[John Day]

​ President Biden has called Nasrallah’s death ‘justice’ for the hundreds of Americans who perished over what the US called a ‘four-decade reign of terror’.
​”Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror. His death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians,” Biden said. The White House says the Pentagon has been ordered to enhance America’s defense posture and readiness in the Middle East.
​ Biden has further repeated that the US “fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself”…
​ “The US fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah. I have ordered Defense Secretary Austin to increase US forces in the Middle East to deter aggression from Iran and its proxies and reduce the danger of a wider regional war,” Biden said.
​ Politico and some other publications have said the assassination of Nasrallah, apparently without US knowledge (that’s the current official line anyway), has put more distance between Biden and Netanyahu. “Biden administration officials were trying to figure out how to publicly respond Saturday to confirmation that Israel had killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group,” the publication said.
​ “The initial reaction from inside the White House was positive, even though U.S. officials had been trying to convince Israel to pause its operations against Hezbollah, according to two senior administration officials,” it added.
​ Russia’s reaction has been the opposite, with the foreign ministry saying, “This forceful action is fraught with even greater dramatic consequences for Lebanon and the entire Middle East.”
​ “The Israeli side could not fail to recognize this danger, but took the step of killing Lebanese citizens, which would almost inevitably provoke a new outburst of violence. Thus, it bears full responsibility for the subsequent escalation,” the Russian statement said…
​..PM Netanyahu had ordered or monitored the strike from New York, after just stepping away from a speech before the United Nations General Assembly:​..
​..American-supplied heavy bombs were likely used in the strikes that killed Nasrallah:
​ Israel media says about 85 so-called “bunker-buster” bombs were used. Also known as “ground penetration munition”, these missiles burrow deep into the ground before they detonate.
​ They have the power to destroy underground facilities and reinforced concrete buildings. The bombs each weigh between 2,000 and 4,000 pounds.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hezbollah-confirms-its-leader-hassan-nasrallah-killed-israeli-strike

​Hasan Nasrallah 2012 interview with Julian Assange (28 min.):

​ Pentagon Chief ‘Blew Up’ as Israel Shortly Notified US of Strike on Nasrallah
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Israel gave a “few minutes notice” to the United States about its intention to strike the secretary general of Lebanese movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, enraging Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin, US media reported.
​ Defense Secretary Austin “blew up” when Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant informed him about the strikes on Nasrallah, as there are many US troops stationed in the Middle East, and they had a very short time to prepare for possible hostile military response to the assassination, the publication explained.​ https://sputnikglobe.com/20240929/pentagon-chief-blew-up-as-israel-shortly-notified-us-of-strike-on-nasrallah—reports-1120340403.html

​ Nasrallah’s Death ‘Devastating Blow’ That Will Trigger Escalation of Violence – Lebanese Scholar
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s assassination marks “a devastating blow to Hezbollah” and the Iranian-led Axis of Resistance alliance, and will inevitably mark a major uptick in tensions and violence in the region, veteran Lebanese Middle East affairs observer Dr. Imad Salamey says.
​ “Nasrallah was not only the face of Hezbollah, but also a figure of immense symbolic and strategic importance within the broader Iranian-led regional alliance. He has been instrumental in Hezbollah’s military and political successes against Israel, its support of [President Bashar Assad’s Syria], and its backing of the Houthis in Yemen. His death represents a major moral and leadership setback, leaving a vacuum that’s difficult to fill,” Salamay, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at the Lebanese American University, told Sputnik.​..
​..Dr. Salamay expects Nasrallah’s assassination to result in a sharp spike in attacks on Israel by Hezbollah and its allies to try to exact revenge, and more broadly, to potential “shifts in regional alliances, a recalibration of Iran’s strategies in Lebanon, and possibly more aggressive Israeli policies aimed at capitalizing on Hezbollah’s weakened position.”
​ The IDF’s decision to code-name Friday’s attack on Nasrallah “New Order” is also an obvious reference to Israel’s ultimate goal of reshaping “the political and security dynamics in Lebanon and the broader region” to a political and security arrangement “more favorable” to Tel Aviv, according to the academic.
Salamay believes Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, the chief of Hezbollah’s executive council, Nasrallah’s “number two” and the late leader’s maternal cousin, is the most likely candidate to succeed him, presuming he himself hasn’t yet been targeted by Israel.
​ “While he lacks the same public charisma as Nasrallah, his close ties to both Nasrallah and Iran make him a natural successor. However, his ability to command the same level of trust and authority among Hezbollah’s base and the broader Shiite community remains uncertain,” according to the professor..
​..The Israeli Air Force F-16 strike on Hezbollah’s HQ in a densely populated area of Beirut on Friday reportedly involved the use of over 80 bombs, including US-made 2.3 ton bunker busters, which killed at least six people and injured nearly 100 others, and razed or heavily damaged at least six nearby apartment buildings.
​ Hezbollah has vowed to continue its campaign against Israel.​..
..The Russian Foreign Ministry “strongly condemned yet another political murder committed by Israel,” and expressed concerns that the operation “will almost inevitably provoke a new surge in violence” in the region.​ https://sputnikglobe.com/20240928/nasrallahs-death-devastating-blow-that-will-trigger-escalation-of-violence–lebanese-scholar-1120333561.html

​Not just a list, but biographies and explanations: Hezbollah, Hamas and Iranian figures whose killings were blamed on Israel https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/28/list-of-hezbollah-hamas-iran-leaders-killed-by-israel-in-recent-months

[John Day]

Killing The Messengers https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/killing-the-messengers

Josh Mitteldorf, Slide toward Totalitarianism, Media and mind control have taken the place of Secret Police
​ You may have noticed that in recent decades freedoms we formerly took for granted have narrowed, as power accumulates in the hands of the Usual Suspects. Last week, I read two articles that put these trends in historical context, and help us understand them.
​ David A. Hughes tells us that the roots of the Deep State are in a class struggle, going back to the robber-barons of the 1890s. The Rockefellers and the Bushes know that their power cannot survive true democracy, and have worked over decades to subvert democratic government. The JFK assassination in 1963 was a turning point and their influence has increased steadily since then.
​ Barry Lynn, writing in Harpers, tells us that Google has the power to control what people think, combining individually-targeted messages with mob psychology, and they have put their mind control at the service of the Deep State, which helps explain their success (as Hughes documents) in undermining democracy.​..
..Hughes begins his story in the 1920s, when a Who’s-Who of American Businesses actively supported Hitler’s rise to power, not just with rhetoric, but also loans and investments. Ford and GM, IBM, bankers led by Brown Brothers Harriman, J P Morgan, Prescott Bush, and John D Rockefeller were all cheerleaders for Hitler.
​ Hughes reminds us that in 1933, Wall Street sponsored a military coup against Franklin Roosevelt, seeking to install General Smedley Butler as a dictator. Gen. Butler played along to gather evidence, then came out dramatically as a whistle-blower, denouncing the plot. Here is how the New York Times reported at the time. Prescott Bush was a prime mover, as were prominent members of the DuPont family and executives of J. P. Morgan.
​ Not one of these was ever charged with a crime…
..After the Second World War, the Nazi braintrust was recruited to come to America and design weapons systems, rockets, and biowarfare for the USA. The Dulles Brothers represented the monied interests that had supported the Nazis in forming America’s foreign policy under Eisenhower. Allen Dulles, as head of the CIA, created a secret government within the government, subverting populist movements abroad, overthrowing legitimate, elected governments in Iran, Panama, Guatemala, Syria, Brazil, and, later Chile. Operation Gladio engineered terrorist bombings and blamed them on “communists” in order to de-legitimize the European trend toward democratic socialism.
Eisenhower was aware of the Deep State, and warned us on his way out, in the speech which introduced America to the term “military-industrial complex”. Kennedy learned about the Deep State during his first months in office, when the CIA tried to snooker him into invading Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. Bobby Kennedy, as Attorney General, took firm steps to rein in the CIA and for two years it looked as though the elected government had the Deep State under control.
On November 22, 1963, history turned about face, and the elected government has been under the thumb of the Deep State ever since. Truman wrote a WaPo op-ed a month after the assassination.​..
​..9/11 was engineered by the Deep State as an excuse for a permanent emergency (“terrorism”), providing a rationale for suspending the Constitution. The Patriot Act legitimized jailing Americans without a trial and surveillance of innocent civilians without a warrant. Terrorists lost all their Constitutional rights, and the definition of “terrorist” was gradually broadened to include people who took pictures through the fence of factory farm conditions and doctors who argued that ivermectin was a better COVID strategy than mRNA.
Voting was computerized beginning in 2001, making possible the central manipulation of elections.
Starting with “Operation Mockingbird” in the 1960s, the Deep State had infiltrated the mainstream media, Republican and Democratic newspapers and broadcast stations on which Americans relied for a “balanced” picture of the world. During the first two decades of this century, the Deep State consolidated control over the digital media as well.
In 2016, the Democrats and the Obama Administration actually promoted the candidacy of Donald Trump because of the ease with which he could be painted as a dangerous despot. Thus was born the idea that the First Amendment only protected speech that was truthful, and it was up to government agencies to decide what was the truth. The crime of “misinformation” was invented…​ and handily, in time for the COVID deception of 2020-22. Totalitarian control reached the everyday lives of Americans and most other peoples around the world.​..
..How could they have gotten away with a lie this big, with a deception so pervasive, with demanding and receiving cooperation from a docile public? This is where Lynn’s story takes over.​.. https://mitteldorf.substack.com/p/slide-toward-totalitarianism

​Here is the David Hughes interview (& machine transcript) with Kim Iverson, which may be the one Josh used for his essay. Interview with Kim Iversen, September 25, 2024
Wall Street and Nazi Germany; the Business Plot; the Great Reset; censorship; technocracy and totalitarian control; the West v China; left/right; the potential return of slavery; divide and rule​ https://dhughes.substack.com/p/interview-with-kim-iversen-september

​ John Kerry Says The Quiet Part Out Loud: “First Amendment Stands As Major Block” To “Govern”
The World Economic Forum held its ‘Sustainable Development Impact Meetings’ during last week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Speaking at the meeting, far-left elitist and former presidential climate envoy John Kerry expressed frustration to fellow globalists, stating that the First Amendment frequently obstructs their agenda.
​ “Our First Amendment stands as a major block to the ability to be able to hammer [disinformation] out of existence. What we need is to win…the right to govern by hopefully winning enough votes that you’re free to be able to implement change,” Kerry said.​.. “It’s very hard to govern today​.”​ https://www.zerohedge.com/political/john-kerry-says-quiet-part-out-loud-first-amendment-stands-major-block-govern

​ ‘Bombed To Dust’: A Look At Beirut’s Night Of Hell
Lebanon and the whole Arab world is in shock after Hezbollah on Saturday confirmed the death of Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.
​ But common Lebanese civilians are reeling after mass destruction was unleashed by Israeli warplanes overnight. The attacks continued on Beirut’s southern suburbs, leaving entire buildings turned to dust.
​ This comes at the end of a week which already witnessed at least 700 killed, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. It is unclear how many casualties are militants vs. civilians – but very clearly the civilian casualty toll has been high.​..
​..For eight hours straight and counting, Israel has been carpet-bombing densely populated neighbourhoods of Beirut and greater Lebanon. A new bomb dropped, a new tragedy—every 5 minutes. Videos out of Tel Aviv show Israelis dancing at celebration parties.​..
..”I’m talking to you and there’s a drone flying over the southern suburb where I live some 500-600metres from. Bombings have not stopped all night long – you can see pictures of people on the streets, on the roads, sleeping in open-air spaces”…​ He continued, “So Lebanon today is a complete mess, it’s a country in chaos and I think that the worst is to come regardless of the political and military results of the strike on Hassan Nasrallah or no​t”. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/bombed-dust-look-beiruts-night-hell

[John Day]

Newsom Vetoes California’s Hotly-Debated Artificial Intelligence Bill
If Newsom had signed the bill into law, it would have required testing of AI models to ensure they don’t lead to mass death, attacks on public infrastructure, or cyberattacks.
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/newsom-vetoes-californias-hotly-debated-artificial-intelligence-bill

[John Day]

The top states are Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and North Dakota… the lowest are California, Louisiana, and Mississippi
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/mapping-average-iq-score-state

[John Day]

Korybko has been drinking with Dugin (or something):

Russia continues exercising self-restraint. Political goals are still prioritized over military ones and Russia is still sensitive to global public opinion.

That could change if it learns the last lesson from Israel about “radical decisiveness”. Philosopher Alexander Dugin wrote that “Those who act with decisiveness and boldness win. We, on the other hand, are cautious and constantly hesitate. By the way, Iran is also following this path, which leads nowhere. Gaza is gone. Hamas’ leadership is gone. Now Hezbollah’s leadership is gone. And President Raisi of Iran is gone. Even his pager is gone. Yet Zelensky is still here. And Kiev stands as if nothing has happened.

He ended on the ominous note that “We must either join the game for real or… The second option is something I don’t even want to consider. But in modern warfare, timing, speed, and ‘dromocracy’ decide everything. The Zionists act swiftly, proactively. Boldly. And they win. We should follow their example.” Dugin was the first to foresee the latent existential threat to Russia posed by 2014’s “EuroMaidan” and has thus been pressing since the start of the special operation for it to stop exercising self-restraint.

“Goodwill gestures” and self-restraint aren’t appreciated by Ukraine, which perceives them as proof of weakness that have only served to embolden it to cross more of Russia’s red lines. For as much as these policies have reduced civilian deaths, they haven’t yet advanced their envisaged political goals over two and a half years since the latest phase of this already decade-old conflict began. It might therefore be time to finally change them in light of how different the conflict has since become.

Putin’s noble plan of a grand Russian-Ukrainian reconciliation after the special operation ends appears to be more distant than ever, yet he still believes that it’s supposedly viable enough to justify staying the course by continuing to prioritize political goals over military ones. He’s the Supreme Commander-in-Chief with more information available to him than anyone else so he has solid reasons for this, but maybe Israel’s example in Lebanon will inspire him to see things differently and act accordingly.
https://korybko.substack.com/p/five-lessons-that-russian-can-learn

[John Day]

@aspnaz: C’mon, man, cover tattoos are damned DIFFICULT to pull off. I’ve seen a lot of ’em.
That one Stallone has is just confusing; best ya’ can do over the pretty face of an ex…

[John Day]

@RED: “Eve of Destruction”, and tboc, “A Well Respected Man” … I’ll add “Richard Cory” by Simon & Garfunkel : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAGKpoVFbmw

@jb-hb: Do the OBVIOUS THING! I am so glad that something finally came along that passes my favorite decision-tree test, the OBVOIUS TEST.
You had vague misgivings about being shoehorned into a job by a friend, until they sprung the punji-stick-tiger-trap-mandatory-vaccine ambush on you at the-very-end-after-signing.
Take the $3/hr. more and work from home without a mask, and wait for the next threat on your life and livelihood to come around.

[John Day]

Palestine Bike Jersey on elderly rider

[John Day]

Sorry about the plantar fasciitis, Amigo. Aspnaz might be on to something with the flip-flops being better. There are better flip flops. They do work the muscles and bones of your feet differently. 2-3 layers of rubber and comfort that improves as the rubber gets formed to your foot are what I find to be good.
Warm sunlight is bound to be good for your feet, also. Avoid burns.
Wishing you well…

I ran a marathon, the Texas Relays Marathon, in July 1980. 3 hrs 39 minutes and 46 seconds. I wanted to break 3:30, but I hit the wall at 18 miles and had to rehydrate for a few miles before I could pick up my pace somewhat. 26.2 miles. I have a left leg 5/8″ shorter than my right leg, and got chronic shin-splints after that on long runs, so it was my only marathon. Half marathons are a LOT easier.
These days I ride a fixed-gear bike.
😀

[John Day]

​ Get ’em if you can: Website for free COVID tests crashes as FDA appears to show September’s availability date
Some visitors to the government’s website received a ‘service unavailable’ error message on Monday, indicating high demand for the tests.​ https://www.fastcompany.com/91195734/free-covid-tests-2024-website-crashes-fda-appears-availability-date

​ Fluoride in Water Poses ‘Unreasonable Risk’ to Children, Federal Judge Rules
A federal judge rejected the EPA’s argument that the exact level at which fluoride is hazardous is too unclear to determine if the chemical presents an unreasonable risk, and ruled the agency must take regulatory action.​ https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/fluoridation-risk-kids-landmark-decision/

​I enjoyed talking to one of my med-school classmates, who had an undergraduate degree in Nutrition. She noted out loud one day that I was “a healthy snacker”. 😉
Diet-Related Diseases Are the No. 1 Cause of Death in the US – Yet Many Doctors Receive Little to No Nutrition Education in Med School​ https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/09/diet-related-diseases-are-the-no-1-cause-of-death-in-the-us-yet-many-doctors-receive-little-to-no-nutrition-education-in-med-school.html

Former CDC Director Robert Redfield Praises “Make America Healthy Again”​ https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/former-cdc-director-robert-redfield-praises-make-america-healthy-again

[John Day]

Holding to many bad loans… China Weighs $142 Billion Capital Injection Into Top Banks
​ China is considering injecting up to 1 trillion yuan ($142 billion) of capital into its biggest state banks to increase their capacity to support the struggling economy, according to people familiar with the matter.
​ The funding will mainly come from the issuance of new special sovereign bonds, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. The details have yet to be finalized.​ https://archive.is/rZyFa#selection-1687.0-1691.189

​ Boeing merged with failing and corrupt McDonnell-Douglas ​in 1997. Engineering principles lost to ​money-suckers.​ Boeing Machinists on Strike Have a Historic Opportunity
In a potentially game-changing move, 33,000 Boeing machinists in the Pacific Northwest, unionized with IAM District 751, are on strike after rejecting the company’s initial insulting contract offer. A stunning 96 percent of the rank and file voted to go on strike, marking a sea change for the fight of working people at Boeing. For decades, Boeing’s executives and wealthy shareholders have, with the active help from Democrats and Republicans in Washington state and Washington D.C., enforced a decades-long brutal regime that has thrown both workers and safety standards under the bus in favor of short-term profit maximization for themselves.​ https://scheerpost.com/2024/09/26/boeing-machinists-on-strike-have-a-historic-opportunity/
​
​ Trump’s Plan To Bolster The Economy
​ In a bid to build a broader coalition, former President Donald Trump has outlined a vision of tax cuts, import tariffs, and “reciprocal trade” to preserve and restore American industries…​ “So, as your president, here is the deal that I will be offering to every major company and manufacturer on Earth,” he said at a Tuesday event in Savannah, Ga. “I will give you the lowest taxes, the lowest energy costs, the lowest regulatory burden and free access to the best and biggest market on the planet, but only if you make your product here in America.”​ “It all goes away if you don’t make your product here and hire American workers for the job,” he warned.​ https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/wedtaxes-and-tariffs-and-trade-oh-my-trumps-plan-bolster-economy

​9.9% of respondents to EPA poll believe that humans are the dominant cause of climate change. EPA poll shows 90% reject the climate hoax. https://x.com/JunkScience/status/1838573685772255684

​ Lawfare​: Censorship by Wealth and Power​ Works Again: Journal pressured to retract study on covid-19 vaccine harms
Vaccine manufacturer sues researchers for defamation and demands retraction of a study describing adverse events after covid-19 vaccination.​ https://blog.maryannedemasi.com/p/breaking-journal-pressured-to-retract

[John Day]

​ Reuters, 9/24/24, Exclusive: Iran brokering talks to send advanced Russian missiles to Yemen’s Houthis, sources say https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-brokering-talks-send-advanced-russian-missiles-yemens-houthis-sources-say-2024-09-24/

Pravda, 9/26/24, Russia to transfer long-range anti-ship P-800 Onyx missiles to Yemeni Houthis, Yemeni Houthis to use Russian P-800 Onyx missiles to sink US aircraft carriers. https://english.pravda.ru/news/world/160745-russia-onyx-yemeni-houthis/

​ Yemen’s Houthis claim attacks on Israeli cities, US warships​, Iran-aligned group says it will continue its attacks on Israel until its ‘aggression on Lebanon and Gaza stops’.​ https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/27/yemens-houthis-claim-to-have-targeted-israels-tel-aviv-and-ashkelon

​I read that there were 5 teams of assassins gunning for Trump. He needs protection. Iran is not in the room… Trump Pushes Narrative That Iran Is Trying to Kill Him
The Trump campaign was briefed on alleged threats from Iran by Biden’s Office of the Director of National Intelligence​ https://news.antiwar.com/2024/09/25/trump-pushes-narrative-that-iran-is-trying-to-kill-him/#gsc.tab=0

​ India can never trust China. they have a long history. Indian Foreign Minister Throws Cold Water on the Idea of a BRICS Currency
​ The remarks by the highly respected Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar should put paid to the idea that a BRICS currency is coming soon, if ever. Jaishankar raises a series of particular issues consistent with a point we have made: that a common currency would require a very substantial legal and systems architecture. Agreeing on the legal structure would entail a reduction of sovereignty (BRICS rulings would have to supercede national courts) which seems contrary to the notion that BRICS is meant to increase, rather than reduce, national sovereignty. Jaishankar also points out, as we have, that the BRICS nations are too economically diverse (as in often divergent) to make a common scheme work easily if at all.
​ Jaishankar points out that bi-lateral currency deals work well enough and appear satisfactory to most BRICS members. That does leave unsolved the point that your humble blogger and Michael Hudson have raise: that absent mechanisms to encourage balanced trade such as the ones that were part of Keynes’ Bancor, many countries are likely to wind up with sustained trade deficits relative to particular trade partners. What happens when those countries wind up with a lot more of that currency than they want?​ https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/09/indian-foreign-minister-throws-cold-water-on-the-idea-of-a-brics-currency.html

[John Day]

​Destroying water lines and sewage systems causes cholera epidemics: Israeli bulldozers do extensive damage to West Bank infrastructure
The military vehicles, deployed in Tulkarem and Jenin during two weeks of intense raids beginning in late August, “tore up mile after mile of streets and alleys, leaving sewage to seep into the deep ruts left behind,” the Times report said.​ https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/09/25/733960/Israeli-bulldozers-wreak-havoc-on-West-Bank-infrastructure

​ Iraqi resistance drone attack hits Israel’s Eilat port
Iraq’s Islamic Resistance has launched a drone strike on the Israeli-occupied port of Umm al-Rashrash (Eilat) in response to Israeli atrocities in Lebanon and Gaza.​.. Social media videos showed smoke rising from the port area following the strike.​ https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/09/25/733965/Iraqi-resistance-drone-attack-hits-Israel-Eilat-port

​ Hezbollah’s rocket salvos pummel Israeli sites, settlements​
Hezbollah’s resistance fighters launched 130 rockets in two operations, responding to the Israeli aggression on Lebanon.
​ On Thursday noon, Hezbollah announced that its fighters fired salvos of rockets at the settlement city of Kiryat Motzkin, one of four small cities that make up the densely-populated Krayot settlement to the north of Haifa.
​ The Resistance then renewed its rocket attacks on the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems military-industrial complex, located to the north of occupied Haifa, in the Zvulun Valley.
​ Islamic Resistance fighters then fired salvos of Falaq-2-type rockets at the settlement city of Kiryat Shmona, near the Palestinian-Lebanese border. Impacts of multiple rockets were recorded on Thursday.​ https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/hezbollah-s-rocket-salvos-pummel-israeli-sites–settlements

​ Hezbollah bombs Israeli arms factory, forces fighter jets to withdraw
The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon – Hezbollah announced Wednesday that its fighters launched rockets targeting a bomb material factory in Zikhron, occupied southern Haifa, using a barrage of Fadi-3 rockets.
​ For the second time on Wednesday, Hezbollah struck the settlement of Kiryat Motzkin with volleys of Fadi-1 rockets. Concurrently, Hezbollah’s air defense units engaged two hostile fighter jets near the Lebanese towns of Houla and Mays al-Jabal to force them out of Lebanese airspace.​ https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/hezbollah-bombs-israeli-arms-factory–forces-fighter-jets-to

​ Israel’s war on Lebanon: What arms does Hezbollah have?
Group’s capabilities include missiles and drones as well as a large number of battle-hardened fighters, should Israel invade south Lebanon​ https://www.middleeasteye.net/explainers/israel-war-lebanon-what-arms-hezbollah-have

[John Day]

Israel calls up to 8000 reserves to enter conflict with Hezbollah
​The Israeli military announced Wednesday afternoon that two reserve brigades will be called up for deployment in Operation Northern Arrows.
​ “In accordance with the situational assessment, the IDF is calling up two reserve brigades for operational missions in the northern arena,” the IDF said.
“This will enable the continuation of combat against the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the defense of the State of Israel, and create the conditions to enable the residents of northern Israel to return to their homes.”​ https://endtimeheadlines.org/2024/09/israel-calls-up-to-8000-reserves-to-enter-conflict-with-hezbollah/#google_vignette

Lebanon braces for 1982-type Israeli invasion​, Lebanese civilians fleeing the south in expectation of an Israeli offensive to push Hezbollah out of border regions​ https://asiatimes.com/2024/09/lebanon-braces-for-1982-type-israeli-invasion/

​ Russian Missile Defences Block Israeli Attack on Western Syria
The Russian Armed Forces have reportedly shot down 13 Israeli missiles over Syrian airspace, after the Israeli Air Force attempted to launch an attack on the city of Tartus in Western Syria on the Mediterranean coast…​ The Russian military presence in Syria is heavily concentrated in the Western province of Latakia, primarily around Khmeimim Airbase and a naval facility in the city of Tartus. Both facilities have gained growing strategic importance for Russia in recent years​… Russian air defence systems deployed at Khmeimim Airbase include the long range S-400 and S-300V4, the medium range BuK-M2 and the short range Pantsir-S, as well as various electronic warfare assets… While Israeli cruise missile attacks on Syria have consistently used subsonic missiles, the S-400 and S-300V4 have proven capable of intercepting targets travelling at hypersonic speeds of over Mach 8. Both can have engagement ranges of up to 400 kilometres, depending on the missiles they are equipped with, allowing them to engage targets across Israeli airspace and beyond. If either of the systems did fire on Israeli missiles, it would likely be their first ever kinetic use in the Syria theatre.​ https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-defences-block-israel-syria

​Andrew Korybko, Lavrov Reminded The World That Russia Is Committed To Ensuring Israel’s Security
​ Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov used his latest interview with Sky News Arabia to remind the world about the true state of his country’s relations with Israel, to which Russia remains committed in ensuring its security contrary to what the MSM and AMC have claimed. He’s not “playing 5D chess” to “psyche out the Zionists” like some from the second media camp might imagine but is simply doing his job by articulating Russia’s foreign policy as it objectively exists. Here’s what he told his interlocutor:
​ “When some officials justify their actions by saying that they – the Jewish people – were victims of the Holocaust and therefore can be forgiven, this is a troubling trend. It is a sign of the exceptionalism characteristic of Hitler’s Germany and its ideology.
​ I have many friends in Israel. The vast majority of them understand that the issue of a Palestinian state must be resolved and that suppressing the natural rights of the Palestinian people is unacceptable.
​ Personally, I have good relations with many of my Israeli colleagues, including former ones. When speaking about the Middle East policy, President Vladimir Putin highlights Russia’s full commitment to security and fundamental interests of the State of Israel.
​ It is not for nothing that I mentioned the necessity of implementing the resolutions that require resolving the Middle East issues on a two-state basis, so that two independent and sovereign states, Israel and Palestine, exist as good neighbours, safely for each other and for the entire region. This essential approach needs no explanation; it complies with the interests of both Israel and Palestine.
​ We always stress in all our actions that no solutions are going to be viable if they fail to ensure Israel’s security, among other things, but not at the expense of the security of others.”​ …
​..The caveat though is that this should “not (be) at the expense of the security of others”, ergo why Russia continues to adhere to UNSC Resolutions calling for a two-state solution since it sincerely believes that this is essential to sustainably resolving the so-called ‘Palestinian Question’. This policy contrasts with Israel’s, which has unilaterally decided to ignore international law, thus lending false credence to the MSM and AMC’s claims that Russia is against Israel even though the aforesaid insight disproves that.​ Russian diplomats have worked hard to carefully balance between Israel and the Iranian-led Resistance Axis.​ https://korybko.substack.com/p/lavrov-reminded-the-world-that-russia

​ Israel Kills 39 More Palestinians in Gaza, Bombs Another School
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Thursday that Israeli forces killed another 39 Palestinians and wounded 86 in the previous 24-hour period.
​ The latest violence brings the ministry’s death toll since October 7, 2023, to 41,534 and the number of wounded to 96,092. The toll is an undercount since it doesn’t include the estimated 10,000 people who are missing and presumed dead under the rubble.
​ “There are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the streets, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” the ministry said on Telegram.​ https://news.antiwar.com/2024/09/26/israel-kills-39-more-palestinians-in-gaza-strikes-another-school/#gsc.tab=0

[John Day]

​ Detailed investigative reporting on this one-way street. How Israel Torpedoed Washington’s Global Strategy. Mike Whitney​ https://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-torpedoed-washington-global-strategy/5868661

​ Netanyahu rubs it in. Times of Israel, US, frustrated, says ceasefire plan rejected by Netanyahu had been coordinated with him
PM had been expected to welcome initiative on arrival in NY, relate to it in UN speech. But after outcry at home, PMO says he never backed it and he vows to keep hitting Hezbollah​ https://www.timesofisrael.com/pms-rejection-of-lebanon-ceasefire-plan-shatters-ties-with-biden-tv-report/

​Anyway… Israel says it secured $8.7 billion military aid package from US https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4901552-israel-us-aid-package/

​ US Congress ‘Happy to Be Lied to’ in Service of American Imperialism – Analyst
​One analyst claimed lawmakers were “very happy to be lied to” by the US Secretary of State, claiming they “would have denounced Blinken for the truth.”
​ Secretary of State Antony Blinken is facing calls to resign after a damning report suggested he willfully misled Congress to keep US military aid flowing to Israel.
Analysis by the investigative reporting nonprofit ProPublica revealed that Blinken defied the findings of multiple government bodies that concluded Israel was deliberately blocking humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Blinken ignored the advice of multiple officials with the State Department and US Agency for International Development (USAID), testifying before lawmakers that Tel Aviv was not interfering with the flow of aid.​
​ US law forbids the provision of military equipment to any country obstructing American humanitarian assistance.​ https://sputnikglobe.com/20240926/us-congress-happy-to-be-lied-to-in-service-of-american-imperialism–analyst-1120293423.html

​ Israeli Military Chief ‘Preparing’ for Ground Offensive in Lebanon​, At least 72 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon so far on Wednesday
​Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), said Wednesday that the Israeli military was “preparing” for a potential ground offensive in Lebanon.
​ Halevi told a group of IDF soldiers that their “military boots will enter enemy territory” and said Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon are part of the preparations for a ground invasion.​ “You can hear the planes above, we are attacking all day. Both to prepare the area for the possibility of your entry [into Lebanon], and also to continue causing blows to Hezbollah.”​ https://news.antiwar.com/2024/09/25/israeli-military-chief-preparing-for-ground-offensive-in-lebanon/#gsc.tab=0

[John Day]

​ Thanks Eleni. Russians obliquely mention “knowing who the enemy is”: How the Rothschilds Сashed In on Ukraine Since Neo-Nazi Coup in 2014
Multinational asset firm Rothschild & Co was instrumental in the restructuring of Ukraine’s $20+ billion debt in July 2024, according to Western press.
​ It had reportedly been involved in arranging face-to-face meetings between Ukrainians and asset management firms, including Black Rock and Amundi, less than two months before the two-year payment moratorium expired on August 1.
​ The Rothschilds reportedly engaged IMF’s experts in the talks while the plan of grabbing Russia’s frozen sovereign assets was also on the table.
The clan is believed to be cashing in on the Eastern European state through various schemes, including the future “restoration of Ukraine.”​
​ Then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko tapped a Rothschild & Cie to sell his assets in 2014. It turned out later that the companies weren’t sold but handed over to Rothschild Trust.​..
​..In 2017, Rothschild S.p.A. won the bidding for investment and banking services to Ukraine’s oil and gas company Naftogaz.
The same year, the supervisory board of Ukraine’s state-owned lender PrivatBank asked a consortium of Rothschild, EY and FinPoint companies to restructure its funds.​..
​..In July 2023, Russian pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov (Vovan) and Alexey Stolyarov (Lexus) tricked Alexandre de Rothschild, the executive chairman of Rothschild & Co, who told them that the banking clan has cooperated with the Kiev regime since 2017.
​ “We had excellent relationships with people in your government. We were mainly involved in attracting of lending funds,” de Rothschild told Vovan and Lexus thinking that he was talking to Volodymyr Zelensky.​ De Rothschild told the pranksters that the family company intends to take part in “the restoration of Ukraine”, including in energy, housing construction, and logistics. “You expressed the need for reconstruction financing in the total amount of more than $750 billion, starting in 2023 for a period of about ten years, and this is quite adequate,” the banker said.​ https://www.defenddemocracy.press/how-the-rothschilds-%d1%81ashed-in-on-ukraine-since-neo-nazi-coup-in-2014/

​ This man is Vladimir Putin’s personal messenger and negotiator, clothed in mystery, and not much liked by the Russian military. He is ready to negotiate at any time.
SENDING A BOY TO DO A MAN’S JOB – VLADIMIR MEDINSKY TO NEGOTIATE ISTANBUL-II
​ On January 24, 2020, the Kremlin announced that Putin had removed Medinsky from the culture ministry, and instead appointed him an assistant to the President. There were no other details in the official announcement; nothing leaked then or later to the press on whether this was a demotion or promotion. What is certain is that Medinsky’s talk of cultural events was camouflage. Putin had told Medinsky he was changing his role for one of the most personal foreign policy operations on Putin’s agenda.​
​ This didn’t materialize in public until Medinsky appeared as the leader of the Russian delegation to negotiate end-of-war terms with the Ukrainian government in Istanbul between March 29 and April 1, 2022.
​ Medinsky was sharply criticized by the General Staff, State Duma, and press for the terms he initial​ed in the draft agreement.​..
..He reappeared publicly at the Kremlin on July 5, 2024, when Medinsky was listed by the Kremlin in negotiation of end-of-war terms between Putin and Hungarian prime minister Victor Orban, and through Orban, US presidential candidate Donald Trump. In the ​Kremlin communiqué of the Orban talks, Medinsky was ranked ahead of foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yury Ushakov. The Kremlin has not explained what the former expert on Russian culture and history was doing there…
​..A Moscow source confirms Medinsky was identified to Orban as Putin’s personal messenger. “He remains the chief negotiator but he has not been seen with the Chinese or with the Indians. This means that Putin is only serious about Orban – of course not about Orban, but Trump whom Orban went on to meet in Miami on July 11.”​…..(Putin)​ “I propose that we discuss this today. We have two speakers, Mr Medinsky and Mr Lavrov.”
What Medinsky had to say about Russian history remains top secret. His Security Council speech has not been quoted on the Kremlin website; the Kremlin’s Telegram platform has ignored it. Asked for a copy or a summary of Medinsky’s remarks, the Kremlin press office replied: “If we get it, we’ll add it. Follow the website”. So far as Moscow political observers can remember, this is the first time that an official statement on Russian history has been classified.
​ Russian sources believe the reason is the same as Medinsky’s November 2019 meeting with Putin. It is camouflage. Only this time, the sources add, Putin’s purpose is to expose the camouflage himself, confirming he is ready for Istanbul-II, and is employing Medinsky in the president’s effort to override opposition to the end-of-war negotiations​… “Whatever Medinsky says is Putin’s thoughts exactly, more powerfully than Medvedev,” a Moscow source explains. “Putin wants the Americans to understand this.”
​ By making public Medinsky’s presence with Orban on July 5, and now at the Security Council on September 20, Putin is sending a signal to Trump, and also to the Biden Administration, that they should reciprocate with a negotiating signal of their own and stop the Kiev regime’s plans to escalate on the battlefield, with F-16 operations, and with long-range missile attacks on Russian territory.​..
​..He went on to study journalism and political science at universities in Moscow and then, at an unusually young age, he was posted to the Soviet (then Russian) Embassy in Washington in 1991-92. His arrival at the press department of the Embassy was registered by US counterintelligence as likely to indicate KGB cover. A Russian source comments: “Medinsky was definitely a KGB officer but low-level. Still, these guys have very high opinion of themselves just as Putin has of himself in Germany.”​.
​ Medinsky went on to a career in a variety of political party and government posts ever since.​..
​..At the end of February this year, Medinsky told the press he is ready to resume his end-of-war negotiations with the Kiev regime in Istanbul. “If they give us the assignment,” he is quoted as saying, “we’ll go.” In another press report of the same remarks, Medinsky responded to announcement of a new mediation effort by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by saying: “They will give the instructions – let’s go.”
​ In his version of Istanbul-II, Medinsky has implied — just as he has insisted on his interpretation of Istanbul-I — that Russia is not at war with the US and NATO, dismissing the range of demilitarization of Ukrainian territory required by the General Staff and the Security Council, and ignoring the terms of regional security proposed by the Russian Foreign Ministry in the draft treaties presented to the US and NATO in December 2021.
​ The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has confirmed Medinsky’s status in preparing for Istanbul-II. Medinsky “has conducted negotiations, so, of course, the entire array of developments is supervised by him,” Peskov said.​..
..Medinsky’s version of the end-of-war terms is flatly opposed by the General Staff. In the Security Council their case is argued by Deputy Chairman Medvedev. Medinsky’s appearance at the Security Council last week is a sign, Moscow sources believe, of the intensification of the debate between the Army and the President…
​..For the time being, no Russian mainstream media nor alternative press have reported Medinsky’s reemergence as Putin’s personal negotiator of end-of-war terms. ​ The military bloggers Boris Rozhin (Colonal Cassad) and Mikhail Zvinchuk (Rybar) refused to respond to questions about Medinsky’s role. Dmitry Rogozin, currently the senator representing Zaporozhye and a future presidential succession candidate, has not commented publicly on Medinsky as Putin’s spokesman for negotiations.
​ The Communist Party, which fiercely attacked Medinsky’s performance in Istanbul-I, has warned against the prospects for Istanbul-II but party leaders and the party spokesman refuse to answer questions on Medinsky’s current role.​ https://johnhelmer.net/sending-a-boy-to-do-a-mans-job-vladimir-medinsky-to-negotiate-istanbul-ii/#more-90348

​ Zelensky Visibly Agitated As Trump Dominates Meeting, Citing ‘Very Good Relationship’ With Putin
​ Tensions were certainly on display before and during the Trump-Zelensky meeting at Trump Tower in New York. Going into the meeting, both men looked stern-faced, with Trump making a series of casual remarks which appeared aimed at gently belittling the Ukrainian leader and putting him in his place. This comes days after Zelensky went after J.D. Vance, and came close to directly criticizing Trump himself for calling for ceasefire and talks with Moscow.
​ “We have a very good relationship, and I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin. And I think if we win I think we’re going to get it resolved very quickly,” Trump said in comments made before the press going into the meeting. But that caused an agitated Zelensky to poke back:
​ “I hope we have more good relations,” Zelensky cut in.
​ “Oh, I see,” Trump responded. “But it takes two to tango, you know, and I we’re going to have a good meeting today. And I think the fact that we’re even together today is a very good sign.”​ https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-criticizes-zelensky-reveals-private-message-just-friday-meeting

Desperate-Looking Biden Administration Attempt to Get 21-Day Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire​ https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/09/desperate-looking-biden-administration-attempt-to-get-21-day-israel-lebanon-ceasefire.html

​ Again. Sirens Blare Overnight As Yemeni Houthis Target Tel Aviv With Ballistic Missile
Israel’s military has said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen, and explosions were widely heard in the early night hours of Friday (local). “Following the sirens that sounded in central Israel, the surface-to-surface missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted by an ‘Arrow’ interceptor outside of Israeli territory,” the army said in a statement. “There is currently no change to the IDF Defensive guidelines,” it added.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/netanyahu-tells-military-keep-fighting-hezbollah-full-force-rules-out-ceasefire

[John Day]

Zelensky makes urgent in-person plea to Biden and Harris who highlights her contrasting approach to Trump
​ “In candor, I share with you, Mr. President, there are some in my country who would instead force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory, who would demand that Ukraine accept neutrality and would require Ukraine to forego security relationships with other nations,” she said outside her ceremonial office next to the White House. ​“These proposals are the same of those of Putin, and let us be clear, they are not proposals for peace. Instead, they are proposals for surrender, which is dangerous and unacceptable.”​ While Harris did not specify who she was talking about, the implication was clear.​ https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/26/politics/zelensky-biden-harris-washington-visit/index.html

​ Not mentioned: Depth of strikes into Russia which will be carried out by NATO specialists operating these systems. Biden drains remaining Ukraine aid funds
The US president’s authorization from Congress to spend the money expires next week​ https://swentr.site/news/604723-biden-ukraine-aid-drawdown/

​ Biden announces transfer of JSOW guided munitions to Ukraine
US President Joe Biden announced the allocation of $8 billion to support Ukraine. He also said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces would receive another package of military aid. It will include long-range guided aerial bombs JSOW.​
​ The statement said that Ukraine would also receive Patriot air defense systems and ammunition from the United States. The aid package would also include an expansion of the training program for Ukrainian F-16 pilots.
​ Politico wrote that the US is considering transferring JSOW guided munitions to Ukraine for use from F-16 fighters. The range of JSOW is 110 km. Navigation systems and thermal imaging homing heads were used in its creation.​ ​ https://www-kommersant-ru.translate.goog/doc/7183140?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Trump says Ukraine is ‘demolished’ and dismisses its defense against Russia’s invasion​ https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ukraine-putin-zelenskyy-0f4d539aa73a943474d779716e5fe42a

​ Look at Ukraine, please. NATO outlines plans in event of war with Russia
NATO would have to deal with a large number of frontline casualties without the capability to airlift them for treatment in the event of a major war with Russia, the bloc’s logistics chief has said.
​ Lieutenant-General Alexander Sollfrank, the head of NATO’s Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC), outlined the difficulties that troops would face in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday.​ “The challenge will be to swiftly ensure high-quality care for, in the worst case, a great number of wounded,” Sollfrank said.
The environment of a hypothetical conflict with Russia would be completely different from what the US and its allies faced in Afghanistan and Iraq, he added.​ https://swentr.site/news/604713-nato-medical-schengen-russia/

[John Day]

Seeking The Way https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/seeking-the-way

I presume that we are all looking for a way forward as a world, inhabited everywhere by human families, without nuclear World War-3. If I’m wrong, you might still find some interest in this view of the horizon, as events shape the near-future into potential forms. I will focus on the forms which don’t entail vast global destruction over a couple of hours.

Gilbert Doctorow yesterday, Russia’s revised nuclear doctrine per today’s speech by Vladimir Putin
​ A little more than a week ago, just before British Prime Minister Starmer arrived in Washington for what was expected to be an announcement of joint approval of such use of the Storm Shadow, Vladimir Putin told journalist Pavel Zarubîn on the sidelînes of the St Petersburg Cultural Forum that Russia will consider use of British., American or other long range missiles against its territiory as changing the nature of the present proxy war into a direct Russia NATO war and will respond appropriately.
​ That was a vague threat. After all he did not specify what appropriately meant. However it was a sufficient change of tone from Moscow for the Pentagon to have taken note and for the Starmer visit to have been emptied of content: the White House said there was no change in its policy on the prohibition on strikes inside Russia…
..Moscow was proceeding on the assumption that Washington would give Zelensky the permission he seeks in a week or two when the furor died down.
​ Tonight’s Great Game has provided a lengthy video clip from Putin’s new and latest restatement of Russian nuclear doctrine which it explained in the lapidary clear terms of its own expert panelists​.
​ Underlying the new doctrine is a changed understanding of Washington’s nuclear strategy as it has evolved from global strike from the US triad to use of massive combined attack using tactical and strategic aircraft plus medium to long range cruise and hypersonic missiles based in Europe and in the Far East
​ The evolving situation in Ukraine fits into the new US vision of a decapitating strike on Russia that first destroys Russia’s land based nuclear force​.
​ Accordingly Russia now declares that any attack on its territory by a non nuclear state using missiles and other long range weapons such as the F-16 provided by and guided by a nuclear state (meaning the USA, Britain or France) will be considered as a joint attack by the nuclear and non nuclear state and will prompt a Russian nuclear attack on both.
​ Note the timing of the Russian announcement: it comes just before Biden’s meeting in Washington with Zelensky and while the UN General Assembly is in session. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavr​ov is presently in New York and is explaining the new nuclear doctrine to all those interested, of whom there are assuredly a great many world leaders.​ https://gilbertdoctorow.substack.com/p/russias-revised-nuclear-doctrine

​ Scott Ritter clarifies 2024 US doctrine to win against Russia, China and North Korea as pre-emptive decapitation, and explains the new nuclear precision-detonation technology, which optimizes missile-silo-destruction, which makes it feasible. Key term: “Launch on Detect”. Life, Pre-empted
​ Last week we came closer to a nuclear conflict between the US and Russia than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
Today we are even closer.
​ Most scenarios being bandied about in the western mainstream media that involve a nuclear conflict between Russia and the United States have Russia initiating the exchange by using nuclear weapons against Ukraine in response to deteriorating military, economic, and/or political conditions brought on by the US and NATO successfully leveraging Ukraine as a proxy to achieve the strategic defeat of Russia.​ Understand, this is what both Ukraine and the Biden administration mean when they speak of Ukraine “winning the war.”…
..In early 2020 US Strategic Command conducted an exercise where the Secretary of Defense gave the launch instructions for a US Ohio class submarine to launch a Trident missile carrying W-76-2 low yield nuclear warheads against a Russian target in a scenario involving Russian aggression against the Baltics in which Russia used a tactical nuclear weapon to strike a NATO target.
​ The insanity of this scenario is that it ignores published Russian nuclear doctrine, which holds that Russia will respond with the full power of its strategic nuclear arsenal in the case of a nuclear attack against Russian soil.
​ Once again, US nuclear war planners believe that Russia is bluffing.
There is another twist to this discussion.
​ While the US might assess that Russia would not seek a general nuclear war following the use by the US of low yield nuclear warheads, the problem is that the means of employment of the W-76-2 warhead is the Trident submarine launched ballistic missile…
​..The United States has long embraced a nuclear posture which not only incorporates the potential of a nuclear first strike, but, through declaratory policy statements, actively encourages America’s potential nuclear adversaries to believe such an action is, in fact, possible. David J. Trachtenberg, the deputy undersecretary of defense for policy during the Trump administration, said in a speech at the Brookings Institution in 2019 that a key aspect to the US nuclear posture was “keeping adversaries such as Russia and China guessing whether the US would ever employ its nuclear weapons.”
​ But the US takes the guesswork out of the equation. Theodore Postol points out, in a recent article in Responsible Statecraft, that a new fuse used on the W-76 nuclear warhead (not the low yield W-76-2, but rather the 100 kiloton version) has turned the 890 W-76 warheads loaded on the Trident missiles carried onboard the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines into weapons capable of destroying hardened Russian and Chinese missile silos with a single warhead…
..This means that, firing in a reduced trajectory profile from a position close to the shores of either Russia or China, the United States possesses the ability to launch a nuclear first strike that has a good chance of knocking out the entire ground-based component of both the Chinese and Russian strategic nuclear deterrent. As a result, Russia has been compelled to embrace a “launch on detect” nuclear posture where it would employ the totality of its silo-based arsenal the moment it detected any potential first strike by the United States.​ https://www.globalresearch.ca/life-pre-empted-scott-ritter/5868756

​ “NO, NO, No, No, NOOO! I’m NOT LISTENING!” US and EU strongly reject Russia’s ‘nuclear threat’
​The US and EU really did not expect such a move by the Russian Federation and therefore became noticeably tense.
​ US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s words “irresponsible.” According to this “gentleman,” the US needs to declare that such nuclear rhetoric is unacceptable, especially when the UN General Assembly is taking place in New York, where the need for non-proliferation of nuclear weapons is being discussed, among other things.
​ In turn, no less an inveterate Russophobe, the press secretary of the European Commission for Foreign Affairs and policy Security Council Secretary Peter Stano said the EU strongly rejects the “nuclear threat” from Russia.​ https://en.topcor.ru/51942-ssha-i-es-reshitelno-otvergajut-jadernuju-ugrozu-so-storony-rossii.html

​ Kremlin Says Russia’s Nuclear Doctrine Changes Are a Message to the West
“This should be viewed as a certain message,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “This is a message that warns these countries of the consequences should they participate in an attack on our country by various means, not necessarily nuclear.”
​ Putin said the new doctrine will consider an attack on Russia by a non-nuclear state that’s supported by a nuclear-armed power as a joint attack, and it allows the use of nuclear weapons in response to a conventional attack that poses a “critical threat to Russian sovereignty.”​ https://news.antiwar.com/2024/09/26/kremlin-says-russias-nuclear-doctrine-changes-are-a-message-to-the-west/#gsc.tab=0

[John Day]

@tboc: Maybe Trump will tap the secret Alaskan oil. He can make hydrocarbons cheaper, and it will do some of what he says, and he can route them to US industry instead of exporting so much.

[John Day]

Suge Knight Claims Diddy Holds ‘Blackmail Material’ on Barack Obama https://thepeoplesvoice.tv/suge-knight-claims-diddy-holds-blackmail-material-on-barack-obama/

[John Day]

@jb-hb: Doc Robinson is right that an old nasal spray flu vaccine, removed from the market for not working, has been re-released for at-home use, direct to the consumer.
One might administer it similarly to this https://di2ponv0v5otw.cloudfront.net/posts/2021/02/20/6031d80b86dcbbce2138d54a/m_6031d9087f80d21251b6800b.jpeg

[John Day]

@jb-hb: “Any sincerely held belief” is the bar for “religious or conscience objections”.
Shit, I KNOW you can be Sincere!
Talk about people you know who regretted submitting. Tell horror stories.
😉

[John Day]

@Phoenixvoice: Good on ya, Sister. Lycopene from tomato/sauce cooked gently with a bit of olive oil or butter is also good for the prostate. Many men die “with” prostate cancer, not of it…
It tends to be indolent when it presents late in life, and aggressive when it presents young. Cut out sausage, BBQ, bacon and all nitrited-by-fire meats.
Cabbages, kale, collards, Good.
Alcohol Bad.
COVID shots, mentioned-only-to-be-disparaged…

[John Day]

May kill the M.Pox vaccinated AND “people they come in contact with”. BINGO!

​ FDA Approves Vaccine for Mpox — Warns It May Cause Death in Vaccinated and People They Come in Contact With
ACAM2000, a vaccine approved last month by the FDA for mpox, comes with a list of “serious complications,” including myocarditis, death and fetal death. The FDA’s medication guide also warns that people who receive the vaccine may spread it to unvaccinated people, who also risk developing vaccine side effects, including death.​ https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/fda-acam2000-mpox-vaccine-warning-death-unvaccinated/

[John Day]

​Sasha Latypova, Vaccine-induced food allergies: turning [even organic and healthy] food into poison https://sashalatypova.substack.com/p/vaccine-induced-food-allergies-turning

​Which humans, pray-tell? ‘Human Error and Tragic Unfortunate Timing’ Led to Death of 27-Year-Old After AstraZeneca COVID Vaccine
A U.K. independent review found that Jack Last, who died of blood clots three weeks after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, should not have received the shot, the BBC reported today.​ https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/human-error-tragic-unfortunate-timing-death-27-year-old-astrazeneca-covid-vaccine/

​Hey, I thought Target sold the same baby food as everybody else… 21 Pesticides Found in Baby Food Sold by Target
Lab tests of two items — the non-organic apple and the pear fruit purees for babies — revealed the presence of 21 pesticides, including 12 classified as highly hazardous to human health or the environment.​ https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/21-pesticides-baby-food-sold-by-target/

​ “Sodium silico-aluminate” makes salt pour easier. Kids Increase Their Aluminum Intake When They Eat McDonald’s Salt
McDonald’s salt packets don’t just contain salt — they also contain sugar and “sodium silicoaluminate,” an anticaking agent that according to an aluminum toxicity expert, kids shouldn’t eat.​ https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/mcdonalds-salt-packet-aluminum-toxicity-kids/

​ Bee Pollen Contaminated With 300+ Pesticides
Bee pollen, found to be contaminated with pesticides, heavy metals, metalloids and mycotoxins, is often used as an edible dietary supplement. It is not regulated for pesticide residues.​..
​..Data on pesticide residues in honey are numerous, with one study from 2020 reporting:
“The results showed that 92 pesticide residues were found in honey samples from 27 countries. Six residues belong to class IA toxicity [of highly acute toxicity and severely irritating], eight residues belong to class IB toxicity, 42 residues belong to class II, 35 residues belong to class III and one residue belong to class IV toxicity.”​ https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/bee-pollen-contaminated-300-pesticides/

[John Day]

China Goes “All Out”As Xi Vows Fiscal Stimulus To Save Private Economy, Stabilize Real Estate And Boost Stock Markets​ https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/china-goes-all-outas-xi-vows-save-private-economy-stabilitze-real-estate-and-boost-stock

​ Whew! More loose money! Global Markets Soar, Gold Hits Record After China Vows Fiscal Policy Bonanza
​ Global stocks are soaring after China pledged fiscal stimulus even as traders raised their bets on interest-rate cuts by major central banks (the two are contradictory but who cares). Futures on the S&P 500 climbed 0.8% as US-listed China stocks soared. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/global-markets-soar-gold-hits-record-after-china-vows-fiscal-policy-bonanza-micron-surges

​Gold is at $2,666 per oz. as I look this morning. “This is fine…” https://www.kitco.com/charts/gold

​Meryl Nass MD, The Pact for the Future: unsurprisingly, a watered down version was adopted “by consensus” yesterday
So, they added a lot of useless verbiage to confuse the unwary. But in the end, the S-G is only asked to use whatever powers he already has, and he is not allowed to make decisions on his own, superceding the member states, as had been planned. No more “flexible approaches” and “automatic operationalizing” of responses by the UN or its Secretary-General. Gutteres is probably breathing a sign of relief. Had he gotten those powers, and then used them according to his masters’ desires, he would have been the most hated man on the planet. We would no longer have to worry about TDS because GDS would have trumped it…
..Bottom line, the rulers of the universe have not corralled all the nations. Russia’s amendment was important to demonstrate that. But the rulers show no signs of pulling back. The simmering war against the world continues…. And another bullet was dodged.​ https://merylnass.substack.com/p/the-pact-for-the-future-unsurprisingly

​ Update on Alexis Lorenze, 23-Year-Old Severely Injured After Hospital Forced Her to Get 3 Vaccines
“First of all, I don’t want this to be hidden from the world,” Alexis Lorenze, who is currently hospitalized in California with a severe reaction to multiple vaccines, told CHD.TV in an interview on Monday. “And second of all, I don’t want this to ever happen to anyone else ever again.”
​ For over a week, the 23-year-old has been suffering serious and possibly life-threatening side effects — including temporary blindness, swelling, bruising and sores over her entire body, and severe chest pain — after a hospital required her to receive three vaccines before giving her a blood transfusion to treat paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH).​..
..The Vaccine Safety Research Foundation sent an advocate, Angela Wulbrecht, a registered nurse, to help Alexis and her family negotiate the medical system…​ Wulbrecht said they are frustrated with some of the doctors who won’t concede that Alexis’ condition— which began 10 minutes post-vaccination — is a result of the vaccines, and instead blame her condition solely on the PNH.
​ It is frustrating, she said, because as Alexis’ story has circulated, doctors from “all over the world” have confirmed that “giving somebody who’s this immunocompromised, her condition was not stable at the time to do this to her was too much for her immune system.”
​ Several doctors told The Daily Mail that a patient with a serious autoimmune condition shouldn’t be given multiple vaccines at once, because it could lead to complications that a healthy person would not likely experience.
​ “It really hurts my heart,” Wulbrecht said, “because when you walk through this hospital everywhere, there are signs that say ‘discover, teach, and heal.’ That’s their motto. And they are not discovering, they’re not teaching.”​ She said they should be trying to figure out what happened.​ https://www.globalresearch.ca/alexis-lorenze-23-year-old-severely-injured-hospital-forced-3-vaccines/5868677

[John Day]

​ RFK Jr. Asks Supreme Court To Reinstate On NY Ballot For ‘Contingent Election’ Scenario
​ Kennedy, an independent, suspended his campaign for president on Aug. 23. And while he’s tried to have his name removed from swing state ballots since then, he has left his name on the ballot in other states due to a longshot scenario known as a contingent election that would put the presidency in the hands of the US House of Representatives in the event of an electoral college deadlock.
​ “If you do vote for me, and neither of the candidates wins 270 electoral votes, which is quite possible—in fact, today our polling shows them tying at 269-269—I could conceivably still end up in the White House in a contingent election,” Kennedy previously said.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/rfk-jr-asks-supreme-court-reinstate-ny-ballot-contingent-election-scenario

Former CDC Director Robert Redfield Praises “Make America Healthy Again”​ https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/former-cdc-director-robert-redfield-praises-make-america-healthy-again

​ It’s not just Springfield, Haitians being flown to small towns nationwide
Since fiscal 2021 through August, the majority have been apprehended at the southwest border of nearly 262,000, followed by nearly 221,000 nationwide and nearly 2,300 at the northern border, according to the data.​ https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/its-not-just-springfield-haitians-being-flown-small-towns-nationwide

​Destroying wages serves who? Union Makes Shock Claim: Colorado Meat Factory Involved In “Mgmt-Led Human Trafficking” Of Haitians https://www.zerohedge.com/political/union-makes-shock-claim-colorado-meat-factory-involved-mgmt-led-human-trafficking

Well, China will buy any sub-market-price “sanctioned” oil and ignore the sanctions, so Iranian and Venezuelan, too. “We” sure are hitting China and Russia hard. Go Team!
Import Record: China Refuses to Buy Any Oil Except Russian in August https://en.topcor.ru/51830-rekord-importa-kitaj-v-avguste-otkazalsja-ot-zakupok-ljuboj-nefti-krome-rossijskoj.html

[John Day]

​ Zelensky’s Plan is About Dragging NATO Directly Into War With Russia – US Military Veteran
​ “[Volodymyr Zelensky] wants to get people to support his ‘victory plan’, which really is not a victory plan,” Earl Rasmussen, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel and international consultant, tells Sputnik, commenting on Zelensky’s trip to the US.
​ The Ukrainian politician is pushing ahead with the idea of striking deep inside Russia with NATO long-range missiles, something that Western leaders have so far had cold feet about.​ “Let’s face it, when he goes deep into Russia, those weapons systems basically need intelligence from the United States – NATO and specifically the US,” Rasmussen says. “The intelligence information provided, the targeting, the programing, all is not done by Ukrainians. So basically the West becomes a full participant in the conflict then, which would basically then open up the avenue for escalation.”​…
​..Rasmussen notes that neocons have been rolling out their Ukraine strategy for quite a while, seeking to install a military base in Crimea, maintaining secret bio-labs in Ukraine, and undermining any peace effort Russia has pursued over the past decade.
​ What’s more, the proposal is absolutely unrealistic, being a one-sided attempt to coerce Russia into surrendering under Ukraine and the West’s conditions, the pundit continues.​ “They’re basically trying to dictate to Russia the terms of whatever agreement there is. And that’s unrealistic. It’s a non-nonstarter. It’s not real negotiations. It’s not a proposal for real peace. It just stretches the conflict on,” he concludes. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240925/zelenskys-plan-is-about-dragging-nato-directly-into-war-with-russia–us-military-veteran-1120288359.html

Ukraine’s backers want talks with Putin – Bloomberg
​ At least one Western nation backing Ukraine is calling for diplomatic engagement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing multiple sources. According to the outlet, some officials are skeptical of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s ‘victory plan’ to end the conflict.
​ The possible talks with Moscow could happen before the G20 leaders’ meeting in Brazil in mid-November, and would be conducted either by Zelensky or other parties, the report said.
​ Zelensky is currently visiting the US, where he is pitching his purported roadmap to resolve the conflict, long-dismissed by Moscow as unrealistic, now re-branded as a ‘victory plan.’ …​ Kiev has ruled out negotiations with Russia and has rejected any possibility of compromise. Ukrainian officials have suggested that by escalating the conflict, they could force Moscow into agreeing peace on Kiev’s terms. Andrey Yermak, Zelensky’s powerful chief of staff, reiterated a call to Western backers on Monday not to be concerned about possible blowback from the strategy.
​ Among other things, the Ukrainian government wants permission to use donated Western weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia. Putin has warned that Moscow will view any such step as a direct act of war by NATO and will respond accordingly.
​ Ukraine also wants NATO-type security guarantees and a shorter accession path into the US-led military bloc, as well as long-term financial support that future administrations in Washington would not be able to revoke, according to reports.​ https://swentr.site/news/604632-zelensky-wish-list-bloomberg/

​ A 64 year old American Indian with bipolar manic psychotic symptoms… Where are the real assassins?
Warren Jones Crazybull of Idaho allegedly made at least nine threatening phone calls to Trump’s Palm Beach residence at Mar-A-Lago with a promise to kill him “personally.”​ Federal authorities arrested Crazybull on August 1…​
..“Find Trump … I am coming down to Bedminster tomorrow. I am going to take him down personally and kill him,” said Crazybull in one call, in reference to Trump’s club in New Jersey. Mar-a-Lago security personnel informed the Secret Service that eight follow-up calls with similar threats against Trump came from the same phone number after the first call, according to court filings. Crazybull allegedly made similar “concerning” threats on Facebook using one of several fake aliases. “I start driving to the home of this multi person rapist PIG TRUMP to take him down single combat,” said Crazybull in a July 31 post, while another read, “I’m coming for you Trump.”​…
​..Federal authorities were then able to use location data from Crazybull’s T-Mobile device to determine his location and take him into custody in Montana, according to the court filing. According to court records, a Secret Service agent who interrogated Crazybull described him as having “racing” thought patterns and seemed “confused” and “paranoid.” Crazybull, who is presumably of Native American descent, told authorities that he had threatened to kill Trump because of “broken treaties that resulted in the loss of his land.”​ https://pjmedia.com/bryan-s-jung/2024/09/25/another-man-charged-for-threatening-to-kill-trump-n4932727#google_vignette

​ Bombshell transcripts: Trump urged use of troops to protect Capitol on Jan. 6 , but was rebuffed
Key lawmaker says interviews prove Pentagon wrongly allowed optics to overwhelm security concerns in lead-up to fateful day. The Pentagon’s top brass did not comply with Trump’s orders because of political concerns and “optics.”​ https://justthenews.com/accountability/watchdogs/bombshell-transcripts-trump-urged-use-troops-protect-capitol-jan-6-was

​ What will he b​e able to present in testimony? Assange to Testify at Council of Europe
​ WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, who was released from prison in June, will address the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France on Oct. 1 after he was granted Status as a Political Prisoner by a rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), WikiLeaks said today. It will be the first time Assange will speak in public since his hearing in U.S. federal court on the North Mariana islands in June, at which he was granted his release after a plea deal. Assange will give evidence before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).​..
​..It follows the PACE inquiry report into Assange’s case, written by Rapporteur Thórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir.“The report focuses on the implications of his detention and its broader effects on human rights, in particular freedom of journalism,” WikiLeaks said in a press release published on X. “The report confirms that Assange qualifies as a political prisoner and calls on the UK [to] conduct an independent review into whether he was exposed to inhuman or degrading treatment.”​… ..Assange is “still in recovery following his release from prison,” it said. He will travel to France because of “the exceptional nature of the invitation and to embrace the support received from PACE and its delegates over the past years”​. While he was in prison PACE advocated “repeatedly” for his release, WikiLeaks said.​ The hearing at which he will speak will also consider the findings that Assange’s imprisonment was “politically motivated,” it said.​.. ..It urged the US, a Council of Europe observer state, to “urgently reform” the 1917 Espionage Act to exclude its application to publishers, journalists and whistleblowers who disclose classified information with the intent to raise public awareness about serious crimes.” https://consortiumnews.com/2024/09/24/assange-to-testify-at-council-of-europe/

[John Day]

​ Israel Deliberately Blocked Humanitarian Aid to Gaza, Two Government Bodies Concluded. Antony Blinken Rejected Them.​ by Brett Murphy
Blinken told Congress, “We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting” aid, even though the U.S. Agency for International Development and others had determined that Israel had broken the law.​ https://www.propublica.org/article/gaza-palestine-israel-blocked-humanitarian-aid-blinken

​ How Political Corruption Allows Antony Blinken To Break The Law​, Moon of Alabama
ProPublica​ headlines: Israel Deliberately Blocked Humanitarian Aid to Gaza, Two Government Bodies Concluded. Antony Blinken Rejected Them.
​ The selected formulation is unfortunately not covering the real issue at hand.
U.S. law prohibits military aid to countries which are hindering U.S. humanitarian aid.
​ Two government entities subordinated to the State Department concluded, in writing, that Israel was blocking their humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.
The Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, reported to Congress the opposite conclusion because he intended to deliver more military aid to Gaza.
​ By misleading Congress on humanitarian aid to Gaza Blinken deliberated broke the law.
That should have been the headline:​ https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/09/how-political-corruption-allows-anothny-blinken-to-break-the-law.html

​It took (Russian) Sputnik 4-5 days to finally run this story. Confirmation of sorts? Ex-CIA Analyst Says Pentagon Trying to Take Control of Ukraine Policy From Blinken https://sputnikglobe.com/20240925/ex-cia-analyst-says-pentagon-trying-to-take-control-of-ukraine-policy-from-blinken-1120280490.html

More pink-lines become red. Putin orders changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine. The president has suggested several new criteria that would merit a nuclear response. https://swentr.site/russia/604681-russia-putin-nuclear-response/

Paul Craig Roberts, This Week the Most Momentous Decision of Our Time Will Be Made
​ With the US government–State Department, Treasury, Homeland Security, and Justice (sic)–in the hands of Zionist Jews, only the Pentagon speaks for Americans. So far the Pentagon has refused to approve the firing of missiles into Russia.
​ Zelensky whose “democratic” credentials are shattered by him continuing in office without reelection after his term has expired, is coming to Washington this week to plead with the White House for missile strikes into Russia.​ Will the Pentagon be present at the meeting? If so, has the officer ranks been so purged and depleted by wokeism that it cannot take a firm stand?
​ Putin has stated that missiles fired into Russia means the US and Europe are at war with Russia.
​ Are Americans aware that this momentous decision is being made this week, and if not, then the following week? The British Prime Minister has already agreed. The sole holdout is the Pentagon.​..
​..We could simultaneously be presented with the outbreak of war in the Middle East. Israel, having eliminated many of the leaders of Hezbollah, is intensifying its strikes on Lebanon, which is more or less under Iran’s protection. According to reports, the US 101st Airborne Division has been deployed to Israel. If the reports are correct, it appears that the US is prepared to enter the war on Israel’s side. Putin has indicated that Iran is under Russia’s protection.​ We are very close to nuclear Armageddon. https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2024/09/25/this-week-the-most-momentous-decision-of-our-time-will-be-made/

[John Day]

​ Israel destroys 80 buildings in West Ban​k​, Palestinian authorities report that over the past month, the Israeli military has demolished a total of 78 structures across Bethlehem, Jenin, Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah, Tubas, Tulkarm, and Hebron​ https://tass.com/world/1846823

​ Not everybody can be “Hitler”, but Bibi can: Netanyahu must be stopped ‘just like Hitler’ – Erdogan
​ Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged the international community to take action against Benjamin Netanyahu’s “murder network,” once again likening the Israeli prime minister to Adolf Hitler. In his address to the 79th UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Erdogan condemned the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza, describing the Palestinian enclave as a “concentration camp.” “Just as Hitler was stopped by the alliance of humanity 70 years ago, Netanyahu and his murder network must be stopped by the alliance of humanity,” Erdogan said. He accused Netanyahu of trying to “drag the entire region into war for the sake of his political fortunes.”​ https://swentr.site/news/604619-netanyahu-stopped-hitler-erdogan/

Russia Issues Rare Blanket Condemnation Of Israeli Offensive In Lebanon​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-issues-rare-blanket-condemnation-israeli-offensive-lebanon

​ Israeli Missiles Intercepted Over Syrian Port City Which Hosts Russian Navy
​The Syrian Army has told Reuters that Israeli missiles have targeted the Syrian port city of Tartous shortly before midnight Tuesday evening (local time).
​ Syria’s air defenses reportedly intercepted the inbound missiles, with Al Mayadeen saying that at least two Israeli missiles were observed inbound. There are currently widespread reports of multiple explosions.
​ Tartous is Syria’s second largest coastal city. It lies just to the north of Lebanon, and Israeli attacks on it are very rare. Instead, most assaults have focused on Damascus and its environs over the past several years.​..
​..Russian bases and assets are positioned in Tartous and nearby along the coast, a reality which has also ensured that Israeli strikes there remain relatively rare. The Russian Navy’s only deep water Mediterranean port is located in Tartous.​..
..So far, the Assad government has remained uncharacteristically quiet regarding what’s happening in Lebanon, even as some pro-Hezbollah Lebanese have questioned why Damascus hasn’t come to Hezbollah’s direct aid.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israeli-missiles-intercepted-over-syrian-port-city-which-hosts-russian-navy

[John Day]

​ Netanyahu Vows Attacks On Lebanon Won’t Stop As Hezbollah Escalates With Deepest Strike Inside Israel
​ Sky News and others are reporting that for the first time of the conflict, Hezbollah has launched a drone attack on a navy base which lies south of Haifa. The Atlit navy base which was targeted lies 80 kilometers from the Lebanese border. This is an attack significantly deep into Israel and reveals an extended range of Hezbollah missiles. Likely as things slide further, and with Israel keeping up its intense airstrikes on Lebanon, Hezbollah missiles will begin reaching further and further.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/white-house-urges-all-americans-flee-lebanon-3rd-israeli-strike-rocks-beirut

​ Lebanon Health Minister: ‘Majority, If Not All’ of 558 Killed by Israel Were Civilians
Experts say the scale of the Israeli bombardment in Lebanon on Monday is unprecedented in 21st-century conflicts​ https://news.antiwar.com/2024/09/24/lebanon-health-minister-majority-if-not-all-of-558-killed-by-israel-were-civilians/#gsc.tab=0

​ Destroying all the water and sewer pipes of the ​Palestinian cities:​ Jenin under attack: Israel bulldozers ‘plough’ streets and destroy infrastructure​
Roads have been left in rubble, water and electricity destroyed, in addition to 10 Palestinians killed in the biggest raid in decades​ ​ https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-jenin-raid-vandalism-infrastructure-ruined-streets-uprooted

​ Resistance News​. The Exhilaration of First Strikes: In Lebanon, Israel Repeats the Mistakes of 2006
​ For several weeks now, Netanyahu and numerous political and military leaders have recognized that the war in Gaza has reached a stalemate. There was no possibility of recovering prisoners or effectively eliminating Hamas. Consequently, they added the issue of the north to their list of objectives. There was no longer any operational chance of recovering prisoners or effectively eliminating Hamas. It became necessary to revise the “list of objectives” by introducing the northern front into the equation. ​ Netanyahu chose a moment when no opposition could emerge, either within the government or beyond. Even those who opposed his policy regarding Gaza accused him of weakness in the face of Hezbollah, which facilitated his double maneuver: silencing the debate on Gaza and justifying the continuation of the war with the objective of repatriating settlers.
​ For the record, Netanyahu wasn’t attempting to evade an agreement regarding Gaza; rather, he aimed to divert attention from his broader project in the region (we will soon revisit the details of the plans Israel is developing in cooperation with Arab states and Western actors for a lasting occupation of the Gaza Strip, particularly in the area extending from the south of Netzarim to the north). Today, however, he acts as if he possesses sufficient domestic legitimacy to wage war against Lebanon, benefiting from American support and the semi-public backing of his Arab allies, who reproach Israel for its past failures to eliminate Hezbollah.
​ When Netanyahu decided to alter the rules of engagement in the north, he brought nothing new to the table. He merely followed the same principle he had adopted in Gaza, believing that military pressure alone would suffice to make the adversary retreat.​ https://resistancenews.org/2024/09/24/the-exhilaration-of-first-strikes-in-lebanon-israel-repeats-the-mistakes-of-2006/

​Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism: Fog of (Dis)Information in Escalating Israel-Lebanon Conflict
Israel’s exploding pager/walkie-talkie attacks, followed by air strikes on a Hezbollah command post and then broadly across Lebanon are a gambit to try to get Lebanon to respond in a manner that would get the US to come in more formally on Israel’s side as the Axis of Resistance is inflicting costs on Israel over its Gaza genocide…
..This tech-bombing was even worse than you imagined. The military wing of Hezbollah does not use pager or walkie talkies. They’ve used their own fiber optic network since 2006, and otherwise rely on couriers. These devices were in the hands of civilian Hezbollah workers, such as members of its large social services effort. Yes, military members may have been hurt too, but that was dumb luck, like being in proximity to blown-up pager-user or picking up a ringing device on behalf of someone else.
​ Needless to say, this also means that the device attacks were pure terrorism, with no remotely colorable military purpose whatsoever. Remember, the press has brayed that Israel has been working on this caper for 15 years. But Hezbollah moved its military comms to fiber optic before that. And Israel surely knew that. So that means this entire enterprise was from its outset a terrorist scheme and never a military operation​…
..If Israel’s efforts to subdue the Axis of Resistance fall short, which seems likely, the campaign to get the US committed to the conflict will only intensify. Mind you, in reality, it’s not as if we could do all that much even if we wanted to, ex possibly commit more air power. As Associated Press pointed out yesterday, the US has only 40,000 men in the entire theater. They presumably already have things to do. It takes 6+ months to move more men and the needed logistical support in were we to deploy more than say some Special Forces types. And the US is low on materiel world-wide, thanks to having drained our stockpiles to back Ukraine. For instance, one thing the US is short on globally is Patriot air defense missiles, and at least as of now, we are prioritizing Ukraine…
..Yours truly in now finding it necessary to listen to Alastair Crooke’s Monday morning talks on Judge Napolitano to sanity check Israeli claims…
..The claim was that Israel had sent in 100 planes and destroyed Hezbollah rocket launchers right before a planned Hezbollah attack, defanging it…
​..This is what Crooke reported:
​..”But contrary to what the Israeli propagandists at the IDF are saying, and I know this not from Hezbollah but I know this from inside Lebanon, people who are on the ground there, it was chaotic twenty minutes. Israel just bombed various valleys where they imagined the ballistic missiles were. But they’d been cleared out of there some time ago. There were no ballistic missiles. You can check that, there are people on the ground who know what’s happened. There are no missiles. So when they said they destroyed thousands of missile launchers, this is a complete lie. Because first of all, there are no missiles, no ballistic missiles, no large missiles south of the Litani River. What you have is drones and small rockets. And none of these have launchers. And they destroyed none of them. It was just a show, a show of force and it only lasted about twenty minutes…
..However, it finally came out that Hezbollah was successful in striking a building in the military airport near Tel Avis that housed Unit 8200, which is akin to our NSA. Hezbollah believed Unit 8200 planned the killing of Fuad Shukr. “Successful” as in some Unit 8200 members died​”…
​..YS: So again in a close parallel to Ukraine, the real reason for this attack appears to be to try to break the will of the long-suffering Lebanese people and turn them against Hezbollah, just as some collective Ukraine officials fantasize that if they cause enough pain to Russian civilians, they will turn on Putin. At least so far, Lebanese citizens instead appear to be pulling together. Journalist Laith Marouf, now in Beirut, told Rachel Blevins that thousands of citizens came to hospitals offering to donate one of their eyes to a victim of the cyber attack (starting at 9:20). Even though that’s beyond current medical technology, it’s an indication of the depth of public support. Marouf also contends that the Lebanese know what they are up against, that wars of decolonization take years.
​ A second leg of the attack, coming shortly after the device carnage, was an assassination attempt via precision air strike in Beirut against Hezbollah paramilitary leader Ali Karaki, reportedly one of the top three on Israel’s kill list. The press cheered his death. That turns out to have been premature. From Military Watch:
​ A senior commander for the Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah, Ali Karaki, has survived an Israeli assassination attempt, after a precision strike on a military headquarters in the capital Beirut was launched to eliminate him…
​..Now to the next Israel move, widespread air strikes that extended into Syria. The claim was that they were targeting rocket launchers, So far, they have killed nearly 500. But as for the rockets, we again turn to Alastair Crooke, here on Judge Napolitano.
“But for the moment, they have bet on escalation dominance, “escalating to de-escalate,” first the pagers, then the assassination on its heels, and then they’re banking on intelligence and firepower to push Hezbollah into an agreement. But first of all, there was no agreement. Amos Hochstein was in Lebanon but he was acting more for the Israelis and for the Americans, but it was a complete failure, the attempt for some sort of diplomatic route. I mean there isn’t one.​.. So this is really what they are betting on is they can either push Hezbollah in. And to this extent, we’re seeing this massive air attacks taking place in the south and in the Bekka, that you just spoke about. But really what we’re talking about is ineffectiveness of air firepower in these circumstances, when put against deep, deep buried rockets and missiles.​..
​..They are heavily bombing the area, and although it’s being presented as being by intelligence as if they’re knocking out rocket launchers, that too is pretty much bunk. Because they too basically try and find launchers by combing the forest, because this is mountain area, forest area. Very difficult terrain. Deep valleys, little nooks and crannies. So they film all of this, looking for movements, and then they use artificial intelligence detection methodology to try to find where someone has moved. It’s not done by spies or intelligence per se. It is done by using AI, again, to spot some sort of movement. And Hezbollah for years, since 2006, have been adept at putting up ghosts and fake missile launchers, fake men, moving them around, fooling the Israelis who are basically bombing every spot in the forest, hills and valleys where it thinks possibly going to be a rocket launcher.​”…
..Crooke turned to the Hezbollah response, which is to increase the range of territory in Israel that they consider to be fair game for attack. At 14:20:
​ “Hezbollah has escalated too, just to be clear. Because one of the things they are facing again is ​Israel has put another big blackout notice on everything, no filming, no photos, no reporting at all from anywhere north of Haifa, which is in the center, right on the coast of Israel. No news is allowed to be presented. But you do get some because there are Israelis in the settlements that are sending videos. The point here is there is major destruction in Haifa, a major port. Hezbollah’s reported an attack on an airbase, there are attacks going on, there are rocket continuing. So with all this bombing, all this so-called carpet bombing, it’s actually quite ineffective. It’s not stopping Hezbollah.”​…
​..Dmitry Liscaris claims in this interview (at 15:13) that Hezbollah attacks took out one of Israel’s three airbases, the Ramat David airbase in the Golan Heights, and a major arms making plant, Rafael Military Industries complex, which makes air defense equipment, as well as hitting targets near Tel Aviv. He also said waves of drones were coming from Iraq.​ https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/09/fog-of-disinformation-in-escalating-israel-lebanon-conflict.html

[John Day]

Dancing With Murderers https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/dancing-with-murderers

Simplicius, PR Tour Sours as Ukraine’s Lackluster ‘Victory Plan’ Met with Doubts
Israel continues to pummel Lebanon, proving itself to be the only country in the world that can literally bomb and invade all of its neighbors at will without serious international consequences.

..Iran (is) not … keen to shift its weight entirely to the Israeli situation, which plays again into the ‘long game’ I mentioned.
However, that’s not to say Iran has “abandoned Russia” or back-stabbed it. Most likely these are just signals Iran is sending to convey that it is ready to ease tensions with the US. One gets the feeling that the US and Iran have a mutual understanding behind Israel’s back that Israel wants to pull them both into an undesirable war against each other.
For instance, Shoigu just left Iran recently, where he met with the president himself and signed a major deal. The latest is likely Iran’s need to appear ‘consistent’ in its call for peace—after all, one cannot with a straight face call for peace in Palestine-Lebanon while ostensibly supporting the Ukraine war…
..Reuters now reports that Iran has brokered secret talks between Russia and the Houthis, to transfer anti-ship missiles, which allegedly could include the P-800, or Yakhont export version… This of course would be a nightmare for the US…
..Israel has threatened that if the current track does not return fleeing Israelis back to the north, then a ground operation in Lebanon will be considered. This confirms what we wrote last time: that the surface-level justification behind the ongoing strikes is to keep Israel’s economy from collapsing due to the uprooting of workers from the agriculturally-important northern regions.
By the way, while sending troops to the region, the aging US fleet highlighted a major problem when its only Navy oiler in the region was knocked out of commission…
..On the Ukraine front, Zelensky has begun his grand tour by speaking at the UN and presenting his long-awaited [war is] peace plan. Unfortunately, it fell on dubious ears as allies emerged quite skeptical and underwhelmed… It didn’t help that his messaging was totally confused, with Zelensky repeatedly calling for more “war” in order to create “peace”, as per usual NATO doublespeak.
His grand “peace plan” was described by allies as merely a “wishlist”, with nothing ground-breaking presented. That’s not to mention the wishes themselves are all unrealistic. Increasingly, Zelensky appears convinced the end is near for him. Almost everything out of his mouth has switched gears to the war coming to an end…
..The front is going catastrophically, with major Russian advances continuing day by day. Ugledar is now close to falling and the latest ‘rumor’ is that Zelensky has instructed his commanders to postpone its capture by Russians at any cost at least until the end of the UN dog-and-pony show. Zelensky merely requires that he not be ‘humiliated’ with the fall of such a key city during his big public PR tour, as it would lend itself toward deflating any last remaining hopes for the AFU’s prospects.
Unfortunately, that postponement is costing lives…
..Zelensky was hoping to create a kind of peer pressure campaign to merely browbeat Russia into acceding to talks. But both Lavrov and Peskov again released new statements reaffirming that Russia has nothing to talk about with Ukraine, and that all Russia’s goals will be achieved in the SMO. Whether Ukraine surrenders and accedes to Russia’s demands, or whether Russia takes those demands by continued military force, either way the objectives will be met. https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-92424-pr-tour-sours-as-ukraines

​ MK Bhadrakumar, Zelensky’s Victory Plan is his survival kit
​..President Trump was unwilling or unable to stand up to the CIA, but as Biden entered the Oval Office, the floodgates were opened. Times said,
​ “The head of Russia House, the C.I.A. department overseeing operations against Russia, organised a secret meeting at The Hague. There, representatives from the C.I.A., Britain’s MI6, the HUR, the Dutch service (a critical intelligence ally) and other agencies agreed to start pooling together more of their intelligence on Russia. The result was a secret coalition against Russia — and the Ukrainians were vital members of it.”
​ This also predates Russia’s special military operations in Ukraine, testifying to Biden’s maniacal obsession to destabilise Russia as an independent world power any whichever way.
​ The US’ proxy war in Ukraine is, in reality, spearheaded by the CIA, while the Pentagon and the State Department play subaltern roles. It is for future historians to investigate the raison d’être of Biden’s curious, unconventional choice of William Burns, supposedly a career diplomat, as his hand-picked head of the CIA in 2020.
​ Burns is an unusual ‘specialist’ on Russia who had a role in the CIA’s war in Chechnya in the early 1990s soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union when he was first posted in the Moscow embassy. (Burns later returned as envoy to Moscow.)
​ Suffice to say, Biden knew precisely what he wanted to get done and he picked the one man whom he could rely on to keep the CIA on leash, au fait with the world of cloak-and-dagger operatives and also a ‘Russia hand’.​..
​..Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson recently gave a preview of the ‘victory plan’ in an article in The Spectator after his most recent visit to Kiev to meet his close friend Zelensky one-on-one.
​ Johnson wrote that Zelensky will propose “a three-fold plan for Ukrainian victory”, the key elements being that the US should​ “allow the Ukrainians the right to use the weapons they already possess”;​ “produce a package of loans [for Kiev] on the scale of Lend-Lease: half a trillion dollars… or even a trillion”; and,​ admit Ukraine forthwith into NATO so that the alliance “could protect most of Ukraine, while simultaneously supporting the Ukrainian right to recapture the rest.”
​ Johnson underscored that extending NATO’S Article 5 security guarantee “to all the Ukrainian territory currently controlled by Ukraine (or at the end of this fighting season), while reaffirming the absolute right of the Ukrainians to the whole of their 1991 nation” will be the “single biggest step​.”​…
​..Zelensky has since confirmed the three key elements that Johnson wrote about.​..
..Western strategy against Russia, as in Vietnam War, is built on quicksands. The point is, Zelensky himself is a dead man walking and must be conscious of it…
​..Zelensky knows that he is a marked man being the genius of the Kursk offensive, and vultures are circling in the skies. Indeed, some of Ukraine’s top army commanders, including the former armed forces commander Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, now ambassador to London, had voiced scepticism when Zelensky first broached the Kursk offensive.​.. Zaluzhny’s objection was that “there was no clear second step after the [Russian] border had been successfully breached by elite Ukrainian units drawn from four brigades. “He never got a clear answer from Zelenskyy,” said one of the officials. “He felt it was a gamble,” he said. Zaluzhny queried: once you have the bridgehead, what then?” ​ https://www.indianpunchline.com/zelenskys-victory-plan-is-his-survival-kit/

​Orders are to “fight to the death”. Ukrainian TG channel: Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen in Donbass began to leave their positions en masse without orders​ https://en.topwar.ru/250781-ukrainskij-tg-kanal-voennosluzhaschie-vsu-na-donbasse-nachali-massovo-pokidat-pozicii-bez-prikaza.html

[John Day]

@tboc: And “Squeeze My Lemon”, too.

@jb-hb: Soldier-on, bruddah.

[John Day]

@Celticbiker: Thanks for the numerology. That 666 sure gets around…

[John Day]

World’s biggest deforestation project gets underway in Papua for sugarcane
Land clearing has begun is what’s being called the biggest deforestation effort in the world, as Indonesia looks to establish 2 million hectares (5 million acres) of sugarcane plantations in the Papua region.
One of the companies involved in the project, whose inaugural seed-planting ceremony was attended by the Indonesian president, has already cleared at least 356 hectares (880 acres) of forest since June.
Satellite imagery analysis shows that 30% of the concessions appear to fall inside a zone that the government previously declared should be protected under a moratorium program.
Indigenous rights advocates have also flagged concerns over the sidelining of Indigenous Papuans by the project, including the imposition of an industrial agricultural model on peoples who have long been hunter-gatherers. https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/worlds-biggest-deforestation-project-gets-underway-in-papua-for-sugarcane/

[John Day]

Pierre Kory MD, Policy Shifts Against The mRNA Platform Rapidly Emerged This Past Week [The pre-conscious fear and dread become conscious for more medical professionals.] Major Covid mRNA policy reversals and awakenings occurred this week within a major U.S health system, a large U.S state, a South American country, and in the UK. The dominoes are starting to fall. https://pierrekorymedicalmusings.com/p/policy-shifts-against-the-mrna-platform

This alternative approach is a big threat to the cancer-care-business-model. Amazon Excommunicates Dr. Paul Marik Banning of “Cancer Care” is an extremely dark moment in the history of censorship.
A few days ago I received the word that Amazon had banned Dr. Paul Marik’s book Cancer Care: The Role of Repurposed Drugs and Metabolic Interventions in Treating Cancer. In Amazon’s words:
Hello,
We are terminating your account effective immediately because we found that you have published titles with misleading content that have the potential to mislead or defraud our customers.
You can see the violations reflected in the following title(s):
58840430 / Cancer Care: The Role of Repurposed Drugs and Metabolic Interventions in Treating Cancer, PRI-4BJKMH3ENCP / Cancer Care: The Role of Repurposed Drugs and Metabolic Interventions in Treating Cancer
As part of the termination process:
• We will close your account
• You’re no longer eligible to receive any outstanding royalties
• You’ll no longer have access to your accounts. This includes, editing your titles, viewing your reports and accessing any other information within your account
• All of your published titles will be removed from sale on Amazon …
Today in the United States, the Democratic Party, and mainstream media, and much of the academic establishment believe in ORTHODOXY, and therefore see no reason why men like Dr. Paul Marik—one of the most published and distinguished critical care doctors in history—should be protected from censorship.
The ultimate victims of this censorship will be people dying of cancer who might have benefitted from the information presented in Dr. Marik’s book. Like the hospital administrators who deprived Dr. Marik’s intensive care patients of his repurposed drug protocol for treating advanced COVID-19—thereby consigning them to death instead of allowing them to have a fighting chance.
https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/amazon-excommunicates-dr-paul-marik

You can download the book for free. I added it to my “wish list” on Amazon. The role of repurposed drugs and metabolic interventions in treating cancer https://covid19criticalcare.com/reviews-and-monographs/cancer-care/

Musk’s X caves in to Brazil, The social media platform was shut down in the country for three weeks for failing to censor accounts spreading “disinformation”
Social media platform X says it is moving to comply with demands issued by Brazil’s Supreme Court in the hope of reversing a nationwide ban ordered by the country’s top judge last month.
For nearly three weeks, X has been inaccessible to Brazilian users. Using a VPN to access the site carries the threat of a fine of almost $9,000. That’s after Justice Alexandre de Moraes banned the platform for failing to censor accounts that “spread disinformation.”
..Under Brazilian law foreign companies are required to have a representative who would assume all of the firm’s local legal responsibilities. X had such a representative until mid-August when it decided to close its offices and fire all its staff in the country. That was after Musk claimed that de Moraes threatened to arrest the company’s legal representative if X did not adhere to court orders.
On Saturday, Brazil’s Supreme Court confirmed X’s moves and gave the company five days to file all the necessary paperwork validating its new legal representative. It also reiterated its orders to block the accounts that had previously been named by a probe into hate speech and misinformation, and to pay fines totalling over $3 million. It’s unclear which accounts have been targeted, as the probe is confidential. https://swentr.site/business/604506-musk-caves-brazil-demands/

Durov Changes Tune While On Bail In France: Telegram To Allow More Data To Governments https://www.zerohedge.com/political/durov-changes-tune-while-bail-france-telegram-allow-more-data-governments

[John Day]

Professor Ugo Bardi, The Seneca Cliff of Petroleum Production, An old prediction of mine is coming true. From Exxon’s mouth.
I described the plight that the latest Exxon Report would describe seven years later. “Either you give us more money, or we’ll fall down the Seneca Cliff!”
This situation is caused by the basic mechanisms of our economic system: how we exploit resources, trying to obtain the maximum profit from them. When dealing with mineral resources, system dynamics provides good models to describe the economic cycle that ends when the resource is depleted to the point that extraction is no longer profitable…
..The curve can keep growing if the industry can invest truly large resources into new resources, no matter how expensive. It is what happened when the US oil industry invested heavily in “shale oil.” It completely reversed the decline in production that had been ongoing in the US since the local Hubbert peak in 1970.
Exxon’s logic is simple and brutal but correct. If you give us more money, we’ll give you more oil; otherwise, forget it. Yes, but where is this money going to come from? In the basic Hubbert model, it comes wholly from the industry’s profits, but in the real world, money comes from the financial sector, which draws it from all sectors of the economy. The economy is all about allocating resources, and it is a zero-sum game. https://senecaeffect.substack.com/p/the-seneca-cliff-of-petroleum-production

The Honest Sorcerer has this parallel analysis, with this graph, which could be subject to change if large oilfields were drilled and brought on-line, though that would take a dozen years for the Arctic or Antarctic, and would require the absence of WW-3 to be done cooperatively.
2030: Our Runaway Train Falls Off the Seneca Cliff https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/2030-our-runaway-train-falls-off

Shell Abandons Norway’s Hydrogen Projects Due To Lack Of Demand
Shell Plc (NYSE:SHEL) has ditched plans to build a low-carbon hydrogen plant on Norway’s west coast due to a lack of demand, Reuters reported on Monday.
“We haven’t seen the market for blue hydrogen materialize and decided not to progress the project,” a Shell spokesperson has told Reuters.
Shell’s announcement comes hot on the heels of a similar move by oil and gas giant, Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR). Last week, the Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company announced that it will not move forward with plans to build a pipeline to carry hydrogen from Norway to Germany. https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Shell-Abandons-Norways-Hydrogen-Projects-Due-To-Lack-Of-Demand.html

Just the thing to MINE BITCOIN and POWER A.I.: Nuclear Is Back: PA Governor Shapiro Pushes For “Fast Track” Re-Open For Three Mile Island https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/nuclear-back-pa-governor-shapiro-pushes-fast-track-re-open-three-mile-island

[John Day]

Netanyahu Considers Ethnic Cleansing Plan for North Gaza
The plan involves issuing an evacuation Gaza for all areas above the Netzarim Corridor then imposing a starvation blockade https://news.antiwar.com/2024/09/22/netanyahu-considers-ethnic-cleansing-plan-for-north-gaza/

Israel considers plan to impose siege, expel 300,000 Palestinians from northern Gaza
The plan is being promoted by reserve major general Giora Eiland, who has encouraged the spread of disease among civilians in Gaza to help Israel win the war against Hamas https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-considers-plan-to-impose-siege-expel-300000-palestinians-from-northern-gaza

News Blackout: Israel raids and shuts down Al Jazeera’s bureau in Ramallah in the West Bank https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-al-jazeera-gaza-war-hamas-4abdb2969e39e7ad99dfbf9caa7bb32c

Israeli Diaspora Minister Says Lebanon Isn’t a State, Advocates Taking South, US warns regional escalation is not in Israel’s interest
Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli is the latest voicing pro-war rhetoric, declaring overnight in comments on X.com that Lebanon does not, in his opinion, fit the definition of a state, and that this gives Israel every right to invade and seize southern Lebanon.
Chikli said that southern Lebanon is essentially under the control of “a hostile Shi’ite population.” He added that he believes neither Syria nor Iran counts as states, and so don’t merit protection for their status as sovereign nations. https://news.antiwar.com/2024/09/22/israeli-diaspora-minister-says-lebanon-isnt-a-state-advocates-taking-south/

Hezbollah Says It Has Entered a ‘New Phase’ of Fighting With Israel Following Israeli Escalations, US officials told Axios that they support Israel’s strategy
Kassem described the new phase as an “open-ended battle of reckoning” and said Hezbollah attacks on Israel wouldn’t stop until there was a ceasefire in Gaza. “The Israeli settlers will not return to the North before the Israeli enemy accepts a ceasefire in Gaza,” he said…
..US officials support Israel’s strategy of escalation. Israeli officials claim the purpose of the escalation is to de-escalate the situation and not provoke a full-blown war, but there’s no sign Hezbollah will back down.
The Axios report reads: “US officials told Axios they recognize Israel’s rational and agree with it, but stress this is an ‘extremely difficult calibration’ that could easily go out of control and lead to an all-out war.”
The US has also continued to ship weapons to Israel to support the genocidal slaughter in Gaza. https://news.antiwar.com/2024/09/22/hezbollah-says-it-has-entered-a-new-phase-of-fighting-with-israel-following-israeli-escalations/

[John Day]

Simplicius, Israel Putters into Crisis, + Zelensky Arrives at Final Curtain Call
China strongly condemns [presumed Israeli] the indiscriminate pager and walkie-talky attacks and calls for full investigation.
Israeli TV says Lebanese civilians are indistinguishable from “terrorists”.
..But what’s been understated is the true reason for why Israel is suddenly so desperate to expand the war to Lebanon. There are several reasons, of course, with varying importance; and while each play a part, let’s look at the most significant.
1. Firstly, Israel’s economy is in danger of crumbling partly owing to the fact that the productivity of the entire north has been disrupted by ongoing repercussions of the Hezbollah fight. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of settlers have fled, farms have been abandoned, etc. This much Netanyahu has openly stated even yesterday in a new speech—that the north must be ‘secured’ in order to bring people back, otherwise it can turn into an abandoned wasteland as Israelis don’t quite have the same taste for subsisting amid open hostilities as the nearby Arabs whom they’ve subjected to such conditions for years.
This was exacerbated today when Hezbollah unleashed a large attack which pierced the Iron Dome and slammed into several neighborhoods. The damage seemed unclear but houses, cars, etc., appeared on fire from published videos.
We’ll call this reason the most overt and ostensibly ‘official’ one, for the sake of political optics. But there are deeper ones.
2. Another major reason that few have gleaned or spoken of is a broader strategic one. Israel has not only likely deduced its time is running out due to the wane of the US Empire which is its chief sponsor, but more specifically, Israel may be taking advantage of a short window of unprecedented American weakness and absence of leadership.
As most know, there is pretty much no one in the ‘driver’s seat’ of the executive branch at the moment. The entire US government is being run managerially by deep state operatives, members of the cabinet, etc. After Joe Biden was openly couped months ago, he has effectively been placed in a kind of holding cell, where he appears to have been instructed to keep quiet, out of the spotlight, and run out the clock under threat of consequences. The country is now being entirely run by a slew of minions like Jake Sullivan, Antony Blinken, etc…
..Getting back, this is all to say that Israel may see its historic chance to do as much damage and go as ‘off-script’ as possible in light of the leadership crisis suffered by the US. Israel may like its chances in getting away with murder, no pun intended, without much consequences. Even more diabolically, Israel may sense the opportunity in the confusion of US’ disastrously floundering executive branch to pull the US into a wider war with Iran.
In short: it is a strategy of taking advantage of America at its weakest point for maximum gain.
3. The final reasons are fairly academic: Netanyahu’s attempt to save his regime by expanding the conflict indefinitely—not dissimilar from the trap Zelensky is in.
As I said in the opening, however, I remain skeptical about the war breaking out uncontrollably given that the Iranian-Hezbollah side does not seem to have a taste for major conflict at the moment, nor even consensus between the two. After all, Hezbollah has reportedly expressed disappointment and even irritation at Iran earlier for not carrying through with larger action against Israel…
..Zelensky’s “plan”: Apparently the plan hinges on Biden extending a NATO and EU invitation to Zelensky, not to mention commitments for endless arms supplies thereafter. I’ve no idea how that will create peace, but I suppose it would mean a ‘victory’ for Ukraine, were it to actually happen. Unfortunately the chances of Ukraine getting an invitation to either of those are below zero…
..Flummoxed, the West finds itself between pillar and post:
“There are no good choices here — it’s just degrees of bad going forward,” said Samuel Charap, a senior political scientist at Rand, adding that “accepting Russian conditions that are unacceptable” would be a mistake. Instead, he urged “a combination of deterrence and potential negotiations.”
The article finishes on the grand vision of combating Putin, which is in effect, creating a supranational new totalitarian deep state order to rule over the West permanently, in order to Trump-proof and, in general, future-proof the West’s anti-Russian hostility, so no truly democratic force can emend it later on…
..In light of the above article making mention of the ‘overpowering global reach’ of Russian ‘propaganda’, and the concomitant push for global dictatorship to fight against this, it’s now clearer than ever what the controllers intend to do when it comes to “disinformation” policy.
Just today the UN signed the ‘Pact for the Future’, which includes the ‘Digital Compact’ of new vast censorship powers against all dissenting voices…
Russian forces along something like 1000 miles of battlefront keep nibbling away and advancing, and advancing, as raw, Ukrainian conscripts have no will to die under artillery assault and abandon their assigned death-posts. https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/israel-putters-into-crisis-zelensky

This has been nixed by the Pentagon. Will that hold? Ukraine May Get Permission in Private To Fire Storm Shadow Missiles Into Russia
Putin has warned the step would mean NATO is at war with Russia https://news.antiwar.com/2024/09/22/ukraine-may-get-permission-in-private-to-fire-storm-shadow-missiles-into-russia/

Hal Turner has sources, but this needs confirmation: NATO secret operations headquarters destroyed in Kiev https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/news-selections/world-news/nato-secret-operations-headquarters-destroyed-in-kiev

He “should” say that… Israel Denies Connection To Mass Pager Attack In Lebanon
In an interview with Sky News, Israeli President Isaac Herzog denied claims made by Iran and the Hezbollah terrorist group that Israel was behind the widespread attacks carried out via exploding pagers and walkie-talkies that left dozens dead and thousands injured…
..Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said that it had no records of direct exports of Gold Apollo pagers to Lebanon. And a Hungarian government spokesman later added that the pager devices had never been in Hungary, either, noting that BAC had merely acted as an intermediary.
Speculation around the origin of the devices that exploded Wednesday has also emerged. A sales executive at the U.S. subsidiary of Japanese walkie-talkie maker Icom said last week that the exploded radio devices in Lebanon appear to be a knock-off product and not made by Icom.
“I can guarantee you they were not our products,” said Ray Novak, a senior sales manager for Icom’s amateur radio division, in an interview Wednesday at a trade show in Providence, Rhode Island. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-denies-connection-mass-pager-attack-lebanon

This is the case, which I have posted before, in the context of Gaza findings, for a novel and small neutron-bomb type device using deuterium-doped enriched-uranium.
Is ‘Israel’ using small nuclear weapons in Gaza and South Lebanon?
Dr. Christopher Busby is part a mixed crew of investigative reporters and commentators from Lebanon and some film-makers investigating “Israel’s” use of enriched uranium in strikes on Gaza on Lebanon, and aim to follow up on the strange illnesses that are appearing on the battlefield…
..’Israel’ in Gaza: ‘Red Mercury’. Dr. Christopher Busby
In 2021, a scientific report in the prestigious journal Nature confirmed what I had been saying since 2006. “Israel” has, since its attacks on Lebanon in 2006 and those on Gaza in 2008 and 2014, used a new nuclear weapon, one which kills with a high temperature radiation flash and with neutrons. This weapon, which leaves an identification footprint, but no fission products like Caesium-137, we now know was also employed by the USA in Fallujah, Iraq in 2003, and previously in Kosovo also.
The residues, inhalable Uranium aerosol dust, together with the neutron damage to tissues, cause a range of serious and often fatal health effects that puzzle doctors and defy treatment. Without knowing what caused such effects, which often mimic other illnesses or result in fungal infections that kill, doctors are powerless to help and just watch the exposed individuals die. https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/analysis/is–israel–using-small-nuclear-weapons-in-gaza-and-south-le

[John Day]

Default, but how? David Stockman on the Coming US Election and What It Means for America’s Fiscal Future
There is simply not a snowball’s chance in the hot place that either the Trumpified GOP or the beltway blob-controlled Democrats will lift a finger to deflect America’s fiscal doomsday machine from its appointed rendezvous with disaster. https://internationalman.com/articles/david-stockman-on-the-coming-us-election-and-what-it-means-for-americas-fiscal-future/

Thanks Eleni, Eugyppius, Brandenburg Election: The federal government teeters on the edge of collapse, the SPD pull off a pyrrhic victory with the help of confused pensioners, the AfD win another blocking minority
In this, the forces of all that is incapable, inclusive and sexually deviant won a strange half-victory, foisting upon the good (if heavily propagandised) people of Brandenburg a bizarre political constellation, the likes of which we have never seen before. The reigning consensus is coming apart at the seams, and the weirdness is just beginning. https://www.eugyppius.com/p/brandenburg-election-the-federal

Rothschild-Paris banker… French Ruler Calls For A New World Order
French President Emmanuel Macron has called for reform of the current “unjust” world order so that humans can coexist more peacefully in the “New World Order.”
What the ruler didn’t say was that the slaves would still be slaves, and governments would still rule them, it’s only that illusion that is going to go away.
While speaking before the Catholic community of Sant’Egidio, Macron said “We must be imaginative enough to think about the peace of tomorrow, a peace in Europe in a new form.” If the European continent is to become more stable, everyone should acknowledge that it is “neither quite the European Union nor resolutely NATO,” he stated. “We will have to think of a new form of organization for Europe and rethink our relationship with Russia” after the Ukraine conflict is over, the president added. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/frances-macron-calls-end-incomplete-unjust-world-order

Pepe Escobar: Will a BRICS Bretton Woods Take Place in Kazan?
Earlier this month Andrey Mikhailishin, head of the task force on financial services of the BRICS Business Council, detailed the list of top projects under consideration. They include:
A common unit of account – as in The Unit, whose contours were first revealed exclusively by Sputnik.
A platform for multilateral settlements and payments in BRICS digital currencies, connecting the financial markets of BRICS members: that’s BRICS Bridge, which bears similarities with the Bank of International Settlements-linked MBridge, already in effect. That will complement intrabank systems already in action, as in Russia’s SPFS and Iran’s CPAM settling financial transactions – and 60% of their trade – in their own currencies.
A blockchain-based payment system that entirely bypasses the US dollar: BRICS Pay. Arguably 159 participants may be ready to adopt this sanction-evading, similar-to-SWIFT mechanism right away.
A settlement depository (Clear).
An insurance system.
And crucially a BRICS rating agency, independent from the Western giants.
What’s at stake is the extremely complex design of a brand-new financial system – decentralized and using digital technology. BRICS Clear, for instance, will be using blockchain to record securities and exchange them.
As for The Unit, the value of the common unit of account is pegged by 40% to gold and by 60% to a basket of BRICS member’s national currencies. The BRICS Business Council considers The Unit a “convenient and universal” instrument, since a unit can be converted into any national currency.​..
..One of the analysts added a very important, specific point: “By now the situation is pretty clear, to properly address the issue of cross-border payments. The best mechanism should be based on the New Development Bank (NDB), given that Russia has a mandate to propose the new president of that organization. Whoever the candidate will be, cross-border payments should be at the top of his agenda.”
​ The NDB is the BRICS bank, based in Shanghai. The analyst hopes this decision on the future of the NDB will be made before the BRICS summit: “Given the diplomatic and political considerations, the candidate should be made known, formally or informally to the member countries.”…
​..So what may be in the cards is a NDB/IMF reshuffle on the Russian front. The focus should be on the potential for future productive change – rather than missed opportunities; the NDB’s policies so far have not been exactly revolutionary – considering that the bank’s statutes are linked to the US dollar.
​ The new deal could place the NDB as leverage for a reform of the IMF, rather than an alternative to it.
​ The “Kissinger moment” does play a key role in this equation. It will highlight that until the moment turns into reality, the NDB should be the sole actor for effective changes in crucial matters like the stability of the financial infrastructure.
And from that perspective, as one of the analysts note, “The UNIT and all other similar projects may be presented as complementary risk management tools hedging against reckless monetary policies and Global Financial Crisis-2 risks.”​…
​..I posed the same BRICS question to the Russian analysts also to indispensable Prof. Michael Hudson – who actually provided a concise in-depth critique of what may be on the table, while offering a different solution.
​ For Prof. Hudson, “a new institution has to be created – a Central Bank empowered to issue credit to finance the trade and payments deficits of some countries, with an artificial ​Bancor-type SDR [Special Drawing Rights].”
​ Prof. Hudson argues “this would be different (his italics) from a clearing house system for existing banks. It would be a BRICS’ IMF. Its ​Bancors credit or balance sheet would only be for settlements among governments, not a generally traded currency. Indeed, making the ​Bancor widely traded as a speculative vehicle (such as the UNIT is) would introduce major instability and have nothing to do with the needed bank transfer balance sheet.”​ A reformed NDB, possibly next year under a new Russian presidency, should have all it takes to become a “BRICS’ IMF.”
​ Prof. Hudson adds that “to succeed, the Kazan conference should be a full-fledged BRICS Bretton Woods. Maybe it is too soon to actually introduce a fait accompli. Perhaps it would be a venue to throw open a set of alternatives — including what would happen by ‘doing nothing’ and going with the current IMF system. The fact that the IMF just cancelled its trip to analyze the Russian economy may be a catalyst.”​ …
​..Prof. Hudson makes an essential last point on the Global South’s dollar debt: he stresses “how to handle BRICS members existing overhang of dollar debts” is a major problem.
​ What is clear is that “the BRICS bank [the NDB] should not finance deficits by member countries for such payments. In practice, there would have to be a moratorium on such payments – in view of the present weaponization of Western finance.”
​ Prof. Hudson recalls the chapter in his book Super Imperialism “on how the US moved against Britain in 1944 to get an agreement that it then presented as a pro-US fait accompli to Europe.” The book “reviews all the arguments that took place there.”
​ Prof. Hudson wishes he would be part of the new, ongoing process. Imagine if BRICS+ manages to pull it off: getting a Global Majority-approved agreement on a new, equitable, fair financial system then presented to the $35 trillion-indebted superpower as a fait accompli.​ https://sputnikglobe.com/20240923/pepe-escobar-will-a-brics-bretton-woods-take-place-in-kazan-1120257701.html

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