These numbers are nuts:

Corporations such as "Cargill", "DuPont" and "Monsanto" (which is formally a German-Australian company, but essentially an American one) are among the most prominent owners of Ukrainian arable land. In addition, corporations like "Vanguard", "Blackrock" and "Blackstone" are among the largest shareholders in the aforementioned agricultural giants, owning trillions in assets. For instance, "Blackrock" is a fund that manages assets worth over $10 trillion, with "Vanguard" controlling at least six and "Blackstone" managing up to $1 trillion. Together, the three massive US multinational corporations ("Cargill", "DuPont" and "Monsanto") own over 17 million hectares of Ukraine's arable land.

In comparison, the whole of Italy has 16.7 million hectares of agricultural land. In short, the three American corporations own more usable agricultural land in Ukraine than what the whole country of Italy has. The entire area of Ukraine is approximately 600,000 square km. Out of that land area, 170,000 square km have been acquired by foreign corporations, the vast majority Western, particularly those based in or financed by the US. Since the new law on the sale of agricultural land passed by the Kiev regime entered into full force approximately one year ago, to this day, the three large multinational consortia financed with US capital have acquired well over a quarter of Ukrainian arable land. A report by the Australian National Review states that the three US corporations managed to acquire 17 out of the 62 million hectares of agricultural land in less than a year. This made it possible for them to control 28% of the total arable land in Ukraine.

Now you know why they fight.

US corporations own around 30% of Ukrainian arable land

The Ukrainian people have not only been quite literally robbed of the lands their ancestors gave their lives for, but now they're effectively dying in battle to make sure this theft continues unabated.

^BRICS

One of the great ironies that nobody wants to acknowledge is that even American globalists would have to concede that Georgia, the nation, has a better chance of retaining its identity and culture if it is incorporated politically into Russia..!

To be left on the outside would almost certainly damn it to being fully sucked into the NATO-sphere and thus becoming a rainbow colony of the West.

Liberals ultimately, though, do not have any concern about this: they view the destruction of the past as a necessary act to liberate the individual.

But we all know one thing... Only Christ can liberate a man - to enter further into sin will condemn him.

Sexual liberty is actually slavery.

LOL, the clarification here does not make me feel better:

The image being circulated includes links to a report in Newsweek, which discusses findings from a Russian NGO, and an article in the Times newspaper.

The two figures from the two sources are not directly comparable.

The report discussed by Newsweek – authored by Agora, a Russian human rights group – found that 411 criminal cases were brought against internet users in Russia in 2017. The article does not give a figure for arrests.

In 2017 The Times made a Freedom of Information request which found 3,395 arrests had been made by 29 UK police forces for “section 127” offences, which is used for cases of online abuse. According to the article, 1,696 people were subsequently charged. Section 127 offences cover harassment that takes place via an “electronic communications network”, and is not limited to social media posts – harassment via email or other forms of online communication can also fall under this definition.

A message scrawled on the walls of a Pennsylvania high school claimed five white teachers would die if more black staff were not hired.

The graffiti was found in a girl's bathroom at Upper Darby High School just outside of Philadelphia last month, alarming local parents who claim they were not informed.

'Y'all better start hiring some more black teachers or 5 white ones will die,' the message written on the wall of a girl's bathroom read.

The suspected teenage culprit will not be charged because they are developmentally challenged and there is a lack of evidence, police said.

I am not entirely against cutting some slack in these situations... But what do they even mean by developmentally challenged..? And to what extent is this kid getting the attention they need?

Why always throw the book.

Nonetheless, it's interesting and disturbing.

Graffiti in Pennsylvania school bathroom threatens white staff will die if black staff aren't hired

A note scrawled in the bathroom of a Pennsylvania high school suggested that five white teachers would die if more black staff were not hired.

^{By Neirin Gray Desai For Dailymail.Com (Daily Mail)}

아주 좋은 20-39세 사람의 출산 의지에 대한 설문조사....

물론 경제적 이유때문에 출산하지 않은 편인데 여성중에 10%가 양성 불평등 때문이다고 합니다.

애 없는 月천만원 부부, 애 낳은 月550만원 부부…이게 달랐다 [출산율 0.78의 나라]

스스로를 지난해 합계 출산율이 '인구 쇼크' 수준인 0.59명(전국은 0.78명)까지 떨어진 서울 2030 세대의 자화상이라 여기는 나씨는 '1000만원 정도 일시금을 주는 미봉책으로는 한계가 있다. 자녀의 삶에 대해 ‘매우 행복할 것’이라 예상한 이들의 출산 의향은 압도적으로 높았지만(89.6%) ‘전혀 행복하지 않을 것’이라고 답한 사람 중엔 ‘출산 의향이 있다’고 답한 사람이 26.0%에 불과했다.

^{김수민 (중앙일보)}

Which reminded me of another great classic from the movie...

Remember, POE...

Vera Lynn - We'll Meet Again

From the album: We'll Meet Again

^YouTube

Just brutal:

They removed the 69-year-old from her apartment, where they found her living in abhorrent conditions among piles of garbage, and took her down, undressed, to the garage where they hosed her down before placing her in the ambulance.

There absolutely needs to be accountability for these things.

Oropos mayor laments treatment of 69-year-old woman by private ambulance crew

The mayor of the East Attica town of Oropos has expressed regret over an incident concerning the treatment of a troubled 69-year-old resident by the crew of a private ambulance service working for the municipality, describing the incident “like somet…

^{Iliana Magra (ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΕΣ ΕΚΔΟΣΕΙΣ ΜΟΝΟΠΡΟΣΩΠΗ Α.Ε. Εθν.Μακαρίου & Φαληρέως 2)}

A lot of people are skeptical about the idea that video games will destroy your life but lol bro...

Kids are driven mad by them.

A lot of people are skeptical about the idea that video games will destroy your life but lol bro...

Kids are driven mad by them.

In other places I've done my best to follow the Sri Lankan economic crisis, particularly since it could be more geopolitically relevant than people realize as it simultaneously flushes out the roles of regional powers like China and India.

... and here we are with China taking the lead on restructuring the absolutely massive Sri Lankan debt:

The IMF bailout process made slow progress due to the need to restructure Sri Lanka’s nearly 50 billion dollar external debt.

A previous Chinese letter giving a two-year moratorium on debt repayment had been deemed inadequate by the IMF. Wickremesinghe said the IMF programme which will be there for over the next four years would be different from all of the previous 16 programmes with the Washington-based global lender. He said the government has to take many hard economic decisions in order to stabilise the economy and work towards growth. The government measures to order tax hikes, raise utility tariffs and end fuel subsidies had triggered political protests. “I would like to apologise to the people for the hardships”, he said. The IMF in September last year approved Sri Lanka a 2.9 billion dollar bailout package over 4 years pending Sri Lanka's ability to restructure its debt with creditors -- both bilateral and sovereign bondholders.

China owns about 20% of the Sri Lankan debt, so them having a big stay in how it is restructured makes sense.

China will be able to have Sri Lanka by the horns for the indefinite future, and maybe it is even the case that the Sri Lankans will get loans next time from the Chinese (and it'll be in Yuan!).

This is how you grow an empire.

India missed out on an opportunity to exercise more control over a nation traditionally in her sphere of influence - why they did that, I do not know.

Outlook India Magazine Online- Read News India, Latest News Analysis, World, Sports, Entertainment | Best Online Magazine India

Outlook covers the latest India news, analysis, business news and long-form stories on culture, money market and personal finance. Read India's best online magazine.

^{PTI (Outlook India)}

I don't know much or even anything about this current case of fraudulent financial statements being levied against the Trump empire, but I have heard some analysis that Ivanka is embarrassed by the rest of the Trumps, and she has no desire to be part of their next political campaign just like she has no stomach for the lawsuit.

That's fine by me.

Jared Kushner is not an interesting or skillful politician. I think there was even a conspiracy briefly in 2017-2018 where they wanted to portray Kushner as the brains behind the operation because it backed up the Jewish stereotype of goyim like Trump being incapable of holding their own without Jewish minders.

The further the couple gets away from Trump, the more appealing it would be to me.

Ivanka Trump throws brothers and father under bus in New York fraud suit

Ivanka Trump says she was not involved in preparing fraudulent financial statements that form the core of the $250m fraud suit against her father’s company

^{Andrew Feinberg (The Independent)}

I'd be amazed if it changes anything.

The Army is bringing back one of its most successful ad campaigns with the 1980s and 1990s-era slogan – "Be All You Can Be" – as it looks to appeal to Gen Z.

On Monday, the branch rolled out a new ad touting the slogan amid a slump in recruiting, as it recently came up 15,000 soldiers short of its goal of 60,000, Military.com reported.

We all know the reason is because many formerly excited red staters can think for themselves and just don't believe in serving the broken bureaucrats and devious deep state in Washington DC.

And good for them.

US Army goes retro, brings back 'Be All You Can Be' ad campaign to fight recruiting slump

The Army turned back time with its new "Be All You Can Be" marketing campaign on Monday.

^{Louis Casiano (Fox News)}

Actually rather surprised to see this:

The Russian front lines could collapse, warned Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on his Telegram channel on Sunday, accusing the Russian Defense Ministry of cutting off his penal brigades from resupply. "For now, we are trying to figure out the reason: is it just ordinary bureaucracy or a betrayal," said Prigozhin.

That is certainly concerning when Pirghozin talks about the potential for the entire frontline to collapse.

But we do see some dubious analysis coming later on:

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian defenders “are continuing to inflict high casualties against the advancing mixed Russian forces,” according to the latest analysis from the Institute for the Study of War, which added that the Ukrainians are “likely setting robust conditions for a future Ukrainian counteroffensive.”

“The Ukrainian defense of Bakhmut remains strategically sound as it continues to consume Russian manpower and equipment as long as Ukrainian forces do not suffer excessive casualties,” the ISW said. “Ukrainian forces are unlikely to withdraw from Bakhmut all at once and may pursue a gradual fighting withdrawal to exhaust Russian forces through continued urban warfare.”

... Again, imagine thinking that you are really able to keep up with the Russians as Ukraine in a game of attrition when it is already clear that senior brass have wanted you to wihdraw.

The Institute for the Study of War shows itself again as not a very serious study group, but a mouthpiece for the US State Department.

Not so fast: Tenacious Ukrainian defense, Russian ammo shortage thwart Russian advance on Bakhmut

BACK ON DEFENSE FOR NOW: Just days after crowing that the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was on the verge of falling, the head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group has appeared on a social media video complaining that a lack of ammunition has stalle…

^MSN

The new Israeli strike comes as the international airport in Aleppo is one of the main portals of entry for foreign airplanes carrying humanitarian aid to the victims of the country’s recent devastating earthquake.

The Israeli act of aggression followed another strike earlier in February when the regime's aircraft hit the Syrian capital and areas around it, especially a number of residential buildings in Kafr Sousa neighborhood in central Damascus. Tal al-Masih near the city of Shahba, north of al-Suwayda in southwestern Syria was another target of that attack.

Syria's Health Ministry said five people were killed in the strike, including one soldier, while fifteen others were wounded, some of whom critically.

New Israeli airstrike targets intl. airport in Syria’s Aleppo, putting it out of service

Israeli aircraft carry out a new strike against Syria, targeting the international airport in the northwestern city of Aleppo.

^PressTV

It's bad in the Ukraine:

During their brief visits to the nearby town of Kostiantynivka, Ukrainian infantrymen told the Kyiv Independent of unprepared, poorly-trained battalions being thrown into the front line meat grinder to survive as best they could with little support from armored vehicles, mortars, artillery, drones and tactical information. 

“We don’t get any support,” says a soldier named Serhiy, who has been fighting on the front lines in Bakhmut.

They say that Russian artillery, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers are often allowed to strike Ukrainian positions for hours or days without being shut down by Ukrainian heavy weapons. Some complained of poor coordination and situational awareness, allowing this to happen or making it even worse. 

Mortarmen spoke of extreme ammunition scarcity and having to use weapons dating back to World War II. Drones that are supposed to provide critical reconnaissance information are also scarce and are being lost at very high rates in some parts of the battlefield.

All this leads to terrifying casualties of both dead and wounded. "The battalion came in in the middle of December… between all the different platoons, there were 500 of us," says Borys, a combat medic from Odesa Oblast fighting around Bakhmut. "A month ago, there were literally 150 of us."

“When you go out to the position, it’s not even a 50/50 chance that you’ll come out of there (alive),” says the older Serhiy. “It’s more like 30/70.”

Some more analysis of the battlefield:

Multiple soldiers say that they are under massive assault from both Wagner Group mercenaries and regular Russian forces.

“There’s Wagner and there’s two brigades of airborne assault,” says Oleksandr, an infantryman from Sumy, who is part of a Ukrainian assault battalion in Bakhmut. “It’s rough. Constant waves, nonstop.”

Some have characterized the Russian attacks as huge waves of cannon fodder, while others say that the invaders’ tactics have evolved to keep up with the battlefield.

The older Serhiy says that the enemy likes to send a team of three or four expendable foot soldiers to attack and make the Ukrainians expose themselves by shooting at them. At that point, the more elite forces zero in on the defenders’ position.

Once they begin exchanging fire, the Ukrainians are struck with heavier weapons like Russian mortars and rockets from Grad multiple launch rocket systems or BMP infantry fighting vehicles and BTR armored personnel carriers with machine guns.

“They get the positions where we are, establish the coordinates, then they hit us from seven to nine kilometers out with mortars,” as well as from closer by with grenade launchers, says the older Serhiy. “They wait for the house to fall so we have to jump out. The building catches fire and then they try to finish us off.”

“Their birds come out and they chase us with fire,” adds the younger Serhiy, referring to Russian UAVs, like quadcopters and Orlan-10 fixed wing drones that spot distant heavy weapons. “They hit accurately.”

As Russians destroy more and more buildings, Ukrainians keep losing more places where they can reliably take cover. Borys the medic says people have been lost when their entrenched positions collapsed from heavy Russian fire, suffocating them.

“I’ll put it like this, we should get our people out because if we don’t take off, then in the next few weeks, it’s going to be bad,” says Oleksandr. A mortarman named Illia agrees that Bakhmut is “practically encircled.”

https://kyivindependent.com/national/ukrainian-soldiers-in-bakhmut-our-troops-are-not-being-protected

Iran has been plagued by a string of mysterious “mild” poisonings since last November, with the apparent attacks occurring at more than 50 schools across the country. More than 1,000 schoolgirls have been affected by the poisonings, triggering protests by parents and prompting some to take their children out of school altogether.

Naturally, the Supreme Leader has condemned it.

Last week, President Ebrahim Raisi suggested the poisonings might have been carried out by the country’s enemies conspiring “to create fear and despair in the people” and urged the interior ministry and intelligence groups to ramp up efforts in apprehending those responsible.

Earlier, the Deputy Health Minister Younes Panahi suggested hardline religious groups who oppose women’s education, might have had a hand in the affair. “It was found that some people wanted schools, especially girls’ schools, to be closed,” he commented without elaborating.

It'll be interesting to see if it is ever solved.

http://last week, president ebrahim raisi suggested the poisonings might have been carried out by the country s enemies conspiring to create fear and despair in the people  and urged the interior ministry and intelligence groups to ramp up efforts in apprehending those responsible. earlier, the deputy health minister younes panahi suggested hardline religious groups who oppose women s education, might have had a hand in the affair. it was found that some people wanted schools, especially girls  schools, to be closed,  he commented without elaborating.

They really let you know who calls the shots in Atlanta in terms of security:

However, a spokesperson for the same office later said that the YFN trial had been pushed back due to security issues. District Attorney Fani Willis stated last year that the war between the two street gangs resulted in at least 50 shootings and multiple murders; according to the spokesperson, the prospect of both street gangs in the same courthouse at the same time drove the decision to delay.

Other law-enforcement sources make similar claims. “Providing security for the YSL trial is a priority that requires the deployment of resources from various Fulton County Sheriff’s Office units,” a sheriff’s office spokesman said in a statement to RS. “Because some of the defendants are housed in other counties, the security protocol also involves daily coordination with other agencies regarding transportation and courthouse security. Due to the unprecedented nature of this trial, we are constantly assessing security and making the necessary adjustments to ensure the safety of those involved and the courthouse complex as a whole.”

The city has a massive crime problem but doesn't have the budget to provide comprehensive security at its own courthouse.

... Moreover:

Fulton County’s jail is overcrowded, with inmates sleeping in common areas in plastic boats, sheriff Pat Labat told county officials last year. Stabbings occur daily, he said. Fifteen people died in the sheriff’s custody in 2022, according to the Fulton County medical examiner’s office, compared to two or three in pre-pandemic years. The Southern Center for Human Rights and the ACLU issued a scathing report last year describing rampant malnourishment and neglect on the jail’s mental-health floor, where every single inmate was afflicted with lice, scabies, or both.

What is going on in Atlanta?

The YSL Case Is Stretching Fulton County’s Justice System to Its Breaking Point

Attorneys in Atlanta describe widespread delays and disruptions to other cases as the prosecution of Young Thug moves slowly onward, with months still to go

^{George Chidi (Yahoo Life)}

I am just not that much of a Capitalist.

I understand that the free market based theories accurately describes the circumstances by which business flows and the market booms, but it does not describe a world in which I want to live.

I also believe it is entirely possible to make the market subject to the desires of the people as opposed to making the people subject to the market.