Sunday 28th of April 2024

the vagaries of being a small farmer in the twenty-first century.....

HALLE, Belgium (AP) — The writing of angry farmers was on the Paris-to-Brussels highway in giant yellow letters visible from up high: “Ursula, We are here!” 

It was chalked onto the road with an equal measure of defiance and desperation, warning European Commission Ursula von der Leyen not to ignore farmers’ concerns for better prices and less bureaucracy.

The European Union is holding a summit on Thursday — and von der Leyen or any other EU leader in attendance can only disregard the plight of farming at their peril. 

Here’s why European farmers are taking their anger to the streets:

 THE HISTORY

World War II had spread hunger on a bountiful continent. When the war ended, Western European leaders knew that the way to people’s hearts was through their stomachs. So farming became a profession that stood at the cradle of what is now the EU. 

Agriculture was promoted and heavily subsidized to eradicate any thought of famine. 

Because of it, many family farmers escaped poverty. Some major land owners turned into global food giants.

 WHAT WENT WRONG? 

Today’s harvest for small and family farmers doesn’t look like anything which was sown then, with all too many facing financial plight or worse. 

Instead of a benefactor, the EU is now seen as the enemy for many, aloof in an ivory tower imposing bureaucratic rules on small-time farmers, while leaders are seen happily relaxing import restrictions for global farming powerhouses or the likes of wartime Ukraine. 

“Ursula has the audacity to go to Kyiv, but she doesn’t have the courage to come and see us,” complained farmer Jean-Francois Deflandre from beside the chalked highway message in Halle, close to Brussels.

https://apnews.com/article/eu-farmers-protest-summit-explainer-025623c5316f2f6aada39b49201a8c36

 

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Ukraine has condemned what it called the “destruction” of its grain by protesting Polish farmers amid a long-running spat over imports of cheap grain.

The agriculture ministry said on Monday said Kyiv “strongly condemns the deliberate destruction of Ukrainian grain by Polish protesters”.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/12/ukraine-protests-destruction-of-grain-exports-by-polish-farmers

 

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On the outskirts of the northern Spanish city of Pamplona, a green, red and blue stream of New Holland, John Deere, Massey Ferguson, Fendt and Deutz-Fahr tractors trundled forwards, horns honking and orange lights flashing.

Under drizzly grey skies and escorted by navy blue Policía Nacional vans, few were in the mood to explain the motives for their demonstration, but a young farmer from the nearby town of Estella threw open his cab door to share his grievances. “They’re drowning us with all these regulations,” he said. “They need to ease up on all the directives and bureaucracy. We can’t compete with other countries when things are like this. We’re … drowning.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/10/theyre-drowning-us-in-regulations-how-europes-furious-farmers-took-on-brussels-and-won

 

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At 8am at the Shambhu border, a crossing between the northern Indian states of Punjab and Haryana, Daya Singh, 35, fixed his blue headgear and prepared for a day-long sit-in to join hundreds of farmers protesting at the site to demand guaranteed minimum price for crops. Like hundreds of other farmers, he has been sleeping in his tractor trolley for the last five days after volunteering for different tasks at the protest.

“We are forced to hit the streets. we want protection for our crops,” Singh told RT.

This comes at a crucial juncture in India, as the general election, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party is expected to win a third term, is approaching in a few months. 

The farmers’ vote will have an impact. Agriculture employs around 58% of the country’s population and accounts for about 18.3% of India’s GDP at current prices. Its market size is estimated at $372.94 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach $473.72 billion by 2029. India is the world’s second largest producer of wheat, rice, and sugar.

 

https://www.rt.com/india/592627-india-farmers-protest-delhi/

 

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POLISH FARMERS TO CONTINUE PROTESTS.....

 

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The rapidly rising cases of mammals contracting and dying of bird flu have sparked concerns that the virus could mutate and infect human beings.  In a recent review published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseasesresearchers investigated the literature about mammalian avian influenza A (H5N1) infections over the last two decades.

Last August, the United Nations warned that humans could become infected with bird flu if the virus mutates and can easily infect and transmit between us.

United Nations Warns Of Human Bird Flu Risk

In the recent literature, scientists found that while the primary source of viral transmission remains contact with infected birds, mammal-to-mammal transmissions are on the rise, which is problematic for humans. These alarming findings highlight recent mutations in H5N1 strains, underscoring the need for continuous surveillance to mitigate a potential global pandemic, according to a report by News Medical Life Sciences. 

“Our review suggests that H5N1 virus is expanding its geographic range to new continents such as North and South America. This fact is of concern because when an emerging pathogen reaches naive populations, the consequences for biodiversity can be catastrophic, especially for threatened species,” the researchers stated.

Netherlands Agriculture Ministers Warn Bird Flu Could Jump To Humans Via Pigs

Investigations into the number of species affected reveal that while previous panzootics cumulatively infected nine predominantly terrestrial and semi-aquatic species, the current panzootic has already been detected in more than 48 mammalian species, including 13 species of marine mammals. Peru, Chile, and Argentina have reported thousands of dead individuals of seals and similar mammals (e.g., the American sea lion [Otaria flavescens]), almost resulting in localized extinction events. –News Medical Life Sciences

Remember, “research” funded by sociopaths Bill Gates and Anthony Fauci revealed that bird flu could be the next plandemic.

Research Funded By Fauci And Gates Could See Bird Flu Become The Next Deadly Pandemic

The researchers did say: “So far, no evidence indicates human-to-human transmission and the risk for a pandemic event still seems low. However, one of the most severe influenza viruses to have affected humans (i.e., Spanish influenza [1918–1919]) developed from an avian influenza virus that adapted to humans, a fact that should be considered when assessing the spillover risk.”

They then declare that the world’s ruling classes should be in charge of keeping humanity safe.

https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/rising-cases-of-bird-flu-in-mammals-sparks-concerns-of-human-transmission

 

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inhumanity at unit 721….

 

SEE ALSO: 

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pledged his support to help rebuild Ukraine’s economy after the conflict with Moscow ends, making the commitment at the Japanese-Ukrainian reconstruction conference in Tokyo on Monday.

A Ukrainian delegation of over 100 people was led by the country’s prime minister, Denis Shmigal, who touted the event as a major diplomatic win.

According to Shmigal, over 50 cooperation agreements were signed at the event, including “an intergovernmental convention on the avoidance of double taxation, which is extremely important for Japanese companies planning new projects in Ukraine.”

“During our meeting, [Kishida] said that Japan will provide Ukraine with $12.1 billion in aid, including the announced and implemented amount,” Shmigal claimed in a Telegram post.

It was not immediately clear when exactly and in what form the funding would materialize. According to the Japanese side, during the conference Tokyo pledged $105 million in new aid for Ukraine to fund demining work and emergency repairs in the energy and transport sectors.

The Japanese prime minister also pledged to open a new government trade office in the Ukrainian capital. Japan sees the rebuilding of Ukraine as an “investment” beneficial for both sides, he said.

“The war in Ukraine is still going on at this very moment and the situation is not easy. The promotion of economic reconstruction, however, is not only an investment for the future of Ukraine but also investing in Japan and the whole globe,” Kishida said during the conference.

Unlike most of Ukraine’s benefactors, Tokyo has primarily stuck to humanitarian rather than military aid, as well as eyeing potential long-term projects for post-war development of the country.

That approach was described by Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa as the “uniquely Japanese way” and stems from the pacifist stance enshrined in the country’s constitution along with legal restrictions on exports of lethal weaponry.

However, late last year Tokyo agreed to export Patriot PAC-3 anti-aircraft missiles to the US, which it produces under a US license, ending a ban on military exports imposed under the country’s fundamental document back in 1947.

The move was largely perceived as an indirect way for Tokyo to aid Kiev militarily by enabling Washington to send more US-made Patriot missiles to Ukraine without depleting its own stocks. Japan’s decision was condemned by Moscow, which warned it would further damage bilateral relations and “have tangible negative consequences for global and regional security.”

https://www.rt.com/news/592709-ukraine-japan-restoration-conference/

$12 million? THAT'S NOT ENOUGH TO DIVIDE BETWEEN THE CORRUPT YUCKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TO BUY A CONDO EACH IN FLORIDA....

 

 

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defending avdiivka....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMa3J7FHSSM

Russia's 460 Strikes Decimate Ukraine's 'Retake Avdiivka' Attempt; Putin Orders To 'Develop...'

 

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MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

 

 

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

 

EASY.

 

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

 

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SEE ALSO: A LOT OF CAPTURED WESTERN SUPPLIED AMMUNITION BY THE RUSSIAN MILITARY:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iISkYXw8B_o

crazy yuckraine.......

Robert the Bruce’s observations would later serve as the inspiration for the American educator, Thomas Palmer, who, in a teacher’s manual he authored in 1840, wrote the following: “‘Tis a lesson you should heed, Try, try again. If at first, you don’t succeed, Try, try again.”

Persistence bests describes what is unfolding on the battlefields in what Russia now calls “New Russia”—suicidal forays by Ukrainian forces into the prepared defensive positions of their Russian opponents which, to date, have achieved little more than dead bodies and destroyed vehicles.

Persistence, as the case of Robert the Bruce shows, can—and often does—prevail in the face of adversity. When the current Ukrainian counteroffensive was first conceived, back in the fall of 2022, Ukraine was coming off a case study in persistence that had, in fact, paid off—a successful counteroffensive that had succeeded in pushing Russian forces out of the Kharkov region, and which recaptured the right bank of Kherson Oblast, including the city of Kherson. This success was facilitated by the provision by NATO of tens of billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment and training, along with operational planning support informed by NATO intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance resources.

New Rules

NATO Stands No Chance Against Russia

 

When the fall counteroffensive ran its course, the Ukrainian’s and their NATO masters turned to the task of building a new Ukrainian army to replace the one that had shed its blood in Kharkov and Kherson, a new Ukrainian army which would seek to resume offensive operations in the spring of 2023.

None of this was secret. In a revealing interview, the commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, General Valery Zaluzhny, declared that the goal of the spring 2023 operations was to break through Russian defenses in the Zaporozhye zone of operations and advance 84 kilometers to the city of Melitopol, control of which, Zaluzhny stated, “would give us a full fire control of the land corridor [connecting the Crimean peninsula to the Donbass and Russia], because from Melitopol we can already fire at the Crimean Isthmus.”

Zaluzhny, expressing confidence derived from recent battlefield success, declared “I know that I can beat this enemy,” before adding a caveat: “But I need resources.” Zaluzhny said that “I can calculate, based on the task at hand, what kind of resource is needed to build combat capability,” before citing numbers: “I need 300 tanks, 600-700 infantry fighting vehicles, 500 Howitzers.” Zaluzhny was quick to note, “I’m not talking about F-16s right now.” But he did say he needed artillery ammunition—lots of it. And he stated that NATO was unable to meet this need.

Zaluzhny got the equipment he was looking for. His forces were dispatched to NATO nations for training, while his battleplans were closely coordinated with Ukraine’s NATO partners. Select Ukrainian units were dispatched to Grafenwoehr, Germany, where they were provided with a five-week course taught by US instructors that focused on how to effectively conduct company- and battalion-size combined-arms operations integrating artillery, armor and infantry forces.

Russia’s Special Operation in Ukraine

CIA Vet: Weird That NATO Failed to Foresee Botched Ukraine Counteroffensive

Zaluzhny’s objective was the city of Melitopol. To get there, the Ukrainian army needed to breach Russian defenses which had been prepared for months. Ukrainian commanders and their NATO partners believed that they key to victory was to pit well-trained, well-equipped, and highly motivated Ukrainian forces up against Russian troops whose training and moral were deemed inferior and who, it subjected to the full weight of the Ukrainian attack, would break and run.

 

In January 2023, Ukrainian forces began probing the Russian defenses, looking for the weakest point that would then be turned into the focal point of their assault. Near the village of Rabotino, in Zaporozhye, they believed they found it—a seam between the 291stMotorized Rifle Regiment (MRR) and the 70th MRR of the 42ndGuard Motorized Rifle Division.

NATO picked its two best-trained and best equipped Ukrainian brigades—the 33rd, which operated the US-made M-2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, and the 47th, which was equipped with German-made Leopard main battle tanks. Both brigades had been trained by the US in combined arms tactics, which they were tasked with employing with full force along the seam between the 291st MRR and the 70th MRR. The Ukrainian soldiers were led to believe that the Russian troops assigned to these tow units would run away or surrender at the first sign of serious fighting.

The Ukrainian attack began on June 8, 2023, striking towards the Russian defenses in and around the village of Rabotino. Within hours it was clear to all involved that the expectations of the Ukrainian and NATO commanders did not match the reality on the ground—the Russian soldiers manning the Rabotino defenses held fast, a by-product of good training, outstanding leadership, sound tactics, and adequate equipment. The Ukrainians, on the other hand, failed dismally, littering the battlefield with burned out Bradley IFV’s and Leopard MBT’s, and the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers. Successive attacks over the course of the proceeding days achieved similar results—the Russian’s held fast, while the Ukrainians died.

Russia’s Special Operation in Ukraine

West’s Hopes for Breakthrough in Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Dashed

In the weeks that followed, Ukraine appeared to modify its tactics, foregoing the combined arms training it had received in Germany, and instead using infantry attacks, heavily supported by artillery, designed to pick apart the Russian defenses piece by piece. While these attacks initially enjoyed greater success than the early armor-intensive attacks, ultimately they were beaten back by the Russians, with the Ukrainians suffering huge losses in manpower.

The failure of the Ukrainian drive on Melitopol was a huge embarrassment for both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his NATO partners when they gathered in Vilnius, Lithuania, for the NATO Summit convened there from July 11-12. In the finger-pointing and recrimination that ensued, Ukraine lambasted the fact that it had been asked to carry out a difficult military task with insufficient resources, specifically citing the lack of F-16 fighters (despite the fact that General Zaluzhny had specifically excluded the F-16’s from the list of equipment he said he needed to successfully attack Melitopol.)

 

Meanwhile, NATO put the blame for the failed offensive squarely on the shoulders of Ukrainian officers who had failed to employ properly the tactics they had been taught in Grafenwoehr. A leaked German intelligence report highlighted the shift by Ukraine away from massed armor attacks to smaller infantry-driven assaults as representing a total departure from the combined arms operations taught by NATO. What the German report failed to address is the reality that NATO tried to take operational art that requires months, if not years, to master, and squeeze it into training that lasted only a few weeks.

Ukraine came out of the Vilnius Summit faced with a classic Catch-22, “a problem for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem or by a rule.” If Ukraine wanted its NATO partners to increase military assistance, such as the provision of F-16 fighters, it needed to show progress on the battlefield. But in order to show progress on the battlefield, it had to attack without the support of F-16 fighters, which doomed any such attack to failure.

Moreover, the Vilnius Summit exposed the reality of a growing Ukraine fatigue amongst the NATO partners, with several beginning to question their ability to provide open-ended support. Ukraine needs to demonstrate a will and ability to prevail against Russia, many western observers believe, or else the west will have no choice but to begin seeking a diplomatic off-ramp from the war. Such a negotiated settlement could compel Ukraine into accepting the loss of territory currently claimed by Russia as part of the conditions, something that is anathema to the Zelensky government.

Analysis

Vilnius Summit Locks Ukraine in Servile Status, Brutal War With No Way Out

Faced with the Hobbson’s choice, Zelensky has ordered Zaluzhny to double down on the Zaporozhye offensive, employing Ukrainian forces in a manner consistent with the training received at the hands of NATO over the course of the past 7 months.

The American comedian, W.C. Fields, had a different take on Palmer’s “try, try again” ditty, declaring “If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Then give the whole thing up. There’s no use being a fool about it!”

 

What Zelensky, Zaluzhny, and the Ukrainian military is undertaking on the ground around the village of Rabotino is, to put it mildly, foolish. The desire to take Melitopol has become a Holy Grail for Zelensky, one that will cost Ukraine dearly, both in terms of the lives squandered on the battlefield, but also by the geopolitical consequences of extending a fight Ukraine cannot win, both in terms of potential additional territorial losses, and the long-term economic and societal impact of loosing vital resources and infrastructure.

Albert Eistein, the famous inventor of quantum physics, had an even more erudite take on the topic of persistence: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230728/scott-ritter-ukrainian-counteroffensive-keeps-repeating-same-insane-mistakes-1112225788.html

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DEAR SCOTT: ALBERT EINSTEIN DID NOT INVENT QUANTUM MECHANICS... HE FORMULATED SPACE/TIME RELATIVITY.... ALBERT ALSO DID NOT PRONOUNCE THOSE FAMOUS WORDS ABOUT "REPEAT" ATTRIBUTED TO HIM....

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Kiev is ready to assist the US in a war against any enemy, be it Iran, North Korea, or China, a senior Ukrainian MP has said, claiming that his country would prove to be a valuable military ally.

In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Friday, Aleksey Goncharenko doubled down on calls for the US to send Ukraine more military aid amid gridlock in Congress. “[The] United States of America told [us that] we will be with you ‘as long as it takes.’ Now it’s time to keep the promises.”

Goncharenko rebuked US politicians for focusing too much on the looming 2024 presidential election, saying Ukraine should not be a “victim” of this. He also claimed that supporting Ukraine serves Washington’s interests regardless of who wins the race for the White House.

In the event of a future war, the Americans “will need people who will stand shoulder to shoulder with them,” but not many nations would be willing to go all-in to support the US, the lawmaker said.

https://www.rt.com/russia/593062-ukraine-ready-war-china-us/

 

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