Falling falling falling. The stock price of fake meat
Didn’t they say the substance derived from lab-grown blood that gives it a meat flavor was carcinogenic?
BY MERYL NASS | DECEMBER 27, 2023
The Impossible Burger company (Impossible Foods) has not gone public:
As of December 2023, Impossible Foods remains privately owned. Furthermore, while the company has stated that an IPO “will happen,” it seems not to be in a hurry, a state indicated by lukewarm statements and a lack of time references. Since the market curtailed its enthusiasm toward plant-based food alternatives during the second half of 2023, the current financial environment pushes the earliest likely Impossible Foods IPO date to 2024 or even 2025.
Beyond Meat isn’t worth much.

Even when its stock price was high, it never made any money. And now its cost of revenue exceeds its revenue. Better close up shop while it can.

Germany: “Renewable Energy Sector Facing The Abyss”… ”On The Brink” … Economy Breaking Up
By P Gosselin | No Tricks Zone | December 27, 2023
Germany’s Blackout News reports on how Germany’s move into renewable energies has gone from “a boom to crisis”.
The policies of (worst ever) Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Green Party) are leading the German economy to disaster. Photo: public domain.
It wasn’t long ago, when interest rates and inflation were low, and the economy and the business of renewable energies in Germany were booming.
But now, Blackout News reports how “the outlook for the renewable energy sector has deteriorated drastically” and affordable raw materials have become hard to get. Manufacturers are now reeling. “The renewable energy sector is facing the abyss” and is “on the brink.”
“The S&P Global Clean Energy Index, which monitors the performance of the sector, has fallen by 32% in the last 12 months, while the global stock markets have risen by 11%,” writes Blackout News. “These losses on the stock market not only affect the companies themselves, but also the investors and shareholders who have invested in renewable energies.”
Reduced work hours, job cuts
Blackout News also reports how the German economy in general, the biggest in Europe, is crumbling at its foundation. For example, construction equipment manufacturer Liebherr “is putting 1000 employees on short-time working for 9 months.”
Also Stiehl, Gardena and Hansgrohe, are “opting for short-time working and job cuts.”
Other famous German companies planning cuts include textile group Groz-Beckert in Albstadt-Ebingen, and chainsaw manufacturer Stihl,
“Rising inflation and the construction crisis are two of the main reasons for the current economic uncertainty. Rising inflation is putting a strain on households,” reports Blackout News.
The major driver of inflation and all the German economic misery? The rising cost of energy caused by the government’s incompetent energy policies.
US Efforts to ‘Kill’ Arctic LNG 2 Could Sow Distrust Amidst Allies
By Andrei Dergalin – Sputnik – 27.12.2023
Several prominent companies from France, China and Japan have suspended their participation in Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project after it was targeted by US sanctions.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt openly stated earlier this year that the United States’ goal is to “kill” the Arctic LNG 2 project, and that the US is “doing that through our sanctions, working with our partners in the Group of Seven and beyond.”
In response, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said this week that “The situation around Arctic LNG 2 once again confirms the destructive role of Washington for global economic security.”
US sanctions against Arctic LNG 2 may be an attempt by the Biden administration to garner support, argued Thomas W. Pauken II, a geopolitical commentator and consultant on Asia-Pacific affairs. Biden’s approval ratings in the US have been sagging amid the prospects of the American economy heading for a “downturn.”
“If he can get the energy exporters, the producers from the US to somehow support Biden, this could prove helpful. So it’s just politics more than anything else,” Pauken elaborated. “The US is headed in the direction of more trade protectionist measures. And this is just yet another example of that.”
According to Pauken, the Arctic LNG 2’s foreign stakeholders apparently participated in the project under the impression that their involvement would not incur repercussions in the form of US sanctions.
Now that the US imposed such sanctions, this is going to sow “mistrust” between the United States and the parties involved in the project, and this situation is going to “harm the US image.”
“This is a big story, that you have friends of America who are losing out big money in this deal,” Pauken observed.
He also suggested that as Russia realizes that it cannot rely on Europe and Japan for business partnership in light of the US sanctions pressure, it will likely forge closer economic relations with other countries such as India, Mongolia and Central Asian states, not to mention deepening its already close ties with China.
“I think the problem is Washington keeps thinking that they can do these things and sets sanctions and pushes these measures and thinks that everything’s going to have good results from them in the long run. But in reality, it just forces other countries to adapt to these circumstances in order to make new solutions. And Washington is very slow to figure it out,” Pauken mused.
Meanwhile, Nikita Lipunov, an analyst at the Institute for International Studies, pointed out that Arctic LNG 2 foreign stakeholders have so far only suspended their participation in the project and are now mulling the associated risks. US sanctions are expected to come into effect on January 31.
“Foreign participants of Arctic LNG 2 [deem] there will be losses either way: if they give up their share in the venture and future LNG shipments or if they ignore the US’ secondary sanctions and suffer the consequences,” he said.
Lipunov also deemed as “unlikely” the odds of the US destroying the Arctic LNG 2 project, considering Russia’s “vast experience in running large international economic projects while under sanction pressure.”
He noted that, while the French and Japanese participants of the project may end up pulling out of the venture under pressure from the US, there is still a chance that the Chinese companies involved may not follow suit.
“In light of the 12th package of the EU sanctions that, among other things, include a ban on liquefied petroleum gas imports from Russia, Moscow should reorient shipments to the east where the demand is growing, and to seek new markets in other regions. That will take time, but Russian commodities will definitely find their buyers,” Lipunov added.
Israel kills 6 more Palestinians in occupied West Bank refugee camp

MEMO | December 27, 2023
Israel has killed six more Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The six were targeted by an Israeli drone in Nour Shams Camp, located east of Tulkarm. They were confirmed dead at the Martyr Thabet Thabet Government Hospital in the city.
Hospital officials noted that Israeli occupation forces delayed ambulances trying to reach the victims of the attack. After a delay of 65 minutes, the Israelis released an ambulance carrying three seriously injured individuals from Nour Shams camp, reported the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The head of the Tulkarm Doctors’ Syndicate, Radwan Balibla, reported that an Israeli soldier stabbed one of the injured Palestinians inside the ambulance. He added that other wounded Palestinians were also assaulted with kicks, punches and rifle beatings as Israeli soldiers threatened to kill them.
The Palestinians killed were identified as 19-year-old Ahmed Anwar Hamarsha; Ahmed Abdel Rahman Issa, 19; Adham Muhammad Fahmawi, 19; Yazan Ahmed Wahid Fahmawi, 23; Fares Hossam Fahmawi, 29; and Hamza Ahmed Mustafa Fahmawi, 17. A 24-year-old Palestinian sustained serious head injuries. His condition was described as critical.
According to Wafa news agency, the occupation forces used artillery to target an abandoned house in the Aktaba suburb, east of Tulkarm, near the refugee camp. Palestinian homes in different areas of the camp, including Al-Manshiya, Al-Mahjar, Al-Joura, Al-Damj and Jabal Al-Nasr, were also targeted by the occupation forces. They conducted extensive raids inside these homes, interrogated the occupants and destroyed their belongings.
Furthermore, Israeli troops used high-rise buildings in and around the camp as observation posts. Bulldozers were employed to demolish infrastructure in the camp’s main streets, square and Al-Manshiya neighbourhood. This destruction included the demolition of public and private property.
At least 320 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank since 7 October, according to the local Palestinian authorities. More than 3,200 others have been wounded.
‘Take what you want and we’ll sort it out later’: US weapons stash fuels Gaza carnage
The Cradle | December 27, 2023
A stockpile of weapons owned by the US government and hidden inside Israel – known as the War Reserve Stocks for Allies-Israel (WRSA-I) – is back in the limelight, as former US officials believe the White House has dipped into it to restock quickly-depleting munitions dropped inside the Gaza Strip.
“Officially, it’s US equipment for US use,” a former senior Pentagon official told The Guardian. “But on the other hand, in an emergency, who’s to say we’re not going to give them the keys to the warehouses?” he added.
Another senior US official familiar with WRSA-I told the British news outlet that, when it comes to air-to-ground munitions, “we’ll give [Israel] whatever they need.”
Created in the 1980s to supply the US army in case of a regional war, the WRSA-I is the largest node in a global network of US weapons caches.
Although Tel Aviv is not legally allowed to make free use of WRSA-I – the full contents of which are not publicly disclosed – the former defense officials say transfers from the stockpile “differ from regular arms sales between the US and another country,” as the munitions can be withdrawn by the Israeli army “before the processes that account for the transferred equipment are fully completed.”
“We sort of retroactively build a foreign military sales case, which may or may not need to be notified to Congress, depending on what they took and what quantities,” said Josh Paul, a former state department official who resigned in October in protest at Washington’s unbridled support for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
“There’s no review of human rights, there’s no review of regional balance, there’s none of the conventional arms transfer policy review that would normally happen […] Essentially, it’s take what you can and we’ll sort it out later,” Paul added.
Furthermore, in late October, the White House sent a supplemental budget request to Congress that included the removal of restrictions on all categories of weapons and ammunition Israel is allowed to access from WRSA-I.
“A proposal in a legislative request to Congress to waive Congressional notification entirely for FMF-funded Foreign Military Sales or Direct Commercial Contracts is unprecedented in my experience […] Frankly, [it’s] an insult to Congressional oversight prerogatives,” Josh Paul said about the legal loophole, which was buried after more than 40 pages of legislative legalese.
Although there’s little to no transparency about the categories and quantities of weapons the US is providing Israel, in October, Axios reported that Washington would give their allies 155mm artillery shells.
These unguided munitions, held in large quantities in WRSA-I, are considered particularly hazardous as “their accuracy degrades over distance, increasing the likelihood of civilians and civilian infrastructure getting hit by errant shells,” according to Marc Garlasco, a former UN war crimes investigator.
CNN revealed earlier this month that a US intelligence assessment determined about 40-45 percent of over 29,000 air-to-ground munitions Israel has used in Gaza have been unguided.
Israel’s unrestrained use of these munitions inside one of the most densely populated places on earth has quickly turned Gaza into the deadliest military campaign in modern history, with a death rate of no less than 355 civilians per day – roughly 70 percent of whom are women and children.
Decrepit Biden Props Up Decrepit Abbas
The “PA will run Gaza solution” is a non-starter
BY KEVIN BARRETT | DECEMBER 27, 2023
Interview for IRIB
1) Despite Gazans’ demand and desire, the USA is trying to impose the Palestinian authority to rule over Gaza in substitution for Hamas. How do you assess this policy?
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is universally despised. Palestinians hate it because it’s a tool of the Occupation. Netanyahu’s government also hates it because it carries the torch, however feebly, of the two-state solution.
So why is the USA trying to unite Gaza and the West Bank under the authority of a group that everyone loathes? A humorist might answer: “Because the PA resembles Biden: A walking corpse with no meaningful support. When Biden looks at the unpopular, decrepit, sold-out-to-Israel, monumentally corrupt 88-year-old Abbas, he sees himself in the mirror.”
Aside from Biden’s narcissistic projection, there are also political considerations. To assuage both wings of his party—the pro-Palestine and pro-peace forces on the left, and his Zionist billionaire donors on the right—Biden has to pretend to be both pro-peace and pro-Israel. And that is impossible. Israel’s very existence and identity rests on its nonstop war of extermination against the Palestinian people. Indeed, “Israel” is just a euphemism for the genocide of Palestine. And its population and government have steadily gotten more extremist and openly genocidal.
Since it is impossible to be pro-peace and pro-Israel at the same time, Biden has to deal in vague impressions rather than hard realities. Most Americans don’t know much about Palestine, and have a general sense that the Palestinian Authority is “moderate” and “supports the two-state solution.” So Biden uses rhetorical support for the PA to stake out a supposedly centrist position that he hopes will mollify both the activists to his left and the Jewish billionaires to his right. He hopes the former will say: “Well, at least Biden isn’t as bad as Trump.” Since the latter realize that the PA is dead in the water, they know that Biden’s apparent support for it is only rhetorical, and doesn’t pose any meaningful obstacle to Zionist genocide. So the billionaires have no problem with Biden’s position, and will continue to fund him.
2) Americans always emphasize democracy and free elections. Then why (in practice) are they doing the opposite in Gaza? And moreover, why is Hamas so popular in Gaza?
American support for democracy is purely rhetorical. In reality, the US empire has been, since World War II, the world’s biggest enemy of democracy. Why? Because the US empire wants every other country on Earth to be its vassal. And it wants the vassal states run by obedient puppets who obey the empire’s orders to plunder their own people and hand over their nations’ wealth to the empire and the banks that own it. Naturally this program isn’t popular with ordinary people, who generally vote against Washington’s puppets and in favor of “anti-American” candidates who want to serve their own people rather than the empire. So to keep its puppets in power, the US has to prevent, corrupt, and sabotage free and fair elections.
The best-known quote illustrating the US empire’s opposition to democracy was a bon mot from the late Henry Kissinger: “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.” So Kissinger’s US murdered democratically-elected president Allende and installed a vicious dictator, Pinochet, to obey the empire’s orders.
The same situation happened in Gaza in 2006, when Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections in a landslide, despite US and Israeli vote-rigging and chicanery. Like Kissinger in 1973 with respect to Chile, the Bush Administration, and later the Obama Administration, tried to kill Hamas’s leaders and overthrow the democratically-elected government. But they failed miserably, because Hamas has widespread support in Palestine and throughout the region. Due to Hamas’s popularity in the West Bank as well as Gaza, the Americans, the international bodies they control, and the Israelis have not allowed any more elections since 2006. They know that if they did, Hamas would win, take over all of Palestine, and administer it in the interests of the Palestinian people rather than the Zionist occupation.
Hamas’s popularity stems from its reputation for honesty and competence. Unlike the ultra-corrupt PA, Hamas does not take bribes from America and Israel to participate in the slow-motion genocide of its own people. And unlike the PA, Hamas gets things done—whether it’s feeding the poor, taking care of the sick, or organizing armed resistance to genocide.
Additionally, Hamas, unlike the PA, is living in the real world. The PA inhabits an illusory world in which we all pretend that Israel is a benign entity that will withdraw from all the land it stole in 1967 and allow a viable Palestinian state to come into being. Hamas honestly faces the stark reality that “Israel” is an illegitimate and inherently genocidal entity that has zero interest in any “two-state solution” and will continue to grow like a malignant tumor on the region, eliminating not just the Palestinians but ultimately all the peoples between the Nile and the Euphrates, if the tumor is not forcibly excised.
A final reason for Hamas’s popularity is its religiosity. Palestinian Christians as well as Muslims respect the piety and selfless devotion to doing good “in the path of God” that they see among the members and leaders of Hamas. And they love and respect Hamas fighters for their willingness to put their lives on the line against a much more powerful and cruel enemy. As Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida says:
“Disgrace, shame and defeat for the Zionist Nazi enemy. Indeed it is a struggle of victory or martyrdom.”
Israel a ‘terrorist state’ – Cuba
RT | December 27, 2023
Israel is a terrorist state committing genocide in Gaza, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on social media on Tuesday. He was commenting on the ongoing military operation that West Jerusalem launched against Hamas in retaliation following the militant group’s deadly October 7 surprise attack, in which approximately 1,200 were killed in the south of the country.
The Caribbean nation, which has no formal diplomatic relations with Israel, has been highly critical of Israel’s war on the militants, which maintain de facto rule over Gaza. During the military operation, large swathes of the enclave have been devastated and more than 20,400 Palestinians have been killed, according to local officials.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) Diaz-Canel called Israel’s actions “a humiliation for all humanity” and lamented that the nation was getting away with it.
“Cuba, which will never be among the indifferent, raises its voice for Palestine again and again,” he added.
Last week, the Cuban parliament passed a declaration expressing support for the Palestinian people and its aspiration for statehood. The document branded Israel’s conduct “genocide,” condemning its “barbaric acts” that highlight the failures of international diplomacy.
“We denounce in the strongest terms the responsibility and complicity of the government of the United States in this genocide,” the declaration said, referring to Washington’s use of its veto power at the UN Security Council on Israel’s behalf.
“The impunity with which Israel has historically acted can only be explained by its confidence that there will be no consequences due to the backing of the US government,” the lawmakers stated.
The administration of US President Joe Biden has expressed discontent due to the high number of civilian casualties in Gaza and claims that behind closed doors it is pressuring Israel to correct its approach.
Senior Israeli officials have repeatedly denied being under US pressure. Tal Heinrich, the spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told MSNBC last Friday that the two nations are “in lockstep.”
Israel claims that it is doing everything possible to minimize risks for civilians and argues that Hamas is ultimately responsible for every such death.
A report published by the Tel Aviv-based +972 Magazine in late November claimed that the Israeli military is purposefully bombing “power targets” in Gaza, such as public buildings and high-rise blocks, in order to “create a shock” in the general population. The rationale is that it will somehow turn Palestinians against Hamas.
‘Elbit 8’: Palestine Action activists conclude legal fight for disrupting Israeli arms trade
By Reza Javadi | Press TV | December 27, 2023
In a significant development, a group of Palestine Action activists, known as the ‘Elbit Eight’, have been acquitted for their role in shutting down UK Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms producer, whose lethal weapons are being used against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Elbit Systems’ weaponry prompted the Palestine Action activists to face a total of 12 charges, including criminal damage, burglary, blackmail, and encouraging criminal damage.
The charges were related to anti-Israel protests held between July 2020 and January 2021, immediately after the pro-Palestinian network was founded in early 2020.
The trial, which commenced on November 13, saw the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) amending the indictment, eventually bringing thirteen counts against the activists: seven counts of damaging property (criminal damage), three counts of burglary with intent to commit criminal damage, one count of possessing articles with intent to damage property, one count of threatening to damage property, and one count of encouraging others to commit the offense of criminal damage.
Since the group’s inception in 2020, and in protest against the Israeli regime’s atrocities against the Palestinians, they have led several mobilizations in the UK as well as in the US, targeting the factories and offices of firms that supply munitions used in Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
Their protest methods have included sit-ins, blockades and paint jobs.
The group’s actions, including occupying Elbit Systems’ drone and weaponry factories in Shenstone and Oldham, aimed to challenge Elbit’s operations in Britain and prevent the manufacturing of weapons destined for the Israeli regime.
The defense case
At the beginning of the trial that lasted six weeks, the eight activists received a plea deal: if Huda Ammori and Richard Barnard pleaded guilty, others would be acquitted.
Rejecting the plea deal, the activists spent six weeks in Snaresbrook Crown Court pleading not guilty, asserting that Elbit and Israel bear responsibility for the offenses, not Palestine Action.
Echoing the defense’s narrative presented during the trial, Richard Barnard, co-founder of Palestine Action, underscored the group’s primary goal to terminate British complicity in the Israeli apartheid regime’s crimes against Palestinians.
Barnard was convicted by a 10-2 majority of one count of criminal damage, for an action at the now-closed Elbit Ferranti factory in Oldham. The jury failed to reach a majority decision regarding the remaining 23 charges.
“The idea was – and the idea still is – to end the British complicity in the Israeli apartheid regime,” he told the jury. “I am trying to prevent war crimes … I am trying to stop bombings and trying to stop drones [in Palestine].”
Meanwhile, two of the Elbit Eight activists, Genevieve Scherer and Jocelyn Cooney, were unanimously acquitted on all charges faced.
Other activists highlighted their personal experiences and the urgency driving their direct actions, contending that conventional means, such as divestment campaigns, were insufficient in addressing the ongoing human rights violations in Gaza.
Huda Ammori, charged with six counts including damaging property and burglary, stressed her Palestinian-Iraqi background, narrating formative experiences such as the Iraq War and the ongoing ethnic cleansing of native Palestinians in Gaza.
She stressed that direct action was the only viable solution to end such atrocities perpetrated by the occupying regime, given the ineffectiveness of legal avenues and divestment campaigns.
“All other attempts fell short. Our exports to Israel are against our own license rules and against international law, but they can’t be stopped by the courts,” Ammori said.
“Divestment campaigns, after years of work, were taking way too long; it wasn’t matching the reality of the urgency of the situation. Every day, Palestinians were being killed, imprisoned – surveilled under these drones 24/7.”
Direct action is the only option
Ammori, a co-founder of the Palestine Action network, hastened to add that if the UK government continues to ignore facts and violate rules, then the only option is “direct action”, which means to “stop weapons from going there.”
“After pushing back our case for two years, the state has failed again to deter an ever-growing global direct-action movement. Every day we’ve been on trial, more Palestinians have been massacred using Elbit’s weaponry,” she asserted.
“The duty of the people is clear – to take all direct action possible to Shut Elbit Down wherever you are. Justice will be complete when Palestine is free.”
Robin Refualu, another activist of the group, charged with burglary and damaging the drone factory UAV Engines, shared his experiences from Palestine and spoke of the direct action he was involved in there to stop home demolitions and illegal settlements and emphasizing the trial’s relevance to the broader Palestinian struggle over the past 75 years.
“This trial is not about us, it’s not even about Palestine Action, in my opinion,” Refualu said. “It’s about what’s happening in Gaza at the moment and what’s been happening in Palestine for the last 75 years.”
Genevieve Scherer, drawing on her upbringing in Uganda, criticized the futility of criminal damage charges when Elbit Systems and those they arm cause havoc in Gaza.
She underscored how British law prioritizes property over human lives.
Caroline Brouard emphasized the obligation to prevent an ongoing genocide and stated that when governments fail to uphold duties, it falls on the people to act. She believed that actions at UAV Engines in Shenstone could immediately impact stopping bombings in Gaza.
“The drones malfunction all the time, needing replacement parts, and UAV Engines has a 24hr dispatch policy – we stopped these engines getting to Israel and so stopped the drones from flying,” Brouard asserted.
Urgency of stopping crimes
Jocelyn Cooney, a frontline social worker, joined Palestine Action to address the urgency of stopping crimes. She referred to Elbit Systems as the “muscle” enabling genocide in Palestine.
“So I think we all have a responsibility as humans to step up and take direct action to stop this company from producing weapons to murder people,” she said.
Emily Arnott, charged with damaging property and burglary, spoke about her time in Palestine, highlighting the impact of apartheid and the Israeli regime’s brutal domination over Palestinian lives.
Nicola Stickells, charged with criminal damage, emphasized the necessity of action when other efforts were ineffective. She pointed to ongoing war crimes in Gaza and questioned why activists faced legal consequences while those responsible for genocide profited freely.
The Israeli regime forces are “rounding up men.. and taking them to undisclosed places, stripped, kneeling blindfolded, this genocide is occurring as we speak,” said Stickells, a mother of two who was raised in a working-class family in the English county of Kent.
“How can we be the criminals when the perpetrators of… [what] we now know is a genocide … are free to profit and we have to spend weeks and weeks in court for an action that we took three years ago?” she asked.
“When you try and stand for human rights, you become the criminal. This is not right.”
Palestine Action UK has escalated actions against Elbit Systems since October 7, including activists climbing factory roofs in various cities.
“Palestine Action activists occupy the roof of the Israeli weapons factory Elbit Systems in the town of Shenstone, England, in protest of its production of equipment used in Israel’s murder of innocent Palestinians,” Palestine Action UK said in a statement on October 31.
UK complicity in Israeli crimes
The trial comes on the heels of nationwide protests in the UK in solidarity with the Palestinian people and against the genocide in Gaza. These demonstrations have been met with intensive state monitoring, harassment, and muzzling of pro-Palestinian voices and actions.
The trial also draws attention to the broader issue of the UK’s arms sales to the Israeli regime, given Elbit Systems’ significant role as a major supplier to the Israeli military.
The weapons company is Israel’s largest private arms company in the UK that supplies the Israeli military with 85 percent of the drones used against Palestinians. The British government has been criticized for being “complicit in Israeli crimes” due to its relations with this company.
Two of Israel’s biggest weapons factories, Elbit and Rafael, both have operations in the UK.
Declassified UK recently revealed that the British government has approved at least £472m in arms sales to the Israeli regime in the past eight years, ignoring the genocide in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
They are covering their tracks
December 23, 2023
“More than 300 medical journal articles have disappeared within the last year.” – Dr. Scott Jensen
@drscottjensen








