Tag Archives: Saudi Arabia

June 22, 2022 · 01:18

The Jamocratic joke

Yup a wordplay and it is not the only one I have, but it is one of the less ‘hurtful’ ones. In the first, I have a republican mindset, I have always had that. I oppose Trump in all its glorified stupidity. I believe the US lost a great man with the passing of John McCain and I think the republicans wrongfully stabbed Liz Cheney in the back on the words of a bully, but we will have a reckoning on that later. Today we start with SkyNews who gave us ‘‘Morally bankrupt’: Biden ‘humiliated’ by Saudi Arabia and oil companies’ (at https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/united-states/morally-bankrupt-biden-humilitaed-by-saudi-arabia-and-oil-companies/video/5819a070a892b5de3db7a8f259bff9c6), now granted the news is 2 days old. I wanted a little time to mull things over, but the text as given by “The president said it’s “unacceptable” that oil companies are making record profits during “a time of war.”” Oh? America is in a war? Who are they in war with? With their ‘proud boys’, with their failures? The list goes on and it is not a nice list. They gave the power to Wall Street and Wall Street ants ledgers, not excuses. 

And we were given a list of the oil companies

Marathon Petroleum, Valero Energy, ExxonMobil, Phillips 66, Chevron, BP, and Shell.

Marathon made $69B in 2020, that was their operating income, Their Net profit was $9.9B in 2020. Valero might have had a larger revenue $117B (2018), but a much lower Net profit which was a mere $4B (2018), Exxon mobile was the bigger player with $276B (2021), yet only with a Net income of $23B (2021), less than 10%. Are they corporations? Yes they are! They own responsibility to their shareholders and 10% does not add up to much and the statement of “record profits” does not add up, well not completely. You see Biden was handed a bad hand and the Russians gave that to him, so to see him blame American companies is one failure, to nag and bitch to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after he vowed to make them a pariah on something lacking clear evidence is a second failure. None of these players owe him, or the American people anything. This is the setting of a commodity driven economy. Consider the list. The US is one of the top three oil producing nations, so why is all that oil squandered? Why did the presidents (all of them, Republicans as well) not halt the consumption of oil? Why was something not done 20 years ago? I have articles spanning back decades on this folly. In 2015 Americans told me to shut up (fair enough), but now they do not get to scream! 

They can have ice cream (to soften the blow) but not whinge and whine. 

You see the problem is so much larger, and the US is part of that problem, it was never part of that solution. In 1999 crude oil was at an almost all time low of $19.35 a barrel. The cost was so low that oil providers started to shut down, the only time is was lower was in July 1946. Oil has had a rollercoaster life with tops in 2008 ($187) and April 1980 ($142), so as it is now at around $114 I would say “You ain’t seen nothing yet”, oh and before I forget what wars were the US in in 2008, or 1980? 

No, as I see it when you decide to hand the reigns to Wall Street, you cannot ‘yap’ like the little chihuahua. A commodity driven economy does not care, it does not care that your granny is sick, that the dog ate your homework, or that the mistress will not have sex with you as you only bought her a Microlino instead of a Dodge Challenger. All parts a commodity driven economy cares nothing about.

And Saudi Arabia? They need to do what is best for their country, not what matters to their greed driven customers. Does it hurt me? Yes it does, but that is the world I live in. I do not control oil, I do not control wealth, as such I am its plaything just like anyone else. As such SkyNews has a point with “US President Joe Biden has been criticised as “morally bankrupt” and “weak” in regard to his energy policy after it was revealed he is planning to visit Saudi Arabia to discuss the global oil crisis.” Yes, it is one way to look, but if he cannot control the American people who are eager to dig a deeper grave by the day (they are almost deep enough to say ‘Nǐ hǎo’ to the Chinese people) and no one in the US is stopping the need for oil, higher prices is where it will be. A simple setting of Supply and Demand.

It is getting worse, less than 3 hours ago we were informed (by Reuters) “Egypt and Saudi Arabia have signed 14 agreements valued at $7.7 billion during a visit to Cairo by Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman” in addition there is “the establishment of a $150 million “pharmaceutical city” by Egypt’s Pharco Pharmaceuticals in Saudi Arabia” That is the true benefit of being a true ally to Saudi Arabia, a setting now starts that will cost the American coffers billions, just as I predicted will happen in 2016, 2018, 2020 and now we see the first (or second) impact in 2022. The US pharmaceutical branch in Saudi Arabia will lose power, Egypt will rise. Egypt will offer services to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for billions, those billions are lost to the US and the EU. This is the impact of a failed policy that never had any strength to begin with. 

So in all this, the administrations of the US (not President Biden) failed its citizens. The administration set the paper tiger in motion that looks nice, but when the people around it know that this tiger is paper (unlike the one below)

There will be a lack of reaction, a lack of adherence and that is when we realise there was never any need to adhere to anything. So the American people pissed off the KSA and Elon Musk (both energy saviours). So how exactly was that letter anything but a bad idea even before it was written? I see it was a desperate act of an administration that saw its fuel policy go to $5.87 (from $2.17) a rise of well over 100%. We get the desperation of the letter, but the expectation of success is equally laughable. As such what is the letter anything else but an admission that bankruptcy is merely just around the corner? When this all comes to blow the larger setting will come into play and there Wall Street will get to learn the lesson that absolute greed has merely one direction and it is not a good one, but those in Wall Street will have packed up their 8 or 9 figure balance and they will have headed for a zero tax shelter with warm sands and warm beaches. The rest? Well good luck to them. Oh and do not forget winter (and the need for heating fuel) is a mere 17 weeks away now. 

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June 18, 2022 · 05:09

The needy, the greedy and Dopey

Yes, a reference if ever there was one. Yet in the stage of an article that was the thought that hit me a second later. The article came from the Guardian titled ‘Fossil fuel firms ‘have humanity by the throat’, says UN head in blistering attack’. The article (at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/17/fossil-fuel-firms-un-head-antonio-guterres-blistering-attack) gives us all kinds of ‘information’ And we pause when we see “Fossil fuel companies and the banks that finance them “have humanity by the throat”, the UN secretary general has said, in a “blistering” attack on the industry and its backers, who are pulling in record profits amid energy prices sent soaring by the Ukraine war.” Yet the truth is not really that profound, is it? We can blame the oil dealers, but the truth of the matter is that for well over 20 years governments were dragging its heels in the investment that was essential for their nation, The US, the UK, Commonwealth nations, EU nations. None of them are without blame. And as such United Tony goes on a ramble of blaming. And with “They exploited precisely the same scandalous tactics as big tobacco decades before. Like tobacco interests, fossil fuel interests and their financial accomplices must not escape responsibility.” And where were the governments? Filling their pockets on that taxation. But that is something we do not get to see either is it? For centuries the world created a commodities environment and that should have stopped 30 years ago, or should have been deflated 30 years ago and now that the hole is deeper than one thought the blame game starts and the pointing fingers commences in earnest, but if you want to see the guilty party you only need to look into a mirror. 

And in the USA, where we see average diesel prices at $5.798. In November 2020 is was $2.462, in May 2008 it was $4.723, In June 1996 is was $1.179. This was a volatile market to begin with, there were clear warnings in 2008, which was 14 years ago and the 12 years before that there were more indicators. So where was the United Nations then? Where were the politicians then? So the tantrum the Guardian is giving us sounds nice, but the lack of actions is overwhelming as such we could go with the blame on ‘fossil fuel producers and financiers’ yet in all this where were the politicians, where was the media? The same media that shorted an EEA report that CLEARLY showed that 50% of ALL pollution was created by 147 facilities and I illuminated that in earlier articles, where was the Guardian at that point where its reporter was eager to blame all those jet owners? 

As such United Tony should get contemplate a decent grip on reality. 

So whilst we now see “The Guardian understands Guterres has been incensed by the recent behaviour of fossil fuel companies, which have been reaping a bonanza from energy prices sent soaring by the Ukraine war. Much of these bumper profits are likely to be invested in fresh exploration and expansion of fossil fuel resources.” All this with an earlier jab towards Saudi Arabia and the ‘need’ for President Biden to go there. Yes, there is a splinter of truth there, but the larger issues is that oil is a commodity, one many do not have and lets face it. The top three are United States, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. So if the US is one of the three top producers, why does it need Saudi oil? Did anyone consider THAT part of the equation? The US should have limited fossil requirements decades ago, but did they? So why is United Tony ignoring that part of the equation? And then we see the political ‘outrage’ with headlines like ‘Biden Was Always Going to Need Saudi Arabia’ and “Why Biden Needs Saudi Arabia: to produce oil and deter Iran” yet the simple truth is that Saudi Arabia needs to do what is best for Saudi Arabia and the US needs to produce more oil, or set the stage that less oil is required a simple setting that was out in the open for decades. Yet we also see a lack of actions from the United Nations and United Tony to set a clear agenda to LIMIT the need for oil. We see a lot of noise and we saw that for the longest of times, but how much ACTUAL actions were taken? Consider that one of the top three nations is appealing to Saudi Arabia to produce more. We get that he is not going to Moscow, we get that his actions are limited but this is a train-wreck from beginning to end. And the United Nations are a mere sample of Mukimono on the diner table and we need to realise this. 

So when we see “Fossil fuel firms ‘have humanity by the throat’” we want to blame, but who can we blame but our own reflection? So when people ask me ‘What did you do?’ I can say “I never bothered with a drivers license, I never owned a car. I walked nearly every day to and from public transportation” and in over half a century I only desperately needed a car LESS than a dozen times and they nearly all were part of moving day actions. Who else can make that claim? Yes, some call me Dopey for not having a car. Yet I saw people requiring $80 a week just to park the bloody thing, so who is the Dopey? Them or me?

Dependence on oil is a bad thing, but not addressing that need is worse. The politicians and people are mere junkies for the black goo. They can alter the language and give excuses but that is what a junkie does and those who wanted a solution found another way, so which nations have another solution? Yes, I reckon you will not be able to find one, even as New Zealand might be the closest to being one, it is in the same goo, just not as deep as all the other nations. 

It would have been nice for António Guterres (United Tony) to address the needy (US) the greedy (the political players) and tell the Dopey’s (the people) that the first step in addressing this problem is admitting to yourself in the mirror that you have one. Because the people are just as much to blame as anyone else. If you want to make claim that you are not the problem then leave your car at home for a week, for one week do without it. You will be surprised how many excuses you can come up with to grab the car, just like a junkie does. I feel fine, I have been without a car for half a century. So from the time we saw the Morris Marina until the Maruti Swift, I never had any of them. I get that there are times that a car is essential, we all get that, but I throw back at you that this year alone there are 1.446 billion cars, in 1970 the world had 200,000,000 cars. Over 50 years we saw a 723% growth of cars and some are essential, I get that, but 723%? We are all part of that problem, we drove the commodity of oil into the stratosphere and we are too scared (or cowardly) to admit that and the oil producing nations are having a great day, the Ukrainian war is merely an excuse. You see, 50% of that war (Russia) has its own supply and they have plenty. But that part is equally not illuminated. Why is that?

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June 11, 2022 · 20:51

And America loses yet again

Yes that is the setting. Al Jazeera dos not voice it in this way. They give us (at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/11/iran-says-oil-sales-strong-despite-ukraine-war-changes) with the headline ‘Iran says oil sales strong despite effect of Ukraine war’ it shows that Iran basically gets a decent share of $120,000,000 a day, that amounts to $43,800,000,000 a year. That puts them on around the 45th best funded nation. So where are these economic sanctions now? They removed the nuclear monitoring camera’s, where is the action? Let’s be clear, this in not on the Biden administration. Yet their inaction will count against them, Iran is making a jester out of America and the Yanks are letting them. 

Iran is rubbing it in and the quote “Overall, the outlets said Iran has sold 40 percent more crude, oil derivatives, natural gas and gas condensate in the first two months of the current Iranian calendar year that ended on May 21 compared with the corresponding period last year.” And Al Jazeera is kind enough to give us “refraining from publishing detailed figures as the country remains under stringent US sanctions.” I personally do not see that many sanctions, not with a nation in 45th position for budget availability (out of 230). It seems that the US has failed yet again and the failures are adding up and slamming whatever credibility the US has left. It takes me to a side that is not indicative (but could be) on YouTube last week, some might have seen a video of a nightwatch falling asleep on the spot and shooting themselves. Some say hilarious, I think it is pathetic, but that is me. What followed was that someone told me “What if we give every American a weapon, watch them shoot themselves, walk in and call it South Canada?“ The man had a point and I for one had the smirk to consider telling Candace Owens what happens next. Especially when we see the Canadian State of Simcoe Monacan which is Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and anything east of that. The state is named after John Graves Simcoe and the Monacan Indian Nation as per request by the First Nation, any southern state will have a one third representation from local natives. The Commonwealth accepted that requested for South Canada.  At that point will people like Candace Owens shout for the rights of people? I think that scream will be more like it, when the shoe is on the other foot the game changes drastically and that needs to be seen. Iran is playing a long term game and it is not far from completion. It is time for America to take a more active role in the downfall of Iran. If not for the US, then for Saudi Arabia, Israel and several other nations that are being pushed by Iran and even as I believe that they are getting more money, the tactics of Iran are starting to show well beyond the Yemeni borders. When they get of even one attack to the degree they are hoping for, the credibility of the US will drop to below zero. 

In this Patton was absolutely right (Patton, 1970) “Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time” and here we see the stage, the Economic sanctions were the move of a loser watching energy unfold and diminish. But that tactic only works if all participants are driven to that goal and with Iran they never were. That is how I see it, so whilst you wonder what the other states are called in the future, remember that Candace Owens forced Canadian hands, sometimes when we are in the markets we do the one clever thing, we avoid the screaming fishwives. A simple act, especially when the people decide that overstepping lines are unacceptable. But that is not the case is it? The long term actions show that failure and as we take tally, we better take tally of what else we are missing because the removal of 27 camera’s was planned, the question is why. It was not merely to show that the US failed, that the UN failed. That has been a known issue. What do the 27 camera’s allow for? That is the question I have and perhaps it is seemingly nothing, but that is not the case with Iran, is it? 

I will let you figure it out. I honestly do not know at present.

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June 11, 2022 · 00:01

A royal nuisance

The day started so nice. I was about to give more IP to the world and then Vladimir Putin decided to play to play the Russian megalomaniac on the dramatic chords of Ivan the terrible. So I decided to have a little fun of my own. The Guardian (at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/10/putin-compares-himself-to-peter-the-great-in-quest-to-take-back-russian-lands) where we are given “Vladimir Putin has compared himself to the 18th-century Russian tsar Peter the Great, drawing a parallel between what he portrayed as their twin historic quests to win back Russian lands.” Really? Perhaps he does not remember Peter (or Pjotr as we called him) in a town called Schiedam (Netherlands) he learned shipping there and lets be honest, he learned well. That needs to be said upfront. But he learned from the likes of me and now it is my turn. It started this on February 27th 2022 where I introduced the Kraken Torpedo. In the mean time I have come up with a launching system that can drop it with canister and all from a plane, we merely need to know where it is and that technology already exists. 64 Kraken torpedo’s to counter the 64 submarines the Russian navy has and that is all they have. You see the Kraken is guided but does not explode. It dives to the depth and approaches the submarine, two rings with a glue that is a mix of the adhesiveness of a gecko and a Barnacle. The ring attaches to the submarine and then something happens. The front ring grows making the torpedo stand out. At that point the cables (3-4) having a hook releases and as the submarine moves at some point the hook gets to the propeller and thats when chaos kicks in. In seconds the propeller take in the cables like an Italian devours spaghetti. And when the cable ends the propeller rips up the torpedo and the inner core comes out. Racing to the propeller the sticky end of this torpedo hits the end full on and the sticky part will be all over the rudders locking them in place. The sticky part will get on the shaft making propulsion harder and harder and there is no getting out of that mess without months in dry-dock. There are still a few dings, dangs and Knicks to work out. But a simple method to incapacitate a submarine (64 times), so where is Pjotr now? Dead like all the others and after the Ukraine failures, this simple solution ends the madness of Putin the not so great. I wanted peace and quiet. 

So now the score is 

Lawlordtobe – D.A.R.P.A. 2-0 (aka nil, zip, nada)

So here is the idea, D.A.R.P.A gets Amazon to buy my IP (so they can get the Amazon Military bonus and I can retire) and they get this idea for free (and I’ll throw in my stealth system to sink the Iranian navy in there). Basically it would be a freebee for DARPA, but I did give my idea of sinking Iranians to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. You see, inaction and Iran does not sit well with me and you guys have been too inactive when it came to Iran. Oh and there is a crazy thought. That idea might work on the Russians too. Consider a place like Arkhangelsk harbour being inaccessible for up to a year or two, where would their navy refuel? 

As such one crazy person with imagination (me) got a little more done than one organisation (at 675 North Randolph St.) with the 241 employees all over the place. Two navies? I should be getting medals (as well as coffee with a toasted blueberry muffin) Let it never be known that I work for free and charity, we work for the cherished bliss of coffee!

It makes me a royal nuisance, but you know, I have to keep busy one way or another.

Have a fun day!

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June 8, 2022 · 03:03

Vindaloo on the side

It started two days ago. I honestly do not remember who the source was, but it stuck in the back of my mind. It also stuck how the large media trivialised (BBC excepted) the matters at hand. So I decided to take a gander. I first stopped at Arab News who gave us (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2097311/saudi-arabia) ‘Saudi Arabia, other Gulf states and Muslim institutions denounce Indian official’s insults against Prophet Muhammad’, so not the western news, not the Italian daily prophet (Vatican News), no merely the Gulf States and Islamic Institutions. So as we are given “Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries and Muslim institutions on Sunday condemned the remarks against Prophet Muhammad by a top official in India’s ruling party, with some demanding concrete action to end such acts of Islamophobia.” So whilst the Washington Post gives us “Sumit Ganguly, a professor of political science at Indiana University gives us “At home, a lynching takes place and Modi remains deafeningly silent. Now, he feels compelled to act because he realises the damage abroad could be extensive. When it comes to foreign policy, the stakes are high.”” Yes and there is the problem, an act merely because the international stakes are too high. It is time to get to part 2, that is the part given to us by the BBC (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-61701908) where we see ‘Nupur Sharma: Prophet Muhammad row deepens India’s diplomatic woes’, and the power is given to us by “Ms Sharma’s – angered the country’s minority Muslim community, leading to sporadic protests in some states. The BBC is not repeating Ms Sharma’s remarks as they are offensive in nature”, the statement was SO offensive, to the degree that the BBC will not comment by quoting the statement. What we do see is “Analysts say that the top leadership of the party and the government may have to make public statements on the issue. Not doing so, they say, runs the risk of damaging India’s ties with the Arab world and Iran.” As I personally see it India has pissed off Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia all at the same time, a decent achievement if I do say so myself. And the setting of this is not whether thee are acts, the acts are too slow in a nation that has had its long term issues with Muslim communities. The lack of direct action against discrimination. I am a little on the fence. If others (christians) have to adhere to Muslim rules in Saudi Arabia, there would be the setting that Muslims have to adhere to India’s (Hindu) rules. But to allow blatant insults against ones religion is a dangerous step, not merely national, yet in this there is the international stage too and as I personally see it the (far too) slow reactions by its Indian government and Narendra Modi will have (or is that should have) repercussions and not merely in India. It is NDTV (New Delhi Television) gives an interesting view. They give us ‘PM Modi, The Djinn Is Out Of The Bottle And Out Of Control’ it shows that there is way too much support for the discriminatory views of Nupur Sharma, lets not forget here that she was until recently the spokesperson of the BJP, as such, how did she get there?

The Islamic community might be forced to dump all Indian goods and services and this now gives a massive handle to the US and the EU. If they get the $15,000,000,000 of crude oil that usually goes to India its nation will face a massive recession. India lives on cars, petrol and a mobile industry. If even over 25% falls away the Indian government will face a situation they never faced before, not to this degree. A setting where India faces more hardship as it deals in oil with Iran and Russia or see the average quality of life in India fall for well over 20%, how much it falls? I honestly cannot tell and my 20% might be overly optimistic. 

So even as the BBC gives us “Experts said the controversy could overshadow some of India’s recent diplomatic successes with the UAE and other nations.” I reckon it is nothing compared to the internal mess that could happen when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia decides to move the oil tap from India to the US and Europe. Their worries will be over to a much larger degree, but at that point it will suck to be in India. When 300 million cars can no longer run because fuel prices went from 96.35 ₹/L to 396.50 ₹/L that is when panic and utter chaos will rule India and I reckon Pakistan will not be overly upset about that setting either. As such the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Narendra Modi will need another option, another direction and it seems to me that they re stuck in the mud with no one around to help them. Some will state that it was her right to speak, but is open discrimination a right? Nupur Sharma might have started something that she was unable to contain or adjust for and we will see what happens next because something has to give in this equation and your guess is just as good as mine. There is too much I do not know on the interactions in India, but I do know that tapping a tiger on the balls was not the way to go, especially if there is no fence separating the tiger from the tapper, but that might just be me.

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June 2, 2022 · 03:56

Local norms

This happens we attend or tend to adhere to “something that is usual, typical, or standard”, there is no hidden trap here. Or so I thought for the longest of times. I saw the sign outside the supermarket “Only with Face-mask are you allowed in this place”, so I adjusted my norm. However, I made a mistake, apparently the rest of the clothing was not optional. So with only a face-mask I still did not get in, silly me.

So when I saw the news ‘French restaurant in Saudi Arabia bans hijab, causing outrage’ (at https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220526-french-restaurant-in-saudi-arabia-bans-hijab-causing-outrage/) I wondered what possessed the restaurant holder to set the stage towards: “last week and early this week to have prevented the entry of women who wear the hijab and the abaya, the loose-fitting robe worn by women in the Kingdom. Men who wear the traditional thobe – or long robe – were also reportedly banned from the restaurant” Let us be clear. This was in SAUDI ARABIA, an Islamic nation that has (decently) strict rules on clothing and behaviour. As such Bagatelle Jeddah is not given a long life. And it seems that this is what happened. I cannot respond to “the restaurant had been heavily criticised by many due to its “tasteless” and bland food.” As I never ate there. There is also “a social media user named Ameera Al Qahtani, for example, said it “does not deserve any star. Because it refuses to allow women [wearing] the hijab, and refuses the Saudi dress for men. They need to be kicked out of Jeddah. They don’t respect our religion, and this makes me very angry.”” It seems that there is more playing, more under the populous I mean. It comes to a point at the very end where we are given “It is the most recent example of concerns regarding the societal tensions resulting from the clash between Saudi society’s conservative values and the new era of liberalisation encouraged by the Saudi government to cater to tourists” To be honest, I saw the disgusting ‘catering to tourist’ setting on Crete (Greece). The orthodox church has rules. But tourist consider themselves above that, why? People should not go into a church without proper attire (more than a tank top), I do not get it, if I were to go to Saudi Arabia, I know I have to adjust, I need to adjust to Islamic settings. Isn’t that why I go see another nation? And there are reasons to go there. The grand mosque in Riyadh is stated to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. There is the Kingdom Centre and Riyadh has several other places that people would want to see. If you cannot afford the trip (I am on that list too) there is a YouTuber named Jason Billam Travel who created some awesome videos of walking trips of Riyadh. And I got to see a little more than I bargained for, showing me jut how little I know of Saudi Arabia, but the western press is not really about informing us, are they? So (at https://www.youtube.com/c/JasonBillamTravel) you can see the Video of Riyadh (at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk_4wPK6oks) where you can see more than you bargained for. There was another video which I could not find but seek “Riyadh Walking tour” and you will see jut so much more (if you cannot afford to go there).

Places like ‘Boulevard Riyadh City’ that shows me how little I know of Saudi Arabia, how little we are shown of Saudi Arabia, why is that? And lets be clear, we are visiting THEIR nation, it is an islamic nation, so we know we will have to adhere to certain differences. There will always be a debate of what we expect and what is tolerated. But a nation does not changes norms to us, we adhere to the norms of them. That is expected in London, Paris, New York and why not Riyadh? I just realised that the idea I gave here months ago (Augmented reality) might also work really nice in Riyadh too, but about that another day. I get that there could be a setting of “the new era of liberalisation encouraged by the Saudi government to cater to tourists”. Yet in all honesty. At present I hav e no idea what the opposing side “Saudi society’s conservative values” are. Yet consider in the US. Do they not adhere (to some degree) to the rules of the Amish? Do the Amish have rights? So why would you deny these rights to Saudi Arabia? Are their values and norms mine? I doubt it, I was brought up somewhere else. Yet I would want to visit it, see the places with my own eyes, as such I will have to adjust that is the rule in India, in Greece, in Egypt and as such in Saudi Arabia too. Is that not why you visit places? To see the sights and feel the brush of culture in that nation? If not then like me most can do with YouTube to show us the way. And the more I see, the more I consider what is any norm, the weirder the setting of Bagatelle Jeddah becomes. Now, I will accept that we do not see both sides, but the idea to attack a national norm in that nation seems like the most stupid ways of suicide, but that might just be me.

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May 24, 2022 · 23:03

The edge of what could be

I thought about this and it intersects with stories over the last week. You see there is a change coming, but one that is openly ignored by some people. Not by the normal people. They ignore it all and so they should. But some want their life to continue as it is, to hang on to easy revenues a little longer at the expense of everything else. There is no real good here. The mistake was made by Sony in 2011 and again when the PS4pro came and now with the PS5 they still make the same mistake. I am uncertain whether Sony can (at present) correct for that mistake. They had the option to gain a huge advantage in 2012, but they decided to play the appeasement game with Facebook, now the game changes. Nintendo was not up to speed for a few understandable reasons and Microsoft only cares for self at the expense of others, so they would never go there. Now in the new setting the streamers are about to get to the same setting. I designed a few parts of it, I set the stage in my first IP bundle and it could apply to Amazon and Google in near equal matters. But that is one setting, the stage could now benefit Netflix in more than one way. Yet who does it fit better? I cannot say, yes a few items fit Amazon better and the idea of the Luna charging ahead sounds good, but the Google Stadia could face the same benefits and none of these parts are part of the additional 50 million consoles. There is the other shoe. I cannot tell how fair it would fit Netflix, but under similar settings all three could compete for that. But it is not about that part. It is about the other parts. 

You see as the game of gaming changes, the makers could adhere to the system, or they can adhere to the gamers and users. It is the second side that will push them forward. The system is clinging to the group of an ageing population, but when that falls away the game itself will be pushed into a new realm. Those not ready will fall behind really fast. In that new stage we have Amazon, Google, Netflix, Sony, Nintendo and Tencent. Yes, we see the claims that Tencent is not coming along, but a stage where hundreds of billions is part of the game and that is not including gambling is not a stage anyone ignores, no matter what they say. Whether it is merely Tencent, or a union with Huawei will be sought is not something I am aware off. But there is no way that Tencent will not be part of this. The part I cannot tell is how far along they will go. Will they be a console, a streamer, or a hybrid facilitating both? You see, I do not know any industrial willing to let go of a slice of $275,000,000,000. As such Tencent is a player, I feel certain of that. 

So where will it all go? There are several indictors that marketing and granularity will change. Meta is one factor, 5G is the other factor and it will all come to blows as Neom is completed. Neom will be the first step to clearly show the changes to marketing, advertisements and a few other matters. I saw this coming and as such I created the 5G IP I have. When the other parts are completed the companies that are still clearly in the dark will wake up and a rush will come. All racing for the same destination and not all will make it and now there are two sides that come to blow. Three if you reconsider the stage. In the first stage there is Meta, meta will be ready and adhering to whatever stage is played, it will be that flexible and I am not certain how or where it will go. Only the inner insiders of Meta know this. The second stage is seen by gamers and more importantly the streamers. The streamers are important fr a few reasons. They can become new clusters. Clusters where gamers and users are in charge, they will decide what they are exposed to and even as some will try to dissuade the consoles and streamers. The one successfully resisting will win that race. You see, the people have had enough and corporations are so used to the bully push that they will continue. Just to get their hands ‘in the game’ but that move will push them out of the game, there is no other solution for them and by the time they learn that lesson the hard way. The users and gamers will have had enough. They will of course cry like Chihuahua’s, making all kind of claims but at the end of the aged population they will be denied access, the people will have had enough. And on the third side is the explosion of marketing and advertising. Neom city might show the way, but they are not alone and that signal will show that there is a larger change coming it will evolve nearly everywhere, but mostly in metropolitan areas. And until recently I never considered that my IP would cover two of the three sides of that evolution. Which is also a larger weird part. Where will Amazon go, where will Google go and how far will Netflix get with their game streaming. All sides that give rise to questions, ones that I cannot answer yet, but I feel it is a temporary setting for me and after that I will consider whether I make it new IP, or make it public domain. In one part I like the public domain side, I have enough IP to last me a lifetime, some of the IP become public domain on June 30th if I do not reset the clock and I will watch from a distance how stupid industrials make claims and demand a seat on some negotiating table they have no business being at. They squandered it in greed and in the belief of their own ego, as such they should be allowed to die (go bankrupt) for that shortsightedness. A stage that has some repetition and a stage that is coming for a few too many of them, especially when they are no longer of what comes next. Yet it also is cause for worry. When these people are denied ‘their’ seat near edge of what could be they tend to become bullish, childish and they will resort to be the selfish people they always were, just a little bit more out in the open now, and still those around them will not act. This is why I like my public domain routine. It leaves the IP FOR EVERYONE and they can do nothing, well almost nothing. The only strength on my side is that I have is the willingness to lose it all, to make it public. 

It is the only thing I can do to protect the realm of gaming, when a company cannot own it, the larger base of players win, that has always been the case. The problem is that not everyone can see that. I do not blame them, I for one did not see it for a long time. I was never one for ‘free games’ and it all should be free or hacked. I believe that game makers are entitled their revenue and their profit. I never opposed that, but in the 80’s and 90’s games were more than entertainment it was a stage where the gamer was enabled. I feel that around 2005-2010 the gamer became a point of exploitation for the system and any digital revenue. I opposed that, there is no clear guilty party. Ubisoft might have some sides, but their need was revenue. I do not consider them guilty. Sony and Nintendo to some degree too. They are all guilty of adhering to a changing stage, but that does not make them guilty. There was a second layer, or at least it was my believe that the second layer was some mash of elements that pushed for a larger layer of exploitation. This continued until now, yet there is a new horizon, the streamers and there they have less power and when the power is pushed onto the gamers and users their options vanish,  that is my belief. There is a lot more and streamers can bring it to the front, the consoles had that option but they decided not to do that, for whatever reason they did not do this.

And now the edge of what could be changes, it alters in a way I cannot tell at present. Yet I still believe that the streamers will be at the core of gaming in the future. I will still play on a playstation as well at whatever number they are when that happens. Yet when I see what could be there is no chance that there will not be a streaming system next to it, as is most likely the Nintendo. Where gaming goes I cannot tell beyond a certain point. That is how things tend to be. I  reckon that it started when I created the foundation of what could have been The Elder Scrolls: Restoration in 2013. Over the years I upped the stage and set it to a much larger foundation. Then it fell away as Microsoft bought the place. So these ideas are now getting incorporated in another game, because the ideas were sound, they were merely precise. As a storyteller I can reshape them to fit another game with reasonable ease. Will these stories be part of the next edge of gaming? Perhaps yes, perhaps no. At times I wonder if pushing the edge of gaming is a good idea. But the edge of gaming was pushed by the CBM 64 (Loderunner), Atari ST (Dungeon Master), CBM Amiga (Dune 2), N64 (Goldeneye), PS1 (TombRaider), PS2 (Kingdom Hearts), Xbox360 (Mass Effect), PS3 (The last of Us), PS4 (God of War) and PS5 (TBA), now it is time for the streamers to do more than be the next copy of a game we see everywhere, now they can shape the edge of gaming that is not here yet. Only under these circumstances will gaming continue, evolve and inspire. Consider the old games and see where the new systems could take us. That is where we will be able to see the edge of what might be.

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May 22, 2022 · 20:55

Speculation versus reality

That is what I am facing now. Yes, this article has massive speculations, that I will tell you upfront. The setting we usually see is that the media (with better sources than me) will give a more realistic view and that is how it USED to be. Yet in this day and age, the media has (as I personally see it) become the play tool of stakeholders and that means we do not get the news, we get filtered information, but filtered in what way? 

This setting started yesterday when I got confronted with ‘A source close to the family of Saad al-Jabri reveals to CNN the details of the settlement with Mohammed bin Salman’ (at https://www.dubaiweek.ae/a-source-close-to-the-family-of-saad-al-jabri-reveals-to-cnn-the-details-of-the-settlement-with-mohammed-bin-salman/) the weird part is that this is the Dubai Week, CNN has NOTHING. This is about Saad bin Khalid Al Jabri. In addition we are given “in a statement to CNN, said the White House Arranges for the meeting The meeting between US President Joe Biden and the Saudi prince is likely to take place next month. He pointed out that attempts to organise the meeting came amid a number of controversies, such as the assassination of Jamal Kashoki and the al-Jafri case. Sources said al-Jabri had recently told the White House that he would settle all legal and financial disputes with Saudi Arabia if he returned his two sons.” As such I wonder what is real. The Dubai Times gives us “US President Joe Biden” instead of US President Biden. As well as “the Saudi prince”, which prince exactly? Then we see “assassination of Jamal Kashoki” instead of ‘alleged assassination of Jamal Khashoggi’? You might remember the columnist no one cares about, his name was Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi. My first question becomes, who is this clown Bill Dittman? What gave the editor of this magazine the idea that this was journalism? Then we get “the al-Jafri case” named after Saad bin Khalid Al Jabri, when we try to name our expected traitors and alleged thieves, can we at least get some part right?

So far the Dubai Times is not impressing anyone with minimal fact requirements. Then the use of the CNN logo and the mention of CNN the way they did gives a massive question on the quality of news people are exposed to and as we see one paragraph of what ails the media, we also need to consider the fact that CNN did not allegedly state anything against this article. 

And I almost fell for it, I almost fell for the fact that this is not journalism, so how many do fall for it and how many who read the Dubai Times and do not have the knowledge of multiple languages. How many will fall for fake news? And then we have “he would settle all legal and financial disputes with Saudi Arabia if he returned his two sons.” Apart form the bad English, the setting is larger. He is accused of stealing a lot more than $990,000,000 (exact amount unknown to me). More important the US government (CIA) has been protecting him, they went so far to play the national security card to avoid evidence being shown. This is one of the larger amount of issues that President Biden is facing. He wants cheap oil, but his administration keeps on messing with the basic rights of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as give shelter to expected traitors and alleged thieves. At what point does he expect to have a chance in this? 

We have all kinds of options, but they are drawn to the facts and what we believe, when the media plays these games what is fact becomes debatable and the amount of options that we trust and expect diminish into nothing. Don’t get me wrong there is no way that the Dubai Times is alone in this, yet the others are more subtle, more careful. They filter what we see and make the filtering smaller until only one side remains. It is a game that has been played for the longest of times, yet in this day and age, in the age where digital media is the choice of many and industrials are setting the digital voice, that stage becomes overwhelmingly large and at some point no one will be able to differentiate between the sources. That is how I see it. So in this case, how far did speculation, presumption and reality get transgressed on?

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May 22, 2022 · 00:21

Interchanging hope and despair

You think it is odd, but it is not, stay with me. As the body goes through a point where it can no longer tell the difference between pain and pleasure, the soul has a similar event and in that event it can no longer make the difference between hope and despair. You might think that this is some new revelation, but it is not. It is old, very old. I reckon before the first crusade. To understand this we need to take the first sidestep. 

Sheherezade
We all have heard the story of Sheherezade and the 1001 Arabian night. But which version did you read? Most of us have had some translation of Sir Richard Burton, but none of them are complete. You see, if you had the whole complete tale and you would do the math, you will find that 5 stories are missing. 5 nights are not accounted for. This is because some clerics found them too dangerous in western hands. As such the clerics decided that these 5 stories were to be removed. Do not ask me for them, I never saw them either. Only certain members of the Royal family of Saudi Arabia have seen them (if they read the book), they are in a basement, it is one of the most controlled environments in the world. In that room is an altar, some kind of book altar (I think) and on it is an exquisite piece of work, the complete stories by Sheherezade. The only place in the world where the 5 missing stories can be found.

Vladimir Bartol
This is the second sidestep. A novel from 1938, it would become the foundation of the first Assassins Creed game by Ubisoft. It is the story of Hassan as-Sabbah. This is where the slogan “Nothing is true, everything is permitted”, but that saying is actually older, older then Hassan as-Sabbah, It comes from the Arabic clerics who travelled Europe in the 9th century (Spain, Italy, Greece and Slovak areas) They founded the premise “Nothing is true, in this world perception is all. Only a blind man can see what is real. The blind man can smell what is true, can hear what is stated. Perception can not be maintained. In this world, where one is perceived to be noble, nobility tends to not ever be found there. In this world of greed and wringing, like a cloth made devoid of water, of blood. Those wielding perception are in charge of what is real. This is more often seen in clergy and nobility than anywhere else” harsh words, but that was merely the beginning. You see, we now get to the first story.

Speculated story one
The first story was based on the life of Antarah ibn Shaddad al-Absi, and Sheherezade who knew so much also knew of him, and created the story of two student knights and alternative path away from the ways of ethics. The names of these two knights I do not know, there is no hidden thing here, I never saw that book. But the story goes that these two knights plotted in the night, not against their teacher, not against his values. But the simple fact was that the Arabic people could not be protected if they adhered to all ethics, at times ethics must give way to the protection of the people. The infidels deserved no consideration. But the story was one of insight on how ethics  are the cornerstone of what was right, still the story struck to close to the real world and the story was removed from consideration. We do not know what happened to these knights, some tell us that one went north, the other south. The one who went North did not go to Lucera, but his disciples (mostly women) created a convent somewhere in southern Germany (unknown where, some assume the black forest) and in that convent the women kept up appearances and kept to themselves. Seen as a convent and a hospital of mad people, a curtain was created. One wing and its basement were the sick, the mad. The less sick were properly treated for on a higher level of that wing (I presume the second floor) and below the destitute there was a trapdoor and another layer, one where the knights trained, day and night. Where they recorded the deeds of the corrupt, the wealthy the true noble and the christian demonic types. For decades they were there recording it all, reporting it all. If I am correct, it still happens today, but the stage is not the one they had there. They have moved into a very different area and seen as some version of clergy, no one seems to check and there is the rub. In a place without ethics, ethics removed makes one more fluidic, but at a price. The question becomes what is that price?

It is there in that place where hope and despair become faded, one cannot tell the difference, because the ethical walls were removed and who can tell whether they are still a force of reckoning. There is no record of them, there is no telling, no tale. 

So whilst we try to be noble, whilst we try to be true, we act on the values that the perception makers hand us and we seemingly copy these value blindly. Consider that greed comes naturally in banks and consider the life of Bob Diamond (Barclays, 2012) and see where this so called ‘highly respectable’ man had access to, and seemingly still had. You see he was behind an IPO which raised US$325 million (and crashed in 2021). So in a place with ethics, where do you stand where a person like that is trusted with $325,000,000? In many places where the light of perception does not shine, such a person is not allowed to be an uber driver (or a barber for that matter). As such it seems that we have larger problems, because the values we seemingly embrace are the beginning of the end of our souls. When did we sign up for that? It seems that despair is all that some bankers will leave us.

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May 21, 2022 · 15:21

Feeling confused

Well, there are two things, the first is that I got a workable idea to a final twist in ‘Exhaurire vitam’ the mini series that predominantly plays in New Orleans. There are a few scenes in other places, but the bulk is there. There are a few more issues that I uncovered in ‘How to assassinate a politician’, as such I have it close to ready, a movie and a mini series. Then there was the series ‘Kenos Diastima’, I have been tossing and turning on that and I feel that leaving it (for now) with an open ending at season three is the best way to go. Then I got another idea, this one was initially for ‘Exhaurire vitam’, yet the new series (the one I talked about a few times), has more traction with it and it opens up a nice can of worms. You see, the gods are all over all places, so there much have been some dependency. So what happens when one of them is in debt, or better stated, what happens when the debt was opened to a new source? That was the setting I contemplated on the subway. As such the main character would be open to all kinds of other things. That was the setting my mind worked on. And as I contemplated what could be possible when Bastet is thrown in the mix, the equation changed and that has long repercussions, not bad ones, but unforeseen ones and that tends to be good, because the unforeseen brings more than a surprise or a plot twist, it gives the story a new direction and I am all about that. But in part I have no idea why the images are coming to me so rapidly and so directly, that is the part that has me confused. It is like your brain playing some year at Hogwarts and you create the setting, but you never created the stage. In this example we all know it is J.K. Rowling. But the stage I create is new, has never ben contemplated, or written about. I have no idea where it all is coming from, so for now I follow the thoughts and create more stories and optionally more scripts. And I have no idea where it all goes. Even as I seek the implementation of Saudi TV in the movie, I wonder where it will end. So whilst I get that “Bryan Fogel says Netflix, Amazon and others wouldn’t buy ‘The Dissident’ because they were scared of angering Saudi Arabia” my story does EXACTLY the opposite and as such might be loved there, what I do not get is why not more are considering that step. In the end, good business is where you find it and basically I found it. 3 TV series, one movie, a game, console settings and the evolution to another 50 million consoles and beyond that I reengineered several Ubisoft games and created several 5G IP. Not bad for one person in less than 5 years. So if you are wondering what stops others doing the same, I have no idea. But I do believe that they are all looking in the wrong direction and I feel that more and more of that is proven. But the confusion stays. What if this is all between my ears? I do not believe that this is so, but if you cannot look at it from opposition from a distance than it means you have gone bonkers, have gone round the bend. Oh, and I also designed a weapon to get rid of the Iranian navy, so there (and that part is already online). But the confusion stays. I have no idea what is driving this all. Perhaps a last knee jerk action by the brain before it stops? Your guess is as good as mine, I am honestly clueless.

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