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Post by pieter on Mar 16, 2020 11:32:19 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Mar 16, 2020 18:43:54 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Mar 16, 2020 18:45:03 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Mar 16, 2020 18:46:35 GMT -7
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Post by kaima on Mar 17, 2020 1:21:39 GMT -7
With the social and economic impact this is bringing world wide, it will be interesting to see what the brave new world to follow is like!
Kai
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Post by pieter on Mar 17, 2020 12:59:40 GMT -7
Kai,
The citizens of that futuristic World State are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarchy. The present day Brave New World is more advanced than the dystopian society of the Brave New World from 1931 from Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963). The already technical advanced and scientific Huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology will make that New World order possible. Open source intelligence, social media intelligence, human Intelligence, technical intelligence or intelligence from the deep and dark web, will be possible combined with a Brave New World like Sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by only a single individual, the 'Great leader', 'the great example', 'the world leader' of that futuristic World State.
Nanotechnology, clone technology, Robotocs, digital control, super state structures, an everything covering camera control (from the ground, the air, the water spaces and from every angle), bureaucratic superstructures with sound, facial, fingerprint and eyes recognition. Systems, structures and bureaucracies with 21th century nomenklatura and apparatchiks, well functionating human looking robots, signal intelligence methods and cyberwarfare against independent, individualistic and Free thinking people, groups, movements and parties who threaten the New Collectivist World Order which requires total indoctrination of citizens who will have to be forced into submission. The citizens must think, act and behave according to the 'New Collectivist New World Order system'. Old thought, traditions, customs, beliefs, attempts, desires, directions, ideologies, theories and practices will be prohibited. There is one way of thinking, one direction, one directive one system, one ideology, one technology and one state.
The New Brave New World is a Borg like Social Darwinist society of the survival of the fittest. People who are superior in sports, in education, in science, in financial-economical achievements are the norm. The ritch and wealthy class is good and okay, the poor class is inferior and is replacable. They can be worked to death as slaves. Libertarian, conservative, fascist, Nazi and communist (Marxist/Hegelian) ideas are combined in the New World order system. The best elements of totalitarian ideas of the past are merged. Nazism and Stalinism are merged and combined with hyper technological capitalism. Strict, tough and hard, the functionaries, apparatchiks and the system soldiers must inforce the New World Order and system with an 'Iron fist'. Every resistance must be broken and people must be forced into submission, and must be willless, mentally broken, indoctrinated, obedient, slavish, apathic, medicalized, numb citizens who follow the orders of the 'New World Order Elite'.
The World State is built upon the principles of Henry Ford's assembly line: mass production, homogeneity, predictability, and consumption of disposable consumer goods. While the World State lacks any supernatural-based religions, Ford himself is revered as the creator of their society but not as a deity, and characters celebrate Ford Day and swear oaths by his name (e.g., "By Ford!"). In this sense, some fragments of traditional religion are present, such as Christian crosses, which had their tops cut off to be changed to a "T", representing the Ford Model T. In England, there is an Arch-Community-Songster of Canterbury, obviously continuing the Archbishop of Canterbury, and in America the Christian Science Monitor continues publication as The Fordian Science Monitor. The World State calendar numbers years in the "AF" era—"Anno Ford"—with the calendar beginning in AD 1908, the year in which Ford's first Model T rolled off his assembly line. The novel's Gregorian calendar year is AD 2540, but it is referred to in the book as AF 632.
From birth, members of every class are indoctrinated by recorded voices repeating slogans while they sleep (called "hypnopædia" in the book) to believe their own class is superior, but that the other classes perform needed functions. Any residual unhappiness is resolved by an antidepressant and hallucinogenic drug called soma.
The biological techniques used to control the populace in Brave New World do not include genetic engineering.
In Brave New World Revisited (1958), Aldous Huxley concluded that the world was becoming like Brave New World much faster than he originally thought. Huxley analysed the causes of this, such as overpopulation, as well as all the means by which populations can be controlled. He was particularly interested in the effects of drugs and subliminal suggestion.
Today the control of authorities worldwide, the intelligence communities, marketing communication departments of multi-nationals, the Financial markets, Elites of Biilionaires and millionaires (with their networks to protect their interests) and certain powerful media conglomerates, ideologies and leaders is scary. Democracy, Freedom, the Separation of Powers (the Trias Politica, the Rechtstaat), Checks and ballances, the values of the Constitution and Bill of Rights and Universal Human Rights are undermined by world powers. These world powers have contempt for citizens, Freedom and equality. Average citizens, working class people and the lower middle classes have never been important to the political, financial-economical and military elites. Neither for the diplomats and the Nomenklatura of China, the US Federal government, the Russian Federation, the European Union, Iran, Saoudi Arabia, India, Israel and other states.
This is a very sombre, negative and pessimist scenario, but on the other side I see solidarity, cooperation and empathy world wide.
Cheers, Pieter
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Post by Jaga on Mar 18, 2020 3:51:49 GMT -7
Pieter, I saw these drones video....
Kai, The satellites noticed that the quality of air is much better. It became better in Wuhan, and now in Northern Italy, The astronomers are happy since the stars are much better visible. The politics is less based on party and more on solving problems.
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Post by karl on Mar 18, 2020 14:22:54 GMT -7
With the social and economic impact this is bringing world wide, it will be interesting to see what the brave new world to follow is like! Kai Kai An excellent question that at the moment is speculation. A great number of people appear to look at a half glass of milk as half empty, whilst a few see it as half full.. My self am not a financial speculator but in the real world of reality, much depends upon if a person is a buyer or seller..for once the dust has settled, it may be a buyers market and if so, then the losers may as well take a walk to where ever. Speaking only for the State of Germany, the health of the country depends upon the consumer market, and if people/states/government stop consuming, then the German economy will down grade. That what is constant for which ever state will apply, and that is working people are not working, they are not paying taxes and with this, they began to consume less which is a trickle effect upon the various industries. For then first the small companies rather they be a service industry or producing, will most likely feel the pain first, then the big boys to cut cost first with lay offs, then a trickle down of production as inventories build with associated cost of storage. If the inventories are of hard goods, well and good, a nice fire sale after the fact will most likely take care of that issue.But, if the inventories are of the perishable kind, that becomes an financial loss in as well as climbing insurance claims. For as the trickle down effect, so goes the cost of unemployment claims that will come about and so on. It appears our known world is changing, but as people are for the most part, resourceful, they will always be an answer.. What though will our enemies take of this? For now they know what makes us as democratic people tick and what is our down fall, in one word, mass fear and associated confusion. Karl
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Post by pieter on Mar 18, 2020 16:44:25 GMT -7
Dear Kai/Karl,
Excellent question and answer. Today I have very little knowledge, means, budgets, journalistic tools and medical information, statistics, sufficient dossiers, files, archives and sources and contacts to do my job propperly. It is for sure a hard time for the free West, our governments and medical services.
I think that the World Bank, Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the National European banks and The Bank of England are doing their upmost best to uphold the national economies with mass injections of billions of dollars and euro's. Federal ReserveThe U.S. Federal Reserve and its global counterparts moved aggressively with sweeping emergency rate cuts and offers of cheap dollars to help combat the coronavirus pandemic that has jolted markets and paralysed large parts of the world economy.
The coordinated response from the Fed to the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) came amid a meltdown in financial markets as investor anxiety deepened over the difficulty of tackling a pathogen that has left thousands dead and put many countries on virtual lockdowns.
The Fed moved first on Sunday, cutting its key rate to near zero in a move reminiscent of the steps taken just over a decade ago in the wake of the financial crisis.
The U.S. decision triggered emergency policy easings by central banks in New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, with Australia also joining with a liquidity injection in a coordinated move aimed at stabilising confidence as the pandemic threatened a global recession.
"The virus is having a profound effect on people across the United States and around the world," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a news conference after cutting short-term rates to a target range of 0% to 0.25%, and announcing at least $700 billion in Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities purchases in coming weeks.Global RecessionThe global economy will go into recession this year. The downturn will be sudden and sharp. And although a constructive response from policymakers, companies, and households could limit its duration, its effects will be felt for decades to come.
Most economic forecasts for 2020 predicted a year of steady if not rising growth. The International Monetary Fund’s January forecast update saw growth picking up from 2.9 percent in 2019 to 3.3 percent in 2020. And there were plenty of reasons to be optimistic: the “Phase One” trade agreement between China and the United States, the reduction of Brexit-related uncertainties, and strong consumer spending, especially in the United States and Germany, which seemed likely to spur companies to proceed with delayed investment plans.
Then came the novel coronavirus. With the economic shock of the health crisis spreading around the world, economists are scrambling to revise their projections. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development recently slashed its forecast for 2020 growth by half, from 2.9 percent to 1.5 percent, and the IMF has signaled that it will issue a significant revision soon. But even this first round of revisions may have been too optimistic, since they incorporated the widely held (but incorrect) assumption that the recovery would follow a sharp V-like pattern—a first-quarter hit that is immediately offset in the second quarter. With growing recognition that a U-shaped recovery is more likely, forecasts will need to be revised down again, and revised down sharply. They will also have to take more seriously the risk of an L or even an I—that is, a market that remains flat or in free fall for some time—if severe financial dislocations end up adding to the global economy’s woes.
Cheers, Pieter
Sources: Nasdaq and the Financial Times
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Post by kaima on Mar 20, 2020 19:47:54 GMT -7
Well, from this 'entertaining' graphic it seems Alaska has a good opportunity to protect its people and avoid the effects of the Corona Virus. Population 737,000 Area 663,000 square miles Area 1,718,000 Square kilometers
Social Distancing? We got this! I say entertaining, simply because we enjoy not just such a great and beautiful area, but we also suffer from standard urban problems with nearly half of our population in the city where I now live, Anchorage. So density varies tremendously in our state, from rarely matched distances to standard densities of population, and the challenges that come with bridging and serving those two extremes. One dramatic example I recently discovered was in posting on social media about the Iditarod sled dog race, some 1049 miles long (a number close to true, but the 49 was chosen as the "rounded" number, since we are proudly the 49th state to enter the Union.) That is 1678 km distance ... and a casual walk from Berlin to Moscow is almost identical at 1774 kilometers! As far as dealing with the spread of the virus, we have a mixed bag of results. Our governor is much like a wannabe Trump with many gaps in his statements and logic and a thick, tough coating of thingy suredness. We have tremendous weaknesses in our infrastructure, having too few people for a real economy (about 1/3 oil, 1/3 government and the last 1/3 split between tourism and small, mostly service businesses). The everyday health care system is rather good for our needs, the only real complaint is the extreme cost of services, high enough that insurance companies will often offer to fly you Outside (the local term for Outside Alaska) for hospital care, operations & other treatments, and will cover about 100% of your reasonable costs - and still spend less on you than if you had the same treatment in Alaska. All of that adds up to one more spot on the surface of this earth prepared to collapse with a major disruption like this virus is bringing about. On top of everything we have traditionally only a two week supply of fresh foods up here. In other words we are quite dependent upon ships and planes bringing in our supplies. Imagine walking or running dogs from Berlin to Moscow ... that is what is shown here, and it is just a small part of our state! Kai PS. The race was won by a Norwegian this year, Thomas Waerner.
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Post by Jaga on Mar 21, 2020 5:07:23 GMT -7
Kai, you probably feel safer in Alaska in these difficult times than anywhere else. As you said, Alaska is mainly empty, but the towns you have can be crowded and dirty. I saw some men drinking too much alcohol there on the streets.
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Post by pieter on Mar 21, 2020 6:00:30 GMT -7
Kai,
This time is a time to think about circular self supplying economies. I hope that the Alaskans can organise food supplies from the mainland. I hope that the spring and summer are good to you so that you can grow as much vegetables, patatoes and other crops as possible. Maybe Alaskan fishermen can fish more fish. But I understand your dire situation. Keep us informed.
That two week supply of fresh foods up there for sure is a problem. Being dependent upon ships and planes bringing in rour supplies is scarry today if the mainlanders are being infected and becoming ill. Do you have enough Alaskan pilots and ships to take care of your own food supplies?
I hope that the Alaskans together with the Federal Government can find solutions to this serious challange. I wish the best to you your family and friends over there.
Stay healthy, fit and stay positive, optimistic and realistic over there. A large problem next to the virus is the 'scare wave', that some people become hysterical, irrational and panicking. We have to stay calm, realistic and pragmatic. I know you are Kai (Ron) and that is what I like about the Slovak-American Alaskan you are.
Take good care of yourself over there my friend and keep us informed. I will continue to make images in this North Western part of Europe in my Eastern Dutch area where I will be stuck for a while. My parents are taken good care of and thank god they live in a very low densly populated area with excellent health care and good food supplies.
Thank you for these excellent last posts of yours. I have an image of the Alaskan situation now.
Cheers, Pieter
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Post by karl on Mar 21, 2020 9:55:14 GMT -7
Kai
My self do applaud your great State of Alaska and for both the location and care for the citizens that live there. It is understandable of the great distances from the interier out to hospitals equipt to treat those victims of this currant virus. It is very understandable for in the spirit of cost, to fly those effected out of state for treatment.
Karl
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Post by kaima on Mar 21, 2020 14:08:46 GMT -7
With all of our remoteness, you can see that we are in the middle of everything. We get flights between Europe and Asia, and Asia and the East Coast of the USA. Fairbanks, our second largest city with about 50,000 people, has an airport longer than 11,000 feet (10,300 when I worked there). It is almost the precise middle of the Tokyo- New York flight path, and for decades it was a Pan American center. Here is how it looked in the 'old days' before long range jets: Then Russia smartened up and opened up the Siberian air paths and greatly reduced our passenger stop overs and refueling profits. We remain a great cargo plane stopover. Our first case of corona virus was the captain of just such a cargo plane. Then we are also quite important to arctic ship travel, offering quite a bit of coastline to the trip. Depending upon the post-virus restructuring of the world and the demand for tour ships on the Northwest Passage route, we face challenges in coastal protection for oil spill or passenger rescue, with great distances and virtually no large scale oil response or rescue capability. We will remain a fore front for Coast Guard and military bases in our weak efforts to 'be prepared' for extraordinary events. Can we see Russia from Alaska? I have seen it, but I have never seen Sarah Palin's house! Here is a write-up if you wish: www.thealaskalife.com/blog/russia-alaska-bering-strait/There haave been a lot of pipe dreams about developing Alaska, even before marijuana was legal up here. Here is an old concept map, or perhaps a new one - they all look alike, often enough. Perhaps this one will be realized as part of the Chinese program to build roads around the world.
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Post by kaima on Mar 21, 2020 14:38:56 GMT -7
The Spread of Coronavirus Eastern Europe Prepares for the InevitableMany countries in Eastern Europe are taking drastic measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 -- in part because their health-care systems may not be up to the task.By Jan Puhl 19.03.2020, 13:40 Uhr Lukasz Szumowski has pretty much everything necessary to be a successful politician at the moment. He is a doctor, he worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta after he completed his studies and was a full professor by age 44. For the last two years, he has been Poland's health minister. Szumowski isn't exactly a shrill populist. With his sonorous voice, he addresses the Polish public each day, rattling off statistics on the newest coronavirus cases. There were 287 of them on Thursday. "It will get worse," the minister said. He doesn't try to sugarcoat anything, and the people of Poland are grateful to him for it. Even the opposition praises him -- a rarity in a Poland marked by deep political divisions. cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/f6e89135-5fe9-41ea-a466-15175b402d2f_w948_r1.77_fpx69.83_fpy44.99.jpg"It will get worse." Lukasz Szumowski, Polish health minister Szumowski is seen as the driving force behind the clear line being followed by Warsaw in its battle against the virus. Poland was one of the first countries in Europe to close its borders, and since then, almost all Eastern European countries, from the Baltic states in the north to the Balkans in the south, have followed Warsaw's example. Public life in the region has come to a virtual standstill and the old city centers of Prague, Krakow and others are deserted. The ski lifts in Slovakia have stopped running and the beaches of Croatia are empty. But there is more to the precautionary measures that meet the eye. Eastern European countries have an even greater need to do all they can to keep the virus out because many of their health-care systems are far more vulnerable. For years, thousands of doctors and nurses have been leaving countries like Romania and Bulgaria for better pay in Western European countries. "Health systems in Central Europe have been under pressure for some time, reflecting a combination of staff shortages — in part caused by historically low salaries and high levels of migration — and a long history of underinvestment in health facilities,” Martin McKee, a professor in European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the news website Balkan Insight. Thus far, there have been relatively few confirmed cases in Eastern Europe. Bulgaria and Albania each only reported their first coronavirus deaths on Wednesday. The Czech Republic thus far has the most confirmed cases, with 522, but is taking the threat seriously. Late on Tuesday night, a military plane landed at the airport in Prague. It had been dispatched to China by Prime Minister Andrej Babis and returned carrying 150,000 rapid test kits. But every country in Central and Eastern Europe is facing its own challenges: * Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu recently requested a telephone conference with his counterparts to the west. His country, which has 258 confirmed cases, is the easternmost country in the European Union and many Estonian citizens are still stuck abroad. As they try to make their way home, they are facing huge traffic jams at the German, Polish, Latvian and Lithuanian borders. * Latvia, with 71 confirmed cases, has postponed elections for the Riga city council due to the threat of becoming infected. The election had originally been scheduled to take place on June 6. * The government of Lithuania (33 confirmed cases) has passed a 5-billion-euro aid package aimed at preventing layoffs and softening the economic blow of the crisis. * In Hungary, the first country to close its borders in the refugee crisis under the leadership of right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the head of the country's coronavirus task force was recently forced to admit: "We are facing a pandemic that knows no borders." As of Thursday, 58 people in Hungary had been diagnosed with the virus and the country is expecting "hundreds" of new cases in the coming days. Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova receiving representatives of the parties involved in the country's new governing coalition. JAKUB GAVLAK/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock * In the neighboring country of Slovakia, with 105 confirmed cases, members of the new government - a coalition made up of four different political parties – reported to President Zuzana Caputova wearing face masks. The new parliament, elected in late February, is to gather for the first time on Friday. All parliamentarians are required to show up wearing face masks and rubber gloves. Furthermore, their temperatures will be checked before they are allowed into the plenary hall. * In Romania, with 260 confirmed cases, the coronavirus emergency has produced a rather strange political phenomenon. In February, the Social Democratic opposition voted against the liberal government in a no-confidence vote. But at the beginning of this week, the center-left suddenly threw its support behind the government. The party's strategy appears to be that of allowing the liberals to mess up their handling of the crisis in the hopes that new elections will then be held later this year. * Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has decided that Europe cannot be relied upon in the crisis and has turned to China for help. In a letter to Beijing, he requested that "brother and friend" Xi Jinping please send "everything" to Serbia, including doctors. Serbia has 89 confirmed cases thus far. Vucic turned to Beijing in response to EU limitations placed on the export of medical goods, a move that put Serbia in a bind since the country still isn't a member of the European Union despite years of effort. Belgrade has postponed parliamentary elections that had been scheduled for the end of April. Poland, for its part, has thus far declined to delay its presidential election, scheduled for May 10. And despite the continuing spread of the virus, incumbent Andrzej Duda, of the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, is traveling around the country and urging his people to be courageous in the face of the challenge. Camera teams from Polish state television - which the PiS has largely transformed into its party mouthpiece – usually travel with him. Polish President Andrzej Duda has continued traveling through the country despite the spread of the coronavirus. Opposition candidates, meanwhile, have had to put their campaign on hold. Large gatherings have been banned, and if the opposition were to nevertheless continue campaigning, they would open themselves up to accusations of not taking the illness seriously enough. Still, the PiS isn't even considering a delay to the vote. According to current public opinion surveys, Duda stands to win in the first round of voting. Not everyone, though, is happy with Duda's course. Journalist Jacek Nizinkiewicz recently wrote in the conservative paper Rzeczpospolita that "Andrej Duda is basing his campaign on the coronavirus." Original write-up is at: www.spiegel.de/international/europe/the-spread-of-coronavirus-eastern-europe-prepares-for-the-inevitable-a-7a5717be-e740-45cd-9558-90ea5c13d440
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