Briefly Noted In The News

Today has been a slow news day, so far. Here are a few items worth noting—in no particular order.

Crime will be a major issue in Election 2022. Obviously, inflation is and will be the number one issue but, in states with large metro areas—and especially with Soros DAs, crime will not be far behind. Part of a witch’s brew of issues working against the Dems. Consider stories like this one:

Over 400,000 High-Priority Incidents In Chicago In 2021 Had 'No Police Available To Send', New Data Shows

Authored by Matt Rosenberg via Wirepoints.org,

As crime continues to roil economic and social life in post-George Floyd, post-COVID Chicago, getting policing and criminal justice right are crucial. City officials are failing at that task.

We’re already seen anemic rates of arrest and prosecutions in Chicago, accompanied by finger-pointing between politicians over crime and the court system. And years of no support from city leadership, anti-policing legislation and the damaging rhetoric of the “defund” movement have taken a toll on Chicago police morale and manpower.

All that has spread the police force so thin that, in 2021, one of law enforcement’s most basic functions, responding to high-priority emergency service calls in a timely manner, was regularly beyond their capacity.

Chicago is, understandably, a sort of poster city for out of control crime. However, on a per capita basis there are a fair number of cities that are worse than Chicago as far as violent crime is concerned. That’s a sobering thought. Also sobering is the fact that this article only deals with “high-priority” criminal incidents for which there was no police response. I’m gonna say those incidents were mostly incidents that included some degree of physical violence. But there are many other police matters that are very important to the people involved, so this is a measure of a steeply declining quality of life and a steeply declining deterrent effect of our police. Also, it’s a safe bet that the 2022 stats—so far—are probably worse than 2021. No wonder gun sales are remaining at near record levels—while Dem politicians offer no solutions at all to the crime problem.

There are two noteworthy developments on the international economic scene. One is that Russia—the world’s largest wheat exporter—has decided to require payment in rubles for wheat exports. Also, those exports will be going to “friendly countries” only:

Russia Now Demands Rubles For Grain As World's Largest Wheat Exporter

Glancing at the list of countries most likely to be affected by the war in Ukraine, Pakistan pops out. Pakistan has normally imported very large quantities of wheat from Ukraine, but that may no longer be possible for the time being. The logical—and, likely, only feasible—alternative source would be Russia. But Pakistan has normally been more or less aligned with the US. Will Pakistan make moves to become more friendly to Russia, in order to feed it’s large population? There are strategic implications in that.

Along similar geostrategic lines, but even more of a blockbuster, is the news over the last few days that the Saudis will join the BRICS bloc of nations: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. There has been talk about this for months, although it hasn’t been clear whether the Saudis were serious about breaking away from their reliance on the dollar and US military protection. CTH covers the latest developments, which appear to be serious:

Massive Implications, Saudi Arabia in Discussion to Join BRICS Coalition – The Outcome Would be Global Energy and Economic Cleaving

Also important in the same context—Iran and Argentina (and a number of less important countries) are also seriously considering applying for membership in BRICS. What we’re talking about here is an economic bloc challenging US dollar—and therefore political and even military—hegemony. This bloc would control a vast amount of the world’s manufacturing base, natural resources (including strategically important items), and key agricultural products.

Now, before we get to some Ukraine military updates, here’s a 3 minute out take from an interview with Doug Macgregor. It’s connected in an important way to the economic items above, because—after all—that’s really what this war on Russia is mostly about. Macgregor’s point is simply that this war is over from any sane military perspective, but it’s continuing because US Neocons demand that it continue—still hoping to cause damage to Russia:

-- GEROMAN -- The Zerbian - 👀 - @GeromanAT

Entirely surrounded, cut off & isolated Col. Douglas MacGregor youtu.be/Mugiaxpz1b0 via @YouTube

youtu.beEntirely surrounded, cut off & isolated#douglasmacgregor #ukrainerussia #ukrainewar #russiaukrainewar #ukraine #ukrainerussiawar #russiaukraineconflict #russia #russiavsukraine #nato

Next, The Duran has a major update on the Donbas battle. At the start there are some items that should be mentioned.

First, multiple reports are out that Russia is in full control of Lysychansk. Not only that, but there are reports of as many as 6,000 Ukrainian prisoners taken—not to mention undoubtedly heavy casualties. Alex Mercouris explains in detail why this is so important—Ukraine has lost most of its best forces in the Donbas battle and, as also previously reported, Ukraine has lost most of its industrial capacity as well as important agricultural areas.

Interestingly, the topic of Kaliningrad comes up. There have been reports that Poland, of all nations, is urging that Lithuania and the EU come to some agreement with Russia. This looks like Europeans have realized that some of the multiple US inspired anti-Russian provocations are getting dangerously out of hand. He also gets into the situation in Svalbard, in which Norway is taunting Russia. These provocations seem to me to be increasing tensions within the West.

In the second half of this video Mercouris discusses the importance of Russia’s increasingly close links with Caspian Sea countries—including Iran, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan. Russia already has a Caspian Sea Flotilla that it has used to launch missile strikes against terrorists in Syria. Mercouris explains how Russia’s secure position in this area and its naval presence also enhances its control over the Black Sea as well as over the Central Asian gas producing countries there—most of which were former parts of the USSR.

Overall, these are all positive developments for the anti-Globalist coalition.