First, links to reports from Reuters, the Associated Press, National Public Radio, Tass, and Agence France-Presse; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials. Then, via Popular Resistance, an article by a close observer of the war and an accompanying nearly two-hour video of a forum held last Friday. — MCM   |

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Fighting rages over Ukraine’s Soledar despite mercenaries’ claim of control, by Olena Harmash and Clodagh Kilcoyne|Reuters * Russia acknowledges heavy losses * Wagner contract militia claims control * Ukraine says its forces holding on * Salt mines have symbolic, military and commercial value | KYIV/NEAR BAKHMUT, Ukraine — Russian and Ukrainian forces were engaged in intense fighting on today over the town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine — a stepping stone in Moscow’s push to capture the entire Donbas region — with the Russians appearing to have the upper hand. The mercenary group Wagner . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine says mining town holding out against Russian assault, by Andrew Meldrum | AP  KYIV — The fate of a devastated salt-mining town in eastern Ukraine hung in the balance today as Ukraine said its forces were holding out against a furious Russian onslaught inwhat has become one of the fiercest and most costly battles in the almost 11-month war . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia makes a tactical advance in Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Reported by Leila Fadel and Elissa Nadworny | NPR  Intense fighting continues in and around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Russia and a Kremlin-aligned mercenary force have made small advances in nearby villages in recent days. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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DPR official says 500 Ukrainian troops may be trapped in Soledar. From Tass. DONETSK — About 500 Ukrainian troops may be trapped in Soledar, a town that’s gone under the control of Russian forces, Yan Gagin, a military analyst and an adviser to the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic said today. Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin said several hours earlier . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine can win this year with long-range missiles from West: presidency. From AFP. Ukraine can win the war this year if Western powers increase weapons supplies, particularly long-range missile systems, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak . . . READ MORE . . .

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My evening with a Ukrainian propaganda/agitation unit, by Scott Ritter | Educate! Information Warfare 101. On the night of January 6, I was invited to participate in a panel discussion on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine organized by Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace (BN4P), a local antiwar group I’ve had connections with since the leadup to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, and the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), a national organization founded and headed by . . . Click HERE to read, and to listen and watch. 

An essay on, among other things, education in America begins below. It was published yesterday by Consortium News. Click on the author’s name or CN’s for access to others. — MCM 

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Dimming the lights

By Patrick Lawrence | Consortium News

Somewhere along the line, the thought seems to have taken hold among the cliques who rule America that an ignorant populace is more easily governed. Good old Bertie Russell made this general point with an eloquence almost too piercing to take in “Free Thought and Official Propaganda,” a lecture he delivered in London 101 years ago:

“But the utility of intelligence is admitted only theoretically, not practically; it is not desired that ordinary people should think for themselves, because it is felt that people who think for themselves are awkward to manage and cause administrative problems.”

You see the consequences of this perverse belief every day in the mainstream press and among the corporate-owned broadcasters. You can read headlines such as “10 Ways to Be Happy in the New Year” or “Where Did All the Bargain Bourbon Go?”

But you are not going to learn much from these media about the world in which you live. Your intelligence will not be enhanced or elevated; insult is the norm.

But mass media are merely mirrors reflecting the established ethos of the polity in which they operate. They do their best to keep Americans ignorant, certainly. If the ruling cliques wanted America to boast an intelligent populace, the press and broadcasters would do their part — as Jefferson understood this part to be — to inform them.

No, even a press critic as severe as your columnist must look further down in the factory to understand where the process of manufacturing American ignorance truly begins. It begins in our schools and universities, with the administrators, teachers, and professors who run them.

The New York Times or The Washington Post would have the damnedest time getting readers to take them seriously, I am certain, unless those who take them seriously were not first conditioned to become “excellent sheep” — a phrase William Deresiewicz picked up from one of his students at Yale and later used to title his 2015 book, Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life.

Russell, who singled out America “not because America is any worse than other countries, but because it is the most modern,” was again savagely to this point:

“It must not be supposed that the officials in charge of education desire the young to become educated. On the contrary, their problem is to impart information without imparting intelligence.”

My thoughts on these questions are not new. I have for many years found the state of young people’s brains — a generalization with many, many exceptions — to be not short of appalling for their want of knowledge, of depth, of subtlety and especially of history. And I am quick to note in conversing with those of my own generation that the fault here lies very largely with us: It is we who have imparted so poorly the principles of “free thought,” known among the Jesuits as discernment — we who have insisted everyone gets a prize and no one ever fails, we who have sent young men and women who cannot read off to universities, where no-one-fails remains the norm. It is we who have failed.

Let us now give two more well-deserved “Fs.” One goes to Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and one to Hamline, a small Methodist university in St. Paul, Minnesota. Both of these institutions have recently taken the cultivation of ignorance to new lows, although at this point one hesitates to make any assumption as to where the bottom lies.

Harvard & Kenneth Roth

The Harvard case concerns Kenneth Roth, who stepped down last spring after 29 years as executive director of Human Rights Watch. Sushma Raman, executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights at the Kennedy School, shortly thereafter offered Roth a senior fellowship.

It seemed a perfect fit, Roth’s notion of human rights conforming very closely with the American orthodoxy. All went well until the offer landed for formal approval on the desk of Douglas Elmendorf, the chinless wonder who serves as the Kennedy School’s dean.

No, Elmendorf replied to the Roth candidacy. It soon emerged that it was Roth’s record . . . READ MORE . . .

For now, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Tass, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, via Consortium News, commentary by an Australian observer. — MCM

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‘What madness looks like’: Russia intensifies Bakhmut attack, by Andrew Meldrum | AP  Russian forces are escalating their onslaught against Ukrainian positions around the wrecked city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian officials said, bringing new levels of death and devastation in the grinding, monthslong battle for control of eastern Ukraine that is part of Moscow’s wider war. “Everything is . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia throws forces into assault on Ukraine’s Soledar, by Dan Peleschuk and Tom Balmforth | Reuters * Zelenskiy says no walls left standing in Soledar * Britain says Russian forces may control most of town * Wagner Group sending waves of fighters, Ukraine says * Reporter says Russia threatening Ukrainian supply lines * Putin ally says Moscow now fighting NATO in Ukraine | KYIV — Ukrainian forces are facing waves of assaults by Russian forces on the small salt-mining town of Soledar, Kyiv officials said today, as Moscow strives to make its first breakthrough in the east in months. Seizing Soledar would give an advantage to Russian forces as they . . . READ MORE . . .

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Putin has only 1 option left but won’t accept it, says Ukraine’s foreign minister. Reported by Mary Louise Kelly, Erika Ryan and Matt Ozug | NPR  In Ukraine, the weekend came and went — along with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s self-proclaimed ceasefire. Except that there were in fact no signs of a ceasefire. Instead, both Russia and Ukraine accused the other of continuing to launch attacks. Ukraine had never agreed . . . Click HERE to listen and read.

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People in Odesa try to do business even after Russian attacks leave them in the dark. Reported by Tim Mak | NPR  Ukrainian officials in Odesa say the local economy has contracted 40% since the war began. The shutdown of the local ports and unreliable electricity have forced businesses to adapt. Click HERE to listen and later, read.

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NATO, EU vow to step up support for Ukraine to defend itself, by Max Delany | AFP  NATO and the EU vowed Tuesday to bolster their backing for Ukraine to fight off Russia’s invasion and ramp up cooperation between Europe and the US-led alliance. Long-standing designs . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian forces destroy two U.S.-made counter-battery radars in Ukraine operation – top brass. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russian forces destroyed two US-made counter-battery radar stations in the Donetsk People’s Republic over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov said today. “In addition . . . READ MORE . . .

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Unprovoked! by Caitlin Johnstone | caitlinjohnstone.com  / Consortium News  In an interview with the Useful Idiots podcast not too long ago, Noam Chomsky repeated his argument that the only reason we hear the word “unprovoked” every time anyone mentions Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the mainstream news media is because it absolutely was provoked, and they know it. “Right now, if you . . . READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED

For now, links to reports from Reuters, the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Ukraine bolsters defences in east as Russia sends waves of attacks, by Pavel Polityuk and Vladyslav Smilianets | Reuters  * Kyiv describes situation in Soledar as difficult * No visible sign of casualties at barracks Russia says it hit * Zelensky says Russia attacks despite declaring truce | KYIV/KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — Ukraine said it was strengthening its forces around Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region and repelling constant attacks there by Russian mercenary group Wagner, whose leader has vowed to capture the area’s vast underground mines. Kyiv had sent . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine school spurns Russian claim of troops killed there, by Vasilisa Stepanenko | AP  KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — Officials at a vocational school in an eastern Ukraine city dismissed claims by Russia that hundreds of Ukrainian troops were killed in a missile strike there, saying today that a rocket merely blew out windows and damaged classrooms. Russia specifically named the vocational school . . . READ MORE . . .

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Western arms ‘prolong suffering’ of Ukrainians: Kremlin. From AFP. The Kremlin today said moves by France and other Western countries to supply Ukraine with weapons — including light tanks — would only make life more difficult for Ukrainians. “Fundamentally, . . READ MORE . . .

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Senior security official says Russia isn’t at war with Ukraine. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev has said in an interview that Moscow isn’t at war with Kiev, but instead, the confrontation is an attempt by the West to use Ukrainians in its standoff with Russia. The conflict is “a military confrontation of NATO, first of all . . . READ MORE . . .

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Presented below is the beginning of an article originally published on Jan. 7, 2019, by Consortium News and republished by CN yesterday, Jan. 7, 2023. — MCM

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The Jan. 2017 ‘Assessment’ on Russiagate

By Ray McGovern | Consortium News

The banner headline atop page one of The New York Times print edition [now six] years ago today, on Jan. 7, 2017, set the tone for two years of Dick Cheney-like chicanery: “Putin Led Scheme to Aid Trump, Report Says.”

Under a media drumbeat of anti-Russian hysteria, credulous Americans were led to believe that Donald Trump owed his election victory to the president of Russia, whose “influence campaign” according to the Times quoting the intelligence report, helped “President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton.”

Hard evidence supporting the media and political rhetoric has been as elusive as proof of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in 2002-2003. This time, though, an alarming increase in the possibility of war with nuclear-armed Russia has ensued — whether by design, hubris, or rank stupidity. The possible consequences for the world are even more dire than 16 years of war and destruction in the Middle East.

If it walks like a canard . . .

The C.I.A.-friendly New York Times in 2017 led the media quacking in a campaign that wobbled like a duck, canard in French.

A glance at the title of the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) (which was not endorsed by the whole community) — “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections” — would suffice to show that the widely respected and independently-minded State Department intelligence bureau should have been included. State intelligence had demurred on several points made in the Oct. 2002 Estimate on Iraq, and even insisted on including a footnote of dissent.

James Clapper, then director of national intelligence who put together the ICA, knew that all too well. So he evidently thought it would be better not to involve troublesome dissenters, or even inform them what was afoot.

Similarly, the Defense Intelligence Agency should have been included, particularly since it has considerable expertise on the G.R.U., the Russian military intelligence agency, which has been blamed for Russian hacking of the DNC emails.

But DIA, too, has an independent streak and, in fact, is capable of reaching judgments Clapper would reject as anathema. Just one year before Clapper decided to do the rump “Intelligence Community Assessment,” DIA had formally blessed the following heterodox idea in its “December 2015 National Security Strategy”:

“The Kremlin is convinced the United States is laying the groundwork for regime change in Russia, a conviction further reinforced by the events in Ukraine. Moscow views the United States as the critical driver behind the crisis in Ukraine and believes that the overthrow of former Ukrainian President Yanukovych is the latest move in a long-established pattern of U.S.-orchestrated regime change efforts.”

Any further questions as to why the Defense Intelligence Agency was kept away from the ICA drafting table?

Handpicked analysts

With help from the Times and other mainstream media, Clapper, mostly by his silence, was able to foster the charade that the ICA was actually a bonafide product of the entire intelligence community for as long as he could get away with it. After four months it came time to fess up that the ICA had not been prepared, as Secretary Clinton and the media kept claiming, by “all 17 intelligence agencies.”

In fact, Clapper went one better, proudly asserting — with striking naiveté — that the ICA writers were “handpicked analysts” from only the F.B.I., C.I.A., and NSA. He may have thought that this would enhance the ICA’s credibility. It is a no-brainer, however, that when you want handpicked answers, you better handpick the analysts. And so he did.

Why is no one interested . . . READ MORE . . .

For now, links to reports from Reuters, National Public Radio, and Tass ; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Moscow ends self-proclaimed ceasefire, vows to press ahead in Ukraine. From Reuters. Russia’s bombing of regions in eastern Ukraine killed at least two people overnight, local officials said today, after Moscow ended a self-declared Christmas ceasefire and vowed to push on with combat until it reaches a victory over its neighbour. Ukraine rejected the truce, and the . . . READ MORE . . .

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The U.S. is sending Ukraine its largest aid package yet. Reported by Scott Simon and Greg Myre | NPR The U.S. is sending Ukraine its largest aid package yet, but it does not include everything the eastern European country wanted. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Foreign aid to Ukraine a money laundering scheme, head of Chechnya says. From Tass. MOSCOW — The Western aid to Ukraine is a working money laundering scheme, Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov said today. “I see that some are worried about the foreign aid to Ukraine. Do not worry! This is a working money laundering scheme. Western and Ukrainian officials will embezzle these funds, and no more than 15% . . . READ MORE . . .

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Why negotiating an end to the Russia-Ukraine war should be a priority. Ayesha Rascoe of NPR talks with Georgetown professor Charles Kupchan about why negotiating an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine should be a priority, for those countries as well as their allies. Click HERE to listen and read when audio and text become available.

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MAY BE CONTINUED

First, a link to a column in the Berkshire Eagle focusing on the importance of six dams across the Dnipro River and how successful attacks by Russia to destroy them could escalate the war. Then, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Russian dam-busters threaten Kyiv, by James Brooke | The Berkshire Eagle  Ukrainian strategists fear the Kremlin could turn its attention to the dams across the Dnipro, a river about half the length of the Mississippi. These massive dams could be breached by conventional or nuclear bombs. The most devastating blow would be to the top of the cascade: the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant. Located . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine hails U.S. military aid as cease-fire said to falter, By Andrew Meldrum | AP  KYIV — Ukraine’s president is praising the United States for including tank-killing armored vehicles in its latest multibillion-dollar package of military aid, saying they are “exactly what is needed” for Ukrainian troops locked in combat against Russian forces. The White House announcement Friday . . . READ MORE . . .

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Putin praises Russian Orthodox Church for backing troops in Ukraine, by Andrew Osborn | Reuters  * Putin issues congratulatory Orthodox Christmas message * Hails Russian Orthodox Church as important unifying force * Praises its support for ‘military operation’ in Ukraine | President Vladimir Putin today praised the Russian Orthodox Church for supporting Moscow’s forces fighting in Ukraine in an Orthodox Christmas message designed to rally people behind his vision of modern Russia. The Kremlin . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia insists it is observing Ukraine ceasefire despite Kyiv attacks. From AFP. MOSCOW — Moscow insisted today its army was observing a ceasefire in Ukraine to mark Orthodox Christmas despite artillery attacks by Kyiv troops. “Despite the shelling of the armed forces of Ukraine of settlements and Russian positions, the implementation . . . READ MORE . . .

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Combat activities in Ukraine to last for more months – White House. From Tass. WASHINGTON, January 7. /TASS/. Military activities on the territory of Ukraine are likely to continue for months to come, US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said. “We . . . READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED

For now, links to reports from National Public Radio, the Associated Press, Reuters, and Tass; other reports are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. And, for at least several more hours, a photo from Agence France-Presse taken in Cyprus. Then, from AP, links to two articles on fresh Western weaponry on its way to Ukraine. — MCM

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Russian President Putin orders a temporary cease-fire in Ukraine. Reported by A Martínez and Tim Mak | NPR  Putin instructed his defense minister to order a temporary cease-fire in Ukraine over Orthodox Christmas. Ukraine accuses Russia of trying to buy time to replenish its stocks along the front lines. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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Kremlin-ordered truce is uncertain amid mutual mistrust, by Andrew Meldrum | AP  KYIV — An uneasy calm in Kyiv toiday was broken by air raid sirens that also blared out across the rest of Ukraine despite a Russian cease-fire declaration for the Orthodox Church Christmas that Ukrainian officials scorned. With no degree of certainty whether the truce was holding or not, hours after it was due to have started, residents of Kyiv ventured out . . . READ MORE . . .

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Signs of fighting after Russia says unilateral truce comes into force in Ukraine, by Olena Harmash and Herbert Villarraga | Reuters * Russia shells Ukraine’s Kramatorsk, mayor says * Ukraine: Putin order for Orthodox Christmas truce is a trick * Russia-backed officials say Ukraine shelled Donetsk | KYIV/KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — A unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to come into force on Friday but the hours leading up to the temporary truce saw renewed fighting, with Kyiv rejecting the move as a trick. Russia’s defence ministry said its troops . . . READ MORE . . .

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Medvedev says Kiev’s refusal to cease fire on Christmas Day is ‘less trouble’ for Moscow. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev believes that Kiev has rejected ‘the hand of Christian mercy’ by refusing Moscow’s proposed Christmas truce. However, according to him, this situation will pose ‘less trouble and slyness’ to the Russian armed forces. “A hand . . . READ MORE . . .

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Photo: Greek Orthodox worshippers attend a religious Epiphany Day ceremony in Zygi, Cyprus. Photograph by Iakovos Hatzistavrou | AFP 

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Germany to supply around 40 armored carriers to Ukraine. From AP. Click HERE for it.

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Ukraine to get French combat vehicles in key move by West, by Sylvie Corbet | AP  Click HERE for it.

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MAY BE CONTINUED

For now, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, links to an article from Popular Resistance describing decades-long U.S-led Western efforts to weaken Russia economically and to a New York Times columnist’s article omitting mention of those efforts. — MCM

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Between battles, Ukraine’s soldiers have a place to recover, by Vasilisa Stepanenko | AP  KHARKIV, Ukraine — The relentless 10-month war has prompted a local commander to transform a Soviet-era sanatorium into a recovery center for servicemen to treat both mental and physical ailments. “This rehabilitation is helping soldiers, at least for a week, to put themselves together,” said . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine pleads with allies to send tanks as fighting grinds on in east, by Pavel Polityuk | Reuters * U.S. predicts months of intense fighting in Bakhmut in east * Luhansk governor says troops advancing “step by step” * Send us tanks, Zelenskiy urges Western allies | KYIV — Ukrainian and Russian troops battled in eastern regions today as Kyiv tried to push back occupying forces, while President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the West to provide his army with heavy tanks to boost their firepower. The Ukrainian military . . . READ MORE . . .

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Putin says ready for Ukraine talks if Kyiv accepts ‘new territorial realities.’ From AFP. President Vladimir Putin told Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan he was open to dialogue with Ukraine if Kyiv accepts territories occupied by Moscow as Russian, the Kremlin said today. “Putin again confirmed . . . READ MORE . . .

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Western firearms supplied mostly to Ukraine units manned by foreigners – DPR officer. From Tass. DONETSK — Western firearms are supplied primarily to Ukraine’s special force units manned by foreigners, Andrey Bayevsky, a member of the parliament of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Lieutenant Colonel of the DPR People’s Militia, told TASS today. “Of course . . . READ MORE . . .

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The first U.S. onslaught to weaken post-Cold War Russia, by John V. Walsh | Popular Resistance There is no doubt that the actions of the U.S. and the West were critical factors in the Great Russian Depression of the 1990s and early 2000s.  An understanding of this goes a long way in making sense of events leading up to the present moment of U.S. proxy war in Ukraine and the brutal sanctions imposed on Russia.   This understanding, however, does not fit the narrative to which the NYT confines itself . . . READ MORE . . .

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Wonking out: The nightmare after Gorbachev, by Paul Krugman | The New York Times Most articles on the death of Mikhail Gorbachev dwell on the political failure of his reform project. The Russian Federation, the main successor state to the Soviet Union, has not, to say the least, become a democratic, open society. Ukraine may . . . READ MORE . . .

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This is the second part of an essay titled “The Wild Places” by the Trappist monk Thomas Merton (1915 – 1968) published by The Catholic Worker in June 1968. It was excerpted in the August-September 2022 Catholic Worker. The first part appeared in this blog, HERE, last Nov. 17. The third and final part will appear in this blog soon. — MCM

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Our frontier mythology

By Thomas Merton

In a 17th-century Puritan book with an intriguing title — Johnson’s Wonder Working Providence — we read that it was Jesus Himself, working through the Puritans, who “turned one of the most hideous, boundless and unknown wildernesses in the world into a well-ordered Commonwealth.”

Max Weber and others have long since helped us recognize the influence of the Puritan ethos on the growth of capitalism. This is one more example. U.S. capitalist culture is firmly rooted in a secularized Christian myth and mystique of struggle with nature. The basic article of faith in this mystique is that you preserve your worth by overcoming and dominating the natural world. You justify your existence and you attain bliss (temporal, eternal or both) by transforming nature into wealth. This is not only good, but self-evident. Until transformed, nature is useless and absurd. Anyone who refuses to see this or acquiesce to it is some kind of a half-wit — or worse, a rebel, an anarchist, a prophet of apocalyptic disorders.

An investigation of the wilderness mystique and of the contrary mystique of exploitation and power, reveals the tragic depth of the conflict that now exists in the U.S. mind. The ideal of freedom and creativity which has been celebrated with such optimism and self-assurance runs the risk of being turned completely inside out if the natural ecological balance on which it depends for its vitality, is destroyed. Take away the space, the freshness, the rich spontaneity of a wildly flourishing nature, and what will become of the creative pioneer mystique? A pioneer in a suburb is a sick man tormenting himself with projects of virile conquest. In a ghetto he is a policeman shooting every Black man who gives him a look.

Obviously, the frontier is a thing of the past. The bison has almost vanished. There are still some forests and wilderness areas, but we are firmly established as an urban culture. Nevertheless the problem of ecology exists in a most acute form. The danger of fallout and atomic waste is only one of the more spectacular ones. There is an almost infinite number of others.

Much of the stupendous ecological damage that has been done in the last fifty years is completely irreversible. Industry and the military, especially in America, are firmly set on policies which make further damage inevitable. There are plenty of people who are aware of the need for “something to be done,” but just consider the enormous struggle that has to be waged, for instance in eastern Kentucky, to keep mining interests from completing the ruin of an area that is already a ghastly monument to callous human greed. When a choice has to be made, it is almost invariably made in the way that is good for a quick return on somebody’s investment – and a permanent disaster for everybody else.

TO BE CONTINUED