SAR #15048

Fear sells, always has.

Bigger Bad Wolf: Western media would have us believe that Russia is the greatest threat to Ukraine. Arguable, at best; the IMF may be far more dangerous, for it will give Ukraine the loans it needs only if it imposes more austerity on the country, cutting or ending most public subsidies and reversing laws that prohibit Monsanto foreign investors from buying up agricultural land. And, of course, the people must be taxed even more to pay back both previous loans and the new ones. It is Greece all over, with the Russians at the door for motivation. Kid yourself not, modern finance is war. 
 
Short, Not Overly Sweet: Greece's Finance Minister has rejected the (warmed-over) EU bailout offer as "absurd".

In The Wings: Just offstage, waiting for Greece and Ukraine to finish their turn in the spotlight, Spain's Podemos has taken a huge lead in the latest polls as surveys show that over 80% of Spaniards say the economic situation is bad and must change.

It Pays to Increase Your Word Power: Define 'Enduring” as in the military phrase “enduring offensive combat operations”.

Slowly, Slowly: The High Court in Northern Ireland, in the first of what may become a government-shaking series of trials and revelations, will hear arguments alleging Britain's MI5 was actively complicit in both the sexual abuse of children at the Kincora children's home in the 1970's, and in covering up the abuse – much of it involving high ranking UK personalities - for four decades.

Encore: An aggressive new strain of HIV, reported from Cuba, progresses so quickly to full-blown AIDS that antiretroviral treatment comes too late to be effective.

Chicken/Egg: Is it possible that HSBC's laundering of drug profits was not the result of a demand for illegal drugs throughout the world, but that the demand for illegal drugs was the result of a demand for massive profits on the part of bankers and their co-conspirators? After all, it worked so well in China in the 1840's and 50's. In a possibly related item, former US President Bill Clinton issued an apology to the Mexican Nation for the damage the US War On Drugs has done to their country.

Common Corpse: The majority of public school students in the United States are now officially considered to be 'low-income'. Just like their parents.

Rotten To The Core: The USDA has approved the sale of biotch apples that have been tinkered with so that they will retain a fresh appearance for weeks and weeks after they've begun to rot. And in American, it's the appearance that counts.

Daily Double: In case you missed Jesse yesterday.

The New World Disorder: The ceasefire negotiated in Minsk will not hold; the rebels are winning and have a Big Brother behind them, while the crooks and conspirators in Keiv have little but promises from the US and IMF and a weakened and encircled army. The great European security system will not stretch to cover Ukraine, and may not cover much of Eastern Europe. The commonly agreed-upon norms and constraints on state behaviors are dissolving. The theory that sanctions and lower prices for oil would cow Putin has turned out as useful as the austerity imposed on Greece. Europe's disorder has grown, even while being denied.

Epidemiology: A rare, deadly, and highly contagious disease is spreading across the United States; willful ignorance. Not just about vaccinations, but in politics, science, religion – in all aspects of what was considered to be 'civil' society. It is fed by fear, stoked by irresponsible and ignorant celebrities, politicians, and FOX.

Porn O'Graph: The Inflation Monster, resting in peace.