Morning music
I knew the (now-deceased) painter (and leading psychiatrist) Dominic Beer when we were both 5-6 years old. I have previously briefly blogged about him.
Battles past
Tweets seen
That is very true. I have known several mixed-race persons in my life; most if not all were not only very different from their parents (where I also knew them) in both looks and temperament, but had considerable psychological problems.
See also: https://archive.org/stream/aebhw25/aebhw25_djvu.txt.
Looks as though Putin is reasserting control after what I called at the time a modern-day “revolt of the Streltsy” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streltsy_uprising] a few months ago. Not exactly a coup or putsch, but something more akin to a demand for privileges and participation in policy-making.
All the same, Putin may regret the apparent passing into history of the Wagner Group. It fought well, despite having been composed, in part, of persons with little conventional military experience.
The brunt of the fighting in Ukraine (and possibly beyond) will now fall upon armoured units, artillery, and air power, not mass infantry formations such as Wagner Group.
Russia cannot “lose” the Ukraine war, unless there is upheaval and/or revolt in Russia itself. Putin seems to have taken the view that Wagner Group had to be dispersed in power and its leaders removed.
Of course, it may be that the air incident was simply an accident, or an assassination by others, eg Kiev-regime services, but those possibilities seem less likely.
Well, they look cheerful enough, not obviously “defeated”, but that group is surely little more than a rabble.
Amazing. Something I have never seen, nor even heard about, previously.
A good cause…
https://www.gofundme.com/f/our-resident-aunt-fannys-cat.
More tweets
The tweets refer to an interview with Trump and the “alt-Right” commentator Tucker Carlson.
No matter which candidates win the Republican and Democratic nominations, and no matter who ends up as the next U.S. President, the victor will have to stop the present slide to nuclear war. Take away the Jew Zelensky’s ricebowl. Stop giving money and arms to “Ukraine” (the Kiev regime). Stop supporting Israel, too.
On a lighter note…
Late tweets
What happens if Trump now receives the Republican Party nomination for the 2024 election? What happens if he then wins?
Is he expecting a nuclear war in Europe? Is the rat leaving the sinking ship?
Late music
Ian Robert Millard 
Regarding Prigozhin “accidental death” (LOL) Here is a video by a retired professional airline American pilot who makes videos about safety issues in the aeronautical industry; therefore, a highly-qualified expert. Go to the end of the video (minute 4.40 and you will hear him say the words “initial explosion” that “crippled the plane”. I rest my case.
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Hello! An interesting video (4 years old) put together by the team of “60 Minutes” Australia; the title says everything: “Inside China’s ghost cities”. I do not understand the idiotic policy of the Chinese government. Another detail that it does not make any sense; knowing their brutal and despotic nature; you would expect the Chinese authorities to remove the people from their villages to re-settle them in these new cities, but nothing has happened; they stay there, empty.
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Claudius:
Very interesting. I am just watching that.
I suppose that the “ghost cities” and other real property are a kind of act of faith. A question of investor confidence, even though the whole thing is a ridiculous house of cards.
The same could be said of any currency, of course. If people have confidence in it, it has value even though what you own is either a load of paper bills, or digits on a screen.
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I agree with you. However, I do not understand why the Chinese government has not forced the villagers to move into these new cities. Not that I support that brutal tactic, but it is what you expect from such a ruthless, totalitarian regime. In a way I am glad for the farmers/villagers. Fancy living in those horrible high-rise prisons, because that is what they are.
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Claudius:
Because the “ghost cities” have no economy of any kind. No factories or plants. Chinese villagers are engaged in agriculture, growing food for themselves and the urban masses. If uprooted and sent to live in the “ghost cities”, they would starve, and food for the real Chinese cities would be reduced.
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