HALF-FULL REPORT 11/15/19
We continue to see the global impact of the same underlying trend. Organizations and institutions that maintained power for decades are challenged by new upstarts and new ideas spread through networked structures. Turkey’s Erdogan is trying to control his world through military force and extortion. He will fail if the Kurds can be taught how to emulate networked resistance.
Bolivia’s leader for the past fourteen years was ejected via a military coup. The country is in turmoil, and Canada has stopped flights.
Hong Kong is driving the Chinese to fits, and they do not seem to know what to do to stop the growing democracy movement.
The impeachment show is dragging television ratings and advertising fees into the dirt. So far, we have heard a lot about hurt feelings and civil servants indignantly shocked to be irrelevant, redundant, and useless to President Trump.
The witnesses look like the sad losers from Trump’s The Apprentice program.
There is a pattern here, and I am asking TTpers to pay attention to it as we continue to look at the world in terms of networks instead of hierarchies.
Erdogan
President Trump met with Turkey’s Erdogan at the White House on Wednesday, November 13, 2019. The meeting was stiff, with Trump playing the gracious host and Erdogan playing the petulant bad boy.
They discussed the S-400 missiles purchased from Russia and events in Syria. Erdogan returned Trump’s letter from three weeks ago in which Trump warned Erdogan not to act foolishly, or the United States would destroy the Turkish economy.
The meeting included several senators and discussed trade issues totaling $100 billion. Turkey produces sections of the F-35 aircraft, but Trump is prohibiting Turkey from purchasing the advanced fighters.
Turkey is the fifth-largest contributor to NATO, and their contributions will be difficult to replace should Turkey leave the alliance. Erdogan and the rest of the NATO member states know this.
Trump has frozen some Turkish banking assets related to Erdogan thumbing his nose at Iranian sanctions.
Erdogan played a brief video on his tablet computer during the meeting. The video, described as a propaganda piece, allegedly showed noble Turkish soldiers hunting Kurdish terrorists.
Lindsey Graham described the meeting as a lesson in American Civics. However, it appeared to be a meeting in RINO squishiness except for Senator Ted Cruz’s input. Cruz stayed on target with the Kurdish issue and linkage to economic leverage.
Erdogan’s countered with, “The Kurds are not my Citizens.” He described his benevolence and financial support for the Kurds while diverting attention to the PKK and the establishment of the safe zone. His stated purpose is to repatriate about 1 million Syrians into the 20-mile by 260-mile zone. His new Islamist region will contain a majority voting bloc in preparation for a phase II operation to annex the territory.
The design and execution of Erdogan’s plans are similar to Putin’s operation to annex Crimea and part of Ukraine. The actions have the same strategic fingerprints.
Turkey is home to 4 million refugees, and 3.6 million are of Arab descent. The balance consists of Yazidi, Kurdish, and Christian peoples.
These 4 million, mostly unproductive and non-voting refugees, are expensive. Turkey has been trying to shake cash loose from the rest of Europe to cover costs but with minimal success.
Bluntly stated, Erdogan wants NATO to pay him to soften his tone and behave. He is using an old, regional playbook with a successful track record against weak presidents.
His timing suggests that he views Trump as weak. Erdogan must be a CNN fan.
Trump reports having several solutions to the S-400 missile problem. Perhaps buying the missile battery from Turkey and relocating it lock, stock, and barrel to White Sands, New Mexico might soon be on the table. The move would allow Erdogan to save face and collect cash. American acquisition of state-of-the-art Russian missile defense technology is always a goal.
The Kurds continue to struggle with the establishment of a confederation-type of government. Their vision is council based, where leaders are elected from local villages and towns. Their council-centric perspective does not fit well with nation-states and thuggish leaders. It has a commune-egalitarian-anti development vibe.
Bolivia
An illegal election occurred in Bolivia on October 20th. President Evo Morales was term-limited according to a national vote two years ago. His supporters placed a referendum to the people on February 21st, seeking a waiver of term limits for Morales. Bolivians voted the measure down, but their supreme court overturned the vote.
Carlos Mesa, a former president from 2003-2005 and famous for nationalizing oil and gas reserves, a $50 million borax mining scheme, and requests for help from the United States to suspend the Bolivian Congress ran for president. The United States declined as documented in Bradley Manning’s leaks of State Department cables.
Morales pardoned Mesa for the kickbacks and treason, making Mesa an owned-man. Mesa was selected to be the opposition candidate to Morales by Morales himself. His defeat was to be a sure thing.
But he won.
The Morales government froze the vote count after 85% of the precincts reported. At 85% reporting, Morales was very slightly ahead. Mesa conceded, and Evo Morales began a fourth term as president.
Mesa is the Bolivian version of a RINO. He was in the game for personal profit while claiming to stand on profound principles. He vanished during the final days of the election, much as one of our most notorious RINOs did, to goose support for the opposition.
Mel Brooks produced a film called The Producers about the profit possible from creating a box-office bust or by analogy, a close but losing political campaign.
The OAS, or Organization of American States did not validate the election and noted the considerable fraud.
Morales was forced from office on Sunday via a military coup. He chose a self-imposed exile in Mexico. The military freed former president Lula da Silva from prison for crimes against socialism. In actuality, da Silva was imprisoned on phony charges to prevent him from running in the recent election.
Violent protests broke out around the country with indigenous people killing those of Spanish descent in the streets. This past week was terrible for those with those labeled as elites.
A close friend sent an email Monday night:
Dear Mike,
I could not read your email yet, but we have so much to discuss. I am taking refuge in my friend’s house. They are coming to burn my house. They thought it was my dad’s.
Followed By:
I promise to let you know everything, but right now, we are looking for our safety. Thousands of mas people, from this political party, are trying to stop the session in congress. The roads are blocked, and we are in hiding.
International news outlets report Christians are murdering indigenous people, especially in Eastern Bolivia, which has sought independence from time to time.
International news is wrong. The communists and socialists are waging the crime spree against those supporting a constitutional government.
It is important to note that American news outlets refuse to call the coup a coup. The memo went out throughout the big media houses to call the Bolivian situation anything other than what it is.
Why would the deep state and its media comrades have such a problem with the word coup?
Hong Kong
Protests are continuing and accelerating in Hong Kong. Protestors are using laser pointers to defeat cameras on drones. Some are using bows and arrows, flaming arrows, in battles with police.
The protests are accelerating and have moved well beyond the spark last June, a bill to extradite the accused to mainland China as a way to bypass remnants of British Common Law.
Officials withdrew the bill in September, but demonstrators became confident in their defiance and now seek full democracy and inquiry into police actions.
They want their government to adhere to legal standards and not govern through the use of arbitrary power.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyp2WYahCrA
Beijing does not appear to know what to do with the protests. They alternate between shows of force and hoping the protestors will become bored.
Protestors are using networked organizational techniques. They are leaderless and a severe problem for traditional Chinese hierarchy. Protestors are showing the world, yet again, modern networking strategies are incredibly resilient.
We have been discussing these strategies in recent Half Full Reports, and so it is redundant to discuss the nuts and bolts here.
The take-away is blunt. Large organizations, whether they be the Chinese Government, the Turkish Government, the Bolivian Government, or the Democrat Party, do not have a solution to networked confrontation. Bolivia fell to military coup this week. The Chinese do not have a solution to their Hong Kong problem, which is beginning to spread to the mainland.
The Turks might not be able to withstand a counterpunch from the Kurds if the Kurds evolve from their confederacy into a fully networked association.
China should be afraid as should every system acting against the will of its people. Very afraid.
Acting against the will of the people brings us to impeachment.
First of all, it is critical to note that we won’t be mentioning the whistleblower’s name. Twitter is banning users that mention Eric Ciaremella. So we won’t say Eric Ciarmella’s name either.
My main man, Jim Jordan, represents a mostly rural and small-town stretch of Ohio from Lake Erie and areas south. His district includes the M1 Tank factory in Lima and many small manufacturing facilities and farms, the world’s largest dolomite mine, commercial fisherman, an oil refinery, and several conservative colleges and universities.
His region is very MAGA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmjVYIIlTRI
The impeachment show is not generating the news ratings anticipated by the Dems. Like any made-for-tv drama, the plot was developed in secret, and the lead characters were cast through an audition process. The script was written according to Hollywood standard specifications, and late-night show writers incorporated promotional material into their opening monologues.
Nobody cares. It is a snooze fest because the plot is weak.
How weak is it?
The plot goes something like this: blah blah blah, circumvented the career civil servants, blah blah blah. Ukraine.
Witnesses giving depositions behind closed doors include Kurt Volker, Marie Yovanovitch, Fiona Hill, George Kent, Michael McKinley, Gordon Sondland, William Taylor, Laura Cooper, Philip Reeker, Alexandr Vindman, Catherine Croft, and a few more. Expect each to testify and expect each to say the same essential thing.
The deep state is making its case for the management of the nation via unaccountable careerists entitled through their party membership, university degrees, and networks. They believe that elected officials are mere window dressing. Impeachment is the remedy for elected officials that get uppity and fail to remember their place.
We are watching a television drama. Not a Constitutional proceeding.
Twelve million people allegedly watched Wednesday’s testimony. Of course, this counts all the people passing through US airports on Wednesday as CNN viewers.
Friday’s testimony found entitled Maria Yovonovitch angry that her career ended as an academic in Georgetown instead of with appointment as Secretary of State after she was relieved from her duty as Ambassador to Ukraine.
I find her sense of elitist entitlement appalling.
Nancy Pelosi has not yet opened the official Articles of Impeachment, and she might never cross the Rubicon.
The Senate, however, appears delighted to hold a removal trial during the 2020 election year. An actual trial gives them the power to call witnesses and compel testimony.
A Senate Trial would be bad for Hillary as the NXVIM trial in New York recently entered Anthony Weiner’s laptop containing hundreds of thousands of Hillary’s emails into evidence. All we need is a link between an impeachment accuser, a bit of evidence, or something, justifying entering Hillary’s emails into the Congressional Record.
Mike Ryan is a consultant to the primary metal, mineral, fiber, and chemical industries.