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Russia is a major metals producer and exporter. According to Institut Polytechnique de Paris, last year the country held a 13% market share for titanium production, 11.2% for nickel, 10.5% for platinum, 5.4% for aluminum, 4% for copper and 4.4% for cobalt. It is the world’s top producer of palladium, a rare metal used in car manufacturing, accounting for 37% of production in 2021.…

Russia is not only a major producer of primary aluminum but it is also embedded in the global supply chains needed to make the metal....

 Having posted review articles for the past couple of days I did wonder what I thought my most important post of the year was since many others seem to be working that theme at present. Somewhat randomly (meaning I did not go back and look at them all, and nor did I look at stats) I settled on this, which was published on the blog on 2 July 2022 having previously been on Byline Times:

"Center-left" instead of "left"? It's simply moving the Overton window somewhat to the left after it having been pushed rather far to the right toward the fascistic model of a corporate state. The correction that Richard Murphy suggests is just that, a course correction rather than a radical proposal. But something is better than nothing. Neoliberalism pursued to its logical conclusion ends in corporate as a type of fascism rather than the freedom it advertises as "economic liberalism." The end-state is not democracy as rule of, by and for the people but rather plutocratic oligarchy, empire, and imperial wars. 

At Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, where the company has missed rent payments, Mr. Musk has done the same, consolidating workers onto two floors and closing four. He also canceled janitorial services this month, after those workers went on strike for better wages.

That has left the office in disarray. With people packed into more confined spaces, the smell of leftover takeout food and body odor has lingered on the floors, according to four current and former employees. Bathrooms have grown dirty, these people said. And because janitorial services have largely been ended, some workers have resorted to bringing their own rolls of toilet paper from home.

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I had a note in my script to draw blood dripping out of their mouths, but then it turned out horrifying enough without it.

In 2021, government officials and media executives from Russia and China discussed the exchange of news and social content.

The post Hacked Russian Files Reveal Propaganda Agreement With China appeared first on The Intercept.

Our 3rd most-read article of the 2022.

Originally published November 10, 2022.

I get up at 4:30 a.m. for some pre-dawn food prep. Today, it’s my turn to bring a snack and read a story for my son Ash’s preschool class. The school does not allow nuts, dairy, eggs, sugar, or any pro-oxidant fruit. My snack will be simultaneously nutritious, allergen-free, and appealing to three-year-olds—something like dinosaur-shaped muffins that taste like rainbows but are made of steamed arugula.

While the muffins are baking, Ash wakes up. He is in a great mood after an uninterrupted twelve-hour slumber, eager for another day of joyful learning. He transitions through every part of the morning routine without complaint or delay, and we arrive at school precisely in the middle of the allotted five-minute drop-off window.

Jiddu Krishnamurti was a lecturer and teacher for almost 50 years. He was famous, there are a lot of books transcribing his talks, and he maybe got one person enlightened.

Jiddu was the anti-guru, guru. He didn’t want to give concrete instructions, because when people follow concrete instructions they aren’t free: they’ve got a system and they’re just enacting the system.

Reading him is frustrating. I’ve read his lectures multiple times over the years, and each time understood a bit more of what he was saying.

One main point is that everyone is acting according to conditioning: religious, social, family, school, philosophical, etc… They’re in chains, and they regard those changes as themselves.

But none of that conditioning is you. You aren’t your personality, and beliefs you got from you religion, nation, schooling, family, etc… are not your beliefs.