The Post-Partisan Emporium

 Thanks to Who D. Who for recommending this article... The Crocus Disaster [i] The terrorist attack and its consequences ALEKS Introduction I had decided to take a break from writing in March so I could focus on family, but recent events have dictated otherwise. Herewith is a short piece on the Crocus City Hall “event.” I think there is not much introduction needed about what happened at the venue. But for those who have been living in a cave for the past several days… An unknown number (4?) of gunmen (terrorists) assaulted the Crocus City Hall in Russia and killed, with small firearms and arson, between 100 and 200 civilians, including a lot of children. How could this happen? Who is responsible? What are the implications? I will give my opinion about what happened, and let you draw your own conclusions. My description is a possible scenario, although reality might be different. First, The West claims that ISIS did it. Did ISIS do it? Yes, I think ISIS did it. Does that mean that ...

  Almost 10,000 U.S. Banks Have Disappeared Since 1985, Leaving 4 Mega Banks Controlling 39 Percent of Bank Assets By  Pam Martens and  Russ Martens According to Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) data, there were 14,417 federally-insured banking institutions in the U.S. in 1985. As of December 31, 2023, the  FDIC reports there are only 4,587 remaining . The vast majority of the 9,830 banks that have disappeared since 1985 did not fail – they were merged with other banks. Today, just four banks control $9.3  trillion  in consolidated bank assets or 39 percent of all bank assets. Those four banks are JPMorgan Chase with $3.395 trillion in consolidated assets; Bank of America with $2.540 trillion; Wells Fargo with $1.7 trillion; and Citigroup’s Citibank with $1.685 trillion. (All asset figures are as of December 31, 2023 and come from  the Federal Reserve’s statistical release of the largest banks .) The political clout of these mega banks is s...

 Thanks to Saint Jimmy (Russian American) for recommending this article... Deterrence By Savagery? “The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other civilizations were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.” ― Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1996) Western colonialism began in the fifteenth century and ended, with a few exceptions, in the mid of the 20th century. It was enabled by the development of technologies and fast population growth. The West then changed to a new model of ruling the world. It talked about human values and human rights and certain rules that would allegedly enable everyone to enjoy those. The facade did not hold up well. The West, and especially the U.S., abused the 'rules based order' by circumventing international law whenever it did not fit its inter...