perhaps this admission will be sufficient to preclude the depleted uranium threat and all that might ensue if its used. we can only hope;

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told The Associated Press on Wednesday that if the Donbas city of Bakhmut falls to Russia, he would be pressured to “compromise” with Moscow.

“Our society will feel tired” if the Russians win in Bakhmut, Zelensky said. “Our society will push me to have compromise with them.”

He said if Bakhmut falls, Russian President Vladimir Putin could “sell this victory to the West, to his society, to China, to Iran” as leverage to seek a ceasefire deal that would involve Kyiv ceding territory to Moscow. “If he will feel some blood — smell that we are weak — he will push, push, push,” Zelensky said.

Russian forces are close to encircling the city of Bakhmut, but the battle is still raging as Ukraine continues to send soldiers into what has become known as the “meat grinder.” Ukrainians fighting on the front lines have told the media that soldiers are being sent into battle with very little training, support, and ammunition........more.......

 protect and serve;

In the land of the free, the consequences for stealing sunglasses now apparently include death, as demonstrated by the horrifying incident in Northern Virginia where a police officer fatally shot Timothy McCree Johnson, a man accused of stealing two pairs of sunglasses from a shopping mall. The chilling body camera footage, released by the Fairfax County Police, reveals the disturbing reality of modern policing in America.

Police Chief Kevin Davis announced the termination of Sgt. Wesley Shifflett, the officer who fired the fatal round into Johnson's chest, stating that Shifflett's actions failed to adhere to the agency's use of force policies... an understatement at best. While Shifflett's attorney argues that his client will be exonerated on appeal, it's hard to ignore the fact that no weapon was ever recovered from the scene, raising serious questions about the legitimacy of the officer's decision to use lethal force.

The video documents a brief, frantic nighttime chase through a mall, parking garage, and into a wooded area. In the crucial moments before the fatal shots, it is difficult to discern any clear details of Johnson's actions. Despite Shifflett's claims that he ordered Johnson to show his hands, the video does not capture any such command.

While some may argue that Johnson failed to comply with police commands, the critical question remains: Does a mere suspicion of shoplifting warrant such a violent and deadly response from law enforcement?......more.......

one more essay displaying some of the ways in which the empire is in retreat though more like the way the germans did in ww2, which is grudgingly and with little hope of returning to what it would like to call the 'rules based' world which featured their 'rules' that usually weren't revealed anywhere along the way;

 I’ve written at length about how Ukraine is badly losing its war with Russia.

The U.S. and U.K. media have been a continuous source of misinformation and lies on this topic, so it’s not surprising that most Americans believe that Russia is losing badly.

But it simply isn’t true.

Over 200,000 dead Ukrainian soldiers speak as if from the grave about how badly Ukraine is losing. They’ve lost much of their best personnel and are sending fresh troops to the front lines with only rudimentary training. Many of them don’t last more than a couple of days.

On the other hand, Russia is in the process of mobilizing 400,000 new troops. That’s in addition to perhaps 400,000 now in Ukraine, and 300,000 or more in reserve.

Ukraine is also low on ammunition, while Russia has dramatically been increasing ammo production. Russia also maintains sizable leads in every major category of equipment from aircraft, to tanks, to artillery.

A Last Hurrah?

It appears that Ukraine is preparing for a significant spring offensive, supported by new equipment from NATO and fresh troops trained in NATO countries, but Russia is also preparing for it.

It seems like a last-ditch effort to push Russia back on the battlefield, but its success, if it happens, is far from certain.

What if it does fail? Then what?.......more.........

 mr peters speaks to the rapidly encroaching tyranny of the empire in coming vehicles;

It used to be you had to drive through the “checkpoint.”

Soon, you’ll be driving it.

Part of the Biden Thing’s “infrastructure” edict includes a requirement that cars made beginning with the 2026 model year come standard with what amounts to what courts used to order sometimes be fitted to the cars of people convicted of drunk driving. The italics are important.

It is no longer necessary in this country to have done something in order to be punished for it. This is just the latest example. Others include being treated as presumptively sick and ordered to wear a “mask” because you might be, endlessly.

No matter how obviously not-sick you are.

This was preceded by presumptive terrorism – i.e., everyone who travels by commercial airliner (but not, it is worth mentioning, private jet) is handled – literally – as if they actually had threatened to blow up an airliner.

Also on the theory that they might..........more.........

 the empire is collapsing and its well past time for this to happen;

The edifice of American imperial power has never been challenged at its foundation. It is now.

Russia and China are determined to hold the American perpetrators of the Nord Stream sabotage to account. Uncle Sam’s days – indeed decades – of wanton criminality are over. There’s going to be hell to pay as the imperialist tyranny in Washington hits a wall of reality.

Several weeks have gone by with the United States and its Western lackeys stonewalling at the United Nations Security Council, squirming and resisting calls from Moscow and Beijing for an international criminal investigation into the sabotage of the Baltic Sea pipelines that were blown up in September.

A swathe of independent observers, such as American economics professor Jeffrey Sachs and former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, have concurred with the investigative report published on February 8 by renowned journalist Seymour Hersh which claims that U.S. President Joe Biden and his senior White House staff ordered the Pentagon to take out the natural gas pipeline that runs along the Baltic Sea bed from Russia to Germany.

Russia and China are adamant about not letting this vital subject be ignored. They want a proper investigation, international accountability and criminal prosecution. Moscow and Beijing are right to insist on this. Washington and its Western allies’ presumption of impunity has gone on for too many decades. The buck stops here and both Russia and China are strong enough to ensure that the United States cannot threaten, blackmail, or arm-twist its way out of scrutiny.

The Nord Stream project is a major international civilian infrastructure, costing in excess of $20 billion to construct over more than a decade. At 1,200 kilometres in length under the Baltic Sea, it is an impressive feat of engineering, symbolizing the mutual benefits of good neighborliness and cooperative trading.........more..........

 the dumocorps are beginning to be recognized for what they've become;

Independent journalist Matt Taibbi – of recent “Twitter Files” fame – has exposed the fact that civil liberties are no longer popular among Democrats. Taibbi appeared on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo” to reiterate his perspective that the modern Democratic Party no longer represents the values of the everyday American.

“About all of this — Matt, how do you feel about all of this? I know before you started discovering this bad behavior, you identified as a Democrat, and now you’ve got all of your friends, quote-unquote, in the media attacking you for exposing this,” Bartiromo asked.

“Yeah, it’s funny, I mean, I was raised in a traditional ACLU liberal, I believed in free speech all my life. That was one of the things, frankly, that attracted me to the Democratic Party when I was a kid, the idea that we were the party that believed in letting everybody have a say, and we’ll just make a better argument, and that’s how the system works,” Taibbi said.

He continued, “Apparently, something very dramatic has changed in politics in America, and there’s been a shift. There’s no question about it anymore, that now the parties have had a complete reversal on how they read these issues.”......more.......

 pcr presents a bit more evidence that the empire is collapsing and so far the tv and 'our' government has yet to speak the truth out loud;

Why the Dollar-based International System Is Breaking Up

Paul Craig Roberts

The Federal Reserve’s higher interest rates after 12 years of zero interest rates are devaluing the asset side of banks’ balance sheets.  This frightens depositors and they withdraw their deposits.  Depositors also are withdrawing their money because they can get much higher interest rates on safe US Treasuries. According to some reports, $1 trillion has already been withdrawn from US banks.  Bloomberg is reporting rumors that Schwab’s $7 Trillion empire based on low rates is cracking from bond losses.  In the face of this vulnerability of the financial system, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates further.

There is also the problem of the currency and interest rate derivatives.  No one knows the risk in these instruments.  The US dollar itself is declining in use as world reserve currency.  Alarmed by Washington’s weaponization of the dollar with sanctions and confiscations, much of the world is arranging to abandon the dollar’s use to settle international trade accounts, but the supply of dollars is not declining.  This implies a fall in the dollar’s exchange value. The offshoring of manufacturing and food production has made the US heavily dependent on imports.  A loss in the dollar’s exchange value resulting from countries settling their trade balances in other currencies means a sharp rise in US inflation.  

The Federal Reserve hasn’t the intelligence to think through the consequences of its higher interest rate policy.  The federal government cannot comprehend the consequences of offshoring for the US trade deficit or the consequences of continuing massive US budget deficits for the Treasury market........more.........