Maybe you’ve never thought of umbrellas as deadly weapons. I never did. But take a look at the ones in the new Zhang Yimou movie Shadow, in which the usual rib-and-cloth umbrella assembly has been replaced with a canopy of long razory knives. At first I thought Zhang had to be making these babies up; but the internet tells me he wasn’t, exactly. Kung-fu umbrella actually is a martial-arts thing, apparently, although the blades we see in the movie, which can be detached with the whip of an arm and sent flying toward an opponent, would appear to be a Zhangian embellishment—needless to say, a very cool one.
After being schooled in this matter, I decided to just accept some of the other retro-futuristic tech on display here—the arm-strapped crossbow gloves, the reed-based scuba gear. Why not? The movie is beautiful beyond the call of the wuxia action genre, and since the story at the heart of it unfolds at a pace that is, shall we say, deliberate, we’ll take all the fantasy pep we can get.
The time is Long Ago. In the court of the Kingdom of Pei we meet a young monarch (Zheng Kai); his pretty sister (Guan Xiaotong); his handsome military commander, Yu (Deng Chao); and Yu’s elegant wife (Sun Li). What we don’t know, at first, is that Yu is a ringer—a body double, or “shadow,” named Jing—who has been brought in by the real Yu (also played by Deng Chao) to take his place and thus conceal from the kingdom’s enemies that its top general has been grievously wounded in battle. The real-deal Yu is hunkered down in a sort of cavern deep inside the royal palace, where a breeze-from-nowhere blows interestingly through his disheveled hair and he makes himself available to his wife and to the imposter Yu for fight training and military consultations. His martial expertise is especially important now that it’s been decided something must be done about an enemy general named Yang (Hu Jun), who has occupied a nearby city, also called Jing, that the Kingdom of Pei has always liked to think of as its own.
What we have here is a kung-fu war story, a love story (more than one, actually), and a spy story, too (there’s a mole in the royal court). As you’d expect from the director who once gave us such game-changing wuxia movies as Hero and House of Flying Daggers, Zhang also provides more fabulous imagery than can probably be taken in on just one viewing. He says he was inspired by the ancient Chinese art of ink-wash painting, and in pursuit of that watery esthetic, after shooting the movie in color, he proceeded to drain most of the color away, leaving behind only skin tones and gashes of red to punctuate the widescreen grayscale.
This is a formidable technical achievement, for which much credit must surely go to Zhang’s customary cinematographer, Zhao Xiaoding, and to his production and costume designers (Ma Kwong Wing and Chen Minzheng, respectively). The blossom-printed rice-paper screens and ornately detailed armor would justify more leisurely appreciation; and some of the exterior textures—a bamboo forest, underwater harbor fortifications and rain that never stops pouring down—create a steely mood of the sort familiar from old Bible lithographs.
The action in this movie is not what you’d call nonstop. There’s quite a bit of exposition at the beginning, and when the picture does kick into gear, there’s not a lot of old-school wire fu to be seen (although what we do see of it is subtly executed). This is fine. Zhang stages some terrifically complex battle scenes featuring crowds of warriors all wielding blade umbrellas or sliding down wet village streets picking off locals with their miniature crossbows. The man’s an action visionary.
He is also a man dedicated to finding higher purposes for female characters and actors. (This is the director who gave Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi their first film roles.) Here, he has not only created a gratifying vengeance arc for Guan Xiaotong’s angry princess (who holds a serious grudge against a clueless prince who tried to purchase her for a concubine), but has also given her one of the great zither-duet scenes (okay, sounds weird—you have to see it). Sun Li’s conflicted wife, increasingly torn between two versions of her husband, is a more passive figure—more hemmed-in by tradition. But it’s her unique style of fighting (the umbrella school, I guess it could be called), that wins the day at the end. Well, more or less—the story, too, is told in shades of gray.
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Berkshire Hathaway shareholders already had plenty to squawk about heading into this weekend after Warren Buffett announced his deal to back Occidental’s bid for Anadarko Petroleum with $10 billion just days before the start of the company’s annual “Woodstock for Capitalists” in Omaha. But in what appears to be the billionaire investors’ latest ruse to shift the focus away from the disastrous performance of Kraft-Heinz and its recent leadership upheaval, the ‘Oracle of Omaha’ has decided to make another stunning revelation during an interview with CNBC that ran late Thursday: For the first time, Berkshire has bought Amazon shares, marking yet another departure from Buffett’s longstanding aversion to tech stocks.
Just like with Berkshire’s decision to trim its Apple stake, the decision to buy Amazon wasn’t made by Buffett, but by ‘one of the other fellows in the office’ – either ‘Todd or Ted’ (Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, two portfolio managers at Berkshire).
“One of the fellows in the office that manage money…bought some Amazon so it will show up in the 13F” later this month, Buffett told CNBC Thursday, on the eve of the kick off of Berkshire’s annual shareholders meeting in Omaha. Buffett was referring to either Todd Combs or Ted Weschler, who each manage portfolios of more than $13 billion in equities for Berkshire.
The 13-F reflecting Berkshire’s decision to buy won’t be out for two more weeks, but the decision to buy isn’t that much of a surprise. Buffett has expressed admiration for Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, but despite his praise, he has never bought the company’s shares, something he said he’s been ‘an idiot’ for not doing.
“Yeah, I’ve been a fan, and I’ve been an idiot for not buying” Amazon shares, Buffett said. “But I want you to know it’s no personality changes taking place.”
The interview was set to air in full on Squawk Box.
Though this is the first time Berkshire has invested in Amazon, Buffett, Bezos and Jamie Dimon famously teamed up to launch a health-care venture designed to serve the employees of their companies.
Amazon shares traded higher in the pre-market on the news.
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2WkDV0Z Tyler Durden
“We are fighting for Europe to remain European, with European values…” – Tomio Okamura, President, Czech Freedom and Direct Democracy party (SPD) and Deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies.
“My friends, we are gathered here today to stand up for our freedom and our sovereignty. The most precious things we have. Because without a strong nation state, there is no democracy. And without democracy there are no liberties…. My friends, our countries are strong nations. Based on a Jewish-Christian and humanistic civilization. That should never change. So, we want to control our own borders again. We do not want mass immigration. And we do not want to be invaded by a tyrannical ideology.” – Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV).
“However, my friends, it isn’t easy to leave the EU, as the British have found out. Despite a majority voting for Brexit, the establishment and the EU have colluded to stop us.” – Janice Atkinson, British MEP, who is also Vice Chair of the Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) political group in the European Parliament.
“Immigration must be stopped, and the Islamist ideology must be eradicated…. Islamization and globalism are new totalitarianisms that threaten European countries.” – Marine Le Pen, Prague Press Conference.
The leaders of several European nationalist parties campaigned in Prague on April 25, ahead of the European Parliament elections set for May 23-26. Pictured: Tomio Okamura (left), president of the Czech Freedom and Direct Democracy Party, Marine Le Pen (center), leader of France’s National Rally, and Geert Wilders (right), leader of the Dutch Freedom Party. (Photo by Gabriel Kuchta/Getty Images)
The leaders of several European nationalist parties campaigned in Prague on April 25, ahead of the European Parliament elections set for May 23-26.
The rally was sponsored by the Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom (MENF), a pan-European alliance of nine nationalist parties dedicated to stopping mass migration and recovering national sovereignty from the European Union.
The Prague event was organized by the president of the Czech Freedom and Direct Democracy Party (SPD), Tomio Okamura, who was joined by Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) leader Geert Wilders, French National Rally (RN) leader Marine Le Pen, the President of Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom (MENF), Gerolf Annemans, and British MEP Janice Atkinson, who is also Vice Chair of the Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) political group in the European Parliament. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-mass migration League party, sent a video message. They spoke to a crowd in Prague’s downtown Wenceslas Square. Following are some excerpts of the keynote speeches:
Tomio Okamura, President, Freedom and Direct Democracy party (SPD) and Deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies:
“Dear friends, dear guests, dear Marine, dear Geert, dear colleagues, I warmly welcome you here in the historical center of the Czech capital. We stand here symbolically at the statue of St. Wenceslas. Under the banner of St. Wenceslas, our ancestors fought more than a thousand years of hard struggle for the freedom and sovereignty of the Czech crown countries….
“Today, Europeans are once again fighting for their survival. It is not just the migration of colonists from Africa and the Arab countries that is changing the face of Western Europe. It is also the growing assault from Brussels on the sovereignty of Europe’s nation states in the name of a multicultural superstate.
“For those who downplay this warning, I would like to mention a quote from the former President of the European Union, Herman Von Rompuy: ‘The time of the homogenous nation-state is over. Each European country has to be open for different cultures.’
“In contemporary Europe, the Brussels aristocracy has no place for nations, and no place for democracy either. The former President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, has been quoted as saying: ‘It is not the EU’s philosophy that the crowd can decide its destiny.’
“And for those who are still not sure about Europe’s ambitions, German Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Roth has called for replacing the principle of unanimity in EU decision-making with qualified majority voting.
“Dear Citizens, the mass immigration of millions of Africans and Muslims to Europe is no coincidence — it is a targeted liquidation of traditional European nation states, as well as the targeted destruction of traditional European values — hence the concept of the traditional family is being liquidated, and patriotism becomes a rude word, because these values are the biggest obstacle to the demolition of nation states.
“It is up to us to decide whether we give up all that our ancestors have sacrificed their lives for, whether we will savor their memory, or defend their heritage….
“I say clearly that the current EU must end! I remind you that at present, European Union directives and regulations outrank the laws of the EU’s member states….
“The European Parliament is the only place where we can change Europe. Come to the polls! Together across Europe we advocate a return to the original model of European cooperation, without regulation from Brussels, when sovereign nation states had a common market and free movement of citizens of European nations. And each state was at the same time a sovereign in its territory, adopting its own laws and, if necessary, protecting its borders.
“We are fighting for Europe to remain European, with European values….
“Dear citizens, dear friends, we say a clear ‘NO’ to further restrictions on the rights of citizens, including the right to own a gun. NO acceptance of Euro currency by the Czech Republic. NO transferring further power from state to EU….
“We are not alone. National patriotic parties are on the rise all over Europe, promoting freedom, democracy and the sovereignty of their peoples.
“We are not alone and together we have a tremendous historic opportunity to win and change the European Union from the Brussels dictatorship to the Union of Free European States, which cooperate on the basis of mutual equality and mutual benefit.
“These elections, if we want, can be a real referendum on the European Union.”
“My friends, we are gathered here today to stand up for our freedom and our sovereignty. The most precious things we have. Because without a strong nation state, there is no democracy. And without democracy there are no liberties.
“Today, we are fighting for our existence. And the biggest threats to our survival and our freedom are the European Union, mass immigration and the Islamic ideology of submission and violence.
“First, let’s talk about the European Union. An undemocratic superstate. It is forcing its commands on the peoples of Europe. It is trying to take away our national sovereignty! And we want to be sovereign, don’t we?
“The European Union is attempting to erase our nation states. But we say; no more! Let’s say it loud and clear: no more! Our nations are shaped by their own history, culture, language and identity and therefore they are impossible to erase!
“My friends, our countries are strong nations. Based on a Jewish-Christian and humanistic civilization. That should never change.
“So, we want to control our own borders again. We do not want mass immigration. And we do not want to be invaded by a tyrannical ideology.
“You Czechs are — as a matter of fact — an example to us all. Because you are opposing the EU asylum policy. You are opposing the Islamization of Europe. You say: Ne, Nikdy [No, not ever]. Your resistance inspires us!
“Let me tell you something about my country, the Netherlands. A few weeks ago, a jihadi attack took place in one of our major cities, Utrecht. Four innocent people were killed in broad daylight in a tram by a jihadist. And in the three largest cities in the Netherlands, the majority of people under the age of 25 are non-Western immigrants. Mostly Islamic. Our people are already a stranger in their own town and country. The Netherlands is given away by the elites. On a silver platter. In many western European countries, it is just like that or even worse.
“The European Union has been pampering Islam for decades now. But Islam is a medieval cult that denies freedom to others. So why should we grant Islam any liberties? We should not, we should stop Islam. By depriving Islam of the means to destroy our identity, we are not violating freedom; we are preserving our identity and guaranteeing freedom.
“As we have seen, the free world has been the victim of many terror attacks in the last few years. From New York, Madrid, Paris, Brussels and Nice to Barcelona, Manchester, Berlin, Stockholm and Marseille innocent people were murdered by Islamic inspired terrorists, that hate us and cherish death more than life. And a few days ago, innocent people died on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka, where Christians in churches and westerners in hotels were attacked and brutally slaughtered. So, Islamization comes with a very high price. One we are not willing to pay.
“Freedom obviously also has a price and we must be prepared to pay it: a choice has to be made. The choice between Islam and freedom. There is no middle way. Because nothing is more precious than liberty and freedom.
“Defending our freedom, defending our way of life, requires all of us to be vigilant, courageous and audacious. It requires all of us to raise our voice. To raise our voice against the enemies of freedom. Against the tyranny of Islamization. Against everyone who tries to silence us!
“The European Union and many governments facilitate Islam and Islamic immigration. Why are they facilitating a totalitarian ideology? Why are they accommodating an intolerant dogma? It is as if they have surrendered. It is as if they have capitulated. But not on behalf of the people. Not on behalf of you.
“We will never apologize for being free men. We will never surrender. We stand on the shoulders of giants. And there is no stronger power than the force of free men fighting for the great cause of liberty. Because freedom is the birthright of all men. And Islam and freedom are incompatible.
“Unless there are radical changes to the present policies towards migration, over 30% of Sweden will be Islamic by the year 2050. And almost 20% in Germany and France. And it will only get worse in the next decades, because the population of Africa is exploding. According to the United Nations, the population of Africa will grow from one billion people to 4 billion Africans by the end of this century. Many of them will want to come to Europe. Many of them will come from Islamic countries. My friends, Europe is on the brink of cultural suicide.
“The European Union will never defend our national interest and our freedom. So, we need strong nation states. And we need brave leaders who care about the freedom and security of their own people. Who are not afraid to speak the truth about the dangers of mass immigration.
“That is why it is so important to have a huge group of political allies working together in the next European elections. That’s why it is so important that brave leaders as Marine Le Pen and Matteo Salvini have our support.
“And that’s why it is so important to have one of the bravest politicians of all Europe on our side, a hero who is not afraid to speak the truth about the EU and Islam: Tomio Okamura!
“My friends, we are the patriots! And we will win! Long live the Czech Republic! Svoboda! Thank you.”
Gerolf Annemans, President, Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom (MENF):
“I stand like all of you on this central spot of the continent, not only on the crossroads of Europe, but also and more than ever we stand at the crossroads of European history.
“The European Union has become an institution that crushes the peoples of member states because the big bosses of the European Union want to put their organization to become the one and only superstate on the continent.
“Our proud nations will become powerless provinces if we let this happen. What this all means for the future of our children can be seen in the way the European Union put mass migration in motion on the continent.
“Under EU rules, mass migration became a historic icon of wild migration. We have to resist this chaos. We are the resistance. Our political family has the image of Matteo Salvini, who showed as Italian minister that to reverse migration you need one thing and one thing only, the political will to do so. Nothing more, but unfortunately, these days, nothing less.
“Putting this political will into the center of politics is our goal.
“I ask you, did the brave Czech people fight for their freedom to become oppressed by disappearing in the European Union? Did we, did you fight the USSR to get a similar threat in return? Tell us, yes or no?
“No, of course. We fought, you fought for freedom. We stand for freedom. And in this historical election of May 2019 the battle for our freedom will be decisive.
“We are the resistance. Matteo Salvini, Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders, my party president Tom Van Grieken of the Flemish party Vlaams Belang, and all the others, we are proud to have you and Tomio as strong allies in Central Europe of what will become a force for change in Europe.
“For our homeland and for our freedom, let us join forces and let us stand strong. No matter how strong our opponents could be, we will be stronger because we have the strength of our conviction, and we are the hope that the people of Europe have in us.
“Long live the Europe of nations. Long live the Europe of freedom.”
Janice Atkinson, British MEP and Vice President, Europe of Nations and Freedom:
“My message to the Czechs and for the citizens of the EU is to vote for the parties that will take you out of the EU. It is the evil empire. Vote for the parties that will tear down the EU state, so that power is returned to the nations of Europe and freedom.
“The EU is the dictatorship of the unelected, the failed politicians of their own nations, as they suck the lifeblood of democracy out of our countries. These unelected dictators have imposed mass uncontrolled immigration on our countries. They have failed to secure our external borders. They have failed to stop migrants arriving by foot, by boats and via people smugglers.
“The Schengen system allows them to walk freely, to live and work where they choose — even though it is not what we choose. They have unleashed terror on our streets. They have the rape and sexual assault of women on their hands. They have Europe’s blood on their hands.
“They have changed our cities and our streets and towns so that they are unrecognizable, and we are foreigners in our own lands. They encourage radical Islam, which has brought into our lives Sharia law, female genital mutilation, child marriage and medieval clothing such as the burka. Enough. No more!
“Do not accept that this is Europe’s fate. It is reversible and can be stopped. If you value your freedoms, your way of life, your rule of law, your culture and heritage, the EU has to be stopped. The only way to do this is to vote for Tomio Okamura and his party, the SPD. Tomio, together with my colleagues, Geert Wilders, Marine Le Pen and Matteo Salvini can change the course of Europe.
“The SPD will also give you the freedom for Czexit, a referendum on whether you want to stay in the EU. I hope you follow the British and vote to leave. However, my friends, it isn’t easy to leave the EU, as the British have found out. Despite a majority voting for Brexit, the establishment and the EU have colluded to stop us. And that’s the trouble. We have elected MEPs and MPs who have given control of our lives and our countries and our day to day life and our future to the people who do not believe in the nation state, sovereignty and control over our own laws.
“In these EU elections, you have the change to save the Czech Republic and to save Europe. Do you want to be robbed by unelected bureaucrats such as Jean-Claude Juncker, Frans Timmermans or Donald Tusk? No!
“My friends, we are at a tipping point in Europe. You can save our continent.”
“The battle for Europe has begun. In these elections, the supporters of globalism stand against supporters of the nation state. The globalists against the localists.
“European federalists support total deregulation, the complete abolition of borders, the free movement of migration across the planet and the weakening of nation states for the benefit of oligarchs, civil servants and experts. On the other hand, there are us patriots from all across Europe.
“We have chosen our nations, nations whose diversity is the richness of Europe. They must remain themselves and cooperate freely with each other….
“We do not want to seal the borders, but we want to put the doors back to our home….
“My country offers a sad example of migratory submersion. If you are not careful, it will be your future. Whole neighborhoods have become non-French areas!….
“The democratic push of the patriots in all the countries of Europe will make it possible to recast the European framework….
“Today, the European Union does not have the capacity to send tanks on the streets or to fire on the crowd… Yet the goal is the same: to reduce our political, legal, and national identity — our capacities of resistance….
“We, the French and the Czechs, will be at the rendezvous of history on May 26! Long live the Czech people! Long live the French people! Long live the Europe of sovereign nations!”
“What we see here, before our eyes, is the emergence of a new European harmony that sees the national parties coming together to offer 500 million Europeans a new framework of cooperation, a new project and a new momentum for the future.
“Immigration must be stopped, and the Islamist ideology must be eradicated…. Islamization and globalism are new totalitarianisms that threaten European countries.”
In a video broadcast at the Prague event, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said:
“Ladies and gentlemen, I am sending a greeting to my friend Tomio Okamura and the Czech friends at the SPD. I hope, and in fact I’m sure that after May 26, after the European elections, we will finally be working together in a new Europe that defends borders and our children against immigration and Islamic extremism, which must be stopped.”
Salvini is trying to unite nationalist parties scattered across the 28-nation European Union to join forces in a new political alliance. On April 8, Salvini was joined in Milan by representatives of Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, the Danish People’s Party and the Finns Party, to launch a new alliance called “Towards a Common Sense Europe.” Salvini hopes that the new bloc will emerge as the largest in the 751-member parliament after the elections in May.
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2ZUP4aY Tyler Durden
Ever since it became apparent that the Deutsche Bank-Commerzbank tie-up wasn’t meant to be after all, despite incessant lobbying from the German Finance Ministry over the objections of pretty much every other stakeholder, both Deutsche Bank shareholders as well as the bank’s still-relatively-new CEO have probably been wondering: What’s next for Europe’s least-favorite perennially troubled megabank?
Well, as DB’s management team scrambles to close a deal with UBS to merge the Swiss bank’s once-storied asset-management business with DWS, the asset-management arm that functions as a separate corporate entity controlled by Deutsche, Bloomberg and the FT have effectively confirmed what most shareholders have been hoping for: Despite Sewing and Chairman Paul Achleitner’s insistence that the investment bank is vital to Deutsche’s future, it’s probably time for Deutsche to take an axe to its long-suffering investment bank (the bank has already reportedly been considering the ring-fencing of its most toxic businesses and assets in a shadow ‘bad bank’).
Specifically, the bank’s equities business (and more specifically, it’s US equities trading business) will likely be on the chopping block.
But even a restructuring would be difficult, coming with many up-front costs, according to analysts quoted by Bloomberg:
With a Commerzbank deal gone, Deutsche Bank’s only move is “a more radical investment bank restructure, with a potential exit from the U.S. region and the equities product line,” Citigroup Inc. analysts wrote in a note on April 29. Such a move would be difficult. Restructuring costs would hit upfront, and revenue would be squeezed at first, potentially exacerbating rather than fixing Deutsche Bank’s core problem. In any case, that option seems off the table. Achleitner and Sewing say the trading and corporate finance businesses are crucial. “Every executive has to constantly adjust to a changing market environment,” Achleitner told the Financial Times. “But in this regard, we are not talking about strategy, we are talking about execution” of the existing plan.
As if the bank needed another incentive, Reuters reported a few days back that Deutsche’s US operation – which would be greatly curtailed or shuttered entirely in a restructuring – is once again in danger of failing one of the Fed’s stress tests.
In a detailed insider account of the factors that inspired Sewing’s decision to walk away from merger talks (according to the FT, though it had been announced as a mutual decision, the idea to walk away was first broached by Sewing and his team, who argued that financing the deal would be too burdensome).
As one regulator put it:
“Calling the merger off wasn’t a strategic decision,” a top regulator said. “They could just not afford the deal.” “Without the one-off [accounting and tax] effects the transaction would have triggered, the deal stacked up,” the person said, adding it was “unsettling…[that] both banks do not have enough firepower to bring forward a merger that makes strategic sense.” Deutsche disputes that it lacked firepower to do the deal.
But while Commerzbank’s steady corporate business will make it an ideal acquisition target for another European lender (UniCredit and ING have reportedly been weighing bids), DB has no obvious path to finally shed the mantle of ‘most hated bank in Europe’.
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2DKa4be Tyler Durden
A new law in New South Wales, Australia, could force the Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum to destroy or sell 70 percent of its collection. The law requires all pistols and many other types of firearms to be rendered permanently inoperable. That would require parts to be welded together or a steel rod to be inserted into the barrel of a gun and welded in place. Museum officials say if they cannot get the law overturned they will sell the collection overseas.
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A new law in New South Wales, Australia, could force the Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum to destroy or sell 70 percent of its collection. The law requires all pistols and many other types of firearms to be rendered permanently inoperable. That would require parts to be welded together or a steel rod to be inserted into the barrel of a gun and welded in place. Museum officials say if they cannot get the law overturned they will sell the collection overseas.
from Latest – Reason.com http://bit.ly/2Wksuq5
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The French marched off to war in 1914 in glorious lines of infantry in baby blue coats and bright red trousers to be mowed down by the finest technology the Industrial Revolution had to offer. For us now it is easy to see how insane this was and how flawed the understanding of both the commoners and even the experts was in terms of how combat and war actually worked at the time. This naive view of modern tactics certainly applies to street conflicts we are seeing in France as part of the Yellow Vest protests. The so-called non-lethal (and less-lethal) arms of the French authorities gives them a tactical advantage far beyond that of any assault rifle.
Thanks to the media we have become accustomed to video of protestors getting sprayed by water or having their ranks dispersed thanks to tear gas, leaving everyone wet or coughing respectively but otherwise unharmed. However this humane picture does not meet up with the realities of this civilian vs. cop style warfare.
If we are to take the Yellow Vest protestors at their word then at least 22 of them have lost an eye (from “less-lethal” Flash-ball guns) and 5 have had their hands blown off with 154 being “seriously injured”. Obviously the protestors will want to maximize their statistics but there are plenty of videos from the various actions/demonstrations showing horrible injuries which are too numerous to all be fakes. So the numbers may be off but the overall general tendencies of these injuries do occur from the French authorities in the Human Rights defending EU is a proven fact. The simple reality is that despite a nice marketing phrase non-lethal weapons cripple and on occasion kill.
In order to understand the tactical advantage that non-lethal weapons offer the government (not the individual police but the state itself) we need to put aside our emotional response to seeing French people having their limbs blown off. We have to not jump into ranting about the flagrant hypocrisy of the EU when it comes to human rights and rationally break down how the conflicts between Yellow and Blue vests could look if the arms situation were different.
Scenario A: What if the Yellow Vests were armed?
If the organizers of the Yellow Vests (all movements are organized by someone regardless of what the media tells you) were able to arm their masses with rifles this would indeed lead to horrific short-term violence that would leave a permanent stain on French history. Often hundreds or thousands of protestors are met by dozens of police and handfuls of soldiers, if the protestors were on par with their adversaries in terms of guns, then their numerical advantage would shatter the police’s will to fight.
No policemen are going to fight to the last man against a force 20 times their number, which they may partially agree with dying for nothing, nor will they open fire with tanks in the centers of their own cities. Human psychology would allow them to kill foreigners in some distant country in this manner but not at home.
In this instance of near certain death from pure numbers the police would either “stay home” or possibly switch sides overtly or covertly.
Obviously a full civil war could start from this situation, but in a street warfare sense, escalating from protest to actual hot war is technically a winning scenario as it advances them closer to attaining/changing power.
Scenario B: What if the police fought like an army?
One key component of many Color Revolutions is getting the “bad leader” to be blamed for some sort of direct use of lethal bloody media-friendly massacre. If the French police actually used assault rifles against the protestors this would demonize them to the point of justifying a Revolution. This would not just cause a civil conflict but be a national call to arms to join it, which would be a bad move on the state’s part.
Furthermore, only sociopaths can fire rifles into unarmed crowds (who are not posing a direct threat) of people who speak their own language (i.e. their own “kind”). If the French police just decided to give the order to shoot them all, then in this instance many of the French police would find rifle and bayonet worthless as they would have no desire to shoot.
The result would be a handful of deaths from each protest but the utter collapse of legitimacy of the state and possible “retreats” of police forces unwilling to fire on “their own”.
Scenario C: The “non-lethal” reality we see today.
Psychologically it is much easier for the French police to use non-lethal (in their minds) weapons against the protestors. In the subconscious mind of the policeman he can justify shooting into masses much easier with this type of weapon because in theory it “shouldn’t” kill anyone and if it does it was an “accident”. This is much easier on our psyche and morals than shooting someone in the chest with a Lebel Rifle.
Research by the University of Cambridge supports this tendency. They found that police are far more likely to use force when it is supposedly from non-lethal weapons. This non-lethal status of weapons like tasers (which can and do kill people all the time) makes them so much easier to apply on the populace especially when the subconscious of the police officer tells him that, the guy he fried the other day with a taser died as an accident, one in every so many thousand people just has a weak heart.
So looking at non-lethal weapons tactically they offer the massive psychological advantage of being able to attack without an attack registering in their conscience of the user. As stated above they are also very media and propaganda friendly when anyone who dies from them is just “an accident” giving the government the ability to retain legitimacy while gouging out they eyes of its own populace. Real guns fail at both of these points completely.
Conclusion:
One bizarre irony in our strange postmodern times is that if the Yellow Vests were actually being shot at by real guns and being killed they would be far closer to achieving some sort of systemic change. Being mutilated by all sorts of gadgets and devices of one sort or another makes it easy for the police to do their job psychologically without generating the levels of sympathy and horror from live rounds hitting the innocent that the protestors need to shatter or change the system.
The French Flash-Ball gun should be made the symbol for the EU for it provides crushing repression of the masses with great PR spin to make it seem humane and caring. It is for our safety after all that they use these, right?
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2UXGRiP Tyler Durden
Royal Marines conducted a “ground-breaking” exercise simulating an amphibious assault of a beach supported by unmanned vehicles for the first time, reported the Royal Navy newspaper.
Alpha Company of 40 special forces carried out ‘Exercise Commando Warrior’ alongside 1 Assault Group Royal Marines (1AGRM) at Tregantle Beach, in Cornwall, a county on England’s rugged southwestern tip.
The amphibious assault began late last month with marines in special forces vessels transported to the beach while being supported by unmanned boats with machine guns searching for enemy forces on land and at sea, using advanced cameras and sensors.
In the sky, small to medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicles patrolled the skies, and two unmanned ground vehicles provided direct and indirect fire support to landing troops.
The war exercise successfully achieved connecting all of these unmanned systems to central commanders who will then use data collected from the exercise to influence their future tactical decision-making.
With autonomous vehicles on three domains (air, land, and sea) protecting marines from enemy forces, the troops successfully stormed the beach, climbed the cliffs, eliminated enemy forces, and retreated to the shore.
Royal Marines were the first ever forces to use autonomous vehicles in three domains simultaneously while simulating a beach assault.
The two unmanned ground vehicles were designed and produced by QinetiQ, a British multinational defense robotics company and a supplier of robots to the Royal Marines.
Corporal Scott Shaw was one of the marines participating in the beach assault exercise.
Shaw said: “This is very early steps in the capacity of the Future Commando Force and reinventing ourselves back to the original definition of what Commandos are.”
“It is about reinventing the force with new technology that’s available,” he added.
Corporal Ashley Hill agreed with Shaw — indicating that “Trialling this new kit, and new formations, is about pushing us away from just being an infantry force that gets off the boats and moving us back towards our Commando roots.”
“There is a space to be filled in defense and we are trying to fill it thanks to this new technology,” Shaw said.
All video from the unmanned systems were fed through a downlink to a central command and then relayed back to marines that had tablets.
Colonel Chris Haw, commanding officer of 1AGRM and Commando Warrior exercise director, said: “This is a really exciting start and although it is only the first step, it is a milestone in Future Commando Force and Littoral Strike development.”
The Royal Navy funded all unmanned systems used in the exercise in the 2018/19 financial year.
Haw said, “In future, we will be able to do things with more precision and less risk.”
Since the 20th century began, amphibious assaults onto beaches have been one of the most sophisticated military maneuvers. It seems that now, the Royal Marines are integrating autonomous systems on three domains to gain a tremendous edge against enemy forces in future conflicts.
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2GZ6yeX Tyler Durden
There is a certain tension in the phrase, “social democracy,” and the description of someone as a social democrat. Social in this context is socialism by the state. A democrat supports the freedom for individual electors to express and defend personal interests in regular plebiscites. The two positions are incompatible.
At this point we should note that in economic terms there is little philosophical difference between European socialism and communism. Both seek to relieve capitalists of the means of production in favor of the state, either by ownership or control. Marx himself saw socialism as a temporary phase on the way to full communism. However, we all know from experience that communism fails by impoverishing everyone except a coterie of leaders. The same problem of the state’s inability to calculate prices, other than with reference to labor costs, and to foresee what consumers require on the morrow bedevils both socialism and communism. The principal difference between the two is the speed at which economic disintegration takes place, tied to the rate at which the socializing state removes personal freedoms and destroys wealth.
Social democrats assume that moderate socialism does not lead to those outcomes, which is a mistake. They are deceived.
With social democracy we observe committed socialists and communists using democracy as the pathway towards increasing socialism and eventual communism. But there’s a problem, which in time becomes increasingly obvious to the electorate. Electors become poorer over time, and the more progressive among them seek to escape in order to participate in more capitalistic economies. Lenin and Mao Zedong dealt with this tendency by suppressing all freedom of expression and they redefined democracy to permit only the election of communist officials. Intellectuals, always the first to express discontent, were liquidated or sent to the Soviet gulags and China’s penal labor camps.
In Western Europe a different, more patient approach was needed for the communist revolution. And this is where the concept of the social democrat springs from.
The tactic was (and still is) to stand firm on socialism and force compromises always to be made by the democrats. For decades it was the basis of Soviet foreign policy, which employed “useful idiots” to spread communism in both universities and political circles. Their influence was what defeated Enoch Powell and still drives Ken Clarke and his fellow appeasers towards greater socialism. It is clear that social democratic politicians need not be communists, only appeasers.
Social democratic political parties express a belief in social justice. But social justice is a meaningless term used by the far left to attract support for more extreme forms of socialism. In Europe, social democrats advocating social justice have held sway since the Second World War. But they are becoming victims of their success at taking down capitalism, because they are losing electoral support.
The era of social democracy appears to be coming to an end.
Germany’s SPD recently suffered its worst electoral result since the Second World War, and France’s Socialist Party came fifth in the presidential election won by Emmanuel Macron, a political outsider. Other social democratic parties to have lost ground include the Netherlands’ Labour Party, Italy’s Democratic Party and Austria’s Social Democrats. In the United States there was a rejection of the Democrats in favor of President Trump, who like Macron in France started as a political outsider.
Brexit was the rejection by the British voter of the socializing controls imposed by a remote super-state. The British parliament initially paid lip-service to the electorate’s wishes, before rallying round its socialist credentials and is now conspiring to stop Brexit. So strong is Parliament’s collective socialist instinct that May’s appeasing government is prepared to destroy its electoral base rather than stand against the socialist tide. It comes at a time when the Labour Party has been captured by a Marxist clique which appears increasingly likely to form the next government.
Commentators attribute the decline in social democracy to events such as the great financial crisis. This and other reasons are why traditional working-class and blue-collar workers have drifted away. The philosophical conflict between socialism and democracy is at the heart of the rebellion, if only the voters themselves knew it. Instead of rejecting socialism, they are embracing extremes, and the extremes are always socialist extremes. Notably, almost none of the disillusioned social democrats support free markets.
The point missed by most analysts is that social democracy is failing because of the contradiction between personal freedom and state control.
As a form of mild socialism, it fails for the same reason as did communism. It all plays into the hands of the communists, for whom the failure of social democracy is an opportunity. They encourage the rank and file to blame capitalism. The collapse of capitalism is inevitable, as Marx wrote. And its collapse hastens full-blooded communism. Communism is a broken philosophy, as has been clearly demonstrated. But ruthless leaders still see it as the means of obtaining power over their fellow humans.
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2VGJfyM Tyler Durden
A new Bloomberg report details “Kim Jong Un’s Game of Thrones” as he appears to be rapidly changing high level posts connected with nuclear negotiations with the United States, suggesting a change in negotiating strategy following President Trump’s walking away from the Hanoi talks in February.
The report concludes that the “swirl of mysterious personnel changes” in Pyongyang signals a dramatic makeover as Kim purges ranks, including the North Korean dictator’sown sister who’s quickly faded to the background in a possible demotion along with his chief nuclear negotiator.
North Korean state media photo of Kim leading a ruling Workers’ Party meeting in Pyongyang, via NYT.
The shake-up further follows Kim’s first historic meeting with President Putin in Russia last month, and is fueling speculation that Pyongyang could be ready to approach US talks with a firmer line, given observers have seen no evidence North Korea is ready to given up any aspect of its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
It comes after last month The New York Timesreported that ongoing leadership changes in the ruling Workers’ Party signaled preparations for “protracted negotiations” based on replacing “aging senior officials with younger, more aggressive ones and vowed repeatedly to overcome the sanctions.”
Weeks ago Kim told a government assembly that he remains “open” to another meeting with Trump, but with conditions.
He indicated in a public speech: “I am willing to accept if the United States proposes a third North Korea-United States summit on the condition that it has a right attitude and seeks a solution that we can share,” according to the Times.
“What is clear is that if the United States sticks to its current political calculations, it will darken the prospects for solving the problem and will in fact be very dangerous,” Kim said during the April 10 remarks.
Below are some of the highlights of Kim Jong Un’s Game of Thrones style shake-up from the Bloomberg report.
* * *
Kim Yo Jong, Sister
Long considered the most powerful woman in North Korea, she’s recently faded from view.
Part royal representative, part personal assistant, Kim Yo Jong has emerged as one of her older brother’s closest aides in recent months. While she became the first member of the ruling family to visit Seoul and accompanied Kim Jong Un in his summits with Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, she’s also performed mundane tasks, such as helping the leader extinguish a cigarette during a train stop in China.
That proximity to power has made Kim Yo Jong’s disappearance in recent weeks all the more intriguing. Besides being left off a list of newly elected Political Bureau alternate members last month, she was absent from the Putin meetings. In fact, she hasn’t appeared in any state media since the early April reshuffle, after participating in nine public events earlier in the year, according to a tally by the North Korea news site NKPro.
Kim Hyok Chol, Chief Negotiator
The nuclear deterrence expert who was initially relatively unknown became point man for negotiations in Hanoi, but has since completely dropped from view.
Says Bloomberg:
A career diplomat known for his expertise in nuclear deterrence against the U.S., Kim Hyok Chol’s appointment as counterpart to the Trump administration’s chief envoy Stephen Biegun earlier this year surprised North Korea watchers. One South Korean TV outlet drew a circle around him in a video from a White House meeting between Trump and North Korean officials, asking who he was.
In the aftermath of the Hanoi talks, Kim Hyok Chol has plunged back into obscurity, receiving no mention in state media reports. That could reflect his relatively low rank in Pyongyong’s power structure — or suggest a purge. Lee Hye-hoon, the South Korean lawmaker, said intelligence officials wouldn’t confirm whether Kim Hyok Chol had been punished.
* * *
Kim Yong Chol, State Affairs Commission
Powerful former spy chief, he was the main emissary between Trump and Kim Jong Un, helping arrange both Trump-Kim summits, but he’s just been replaced as head of a key ruling party department.
Kim Yong Chol at the White House in June 2018. Image source: AP
Per the Bloomberg report:
Last month, Kim Yong Chol was unexpectedly replaced as head of the ruling party’s United Front Department by a lesser-known official and was absent from Kim Jong Un’s side during meetings with Putin last week in Russia. Experts disagree over whether the change was a demotion. He was re-appointed to the 14-member State Affairs Commission led by Kim Jong Un and is believed to have retained his various ruling party positions.
* * *
Ri Yong Ho, Foreign Minister
Appears to be more central in decision making, perhaps displacing Chol in terms of influence.
The veteran diplomat who once denounced Trump at the United Nations as a “mentally deranged person, full of megalomania” has maintained a central foreign policy role since Hanoi. In addition to being re-appointed to the State Affairs Commission last month, he’s also appeared repeatedly by Kim Jong Un side in recent diplomatic events, including the meetings with Putin in Vladivostok.
* * *
Choe Son Hui, First Vice Foreign Minister
From diplomat and translator, her rapid rise to first vice foreign minister – but more importantly her apparent closeness to Kim – has stunned observers.
Among the most surprising developments has been the ascent of Choe Son Hui. The blunt-spoken diplomat was once best known to foreign negotiators as a translator who took liberties with her boss’s words during six-party talks, according to Chun Yung-woo, a former South Korean nuclear envoy.
Since participating the Hanoi talks, Choe has been promoted to the State Affairs Commission alongside Ri and received the title of first vice foreign minister. She has enjoyed other nods of trust from Kim Jong Un, sharing his table with Putin at their Vladivostok banquet and briefing the foreign media, where she conveyed what she said were the supreme leader’s personal views.
Choe Son Hui center. Image source AP
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2UWBdgI Tyler Durden
