Month: September 2022

Authored by Tamir Tehari via The Gatestone Institute,

But what is it for? This is the question that the media in Russia, China, Iran and half a dozen countries were posing all last week in the wake of a summit in Samarkand that brought their leaders together as members or aspiring members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The Russian media, echoing President Vladimir Putin’s speech at the summit, say the SCO is designed to end “the unipolar world “by creating a “multipolar system”.

The Chinese media offer a different version.

The SCO is meant to offer a new political system for the whole world as an alternative to the Western democratic model.

To the Islamic media in Tehran, celebrating the Islamic Republic’s admission to the club after 11 years of supplication, the SCO is an extension of the “Resistance Front” created to contain and defeat the American “Great Satan.”

A closer look, however, might show that the SCO is form without a clear content, an empty frame which different artists could project different fantasies.

The SCO was created in 1996 as the Shanghai Five bringing together China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan together for two purposes:

1. Delineating China’s borders with Russia and the three ex-Soviet republics.

2. Fighting “Islamic terrorism” which affected China in East Turkestan (Xinjiang), Russia in Chechnya, and Tajikistan in Kulyab and Kyrgyzstan in the Fergana Valley.

A quarter of a century later, neither of those goals has been achieved.

Russia’s long border with China, which includes vast stretches of Chinese territory annexed by the Soviet Union in two border wars in the 1960s, remains undesignated. China has also failed to persuade Tajikistan to cede a chunk of land needed to widen the corridor Beijing has with Pakistan. (Beijing is now trying to ‘buy’ the Wakhan Corridor from Afghanistan for the same purpose.) Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan also have failed to demarcate their borders. (The two neighbors fought a border war on the eve of the Samarkand summit.) At the same time, China has long maintained a claim on large chunks of Kazakhstan, which Russia annexed under the tsars.

Uzbekistan, another former Soviet republic, joined the group in 1997 to get help against terrorism led by the Islamic Liberation Party. But it, too, has complex irredentist problems with Tajikistan. In fact in ethnic and cultural terms, Samarkand, where the summit was held, is the largest Tajik city in the world. In exchange, the Kulyab area in Tajikistan has an Uzbek majority.

The SCO’s identity as a club of queer fellows has been further emphasized by the admission of a host of new members all of whom have territorial disputes with each other. India has fought two border wars with China, losing large chunks of territory in Ladakh and Kashmir. It has also had four wars with its Pakistani neighbor, losing a chunk of land in Ran-e-Kuch but succeeding in splitting Pakistan by creating Bangladesh.

To make the club even more queer, other nations with troubles of their own are lined up for membership. These include Azerbaijan and Armenia, currently at war against one another; Nepal, torn between India and China; Sri Lanka, where the very word Chinese provokes intense hatred; Turkey, which is fighting Russian surrogates in Libya and Syria; Belarus, which has become an extension of Putinistan; and Mongolia. which cannot swallow the Chinese occupation of Inner Mongolia. Perhaps the only would-be member of the club without such impediments is Cambodia.

Casting himself as the leader of a new “pole”, Putin has also spoken about inviting four Arab countries plus the Maldives to join the club.

Some Western commentators have dubbed the SCO “a new power bloc”. That may be jumping the gun a bit. SCO members are more dependent on trade with the European Union, the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Australia than with each other.

In 2020, exchanges within the SCO orbit accounted for less than 15 percent of their total foreign trade.

To be sure, that could change because offering huge discounts, Russia, currently the largest producer of oil and gas in the world, is making a big entry into the two largest markets for energy, China and India. But that is happening at the expense of Iran and Iraq, which are also losing their Turkish market to Russia.

In any case, this new trend could create a neo-colonial relationship in which Russia exports raw material to China and imports manufactured goods and business services.

But even then the alliance of which Putin dreams won’t be easy to shape because of deep cultural divides. Moscow has not forgotten the 1967 attack on its embassy in Beijing and over a decade of anti-Russian propaganda that followed. The fact that China’s President Xi Jinping refused to endorse Russia’s invasion of Ukraine punctured the balloon that Putin had hoped to float.

Putin had been careful not to mention Ukraine in Samarkand, in the hope that he could later claim to have received “full support” in private meetings with the leaders present.

That ploy failed when the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shook a finger at Putin, saying “This war must end! This is no time for war!” Putin was forced to say he understood Modi’s “concerns”, and deceitfully promising to work for ending the war.

(An hour later, however, he told Russian TV that he didn’t care how long the war might last!)

It would be good news if the SCO succeeds in persuading its members to resolve their territorial disputes and bury their hatchets. Sadly, however, the various members of this strange club seem to be motivated by different, often contradictory and seldom the best, motives.

The Samarkand club represents some 40 percent of the world’s population and over 20 percent of the global GDP, not to mention four of the 9 nations with nuclear arsenals. Yet, it seems unlikely to become an anchor of stability in Eurasia; its members are more interested in petty schemes than grand ideas of peace and cooperation.

Their rhetoric reminds one of a character in James Elroy Flecker’s 19th century play “The Golden Road to Samarkand”, Ishak, a notorious black-marketeer, who tries to soft-soap the city’s gate-keepers into admitting his caravan with these lines:

“We travel not for trafficking alone;
By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned:
For lust of knowing what should not be known,
We take the Golden Road to Samarkand.”

Politico’s new owner may lean right, but the rag’s founding editor, John F. Harris, said in a Thursday column that the Constitution must be rewritten to stop former President Donald Trump – who he calls a “constitutional menace” who exploited the Constitution’s “defects” in order to win the 2016 US election.

“Correcting or circumventing what progressives reasonably perceive as the infirmities of the Constitution, in fact, seems likely to be the preeminent liberal objective of the next generation. Progress on issues ranging from climate change to ensuring that technology giants act in the public interest will hinge on creating a new constitutional consensus. Trying to place more sympathetic justices on the Supreme Court is not likely to be a fully adequate remedy,” Harris wrote, adding “There are more fundamental challenges embedded in the document itself — in particular the outsized power it gives to states, at a time when the most urgent problems and most credible remedies are national in character.”

Harris mocked conservatives’ ‘solemn reverence’ for the Constitution, suggesting that it’s ” become a way of signaling right-mindedness across the political spectrum, even among Trump supporters whose actions plainly undermine constitutional order. In much of this rhetoric, the Constitution is elevated from a secular document to a sacred one, infused with mystical dimensions,” he wrote.

Then he shreds the founding document.

“Another answer, however, is: Who cares what [the Founders] thought then? The Constitution was written at a time when states were indeed foundational — a central part of people’s identity and way of life. This has not been true for nearly a century, as both national government and national identity have become stronger,” Harris continued, before listing several amendments that he says could already gain “majority support” for the nation – including “altering or abolishing the Electoral College, term limits for the Court, creating some check on abuse of the pardon authority,” and rewriting “the infuriatingly murky language of the Second Amendment.”

Harris worked for the Washington Post for two decades, covering the Clinton White House between 1995 and 2001. In 2007 he co-founded Politico with former partner Jim VandHei, who went on to co-found Axios.

Authored by Bryan Jung via The Epoch Times,

Winter is coming, and experts are predicting that it will be an expensive one for American households nationwide.

The average U.S. household heating bill is expected to increase by 17.2 percent this winter compared to last year, according to a forecast by the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA).

Families had already faced higher than average electric bills last winter due to inflation and this year provides no improvement.

NEADA assists state agencies under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, (LIHEAP) in distributing federal assistance to help low-income families pay their utility bills.

The energy association expects that the average winter heating bill will increase from $1,025 to $1,202.

Heating prices have risen over the past two years to more than 35 percent, the highest rate increase in more than 10 years, according to NEADA data.

Lower-Income Households Will Struggle

The total cost of heating would increase from $127.9 billion to an estimated $149.9 billion, with lower-income households facing the brunt of the burden.

“The rise in home energy costs this winter will put millions of lower-income families [at] risk of falling behind on their energy bills and having no choice but to make difficult decisions between paying for food, medicine and rent,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of NEADA.

“As a result, NEADA sent a letter last week to the Congressional Leadership asking for a supplemental increase in LIHEAP of $5 billion to cover the higher cost of home heating and cooling as a result of [an] increased number of summer heat waves,” Wolfe added.

A man walks by power lines in Mountain View, Calif., on Aug. 17, 2022. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Meanwhile, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest short-term energy outlook, American household electric bills are expected to increase 7.5 percent from last year.

Energy Prices Surge Worldwide

Global energy prices have been rising since the second half of 2021, as economies around the world recovered from the shock of the pandemic, leading to higher demand.

However, European and American green energy policies, combined with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, have caused oil and natural gas prices to spike worldwide.

The war in Ukraine had disrupted supplies of natural gas from Russia to Europe, which relies on natural gas to power industry and heat and cool civilian homes.

Meanwhile, hot summers in the United States and the European Union had driven up electricity demand, causing energy prices to surge.

Increases in Cost of Natural Gas

While the United States is less dependent on natural gas for its energy needs, it still fuels about 37 percent of domestic electricity production, according to the EIA’s 2022 figures.

Natural gas costs are projected to increase 24 percent to $709, according to the NEADA.

Heating oil costs will jump an estimated 54 percent to $1,876.

Propane bills are forecast to rise by 15.2 to $1,828 this winter.

Winter heating costs for households using electricity will face a 6.9 percent jump to $1,328.

Those who use natural gas for heating will face a 34.3 percent increase to $952.

Flared natural gas is burned off at Apache Corporation’s operations at the Deadwood natural gas plant in the Permian Basin, Garden City, Texas on Feb. 5, 2015. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

About 20 percent of American households reported missing or making a late payment on their utility bills in August, according to Bank of America (BofA).

Families with an income of $50,000 or less are the ones struggling the most with the higher energy costs.

BofA reported that Dallas and Houston had some of the highest utility bill hikes this summer, rising 23 percent from the same period last year.

The NEADA released similar findings last month that found that more than 20 million families were behind on their utility bills and owed a total of about $16 billion.

Regional utility companies like National Grid and Con Edison, have already signalled their intent to raise prices.

US Regional Utilities Plan to Raise Power Bills

Con Edison, one of the largest utility companies in the nation, provides energy for over 10 million people living in the New York City metropolitan area.

The power company said that utility bill increases are being driven mainly by “increases in the market cost of natural gas, which is volatile and also influences electric market costs,”  and that other local electric and gas companies across the North East “are facing similar circumstances.”

“Con Edison is urging customers to take actions now that can help them manage costs this winter as market prices for electricity and natural gas are expected to be substantially higher,” said the utility in a recent statement.

A Con Edison power plant stands in a Brooklyn neighborhood across from Manhattan in New York City in a file photo. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The company explained that it “buys natural gas and electricity on the wholesale markets and uses a variety of strategies to stabilize pricing for customers.”

The average monthly natural gas bill in the NYC area will grow 32 percent, from $348 a year ago to $460.

Electricity costs will jump between 22 and 27 percent for residents from November 2022 through March 2023.

Con Ed explained that supply costs account for the majority of the price increases, which rose about $90, while delivery charges hit $22.

“Natural gas prices are up 33% from just one year ago. As Americans prepare to reach home heating season, this could be disastrous for working families and seniors on fixed incomes,” said Rep. Claudia Tenney, (R-NY) in a statement.

“The U.S. needs an all-of-the-above energy strategy that will drive down costs for consumers,” said Tenney.

National Grid of Massachusetts, announced last week that it would increase electricity rates by 64 percent from November through May 2023.

The average monthly bill for residents in that state will increase from $179 to $293, while hiking home heating and natural gas rates by at least 22 percent during that period.

South Korean intelligence has produced a new assessment saying it believes the north is preparing to conduct a nuclear weapons test within weeks. Lawmakers were briefed this week over the imminent threat that such a rare test is likely.

“North Korea has completed preparations for a nuclear test and a possible window for carrying it out could be between Oct. 16 and Nov. 7, South Korean lawmakers briefed by its spy agency said on Wednesday,” Reuters writes, based on the public comments of legislators privy to the briefing.

If so, it would mark the seventh ever known nuclear test by North Korea, which hasn’t held one in five years, since 2017. All tests spanning back to 2006 were conduced in underground tunnels.

According to more from the South Korean intelligence assessment, per Reuters, “The timing of the test could be determined by events like the party congress in China, North Korea’s main ally, and the midterm elections in the United States, its chief rival, they said.”

“Also it would depend on whether Pyongyang can bring an outbreak of COVID-19 under control, they said,” the report continues. One South Korean lawmaker, Youn Kun-young, said further of the probable nuke test just around the corner: 

“The NIS said they cannot calculate the probability but assumed that North Korea would make a comprehensive decision based on international relations and its COVID situation.”

Meanwhile US Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to soon arrive in Seoul for an official visit, after attending the state funeral for assassinated former prime minister Shinzo Abe in Japan. Just on the eve of Harris’ trip, the north fired off two short-range ballistic missiles toward eastern waters.

The Wednesday launch is the latest in an uptick of missile tests which have come with semi-regular frequency coupled with increased threats from Pyongyang this year, also as a US aircraft carrier is off South Korea’ coast, participating in joint war games.

BREAKING: North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles from the capital Pyongyang off its eastern coast, ahead of @VP @KamalaHarris visit. pic.twitter.com/jzc8GbvNIu

— BNN North Korea (@BNNNorthKorea) September 28, 2022

“Our military has strengthened surveillance and vigilance and is maintaining airtight readiness posture while closely cooperating with the United States,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement on Wednesday.

Authored by Gerard Scimeca via RealClearMarkets.com,

The laws of physics dictate that nature abhors a vacuum, an interesting phenomena considering how many federal regulatory agencies simply love one. Harkening back to the New Deal, it has become accepted that wherever a gap may exist in the regulation of human activity, a federal agency will soon appear, mobilizing its vast and frequently questionable powers to fill the space.

Whether it is the Department of Energy deciding to pull the plug on a popular type of light bulb, or the Environmental Protection Agency dictating the allowable volume of water in toilets, our vast administrative state lurks behind every corner, poised to assert itself within every nook, crevice, and cranny that presents an opportunity for regulatory interference. Last year federal agencies created over 74,000 pages of new rules and regulations to fill the perceived vacuums in our lives, and we are currently on track this year to surpass that tree-crushing total.

As frustrating — and costly – as never-ending meddling from Washington bureaucrats can be, light bulbs and plumbing are small potatoes compared to the mayhem that erupts when an agency jumps the median to rewrite the entire rulebook for an industry to which it is, at best, a casual acquaintance. Just over a year ago our organization sounded the sirens on a lawsuit by the “stone-age” bureaucracy of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against an American crypto company, Ripple Labs. In that time an overwhelming consensus has emerged among crypto industry leaders, analysts, and legal scholars that the SEC’s lawsuit is not only absurd, but extremely dangerous.

Imagine the reaction to a referee throwing a penalty flag on the field for a play that happened 30 minutes ago. There would certainly be a healthy mix of incredulity and outrage, and the strong view the official is irrationally and arbitrarily ruining the game. The SEC lawsuit against Ripple is just as irrational and arbitrary, but the stakes involve billions of dollars held by innocent users of the digital currency XRP as well as the larger issue of federal agency overreach, and their power to capriciously extend their tentacles into places where they do not belong. The outcome of the case will further have a substantial impact on America’s position within the exponentially growing digital currency markets.

In December 2020, the SEC retroactively declared XRP to be an unregistered security and all its trades for the previous seven years to have been illegal, even on the secondary markets. The regulator accused Ripple, which built its business on the use case of XRP as a bridge currency, of selling securities despite the fact that billions of XRP tokens have circulated among hundreds of thousands of other users since 2013 with no connection to the company. Gensler has now upped the ante, saying the SEC, not the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), should call the shots on all digital assets. With even greater hubris, Gensler insists to the court that the SEC is under no obligation to set clear, defining, and transparent rules to provide guidance for traders and holders of digital assets, essentially claiming decisions can be made by the agency at their whim on a case-by-case basis, an absolutely ludicrous position.

The recklessness of the SEC’s case against Ripple is simply astounding, not to mention unjust and void of due process. Prior to its lawsuit the SEC gave nearly a decade of confusing and contradictory public signals on XRP to consumers and investors while billions of tokens traded on secondary markets. The SEC gave even more unclear guidance to Ripple in private, according to the evidence filed in the case.

The Ripple case has exposed our nation’s complete lack of legal and statutory clarity in the regulation of not just XRP, but all crypto. This is precisely where Congress must step in and assert its authority to create a clear regulatory framework for digital assets. This month Gensler was grilled by the Senate Banking Committee for his lax and inconsistent treatment of crypto, with Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) accusing Gensler of “not sharing with us” the criteria the SEC is using to regulate crypto. Gensler gives vague answers on why Bitcoin is a commodity while the SEC considers XRP a security, even though both are overwhelmingly used in commercial transactions, not held as investments. In a new lawsuit against a market influencer, Gensler hints at total jurisdiction over all Ethereum network transactions anywhere in the world.

In October of last year, the judge in the case granted amici status to what is now more than 73,000 XRP token holders who were immediately harmed by the SEC’s allegation that all XRP tokens are investment contracts in Ripple. Their lawyer, John Deaton, says the vast majority of them had no knowledge or connection to Ripple when the SEC’s action wiped out the value of their holdings. Deaton calls the SEC’s legal theory in the case “dangerous” and a threat to every digital asset holder and consumer. The SEC is so out of control, and going so far past its authority, that consumers have turned on the regulator who is supposed to be protecting them.

The outcome of the SEC case against Ripple is critical in not just establishing a fair and just baseline for the protection of crypto investors, but as a test case in setting boundaries to stop overreach by federal agencies seeking to advance their power at the expense of efficiency. Crypto is popular and growing precisely because of its efficiency, flexibility, and vast utility in financial markets, benefits that can easily be quashed through intrusive and heavy-handed regulation. The ultimate arbiter of these issues is Congress, who must act, and soon, to help establish a clear framework to regulate crypto, and to limit the SEC’s power to occupy spaces where it simply does not belong.

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Self-reliance in the 21st century is uniquely challenging because we’ve become overly dependent on globalization and financialization.

As things unravel, the one surefire strategy is to chart a course for greater self-reliance. Improving self-reliance has no downside, only upside, and everyone can increase their self-reliance incrementally in small ways.

Self-reliance isn’t the same as self-sufficiency. Even Thoreau on Walden Pond used manufactured tools and supplies sourced from afar. The basic idea of self-reliance is to reduce our dependency on long, fragile supply chains and the hamster-wheel landfill Economy of planned obsolescence and waste is growth consumption, and increase what we can do for ourselves and those we care about.

Self-reliance isn’t going it alone, it’s assembling trusted personal networks as a producer as well as a consumer, as a means of reducing the number of links in your personal supply chain and increasing local sources of life’s essentials.

Self-reliance increases as we acquire skills and capital in all its forms. Self-reliance isn’t the same as money; what’s truly valuable can’t be bought: trust, reciprocity, integrity. Those are the foundations of self-reliance.

Self-reliance in the 21st century is uniquely challenging because we’ve become overly dependent on globalization and financialization–not just on traditional supply chains and finance, but a near-total dependence on hyper-globalized supply chains and hyper-financialized credit-asset bubbles that are inherently unstable and unsustainable.

There’s no downside to becoming more self-reliant and enormous upside. If the Landfill Economy continues chewing through the planet’s dwindling resources, it doesn’t diminish the value of being able to do more for ourselves and those we care about.

But if long, fragile supply chains break and hyper-financialization blows a gasket and sinks, the self-reliant will have a much easier time than those with minimal self-reliance. We’re only powerless if we cede all power over our lives to others. Self-reliance is all about taking control of our own lives rather than relying on unsustainable global supply chains and centralized authorities to provide us with essentials.

I address all this in my new book Self-Reliance in the 21st Century (96 pages). I’m offering it to my readers at a 20% discount for the Kindle edition ($7.95) and 15% discount for the print edition ($17).

You can read the first chapter for free (PDF). In later chapters, I cover the mindset of self-reliance and the nuts and bolts of self-reliance.

I wrote this book not as someone on the peak looking down but as someone on the trail looking up. Self-reliance is a work in progress, not a destination. I’m constantly improving my self-reliance, too, and have a long way to go. I wrote this book to offer a few pointers on charting your own course to greater self-reliance.

*  *  *

My new book is now available at a 20% discount ($7.95 ebook) 15% discount ($17 print) this week: Self-Reliance in the 21st Century.

It’s just another day in Democrat-run Philadelphia. Police are attempting to identify 100 juveniles who stormed and ransacked a Wawa in Philadelphia over the weekend. 

On Sunday, at around 8:15pm, a Wawa convenience store on Philadelphia’s Roosevelt Boulevard was overrun by juveniles who caused more than $10,000 in damages and vandalized the property. 

Surveillance video shows the juveniles “screaming, throwing merchandise and breaking things in the store”, Philly Voice reported. Police believe that some of the juveniles were coming from the roller skating rink located next door.

Video of the incident shows teenagers “rushing into the store, looting items, throwing things and knocking displays over before rushing outside.” Some teens jumped on parked cars before leaving the scene. 

Now police are looking to try and identify all of the individuals involved in the looting. 

Capt. Jason Ryan said on Monday: “It does fit in with the past 10 years with the various kinds of flash mobs, car meets, and other spontaneous disorder. The charges can include riot, criminal mischief, vandalism, theft, riot being a felony. If everyone’s seen the video, it certainly falls into the parameters of what we can call a riot.” 

A spokesperson for Wawa commented: “We are working closely with law enforcement to support their efforts to bring all of these perpetrators to justice as soon as possible. We remain committed to protecting our associates and customers and ensuring a safe, welcoming environment for each customer, in every Wawa store. Nothing is more important to us.” 

Here is video of the juveniles at the scene, with Philadelphia Police showing the faces of many of the participants:

Of course, we’re sure that once Philadelphia PD does finally identify some of the participants, Philadelphia’s far left DA will figure out a way to help them dodge as many consequences as possible.

Because we all know that it’s the perpetrators that were really the victims here, being unfairly accused of rioting when they were simply looking to stop in and grab bread for their families…

Philadelphia woman: “You can’t even walk to the store” without “running or losing your life.”

“It’s crazy! Philly is crazy!” pic.twitter.com/SuxdSfRPR9

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 28, 2022

Submitted by OilPrice.com

Iranian oil industry contract workers have warned the government to end its crackdown on protesters or they will strike, a move that could cripple a key sector of the economy.

“We support the people’s struggles against organized and everyday violence against women and against the poverty and hell that dominates the society,” the Organizing Council of Oil Contract Workers said on September 26.

Iran has been roiled by unrest that has spread to more than 80 cities and towns, including in the northwest, where 22-year-old Mahsa Amini lived before eyewitnesses and family said she was beaten — and later died — after being seized by the morality police in Tehran on September 13.

Labor protests in Iran also have been on the rise in recent months in response to declining living standards and state support as crippling Western sanctions wrack the economy.

The outrage over Amini’s death also has reignited decades-old resentment at the treatment of women by Iran’s religious leadership, including laws forcing women to wear Islamic scarves to cover their heads in public.

The Iran Human Rights Organization said on September 27 that at least 76 people have been killed in anti-government protests across Iran.