Blowing up Nord Stream

After I had read the article written by Pulizer Prize winning USA investigative journalist, Seymour Hersh, two things came to mind: cynical hypocricy and "divide and rule". According to the investigation, the USA and Norway worked togheter on blowing up the two Nord Stream pipelines. Seymour Hersh wrote: ""In June 2022 the Navy divers operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives ..."".

As it is know, Norway is a USA satellite and competitor of Russia in natural gas sales to the EU. But it is not a EU member. Norway has never been a EU country. 

In this context, Nord Stream is not even exclusively Russian, as it is 49% owned by EU countries. Consequently, one NATO partner, Norway, helps another NATO partner, USA, to blow up the pipeline which is owned by Germany and other NATO partners. 

I have heard many USA and EU experts on this topic. And they say that people, who haven't yet understood what is going on, continue to think NATO is an "alliance". People have to face the reality that declining American empire choose to simultaneously launch attacks on all three of its main geopolitical rivals: EU, Russia and China. Rather than fix problems at home, they seek to destroy others instead.

Meanwhile, the German government last week rejected Seymour Hersh's report. According to Berlin, it isn't yet possible to share findings on sabotage. It seems that blowing up Nord Stream pipeline is a truly act of war!

The answer remains open.

Many powers are trying to escalate the war

I have been astonished since I heard that Britain should engage directly in war against Russia. The head of the British Parliament defence committee, Mr. Ellwood, recently said: "We are at war in Europe, we need to move to martial law". It's easy to see that some Western powers want (and need) the Ukrainian-Russian war to escalate. 

In this context, the fact that on February 11 Zelensky will be reached via video call, during Italy's festival song, is sparking political controversy. A petition against the speech of Ukrainian president at the Sanremo Festival has been launched in Italy. It is noted that more than 90,000 signatures have been collected until now. The petition, which has been signed by public figures, writers and artists, is against sending weapons to Ukraine, as Italy must end all direct or indirect assistance to one of the parties to the war. 

https://www.byoblu.com/sanremo-libera/

I hope most people will understand soon that the enemy is not China, it is not Russia. The enemy is the military industrial complex. Once again I would like to write Pope Francis' quote about the war in East Europe. In 2022 Pope Francis said: "NATO barking at Russia's doors could have alarmed the Kremlin".

Meanwhile, those politicians calling for weapons & missiles to Ukraine, never call for weapons and missiles for the people of Palestine or for the people of Yemen.

Fueling the Ukraine-Russia war by sending weapons to Kyiv

With regards to the ongoing armed conflict in East Europe, I think that opposing the horrible hypocrisy of fueling the Ukraine-Russia war by sending weapons to Kyiv's government is not anti-EU. It's not anti-Ukrainian. It's not pro-Russian. The European working class have nothing to gain from this war, and everything to lose.

 

Not to mention of a list of ongoing armed conflicts that are taking place around the world. There are wars in Ethiopia and Yemen, and an humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan and Myanmar.

BlackRock

US, UK & EU are sending billions to Kyiv to supply Ukraine with weapons and anti-missile systems. Who pays for that? We, taxpayers.

And who benefits from that? Weaponry manufacturers, obviously.  But who is the largest shareholder in weapon manufacturers? BlackRock. 

Last but not least: who is going to "reconstruct" Ukraine's buildings, highways and power stations after the war? BlackRock. 

It's so simple! We can understand it. 

My son has just sent me two pictures from NY

Just two pictures taken this week by my son, who has been visiting NY since 1st January. He has just sent me the two pictures.

It seems the weather wasn't too cold this week in NY, although the picture above shows a cloudy sky. He will be back in Italy on 9th January. 

Happy new year to all the blogging community :-)

Inflaction hits Christmas dinner.

 

In late November many Mayors began to install Christmas decoretions along the pedestrian spaces. This year They began too early. But while people enjoy Christmas lights outdoors, food inflaction hits Christmas dinner. Actually, fruits, turkeys and fishes' prices have been rising by 45% since the first week of  December. 

According to Daily Mirror, food prices have been raising quicker than inflaction.

 

Meanwhile, on the ground in Ukraine the war still goes on, unfortunately. After the 2022 Qatar World Cup had been played, the mainstrean media quickly began to speak about the Ukraine-Russia war once again. Actually, we didn't hear such news from 20 November to 18 December, and since  19 December we have been hearing bad news about Moldova's people who fear new Russian offensive, Kyiv under attack and German government that freeze Russian assets worth more than $ 5 billion. It seems that while the 2022 Qatar World Cup was holding in Doha, media networks were not interested in spreading news about the Ukrainian war. I only heard something about the ongoing battle in the outskirts of Bakhmut. 

The good news is that volunteers are sending many gifts to Ukrainians boys and girls. In addition, with regards to Christmas holiday, I am so happy to hear Italians will not throw food and will not buy expensive gifts. But EU countries' governments have to shield people from the worst effects of surging prices related to the rising cost of imported natural gas.

Farmland in late Autumn

Just a few pictures of the hills that I saw yesterday while I was driving through the countryside. The owner of the farm (picture below) sells olive oil and veggies. I sometimes buy fruits and veggies that hasn't been shipped from other  continents.

I noticed that farmland shows its unusual brown and beige earthy colours in late Autumn, as it is systematic used to produced food for humans.

Some blogging friends, who live in Canada and North-East USA, are already showing, on their blogs, their environs covered with the first snow. Here, on the 42° parallel and close to the Mediterranean Sea, it is not the case. Probably we will see our environs covered with snow in early winter.

Meanwhile, Christmas decoretions are already along squares and streets.

On the Ukraine-Russia front, I am sorry to hear that the Russian government is ready for negotiations, but there's the USA's refusal to recognise new territories.  This shows that Ukraine government doesn't decide anything in terms of peace agreement. It's so sad! Poor Ukrainian people are suffering while their government isn't allowed to make any choice in terms of negotiations. Actually, other world powers, which are not directly involved in this war, will choose the terms of the peace agreement.

For instance, in my opinion Russians could leave some seized territories in East and South Ukraine if Ukrainians were not to join NATO. This is my thought that could be one of the terms of the negotiation table. 

The good news is that the USA's president would be ready to meet the Russian leader.