who was to have spoken on the fifteenth-century magician Gilles de Rais, has received notice from Mr H Speaight, the secretary of the Poetry Society, not to come to Oxford as disciplinary action would be taken if his lecture were delivered here. The secretary’s letter was as follows:-


Unseen Aleister Crowley writings reveal 'short-story writer of the highest order'

I am writing to tell you that we have been unfortunately forced to cancel next Monday’s meeting of the Poetry Society. It has come to our knowledge that if your proposed paper is delivered disciplinary action will be taken involving not only myself but the rest of the members of the society. In these circumstances you will, I trust, understand why we have had to cancel the meeting.

Mr Crowley’s Statement

Mr Crowley, when interviewed at his home in Kent, said he considered that there was “some underhand business” behind the prohibition. He said he thought the trouble was due to a report that he was responsible, directly or indirectly, for the death in Sicily of a young Oxford undergraduate, Mr Raoul Loveday, who was his secretary. He also said:

“Perhaps the refusal to let me lecture has come because Gilles de Rais is said to have killed 500 children in ritual murder and in some way this was connected with myself, since the accusation that I have not only killed but eaten children is one of the many false statements that have been circulated about me in the past.”

Copies or the lecture which Mr Crowley would have delivered are to be on sale in the streets of Oxford to-morrow.

Editorial: timid Oxford

As is only fitting, Oxford undergraduates are more adventurous than Oxford dons. The Oxford Poetry Society, a typically worthy undergraduate club, decided to venture on a strange fields by listening to a lecture by Mr Aleister Crowley on Gilles de Rais, a fifteenth-century magician known to history as the companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc and to children as the celebrated Bluebeard. The dons, however, took alarm, and so Mr Crowley has had to stay behind in Kent, leaving, one imagines, his inquiring young disciples to the less exciting delights of a paper on Wordsworth, or, perhaps, even on the metrical basis of Alexander Pope’s verse. But perhaps the young men were not really so much adventurous as foolhardy, for, according to Mr Crowley’s statement to a reporter, Gilles de Rais seems to have a been a man of whom the worst might be believed.


From the archive, 13 April 1934: "Black Magic" Libel Action

Mr Crowley, however, seems to think that possibly the ban on his lecture may have been caused not so much by the horror of the tale he had to tell as by a possible confusion in the Vice Chancellor’s mind between the lecturer and the subject of his lecture, for he tells us: “The accusation that I have not only killed but eaten children is one of the many false statements that have been circulated about me.

” The story he had to tell was gruesome enough. De Rais was accused of having killed 500 children in ritual murder, and all that can be said in his defence is that the ecclesiastical court which tried and excommunicated him knew of only 140 cases.

 Perhaps, however, after all, Mr Crowley was only proposing to talk about Rais as the patron and part-author of the Mystère de la Passion, or the Mystery of Orleans. In that case it would be a pity to deprive the young men of so much erudition.


 ALSO SEE

 Aleister Crowley’s Forbidden Lecture Revisited –Murder, Magick & Gilles De Rais
By Mogg Morgan





Joan of Arc becomes non-binary icon in London play

Agence France-Presse
September 29, 2022

France's sainted Joan of Arc has been reimagined as a non-binary icon in a controversial new play in London Joël SAGET AFP

A new play in London has reinvented France's sainted Joan of Arc as a non-binary icon, who rejects female identity as they struggle to find a place in a man's world.

"I, Joan" had not even been performed at Shakespeare's Globe theatre in August when Time Out magazine called it "the most controversial play of the year".

The first images, showing Joan with breasts bound, were enough to set social networks alight.

Hardly a month goes by in Britain without a battle about gender identity and the play has given all sides in the debate fresh ammunition.

The play about France's patron saint, the 'maid of Orleans' who repelled the English in the Hundred Years War in the 15th century, was written by Charlie Josephine, with Joan played by Isobel Thom.

Both Josephine and Thom were born female but define themselves as non-binary.

The staging of the play at the landmark theatre on the South Bank of the River Thames is firmly contemporary, with no period costume.

The wife of the king's eldest son or dauphin, the later king Charles VII, is played by a black woman. Modern choreography defines the fight scenes.

But Joan's story is still told -- from meeting the dauphin and fighting battles to standing trial and being burnt at the stake in 1431.

The question of gender runs throughout.


"To be born a girl and you are not a girl. God, why did you put me in this body?" a short-haired Joan asks at one point, wearing men's clothes.

Joan rejects the dresses that people expect them to put on.

"I am not a woman. I do not fit that word," they say. One of her friends suggests: "Maybe your word has not been invented yet?"


Her allies then suggest she uses the pronoun "they", prompting huge cheers from the audience. Opponents in the play call her "she".

At Joan's trial for heresy, one sentence is repeated by the judges: "Do you think it is well to take men's dress? Even if it is unlawful?"

"What are you so afraid of?" Joan replies, laughing.

"I am not a woman. I am a warrior."

Controversy

Feminists such as Heather Binning, founder of the UK-wide Women's Rights Network, are against the portrayal.

"She experienced what she experienced because she was a woman. You can't change that," she said.

"This lobby group is hijacking all our inspirational women from history. This ideology is insulting to women.

"There's a lot of women we don't know about because history was written by men for men."

But Josephine and Thom defended the play.

"I forgot I was blaspheming a saint," Josephine wrote in The Guardian.

"Nobody is taking historical Joan away from you," insisted Thom on Twitter. "Nobody is taking away your Joan, whatever Joan may mean to you...

"This show is art: it's an exploration, it's imagination."

Shakespeare's Globe took the same approach, likening the interpretation in "I Joan" to the approach of the celebrated English playwright.

"Shakespeare did not write historically accurate plays. He took figures of the past to ask questions about the world around him," it said.

"Our writers of today are no different. History has provided countless and wonderful examples of Joan portrayed as a woman.

"This production is simply offering the possibility of another point of view. That is the role of theatre: to simply ask the question 'imagine if?'"

Zeitgeist


Re-examining Joan's life through a contemporary lens is also taking hold in her native France.

"It's the Zeitgeist," said Valerie Toureille, a university professor specializing in the Hundred Years War and the author of a 2020 book on Joan.

"It doesn't shock me. There are women who decided to take a different path from both men and women. That's the case with Joan of Arc," she added.

Asked about Joan's wearing of men's clothes, she said: "It was for protection against rape and it's much easier to ride a horse as a man than looking like an Amazon."


Nevertheless, for Toureille, men's clothes on Joan was the key issue at the heresy trial.

"This is material proof that backs up the religious argument. For men of the Church, Joan in these clothes went beyond her status as a woman."

© 2022 AFP

 

  

 

 

 

In the 15th Century, France is a defeated and ruined nation after the One Hundred Years War against England. The fourteen years old farm girl Joan of Arc claims to hear voices from Heaven asking her to lead God's Army against Orleans and crowning the weak Dauphin Charles VII as King of France. Joan gathers the people with her faith, forms an army and conquers Orleans. 1948, Director: Victor Fleming, Writers: Maxwell Anderson, Andrew Solt, Stars: Ingrid Bergman, José Ferrer, Selena Royle,

   
 From Columbia Pictures and internationally acclaimed director Luc Besson comes the story of Joan of Arc, the woman who followed her own path and changed the course of history. © 1999 Gaumont.
   
Stars Leelee Sobieski in this one full movie from 2 parts, edited in high definition. 
I hope you'll enjoy this epic production from Alliance Atlantis.

   
 The Passion of St. Joan of Arc Premiered May 29, 2022 

 HM Television (English) The Passion of Saint Joan of Arc is a documentary that has been released on the centennial of the canonization of the Maid of Orleans (May 16, 1920). This brave young woman with a unique mission reminds us just how important it is that Jesus Christ be the King of our nation, of the entire world, and of our hearts. She carried out her mission in absolute fidelity and confidence in God’s will, revealed to her by her “voices”. Hers is not a life of mere heroism, but rather a model of holiness, of complete surrender to God’s will to the point of sacrificing her own life at only 19 years of age. The Passion of Saint Joan of Arc is presented by Javier Paredes, Professor of Modern History. The documentary also features contributions from: His Excellency Marc Aillet, Bishop of Bayonne (France); Sr. Marie de la Sagesse, author of “Santa Juana de Arco. Virgen, Reina, Mártir”; Alain Olivier, President of the Our Lady of Bermont Association (France); Philippe de Villiers, Founder of “Puy du Fou” Theme Park; Margarita Torres, Professor of Medieval History; Fr. Jacques Olivier, Author of Prophéties et prédictions de Jeanne d’Arc; Jorge Fernández, Former Internal Affairs Minister (Spain); Jacques Tremolet de Villers, Lawyer and author of Jeanna D’Arc: le procès de Rouen.
Taliban fire into air to disperse women's rally backing Iran protests

Agence France-Presse
September 29, 2022

Taliban forces fired shots into the air to disperse a women's rally supporting protests that have erupted in Iran Wakil KOHSAR AFP

Taliban forces on Thursday used gunfire to disperse a women's rally in the Afghan capital supporting protests in Iran over the death of a woman in morality police custody.

Both Afghanistan and Iran are run by hardline Islamist governments that enforce strict dress codes on women.

Chanting the same "Women, life, freedom" mantra used in Iran, about 25 women protested in front of Kabul's Iranian embassy before Taliban forces fired into the air, an AFP correspondent reported.

In neighbouring Iran, dozens of people have been killed since demonstrations erupted over 22-year-old Mahsa Amini's death after she was arrested for allegedly breaching rules on hijabs and modest clothing.

On Thursday in Kabul, women in headscarves carried banners that read: "Iran has risen, now it's our turn!" and "From Kabul to Iran, say no to dictatorship!"

"We need to end these horrific governments," said a protester who did not reveal her name for security reasons.

"People here are also tired of the Taliban's crimes. We are sure that one day our people will rise in the same way as the Iranian people," she said.

Taliban forces swiftly snatched the banners and tore them in front of the protesters.

They also ordered some journalists to delete videos of the rally.

An organizer, speaking anonymously, told AFP the rally was staged "to show our support and solidarity with the people of Iran and the women victims of the Taliban in Afghanistan".

'Severe restrictions'

Protests staged by women in Afghanistan have become increasingly rare after the detention of core activists at the start of the year.

Like in Iran, women risk arrest, violence and stigma for taking part in demonstrations calling for their rights.

Since returning to power last year, the Taliban have issued a slew of restrictions controlling women's lives based on their interpretation of Islamic sharia law.

Many of the rules -- including dress code, segregation from men and traveling with a male guardian -- are monitored by the Taliban's vice and virtue police who roam the streets dressed in white.

Women must fully cover themselves in public, preferably with the all-encompassing burqa, according to the rules, which are enforced with varying rigor across the country.

The Taliban have also blocked girls from returning to secondary schools and barred women from many government jobs, although some senior Taliban are divided on the issue of education.

Deputy foreign minister Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai at a function earlier this week said "education is obligatory for men and women".

"If we want national unity then doors of educational institutions must be open for all," he said on live television.

The state of women's rights in Afghanistan remains a top concern for Western nations, with no country yet officially recognizing the Taliban government.

Earlier this week, a United Nations report denounced the "severe restrictions" on women and called for them to be reversed.

"The international community has not and will not forget Afghan women and girls," the report said.


© 2022 AFP
Anti-war novel banned by Nazis revived through German eyes

Agence France-Presse
September 29, 2022

Although director Edward Berger (Far Left) declined to discuss the war raging in Ukraine, reviewers noted the obvious parallels to a story about a soldier fighting for a nationalist lie
 John MACDOUGALL AFP

Banned by the Nazis for its anti-war message, the classic novel "All Quiet on the Western Front" is getting a Netflix revival with lessons for a new troubled age.

The nearly century-old book, already the subject of an Oscar-winning film and an acclaimed TV movie, is being brought to the screen for the first time by a German director.

"My film stands out from American or British (war) films made from the point of view of the victors," film-maker Edward Berger, 52, told AFP.

"In Germany, there is always this feeling of shame, mourning and guilt (surrounding war). It was important for me to present this perspective."

Published in 1929, the novel by Erich Maria Remarque depicts the experiences of a teenage German soldier during World War I.

It is one of the most influential examples of anti-militaristic literature ever written, translated into over 60 languages and selling more than 50 million copies worldwide.

Just one year after it came out, a US film adaptation by Lewis Milestone was released which would win the Academy Awards for best picture and best director.

But its subversive message saw the work banned in Germany and targeted in the 1933 book burnings by the Nazis, who accused it of "betraying soldiers".
'Propaganda and manipulation'

Berger, the director, is best known for his 2018 Emmy-nominated miniseries "Patrick Melrose" starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

He said the movie, which has been selected as Germany's submission for the 2023 international feature film Oscar, aimed to show "the perspective of the vanquished".

This includes aspects not covered in the book: the signing of the Armistice after World War I and the harsh conditions imposed on the Germans that later fed Nazi propaganda to justify nationalism and the outbreak of World War II.

In the novel, the entire conflict is viewed through the eyes of Paul Baeumer (played in the film by Austrian stage actor Felix Kammerer), a volunteer soldier on the Western front.

Once in the trenches, he quickly becomes aware of the absurdity of war and the patriotic brain-washing that got him there.

Berger said he was pushed to accept the project by his 16-year-old daughter, who had just studied this book like several generations of high school students before her.

When he started filming nearly three years ago, he also wanted to tackle growing nationalism in the West.


"There was Brexit, Trump, Orban -- there were a lot of voters choosing the far-right," he said.

"Institutions like the EU, which has guaranteed the peace for us for 70 years, were being called into question by demagogues through propaganda and manipulation."

By making a movie that shows where such developments can lead, Berger said he was also sounding an alarm bell.

'Emotional punch'

Although the director declined to discuss the war raging in Ukraine, reviewers noted the obvious parallels to a story about a soldier fighting for a nationalist lie.

Martin Schwickert of the RND media group called the film "frighteningly current in light of the Ukraine war", saying it "made plain what war means for those who have to fight it".

In the book and the film, Baeumer dies a few days before the end of the conflict along with all of his comrades. Shortly before, he kills a French soldier.

In one of several graphic battle scenes which drew comparisons with Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan", Baeumer recognizes his enemy's shared humanity.

While rummaging in the pocket of the fallen Frenchman's uniform, Baeumer discovers a photo of his wife and his young daughter and blames himself for having made a widow and an orphan.

After its release in German cinemas on Thursday, the film will be available worldwide on Netflix in October.

Its premiere drew mixed reviews, with the conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung withering in its critique: "In Germany, even after 100 years, one can't see the difference between a good and a bad war film".

However the top-selling Bild hailed the two-and-a-half-hour film as "brilliantly shot, wonderfully acted and packing a strong emotional punch".

"As devastating as the story is, it's magnificently brought to the screen. A film everyone should see, especially in these times."

© 2022 AFP

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front

All Quiet on the Western Front (German: Im Westen nichts Neues, lit. 'In the West Nothing New') is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of … See more



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_(1930_film