Mar 162024
 


Edward Hopper The Circle Theater, New York 1936

 

Fani Willis Told To Break Up With Nathan Wade Or Trump Case Stalls Out (ZH)
Willis and the Ethical Option (Turley)
Boeing Whistleblower: ‘If Anything Happens to Me, It’s Not Suicide’ (MN)
EU Warns US About What Russian Victory In Ukraine Would Signify (RT)
German Ruling Party’s Top Legislator Calls For End To Ukraine Conflict (RT)
Macron Wants Crimea Seized From Russia (RT)
Western Troops In Ukraine: How A Big Lie Could Lead To The Biggest War (Amar)
The German-American Strategic Depth Clown Show (Pepe Escobar)
German Taurus Attack Plan Was Leaked By The US Air Force (Helmer)
Israeli Portrayal of Arabs Akin To Nazi Portrayal of Russians (Sp.)
Netanyahu Is Criminally Insane! A Serial Killer of Captive Children! (GR)
Israeli Causes ‘Complete Psychological Destruction’ of Gaza Children (CD)
Netanyahu Approves Rafah Operation Plan (RT)
Consequences Minus Truth (Kunstler)
Biden Team Mocked After They Stop Reporters From Communicating With POTUS (Sp.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lara

 

 

Nap Sachs

 

 

Clinton Putin

 

 

RFK Jr

 

 

 

 

Disturbing

 

 

Epidemic of Fraud

 

 

 

 

Wade is gone. But the lies are not. Or the White House.

Fani Willis Told To Break Up With Nathan Wade Or Trump Case Stalls Out (ZH)

Update (1615ET): Hours after the judge in Trump’s Georgia election interference case issued an ultimatum to DA Fani Willis, her (ex) lover Nathan Wade has quit the case. As they say, the show must go on…

* * *
An Atlanta judge, who donated to Fani Willis when she was running for office, ruled on Friday that the highly conflicted Fulton County DA simply has to break up with her lover, Nathan Wade, who she hired to the tune of $600,000 to work on the Trump election interference case. If Willis dumps Wade the case can continue, according to Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton Superior Court, who also had the option of removing Willis over the giant conflict of interest which included lavish vacations with Wade that were effectively at the taxpayer’s expense. According to McAfee, while he found the “appearance of impropriety,” no “disqualification of a constitutional officer necessary when a less drastic and sufficiently remedial option is available,” adding “that the prosecution of this case cannot proceed until the State selects one of two options.” Either “the District Attorney may choose to step aside, along with the whole of her office,” or “Wade can withdraw.”

McAfee also found that there was no “actual conflict” brought about due to the relationship, a finding that would have required him to disqualify Willis. “This finding is by no means an indication that the Court condones this tremendous lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner of the District Attorney’s testimony during the evidentiary hearing. Rather, it is the undersigned’s opinion that Georgia law does not permit the finding of an actual conflict for simply making bad choices — even repeatedly — and it is the trial court’s duty to confine itself to the relevant issues and applicable law properly brought before it.” “Without sufficient evidence that the District Attorney acquired a personal stake in the prosecution, or that her financial arrangements had any impact on the case, the Defendants’ claims of an actual conflict must be denied,” he wrote. “As the case moves forward, reasonable members of the public could easily be left to wonder whether the financial exchanges have continued resulting in some form of benefit to the District Attorney, or even whether the romantic relationship has resumed.”

Willis and Wade – whose divorce from his wife has yet to be finalized, admitted to the affair, but were caught lying about when it started. While the decision is a blow to Trump and his co-defendants, this leaves Willis tainted by weeks of embarrassing hearings and national headlines that could influence the views of a jury. Trump and his co-defendants could also appeal McAfee’s ruling, as could Willis, which would further delay the case into the election – leaving the matter unresolved (and of course, leaving the question of Trump’s guilt an open question that the media would push daily during his 2nd term, should he win in November). McAfee’s decision comes two days after he quashed six charges in the case, three of which directly applied to Trump.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1768662185939448162

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“The defense removed the lead special prosecutor while leaving Willis carrying more baggage than Amtrak..”

Willis and the Ethical Option (Turley)

Many commentators reviewing the decision of Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to disqualify lead Special Counsel Nathan Wade but not Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis as “Solomonic” or “splitting the baby” in the Trump prosecution. Indeed, it was similar in all but one respect. The baby at issue before King Solomon survived. That whole point of the story was not to kill the baby but to see which of the two women loved the baby more. In the story from 1 Kings 3:16–28, two mothers claim the male child who Solomon declares that each can get one half. One mother immediately accepts while the second woman begs him to just give the first woman the child and not to kill him. Solomon immediately gives the second woman the child as clearly the mother who loves the baby. But if either Wade or Willis truly loved “their baby” — the case against Trump — they would have removed themselves weeks ago. Their personal controversies have derailed the case and mired the prosecution in scandal.

Ethically, this should not have been a difficult question. They should have stepped aside. That conclusion is more than evident in Judge McAfee’s decision, which shreds their claims on the stand and outside of the courthouse. The court describes Willis’s controversial speech at a church as “’playing the race card . . . to cast racial aspersions at an indicted Defendant’s decision to file this pretrial motion.” He hammers Willis for her lack of professional judgment and stresses, with perhaps an unintentional pun, that “providing this type of public comment creates dangerous waters for the District Attorney to wade further into.” Judge McAfee also indicates that the testimony of Wade failed to resolve questions of filing false statements to a prior court and that his testimony on when the relationship began stood contradicted. McAfee has done a fair job throughout the case. Moreover, he makes a valid point when he notes that this evidence does not establish a strong basis for claiming that the case was brought or pursued due to this relationship or possible financial gain.

Indeed, the purpose of this case was not personal but political. While the indictments contain some valid criminal charges, they are largely minor offenses like unlawful access to voting areas. The overall racketeering claim used to ensnarl Trump is forced and weak. The problem is that the Court casts doubt on Wade’s testimony on the relationship, but ignores that Willis effectively ratified those claims in her own testimony. Willis and Wade are both prosecuting people for the very same conduct of filing false statements with courts and making false statements. The two lawyers testified in tandem but only one was disqualified. McAfee is no Solomon in this decision. He splits the accused to avoid making the harder decision. If he disqualified Willis, he would have likely have had to disqualify her entire office. That would throw the entire case (and certainly the pre-election schedule) into doubt. So he left her with the choice:

“The prosecution of this case cannot proceed until the State selects one of two options. The District Attorney may choose to step aside, along with the whole of her office, and refer the prosecution to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council for reassignment. Alternatively, SADA Wade can withdraw, allowing the District Attorney, the Defendants, and the public to move forward without his presence or remuneration distracting from and potentially compromising the merits of this case.” He is leaving Wade with no choice at all beyond an appeal. However, Willis will be allowed to place her own interests as the overriding purpose of the prosecution. In some ways, it is a result that should please no one other than Donald Trump. The defense removed the lead special prosecutor while leaving Willis carrying more baggage than Amtrak. It does not, however, serve the interests of justice. Willis will now prosecute defendants for false statements as her own questionable testimony is likely to be investigated by the state and the bar.

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Just yesterday, another panel blew off a plane mid air.

Boeing Whistleblower: ‘If Anything Happens to Me, It’s Not Suicide’ (MN)

The Boeing whistleblower who supposedly killed himself reportedly told a close family friend not to believe it if it was announced he had committed suicide. 62-year-old John Barnett died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Charleston County coroner’s office in South Carolina said earlier this week. Barnett had previously raised concerns about the company’s production issues having worked for the company for 32 years before leaving in 2017. According to his attorneys, Barnett had “exposed very serious safety problems with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and was retaliated against and subjected to a hostile work environment” and was in the middle of a legal deposition against Boeing. “He was in very good spirits and really looking forward to putting this phase of his life behind him and moving on. We didn’t see any indication he would take his own life. No one can believe it,” said the attorneys.

It now turns out Barnett was telling close friends not to believe it if he supposedly committed suicide. After family friend Jennifer asked Barnett if he was concerned for his safety, the former quality manager was emphatic. “Aren’t you scared?” asked Jennifer. “And he said, ‘No, I ain’t scared, but if anything happens to me, it’s not suicide.’” “I know that he did not commit suicide. There’s no way. He loved life too much. He loved his family too much. He loved his brothers too much to put them through what they’re going through right now,” she added. According to the family friend, somebody, presumably representing Boeing, “didn’t like what he had to say” and wanted to “shut him up” without it coming back to anyone. “That’s why they made it look like a suicide,” Jennifer said, who last saw the whistleblower in late February. Barnett’s attorneys said they’re still prepared to go forward with the case in June.

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“For us it is a matter of life and death; for [the US] it’s a matter of improving their tactical position [globally and in Europe]..”

EU Warns US About What Russian Victory In Ukraine Would Signify (RT)

A Ukrainian loss to Russia would hurt Washington’s credibility as a security provider, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell warned during a trip to America. Kiev can’t wait for the presidential election in the US to get more aid, he added. Borrell spoke to the press in Washington on Thursday, after meeting senior US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He said his message was that Ukraine badly needed the additional assistance which was currently blocked in the US House. “The next months will be decisive. Many analysts expect a major Russian offensive this summer and Ukraine cannot wait until the result of the next US elections,” Brussels’ top diplomat said.

A Russian victory in the conflict “will have enormous repercussions for America and for the system of alliances built around the US and Europe,” he added. Should that happen, “no country could be sure anymore” that Washington would “come to help any ally” under attack. Since Ukraine is not a NATO member, the US is not bound by any obligation to defend it. US President Joe Biden has pledged to help it fight Russia for “as long as it takes” to prevail. Last year, Ukrainian forces attempted to launch a major counteroffensive using Western-donated heavy weaponry, but failed to score any significant territorial gains.

Amid Kiev’s battlefield failures, the issue of continued aid has become embroiled in US partisan politics. The Republican-controlled House has blocked Biden’s request for an additional $60 billion in assistance, with speaker Mike Johnson arguing that the White House was unable to present a convincing strategy for achieving victory in Ukraine. Borrell pledged the EU’s continued military support for Kiev, but said the US needed to pull its weight too. Moscow perceives the Ukraine conflict as a US-led proxy war against Russia and has stated that it is risking far more than the West. “For us it is a matter of life and death; for [the US] it’s a matter of improving their tactical position [globally and in Europe],” President Vladimir Putin reiterated in an interview this week.

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“Isn’t it about time we talked not only about how one wages a war, but also thought about how one can freeze and later also end a war.”

German Ruling Party’s Top Legislator Calls For End To Ukraine Conflict (RT)

It is about time Germany shifted its deliberations toward winding down, freezing and ending the Ukraine conflict, the head of the ruling Social Democratic Party in the German parliament has argued. Rolf Mutzenich also defended Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s staunch refusal to provide log-range Taurus missiles to Kiev. Russia has repeatedly stated that it is open to peace negotiations in principle. Earlier this week, President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was “ready for serious negotiations” that would be based on today’s “realities” and include “security guarantees for the Russian Federation.” Speaking in the Bundestag on Thursday after lawmakers voted against arming Ukraine with Taurus rockets, Mutzenich said: “Isn’t it about time we talked not only about how one wages a war, but also thought about how one can freeze and later also end a war.”

He also criticized those in the ruling ‘traffic light’ coalition, which also encompasses the Green and Free Democratic parties, who oppose Chancellor Scholz’s stance on potential Taurus missile deliveries. Mutzenich charged that “all sense of measure is gone within the coalition.” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who called on her government on Monday to “intensively consider” the potential delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, shook her head and was visibly displeased when she heard these statements, local media have reported. The opposition Christian Democratic Party rebuked the head of the SPD bloc in parliament, with one lawmaker dismissing the suggestion of freezing the conflict as “unbelievable.” Andrey Melnik, who served as Ukraine’s ambassador to Berlin between 2015 and late 2022, also chimed in.

The diplomat, known for his controversial remarks and the use of obscene language when addressing German officials, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that he has “always said: this guy was and remains the most obnoxious German politician. Forever and ever,” referring to Mutzenich. Addressing lawmakers on Wednesday, Chancellor Scholz insisted that the delivery of Taurus missiles was “a line that I don’t want to cross as chancellor.” He explained that such a shipment would inevitably require the presence of German military personnel on Ukrainian soil – a development that is “out of the question.” While Kiev has been asking Berlin to supply the rockets for months, German authorities have stressed that the weapon’s long range would enable it to strike targets deep inside Russia, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, potentially exacerbating the conflict.

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WWIII.

Macron Wants Crimea Seized From Russia (RT)

Ukraine must regain control over all the territories it once held, including Russia’s Crimean Peninsula, French President Emmanuel Macron has said. Otherwise, no “lasting peace” will be possible, he claimed. The president made the remarks on Thursday in an interview with broadcasters TF2 and France 2, bluntly describing Russia as France’s “adversary.” At the same time, he insisted that Paris has not been “waging war on Russia” but merely “supporting” Kiev in the conflict. “Certainly, today, Russia is an adversary. The Kremlin regime is an adversary,” Macron stated. “We are doing everything so that it can put Russia in check because, I will tell you very simply, there is no lasting peace if there is no sovereignty, a return to the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine, including Crimea.”

The latest remarks by the French president got a cold reception in Russia, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating that Macron apparently “won’t mind increasing the degree of his involvement” in Russia-Ukraine hostilities. “Yes, it’s obvious that Russia is an adversary of France because France is already involved in the war in Ukraine; it is indirectly taking part in this war,” Peskov told reporters. The French president has produced increasingly belligerent statements lately, standing by the remarks he made late in February, that a potential deployment of NATO troops into Ukraine cannot be “excluded.” The remarks prompted a wave of denial from fellow members of the US-led bloc. In this latest interview, Macron refused to elaborate on the matter, claiming he wanted to maintain “strategic ambiguity” and that he has “reasons not to be precise.”

Macron’s remarks echo the position repeatedly voiced by the top Ukrainian leadership, which proclaimed the goal of seizing from Russia all the territories that ended up being held by Kiev following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Crimea broke away from Ukraine in the aftermath of the 2014 Maidan coup in Kiev, promptly rejoining Russia after a peninsula-wide referendum. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics emerged this year as well, with the botched attempt of Kiev’s new authorities to suppress them by force resulting in years-long conflict in then-Ukrainian Donbass. The two republics, as well as the formerly Ukrainian Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, were incorporated into Russia in late 2022 after the idea was overwhelmingly backed by locals in referendums separately held in each territory. Moscow has repeatedly signaled that its sovereignty over Crimea and any other Russian territories is not a subject to negotiation with anyone.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1768560179971285313

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“..the fall now is only a matter of time – and not much time at that..”

Western Troops In Ukraine: How A Big Lie Could Lead To The Biggest War (Amar)

The current situation in the conflict between Ukraine – serving (while being demolished) as a proxy for the West – and Russia, can be sketched in three broad strokes. First, Russia now clearly has the upper hand on the battlefield and could potentially accelerate its recent advances to achieve an overall military victory soon. The West is being compelled to recognize this fact: as Foreign Affairs put it, in an article titled “Time is Running Out in Ukraine,” Kiev and its Western supporters “are at a critical decision point and face a fundamental question: How can further Russian advances… be stopped, and then reversed?” Just disregard the bit of wishful thinking thrown in at the end to sweeten the bitter pill of reality. The key point is the acknowledgment that it is crunch time for the West and Ukraine – in a bad way.

Second, notwithstanding the above, Ukraine is not yet ready to ask for negotiations to end the war on terms acceptable to Russia, which would be less than easy for Kiev. (Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, reiterated in an important recent interview that Moscow remains principally open to talks, not on the basis of “wishful thinking” but, instead, proceeding from the realities “on the ground.”) The Kiev regime’s inflexibility is little wonder. Since he jettisoned a virtually complete – and favorable – peace deal in the spring of 2022, President Vladimir Zelensky has gambled everything on an always improbable victory. For him personally, as well as his core team (at least), there is no way to survive – politically or physically – the catastrophic defeat they have brought on their country by leasing it out as a pawn to the Washington neocon strategy.

The Pope, despite the phony brouhaha he triggered in Kiev and the West, was right: a responsible Ukrainian leadership ought to negotiate. But that’s not the leadership Ukraine has. Not yet at least. Third, the West’s strategy is getting harder to decipher because, in essence, the West cannot figure out how to adjust to the failure of its initial plans for this war. Russia has not been isolated; its military has become stronger, not weaker – and the same is true of its economy, including its arms industry. And last but not least, the Russian political system’s popular legitimacy and effective control has neither collapsed nor even frayed. As, again, even Foreign Affairs admits, “Putin would likely win a fair election in 2024.” That’s more than could be said for, say, Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak, Olaf Scholz, or Emmanuel Macron (as for Zelensky, he has simply canceled the election).

In other words, the West is facing not only Ukraine’s probable defeat, but also its own strategic failure. The situation, while not a direct military rout (as in Afghanistan in 2021) amounts to a severe political setback. In fact, this looming Western failure is a historic debacle in the making. Unlike with Afghanistan, the West will not be able to simply walk away from the mess it has made in Ukraine. This time, the geopolitical blowback will be fierce and the costs very high. Instead of isolating Russia, the West has isolated itself, and by losing, it will show itself weakened. It is one thing to have to finally, belatedly accepted that the deceptive “unipolar” moment of the 1990s has been over for a long time. It is much worse to gratuitously enter the new multipolar order with a stunning, avoidable self-demotion. Yet that is what the EU/NATO-West has managed to fabricate from its needless over-extension in Ukraine. Hubris there has been galore, the fall now is only a matter of time – and not much time at that.

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“..Liver Sausage Chancellor Scholz and his Totalenkrieg Minister Pistorius learned about the Taurus plan no less than four months later..”

The German-American Strategic Depth Clown Show (Pepe Escobar)

The Four Stooges saga of Bundeswehr officers plotting to blow up the Kerch bridge in Crimea with Taurus missiles and getting away with it is a gift that keeps on giving. President Putin, in his comprehensive interview to Dmitry Kiselev for Russia 1/RIA Novosti, did not fail to address it: “They are fantasizing, encouraging themselves, first of all. Secondly, they are trying to intimidate us. As for the Federal Republic of Germany, there are constitutional problems there. They correctly say: if these Taurus hit that part of the Crimean Bridge, which, of course, even according to their concepts, is Russian territory, this is a violation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany.” Yet it gets curioser and curioser. When the transcript of the Taurus leak was published by RT, everyone was able to hear Brigadier General Frank Gräfe – head of operations of the German Air Force – speaking with Lieutenant Colonel Fenske from the German Space Command Air Operations on the plan to deploy Taurus systems in Ukraine.

A key point is that during the plotting, these two mention that plans were already discussed “four months ago” with “Schneider”, the successor of “Wilsbach”. Well, these are German names, of course. Thus it did not dawn on anyone that (Kevin) Schneider and (Kenneth) Wilsbach could instead be… Americans. Yet that did raise the eyebrows of German investigative journalist Dirk Pohlmann – who I had the pleasure to meet in Berlin years ago – and his fellow researcher Tobias Augenbraun. They found out that the German-sounding names did identify Americans. Not only that: none less than the former and the current Commanders of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces. The Four (actually Six) Stooges element gets an extra boost when it is established that Liver Sausage Chancellor Scholz and his Totalenkrieg Minister Pistorius learned about the Taurus plan no less than four months later.

So here apparently we have a clear cut case of top German military officers taking direct orders regarding an attack on Crimea – part of the Russian Federation – directly from American officers in the Pacific Air Forces. That in itself opens the dossier to a large spectrum ranging from national treason (against Germany) to casus belli (from the point of view of Russia). Of course none of that is being discussed on German mainstream media. After all, the only thing that seems to disturb Brigadier General Gräfe is that German media may start seriously prying on the Bundeswehr’s Multiple Stooges methods. The only ones who actually did proper investigation were Pohlmann and Augenbaun. It would be too much to expect from German media of the “Bild” type to analyze what would be the Russian response to the Multiple Stooge shenanigans against Crimea: a devastating retaliation against Berlin assets.

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And the story keeps on giving…

German Taurus Attack Plan Was Leaked By The US Air Force (Helmer)

A little bird has materialized to sing that the record of the German generals discussing their plan to attack Russian targets with the Taurus missile was intercepted and leaked to the Russians by the Americans.A big bird, actually. The telephone conference of German Luftwaffe chief General Ingo Gerhartz (lead image, left), one of his staff generals, and two Luftwaffe lieutenant-colonels on February 19 was listened to by US signals intelligence after the first meeting the Germans had with a new regional US Air Force (USAF) commander, General Kevin Schneider; Schneider took command of the USAF Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) on February 9 after two and a half years in a senior staff post at the Pentagon under General Charles Brown Jr. Brown was promoted from USAF chief to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs on October 1, 2023. When Schneider left Brown’s staff, he took a promotion from lieutenant general to four-star general.

Schneider has never flown or staffed USAF operations against Russia. He was in Singapore for the bi-annual Singapore Air Show to demonstrate what the USAF press office called “the opportunity to sharpen ties with Singapore, demonstrate flexible aircraft capability, enable engagement with foreign partners, and expand power projection.” His agenda of meetings with other country airforce officers is classified. Intelligence coverage of the airshow proceedings by the US, Russia, and China was especially intense because of the participation in the show of aircraft from the warfighting states. Russia, which has participated actively in past Singapore airshows, did not participate officially this time. The allegation that the Gerhartz teleconference was intercepted by the Russians originated from the Germans and British, and has been amplified in US and NATO media. The first Russian report that it was US intelligence which picked up the call and then leaked it, appeared in Moscow on March 4.

What has now surfaced is the audio record and transcript of the first minutes of the teleconference, before Gerhartz came on the line. In these five minutes, much more has been revealed by the three German officers than has been published by RT in Moscow on March 1, when the audio record and transcript began with Gerhartz’s appearance. [..] The publication date is March 1. The voices recorded at the beginning are those of Captain Hergang, who introduced and managed the teleconference from Germany; Luftwaffe Brigadier General Frank Graefe, speaking in his Singapore hotel room and describing what he could see out his hotel window; Luftwaffe Lieutenant Colonel Udo Fenske and Lieutenant Colonel Sebastian Florstedt, who are speaking from Germany. A report and transcript in German, auto-translated into English, was published by Tobias Augenbraun in Dirk Pohlmann’s internet platform Free21 on March 8.

The interpretation of the additional evidence by Augenbraun and Pohlmann is that “apparently, the plans were already presented to [USAF] General [Kevin] Wilsbach in October 2023, which are also the subject of further discussion… This is astonishing for the following reason: All the rest of the conversation is about how to bring Taurus closer to the Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius… How can it be that top German generals have already presented these plans to a US general, a full 4 months… before talking about how to discuss these plans with Boris Pistorius (Minister of Defense). Something seems to have gone badly wrong with the order here. Is it normal to first talk to generals from other countries before initiating your own defense minister? Who is in charge in Germany? Is the military out of control?”

Augenbraun and Pohlmann believe the German operational plan discussed with Wilsbach last October was the Gerhartz missile attack on Russia, and that the German Defense Ministry and the Chancellery were unaware of it at the time. This interpretation has been amplified in a report by a Brazilian who claims “here apparently we have a clear cut case of top German military officers taking direct orders regarding an attack on Crimea – part of the Russian Federation – directly from American officers in the Pacific Air Forces.”

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“The Jews experienced pogroms and real persecution and atrocities by the Nazis, but [Israel is] doing the same thing now, and they can’t see that.”

Israeli Portrayal of Arabs Akin To Nazi Portrayal of Russians (Sp.)

Days after the Hamas surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Israeli Defense Minister said they were fighting “human animals” and called for a “complete siege” on the Gaza strip. “There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and will act accordingly,” he said. The language Israeli officials are using to describe Palestinians and other Arab peoples seems ripped out of the Nazi propaganda playbook, journalist and managing editor of Covert Action Magazine Jeremy Kuzmarov told Sputnik’s Fault Lines on Thursday. “The Jews experienced pogroms and real persecution and atrocities by the Nazis, but [Israel is] doing the same thing now, and they can’t see that. They’re using dehumanizing language. That’s the language of genocides… that’s what I heard out of Israeli leaders,” Kuzmarov asserted.

“How [Nazis] portrayed the Russians when they invaded Russia… as these Salvs, subhuman animals. That’s how they could carry out these horrific atrocities on the eastern front… The exact quote [from Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant] ‘human animals’ could have come from a Nazi official talking about the Russians.” The reason this can go on while Israel still receives significant, though decreasing, support from the US population comes from a lack of historical knowledge, Kuzmarov argued. “We see this phenomenon in the US. The media is so biased and the education system conditions people to think in certain ways. In the Israeli context, they are cut off from the true nature of history. They view Israel as this proud nation that had to fight off all these hostile forces. They don’t consider the history of the Nakba, or the Six-Day War,” Kuzmarov explained, comparing it to the conflict in Ukraine.

“Americans were never told the backstory of how the US interfered in Ukraine… they just thought “oh, Putin is a madman. He woke up one day to take over Ukraine’ and they didn’t have any knowledge that the CIA set up bases in Ukraine for years and they were provoking the Russians and attacking the people of eastern Ukraine.” During the conversation, show host Ted Rall noted the breaking news that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) released a statement saying that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “lost his way” and called for a new leadership in Israel. “He’s been a staunch supporter of military aid to Israel as well as Ukraine, so it’s coming a bit late in the game for him,” Kuzmarov recalled. “On the other hand, it is pretty significant that somebody in his position would make those kinds of statements. It goes to show [that] Netanyahu has totally lost. Even his own allies are turning against him because he’s just gone way too far.”

But Schumer’s words, as with US President Joe Biden’s recent comments distancing himself from Netanyahu, must be backed up with action to be taken seriously, Kuzmarov said. “We have Democratic Party politicians who may be conscious of public opinion [with] an election coming up in November,” he began. “So, they’re making certain public statements but we’ve never seen any overtures towards actually cutting off that money.” Kuzmarov thinks that is unlikely because US “foreign policy elites” depend on Israel to act as an American proxy in the region. “Schumer and Biden and the corporate Democrats are pro-imperialists and committed to Americans expanding or entrenching American power in the Middle East and accessing Middle Eastern oil. Whatever public statements they make, I don’t know that they’ll actually carry out any concrete action against Israel. If they did, that would be amazing to see, but my prediction is that they won’t.”

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“..there are more than a few Israelis, even rabbis, who are led to believe genocide can be God’s will..”

Netanyahu Is Criminally Insane! A Serial Killer of Captive Children! (GR)

Benjamin Netanyahu, as the Prime Minister of State of Israel, has commanded the murder, maiming and starving to death 31,000 captive Palestinians under Israel’s Illegal Military Occupation by his four months long orders for Israel’s air forces to continuously bomb and air strike Israel’s illegally military occupied Palestinian territory of Gaza, and by his orders blocking food, water, electricity, fuel and medicine from entering Gaza. Jan 30th Satellite data analysis showed the extent of the destruction. The analysis suggests between 144,000 and 175,000 buildings across the whole Gaza Strip had been destroyed or damaged already six weeks before this writing. That was already between 50% and 61% of Gaza’s buildings. As of March 5th, 70% of homes in Gaza are thought to be destroyed. Soon after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, Israel (read Netanyahu) blocked entry of all food, water, fuel, medicine and other supplies into Gaza.

Under U.S. pressure, Netanyahu began to allow a trickle of aid trucks to enter from Egypt at the Rafah crossing, and in December opened one crossing from Israel into southern Gaza. Only someone criminally insane would starve children to death — if we hear of someone starving a child, don’t we call the police? Where is everyone? Especially in the global south where murderous colonialism is remembered? At this writing a total of 13,430 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli airstrikes and ground operations ordered by criminally insane Prime Minister Netanyahu since Oct. 7. What is more precious than the life of a child and why hasn’t Netanyahu been stopped taking already 13,500 children’s lives?

It noted that 8,900 women were killed over the course of 150 days, adding that 7,000 people, 70% of whom are women and children, are still under the rubble or missing. Only a racist madman would continue ordering thousands the deaths of thousands of women along with their children. The Gaza media office said that 364 health personnel and 132 journalists also lost their lives during the period. So it’s kill, kill everyone! And nobody says much about it. Warning against a growing famine in Gaza, the Gaza Media Office said Israeli military has prevented the entry of food and aid supplies and has even targeted aid vehicles trying to reach the region, causing the deaths of dozens of people looking for food for their families.[4]

Under International Humanitarian Law, “the occupying power must ensure the humane treatment of the population and provide for their basic needs, including food and medical care.” Netanyahu has had the Israeli military push 85% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN. Israel not Netanyahu stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Nations cannot be prosecuted. Individual perpetrators of crimes must be prosecuted. “Whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.” [Article IV Convention on Genocide.] That is an obligation of international customary law and therefore, binding on all States, whether or not they have ratified the Genocide Convention. Article II reads, “Genocide means acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

Unfortunately, there are more than a few Israelis, even rabbis, who are led to believe genocide can be God’s will. Deuteronomy 2:16: “You must not let any living thing survive among the cities of these people the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.” Genesis 15:18: “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.” 1 Samuel 15:3: “… and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling” [Standard Bible]

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“..she “wouldn’t even say that their mental health has deteriorated—it’s been obliterated..”

Israeli Causes ‘Complete Psychological Destruction’ of Gaza Children (CD)

In addition to killing, maiming, and forcibly displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children, Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza has wrought tremendous psychological damage upon kids in the embattled strip, as detailed by a Save the Children report published Tuesday. The charity’s report—entitled Trapped and Scarred: The Compounding Mental Harm Inflicted on Palestinian Children in Gaza—examines how “five months of violence, displacement, starvation, and disease on top of nearly 17 years of a blockade have caused relentless mental harm to children in Gaza.” Jason Lee, Save the Children’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territory, said in a statement that “it is unacceptable that any child should contend with the horrors that those in Gaza have lived through. While dodging bombs and bullets, fleeing through streets littered with debris and corpses, being forced to sleep in the open air, and going without the basic food and clean water they need to survive, children in Gaza are going through a period of mass-scale shock and grief.”

“Children in Gaza were already living with unimaginable distress following 16 years of blockade and successive escalations in violence,” Lee added. “This war and the physical and mental scars it is leaving on children is further eroding their resilience.” One mother of four children aged 7-14 told Save the Children that she “wouldn’t even say that their mental health has deteriorated—it’s been obliterated. Complete psychological destruction.” Another Gaza mother said: “Our children have already lived through different wars. They already lacked resilience and now it’s very difficult to cope. The children are scared, angry, and can’t stop crying. Even many adults do the same. This is too much for adults to cope with, let alone children.” Waseem, a father, said that “children here have seen everything. They’ve seen the bombs, the deaths, the bodies—we can’t pretend to them anymore. Now they understand and have seen everything. Now, my son can even tell what types of explosives are falling—he can hear the difference.”

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, Gaza is “the world’s most dangerous place to be a child,” as more than 13,000 Palestinian minors have been killed, and many thousands more wounded, by Israeli attacks and hundreds of thousands of children are among the approximately 2 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million people who have been forcibly displaced by Israel’s bombardment and invasion. Palestinian youth who survive Israel’s bombs and bullets face rampant disease and hunger that’s now killing not only infants and children but also teens and elderly adults as Israeli soldiers and civilians alike continue to block lifesaving aid from entering Gaza. U.N. experts say Israel’s forced starvation of Gazans is a genocidal act of the kind Israel was ordered to prevent in the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) January 26 preliminary ruling in response to South African-led allegations of Israeli genocide.

Many surviving Palestinian children have lost one or both parents. Some have lost entire families. A new acronym has even been coined to describe some of these orphans: WCNSF, or “wounded child, no surviving family.” Around 1,000 of those wounds required the amputation of one or more of a child’s limbs. Due to a lack of medication caused by Israel’s siege, many little arms and legs have been sawed off without anesthesia. Screams and prayers fill the air of makeshift operating rooms, as Israel’s relentless onslaught has obliterated Gaza’s hospitals, clinics, and healthcare infrastructure. Sometimes, even survivor stories have tragic endings, as in the case of Dunia Abu Mohsen, a 12-year-old who first lost one of her legs, her parents, and two siblings in an Israeli airstrike, and then her life when an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank fired a shell at the hospital in which she was recovering. Or 2-year-old Kareem Abu Zaid, who survived three different Israeli airstrikes that killed close relatives including his mother and sister before he was killed in a fourth IDF strike.

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More children.

Netanyahu Approves Rafah Operation Plan (RT)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the latest truce and prisoner-exchange proposal by Hamas and has approved an IDF plan to launch an operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Israeli media reported on Friday. ”The IDF is prepared for the operation and to evacuate the [civilian] population,” the PM’s office said in a statement, as cited by the Times of Israel. Earlier in the day, Hamas announced on social media that it had presented its “vision” of a prisoner swap with Israel to Qatari and Egyptian mediators and was looking towards a ceasefire agreement which would involve the withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces from Gaza. As reported by Reuters, which has seen the proposal, the Palestinian militants proposed the release of Israeli women, including female soldiers, children, the elderly and ill hostages, in exchange for Israel freeing between 700 and 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Once the prisoner exchange is complete, Hamas said it would be ready to negotiate a date for a permanent ceasefire.

The Jewish state, however, dismissed the proposal and accused Hamas of making “unrealistic demands. On Thursday, Netanyahu also reiterated Israel’s determination to complete its mission of “eliminating” Hamas. Israel’s decision to proceed with a ground incursion into Rafah comes after repeated warnings from the international community, including the US and Egypt, not to enter the city where some 1.5 million Palestinians are currently sheltering. After Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israeli settlements last October 7, which saw 1,100 people killed and 250 taken hostage, Israel has been conducting a relentless siege on Gaza. According to the latest information from Palestinian health authorities, at least 31,341 people have been killed and 73,134 others injured in Israeli airstrikes and ground operations in the enclave over the past half a year.

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“People crave trust in others, because God is found there.” — Dom de Bailleul

Consequences Minus Truth (Kunstler)

The rewards of civilization have come to seem rather trashy in these bleak days of late empire; so, why even bother pretending to be civilized? This appears to be the ethos driving our politics and culture now. But driving us where? Why, to a spectacular sort of crack-up, and at warp speed, compared to the more leisurely breakdown of past societies that arrived at a similar inflection point where Murphy’s Law replaced the rule of law. The US Military Academy at West point decided to “upgrade” its mission statement this week by deleting the phrase Duty, Honor, Country that summarized its essential moral orientation. They replaced it with an oblique reference to “Army Values,” without spelling out what these values are, exactly, which could range from “embrace the suck” to “charlie foxtrot” to “FUBAR” — all neatly applicable to our country’s current state of perplexity and dread.

Are you feeling more confident that the US military can competently defend our country? Probably more like the opposite, because the manipulation of language is being used deliberately to turn our country inside-out and upside-down. At this point we probably could not successfully pacify a Caribbean island if we had to, and you’ve got to wonder what might happen if we have to contend with countless hostile subversive cadres who have slipped across the border with the estimated nine-million others ushered in by the government’s welcome wagon.

Momentous events await. This Monday, the Supreme Court will entertain oral arguments on the case Missouri, et al. v. Joseph R. Biden, Jr., et al. The integrity of the First Amendment hinges on the decision. Do we have freedom of speech as set forth in the Constitution? Or is it conditional on how government officials feel about some set of circumstances? At issue specifically is the government’s conduct in coercing social media companies to censor opinion in order to suppress so-called “vaccine hesitancy” and to manipulate public debate in the 2020 election. Government lawyers have argued that they were merely “communicating” with Twitter, Facebook, Google, and others about “public health disinformation and election conspiracies.”

You can reasonably suppose that this was our government’s effort to disable the truth, especially as it conflicted with its own policy and activities — from supporting BLM riots to enabling election fraud to mandating dubious vaccines. Former employees of the FBI and the CIA were directly implanted in social media companies to oversee the carrying-out of censorship orders from their old headquarters. The former general counsel (top lawyer) for the FBI, James Baker, slid unnoticed into the general counsel seat at Twitter until Elon Musk bought the company late in 2022 and flushed him out. The so-called Twitter Files uncovered by indy reporters Matt Taibbi, Michael Shellenberger, and others, produced reams of emails from FBI officials nagging Twitter execs to de-platform people and bury their dissent. You can be sure these were threats, not mere suggestions.

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“..He’s praying to god, jeebus and all the saints that Joe doesn’t malfunction..”

Biden Team Mocked After They Stop Reporters From Communicating With POTUS (Sp.)

US voters have repeatedly expressed doubt about Joe Biden’s physical and mental competence to perform his duties, especially in light of the upcoming presidential election in the country. Twitter users have lashed out a “horrible incident”, in which US President Joe Biden’s press office staff quickly removed the press when POTUS said he would take questions at a campaign event in Saginaw, Michigan. “They not even trying to hide it anymore that he can only speak when he has a script in front of him,” one user wrote in a post. Another user pointed out that the 46th US president “looked totally lost and beyond feeble in Michigan” and that “his handlers knew they had to get people away ASAP.” “All you need to do is look at Blinken’s face when Joe speaks anywhere near a camera. That face says it all. He’s praying to god, jeebus and all the saints that Joe doesn’t malfunction. Less stressful to just shut him off from the press,” one more web surfer noted, referring to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Other users wrote that Biden’s team is “afraid to let the man talk as they should be” and that they “already know anytime Biden speaks it’s going to be bad.” At Biden’s campaign stop in Michigan, the US president visited a Victorian mansion owned by members of the Saginaw City Council and Saginaw Public Schools Board of Education. POTUS stood on the porch at the mansion with his back to reporters and could be heard saying, “Can I take a couple questions?” However, members of Biden’s team immediately started raising their arms and walking to journalists, loudly repeating, “Thank you, press, back to the cars.” The incident comes as the 81-year-old Biden faces serious questions about his age and mental acuity as he continues his campaign. The latest NBC News national poll showed that at least three-quarters of voters, including half of Democrats, admit that they have concerns about Biden’s mental and physical health, which could prevent him from running.

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Cats

 

 

Reindeer

 

 

Liquor

 

 

Hugs

 

 

Arctic fox

 

 

Steller’s sea eagle

 

 

Baby rhino

 

 

Octopus

 

 

Sardines

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Feb 192024
 
 February 19, 2024  Posted by at 9:45 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , ,  35 Responses »


Assange – by Mr. Fish

 

Julian Assange’s Final Appeal (Chris Hedges)
We Have Seen Assange’s Plight In A UK Prison (RSF)
2024: The Year from Political Hell – Martin Armstrong (USAW)
The Genocide of the West (Paul Craig Roberts)
Biden & Blinken – Rule of Illegal Power Over Rule of Law (Ralph Nader)
Western Europe Could Become The New Ukraine (Bordachev)
Everything Happening in Ukraine Matter of Life, Death for Russia – Putin (Sp.)
Denmark Will Give All Its Artillery To Ukraine – PM (RT)
Biden Offered Prime Time Russian TV Slot (Sp.)
French “Democracy” Establishes Medical Tyranny (Paul Craig Roberts)
Von der Leyen Wants Second EU Term – Bild (RT)
Netanyahu To Be Ousted – Israel Media (RT)
ICJ to Examine 57 Years of Israeli Occupation of Palestine (Wilkins)
Hunter’s Lawyers Balked at Kevin Morris Laptop Conspiracy Theories (Turley)

 

 


Anthony Bourdain: “Today nearly everything is made in China — except for courage, it’s made in PALESTINE!”

 

 

Assange

 

 

 

 

Tucker invasion

 

 

Mike Benz

 

 

 

 

Ted Cruz

 

 

Gorka Taibbi

 

 

 

 

God have mercy.

Julian Assange’s Final Appeal (Chris Hedges)

If Julian Assange is denied permission to appeal his extradition to the United States before a panel of two judges at the High Court in London this week, he will have no recourse left within the British legal system. His lawyers can ask the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) for a stay of execution under Rule 39, which is given in “exceptional circumstances” and “only where there is an imminent risk of irreparable harm.” But it is far from certain that the British court will agree. It may order Julian’s immediate extradition prior to a Rule 39 instruction or may decide to ignore a request from the ECtHR to allow Julian to have his case heard by the court. The nearly 15-year-long persecution of Julian, which has taken a heavy toll on his physical and psychological health, is done in the name of extradition to the U.S. where he would stand trial for allegedly violating 17 counts of the 1917 Espionage Act, with a potential sentence of 170 years.

Julian’s “crime” is that he published classified documents, internal messages, reports and videos from the U.S. government and U.S. military in 2010, which were provided by U.S. army whistleblower Chelsea Manning. This vast trove of material revealed massacres of civilians, torture, assassinations, the list of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay and the conditions they were subjected to, as well as the Rules of Engagement in Iraq. Those who perpetrated these crimes — including the U.S. helicopter pilots who gunned down two Reuters journalists and 10 other civilians and severely injured two children, all captured in the Collateral Murder video — have never been prosecuted.

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Christophe Deloire is secretary-general and Rebecca Vincent is director of campaigns at Reporters Without Borders (RSF) .

We Have Seen Assange’s Plight In A UK Prison (RSF)

Given the high stakes for journalism and press freedom, we have been dismayed to be confronted with extensive barriers to our UK-focused work on Assange’s case. Our prison visits followed months of fighting for access after the prison arbitrarily barred us in April 2023, when we were refused entry for a vetted prison visit on the grounds that the prison had received “intelligence” that we were journalists. As a non-governmental organisation (NGO), our role differs from that of journalists. We sought access to discuss our advocacy efforts directly with Assange rather than to interview him for a media report. Over the next four months, we sought legal advice, submitted subject access requests, secured an intervention by a member of parliament, and engaged in extensive correspondence with Belmarsh. In August 2023, the block on our access was finally lifted, and we became the only NGO that has been able to visit Assange in prison.

This is not the first time the British system has created obstacles to our work on Assange’s case. We have experienced extensive and evolving barriers to accessing court hearings as NGO observers, often having no choice but to queue outside for up to five hours, very early in the morning and sometimes in freezing temperatures, to secure one of the few spaces in the public gallery. At one point during the pandemic, we were threatened with arrest simply for queueing to get into court. This absurd series of restrictions meant that RSF was the only NGO to monitor the full proceedings. We have not experienced such barriers, which effectively violate the principles of open justice and the right to a fair trial, in any case we have monitored in any other country. But these difficulties are nothing compared with the violations Assange has faced directly, including the fact that he has not been allowed to attend court hearings in person since 6 January 2021 – the last time he was seen outside prison walls.

Prisons are always grim places, and high-security Belmarsh is no exception. It’s hard to describe how Assange himself is faring in this environment, which is a stark contrast to his previous life of freedom, or even to his years at the Ecuadorian embassy. Assange’s worrying state of mental health, and his risk of suicide, have been well-documented in the medical evidence presented to court. But he is still very much involved in his case and fighting for his future. These visits allowed us to discuss and evaluate Assange’s situation with him, and RSF’s interventions led to him finally being permitted a typewriter, which he had been requesting for three years. On our last visit in January, he was clearly unwell and in pain, with a broken rib due to excessive coughing from a respiratory illness. It is a bleak and unjust situation, but it’s also clear how much worse the conditions of extradition and long-term detention in the US would be, which he may not survive.

Of course, Assange should not be in prison anywhere – not in the UK, nor the US, nor Australia, as was suggested to the UK court by the US authorities. No one, anywhere, should be targeted for publishing information in the public interest. Assange should be immediately released – perhaps through a political solution if not the courts, given the political nature of the case against him. The possibility of extradition is dangerously close. From 20 to 21 February, a panel of two high court judges will consider Assange’s final application to appeal against the order for his extradition. Any grounds that are rejected this time cannot be further appealed against, leaving the European court of human rights as his only further recourse.

In the meantime, Assange is in a high-security prison nearly 4,000 miles from the epicentre of the case, reading through a pile of books in his cell, finally typing some letters, and chatting with the few visitors who manage to navigate the myriad obstacles to get in. He has referred to his possible extradition as “Day P” – the day he might be put on a plane. It remains to be seen whether the British judiciary will deliver some form of justice at this late stage by preventing extradition, or whether the UK will become the country that enables a historically damning blow to press freedom, and the right of all of us to know.

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“60% of the world is going to the polls in 2024 to vote for a new government. You might as well throw them into a tumbler, shake well and see what comes out.”

2024: The Year from Political Hell – Martin Armstrong (USAW)

Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong is predicting political turmoil, civilian unrest, war and a big economic downturn in 2024 in a new report called “The Year from Political Hell.” It’s not just a US election year, but it is an election year for more than half of the world. This is a global phenomenon which no one can be sure of the outcome. Armstrong explains, “This is not just the United States election. This is what you hear on the news locally. However, step outside this country, and, for example, Indonesia just voted in a leftist government. You have the EU going for elections. You have on May 2nd all the local elections in Britain. You have Russian elections on May 7th. 60% of the world is going to the polls in 2024 to vote for a new government. You might as well throw them into a tumbler, shake well and see what comes out. I mean it’s all over the place.”

On the war front, get ready for more mass killing, and don’t be surprised if it goes nuclear. Armstrong predicts, “There will be nuclear weapons. The neocons keep telling people on Capitol Hill that Russia would never use a nuke because they know we would use them back. That is nonsense! If you are about ready to conquer somebody, and this is all they’ve got left, they are pushing the button. . . . These people, all they want is war. They don’t care. They really do not care. They don’t care about the economy. They don’t care about anything.”

Armstrong says the coming war will make the economy “crash in 2024” as people get scared, spend a lot less and save a lot more. Armstrong says, “What we are looking at is a contraction in spending because of uncertainty. This is what these neocons are creating, and they don’t want to listen to anybody, and it is just their agenda, and they don’t care what happens to the country. . . .We are looking for a contraction of 12% to 18%. GDP is not going to be rising, but you are going to find inflation still rising.” Armstrong also says to look for “a rebellion in government debt” as people lose faith in governments around the world. This rebellion in government issued debt will include US Treasuries, according to Armstrong. This means interest rates will continue to trend upward and not downward.

On volatility in the markets, Armstrong predicts, “Look for volatility to start around July, and there may be some false flags too.” Armstrong continues to say Trump is still looking like he can “win in a landslide in 2024,” but expect the Deep State to pull every dirty trick in the book to keep him out of office. Armstrong points out, “If Trump gets back in power, they are all fired. . . . They know they are losing power. Instead of reforming and doing the right thing, they clamp down and they think they can retain power by pressing us even more. Sorry, but that’s what creates revolution.” In closing, Armstrong says, “Pretty much everything is going wrong for the Deep State. . . . confidence in government has collapsed everywhere.” This is what makes the Deep State Dems, RINOs and Neocons very dangerous. By the way, Armstrong says he would be a buyer of physical gold to hold as a core asset.

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“From the Woke perspective, which has risen to the ascendancy in the intellectual outlook in the West, all normal people are undesirables..”

The Genocide of the West (Paul Craig Roberts)

Are NGOs another example of liberal goody two shoes good intentions going wrong, or are they an organized plot against white countries? Whatever the answer, NGOs have certainly done enormous harm to white countries. After many years of negligence, Putin finally partially cracked down on Western-financed NGOs that were organizing disruptive events in Russia and creating the image of Putin as a dictator. Putin’s government required foreign-financed NGOs to register as foreign agents. Documented reports from independent journalists have established that NGOs are spearheading the immigrant-invaders who are overrunning the United States. As I recently reported, NGOs are actually recruiting “people of color” into the ranks of immigrant-invaders, providing them with transportation, money, and maps of the pathways to the US border that are supplied with accommodation, food, and health care.

One of the most important NGOs underwriting the immigrant-invaders seems to be the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), of which the current director of the US Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, himself a Jew, was a board member until December 2020. According to an article on substack, HIAS has received $100,000,000 from the US government in the past three years. If this is true, then the Biden regime is underwriting the immigrant invasion with US taxpayers’ money. The long-term, ongoing invasion of the EU and UK has benefited enormously from NGOs, especially from the moral support the NGOs provide for the invasion and for their work in conditioning Europeans to accept immigrant-invaders as the moral thing to do. You might remember the reports of the German women whose reward for welcoming the immigrant-invaders was to be raped by them. When the women complained of being raped, they were branded “racists.”

The story is the same in Sweden and Norway. NGOs are largely a post-1990 phenomena. Recently there have been reports of the impact of foreign-funded NGOs in diversifying Ireland’s population and transforming its culture in Woke directions that elevate the legitimization of sexual perversion above Christian morality. US billionaire Chuck Feeney has underwritten pro-immigrant-invader NGOs in Ireland. In Ireland NGOs have been successful in bringing abortion in under the cover of human rights. Other NGOs focus on legitimizing sexual perversion, such as Lesbians In Cork. In other words, the NGOs serve as weapons with which to revolutionize society and to replace natural life with Woke ideology and its amoral and immoral values.

Every Western country is being watered-down with diverse elements that destroy the unity of the country, turn it into a tower of babel, replace sexual and Christian morality with legitimization of sin, and transform traditional citizens into undesirables, arrogantly rejecting the majority as Hillary Clinton did Trump voters when she branded them “Trump deplorables.” From the Woke perspective, which has risen to the ascendancy in the intellectual outlook in the West, all normal people are undesirables. Consequently large numbers of NGOs have been, and are being, created, and huge sums are being funneled into them to take our culture away from us. No one is funding a countervailing effort. Indeed “our” governments provide matching funds for the NGOs. This is what I mean when I speak of the genocide of the West.

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“..this lawless, Israeli government-indentured Congress which refuses even to demand a ceasefire..”

Biden & Blinken – Rule of Illegal Power Over Rule of Law (Ralph Nader)

Among the puzzling questions that the media chooses to ignore is asking high government officials why they are exercising the illegal use of power that violates the rule of law which they are required to obey. This week, the Veterans for Peace (VFP) made it very easy for reporters to pose questions by sending an open letter (See veteransforpeace.org) to the Inspector General of the U.S. State Department and Antony Blinken, Secretary of State, invoking several U.S. statutes that require the “termination of provision of military weapons and munitions to Israel.” Josh Paul, a former senior official in the State Department’s office charged with reviewing weapon transfers to foreign countries, said: “The Secretary and all relevant officials under his purview should take this letter from Veterans for Peace with the utmost seriousness. It is a stark reminder of the importance of abiding by the laws and policies that relate to arms transfers.”

What laws are being violated by the State Department daily as it approves ships and cargo planes full of weapons of mass destruction to be used in Israel’s war crimes and genocide against hundreds of thousands of Gaza’s civilians, mostly children and women? These are the laws highlighted in the VFP letter:
• The Foreign Assistance Act, which forbids the provision of assistance to a government which “engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”
• Arms Export Control Act, which says countries that receive US military aid can only use weapons for legitimate self-defense and internal security. Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza goes way beyond self-defense and internal security.
• The U.S. War Crimes Act, which forbids grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, including wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, and unlawful deportation or transfer, perpetrated by the Israeli Occupying Forces.
• The Leahy Law, which prohibits the U.S. Government from using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights.
• The Genocide Convention Implementation Act, which was enacted to implement U.S. obligations under the Genocide Convention, provides for criminal penalties for individuals who commit or incite others to commit genocide

Under these laws, the State Department has a “Conventional Arms Transfer Policy” which, the letter notes, “prohibit [U.S. weapons transfers when it’s likely they] will be used by Israel to commit … genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, [including attacks intentionally directed against civilian objects or civilians protected] or other serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights laws.” The VFP letter continues, “Dozens of authoritative complaints and referrals made by hospital administrators in Gaza, as well as by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Palestine Authority, South Africa, Turkey, Medicins san Frontieres, UNRWA, UNICEF, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Norwegian Refugee Council and the World Food Programme have confirmed that there is an ongoing human rights and humanitarian disaster due to Israel’s cutoff of water and electricity, deliberate destruction of sewage infrastructure and delaying of aid shipments by Israeli forces.”

If you are wondering why these laws are not being enforced – the answer is that individual citizens or groups of citizens do not have any “legal standing” to sue Secretary Blinken, according to the U.S. Supreme Court. Only a Committee of Congress, backed by a Senate or House Resolution, can take the State Department to federal court. That action to enforce Congressionally passed and enacted laws is not likely to happen in this lawless, Israeli government-indentured Congress which refuses even to demand a ceasefire. Mike Ferner, VFP National Director, observed “Just as any good soldiers can recognize when they are given an unlawful order, we believe some State Department staff are horrified at the orders they’re given and will decide to uphold the law, find the courage to speak out and demand an end to the carnage.”

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“..journalists are persistently interested in the topic of a ‘potential war with Russia’ because they see it as a good selling point to their readers..”

Western Europe Could Become The New Ukraine (Bordachev)

A side effect of the tragic Ukrainian problem for Russian foreign policy is that it helps us to understand the degree of economic and moral decay that our other Western neighbors would have to reach in order to pose a threat to our security. It is these two factors – impoverishment and spiritual decline – that create a critical mass necessary for an adventurer to drag his country into a destructive conflict. So far, as public opinion polls show, the citizens of Western European countries do not see any potential for aggressive behavior towards Russia. Despite the fact that some NATO military leaders and even politicians have suddenly started talking about the possibility of a military conflict, the inhabitants of its member states in Europe do not perceive Russia as a threat at all. Therefore, they have no feelings of aggression towards us. However, this state of affairs could change, and the most important thing is not the geopolitical situation, but the internal situation of our neighbors to the West.

The military-political conflict between Russia and NATO over Ukraine has been accompanied by hostile rhetoric in the media and political circles of Western countries that is unprecedented by the standards of recent decades. We can see how this goes through stages. It is not difficult to see the distribution of roles among the various representatives of Russia’s adversaries in Europe and North America. Now, for example, representatives of military structures are the most active. Literally every week, the Russian media discusses another statement by a British, Danish, or Dutch commander on the alleged inevitability or high probability of an armed conflict between Russia and NATO within a few years. With the same frequency, new NATO ‘secret plans’ for war with Russia are leaked to the Western European media. As a rule, they are poorly adapted to the mass-reader scenarios of yet another hypothetical exercise. The question inevitably arises – should we take all this at face value? So far, there seems to be a certain cunning in such statements.

Especially since the main organizers of the Ukraine crisis – the Americans – prefer to remain silent on the matter and are not throwing around theories about the likelihood of a direct armed conflict with Russia. The situation is fundamentally different for Washington’s European allies. First of all, Western European military and political leaders act with no formal accountability for their words. Since all security and defense decisions within NATO are made by the US, any general or politician in Europe can say whatever he wants; his words mean absolutely nothing in practice – especially since military spending is in the hands of the civilian authorities, and they are in no hurry to spend money on military exercises. Secondly, it is clear to Western European military leaders that politicians are in no hurry to fulfil the promises they made in the early stages of the conflict. As early as March 2022, for example, the German chancellor loudly proclaimed a U-turn in Berlin’s defense policy, an increase in real spending on armaments, and a build-up of military forces.

So far, nothing has been done, and the state of the German economy is not conducive to new spending that goes beyond supporting the welfare of citizens and the corporate sector. Thirdly, journalists are persistently interested in the topic of a ‘potential war with Russia’ because they see it as a good selling point to their readers. And the generals have to answer direct questions that European men in uniform, due to their lack of intellectual flexibility, cannot delicately avoid. And generally speaking, their job is to prepare for war, even if they know they will never have to fight it. Civilian heads of military departments also fall for this bait. A few days ago, for example, journalists had to literally torture the bellicose meaning out of an interview with Poland’s new defense minister.

It should be noted that officials directly involved in US military planning, as well as representatives of Eastern European countries, are more circumspect in their statements. Even officials and military officers from the former Baltic republics of the USSR have not yet issued statements of comparable alarm to their counterparts in Western Europe. Nor does NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg speak of a direct armed conflict as a foreseeable probability. American restraint and better coordination between the US and those which directly represent its interests in Europe are probably at work here. Of course, German, Swedish, Dutch, and Danish generals cannot count on the same quality of communication with Washington that Warsaw has. And the Americans themselves, to their credit, are rather cautious when it comes to strategic issues – despite their adventurism and constant desire to test Russia’s patience ‘on the ground’.

The assessments of European generals and officials are even more contradictory when compared with the opinions of their populations. The Bundeswehr general’s comments on the likelihood of war with Russia were published alongside the results of an opinion poll showing that 71% of Germans do not consider Russia a military threat. The annual Munich Security Conference, the West’s main ‘production meeting’ on its relations with the rest of humanity, has produced a report devoted in part to Western Europeans’ attitudes to various threats. Observers have already noted that Russia has fallen to ninth place on the list of ‘threats’ this year. Clearly, the Western European populace no longer feels that Russia threatens them in any way. More importantly, they have no reason to be aggressive towards Russia themselves.

The real causes of major armed conflicts such as world wars are always linked to socio-economic factors. For the naturally cautious German nation to become a bunch of cannibals, it first had to sink into the economic misery and moral oppression of the 1920s. Before that, demographic growth and the unresolved social problems of industrialization created the necessary mass of people willing to kill and die on the fields of the First World War.

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“For them [the West], this is an improvement in their tactical position. While for us it is fate, it is a matter of life and death,..

Everything Happening in Ukraine Matter of Life, Death for Russia – Putin (Sp.)

Everything that is happening in the Ukrainian direction is a matter of life and death for Russia, it is the fate of the country, whereas for the West it is only a matter of their tactical position, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “I think that for ourselves, and even more so for listeners and viewers abroad, it is important to understand the course of our thoughts, to understand our condition, to understand how sensitive and important this is for our country — everything that is happening in the Ukrainian direction. For them [the West], this is an improvement in their tactical position. While for us it is fate, it is a matter of life and death,” Putin said, commenting on the historical part of his recent interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson. Last week, Putin sat down for an interview with Carlson, discussing the Ukraine conflict, the Nord Stream sabotage, Russia-NATO relations, artificial intelligence, and other topics. The interview has attracted huge interest around the world. The video has been viewed 202 million times on X. On YouTube, the video has been viewed over 17.4 million times.

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“..other EU member-states should follow suit..”

Denmark Will Give All Its Artillery To Ukraine – PM (RT)

Denmark will transfer all of its artillery to Ukraine, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said during a panel debate at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. According to her, despite production issues, Copenhagen and the EU in general have enough arms stockpiled to supply the country with the necessary weaponry. Kiev has increasingly complained of personnel and ammunition shortages on the front lines, appealing to its Western supporters for more financing and arms. However, Brussels is yet to finalize its next aid package, while the EU’s earlier pledge to provide Ukraine with one million artillery rounds by March this year has not been met. “If you ask Ukrainians – they are asking us for ammunition now, artillery now.

From the Danish side, we decided to donate our entire artillery to Ukraine,” Frederiksen stated, adding that other EU member-states should follow suit. “I am sorry to say, friends, but there is still ammunition in stock in Europe. This is not only a question about production because we have weapons, we have ammunition, we have air defense, that we don’t have to use ourselves at the moment, that we should deliver to Ukraine,” she said. Frederiksen noted that it would be ineffective to wait for the US aid package to come through to make decisions on supplies to Ukraine. US lawmakers failed to approve additional funding of around $60 billion for Kiev before going on winter break, and are expected to resume discussions on the package on February 28.

“We have to speed up and scale up, no matter what will happen in the US. We as Europeans need to be able to protect ourselves, and to protect ourselves we need to deliver what is needed in Ukraine now. The responsibility for Europe has to be in Europe and we have to do more,” she stated. Denmark is among the major suppliers of weapons to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It also spearheaded an effort to help Ukraine procure F-16 fighter jets and train its pilots to fly the warplanes last year, and is a member of the so-called ‘drone coalition’, a recently-formed group of countries that has pledged to give Kiev one million drones to fight Russia.

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“..on Russia 1, the country’s most popular TV channel.”

Biden Offered Prime Time Russian TV Slot (Sp.)

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin sat down for an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson to discuss the Ukraine conflict, the Nord Stream sabotage, Russia-NATO relations, artificial intelligence and other topics. Dmitry Kiselev, general director of the Rossiya Segodnya media group — Sputnik’s parent company — said he had sent a request to the White House for an interview with US President Joe Biden. “We believe that our countries lack the ability to listen and hear each other, and we believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin has set a worthy example by agreeing to an interview aimed at the American viewer,” the letter said. “The interview is planned to be conducted by me, Dmitry Kiselev, CEO of the Rossiya Segodnya Media Group and host of the highest-rated Sunday news and analysis program Vesti Nedeli on Russia 1, the country’s most popular TV channel.”

If it goes ahead, the interview would be translated into foreign languages and distributed on Sputnik’s Telegram channel, the ria.ru website, and numerous media platforms and social networks of the media group in Russia and around the world “In general, in a good way, US President Biden must respond to all this. The best and most spectacular option for the White House would be a mirror interview with a Russian journalist. As we have a saying, waiting for an answer, like the nightingale of summer,” Kiselev said in his program.

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“Does the Kremlin comprehend that its de-nazification agenda cannot be limited to Ukraine but must be applied to the entirety of the Western world?”

French “Democracy” Establishes Medical Tyranny (Paul Craig Roberts)

Professor Michel Chossudovsky, director of Global Research, has examined the new French law that defines dissent from official medical narratives as a “sectarian aberration” and criminalizes dissent from medical narratives, such as “the mRNA vaccine is safe and effective.” The law also creates a new crime called “provocation to abstention from medical care.” A French citizen is guilty of a crime if the person refuses a vaccine or medical treatment handed down by authorities. Had the law been in place during the mass vaccination campaign with the deadly mRNA “vaccine,” all who refused would have received three years imprisonment and paid a 45,000 euro fine. This ensures that next time everyone will receive the “vaccine,” because if you refuse you will be imprisoned and the prison rules will require you to be “vaccinated.”

The new law also protects the pharmaceutical corporations from any accountability for the deaths and health damage their lies caused by criminalizing French citizens–including doctors and medical scientists–who speak against the Covid-19 “vaccines.” This demonstrates the power of Big Pharma over democracy, which with this death blow given to free speech and medical fact no longer exists in France. This is a very serious development. It is an official act by an alleged “Western democracy” that criminalizes truth. For example, French medical scientists who find that the mRNA “vaccines” result in death and health injury will be imprisoned if they report their findings. The new French law takes the determination of medical fact out of the hands of medical scientists. The “fact” henceforth is whatever Big Pharma’s paid shills among politicians and medical “authorities” say it is.

Something similar has occurred in Germany. The distinguished German attorney Reiner Fuellmich was about to file a lawsuit supported by thousands of medical doctors and attorneys against the mRNA manufacturers when he was kidnapped by the German state and imprisoned in Germany where he is currently standing trial on trumped up charges brought by what appears to be paid “witnesses.” This is not the way democracies operate. As I have written on many occasions, Western countries have ceased to be democracies. The people have no voice. The countries are governed by the agendas of the elites and powerful corporations with the money to purchase the laws that serve their agendas and interests. The people who run for office are the people approved by these elites. Trump was the exception, and look at what has happened to him. The ruling elite have made their point: “Cross us and we will destroy you.”

Western governments serve at the expense of the people the material interests of the powerful and ideologies such as the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset.” Dutch and Irish governments are dispossessing under the rubric of “global warming” farmers of their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, thereby driving up food prices by curtailing the supplies of meat, milk, butter, and cheese, while simultaneously allowing entry to hordes of immigrant-invaders whose support the people are forced to undertake. Today a “Western democracy” is an institution that forces citizens to support interests that are not their own. We are now witnessing, with the new French law, with the German government’s kidnapping of Reiner Fuellmich, with the American persecution of medical scientists who truthfully reported the mRNA danger, the Stalinist indictments of President Trump, and with media that no longer serve as watchdogs over the government but as propaganda ministries for government lies, the legalization and institutionalization of the tyranny that has displaced democracy in the Western world.

A large percentage of Western peoples are so indoctrinated and brainwashed that they do not see what is happening. Moreover, Western countries having been turned into towers of babel means there is no social unity, which makes it impossible to oppose the tyranny as some of the diverse elements see tyranny useful in suppressing political and ideological opponents. In the US the Democrats’ policy of wide-open borders for “people of color” but not for whites is dispossessing Americans of their own country. Despite public opposition to the policy, it has moved into high gear with, according to official numbers, entry each year of immigrant-invaders in numbers equivalent to 12 cities the size of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There is no doubt whatsoever that the goal is to replace the white American population who are powerless to do anything about it. Meanwhile the Western governments foment wars with Russia, China, and Iran and expect the demoralized citizens they are dispossessing to supply the army. Does the Kremlin comprehend that its de-nazification agenda cannot be limited to Ukraine but must be applied to the entirety of the Western world?

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She’s addicted to power.

Von der Leyen Wants Second EU Term – Bild (RT)

Ursula von der Leyen will formally announce her candidacy for a second term as president of the European Commission on Monday, German tabloid Bild has reported. Von der Leyen has already hinted that she seeks a second term, promising on Saturday to appoint a dedicated “defense commissioner” if she holds on to her office. To secure a second term, von der Leyen will first have to be nominated by her faction in the European Parliament, the centrist European People’s Party (EPP). Speaking to Reuters last month, EPP lawmaker Daniel Caspary said the party would nominate von der Leyen at a congress in March, “if that’s what she wants.” Should the EPP emerge as the largest party in June’s European elections, which it is projected to do, von der Leyen’s candidacy would then be put before the European Council.

From there, a majority vote by the council’s 27 members followed by the parliament’s final approval would see the German installed for another five-year term at the helm of the commission. Opponents of von der Leyen, chief among them Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, will have few opportunities to stymie her nomination. Despite the fact that Hungary will hold the council’s rotating presidency after the elections, no one member state can veto a majority vote in her favor. Additionally, the EPP is a big-tent organization of centrist and center-right parties, meaning potential dissenters like Italy’s Forza Italia will be easily overruled by von der Leyen’s Christian Democrats and their allies. Von der Leyen has already strongly suggested that she will seek a second term. “If I would be the president of the next European Commission, I would have a commissioner for defense,” she said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, without spelling out what this commissioner’s responsibilities would be.

Since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began, von der Leyen has positioned herself as one of Kiev’s most ardent Western backers. She has authorized 12 packages of sanctions on Russia, overseen the dramatic expansion of the so-called ‘European Peace Facility’ – a €12 billion ($12.9 billion) fund used to funnel weapons to Ukraine – and hurried Ukraine’s bid for EU membership through the normally drawn-out application process. So antagonistic is her relationship to Moscow that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reportedly forbade US President Joe Biden last year from endorsing her bid to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as secretary-general of NATO. According to Germany’s Welt newspaper, Scholz felt that von der Leyen’s hardline anti-Russian stance “could prove to be a disadvantage in the long term.” Von der Leyen will return to Berlin from Munich on Sunday, and is expected to announce her candidacy after a discussion with her fellow Christian Democrats on Monday, Bild reported.

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“..last thing we need right now is elections.”

Netanyahu To Be Ousted – Israel Media (RT)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be able to retain power after the country’s military has concluded its operation against Hamas in Gaza, Ynet media outlet has claimed, citing anonymous sources within his Likud party. Amid mounting calls for early elections, the Israeli leader insisted on Saturday that now is “not the time for politics,” suggesting that the next vote will take place “in a few years.” Multiple opinion polls have demonstrated that Netanyahu’s approval ratings and those of his Likud party have been on the decline since Hamas militants conducted their deadly surprise incursion into Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. Back in December, the Israel Democracy Institute, citing survey results, claimed that more than two-thirds of Israelis want general elections to be held as soon as hostilities in Gaza are over.

A survey conducted earlier this month showed that opposition parties would secure as many as 75 of the Israeli parliament’s 120 seats if elections were held now.In its report on Saturday, Ynet quoted an unnamed senior member of Likud as predicting that “whoever was prime minister on October 7 will finish his post at the end of the war.”Another staffer from Netanyahu’s party allegedly contended that no matter “how much Netanyahu postpones the end and how much he doesn’t want to, at the end of this war we will go to elections.” According to the media outlet, the anonymous Likud bigwig added that the prime minister would be forced to call a snap election either by members of his own political force or by other parties making up the ruling coalition, with everyone understanding that “this is what’s going to happen.”

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Netanyahu dismissed calls for a snap election, insisting that a vote for the Knesset should take place as scheduled, that is, in October 2026. “I suggest we don’t concern ourselves with that during the war,” the prime minister said, arguing that the “last thing we need right now is elections.” Netanyahu warned that internal political division in Israel would play into the hands of Hamas. The opposition Yesh Atid party released a statement describing the prime minister’s comments as “another performance by an unfit prime minister who, by all accounts, has long lost the public’s trust and continues to flee from the responsibility of the greatest failure to the Jewish people since the Holocaust.” “Israel needs change. Elections are the order of the day,” the party argued.

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“..a week of hearings on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestine..”

ICJ to Examine 57 Years of Israeli Occupation of Palestine (Wilkins)

More than 50 countries are set to participate in next week’s hearings at the International Court of Justice focusing on Israel’s illegal 57-year occupation of Palestine, a forum that follows the Hague tribunal’s finding last month that Israel is “plausibly” committing genocide in occupied Gaza. The ICJ—also known as the World Court—will hold a week of hearings on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestine, which dates to the Israeli conquest of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, Syrian Golan Heights, and Egyptian Sinai Peninsula during the 1967 Six-Day War. “The International Court of Justice is set for the first time to broadly consider the legal consequences of Israel’s nearly six-decades-long occupation and mistreatment of the Palestinian people,” Human Rights Watch senior legal adviser Clive Baldwin said in a statement.

“Governments that are presenting their arguments to the court should seize these landmark hearings to highlight the grave abuses Israeli authorities are committing against Palestinians, including the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.” The West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Golan Heights remain under Israeli military occupation six decades after their conquest. The United Nations—to which the ICJ belongs—and many international NGOs contend that, despite removing its troops and settlers from Gaza two decades ago, Israel continues to occupy Gaza by controlling the besieged enclave’s airspace, territorial waters, and the entry and exit of people and goods. Since the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have killed or wounded more than 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza while forcibly displacing around 90% of the population. Numerous Israeli leaders have called for the renewed physical occupation, Jewish resettlement, and ethnic cleansing of the strip.

During the current assault on Gaza, occupation forces have also killed at least 388 Palestinians, including 99 children, in the West Bank, according to U.N. human rights officials. Israeli settlers have for decades been steadily colonizing the occupied territories under the protection of the IDF, while ethnically cleansing Palestinians whose lands and homes they steal. Next week’s hearings come on the heels of the ICJ’s provisional ruling last month in a case led by South Africa—which will be the first nation after Palestine to present at next week’s hearing—that Israel is “plausibly” committing genocide in Gaza. The tribunal ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power” to adhere to its obligations under Article II of the Genocide Convention.

Earlier this week, South Africa urgently appealed to the ICJ to act amid the looming threat of an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah. More than 1.5 million Palestinians, most of them refugees ordered to flee to the south of Gaza by invading Israeli forces, are crammed into what is now one of the world’s most densely populated places. On Friday, the ICJ declined to take any additional action against Israel, while reiterating that the “perilous situation” in Rafah “demands immediate and effective implementation of the provisional measures indicated by the court” in last month’s ruling.

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“..including the threat from Morris to sue me for defamation if I continued to raise ethical concerns over his conduct..”

Hunter’s Lawyers Balked at Kevin Morris Laptop Conspiracy Theories (Turley)

We have previously discussed the controversial representation of Kevin Morris of Hunter Biden, including the threat from Morris to sue me for defamation if I continued to raise ethical concerns over his conduct. Now a report by the New York Times suggests that even Hunter’s other lawyers had concerns over Morris’s claims, particularly the fostering of a conspiracy theory to deny the authenticity of the infamous laptop of Hunter Biden. According to the New York Times, Kevin Morris “quietly pushed a complex theory under which the repair shop was a front and the information had been made public through a cast of characters including a psychiatrist who had treated Mr. Biden’s addiction using ketamine therapy and the Trump-allied operative Roger J. Stone Jr.” That is notable because many in the media picked up on the conspiracy theory despite ample evidence that the laptop was genuine.

Indeed, a similar theory was contained in the now debunked letter of former intelligence officials just before the election — a letter widely used in the media to effectively shutdown coverage. Some later admitted that they assumed the emails were genuine. The Washington Post’s Phillip Bump and others pushed the conspiracy theory. Indeed, in 2021, when media organizations were finally admitting that the laptop was authentic, Bump was still declaring that it was a “conspiracy theory.” Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Bump continued to suggest that “the laptop was seeded by Russian intelligence.” What is equally astonishing is that in 2023 the Post expressly stood by Bump’s reporting on the laptop and other debunked claims. The media report suggests that Chris Clark and Joshua Levy stopped working on the case as the false claims were being pushed. It is not clear if they support the reporting in the Times. Levy reportedly exited from representation in March 2023 after “unease and dissent” over the Hunter Biden legal team and its direction.

Clark withdrew shortly after he admitted that Hunter’s notorious 2017 WhatsApp text demanding money from a Chinese businessman was genuine. In the message, Hunter literally describes his father sitting next to him to drive home the threat, declaring “I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled…I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight…I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.” Morris has increasingly appeared to be something of an enabler for Hunter, reinforcing a persecution complex while funding his lavish lifestyle. What is striking about the report is that the conspiracy theory is precisely the type of disinformation that the Biden Administration has alleged against critics to seek their censorship, throttling, and banning on social media.

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Dog turtle

 

 

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Jan 262024
 


Jean-Léon Gérôme Truth Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind, 1896

 

What Happens In Texas Will Decide The Fate Of The Nation (Libby Emmons)
25 Republican Governors Back Texas In Standoff With Biden (RT)
China’s Defense Ministry: NATO is a ‘Walking War Machine’ Sowing Chaos (Sp.)
The Western World: RIP (Paul Craig Roberts)
Five Variables Defining Our Future (Pepe Escobar)
How Gaza Is Impacting The Great Power Standoff (Sweidan)
Netanyahu Cannot Survive 10 Minutes Without US Support – Iran FM (Cradle)
Gaza War’s Financial Reason Mainstream Media Won’t Cover – Ray McGovern (Sp.)
Iran ‘A Legitimate Target’ – Israel (RT)
Col. Macgregor Says at Least 400 Americans Died in Ukraine (Sp.)
‘Suicide Mission’: Ukrainian Troops Reveal Dire Situation on Battlefield (Sp.)
Why Did Ukraine Shoot Down An Aircraft Carrying Its Own Soldiers? (Poletaev)
West’s Anti-Russian Policy Now ‘At Its Peak’ – Peskov (TASS)
EU Not Prepared For Potential Armed Conflict With Russia – Politico (TASS)
Trump Advisor Navarro Sentenced To Four Months For Ignoring J6 Subpoena (ZH)
Adam Schiff A “Liar” Who Was “Censured” – Garvey (ZH)
RCMP Offering Police $75,000 Benefit To Change Genders (CS)

 

 

Lone Star rebellion. There are now 25 governors standing with Texas.

 

 

Tucker 22 million
https://twitter.com/i/status/1750427983448256552

 

 

Steve Harvey
https://twitter.com/i/status/1750371213757583484

 

 

Vivek Trump
https://twitter.com/i/status/1750250406242836517

 

 

Watters RFK

 

 

Vivek

 

 

Trump MbS
https://twitter.com/i/status/1750703007052841381

 

 

 

 

“..Texas, and the nation, are just open to the wolves at the door who seek to destroy the border and America..”

What Happens In Texas Will Decide The Fate Of The Nation (Libby Emmons)

Texas has been doing the work the Biden administration refused to do: securing the US-Mexico border against invasion. They erected fencing only for Biden’s border minions to tear it down. They put buoy barriers in the river to stop people from crossing, but these, too, Biden’s border guards took down at his order. They even took the case to the Supreme Court to ask them to tell Texas to back off and let the illegal immigrants flood in. In a completely absurd ruling, the Supreme Court sided with Biden and said that federal officials may cut the wire barrier put up by Texas to protect their state and, in turn, the entire nation from invasion. It was a 5-4 ruling overturning a lower court ruling that Biden could, indeed, cut the razor wire. Conservative justices, including Amy Coney Barrett, ruled against the state in allowing the appeals court ruling to stand.

Texas is appealing, arguments will be heard February 7, there will be more lawfare between Texas and Biden, and for sure, the case is not closed. It’s possible that the Supreme Court is attempting to put power back in the hands of the legislatures, and not the courts or federal agencies, as they did with the Dobbs ruling, EPA v West Virginia, or as oral arguments indicated they may rule in the challenge to Chevron deference. But until then, Texas, and the nation, are just open to the wolves at the door who seek to destroy the border and America. Literally what the hell. After the Supreme Court vacated the injunction, saying only “The application to vacate injunction presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is granted,” Texas said no. By then, Texas National Guard had taken up a strong position at a major border crossing. They were keeping Biden’s border agents out and erecting more razor wire, which the White House said was “getting in the way,” which of course, for Texas, was the point.

Article IV, Section IV of the Constitution points out, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.” “Shall protect against invasion.” Those are the wise words used. Yet for Joe Biden and his handlers, the words mean nothing. The Supreme Court has deferred to a pending decision by a lower court. All entities but Texas abandoned their sacred duty to uphold the laws of the US. The US border is open and available for trespass.

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That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary..”

25 Republican Governors Back Texas In Standoff With Biden (RT)

A large group of Republican governors has issued a joint statement voicing “solidarity” with Texas Governor Greg Abbott and his stepped-up border protections, accusing the White House of leaving the country “completely vulnerable” amid an influx of illegal migrants. Published on Thursday, the open letter was signed by 25 GOP governors across the country, with Vermont Governor Phil Scott the sole Republican to leave his signature off the message. The state leaders were highly critical of President Joe Biden, who they said had “attacked and sued Texas for stepping up to protect American citizens from historic levels of illegal immigrants, deadly drugs like fentanyl, and terrorists entering our country.”

“We stand in solidarity with our fellow Governor, Greg Abbott, and the State of Texas in utilizing every tool and strategy, including razor wire fences, to secure the border,” the letter continued. “We do it in part because the Biden Administration is refusing to enforce immigration laws already on the books and is illegally allowing mass parole across America of migrants who entered our country illegally.” Abbott has been embroiled in a lengthy legal battle with Biden’s Justice Department over Texas’ efforts to stem the flow of illegal immigration into the US. The tensions were exacerbated by a Supreme Court ruling earlier this week which authorized federal Border Patrol agents to remove razor wire installed along the US-Mexico border by the Texas authorities. Abbott responded to the ruling by saying that Biden had “refused to enforce [immigration] laws and has even violated them.”

The Texas governor has likened the record-breaking migration numbers in recent years to an “invasion,” and invoked constitutional authorities for a state to defend itself against foreign incursions. “That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary. The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border,” Abbott previously argued. The standoff with federal agencies came to a head earlier this month when Texas used state National Guard troops to block federal Border Patrol agents from accessing a 2.5-mile stretch along the border with Mexico. Following that incident, the case was brought before the Supreme Court, which ultimately decided in favor of the federal government.

Last month, Border Patrol reported 300,000 encounters with illegal immigrants, representing an all-time high. While House Republicans have similarly accused Biden of facilitating an “invasion,” the Democratic majority has countered that blocking entry to asylum seekers would be “cruel” and “inhumane.” As part of a border crackdown dubbed ‘Operation Lone Star’, Abbott has sought to build barriers along the border and detained around 500,000 illegal immigrants. Texas has also bused over 97,000 migrants that the federal authorities had allowed into the country to Democrat-run jurisdictions of New York City, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.

Texas

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“..wherever it appears, it brings disorder everywhere..”

China’s Defense Ministry: NATO is a ‘Walking War Machine’ Sowing Chaos (Sp.)

NATO is a walking war machine that brings chaos wherever it appears, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said at a briefing on Thursday. “We have drawn attention to inappropriate statements by the NATO Secretary General regarding China. As a regional military organization, NATO has launched and participated in wars since the very days of its inception,” Wu Qian said. He observed that over the past few years, the alliance has been steadily shifting its focus towards the Asia-Pacific region, employing the nonexistent “China threat” as a means to provoke bloc confrontation and endangering regional security “It should be said that NATO is a walking ‘war machine,’ and wherever it appears, it brings disorder everywhere,” he pointed out.

Wu Qian has called on NATO to cease their fabrication of lies and cease engaging in dangerous actions that disrupt the Asia-Pacific region, and to treat China, along with the Chinese armed forces and its development in an unbiased and rational manner. During the World Economic Forum in Davos, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized that the US-led military bloc remains “regional” in nature and will continue to be so. Stoltenberg also engaged in classic blame game, stating that the Western bloc allegedly does not regard China as an adversary and does not wish to expand into Asia. “This is not about NATO moving into Asia, but instead about the fact that China is coming close to us,” he claimed.

South China Sea

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“And the fool responsible for this policy is running for reelection as president with the media’s and America’s elites’ support.”

The Western World: RIP (Paul Craig Roberts)

I have come to the depressing conclusion that the white ethnicities that constituted the nations of Western Civilization have degenerated into such insouciance and stupidity that they have no possibility of survival. They sit mindlessly in front of TV absorbing their brainwashing and indoctrination. They can’t pay their rent, mortgage or car payments, but they pay endlessly for care of immigrant-invaders who are overwhelming their communities with material needs. In the US, North Carolina, once a Southern state, now an immigrant staging ground, has given over its high schools to serve as immigrant-invader “resettlement areas.” To Hell with the North Carolina taxpayers. Immigrant-invaders’ rights preempt those of North Carolina taxpayers, whose majority white population, according to the narrative, consists of white supremacist racists exploiters. North Carolina has also, at taxpayers’ expense, built a campus for a “head’s start” program for children of immigrant invaders. The program takes over a former school property for NC American citizens.

Wherever you look, you see the US welcoming at citizens taxpayer expense endless burdens from immigrant-invaders permitted to walk unheeded across the border into the Tower of Babel that the US has become. According to leaks, RINO Republican Senators are preparing an immigration bill that would force America to accept 1.8 million immigrant-invaders each year. Amazing to watch white people destroy their own country. No one in America can do anything about it. Instead of stopping the invasion and over-running of the country, the US government commits endless American resources to defending the aggressively expansive borders of Israel and Ukraine, while Washington dismantles the barrier put in place to defend America’s borders. And the fool responsible for this policy is running for reelection as president with the media’s and America’s elites’ support.

In what remains of European ethnic countries, the director of the EU’s “border protection agency, Frontex,” Hans Leitjens, said that “nothing can stop immigrants.” What he means is that the EU will not stop immigrant-invaders from bringing the Camp of the Saints to all of Europe and perhaps to Russia as well, considering the weakness demonstrated by a government that could be ruling the world. The dumbshit Hans Leitjens, obviously a proponent of Western annihilation, says that opposition to being overrun by immigrant-invaders constitutes “xenophobia and prejudice.” There you have it. If white ethnicities attempt to prevent their overthrow by invaders, they are xenophobic and racist. How did so many white ethnicities get converted to a point of view that doesn’t serve them? This is what white people have learned to expect from “their” governments. Don’t you think it is strange that the world’s white ethnicities are prepared to commit lives and endless resources to protect the borders of Israel and Ukraine, but nothing to protect their own borders? How can people this totally stupid continue to exist?

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“..the garden isn’t growing “because its philosophy is not industrialization. Its philosophy is to make monopoly rents, meaning rents that you make in your sleep without producing value..”

Five Variables Defining Our Future (Pepe Escobar)

Losers Don’t Dictate Terms

1.The stalemate: That’s the new, obsessive US narrative on Ukraine – on steroids. Confronted with the upcoming, cosmic NATO humiliation in the battlefield, the White House and the State Dept. had to – literally – improvise. Moscow though is unfazed. The Kremlin has set the terms a long time ago: total surrender, and no Ukraine as part of NATO. To “negotiate”, from the Russia point of view, is to accept these terms.And if the deciding powers in Washington opt for turbo-charging the weaponization of Kiev, or to unleash “the most heinous provocations in order to change the course of events”, as asserted this week by the head of the SVR, Sergey Naryshkin, fine. The road ahead will be bloody. In case the usual suspects sideline popular Zaluzhny and install Budanov as the head of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the AFU will be under total control of the CIA – and not NATO generals, as it’s still the case.

This might prevent a military coup against the sweaty sweatshirt puppet in Kiev. Yet things will get much uglier. Ukraine will go Total Guerrilla, with only two objectives: to attack Russian civilians and civilian infrastructure. Moscow, of course, is fully aware of the dangers. Meanwhile, chatterbox overdrive in several latitudes suggest that NATO may even be getting ready for a partition of Ukraine. Whatever form that might take, losers do not dictate conditions: Russia does. As for EU politicos, predictably, they are in total panic, believing that after mopping up Ukraine, Russia will become even more of a “threat” to Europe. Nonsense. Not only Moscow couldn’t give a damn to what Europe “thinks”; the last thing Russia wants or needs is to annex Baltic or Eastern European hysteria. Moreover, even Jens Stoltenberg admitted “NATO sees no threat from Russia toward any of its territories.”

2.BRICS: Since the start of 2024, this is The Big Picture: the Russian presidency of BRICS+ – which translates as a particle accelerator towards multipolarity. The Russia-China strategic partnership will be increasing actual production, in several fields, while Europe plunges into depression, unleashed by the Perfect Storm of sanctions blowback against Russia and German de-industrialization. And it’s far from over, as Washington is also ordering Brussels to sanction China across the spectrum. As Prof. Michael Hudson frames it, we are right in the middle of “the whole split of the world and the turning towards China, Russia, Iran, BRICS”, united in “an attempt to reverse, undo, and roll back the whole colonial expansion that’s occurred over the last five centuries.” Or, as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov defined at the UN Security Council this process of BRICS leaving Western bullies behind, the changing world order is like “a playground scuffle – which the West is losing.”

3.The Lone Emperor: The “stalemate” – actually losing a war – is directly linked to its compensation: the Empire squeezing and shrinking a vassalized Europe. But even as you exercise nearly total control over all these relatively wealthy vassals, you lose the Global South, for good: if not all their leaders, certainly the overwhelming majority of public opinion. The icing in the toxic cake is to support a genocide followed by the whole planet in real time. Bye bye, soft power.

4.De-dollarization: All across the Global South, they did the math: if the Empire and its EU vassals can just steal over $300 billion in Russian foreign reserves – from a top nuclear/military power – they can do it to anyone, and they will. The key reason Saudi Arabia, now a BRICS 10 member, is being so meek on the genocide in Gaza is because their hefty US dollar reserves are hostage to the Hegemon. And yet the caravan moving away from the US dollar will only keep growing in 2024: that will depend on crucial crossover deliberations inside the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) and BRICS 10.

5.Garden and jungle: What Putin and Xi have essentially been telling the Global South – including the energy-rich Arab world – is quite simple. If you want improved trade and economic growth, who’re you gonna link to? So we’re back to the “garden and jungle” syndrome – first coined by imperial Britain orientalist Rudyard Kipling. Both the British concept of “white man’s burden” and the American concept of “Manifest Destiny” derive from the “garden and jungle” metaphor. NATOstan, and hardly all of it, is supposed to be the garden. The Global South is the jungle. Michael Hudson again: as it stands, the jungle is growing, but the garden isn’t growing “because its philosophy is not industrialization. Its philosophy is to make monopoly rents, meaning rents that you make in your sleep without producing value. You just have a privilege of a right to collect money on a monopoly technology that you have.” The difference now, compared to all those decades ago of an imperial free lunch, is “an immense shift of technological advance”, away from North America and the US, to China, Russia and selected nodes across Asia.

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“..more than eight further countries reportedly joined the coalition, but demanded anonymity, given the potential political fallout from associating with Washington and Tel Aviv.”

How Gaza Is Impacting The Great Power Standoff (Sweidan)

In response to Yemen’s Ansarallah-aligned armed forces’ Red Sea blockade of Israeli-linked vessels, the US Department of Defense announced the formation of “Operation Guardian of Prosperity … to uphold the foundational principle of freedom of navigation” in those waters, initially consisting of a coalition of ten countries, most of them insignificant partners. The coalition proved shaky from the get-go, with only the US and Britain actively involved in military strikes on Yemen. The reluctance of key European countries France, Spain, and Italy to join the naval alliance indicated a growing skepticism among the US’s traditional partners — both western and West Asian — about Washington’s commitment and capability to defend its allies in any impactful way. Interestingly, more than eight further countries reportedly joined the coalition, but demanded anonymity, given the potential political fallout from associating with Washington and Tel Aviv.

Crucially, the Pentagon’s stated purpose of securing navigation in the Red Sea does not align with the actual threat presented, revealing ulterior motives behind US actions. The Yemenis have repeatedly confirmed that they only intend to inhibit the passage of Israeli-owned or destined vessels — and that all other ships are free to pass. In short, the US/UK-led coalition is acting as a naval arm for Israeli military forces, seeking specifically to ensure unimpeded access for ships heading to Israeli ports via the Bab al-Mandab Strait. That’s not a position many other states will get behind if they want to maintain freedom of transport for their own shipping vessels. Ultimately, the American show of force in these waterways seeks to consolidate US naval dominance, which war-torn Yemen, West Asia’s poorest country, has contested. As outlined in the National Security Strategy for 2022:

“The US “will not allow foreign or regional powers to jeopardize freedom of navigation through the Middle East’s (West Asia) waterways, including the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al Mandab, nor tolerate efforts by any country to dominate another — or the region — through military buildups, incursions, or threats.” According to media reports following massive US airstrikes against Iraqi targets on 23 January, Iraqi resistance factions will now also follow Yemen’s suit by implementing a blockade of Israeli ports in the Mediterranean Sea. Current events are spiraling out of Washington’s control as onlookers increasingly question the utility and competence of US naval leadership in the world’s important waterways. Equally, there is recognition that other formidable forces and states have emerged, challenging US control over key global straits. In the words of British politician and writer Walter Raleigh, “Who rules the seas rules the world.” Under Sanaa’s watch, the US no longer can claim rule over the Red Sea or even its adjacent waterways.

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“So the key to solving the problem is in Washington before it is in Tel Aviv..”

Netanyahu Cannot Survive 10 Minutes Without US Support – Iran FM (Cradle)

During an interview with ABC News on 23 January, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian asserted that the key to ending Israel’s genocide campaign in Gaza and averting a wider regional conflict lies in the hands of US authorities. “If the US today stops its backing — logistical and weapons, political and media support — of the genocidal war launched by Israel, then I can assure you that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu will not survive for 10 minutes,” Iran’s top diplomat told ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz during. “So the key to solving the problem is in Washington before it is in Tel Aviv,” he said from New York on the sidelines of the UN Security Council meeting on West Asia. “The scope of the war has become wider. This means that the danger of having a wider war in the region has gone up,” Amir-Abdollahian added, blaming the US and Israel for escalating tensions across the region.

“Nobody is going to benefit from any war. We believe that the solution is never war,” the Iranian official stressed. When pressed by Raddatz about Iranian support for Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement, Amir-Abdollahian rejected the accusations, calling them “a TV show.” He later confirmed Iran’s full support for Hamas, saying the group is “a Palestinian liberation group that is standing against occupation.” “Of course, we never approved the killing of women and children, civilians anywhere in the world. We never support it,” he added when asked about the civilian casualties during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October. During his visit to New York, Amir-Abdollahian met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss several topics, including ways to send humanitarian aid to the north and south of Gaza.

He also held talks with his French and Malaysian counterparts. “Today was an opportunity to talk and consult with some foreign ministers. The meeting and discussion with the foreign ministers of France and Malaysia both included positive, forward-looking, and constructive discussions, especially in bilateral areas”, Amir-Abdollahian noted. The Iranian foreign minister held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov as well, as the two reportedly agreed on the need for a swift ceasefire in Gaza and conditions for providing humanitarian assistance to civilians. “General concern was expressed about the tense situation in the Red Sea, which has sharply degraded,” a statement released by the Kremlin said.

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“..Israel has overriding interest in protecting its ‘rights’ to the territorial waters of Gaza, where there are rich gas fields offshore. Israel claims sole ownership of those territorial waters.”

Gaza War’s Financial Reason Mainstream Media Won’t Cover – Ray McGovern (Sp.)

Israel sees “a real economic interest” in Gaza, and that explains why no matter the extent of global outrage, Tel Aviv’s military campaign in the beleaguered enclave rages on, Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, told Sputnik. “The Israelis see a real economic interest in dominating Gaza. And that’s why, of course, [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has made it very clear: no, they have no intention of leaving Gaza. It’s going to be part of Israel unless they are faced down by people who think it important to defend the Palestinians, and will act to end that genocide that’s going on right now, and that our government, the United States, is not only enabling, but providing arms for and other political support,” McGovern said.

In late December, the Biden administration bypassed Congress and approved more weapons and munitions for Israel. The package was pushed through via an emergency determination and covered a sale worth $147.5 million, all the while amid Washington’s rhetorical calls for an end to civilian deaths. “On the economic side, which is all-important, of course, Israel has overriding interest in protecting its ‘rights’ to the territorial waters of Gaza, where there are rich gas fields offshore. Israel claims sole ownership of those territorial waters. And, there’s this design for an East Med pipeline which would permit Israel to export to Italy and elsewhere in the European Union the natural gas it has seized by military force from the Palestinians in Gaza. And that’s something that you really don’t see in the in the mainstream press here, do you?” the pundit queried.

“So genocide is genocide, and unless that stopped, Israel will not only profit from ‘additional security’ for a while, but will also profit from having a better ‘claim’ or a semi- or a quasi-legal claim to the waters off Gaza, which, as people know, are very rich in gas deposits,” McGovern stressed. [..] Looking ahead, McGovern suggested that “a lot will depend on the outcome of the genocide in Gaza, whether that’s allowed to continue or whether we [the United States] will finally say […] ‘No more arms until you stop the murder in Gaza.'”

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Cue US.

Iran ‘A Legitimate Target’ – Israel (RT)

Iran is now a “legitimate target” for Israeli attacks, Economy Minister Nir Barkat has told The Telegraph, raising fears of an armed conflict with Tehran. He also claimed that the war in Gaza is not being fought with enough aggression by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). “Iran is a legitimate target for Israel,” said Barkat. “They will not get away with it. The head of the snake is Tehran. “My recommendation is to adopt the strategy that President Kennedy used in the Cuban Missile Crisis. What he basically said then was, ‘A missile from Cuba will be answered with a missile to Moscow,’” the minister added, referring to the 1962 standoff between the US and the USSR.

Barkat’s rhetoric echoed a recent statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who blamed Iran for standing behind the militant groups in Gaza. He claimed that Israel was already carrying out direct attacks on Iran. “Iran is the head of the octopus and you see its tentacles all around from the Houthis to Hezbollah to Hamas,” said the prime minister. Israel claims that Iran was involved in plotting the October 7 attacks, when around 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage in the surprise Hamas raid near Gaza. Israel retaliated by launching an aerial bombardment and ground operation against the Palestinian enclave, which has resulted in the deaths of around 25,000 people, according to local health officials. Iran has denied having any role in the Hamas assault on Israel, with Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani saying such accusations were “based on political reasons.”

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“..the Biden administration “won’t say this and it won’t be published by the media.”

Col. Macgregor Says at Least 400 Americans Died in Ukraine (Sp.)

Former Pentagon Adviser Col. Douglas Macgregor said Wednesday that at least 400 Americans have died in Ukraine and accused authorities of the United States of concealing this information. “Our friend [US Senator] Lindsey Graham said we should be so grateful no Americans have died in Ukraine. This is a Lie. We know that at least 400 Americans have died whether they are contractors or in uniform,” Macgregor said on X without saying where the number came from. Macgregor added that the Biden administration “won’t say this and it won’t be published by the media.” The former Pentagon official also believes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “will end up in one of his mansions in Cyprus or Italy or possibly end up in Florida” when the Ukraine conflict is over, adding that “this whole thing is a scam and the Ukrainians have been exploited by the United States.”

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“We no longer have ammunition. We are allowed to fire only three shells a day..”

‘Suicide Mission’: Ukrainian Troops Reveal Dire Situation on Battlefield (Sp.)

Futile attempts to attack positions of Russia’s military have been likened to suicide missions by a Ukrainian soldier in an interview with Le Figaro. With Russia’s military continuing its probing offensive in the Kupyansk area in the Kharkov region, Ukraine’s troops have less and less ammunition to withstand the onslaught. It is like suicide, a senior sergeant of Ukraine’s Armed Forces by the name of Mikhail told a journalist from the French outlet. The Ukrainian Armed Forces, which have sustained tremendous casualties and hardware losses since the failed summer counteroffensive, have “nothing to fight back with,” according to the publication, and are forced to hide and run away as “Russian shells hit positions under 500 meters away from them.” “We no longer have ammunition. We are allowed to fire only three shells a day,” the Ukrainian soldier told a French journalist.

He claimed that while “rationed,” the shells might suffice to hold positions, but any attempts at attacking the Russian military are out of the question. The Ukrainian Armed Forces simply do not have the resources, he said.“If we want to go on the offensive in the spring, we will require more people, ammunition, F-16 fighters and SCALP cruise missiles. Going into an attack without air support is suicide,” the serviceman was quoted as saying. Another interviewed Ukrainian soldier, Senior Sergeant Sergey, added:“We’re running low on ammunition, but we’re holding out for now. We have at our disposal only 40% of the number of shells that we need. If the Russians launch a serious offensive here, we won’t last long.”The Ukrainian soldiers showed no enthusiasm about the prospective outcome of the battlefront clashes.“If we are asked to attack, we will attack. But it would be suicide. We don’t have enough people or ammunition,” the French outlet quotes the Ukrainian troops as saying, adding that they are “suffering colossal losses in manpower.”

Last year, in mid-December, the same expression, “suicide mission,” was used by Ukrainian Marines when describing an attempt to cross the Dnepr River, as quoted by The New York Times. Recently, Celeste Wallander, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said that the Pentagon is aware of the Ukrainian military’s concerns that they “do not have the stocks and the stores of ammunition that they require.” Referencing the stalemate in Congress regarding further aid for Kiev, Wallander added: “Without funding, we would not be able to match the pace that we have provided Ukraine with since the start of this conflict.”

Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder also acknowledged that the US Defense Department had put on “pause” sending additional weapons to Ukraine from its inventories “given the implications for our own military readiness.” “This of course prevents us from meeting the most urgent battlefield needs, to include things like artillery rounds,” Ryder said on January 23. In the wake of the botched Ukrainian counteroffensive, the Russian Armed Forces have been routinely knocking out Kiev’s NATO-grade weaponry, shredding the myth of the superiority of Western equipment to its Russian-made counterparts. Amid waning interest in aiding the corrupt regime of Volodymyr Zelensky, its Western allies have been disposing of outdated and ill-conditioned weapons by sending them to the Ukrainian military. Thus, after dozens of much-lauded Leopard 2 main battle tanks (MBT) were decimated by Russia, due to its limitations, the West began dispatching “upgraded” Soviet-era T-72s to Kiev.

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“..Immediately afterwards, statements about the involvement of Kiev’s forces began to disappear from the Ukrainian internet..”

Why Did Ukraine Shoot Down An Aircraft Carrying Its Own Soldiers? (Poletaev)

On Wednesday, an Il-76 transport plane was downed in Russian airspace. It was reportedly carrying 65 Ukrainian POWs scheduled for a prisoner swap, escorted by three Russian military guards, as well as six crew members. All on board were killed. It seems the aircraft was destroyed by missiles launched from a US-supplied Patriot system. The incident prompts a critical question: What were the Ukrainian soldiers doing so far from their homeland that air transportation was necessary? The answer is simple: The POWs were initially held in the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, but then came a Ukrainian HIMARS attack on a prisoner camp in Olenovka near Volnovakha on July 29, 2022, killing 53 people. This seems to have been the reason for the transfer, aiming to distance the POWs from high-tech precision weapons systems provided to Kiev by NATO. Today, we can say with absolute certainty that this did not help. Ukraine has once again shown the world just how dangerous it can be for its own citizens.

What happened? Around noon on Wednesday, Moscow time (9am GMT), footage spread online depicting the crash on snow-covered fields. A distinctive church seen on video meant the location was soon identified as being near the village of Yablonovo, Korochansky District, in Belgorod Region. Almost immediately, Ukrainian Telegram channels, both anonymous and verified (such as Unian and Ukrainskaya Pravda), were inundated with posts citing sources close to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). These posts claimed that a) the plane was purportedly carrying missiles for Russia’s S-300 systems intended for use in attacks on Kharkov, and b) the downing was attributed to the Kiev’s actions. A short time later, the Russian Defense Ministry officially announced that 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers who were being transported to Belgorod for a prisoner exchange were on board the plane, along with six crew members and three guards.

Immediately afterwards, statements about the involvement of Kiev’s forces began to disappear from the Ukrainian internet, as well as any mention of the alleged cargo (missiles for the S-300 system). At 3pm Moscow time, the Russian Defense Ministry made an official announcement, stating that two Ukrainian missiles had been launched from the Liptsy suburb of Kharkov. The point of impact was approximately 100km away, a range well within the coverage of the AFU’s Patriot missiles of all modifications, including PAC-2 GEM-T and PAC-3 MSE. Concurrently, lists featuring the names of Ukrainian servicemen surfaced, which can be verified through the meticulous maintenance of Ukrainian POW databases by dedicated enthusiasts.

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“Countries that are permeated with Russophobic tendencies are dragging more and more military facilities, military equipment belonging to the alliance into their territory. This is, of course, a danger..”

West’s Anti-Russian Policy Now ‘At Its Peak’ – Peskov (TASS)

The West is going all out against Russia, as evidenced by the current holding of the largest-ever NATO exercise, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. “The strategy of deterring our country, of putting pressure on it, has not gone anywhere. Sometimes it escalates, sometimes it subsides. Now it is probably at its peak. Such exercises are the best proof of this,” he said on Channel One. Peskov pointed out that the West holds a very clear anti-Russian position, which is determined by NATO, while the alliance’s rhetoric “is determined across the ocean, in Washington.” The Kremlin spokesman was asked about the West’s policy in the context of today’s visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Kaliningrad Region.

Commenting on the situation in the region, Peskov noted that “Kaliningrad is an integral part of Russia,” and it is important for the authorities to keep the entire region’s life support system in a workable condition. “There are certainly dangers present, merely in strategic terms. You see what militaristic moods prevail now in Europe, in the neighboring Baltics and so on. Countries that are permeated with Russophobic tendencies are dragging more and more military facilities, military equipment belonging to the alliance into their territory. This is, of course, a danger; it requires additional measures to ensure that the security of our country is reliably ensured,” the presidential spokesman emphasized.

Todd

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“..by talking about a possible armed conflict with Russia European politicians are diverting the attention of residents of their countries from economic issues..”

EU Not Prepared For Potential Armed Conflict With Russia – Politico (TASS)

The European Union does not have the necessary defense potential to independently confront Russia without support from the United States in case of a potential armed conflict, the European version of the Politico newspaper wrote. “Europe is not only unprepared for [potential] war, it’s not preparing for war,” Banjamin Tallis from the German think tank DGAP said as quoted by the newspaper. Former US ambassador to Poland Daniel Fried shares this opinion. “The Europeans don’t have the capacity to defend,” Fried told Politico. The newspaper explains that since the end of the Cold War, the number of armed forces in EU countries has decreased by 2.5 times, from 3.4 million troops in 1989 to 1.3 million in 2022. Moreover, a number of countries have switched from the format of compulsory military service to military service under contract.

As a result, for example, the Belgian military is so short of ammunition and funding that soldiers will “have to throw stones” shortly after the start of any conflict, Politico points out, citing retired Belgian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Marc Thys. Without support from the United States, Europe is unable to resist Russia in the event of a potential armed conflict, the publication concludes. Statements by former US President Donald Trump about his intention to reduce the level of support from Washington towards European NATO allies raise alarm among officials of the community countries. Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that by talking about a possible armed conflict with Russia European politicians are diverting the attention of residents of their countries from economic issues. He noted that Europeans have always been inclined to search for an external enemy.

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When Eric Holder defies Congress: no problem.
When Peter Navarro defies Congress: jail.
When Hunter Biden defies Congress: no problem.
When Steve Bannon defies Congress: jail.

Trump Advisor Navarro Sentenced To Four Months For Ignoring J6 Subpoena (ZH)

Former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro was sentenced to four months in jail on Friday for ignoring a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. The DOJ had sought six months in jail and a $200,000 fine. As we noted last week, Navarro was arrested at a DC airport in June of 2022 on two misdemeanor contempt of Congress charges for doing exactly what Obama AG Eric Holder did (with zero consequences), and more recently, Hunter Biden – ignore a Congressional subpoena when he told the Jan. 6 committee to pound sand. “The Defendant chose allegiance to former President Donald Trump over the rule of law,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi in a 20-page sentencing memo submitted last Thursday night, Politico reported at the time.

Navarro was held in contempt in April of 2022 after he refused to provide documents and testimony to the Jan. 6 committee. A grand jury agreed with prosecutors that Navarro knew Trump hadn’t asserted executive privilege to bar him from testifying, and that even if Trump had – it wouldn’t have barred Navarro from testifying about certain non-covered subjects demanded by the Committee. “At no time did the Defendant provide the Committee with any evidence supporting his assertion that the former President had invoked executive privilege over the information the Committee’s subpoena sought from the Defendant, or otherwise challenge the Committee’s authority or composition,” wrote Aloi. “The Court was left with only the Defendant’s fan fiction version of what the Defendant wished or hoped the former President might have wanted but left unsaid.”

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After all his lies, how is he still in Congress? I genuinely don’t see how that works.

Adam Schiff A “Liar” Who Was “Censured” – Garvey (ZH)

While the 2024 presidential race dominates headlines, there are plenty of noteworthy happenings going on in Congressional contests. Case in point, former baseball great Steve Garvey (R-CA) just called Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) a liar over allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to rig the 2016 election. “I think you’ve been censured for lying,” the former athlete said to Schiff during a Monday night debate in Los Angeles. “And this is exactly what I’m talking about: career politicians who are trying to determine who we are by race or by color or by gender,” he continued. “They never listen. They have pre-arranged words to say.”

Schiff, who presided over Trump’s first impeachment, snarked back that he “was censured for standing up to a corrupt president” and “would do it all over again.” “That president has been indicted with … 91 felony counts — that president that you won’t refuse to support,” Schiff continued. “Yeah, he’s a danger. And I will stand up to him and [former House Speaker] Kevin McCarthy, and [Ohio GOP Rep.] Jim Jordan, and any of those MAGA enablers in Congress.” “You lied to 300 million people,” Garvey shot back, adding “You can’t take that back.”

As the NY Post notes: The California Democrat, who at the time of his allegations served as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, read portions of the now-debunked Steele dossier into the congressional record and said there was “ample evidence of collusion in plain sight.” “You honor me with your enmity. You flatter me with this falsehood,” Schiff following the floor vote. “Today I wear this partisan vote as a badge of honor, knowing that I have lived my oath.” Three independent federal investigations by special counsel Robert Mueller, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz and special counsel John Durham later found no such evidence existed.

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RCMP=Royal Canadian Mounted Police, aka Mounties.

RCMP Offering Police $75,000 Benefit To Change Genders (CS)

Officers received a message from the RCMP’s Health Care Benefits team: “I am pleased to inform you that gender affirming care benefit provisions have been added to regular Member health benefits.” “Gender affirming care” is of course the term that refers to medical sex changes. It’s also used when describing giving puberty blockers to children who (perhaps temporarily) think they are in the wrong body, despite growing evidence that giving them such is harmful to their long-term health. The memo states that the substantial new benefit towards transgender-related medical intervention is part “of our ongoing commitment to creating a more modern, inclusive and representative workforce.”

“The benefit will be applicable for certain gender affirming procedures not covered by provincial/territorial health care plans to help individuals with their gender affirmation journey,” the memo states. The criteria for eligibility are specific: officers must be 18 or older, under doctor’s care for gender affirmation, have exhausted provincial coverage, and have undergone all medically necessary procedures as determined by a physician or nurse practitioner. Pre-approval is required via a gender affirmation request form. Effective retroactively to October 12, 2023, the policy aligns the RCMP with civilian members and Public Service employees who have been receiving similar benefits since July 2023.

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DDR

 

 

Pepsi

 

 

Elon predictions

 

 

 

 

Cheetah

 

 

Night Monkeys
https://twitter.com/i/status/1750537795196612668

 

 


It took Jason Stieva 15 months to make a 8 feet high, 7.5 feet long, and about 2.5 feet wide Ghost ship.

 

 


During the exceptionally cold winter of 1795, a French Hussar regiment captured the Dutch fleet on the frozen Zuiderzee, a bay to the northwest of the Netherlands. That was the only time in history when men on horseback captured a fleet of ships. Painting: Léon Morel-Fatio

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Jan 232024
 
 January 23, 2024  Posted by at 9:40 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  45 Responses »


Salvador Dalí Dream, Caused by the Flight of a Bee (Around a Pomegranate, a Second Before Waking Up) 1944

 

Will War Result From The Ever Hesitant Putin? (Paul Craig Roberts)
The Four Horsemen of Gaza’s Apocalypse (Chris Hedges)
Netanyahu’s Shape-Shifting ‘Endgame’ (Alastair Crooke)
Russia’s Push for Palestinian State Can Stop Endless ‘Loop’ of Violence (Sp.)
US Sees Ukraine As A ‘Lucrative Business Project’ – Lavrov (RT)
US Forming ‘Colonial Administration’ In Ukraine – Russian Spy Chief (RT)
Ukraine Must Give Up Territory – Fico (RT)
Zelensky Brands Parts Of Russia ‘Historically’ Ukrainian (RT)
Medvedev Denounces Zelensky’s ‘Territorial Claims’ To Russia (RT)
AfD Leader Calls for German ‘Dexit’ Vote to Break From EU (Sp.)
Russian Attack On Nato In 2044 (Zlatko)
DOJ Seeking Retribution Against Journalist for Recent Jan. 6 Coverage (ET)
The Pipe-Bomb Caper (Kunstler)
Dutch Queen Promotes Digital ID at Davos (Martin Armstrong)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tucker Hunter

 

 

Biden inflation

 

 

 

 

RFK autism + allergy

 

 

Tucker Catturd

 

 

 

 

Stop counting

The People’s Pundit: But that’s only half the story. The other half, is that they were lying. They actually continued to add to the totals between midnight and 3AM.

 

 

 

 

“The failure to confront Russia’s enemies with defeats means the pressure against Russia, the ongoing provocations, and the humiliations inflicted will continue until Russia is forced into war.”

Will War Result From The Ever Hesitant Putin? (Paul Craig Roberts)

I have often expressed my concern that the lack of proactive action by Putin, Xi, and Iran was maximizing the expansion of Israeli and US aggression in the Middle East and leading to a dangerous confrontation and outbreak of nuclear war. It is the purpose of Israel and Washington to attack Iran. That is what the Israeli-Hamas-Hezbollah-Washington-Houthis conflict is about. It is an entirely simple matter for Russia, China, and Iran to prevent any expansion of Israel’s war against Palestine. All they have to do is to announce a mutual defense treaty: An attack on one is an attack on all. But proactive action does not seem to be in the skill set of Washington’s targeted enemies. With the single exception of Putin’s intervention in Syria to prevent Obama’s invasion, Putin has proved to be ever hesitant about taking control of the situation. It took him eight years to abandon his delusion about the Minsk Agreement. When he finally realized that he had been taken for a ride, the Russian military was not prepared for the level of violence required. Consequently a war that Russia should have won in a few days is two years old and continuing.

From my experience with the liberal Russian intelligentsia, I would say that their program is surrender to Washington. They would rather be invited as visiting professors to Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, and to serve as consultants to American corporations than to be in conflict with the West. As Putin seems to believe toleration of subversion is a sign of democracy, he could have been prevented from required action by pressure to prove that he is not, as the entirety of the West proclaims, a dictator. Putin would have saved many lives by ignoring the propaganda of his enemies and being more forceful in Russia’s defense. But now Putin is showing more awareness of what needs to be done. News reports which I saw in the Indian press, not in the American whore media, a collection of paid liars, say that, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russia and Iran are finalizing a pact stressing their commitment to fundamental principles of Russian-Iranian relations, including unconditional respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In a way this is good news. It indicates that Putin has finally realized that left unprotected, Iran is vulnerable, and if Iran goes, Washington has a direct entry to send “jihadists” into the Russian Federation and the former Soviet central Asian republics. But once again, like with the nonsensical “Minsk Agreement,” Putin has made an error. The pact has been announced before it goes into effect. It is unclear when this acknowledgement of mutual association is to be finalized. So the message to Washington and Israel is to attack Iran now before the agreement goes into effect. There is risk that this will happen. By trying to avoid the expansion of conflict in the Middle East, when conflict is Washington’s and Israel’s intention, Putin by his non-intervention, has given a green light for the expansion of conflict.

Moreover, the Russian-Iranian pact does not seem to be, except, by implication, a mutual defense pact. You can bet that Victoria Nuland and Israel’s American neoconservative agents who control US foreign policy will try to strike Iran before the pact is is in effect or they will argue that it is not a mutual defense agreement. It seems that Russia, China, Iran, and Israel’s Muslim enemies think that words count when nothing but action counts. In the West words are meaningless. Only actions count. And Russia’s are missing. Now, let me back off a bit. There are other indications of progress toward an environment less able to be turned into war by Washington. China had the foresight to broker a peace deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia. This was a fundamental blow to Washington. This rapprochement, if it holds against Washington’s counter offer, has expanded Putin’s organization BRICS to include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. This gives new meaning to Saudi Arabia’s abandonment of the petro-dollar.

There is even a potential good sign on Russia’s part. Russia has announced air patrols over the Syrian Golan border with Israel. Putin prevented Washington’s invasion of Assad’s Syria but then went soft. Putin has left the Syrian oil fields in Washington’s hands. Putin has permitted both Israel and the US to conduct air and missile attacks on Syrian territory, apparently preventing Syria from using the Russian-supplied S-300 air defense system to protect Syrian territory. It remains to be seen if this means anything. The Russians have been sufficiently weakened by Western influence that they now have, associated with the Defense Ministry a “Center for Reconciliation.” This center says the air patrols are just for monitoring. In other words, there will be no military intervention, so it is largely meaningless. The failure to confront Russia’s enemies with defeats means the pressure against Russia, the ongoing provocations, and the humiliations inflicted will continue until Russia is forced into war.

There is a great deal of talk about American over-extension, outmoded weapon systems, excessive debt, inability to recruit for the military, etc., most of which is true. But the neoconservatives in control are still full of confidence, and this confidence is ever encouraged by Putin’s lack of decisive action. The war that is shaping up appears to be unavoidable. I know that it seems arrogant, egocentric, and self-glorifying to appear to be giving advice to Putin. But that is not what I am doing. I am describing a situation. To preclude a US/Israeli attack on Iran, there needs to be a Russia-China-Iran alliance which probably should include Turkey. Right NOW Iran needs the highly effective Russian air defense systems and, if Iran doesn’t have them, the hypersonic Russian long distance offensive missiles. Putin showed a strategic side when he committed the Russian Air Force to Syria’s defense, thus blocking Syria’s invasion by Obama. But he was very late getting into the game, almost too late. The multipolar world that Putin is always talking about cannot materialize without a Russian-Chinese-Iranian mutual defense treaty. Without more strategic vision and action on the part of Russia and China, war is unavoidable.

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“Joe Biden’s inner circle of strategists for the Middle East — Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan and Brett McGurk..”

The Four Horsemen of Gaza’s Apocalypse (Chris Hedges)

Joe Biden’s inner circle of strategists for the Middle East — Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan and Brett McGurk — have little understanding of the Muslim world and a deep animus towards Islamic resistance movements. They see Europe, the United States and Israel as involved in a clash of civilizations between the enlightened West and a barbaric Middle East. They believe that violence can bend Palestinians and other Arabs to their will. They champion the overwhelming firepower of the U.S. and Israeli military as the key to regional stability — an illusion that fuels the flames of regional war and perpetuates the genocide in Gaza.

In short, these four men are grossly incompetent. They join the club of other clueless leaders, such as those who waltzed into the suicidal slaughter of World War One, waded into the quagmire of Vietnam or who orchestrated the series of recent military debacles in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Ukraine. They are endowed with the presumptive power vested in the Executive Branch to bypass Congress, to provide weapons to Israel and carry out military strikes in Yemen and Iraq. This inner circle of true believers dismiss the more nuanced and informed counsels in the State Department and the intelligence communities, who view the refusal of the Biden administration to pressure Israel to halt the ongoing genocide as ill-advised and dangerous.

Biden has always been an ardent militarist — he was calling for war with Iraq five years before the U.S. invaded. He built his political career by catering to the distaste of the white middle class for the popular movements, including the anti-war and civil rights movements, that convulsed the country in the 1960s and 1970s. He is a Republican masquerading as a Democrat. He joined Southern segregationists to oppose bringing Black students into Whites-only schools. He opposed federal funding for abortions and supported a constitutional amendment allowing states to restrict abortions. He attacked President George H. W. Bush in 1989 for being too soft in the “war on drugs.” He was one of the architects of the 1994 crime bill and a raft of other draconian laws that more than doubled the U.S. prison population, militarized the police and pushed through drug laws that saw people incarcerated for life without parole. He supported the North American Free Trade Agreement, the greatest betrayal of the working class since the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act. He has always been a strident defender of Israel, bragging that he did more fundraisers for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) than any other Senator.

“As many of you heard me say before, were there no Israel, America would have to invent one. We’d have to invent one because… you protect our interests like we protect yours,” Biden said in 2015, to an audience that included the Israeli ambassador, at the 67th Annual Israeli Independence Day Celebration in Washington D.C. During the same speech he said, “The truth of the matter is we need you. The world needs you. Imagine what it would say about humanity and the future of the 21st century if Israel were not sustained, vibrant and free.” The year before Biden gave a gushing eulogy for Ariel Sharon, the former Israeli prime minister and general who was implicated in massacres of Palestinians, Lebanese and others in Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon — as well as Egyptian prisoners of war — going back to the 1950s. He described Sharon as “part of one of the most remarkable founding generations in the history not of this nation, but of any nation.”

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“Israel’s only answer (to the issue of how to maintain Zionism) was to keep the State’s borders undefined – whilst holding on to scarce water and land resources..”

Netanyahu’s Shape-Shifting ‘Endgame’ (Alastair Crooke)

The late Ariel Sharon, a long-time Israeli military and political leader, once confided to his close friend Uri Dan that, “the Arabs had never genuinely accepted the presence of Israel … and so, a two-state solution was not possible – nor even desirable”. In the minds of these two – as well as for most Israelis today – is the ‘Gordian Knot’ that sits at the heart of Zionism: How to maintain differential rights over a physical terrain that includes a large Palestinian population. Israeli leaders believed that in Sharon’s unconventional approach of ‘spatial ambiguity’, Israel was close to evolving a solution to the conundrum of managing differential rights within a Zionist majority state, which includes substantial minorities. Palestinians, many Israelis believed (until recently), were being successfully contained in a striated political and physical space – and were even being “disappeared” from significance – only for Hamas, on 7 October, to blow apart that whole elaborate paradigm.

This event has triggered a widespread and existential fear that the Zionist project could possibly implode, were its Zionist exceptionalist foundations to be rejected by a wide resistance ready to take the issue to war. U.S. journalist Steve Inskeep’s recent piece – Israel’s Lack of Strategy is the Strategy – brings into focus the seeming paradox: That whilst Netanyahu is very clear about that which he does not want, he at the same time remains obstinately opaque about what he does want as a future for Palestinians living on a shared terrain. For those who think that Middle East peace might (or should) be Netanyahu’s goal, this opacity appears as a serious ‘flaw’ to resolving the Gaza crisis. However, if Netanyahu (backed by his cabinet, and a majority of Israelis) offers no strategy for peace with the Palestinians, then perhaps its omission is not ‘a bug’, but is its feature.

To understand the underlying oxymoron, you have to grasp why Ariel Sharon and Uri Dan ‘said what they said’, and understand how Sharon’s military experience from the 1973 War effectively has shaped the entire Palestinian paradigm. In 2011, I wrote a piece in Foreign Policy which postulated that Sharon’s notion of Palestinian Permanent Ambiguity was – and has been – the Zionists’ principle answer to how to bypass the paradox inherent within Zionism. Thirty years later, it still lurks in all of Netanyahu’s (and Israeli leaders across the political spectrum’s) recent pronouncements. Even in 2008, Foreign Minister (and lawyer), Tzipi Livni, was spelling out why “Israel’s only answer (to the issue of how to maintain Zionism) was to keep the State’s borders undefined – whilst holding on to scarce water and land resources – leaving Palestinians in a state of permanent uncertainty, dependent on Israeli goodwill”.

And I noted in a separate piece: “Livni was saying that she wanted Israel to be a Zionist state – based on the Law of Return and open to any Jew. However, to secure such a state in a country with very limited territory – means that land and water must be kept under Jewish control, with differential rights for Jews and non-Jews – rights that affect everything, from housing and access to land, to jobs, subsidies, marriages and migration”. A two-state solution inherently therefore, did not solve the problem of how to maintain Zionism; rather, it compounded it. The inevitable demand for full equal rights for Palestinians would bring the end of Jewish ‘special rights’, and of Zionism itself, Livni argued – a threat with which most Zionists concur. Sharon’s answer to this ultimate paradox, however, was different: Sharon had an alternative plan for managing a large non-Jewish ‘out-group’, physically present within a Zionist State of differentiated rights. Sharon’s alternative amounted to frustrating a two-state solution within fixed borders.

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“Without the establishment of a Palestinian state, there can be not reliable security for Israel,” Lavrov said.”

Russia’s Push for Palestinian State Can Stop Endless ‘Loop’ of Violence (Sp.)

A lasting resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli crisis is the keystone to regional stability, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. “The main focus of efforts should be the creation of a Palestinian state in full compliance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. The state described in these decisions would be competent and would exist in security and good neighborliness side by side with Israel and other countries in the region,” Lavrov said, speaking at a press conference on the results of Russian diplomacy in 2023 on Thursday. “Without the establishment of a Palestinian state, the Palestinian people will continue to feel disadvantaged and disenfranchised. Generation after generation of young Palestinians will fell this injustice and pass it on to their children. This must end through the creation of a Palestinian state. I hope that the Israeli leadership will eventually come to this conclusion…Without the establishment of a Palestinian state, there can be not reliable security for Israel,” Lavrov said.

The foreign minister announced plans to address the United Nations Security Council next Tuesday to discuss how the crisis in the Middle East can be resolved through “collective efforts,” in place of current attempts by the United States to “advance its agenda around the world.” “Perhaps our Western colleagues should learn some life lessons. And the countries of the region must insist that they are the ones who live here, and that for them, the security of all states [in the region] is of decisive importance to them. No one wants to prohibit advice from the outside, but the final decisions should be made by regional countries themselves,” Lavrov stressed. The creation of a Palestinian state is the “dream” of the Arab and Muslim World, and Russia’s position on the Palestinian-Israeli crisis indicates a very good understanding of the Middle East, says Riyadh-based political analyst Dr. Ahmed Al Ibrahim.

Russia’s position on Palestinian statehood is “going to be very well-received,” Al Ibrahim told Sputnik. “It’s going to cause stability. It’s going to give a lot of ground for the foreign policy of Russia to integrate here in the Muslim-Arab World. If Russia succeeded in that, then Russia has solved the most crucial thing in the history of this region by aligning Israel and Palestine to be together next [to each other]. And they’re going to win the hearts and the minds of the Arab and the Muslim World.” Attempts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have been spearheaded by the United States for some seven decades, Al Ibrahim recalled, noting that in all this time “nothing happened except destruction for the Palestinian land, and more expansion, more settlers taking lands.”

“Definitely the whole world would welcome Russia and the BRICS members to be mediating this. But the solution is going to be very hard. Russia and the BRICS members [would] have to coordinate with the United States and with Britain because they are the majority stakeholders of this file, in order to yank it from them and do something on the ground,” the political analyst noted. Otherwise, unless a genuine, multilateral effort is launched to establish Palestinian statehood, the cycle of violence being seen today will continue indefinitely, Al Ibrahim believes. “The real core of the problem is in the deep mind and the deep state of the Israelis,” Al Ibrahim stressed. “Do they want a two-state solution?

We still see at the Knesset, when you enter the building, a big map – a big Israeli state from the [Jordan] River to the Sinai. If this is the creed of the Israelis, then there is no point of anybody mediating and Israel needs to work within themselves in order to come up an evolution to change their mindset and work to have a peaceful neighboring country with the Arab World supporting them. By reaching that, Israel is going to gain a lot by normalizing relationships with many Arab and Muslim countries,” he emphasized. “But if they’re going to play the cat and mouse game, you know, ‘I say something and I do something else on the ground,’ this is not going to work,” Al Ibrahim said, saying Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Arab countries and the Muslim World in general are too smart to be tricked by such deception.

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“..not as a war that has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives … but as a profitable business project.”

US Sees Ukraine As A ‘Lucrative Business Project’ – Lavrov (RT)

Recent statements from the US suggest it regards Ukraine as nothing but a “lucrative business project,” one that it is profiting from, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the UN Security Council on Monday. The minister was referring to earlier statements made by US State Secretary Antony Blinken. Last month, the top US diplomat claimed that 90% of the money allocated for Ukrainian aid ends up getting funneled back to the US “to the benefit of American business, local communities, and strengthening the US defense industrial base.” In November 2023, the Washington Post also reported that the majority of these funds were spent on manufacturing new weapons or replacing the equipment sent to Ukraine out of American stockpiles.

The US is essentially “developing its military industrial” complex while “dumping the old junk in Ukraine,” Lavrov said. Russia’s top diplomat also claimed that most major Ukrainian companies, including lithium producers, are being sold to Americans and US companies have been able to get their hands on Ukraine’s fertile land “on the cheap.” Lavrov denounced the statements made by US officials as “cynical” and said that Washington has been treating the ongoing conflict “not as a war that has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives … but as a profitable business project.” Moscow is waging a military campaign not against Ukraine but against “a criminal regime, presumptuous in its impunity,” he declared.

Kiev has not forgone on the “war against its own citizens in the east and south” despite years-long efforts by Moscow to find a peaceful solution to this crisis, he explained, adding that over 7 million Ukrainians had found refuge in Russia since the 2014 Maidan coup. Kiev’s Western backers have never tried to stop the government from persecuting Russian-speaking Ukrainians, the minister said, accusing the US and its allies of using the past few years to “arm Ukraine and prepare it for war against Russia,” while using the Minsk Agreements as a cover. Russia is ready for talks on Ukraine but it is not willing to discuss ways to keep Kiev’s current government in power, Moscow’s top diplomat concluded.

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“Zelensky realizes that the damaging data that the Americans have is capable of destroying him as president. In this situation, he’ll continue to dance to the tune of his American masters..”

US Forming ‘Colonial Administration’ In Ukraine – Russian Spy Chief (RT)

Washington has begun creating “a colonial administration” in Ukraine consisting of local politicians who have sworn allegiance to the US, the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has said. The US government has demanded that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky “remove” dozens of high-ranking officials, whom Washington no longer trusts, from their posts under various pretexts, Sergey Naryshkin claimed on Monday. Washington wants those jobs to be filled by “Ukrainians trained in the West, who have sworn allegiance to American interests,” he said in comments cited by the SVR press service. “As part of the policy of total vassalization of Ukraine, the US has started forming what is essentially a colonial administration in that country,” the spy chief stated.

According to Naryshkin, the required changes in the Ukrainian government were relayed to Zelensky during his visit to Washington in December. “The Americans are pushing for Ukrainian ambassador to Washington Oksana Markarova, who received her education at Indiana University Bloomington, to take the post of prime minister. The deputy head of the Finance Ministry, Alexander Kava, who studied at Harvard University, is being suggested for the job of finance minister. The current deputy head of the Economy Ministry, Taras Kachka, a graduate of Poland’s National School of Public Administration (KSAP), is recommended for the post of economy minister,” he said. The latest high-profile change in the Ukrainian cabinet follows the pattern described by Naryshkin. Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who replaced Zelensky’s ally Aleksey Reznikov in the job last fall, used to participate in the Future Leaders Exchange program, funded by the US State Department.

The Biden administration, which is in possession of a “killer corruption dossier” on members of Zelenksy’s inner circle, is threatening to make this information public if Ukrainian leader refuses to greenlight the desired personnel decisions, the spy chief claimed. “Zelensky realizes that the damaging data that the Americans have is capable of destroying him as president. In this situation, he’ll continue to dance to the tune of his American masters,” Naryshkin predicted. The US, which has provided Zelensky’s government with $111 billion in military and economic assistance since the start of the conflict with Russia, already has advisers embedded in all key Ukrainian ministries, but Washington believes this is not enough and is “steadily increasing Kiev’s feudal dependence,” Naryshkin said.

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“What are [the Ukrainians] waiting for? That the Russians will leave Donbass and Lugansk, or that they will leave Crimea? It’s unrealistic,” Fico insisted.”

Ukraine Must Give Up Territory – Fico (RT)

Ukraine should concede the loss of some of the territories that were previously under its control in order to end the conflict with Russia, Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico has said. Fico made the statement during a weekend interview with broadcaster RTVS dedicated to his upcoming visit to Ukraine. The Slovak PM is scheduled to travel on Wednesday to Uzhgorod, a city near the border between the two countries, for a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Denis Shmygal. The ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev can’t be resolved through military means and should end in compromise that might be “painful for both sides,” he said. “What are [the Ukrainians] waiting for? That the Russians will leave Donbass and Lugansk, or that they will leave Crimea? It’s unrealistic,” Fico insisted.

The People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk were officially incorporated into the Russian state in the fall of 2022, together the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, as a result of referendums held in those areas. Crimea has been a part of Russia since 2014. The continuation of the fighting that has been underway since February 2022 will only make Moscow stronger, Fico added. The Slovak premier also said Ukraine was “not a sovereign, independent country” due to it being “under the absolute influence of the US.” He criticized the EU for making “a huge mistake” of following Washington’s lead when it comes to dealing with Kiev, instead of developing its own “sovereign” view on the issue. As for his talks this week with Shmygal, Fico promised to tell his Ukrainian counterpart that he’s against Kiev’s membership in NATO, as that would be “exactly the basis of World War Three,” and to reiterate that President Vladimir Zelensky’s government won’t be getting any more weapons from Bratislava.

The prime minister’s interview caused angry reaction in Kiev, with the head of the Ukrainian parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Aleksandr Merezhko demanded that Fico’s trip to Ukraine be canceled for his “disgraceful statements” that crossed “the red line.” “Every country should have at least minimal self-respect. It’s absolutely unacceptable to pretend that nothing is happening when the leader of another state makes statements that question the sovereignty of a state” that he’s about to visit, Merezhko wrote on Facebook. Fico made a comeback as Slovakia’s prime minister in October after his party won the snap election in the EU country, campaigning on promises of, among other measures, cutting military aid to Kiev and improving ties with Moscow.

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The MO: crazy claims.

Zelensky Brands Parts Of Russia ‘Historically’ Ukrainian (RT)

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky declared six Russian regions to be “historically inhabited by Ukrainians” in a decree published on Monday. The list does not include any of the territory that Kiev claims sovereignty over in the ongoing conflict with Moscow, and focuses on globally recognized parts of Russia. The document includes Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod regions, all of which border Ukraine. It also lists Voronezh, Rostov, and Krasnodar regions, all of which bordered Ukraine before 2014, when Crimea decided to join Russia in a referendum and the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics declared independence from Kiev. Zelensky claimed the population of these territories had been subjected to “the policy of forced Russification,” and ordered the government in Kiev to develop “an action plan” to “preserve” Ukrainian “national identity” in Russia.

The decree calls on Russia to “provide Ukrainians living in its territories” with access to education in the Ukrainian language, as well as access to Ukrainian-language mass media and special “civil, social, cultural, and religious rights.” Moscow has never imposed any restrictions on the Ukrainian language. Russia’s education minister, Sergey Kravtsov, said in July 2022 that “no one was banning” it, and that it would be taught in schools where necessary. Zelensky’s decree also tasks the Ukrainian government and the National Security and Defense Council with “collecting and studying facts and testimonies about crimes” supposedly committed against Ukrainians in Russia throughout its history, as well as “countering disinformation and propaganda” about Ukrainian history, allegedly spread by Moscow.

The president also instructed the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences to “prepare materials” on the “thousand-year-old history” of Ukraine and distribute them around the world. The country’s educational programs and textbooks should also contain “the true history of ethnic Ukrainians,” Zelensky added. The Russian regions mentioned in the decree have repeatedly been targeted by Ukrainian missile and drone attacks as well as shelling since the start of hostilities with Moscow in February 2022. Zelensky’s decree comes just weeks after Kiev launched a major attack on the city of Belgorod. The strike, which according to the Russian Defense Ministry involved the use of banned cluster munitions, claimed the lives of 25 people, including children, and left more than a hundred injured. In mid-January, a child was injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Voronezh – the capital of another region Zelensky claimed was “historically inhabited by Ukrainians.”

The developments come amid Kiev’s attempts to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) – the country’s biggest Christian denomination, which is reported to have more than 8,000 parishes. The Ukrainian government has long accused it of having ties with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that Ukraine in its pre-2014 borders was largely “created” by the Soviet leadership over the course of the 20th century. Historically, “Ukrainian lands” included a much smaller territory, he has argued. When the Cossacks living on the territory of modern Ukraine broke away from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th century following the Bogdan Khmelnitsky uprising and asked the then-Tsardom of Russia to take them in, the territory they controlled effectively amounted to present-day Kiev, Chernigov, and Zhitomir regions – three areas in the north of Ukraine, the Russian president said in 2022.

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“Medvedev dismissed the decree as a “crude PR stunt” aimed at drawing public attention away from the Ukrainian forces’ failures on the front lines..”

Medvedev Denounces Zelensky’s ‘Territorial Claims’ To Russia (RT)

The latest decree by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky essentially amounts to “territorial claims” on sovereign Russian regions, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday. Posting on Telegram, he was referring to a document declaring six Russian regions to be “historically inhabited by Ukrainians.” Signed on Monday, Ukraine’s Day of Unity, the presidential decree claims that six territories that are universally recognized as a part of Russia – the Krasnodar, Rostov, Voronezh, Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions – had been “historically” populated by “ethnic Ukrainians” that were then supposedly subjected to “forced Russification.” The document then orders the Kiev government to develop an “action plan” to “preserve” the Ukrainian national identity in Russia and demands the “true history” of Ukraine be made known to the “world.”

It also demands Russia provide people living in these regions with access to Ukrainian-language mass media and to some special “civil, social, cultural and religious rights.” Medvedev dismissed the decree as a “crude PR stunt” aimed at drawing public attention away from the Ukrainian forces’ failures on the front lines. He also said there was even no need to comment on the contents of the order, since the territories mentioned in it have always been part of Russia. The former president (2008-2012) also said it was high time Zelensky “stopped” such policies and abandoned them, or he might end up “annexing Canada in the near future.” Zelensky himself described signing the decree as a way to promote “truth about Ukrainians… and their history.” He also claimed that it was aimed at “restoring the truth about the historical past for the Ukrainian future.”

The Russian regions mentioned in the decree have been regularly subjected to drone and missile attacks as well as shelling by the Ukrainian troops. In December, Belgorod – the capital of one of the regions supposedly “historically inhabited by Ukrainians” – was struck by a major Ukrainian attack. The strike claimed the lives of 25 people, including children. The Russian Defense Ministry also said that Kiev’s forces used banned cluster munitions in an attack targeting the city center just a day before New Year’s Eve celebrations.

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Scholz will try to ban the AfD.

AfD Leader Calls for German ‘Dexit’ Vote to Break From EU (Sp.)

The Alternative for Germany party promotes direct voting on legislation and strict immigration controls. It was the subject of nationwide protests last week after some of its members were spotted at a meeting that advocated for mass deportation of immigrants in Germany, including those with German passports. Britain was “dead right” to leave the European Union and Germany should consider its own “Dexit,” the leader of the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) Alice Weidel said in an article published in US media on Monday. “If reform isn’t possible, if we fail to rebuild sovereignty of the EU member states, we should let the people decide, just as Britain did,” she said, adding that “we could have a referendum on ‘Dexit’ – a German exit from the EU.”

A recent poll found that only 45% of AfD members would currently vote to leave the EU and only 10% of the general population said they would. It is worth noting that opinions can shift rapidly. In late 2014, only 36% of Britons said they would support the UK leaving the EU; less than two years later, more than half voted for “Brexit.” The AfD is leading the polls in five East German states and is polling second nationally at 22%. The party hopes to make gains at both the European Parliamentary elections in June and the regional elections in September. However, AfD’s high polling numbers may not reflect how much power the party will have in the near term. Establishment parties, including conservative-leaning ones, have ruled out forming a coalition with the AfD, limiting its potential power.

Weidel admitted that the issue will limit her party’s power in the short term but believes the “firewall” will not last forever, pointing to the conservative establishment CDU party, which includes former chancellor Angela Merkel, as the first likely to break. “The CDU will not be able to maintain its firewall in the long term,” Weidel said. She added that the last year proved “that we can form a clear right-wing majority. And the CDU can’t refuse to accept that in the long term, especially in the eastern states.” Weidel admitted her party is unlikely to take control until 2029 at the earliest. It is currently polling only behind the CDU but is ahead of every other party, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three coalition parties.

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X thread. War games.

Russian Attack On Nato In 2044 (Zlatko)

Europe is being frightened by the “scenario of a Russian attack on NATO” in 2044. Former US commander Hodges and defense analyst Sam Cranny-Evans put together “their” scenario: “This is not about Russia trying to take over all of NATO. This is not what their goal will be in 20 years. It would be about destroying NATO as an alliance by invading the eastern flank and conquering critical places – like the Arctic – that would benefit them,” General Hodges said. In their opinion, everything will begin with cyber attacks on transport chains, after which a missile attack will be launched on key infrastructure facilities in Europe.

The ground operation will begin in Finland, where tanks controlled by artificial intelligence will “enter.” At the same time, the Suwalki corridor will be taken under control and the Baltic countries will be attacked. The Russian Navy, as planned by Hodges, will take control of the Arctic regions. “There is even the possibility of some kind of conflict in space, where satellites are used to attack each other or jam satellites, which has already been done at a lower level in Ukraine,” Cranny-Evans added. Ostashko reports.

The best take on this, from a commenter:

Then aliens will come down and mate with all the women in Sweden, Orcs will invade France and steal all the wine, and Zelensky will have run off with Von Der Layen and fathered 20 children……..

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“..events described under oath by two Capitol Police officers in the first Oath Keepers trial in 2022 could not have happened, based on Mr. Baker’s examination of security video..”

DOJ Seeking Retribution Against Journalist for Recent Jan. 6 Coverage (ET)

Attorneys for a journalist threatened with prosecution for being at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, are challenging federal prosecutors to try his case outside the District of Columbia, suggesting prosecutors are seeking retribution for his recent reporting on possible Capitol Police perjury and the Jan. 6 pipe bombs. Six attorneys who said they volunteered to represent Stephen Baker of Raleigh, N.C., released a statement on Jan. 22 expressing belief that the DOJ is seeking even more serious Jan. 6 charges as retaliation. Mr. Baker, a former independent journalist, now writes for Blaze Media. “We now have information that Steve’s reporting has so agitated officials in multiple federal agencies that an effort is now underway to find a basis to charge Steve with more serious crimes and to use those more serious crimes as a pretext for early morning raids to execute search and arrest warrants on him and his family,” the statement read.

“If this is true, and search and arrest warrants are used to drag Steve out of his house in the early morning hours someday soon, that will be evidence of retaliation against a journalist exercising his First Amendment rights to report information that is embarrassing to government officials.” The statement is signed by five well-known Jan. 6 defense attorneys: James Lee Bright, Brad Geyer, Phillip Linder, William Shipley, and Edward Tarpley Jr. It was also signed by Mr. Baker’s Raleigh-based attorney, Matthew Ceradini. Mr. Geyer and Mr. Shipley were federal prosecutors for more than two decades. “After not having indicted me for three years, it is clear that any move to do so now will be in retaliation for my reporting,” Mr. Baker wrote in a news release. “I will not be intimidated. I will continue to report the findings of my investigation into the evidence being made available to me to review,” he said.

The attorneys challenged the DOJ to try any case against Mr. Baker in the eastern district of North Carolina where Mr. Baker lives, or the northern district of Texas, where his employer, Blaze Media, is located. “Are citizens of those two districts not suitable jurors in Steve’s case?” the statement asked. “Is the federal judiciary in those two districts not able to provide a fair and impartial trial? “On what basis does the United States Department of Justice believe the ‘United States’ can only get a fair trial in the District of Columbia and not one of those ‘United’ States?” Mr. Baker’s most recent coverage identified the person who found one of the two pipe bombs on Jan. 6 as an undercover U.S. Capitol Police officer and not a “passerby.” Since October 2023, he wrote a series of stories that said events described under oath by two Capitol Police officers in the first Oath Keepers trial in 2022 could not have happened, based on Mr. Baker’s examination of security video.

Mr. Geyer suggested that reporting should result in the Oath Keepers’ convictions being thrown out. Mr. Baker was one of dozens of journalists at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. His video footage appeared in an HBO film and was licensed by the BBC, The New York Times, and The Epoch Times. Mr. Baker was first contacted by the FBI in July 2021 about his presence at the Capitol. He voluntarily sat down with FBI special agents in November 2021. He said he was told the DOJ was considering charging him with interstate racketeering because he received money from licensing his Jan. 6 video. In March 2023, he said he was warned by a high-profile journalist that his reporting was chafing some high-level DOJ officials. In August, he was served a subpoena for his Jan. 6 video. In December, the FBI told his attorney that his arrest was imminent, although that plan was subsequently delayed.

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“..the falsely-elected, tyrannically corrupt, and epically deranged regime fronted by the ghost-in-the-White House, “Joe Biden.”

The Pipe-Bomb Caper (Kunstler)

“The FBI must come forward with the whole truth, immediately. If they will not, then Republicans have a duty to tear the FBI down to its foundation, and ensure that no government organization is allowed to amass this kind of power ever again.” — Charlie Kirk . Kudos to Darren J. Beattie of Revolver News and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) for doing the FBI’s work for the FBI, smoking out the role of law enforcement (including the FBI) in but one module of the J6 operation that turned a peaceful mass assembly of disgruntled voters into a riot in order to color it as an “insurrection” and so destroy opposition to the falsely-elected, tyrannically corrupt, and epically deranged regime fronted by the ghost-in-the-White House, “Joe Biden.”

Mr. Massie arranged to extract previously unseen video from the Capitol Police vaults showing the exceedingly strange behavior of various law-men in the minutes after one of their number reported a pipe-bomb beside a park bench, a few steps away from their parked vehicles, outside the DNC headquarters near the US Capitol building around one o’clock in the afternoon on J6/21, just around the time that a joint session of Congress would commence the entertainment of official complaints and objections to the certification of votes in the 2020 presidential election. Of course, that proceeding was disrupted by events outside and inside the US Capitol, and those many complaints and objections were never registered.

Two cars are shown parked blocking the driveway to the basement garage: a white Washington DC Metro Police SUV and a black Secret Service cruiser — because Veep Kamala Harris happened to be in the building at the time. A man with a backpack, later identified as a plainclothes Capitol Police officer, steps up first to the Metro car, then to the Secret Service cruiser, cueing minutes of slow milling-about by the officers in the two cars. Eventually several cops dawdle over to the bench to inspect what turns out to be a pipe-bomb planted in plain sight on the ground there. The video shows no effort to cordon-off the area or to stop cars or pedestrians (children) from entering the scene near the bomb.

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“The power they tasted during the lockdowns opened Pandora’s Box..”

Dutch Queen Promotes Digital ID at Davos (Martin Armstrong)

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands took to the Davos stage to declare that digital IDs are necessary for nearly every aspect of social engagement. The Dutch queen told the World Economic Forum (WEF) that they can no longer trust the people, and digital IDs will provide governments with a clear way to track our behavior. Vaccine passports are necessary to tell “who actually got a vaccination or not,” highlighting how those at the top do not trust the public. They want complete unilateral control. In fact, she believes that children should not be allowed to enroll in school unless they have a digital ID that includes their vaccination passport. “It [digital ID] is also good for school enrollment; it is also good for health – who actually got a vaccination or not; it’s very good actually to get your subsidies from the government,” she said to a room of nodding heads. Want to open a bank account? You must present a digital ID.

Now the Netherlands implemented a COVID certificate that was required for travel throughout the EU. Citizens were provided yellow vaccination booklets that they were required to carry throughout the pandemic. Mass protests erupted, but the government did not drop restrictions until 72% of the population was already injected. Over 40% of restaurants said they would not ask patrons to show proof of vaccination to enter. Prime Minister Mark Rutte immediately fired Deputy Economic Affairs Minister Mona Keijzer for questioning the vaccine passport. “If we end up in a society where we have to be afraid of each other unless we can show proof, then you really have to scratch your head and ask yourself: Is this the direction we want to go?” Dissent is no longer tolerated. The power they tasted during the lockdowns opened Pandora’s Box. The Dutch government must realize they will be met with resistance as the Dutch people will not allow the government to control them without a fight.

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Foal

 

 

Bouzouki bear

 

 


When humans lose weight, fat is eliminated and leaves the body. 80% of the fat is exhaled through the lungs as carbon dioxide

 

 

Lyrebird

 

 

Cathedral
https://twitter.com/i/status/1749361361044517131

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Jan 152024
 
 January 15, 2024  Posted by at 9:17 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , ,  54 Responses »


Salvador Dalí The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus 1959

 

There is Hope After All (Paul Craig Roberts)
We Are Witnessing The Final Downfall Of The West (Emmanuel Todd)
The End of Global Leadership (Patrick Lawrence)
After 100 Days, Netanyahu Vows To Continue Gaza Killing (Cradle)
Western Strikes On Houthis Mostly Failed – NYT (RT)
Egypt’s Suez Canal Revenues Plunge (RT)
Political Survival Now Netanyahu’s ‘Real Objective’ (Sp.)
Ukrainian Army Mostly ‘Very Old Men’ – Commander (RT)
Why Did West Put Ukraine Funding Onto Back Burner? (Sp.)
Germany Unsure Where Its Ukraine Weapons Went – Der Spiegel (RT)
No Peace Without Russia – Swiss Foreign Minister (RT)
Fani Willis Says Accusations Of Affair With Trump Prosecutor Are Racist (NYP)
NBC News Admits ‘Deep State’ Exists… To Save Us From Trump’s Return (ZH)
Dems Hatch “Republicans For A Day” Scheme To Boost Haley Vs. Trump In Iowa (ZH)

 

 

 

 

Vivek
https://twitter.com/i/status/1746566676026393079

 

 

 

 

David Martin

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jane Doe 3

 

 

Assad

 

 

 

 

“The West is going down in flames. Don’t be discouraged by the collapse of evil. Be encouraged. The collapse of evil brings the opportunity for renewal.”

There is Hope After All (Paul Craig Roberts)

From time to time I receive a message from a reader that he or she has been reading my analyses for years, is convinced that what we have known as Western civilization is in collapse, but wishes to see some hope. What can we do to resurrect our civilization, integrity, moral behavior, and respect for truth? My position has been that nothing can be done unless the people are aware of their plight. My job is to bring awareness. Nothing can be done until the people seek awareness and become aware. As long as the media and official narratives keep people in The Matrix, nothing can be done. Movies such as V for Vendetta and The Matrix have made this clear. But today I bring you good news. After a conversation with a friend today, I can tell you that it is in the collapse of the system where hope resides. As every aspect of the system is corrupt, collapse is the corrective. The ruling elites have miscalculated. By bringing about the collapse, the elites are collapsing their own power.

Collapse brings reset, not the World Economic Forum’s, but the peoples’ reset. The people have the numbers, not the elites, who are diminished by fights among themselves. As their power shrinks from their miscalculations, their power diminishes. The elites know this, which is why they are trying to kill us with “vaccines,” “pandemics,” and the destruction of our food supply in the name of “saving the planet from global warming.” The only way humans can destroy planet Earth is through nuclear war, which seems to be the goal of US/Israeli neoconservatives, such as Robert Kagan and Victoria Nuland. Why is there hope in collapse of the accumulated evil? Because it clears the agenda. What can you do to survive the collapse? Arm yourselves. Create organizations of family, friends, community, county, and elevate them into state alliances against the anti-American woke, the anti-American neoconservatives, the anti-American Democrats, and your deadly anti-American enemy in Washington. Secession of the red states is possible.

It is the blue states that are the reservoirs of anti-American hatred. These states are a far more dangerous enemy to Americans than Russians, Chinese, Iranians, Hamas, and Houthis in Yemen. Yet we hear from the whore media nothing of the real threat, only the make-believe threat to America from the designated enemies of Zionist Israel’s expansion from the Nile to the Euphrates. Except for the Houthis and Hamas, the Muslim rulers are too content accepting bribes from Washington to do anything about the US/Israeli genocide of the Palestinians. Other than the Houthis, the entire Muslim world could be in the dock, with Israel and the West, at the International Court of Justice. One consequence could be the collapse of American/Israeli power in the Middle East. Arab power collapsed long ago. But American power has failed to take its place.

After a 20-year effort, the American “superpower” was defeated and driven out of Afghanistan by a few thousand lightly armed Taliban, who again rule the country, just as happened in Vietnam where endless US bombing only ensured the Vietcong’s victory. It is the Houthis and Iranians who are likely to control the sea lanes in the territory under attack, not Washington, unless the Houthis and Iranins accept being paid off. None of this works for the anti-American, anti-nation, anti-national sovereignty, anti-white civilization ruling elite of Washington. The ruling anti-western white elites hate America, national sovereignty, and human liberty far more than they hate their self-chosen foreign enemies chosen for profit and control reasons. The US Constitution is in the way of their dictatorship more than are the Houthis.The West is going down in flames. Don’t be discouraged by the collapse of evil. Be encouraged. The collapse of evil brings the opportunity for renewal.

Read more …

X thread by Emmanuel Hemmerlé.

“The American ruling class is devoid of morality, it has no more religion, all that remains with it is an obsession with money and war and a kind of enjoyment at creating a mess all over the world.”

We Are Witnessing The Final Downfall Of The West (Emmanuel Todd)

Emmanuel Todd is a prominent and brilliant French intellectual: a historian, a demographer, and an anthropologist. He is one of France’s last independent thinkers, a category that has become a rarity… while we used to have so many. He has just published a new book: “The Defeat of the West”. In it, he proposes a dispassionate analysis of the world’s geopolitical scene, laying out facts without taking moral stances. In Todd’s assessment, the disappearance of American Protestantism is the key factor in the fall of the West. This fall of the Protestant religion in America has given rise to this new American ideology reigning over the whole Western space: Nihilism. This is the central concept of the book. This Nihilism is both the trigger of the West’s final downfall and the driving force behind the West’s renewed violent imperialism. Here are some of his quotes from interviews he has given over the last couple days:

“My book is basically a sequel to Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. On the eve of the 1914 war, he rightly believed that the rise of the West was at its heart the rise of the Protestant world – England, the United States, Germany unified by Prussia, Scandinavia. France’s luck was to be geographically glued to the leading pack. Protestantism had produced a high level of education, unprecedented in human history, universal literacy, because it required that every believer should be able to read the Holy Scriptures for himself. In addition, the fear of damnation and the need to feel chosen by God induced a work ethic, a strong individual and collective morality. On the negative side, there were some of the worst forms of racism that ever existed – anti-black in the United States or anti-Jewish in Germany – since, with its conceptual dichotomy of “Chosen by God” and “Damned by God”, Protestantism renounced the Catholic principle of equality between all people.”

“Today, symmetrically, the recent collapse of Protestantism in the U.S. has set in motion an intellectual decline, a disappearance of work ethic, and its substitution by mass greed (official name: neoliberalism). After the rise of the West comes its downfall. This analysis of the religious element does not denote any nostalgia or moralizing lamentation in me: it is a historical observation.” “I emphasize the industrial deficiency of the United States with the revelation of the fictitious nature of the American GDP. I deflate this GDP and show the root causes of industrial decline: the inadequacy of engineering training and more generally the decline in educational levels. The US GDP is a bubble.” s”The fixation of the Western middle classes on transgenderism raises a sociological and historical question. To constitute in the social horizon the idea that a man can really become a woman and a woman a man is to affirm something biologically impossible, it is to deny the reality of the world, it is to affirm the false.”

“Trans ideology is, therefore, in my opinion, one of the flags of this nihilism that now defines the West, this drive to destroy, not just things and humans but reality.” “The collapse of Protestantism in the United States has caused a decline in the level of education.” “The disappearance of religion: Americans don’t go to church anymore, they don’t believe in God anymore.” “There is a powerful nihilistic impulse in the US: the search for war and violence. This is a lost society without meaning, that provokes or fans conflicts everywhere in the world.” “Something important has happened in the West : the transition from liberal democracy to liberal oligarchy.”

“France does not exist because it is now aligned with the United States.” “The Americans’ obsession is to prevent the cooperation between Germany and Russia. This is American leaders’ terror. But it’s going to fail because the West is going to lose. It’s reality that’s going to win.” “The best thing that could happen to Europe is the retreat of the US.” “The West is on an aggressive trajectory.” “The American ruling class is devoid of morality, it has no more religion, all that remains with it is an obsession with money and war and a kind of enjoyment at creating a mess all over the world.”

Read more …

“..the apartheid state, as it exposes its own grotesquerie, also exposes the West’s centuries of sins..”

The End of Global Leadership (Patrick Lawrence)

There are many photographs of President Biden floating around these days. Maybe it is because, even allowing for his physical decline and his mental incompetence, his minders can no longer keep him so thoroughly out of sight as this, an election year, begins. The picture I am thinking of, carried by the BBC, is a video frame shot at Biden’s Valley Forge speech last week. That was his first outing as he seeks reelection next November. And there are Joe Biden and First Lady Jill—excuse me, Dr. Jill—standing before the usual prop on such occasions, an immense American flag. Joe smiles out from a mask-like face, blank with what looks like bewilderment. Dr. Jill smiles, too—a frozen smile, but one that suggests she is at least aware of what is going on. Dr. Jill waves, left arm hoisted high. The two are holding hands. What is it about this image, among so many others, that causes it to linger in my mind? I conclude it was the utter emptiness of the poses and the gestures. I have seen few photographs of prominent pols, and in this case the spouse, so abjectly devoid of sincerity and authenticity.

It has something to do with the moment, too. This is a president who has supplied and financed a proxy war in Ukraine that has failed after killing scores of thousands of soldiers and displacing millions more. This is a president who now sponsors a genocide in Gaza as the world watches in real time—a genocide, do you hear me? This president’s signature project—America will lead democratic nations in a crusade against the world’s authoritarians—is virtually nowhere taken seriously. This is a man who presides with imperial distance over a republic that has tumbled into spiritual and social collapse and extreme economic inequality, all the while displaying more or less complete indifference to this national plight. This is a president facing articles of impeachment based on plentiful evidence that he participated in the influence-peddling schemes of his son and brother.

This is a man who is smiling. At the end of the video Dr. Jill has to lead President Joe off the stage. He does not stop smiling as she does so. I suppose the intent is to encourage as many Americans as possible to assume—to assume without thinking too much—all goes swimmingly as 2024 begins, the outlook altogether hunky-dory. My read of the Valley Forge image is upside down to this. I find the president and First Lady’s fixed expressions, and their evident determination that they must not betray any of what lies behind the smiles, frightening. This is what “victory culture” looks like when it is videoed or photographed, to borrow Tom Engelhardt’s very useful phrase. When Tom published The End of Victory Culture in 1995, he thought he had written the epitaph for the peculiarly American preference for the illusion of never-ending “wins,” success everywhere one looks. He knows better now, as a revised edition of this fine book makes clear. If I find the image of Joe and Dr. Jill Biden at Valley Forge frightening, I also find it dangerous. And I may as well add, I find it abusive.

This is a time of many defeats for America and Americans. There is the list noted above. The war in Ukraine is out-and-out lost no matter how long and perversely the U.S. and its clients continue wasting lives and money to avoid this truth. The Israelis will prevail on the ground in Gaza, as argued recently in this space, but Israel and America have already lost big, very big, if we think in strategic terms rather than tactically. The Gaza crisis, in turn, has further shredded the social and political fabric at home. Federal and state legislatures, the courts, the universities, the media, rights of assembly and free speech: How far will America go until it recognizes that U.S. support for an out-of-control Zionist state is damage America inflicts on itself?

I look now to a defeat greater than all of these. Ours is a passage in history that, however difficult it is, we must recognize for its sheer magnitude. It was a long time coming, but the pathological savagery of the Israelis as they exterminate the Palestinians of Gaza announces the end of any claim America and the West altogether have to global leadership on any kind of moral basis, legal basis, or any assumption that the West possesses superior ideals, principles of government, or what have you. Israel’s genocide, we had better acknowledge, has many antecedents. In this way the apartheid state, as it exposes its own grotesquerie, also exposes the West’s centuries of sins.

Read more …

“..the war is turning out to be a bloody slog that is demonstrating the limits of Israeli military capabilities—and the sophistication of Hamas’s underground defense network.”

After 100 Days, Netanyahu Vows To Continue Gaza Killing (Cradle)

In a speech on 13 January, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin said not even the International Court of Justice in The Hague would stop Israel from continuing its war on Gaza, which has killed some 23,900 Palestinians, including 10,000 children, so far. “No one will stop us — not The Hague, not the Axis of Evil, and no one else. It is possible and necessary to continue until victory, and we will do it,” Netanyahu told a televised press conference marking day 100 of the war. Earlier this week, South Africa brought a case against Israel for breach of the UN Genocide Convention, of which Tel Aviv is a signatory. South Africa is hoping the court will issue a temporary injunction demanding Israel halt its bombing and ground campaign that has seen 65,000 tons of munitions dropped on Gaza, leaving large areas in its cities and refugee camps appearing as “moonscapes” and many dead under the rubble.

Netanyahu accused South Africa of supporting “baby burners,” though Israel has not provided any evidence Hamas committed such crimes. Instead, evidence continues to emerge that the Israeli forces burned many of their own civilians to death during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood by responding to the attack by Hamas’ Qassam Brigades using helicopter and tank fire. Israel issued the “Hannibal Directive” to kill Israeli civilians and soldiers rather than let them be taken captive by fighters from Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, to exchange for Palestinians held captive in Israel. The Israeli premier claimed that the war on Gaza had already “eliminated most of the Hamas battalions.” However, The Wall Street Journal noted on 14 January that Netanyahu has not achieved the goals he declared at the beginning of the war, including destroying Hamas, ending its control of Gaza, and freeing Israeli captives taken on 7 October.

Instead, “the war is turning out to be a bloody slog that is demonstrating the limits of Israeli military capabilities—and the sophistication of Hamas’s underground defense network.” “The Israeli military is still seeking to find and destroy tunnels where Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and others are believed to be hiding,” the paper added. In his speech, Netanyahu told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this week, “This is not only our war, this is also your war.” As Al-Mayadeen noted, Tel Aviv is deeply dependent on Washington, which has played a vital role in the war to support the killing. Israel’s Channel 12 reported on 26 December that 244 US transport planes and 20 ships had delivered over 10,000 tons of armaments and military equipment to Israel since 7 October.

According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the Biden administration cleared a potential $147.5 million foreign military sale of M107 155mm artillery shells and supporting equipment to Israel on December 30. Israel is also relying on US naval forces to target Yemen’s Ansarallah-led armed forces, who have been targeting Israeli-linked commercial ships traveling through the Red Sea. Ansarallah seeks to blockade and punish Israel for what the resistance group views as the genocide in Gaza. But Israeli leaders are hoping for additional US help to expand the war to Lebanon to confront the most important Axis of Resistance member, Hezbollah

Live genocide

Read more …

Ask the Saudis how hard it is.

Western Strikes On Houthis Mostly Failed – NYT (RT)

The US-led strikes on alleged positions of Houthi militias in Yemen have failed to significantly weaken their military potential and prevent them from further attacks on shipping routes in the Red Sea, the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing sources. According to the first assessment of Friday’s barrage cited by the paper, the attacks successfully hit 90% of designated targets. However, two US officials suggested that while the strikes had destroyed or damaged more than 60 drone and missile sites with more than 150 munitions, the Houthis still retained about 70-80% of their military capability. The article added that some of the militia’s assets are also mobile, meaning they could be hidden if necessary.

Meanwhile, The Times noted that locating Houthi targets is proving more difficult than expected, as Western efforts picked up steam only after the start of the Hamas-Israel conflict on October 7. The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have rallied to the support of the Palestinian armed group, attacking both Israeli targets and what they describe as Israeli-linked ships in the region in recent weeks. US officials interviewed by the NYT have suggested that Washington may launch another barrage on Houthi targets after it analyzes the damage from the recent strikes. The outlet’s sources also noted that while the militia’s response to the Western attack has so far been muted, they are bracing for a Houthi retaliation.

The US and UK launched what they called “defensive” strikes against the Houthis in the early hours of Friday morning, backed by Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, with President Joe Biden declaring them a success and accusing the militia of “endangering freedom of navigation”. According to Reuters, the barrage has caused mixed reactions in the EU, where several members would have preferred a calmer policy towards the security crisis in the Middle East. Meanwhile, Moscow has called the strikes “illegal,” noting that they had violated the UN Charter. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has also suggested that the latest development risks derailing the Yemen reconciliation process and triggering a “destabilization of the entire Middle East.”

Read more …

“Egypt’s Suez Canal saw a 40% year-on-year decline in the first eleven days of 2024..”

Egypt’s Suez Canal Revenues Plunge (RT)

Revenues generated by Egypt’s Suez Canal saw a 40% year-on-year decline in the first eleven days of 2024, canal authority head Osama Rabie said earlier this week. Ship traffic through the maritime artery connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea dropped 30% between January 1 and January 11 compared to the same period a year prior, the official noted, speaking on a talk show Thursday night. According to Rabie, the number of ships that have moved through the Suez Canal fell to 544 in the first eleven days of the current year compared to 777 in the equivalent period of 2023. He pointed out that the period of cargo transportation has increased by at least two weeks while costs for the delivery of goods and insurance were also growing.

“The Cape of Good Hope is not a valid and safe route for ships to cross at this time, especially in light of bad weather and the long duration of the crossing,” the official said, adding that navigating around the African continent adds up to 15 days compared to passing through the Suez Canal. The canal is a major source of foreign currency for Egypt. In recent years, the country’s government has been trying hard to increase revenues generated by allowing commercial vessels through it. The route was expanded in 2015, with further enlargement underway. In June, Egypt’s Suez Canal posted an all-time high annual revenue of $9.4 billion in the fiscal year 2022-2023, up from $7 billion recorded a year earlier.

Back then, 25,887 ships carrying 1.5 billion tons of cargo passed through the route, marking the highest amount on record. However, at the end of last year, cargo traffic through one of the world’s vital trade arteries dropped 28% due to the attacks carried out by Yemen-based Houthis against commercial ships in the Red Sea. The assaults became more frequent after the rebels instituted a de facto blockade through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. They have been attacking vessels thought to be linked to Israel in what they say is a show of solidarity with the Palestinians following the escalation of hostilities in Gaza.

Read more …

“..the real objective of Netanyahu and his government is political survival. The victory, per se, is very far.”

Political Survival Now Netanyahu’s ‘Real Objective’ (Sp.)

Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas’ attacks on October 7 has essentially devolved into a bloody quagmire. It remains unclear how exactly it might end. While Israeli forces continue to battle Palestinian militants amid the ruins of the Gaza Strip, Tel Aviv’s stated goal of destroying Hamas appears to be far from accomplished, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasts that not even International Court of Justice will prevent Israel’s triumph. Commenting on the current situation, Beirut-based scholar and analyst specializing in the Middle East Dr. Lorenzo Trombetta pointed out to Sputnik that now, 100 days after the launch of Israel’s invasion, “it is clear to many Israelis, and perhaps also to Netanyahu and his ministers, that this achievement” – the destruction of Hamas – “is far from being obtained.”

According to Dr. Trombetta, Israeli “military operations on the ground and their airstrikes will continue in the Gaza Strip and in various areas of the region.” “And the victory won’t be something that won’t concern the present in the endgame, the narrative, aim of Netanyahu this victory be something concerning the future,” he remarked. “But between the victory and today, for Netanyahu, that is the political survival. I think the real objective of Netanyahu and his government is political survival. The victory, per se, is very far.” As for what victory might look like for the denizens of the Palestinian strip, Trombetta suggested that a “Hamas victory could be its survival after the October 7 offensive and after so many months, and perhaps because the war would continue, if Hamas will continue to survive and we could have a physical presence in the Gaza Strip, this could be a victory, of course, and this will be claimed as a victory.”

“But for the Palestinian society, it could be seen in another way,” he added. He branded as unrealistic the scenario in which the Israeli military assumes “full control of the Gaza Strip” or where Egypt and other Arab states manage to “exert that control” over the area. “So as far as things are going in this direction, I think that at the end of the day, there would be a sort of truce between Hamas and Israel and Hamas would continue to have a physical presence in Gaza Strip with huge humanitarian aid for basic reconstruction, at least for basic services in some parts of the Strip, where Israel could maintain some partial control of key areas,” Trombetta speculated. “A sort of mixed control between Hamas and Israel, mainly Israel on the internal borders of the Gaza Strip while Hamas can retain some key hotspot here and there.”

He also said it is unlikely that the Gaza Strip would receive some “new legal status” in the near “foreseeable future,” and that he thinks “from now to one year and half of two years, we will see a de facto hybrid scenario in Gaza Strip, something that is resembled to after post-conflict settlement, but not really something that will last the many years.” Regarding the recent escalation in the Red Sea, Trombetta noted that the US-UK strikes on Houthi position in Yemen “didn’t calm down the situation,” achieving the opposite result instead. “It will get worse and worse, because the Houthis will continue to fire, the Anglo-US leading Western coalition will continue to retaliate or to strike Houthi positions and there will not be any truce among parties because the Houthi are very well determined to be present in this conflict, to say, hey, we are here, we want to say our word, we, we want to show our support to Gaza and our other friends, to the axis of resistance,” he predicted.

Nap Sachs

Read more …

“..the average age of a soldier is way over 40 years old..”

Ukrainian Army Mostly ‘Very Old Men’ – Commander (RT)

The Ukrainian Armed Forces are in dire need of younger recruits because the average age of a soldier is way over 40 years old, said Alexey Tarasenko, commander of the 5th Assault Brigade. Speaking to Espresso TV on Sunday, Tarasenko said that it is “outlandish and perplexing” to hear that some people doubt the need for additional mobilization. “The military is eagerly waiting for fresh reinforcements because the situation in many units is critical in terms of personnel,” the commander lamented. “Even those who do come often leave much to be desired. Mostly, these are men of a much older age with a multitude of problems that typically arise [at that age].”

The military desperately needs “young men” because those who joined the army at the very beginning of the conflict are mostly “gone,” he said, adding the average age of soldiers is above 40. Tarasenko’s remarks came after Ukraine’s parliament – the Verkhovna Rada – asked the government for additional revisions of the much-debated bill that would expand the pool of men available for conscription. The proposed legislation would lower the maximum draft age from 27 to 25, limit deferrals, and increase penalties for draft dodgers. The critics have argued that the bill contains provisions that violate the constitution and pave a way for corruption. Last month, President Vladimir Zelensky revealed that the army had requested to mobilize between 450,000 and 500,000 people. Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s top general, however, denied that the military asked for a specific number of new fighters.

Nevertheless, the situation prompted the authorities to consider different options for replenishing battlefield losses, including the introduction of electronic call-up papers, and to explore the conscription of women. The governor of Nikolaev region, Valery Kim, warned at the time that conscripting half a million people “is not enough” and Ukraine needs to enlist at least two million. Ukraine does not reveal its casualty numbers. According to Russia’s estimates, some 400,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded during the conflict, including 125,000 over the course of Kiev’s failed counteroffensive between early June and late November.

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“.. the escalation in Yemen after US and UK strikes on the Houthis is “more important for the West now, because commercial shipping is at risk.”

Why Did West Put Ukraine Funding Onto Back Burner? (Sp.)

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Thursday that US assistance for Ukraine “has now ground to a halt.” “While the US would like to sustain the war in Ukraine, because none of its objectives have been met, Washington can see the Ukraine conflict is unwinnable and Russia has the upper hand strategically,” Anuradha Chenoy, a retired professor and dean of the School of International Studies at the New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Sputnik. She added that Ukraine is “now on the back burner of the Western mindset,” and that the escalation in Yemen after US and UK strikes on the Houthis is “more important for the West now, because commercial shipping is at risk.” This is a “creeping escalation of a regional war,” which Chenoy stressed no one doesn’t want to see because “it can really damage the global economy” and negatively impact oil and other commodities.

“If this war escalates it will be dangerous economically and militarily with global impacts,” she warned. As for Global South nations, Chenoy went on, they are especially up in arms against “any other war” because they all face “developmental challenges and internal issues that they have to concentrate on; many countries are indebted, many have their own conflicts.” “So the Global South does not want to see any conflagration in the Middle East, because if oil prices go up, they are the first to be impacted negatively. They would express neutrality in such a conflict and call for immediate peace. They also appeal to the Houthis, to not endanger commercial shipping, keep sea lanes safe and secure and negotiate a resolution of the Palestine issue,” Chenoy concluded.

Biden Ukr

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“..regarding the massive commitment to finance the Ukrainian military, there have been “no controls” whatsoever, Der Spiegel reported, quoting the ministry..”

Germany Unsure Where Its Ukraine Weapons Went – Der Spiegel (RT)

The German government checked only twice where the weapons it had sent abroad in 2023 went, Der Spiegel reported on Friday, citing officials. Meanwhile, Berlin’s massive military assistance to Kiev was also left unsupervised, with German policymakers relying on assurances from Ukrainian officials. The Ministry of Economics provided the information in response to a request from Bundestag member Sevim Dagdelen, who is now a member of the recently formed BSW party founded by MP Sahra Wagenknecht. The latter, often described as the ‘Icon of German Left,’ has been a vocal critic of arms deliveries to Kiev. Citing the reply, Der Spiegel noted that Berlin had checked the whereabouts of small arms sent to Taiwan in January 2023, and in June, it carried out a similar inspection in Cape Verde.

German officials insisted that both on-site inspections meant to make sure that the weapons did not leave the end destination went smoothly. However, regarding the massive commitment to finance the Ukrainian military, there have been “no controls” whatsoever, Der Spiegel reported, quoting the ministry. German officials reportedly stated that Kiev had assured them that all German weapons would remain in the country, adding that “any verification measures must under no circumstances impair Ukraine’s effective defense against ongoing Russian aggression.” Ukraine received €17 billion ($18.7 billion) in military aid from Germany between January 2022 and October 2023, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Meanwhile, the German government approved nearly €12 billion ($13 billion) in arms exports in 2023, setting a new record.

Commenting on the officials’ reply, Dagdelen called the inspections a “laughing stock.” She suggested that the German government was much more eager to check weapons going to Cape Verde than to Saudi Arabia – which she called a “dictatorship” – or the United Arab Emirates. “Given the corruption in Ukraine, checks must be there too,” the MP added. Russia, which has repeatedly condemned Western arms deliveries to Ukraine, has also warned that these weapons could end up in the black market, reaching criminals and terrorists around the world. Meanwhile, in late December, Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klimenko admitted that Kiev does not know precisely how many weapons are in the hands of its citizens. He noted that the estimates vary from one to two million and are based mainly on data provided by Ukraine’s international partners and statistics collected in other conflict-ridden countries.

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“The Swiss diplomat insisted on the urgency of ending the war promptly, as lives are lost daily. “We have no right to wait..”

No Peace Without Russia – Swiss Foreign Minister (RT)

Any peace negotiations to resolve the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev should involve Russia, asserted Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis during a press briefing in Davos, where he co-hosted a gathering focused on discussing a “peace formula” proposed by Kiev. The Ukrainian government has consistently sought to engage entities other than Russia in these discussions. Security officials from 83 countries gathered in the Swiss mountain resort before the World Economic Forum, which is scheduled to open on Monday evening. This Sunday gathering marked the fourth of its kind organized by Kiev, which actively promotes its vision for conflict resolution, supported mainly by its Western backers. “One way or another, Russia will have to be included,” Cassis conveyed to journalists on the sidelines of the meeting. “There will be no peace without Russia’s word,” he emphasized. The Swiss diplomat insisted on the urgency of ending the war promptly, as lives are lost daily. “We have no right to wait,” he stated.

Unveiled in November 2022, the Ukrainian proposal, also known as ‘Zelensky’s peace formula,’ demands that Kiev be granted control over its pre-2014 borders. Additionally, it calls for prosecuting Russian leadership and reparations from Moscow. The plan requires Moscow’s forces to withdraw from territories claimed by Ukraine before initiating peace negotiations. The ten-point plan also addresses less contentious areas, such as global food and energy security. Moscow has previously characterized the proposal as detached from reality. It has consistently expressed readiness for peace talks, emphasizing the need to consider the situation on the ground. In the autumn of 2022, four former Ukrainian territories, including two Donbass republics, officially joined Russia following referendums. The Crimean Peninsula, claimed by Ukraine, has been part of Russia since 2014, when its people voted to join Russia in a referendum.

Cassis also underscored the crucial role of BRICS nations, particularly China, in the future peace process. “The participation of the BRICS alliance is crucial because these countries have a relationship with Russia,” he noted, adding that “China plays a significant role.” Cassis called on meeting participants to explore collaboration with China on this matter. Representatives from Beijing did not attend the Davos gathering. China presented its 12-point peace roadmap early last year, addressing measures like a ceasefire, peace talks, abandoning the “Cold War mentality,” and ending sanctions while promoting global stability and international supply chains. The roadmap, welcomed by Moscow, was poorly received by Kiev and swiftly dismissed by Western backers.

Last February, US officials rejected the Chinese proposals, contending they would primarily benefit Russia. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg argued that China lacks “credibility” on the issue due to its refusal to condemn Russia for attacking Ukraine. In December, Moscow labeled the entire “peace process” organized by Kiev as a mere PR stunt. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denounced Zelensky’s peace formula as “a figment of a sick imagination,” asserting that demands for Ukraine to reclaim its pre-2014 borders, including the Donbass, amounted to a call “for genocide.”

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“..She called Wade “a great friend and a great lawyer,” along with a “superstar,” but failed to mention him by name once during her more than 30 minute speech..”

Fani Willis Says Accusations Of Affair With Trump Prosecutor Are Racist (NYP)

A Georgia district attorney accused of hiring her lover to prosecute former President Trump broke her silence on the controversy, saying she and the prosecutor were targeted because they are black. “They only attacked one,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis Sunday at Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta. “First thing they say, ‘Oh, she’s gonna play the race card now.’ “But no God, isn’t it them that’s playing the race card when they only question one?” The comments were Willis’ first time addressing the allegations publicly — but she neither confirmed nor denied the claims lobbed at her and special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who helped secure an indictment against the former Republican president in an election interference case. She called Wade “a great friend and a great lawyer,” along with a “superstar,” but failed to mention him by name once during her more than 30 minute speech, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The pair were accused by Trump co-defendant Michael Roman of having a “clandestine” and “improper” affair when appointments were made for the 2020 election interference case. Roman, a former official on the Trump 2020 campaign, argued in a court filing last week that the integrity of the case had been compromised by their alleged affair and asked that all charges against him be dropped. “The district attorney chose to appoint her romantic partner, who at all times relevant to this prosecution has been a married man,” the filing read. Roman contended in the filing that Wade used some of the $654,000 in legal fees he’d earned on the case to take Willis on vacations to “Napa Valley, California, Florida and the Caribbean.” Willis pointed out during her speech that the other two prosecutors assigned to the case, Anna Green Cross and John Floyd, both are white, and noted that allegations have only emerged targeting the two prominent black members of the prosecution — her and Wade.

“Isn’t it them playing the race card when they constantly think I need someone from some other jurisdiction in some other state to tell me how to do a job I’ve been doing almost 30 years?” she asked. Roman was unmoved by Willis accusations of the charges being racially charged. “The biggest difference between Ms. Cross, Mr. Floyd and Mr. Wade is that Ms. Willis is not in a relationship with Ms. Cross and Mr. Floyd,” he said in a statement to the Constitution-Journal Sunday. Willis is planning to file an official response to the allegations, her spokesperson said. Once that filing is in, Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said he would schedule a hearing to address the matter.

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“There are an array of horrors that could result from Donald Trump’s unrestricted use of the Insurrection Act.”

NBC News Admits ‘Deep State’ Exists… To Save Us From Trump’s Return (ZH)

The last time Donald Trump got within striking distance of the Oval Office in 2016, the Clinton campaign, the Obama administration, and various foreign accomplices invented a hoax accusing the real estate tycoon of being a secret Russian agent, who would use the power of the United States to do Vladimir Putin’s bidding (Which begs the question; why wouldn’t Putin have just invaded Ukraine when his ‘puppet’ Trump wouldn’t have waged a proxy war?). And when Donald Trump asked Ukraine about obvious corruption by the Biden family, one of the key ‘deep state’ players in his impeachment behind the scenes was none other than Mary McCord – who went from taking down Michael Flynn after the FBI set him up, to helping Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) to peddle a “whistleblower” complaint about Trump’s Ukraine call. McCord is back with a new hoax to peddle, telling NBC News that the Deep State is preparing for Trump’s return – and is taking action to limit his ability to ‘become a dictator’ and use the military to those ends.

“We’re already starting to put together a team to think through the most damaging types of things that he [Trump] might do so that we’re ready to bring lawsuits if we have to,” McCord – executive director of the Institution for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law – told the outlet. The quotes from this fine piece of yellow journalism from NBC are simply hilarious… “Donald Trump is sparking fears among those who understand the inner workings of the Pentagon that he would convert the nonpartisan U.S. military into the muscular arm of his political agenda as he makes comments about dictatorship and devalues the checks and balances that underpin the nation’s two-century-old democracy.” “A circle of appointees independent of Trump’s political operation steered him away from ideas that would have pushed the limits of presidential power in his last term.” “In a new term, many former officials worry that Trump would instead surround himself with loyalists unwilling to say no.”

“He’s a clear and present danger to our democracy.” “His support is solid. And I don’t think people understand what living in a dictatorship would mean.” “There are an array of horrors that could result from Donald Trump’s unrestricted use of the Insurrection Act.” “The military is hundreds of thousands of people strong, and ultimately Trump will find people to follow his legal orders no matter what … The Insurrection Act is a legal order, and if he orders it there will be military officers, especially younger men and women, who will follow that legal order.” This one might be the best: “We’re about 30 seconds away from the Armageddon clock when it comes to democracy,” said William Cohen, a former Republican senator from Maine and defense secretary in the Clinton administration. “I think that’s how close we’re coming to it when you have a presidential candidate who can be indicted on 91 counts, who can be [found liable for] sexual aggression, who we have seen lies pathologically, who has flouted every rule in the book.”

Wow! Narrative: Trump is going to appoint loyal peons to subvert democracy and declare himself a dictator. But wait, the deep state cavalry is here! “Now, bracing for Trump’s potential return, a loose-knit network of public interest groups and lawmakers is quietly devising plans to try to foil any efforts to expand presidential power, which could include pressuring the military to cater to his political needs.”

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Too clever by half.

Dems Hatch “Republicans For A Day” Scheme To Boost Haley Vs. Trump In Iowa (ZH)

Iowa Democrats and independents have a plan to make a dent in former President Donald Trump’s massive lead over the rest of the GOP field – help Nikki Haley by becoming “Republicans for a day” during the Iowa caucuses. According to Axios, “crossover” voting is a low-key tradition in the Iowa event, as the state allows day-of party registration for voters, while Democrats aren’t holding in-person presidential caucuses this year – providing the perfect opportunity for uniparty Democrats to support yet another perpetual war candidate. As Don McLeese of west Des Moines told Axios, the crossover voting scheme gives anti-Trumpers “a chance to diminish Trump’s inevitability,” adding “I’ll hold my nose and caucus for Haley.”

Iowa Republican precinct captain for Haley, Lyle Hansen, acknowledged that “there could be a good crossover” vote for Haley, because Democrats “get to come over and pick the candidate for Biden to oppose.” Des Moines Democrat Jonathan Neiderbach told the outlet “I believe all Americans should cast a vote against Donald Trump every chance we have.” Reality bites… As Axios notes, the crossover votes are “are highly unlikely to help Haley catch Trump, who’s consistently had a big lead in Iowa polls.” But GOP strategist David Kochel said that if crossovers see Haley as the best Republican alternative to Trump, they could help her finish a solid second in Iowa, ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. “If you even had 5,000 or 7,500 people across the state cross over for her, that might be the difference between her and Ron DeSantis,” Kochel said.

The intrigue: There’s some risk for Iowa’s Democratic Party if many of its members cross over to vote with Republicans. People who switch parties to participate in a caucus sometimes don’t switch back, Tim Hagle, a political scientist at the University of Iowa, tells Axios. Responding to the ‘threat,’ Trump senior adviser Chrris LaCivita brushed aside any concerns. “If that is something they are relying on to get through the night, then poor people, I feel bad for them,” he told Axios.

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Jan 052024
 


Georgia O’Keeffe New York night 1929

 

Democrats Are Moving To Bar Republicans From Ballots Nationwide (Turley)
Federal Judge Dismisses Trump Ballot Disqualification Case ‘With Prejudice’ (ET)
Trump Attorneys Ask Judge To Hold Special Counsel In Contempt (JTN)
Dems: Trump Firms Earned Millions in Foreign Payments During Presidency (Sp.)
Pressure In Congress To Determine If Bidens Got Defensive Intel Briefing (JTN)
Israel Partially Withdraws From Gaza After ‘Listening’ To US – Politico (RT)
Israel’s Gaza Withdrawal, a Prelude To Full-Out War (Cradle)
US Reportedly Preparing for Gaza War to Broaden Into Regional Conflict (Sp.)
Only 15% of Israelis Want Netanyahu to Remain in Power After Gaza War (Antiwar)
A Letter to My Son on His First Birthday in Gaza (Hajjaj)
Another Biden Official Resigns Over Israel Policy (RT)
Pentagon ‘Out Of Money’ For Ukraine (RT)
The Day the Dollar Dies? (Collins)
Epstein Document Dump Is ‘Coverup’ – Cernovich (RT)
Julian Assange’s Trojan Wars With Mike Pompeo & Hillary Clinton (Hayes)

 

 

 

 

RFK Ukraine

 

 

 

 

Epstein Mar-a-Lago

 

 

Dershowitz

 

 

 

 

“..Former congressional candidate Gene Stilp, who’s made headlines by burning MAGA flags with swastikas outside courthouses, filed the challenge.”

Democrats Are Moving To Bar Republicans From Ballots Nationwide (Turley)

As the decisions disqualifying former President Donald Trump from the 2024 election work their way through the courts, a new filing in Pennsylvania seeks the same “ballot cleansing” by barring Republican Rep. Scott Perry. It’s only the latest effort targeting congressional candidates as Democrats seek to bar opponents as “insurrectionists” for questioning the election of President Biden. We have become a nation of Madame Defarges — eagerly knitting names of those to be subject to arbitrary justice. Former congressional candidate Gene Stilp, who’s made headlines by burning MAGA flags with swastikas outside courthouses, filed the challenge. Using the 14th Amendment to disqualify candidates like Perry is consistent with Stilp’s signature flag-burning stunts.

But what’s chilling is how many support such efforts, including Democratic officeholders from Maine’s secretary of state to dozens of members of Congress. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) sought to bar 126 members of Congress under the same theory for challenging the election before Jan. 6, 2021. Similar legislation from Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) to disqualify members got 63 co-sponsors, all Democrats, including New York Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman and Ritchie Torres and “Squad” members Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. When Maine’s secretary of state disqualified Trump, three in the state’s congressional delegation — Sens. Angus King (I) and Susan Collins (R) and Rep. Jared Golden (D) — condemned the decision. But others supported the antidemocratic action.

The grounds were virtually identical to those of Stilp. He accuses Perry of supporting challenges to Biden’s election and opposing its certification. Of course, he ignores Democratic members who sought to block certification of Republican presidents under the very same law with no factual or legal basis. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) praised the effort then-Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) organized to challenge the certification of President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election. Jan. 6 committee head Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) voted to challenge it in the House. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) sought to block certification of the 2016 election result — particularly ironic since he’s a leading voice calling for Trump to be disqualified.

He insisted last week on CNN that the effort to prevent citizens from voting for Trump is the very embodiment of democracy: “If you think about it, of all of the forms of disqualification that we have, the one that disqualifies people for engaging in insurrection is the most democratic because it’s the one where people choose themselves to be disqualified.”

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“..a Soros-funded, left-wing group’s scheme to interfere in an election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden by removing President Trump’s name from the ballot and eliminating the rights of Colorado voters to vote for the candidate of their choice.”

Federal Judge Dismisses Trump Ballot Disqualification Case ‘With Prejudice’ (ET)

A federal judge in California dismissed a lawsuit that sought to keep former President Donald Trump off the Republican primary ballot. On Wednesday, District Judge David Carter granted a motion to dismiss the lawsuit “with prejudice,” which means that it can’t be submitted to the same court again, according to court papers. A plaintiff attempted to argue that they suffered “emotional injury” due to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and watched the events unfold on television, on the radio, and in various publications. They then argued that the incident caused them “severe emotional distress” and then filed a lawsuit to keep the former president from California’s ballots. But the judge wrote that because the events occurred “more than two years before the plaintiff” filed suit, it was outside of the two-year statute of limitations.

The decision by Judge Carter, a Clinton-appointed jurist who has ruled against President Trump in a separate case, was posted online by former Republican National Committee for California chairwoman Harmeet Dhillon. “The remnants of the last California case to keep President Trump off the ballot here were dismissed today by Judge David O. Carter!!” she wrote on X on Wednesday. In recent days and weeks, there have been a number of lawsuits filed in different states to try and bar President Trump from appearing on the ballot ahead of the 2024 election. Those suits have claimed that the former president engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States under an interpretation of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment’s Section 3, which was written in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. Civil War.

At least two of those challenges have seen some success in Maine and Colorado, although there has been widespread speculation that higher courts or even the U.S. Supreme Court would strike those rulings down. Days before Christmas, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled to keep the former president off the primary ballot in the state, which was promptly appealed to the Supreme Court. Last week, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, unilaterally decided to keep President Trump off the ballot, which was similarly appealed. Ahead of the Supreme Court appeal, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said that “unsurprisingly, the all-Democrat appointed Colorado Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump, supporting a Soros-funded, left-wing group’s scheme to interfere in an election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden by removing President Trump’s name from the ballot and eliminating the rights of Colorado voters to vote for the candidate of their choice.”

Legal analysts have suggested that the U.S. Supreme Court would take up those two cases and likely would rule against the plaintiffs at least on procedural grounds. However, it’s not clear whether the court will take up the more thorny questions presented under the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause. “It seems a certainty that SCOTUS will have to address the merits sooner or later,” Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California-Los Angeles, wrote on his website last month, referring to the Supreme Court.

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“The prosecutors repeatedly engaged in that exact conduct, disobeying the Stay Order at least three times in just two weeks …”

Trump Attorneys Ask Judge To Hold Special Counsel In Contempt (JTN)

Former President Donald Trump’s legal team want U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan to hold special counsel Jack Smith in contempt of court for pursuing activities related to his election case despite Chutkan pausing proceedings pending Trump’s legal appeals. Chutkan, in mid-December paused the case after Trump petitioned the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to decide on his claims to enjoy presidential immunity, which Chutkan herself rejected. Smith, for his part, asked the Supreme Court to step in, but it declined to do so. Despite the pause, Smith has remained active and requested that Chutkan not permit Trump to admit evidence related to security failures at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, or selective prosecution.

Chutkan’s order “stays any further proceedings that would move this case towards trial or impose additional burdens of litigation on Defendant,” the Hill reported. Trump’s attorneys, for their part, contend that Smith’s team has clearly violated that directive. “The prosecutors repeatedly engaged in that exact conduct, disobeying the Stay Order at least three times in just two weeks … The prosecutors have no justification for their misconduct,” they asserted. Trump faces four counts in the case, including conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. He pleaded not guilty last year.

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“Former President Trump has legitimate businesses, but the Bidens do not,” Comer argued..”

They simply don’t know how to deal with business succcess. In DC, success means a $300,000 salary that magically turns into a $10 million fortune.

Dems: Trump Firms Earned Millions in Foreign Payments During Presidency (Sp.)

Former US President Donald Trump’s companies received millions of dollars from foreign governments and companies while serving in the White House, new documents released by House Democrats have revealed. The transactions were detailed in a report titled “White House For Sale” released on Thursday. It details millions in transactions received by Trump-owned companies, including from China, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates among other nations. The biggest spender was China, which spent $5.5 million in total on business connected to Trump, including from China’s Embassy in the US, a state-owned bank and Hainan Airlines Holding Company. Saudi Arabia placed second, spending more than $615,000 at Trump-owned hotels.

There were no payments in the report from Russian entities, despite the long running Democrat conspiracy known as “Russiagate” that Trump conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 election. As the report notes, while Trump handed over the day-to-day operations of his companies to his sons, he declined to divest his assets, as is typical for presidents before entering office. The report claims Trump maintained personal ownership and control of the companies, including the ability to draw on funds without outside oversight. The report seemingly reflects accusations that Republicans have made against President Joe Biden and his family. Last month, House Republicans opened an informal impeachment inquiry into Biden, focusing on foreign business deals made by the president’s family members.

Responding to the report, US Rep. James Comer (R-KY) argued the situations are not comparable. “Former President Trump has legitimate businesses, but the Bidens do not,” Comer argued, adding that in contrast to Trump, who owns several properties and businesses, the Bidens were simply “cashing in on the Biden name.” “No goods or services were provided other than access to Joe Biden and the Biden network,” he said. The son of the former president, Eric Trump, argued that his father’s hawkish stance on China while in office proves he was not compromised. “That narrative is insane, there is no president in United States history who was tougher on China than Donald Trump,” he said, noting that the Chinese embassy had signed a 20-year lease in Trump Tower in 2008, long before the elder Trump entered office.

The report, however, argues that while some payments were coming in, those same countries were lobbying the Trump administration for certain policies. “These payments were made while these governments were promoting specific foreign policy goals with the Trump administration and even, at times, with President Trump himself, and as they were requesting specific actions from the United States to advance their own national policy objectives,” the report reads. It also points to comments Trump made during a campaign rally in 2015, bragging about his relationship with Saudi Arabia. “Saudi Arabia, I get along great with all of them,” he said, according to the report. “They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much!”

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“..If the Bidens didn’t get defensive briefings, it could raise fresh questions about the U.S. intelligence community’s capabilities and the selective nature of its use of defense briefings..”

Pressure In Congress To Determine If Bidens Got Defensive Intel Briefing (JTN)

The FBI conducted FISA surveillance on one of Hunter Biden’s Chinese business partners while other federal prosecutors secured evidence that a second Chinese associate of the first family was present when foreign bribery payments were made. And a major bank reported to the U.S. Treasury Department that in 2017 a $5 million loan the Bidens got from a Chinese energy company smacked of a Beijing influence operation targeting Joe Biden before he was president. bA fast-growing body of evidence from bank transactions to court transcripts is putting pressure on Congress to resolve an important question: Did Joe Biden or any of his family members get a defensive briefing from U.S. intelligence that some of their foreign business partners had unsavory ties or were engaged in criminal behavior?

The answer could have a profound effect on the direction of the nascent House impeachment inquiry. If lawmakers confirm that the president got one or more defensive briefings, it could add an element of intentionality and motive since his family would have proceeded with deals and partners despite warning signs delivered from the U.S. government. If the Bidens didn’t get defensive briefings, it could raise fresh questions about the U.S. intelligence community’s capabilities and the selective nature of its use of defense briefings. Just the News confirmed Hillary Clinton got at least one such defensive briefing about one of her family or political associations while Donald Trump did not when allegations of Russia collusion – long since debunked – first surfaced in 2016. Instead, Trump and his associates were targeted for criminal investigation.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the fiery Republican from Georgia, was the latest Wednesday to add her name to those pushing Congress to determine once and for all whether Joe Biden or his family got warnings from the FBI, the CIA, or other intelligence agencies. Those warnings, if they happened, would have come as the first family did business with a Ukrainian oligarch deemed corrupt by the State Department, a Romanian oligarch dealing with corruption allegations in his own country and the energy firm CEFC China Energy that was implicated in a foreign bribery scheme that resulted in a federal conviction of Patrick Ho, one of Hunter Biden’s associates and law clients.

[..] “Joe Biden’s intersections with his son’s overseas business occurred within three different realities, first as Vice President, second as a private citizen, and third as President. Each reality will determine the advisability of the type or necessity of a defensive briefing,” Brock said. “Hunter Biden didn’t consult with Canada or New Zealand. He picked money gushers in China and Russia and Ukraine,” Brock added. “Countries with hostile intelligence services that would jump at the chance to engage with an offspring of a U.S. VP. What do you think we would do if a son of Putin or Xi came here to consult with Exxon or Apple? Joe Biden was briefed, alright. But his track record suggests his own interests came first no matter the briefing.”

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“What we’re seeing is the beginning of a transition,” one official said, while another added that Washington was “pleased to see the shift” but wished it had happened much sooner..”

Israel Partially Withdraws From Gaza After ‘Listening’ To US – Politico (RT)

Israel’s withdrawal of troops from Gaza indicates that it is “listening” to Washington, which has long urged West Jerusalem to shift to low-intensity military operations, Politico reported Wednesday. It comes after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced last weekend that it would withdraw five brigades from combat in Gaza, comprising thousands of soldiers. The IDF’s decision to reduce its troop presence in the Palestinian enclave is seen as “a signal that Israel is beginning to finally shift away from large-scale bombing and more toward targeted, surgical strikes on senior Hamas leaders,” as Washington has repeatedly urged, amid a rising civilian death toll among Gazans, Politico reported, citing unnamed US officials.

“What we’re seeing is the beginning of a transition,” one official said, while another added that Washington was “pleased to see the shift” but wished it had happened much sooner, according to the outlet. The killing of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri by a drone attack in a suburb of Beirut on Tuesday could be “another sign Israel is ready to shift to more surgical operations,” Politico’s source said. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called the killing of Arouri “a new Israeli crime aimed at inevitably dragging Lebanon into a new phase of confrontation.” In response, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mark Regev, said that “whoever did this strike was very surgical and went for a Hamas target because Israel is at war,” without confirming or denying the IDF’s involvement.

In mid-December, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan recalled that Washington has repeatedly urged Israel to shift its high-tempo military operation in Gaza to a “lower-intensity, surgical, focused, targeted campaign.” He added that once this phase is activated, there will be no sanctuary for Hamas leaders, as Israel has the right to go after those who planned and executed the October 7 attacks. The Palestinian military group attacked Israel from Gaza on that date in 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages, according to Israeli estimates. In response, West Jerusalem declared war and launched an air and ground offensive in Gaza to root out Hamas, resulting in more than 22,000 casualties among the enclave’s residents, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

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“..reducing the pace of the war in the Gaza Strip increases the possibilities of an Israeli war on Lebanon..”

Israel’s Gaza Withdrawal, a Prelude To Full-Out War (Cradle)

At the start of the new year, Israel’s occupation army began implementing the withdrawal of a large portion of its forces from the northern Gaza Strip. This withdrawal did not mean the end of the war on Gaza, and it certainly did not suggest calm on the Lebanese-Israeli front. On the contrary, reducing the pace of the war in the Gaza Strip increases the possibilities of an Israeli war on Lebanon. The battles taking place between the occupation army and Hezbollah along the southern Lebanese border since 8 October, in support of the resistance in Gaza, have been increasing in intensity day after day. Washington and Tel Aviv have sought to maximize pressure on Hezbollah by warning of the possibility of a large-scale war between Israeli forces and the Lebanese resistance.

These tactics were in effect long before the assassination of Hamas’ Deputy Head of the Political Bureau Saleh Al-Arouri on 2 January by an Israeli air strike in Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut. The killing of Al-Arouri now increases the chance of the war expanding. The first stage of Tel Aviv’s war was the mass destruction and occupation of northern Gaza; the second stage is the occupation of key points in the south of the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian civilians have flocked for safety. The current troop withdrawal from the territory’s north means that the Israelis are cementing their southern plans and preparing to move on to phase three: the long, low-intensity war. As it enters the third stage, the occupation army intends to maintain a geographical buffer surrounding the northern Gaza Strip. It also plans to continue occupying the Gaza Valley area (central Gaza), while completing its operations in Khan Yunis in the south.

The fate of the Philadelphia axis – or Salah ad-Din Axis – a strip of land on the border between Gaza and Egypt which Israel wants to control, will be left to deliberations between Tel Aviv and Cairo. This is to ensure that incidents do not occur that lead to tension between the two parties, as well as to guarantee that refugees do not flow from the south of the Gaza Strip towards Sinai. Israel’s ground withdrawal from northern Gaza is taking place primarily because the occupation army’s target bank has been depleted. All targets prior to the start of the war have been destroyed, and all new operational targets have been bombed. Despite this, the Palestinian resistance continues to carry out operations against Israeli forces. These organizations remain relatively unscathed in the entire area of the northern Gaza Strip, which will increase the ability of the resistance to inflict losses on occupation ranks, now and in the future.

This clear Israeli loss – in terms of Tel Aviv’s stated war objectives – has been made evident by two basic factors: First, that the occupation army cannot ‘cleanse’ the northern Gaza Strip house by house or tunnel by tunnel, because this process will take years, expose more of its soldiers to danger, and cannot be implemented without further displacing the entire population of northern Gaza or massacring them. It should be noted, despite Israeli attempts to portray matters otherwise, that hundreds of thousands of civilians are still present in the north. Second, the Israeli government needs to gradually re-inject reserve soldiers into the country’s economy to jump-start it, and to ensure that the productive sectors are not exposed to damage from which recovery will take a long time. This, despite the fact that the US and much of Europe appear ready to assist Israel’s economy, if necessary.

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“..The insiders warned that the scenario of a wider conflict in the Middle East is “perilous” for Biden’s “reelection chances.”

US Reportedly Preparing for Gaza War to Broaden Into Regional Conflict (Sp.)

Citing sources familiar with the matter, US media reported on Thursday that US officials are concerned that the risk of the Gaza conflict escalating into a regional conflict is growing. The United States through back channels urged Iran for months to persuade its so-called “proxy forces” to scale back attacks on US forces in the Middle East, but so far no shift in the level of violence is evident, the report said. US intelligence officials are reportedly looking into ways to deter attacks by proxy militants against US forces in Iraq and Syria. The United States is also putting together plans to potentially strike Houthi targets in Yemen if the group’s attacks against commercial vessels near the Red Sea continue, according to the report.

The sources also claimed that a possible escalation could lead to President Joe Biden becoming more deeply involved in the Middle East as his 2024 election campaign is seeking to focus on domestic issues. The insiders warned that the scenario of a wider conflict in the Middle East is “perilous” for Biden’s “reelection chances.” Iran has sternly rejected accusations from Western countries over Tehran’s alleged involvement in the Houthi attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea. In addition, Iran emphasized that resistance groups in the Middle East, such as the Houthis, do not receive any instructions from Iran.

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“Despite the little support for Netanyahu, the respondents favor the slaughter he is overseeing in Gaza.”

Only 15% of Israelis Want Netanyahu to Remain in Power After Gaza War (Antiwar)

Only 15% of Israelis think Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu should remain in office once the Israeli campaign in Gaza is over, according to a new poll published Tuesday by the Israel Democracy Institute. Former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, a member of Netanyahu’s war cabinet, received more support, with 23% of respondents saying he should take the position after the war, while 30% did not name their preferred leader. Despite the little support for Netanyahu, the respondents favor the slaughter he is overseeing in Gaza. The poll found that 56% of respondents believed continuing the military offensive was the best way to recover the hostages, while 24% thought a swap deal that would involve releasing thousands of more Palestinian prisoners would be a better option.

Other polls since October 7 have shown that the majority of Israelis want Netanyahu to step down after the war, giving him the incentive to continue to onslaught for as long as possible and take action to provoke a wider regional war that could draw in the US directly. Netanyahu is facing a political reckoning due to the massive Israeli intelligence failure that allowed the October 7 attack to happen and for his previous strategy of helping prop up Hamas to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state. Despite the little support for Netanyahu, the respondents favor the slaughter he is overseeing in Gaza.

The poll found that 56% of respondents believed continuing the military offensive was the best way to recover the hostages, while 24% thought a swap deal that would involve releasing thousands of more Palestinian prisoners would be a better option. Other polls since October 7 have shown that the majority of Israelis want Netanyahu to step down after the war, giving him the incentive to continue to onslaught for as long as possible and take action to provoke a wider regional war that could draw in the US directly. Netanyahu is facing a political reckoning due to the massive Israeli intelligence failure that allowed the October 7 attack to happen and for his previous strategy of helping prop up Hamas to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.

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“..you’ll never be able to have the memories I wanted for you. Those have been buried beneath the rubble, too.”

A Letter to My Son on His First Birthday in Gaza (Hajjaj)

No matter what, my child, we were going to celebrate your first birthday. Ever since you were born, Qais, I have felt a strong sense of purpose in life to push myself as a father. I have long prepared for this stage in my life, eager to provide you with a good upbringing that I can later look back on with pride. Ever since you were born, your mother would make you little birthdays to mark every new month that you’ve brightened our lives. I would join in on these little parties, but privately, I have been waiting for your first birthday to plan for something big. I was going to invite the entire extended family, especially your aunts and uncles and cousins. We would gather in our spacious home overlooking our planted garden from every direction, except for the street, which boasted a beautiful palm tree heavy with dates, across the street from the same neighbors I’ve known since I was born in al-Shuja’iyya, in the eastern part of Gaza City.

The last time we laid eyes on our home was through a phone screen. We looked at photos of what remained of the house after we evacuated it a month earlier — before the ground invasion. The entire house, and many other houses near it, had been reduced to rubble. We left our beautiful home and stayed at your grandfather’s in the Zeiytoun neighborhood, also in Gaza City. We didn’t take many things with us; we didn’t know our time away would be so long. Even now, we don’t know when we’ll be able to return, or whether we’ll be able to return at all. We know that even if we are allowed, there’s nothing to go back to. When the house was destroyed, so were our hopes of having your first birthday in that little world we had made for you. But don’t worry little one. We will have a new house one day, wide and spacious and surrounded by trees and a vegetable garden.

Right now, all we have to do is wait and join our hopes with yours for all the good things that can happen to us — to see the end of the war, to live a normal life where your access to food isn’t conditional upon your suffering, and to be able to see and hear what a child on their first birthday are supposed to see and hear. In the middle of a narrow alleyway in the Yibna refugee camp in Rafah — the latest stop in our story of displacement — one of our neighbors works the entire day making bread for displaced people. Those of us in the camp don’t have access to ovens, so we bring her flour to make us bread, and she only takes a modest, almost symbolic price for her labor. Right beside her, there is a large crater that stands as a testament to the destruction already wrought on the neighborhood. All around us, the houses that are still left standing have been deserted and the charred remains of abandoned cars line the side of the nearby road. The windows of all the houses around us have been shattered, the doors to the homes ripped from their hinges. People in the street farther down the road try to buy and sell everything and anything.

Qais, you saw all of this. These are things I wish you would never have had to see, especially not in your first year of life. In our house in Gaza City, birds would be in the window beside your crib. There was a wall where we hung all your pictures, and I left a special spot in the center where I wanted to hang a picture of your first birthday party. I wanted to be able to stroll the streets of Gaza City and visit the best toy stores to buy you the best, most expensive, most beneficial toys — maybe something that can teach you a new skill, different from the behaviors you’ve picked up as a displaced refugee, mimicking how the grown-ups around you stoked a fire as you grabbed a piece of plastic and started blowing on it. But you’ll never be able to have the memories I wanted for you. Those have been buried beneath the rubble, too. We are now in Rafah, in a house not our own, unable to find a cake, or sweets, or anything else you would normally find at a birthday party.

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“..short-sighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse..”

Another Biden Official Resigns Over Israel Policy (RT)

A senior official at the US Department of Education has resigned in protest at President Joe Biden’s support for Israel, saying the administration has turned a blind eye to “atrocities” against Palestinians since the start of the war in Gaza. Policy adviser Tariq Habash, a Palestinian-American, left his position on Wednesday, explaining in a resignation letter that he could not continue to “represent an administration that does not value all human life equally.” “The actions of the Biden-Harris Administration have put millions of innocent lives in danger, most immediately for the 2.3 million Palestinian civilians living in Gaza who remain under continuous assault and ethnic cleansing by the Israeli government. Therefore, I must resign,” Habash wrote.

“I cannot stay silent as this administration turns a blind eye to the atrocities committed against innocent Palestinian lives, in what leading human rights experts have called a genocidal campaign by the Israeli government.” Biden has voiced strong support for Israel’s retaliation to a Hamas terrorist attack in October, which claimed some 1,200 lives and saw more than 240 people taken hostage by Palestinian militants. However, the two-month operation has left much of Gaza in ruins, killing more than 22,000 people and injuring thousands more, according to local health officials. Despite repeated warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza by international rights groups, along with the United Nations, Washington has offered little public criticism of the Israeli campaign, and continued to pledge military support.

Other senior officials have voiced similar concerns, with 11-year State Department veteran Josh Paul – the longtime director of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs – also resigning in October over the US’ “blind support” for Israel. “I cannot work in support of a set of major policy decisions, including rushing more arms to one side of the conflict, that I believe to be short-sighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse,” Paul wrote in a statement explaining his resignation. Biden visited Israel on the day Paul tendered his resignation, pledging to ask Congress to allocate additional aid to meet the ally’s military needs. Though he has made good on that promise, lawmakers remain deadlocked over a new aid package, with Republicans in the House demanding sweeping border reforms before approving additional assistance for both Ukraine and Israel.

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“..while the Pentagon is authorized to spend another $4.2 billion on weapons for Ukraine, the actual funds are not available and must be set aside by Congres..”

Pentagon ‘Out Of Money’ For Ukraine (RT)

The US government has exhausted its funds for military assistance to Ukraine, Pentagon spokesman Major General Patrick Ryder has said, noting that Washington is simply “out of money” unless lawmakers pass a new aid package. Speaking to reporters at a Thursday briefing, Ryder explained that while the Pentagon is authorized to spend another $4.2 billion on weapons for Ukraine, the actual funds are not available and must be set aside by Congress. “We have the authority to spend that [$4.2 billion] from available funds but wouldn’t have the ability to replenish the stocks by taking money out – or taking stuff out of our inventory,” the spokesman said, adding “We’re out of money.”

The admission came after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that his country had no “plan B” without American military aid, reiterating demands for new combat drones, long-range missiles and air defense capabilities, among other gear. Kuleba also noted growing political divisions regarding Ukraine within the United States, as a vocal group of Republican critics have blocked the passage of additional aid funds while demanding sweeping immigration reforms. Though the party backed dozens of separate aid packages following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, some GOP members have soured on the American largesse in recent months, creating a widening partisan divide on the issue.

While President Joe Biden has urged lawmakers to pass a massive aid package including some $61 billion for Kiev, Congress has remained deadlocked for weeks amid Republican opposition, though independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema has said lawmakers are “closing in” on a deal. Nonetheless, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Thursday to expect decreases in US aid in the future, voicing hopes to eventually help Ukraine “build its own military industrial base so it can both finance and build and acquire munitions on its own.” The United States has authorized nearly $45 billion in direct military assistance to Ukraine since the conflict with Russia escalated in early 2022, in addition to other indirect military aid and financial and humanitarian assistance. Moscow has repeatedly condemned Western arms shipments to Kiev, arguing they would only prolong the fighting and do little to deter its military aims.

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“..The world has growing concerns about the stability of the United States and our ability to meet our debt obligations.”

The Day the Dollar Dies? (Collins)

In 1974, when Secretary Simon arranged his deal with the Saudis to avoid a “dollar crisis,” our national debt was roughly 32 percent of GDP. We were winding down our decades-long involvement in Vietnam and Southeast Asia and had secured a detente with Cold War adversaries China and the Soviet Union. Today, the United States is over $34 trillion in debt, around 120 percent of our GDP—more than it was even during World War II. A bit over $7 trillion of that—the value of the entire U.S. annual budget—is held by foreigners. We are on our way to $1 trillion a year in debt service, more than our defense budget. And the $10 your grandmother stuck in your birthday card that was lost in the commotion of your birthday party in 1971 would, if found today, be worth $1.20. And in the world, the United States is engaged in escalating conflicts with two powerful, nuclear-armed, adversaries, China and Russia, as well as the war Iran’s terrorist proxy, Hamas, is waging on our ally, Israel.

• Citing three current and former U.S. officials, NBC News reported that China’s leader Xi Jinping boldly told the U.S. president that he intends to acquire Taiwan, a vital interest of the United States. Not only do we (and the rest of the world) get most of our chips from Taiwan, but 50 percent of the world’s maritime container traffic passes through the Taiwan Strait. • The Ukraine-Russia war continues and has escalated in the last few days with no end in sight. In a conflict where U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has pledged American prestige by asserting in October that we will “deliver what it takes, for as long as it takes, so that Ukraine can live in freedom.” But just last month, President Biden seemingly walked back his commitment by saying the United States will back Ukraine “as long as we can.” • U.S. Navy forces deployed to the Red Sea to protect shipping and deter Iranian belligerence against Israel were attacked by Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen. Scores of U.S. armed services members have been injured in Iraq and Syria in similar attacks.

Within our own borders, violent protests that went unchecked after the death of George Floyd, the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, and the Marxist-inspired pro-Hamas protests have rattled the sense of American stability among foreigners more than at any time since the Vietnam War. Given all that, it should not be a surprise that other countries are moving to de-dollarize their holdings. The world has growing concerns about the stability of the United States and our ability to meet our debt obligations. The Saudis, whom we have relied upon for 50 years to help maintain demand for the U.S. dollar as the world’s global reserve currency, had announced that they are joining the BRICS, the international coalition of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates joined the same day.

Were that not enough, now the Biden administration is contemplating a policy that cannot help but exacerbate de-dollarization. According to the Financial Times, the United States and the G-7 “are actively exploring ways to seize Russian central bank assets” in their countries to fund Ukraine because political opposition to continuing Ukraine support in the United States and Europe threaten the flow of money that has kept Ukraine afloat. The paper reported it had seen a document written by the United States that said, under international law, “G7 members and other specially affected states could seize Russian sovereign assets as a countermeasure to induce Russia to end its aggression.”

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“.. they chose to wait until just days before the “previously sealed records involving Jeff Epstein” were set to become public. These records contained the names of numerous influential figures..”

Epstein Document Dump Is ‘Coverup’ – Cernovich (RT)

A much-hyped trove of nearly 1,000 newly-unsealed pages of court documents from a 2015 defamation case filed by a victim of infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein contains “no revelations,” conservative commentator Mike Cernovich claimed on Wednesday in a post on X (formerly Twitter). Cernovich, working with Epstein defense attorney and accused sex trafficking participant Alan Dershowitz, sued to have Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s defamation lawsuit unsealed in 2017 and has previously claimed credit for the predator’s 2019 arrest. In his post, he claimed the Southern District of New York (SDNY) had arrested Epstein in 2019 the weekend before the documents were first set to be unsealed as a result of his lawsuit, so as to prevent any of Epstein’s powerful friends, soon to be exposed in the documents, from being criminally charged.

To bolster his argument, he highlighted that the SDNY had the option to bring charges against Epstein, relating to the alleged payment for sex with minors between 2002 and 2005, at any point from 2002 onward. However, they chose to wait until just days before the “previously sealed records involving Jeff Epstein” were set to become public. These records contained the names of numerous influential figures to whom Epstein had allegedly trafficked underage girls. “The indictment against Epstein does not charge anyone except Epstein, and there’s nothing to indicate that anyone who flew to Epstein’s private island has faced scrutiny,” Cernovich continued, arguing that “SDNY charged the lowest level offenses possible” so that they would be legally unable to raid that island – or even the pedophile’s New Mexico ranch – for weeks, allowing evidence to vanish. At least one safe, said to be in FBI custody, has never been seen again.

Meanwhile, Epstein himself died – allegedly by his own hand – shortly after his arrest while still in pretrial detention, the charges against him never having been aired inside a courtroom. Acknowledging that “we’ll never know for certain” what was in the vanished safe, Cernovich insisted “we do know that the FBI has Jeffrey Epstein’s blackmail files” and that “very powerful forces have made sure we will never see it.” Authorities raiding Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse in 2019 found and photographed boxes of hard drives, videos, binders full of burned CDs, and other media, all individually labeled by Epstein. However, it was never entered into evidence because the FBI did not initially have a warrant to remove it, according to a special agent who testified at Maxwell’s trial. When they returned with a warrant, the evidence was supposedly gone. Epstein’s properties were well-equipped with surveillance equipment, according to several witnesses, and his victims have claimed he would pump them for blackmail material on the powerful men he trafficked them to for sex.

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“..Achilles personifies America, determined to destroy Assange, like Hector before him, in mind, and desecrate him in body as well..”

Julian Assange’s Trojan Wars With Mike Pompeo & Hillary Clinton (Hayes)

Lawyers for British political prisoner Julian Assange are set to make their final appeal against his extradition to the United States in late February. In an ideal world, he would never have been imprisoned but would have instead garnered many more awards in excess to those he has already received, trinkets for his children to play with as he dispensed words of wisdom to younger generations of starry-eyed idealists, who would hope to emulate him. Penelope, his wife, meanwhile, would have gotten on with her humdrum life as a wife, as a mother, and as a hot shot human rights’ lawyer in her own right. I call Stella Moris, Julian’s wife, Penelope as that was the name of the wife of Odysseus, who waited faithfully for a staggering twenty years for him to return from the Siege of Troy.

And even though Odysseus famously had to put up with all kinds of travails as he battled his way back to her, Penelope was not spared the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune as she had to contend with all kinds of lesser beings trying to fill Odysseus’ sandals for their own base reasons. And, though there are those echoes of the Odyssey in the Assanges’ plight, the Iliad seems a much better framework to gauge this epic battle between all that is good and that which is evil. If, for example, Assange is Hector, defending the honour of Troy, then Achilles personifies America, determined to destroy Assange, like Hector before him, in mind, and desecrate him in body as well. Either way, Assange’s has been a titanic struggle the gods themselves would have paid good money to watch.

That said, in our dystopian Dorian Gray take, Hillary Clinton must, of course, be the beautiful Helen of Troy, over whom Virgil, Homer and Yeats, to say nothing of the Greek gods themselves, all waxed. And the pig headed and pot bellied Mike Pompeo is, of course, her faithful understudy. Let me explain. Even though Pompeo, who owes his exalted position to the Koch brothers and some other colourful American billionaires, has called for Assange’s assassination, that is one of his less outrageously violent demands. Although Pompeo calls Assange “a fraud—a coward hiding behind a screen”, Assange has no Internet access in Stalag Belmarsh and it is a strange sort of coward, who rankles Empire and pays the price for it in the manner Assange did, just as it is for Pompeo, who never fired a shot in anger in his life, to shoot off his well fed mouth in this manner.

And, as Pompeo believes Edward Snowden “should be brought back from Russia and given due process”, before being put to death, we can see that Pompeo does not have the best interests of dissidents like Assange or Snowden at heart. He will never play Santa in his local shopping mall except, perhaps, in a Halloween horror special. And nor, despite the better angels of her nature, will Hillary Clinton, who is more morally rudderless than Lady Macbeth and whose own impressive rap sheet is much too long to go into detail here. Suffice to say that Hillary Clinton did not make her billions by working for Wikileaks or doing pro bono cases for the likes of Julian Assange but she has invested her time wisely, networking through morally dubious magic money and power trees like the Clinton Foundation.

Assange’s problem resembles not so much a legal one as the one Schindler faced in tricking Amon Göth to exert power by pardoning his surviving victims he had already driven to distraction. Assange has exposed Hillary Clinton, faux feminism’s Helen of Troy, as being Dorian Gray brought back to life and, as Hillary’s goons cannot have their bargain basement goddess maligned, they want their pound of flesh and more from the Assanges’ hides.

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Parrots

 

 


The goliath tigerfish is said to be a bigger and deadlier version of the piranha. It has 32 teeth that are of similar size to those of a great white shark and has been known to attack humans and even crocodiles. It has only ever been caught by a handful of fishermen due to the danger it poses. in Africa’s Congo River. It can grow up to 5 feet long and weigh over 100 pounds.

 

 

Water

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Dec 282023
 
 December 28, 2023  Posted by at 9:11 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  56 Responses »


Claude Monet Boulevard des Capucines 1873

 

Jack Smith Files Motion to Stop Trump from Raising New J6 Evidence (PB)
Trump Can Remain On Michigan Primary Ballot, State Supreme Court Rules (Pol.)
US Police Bolster Patrols for Colorado Judges Amid Violent Threats (Sp.)
Ramaswamy’s Campaign Stops Spending Money On TV Ads (JTN)
The US Is Preparing For War With China (CP)
Scott Ritter: US Sustainability in Jeopardy as World Turns Against Hegemon (Sp.)
Righting A Wrong: Burying Decades of US-Led Wars (Sweidan)
Zelensky’s News Conference Exposed West’s Fatigue – Zakharova (TASS)
Kiev Cooking Up False Flag Involving Toxic Substances – Zakharova (TASS)
US-Israel Genocide In Gaza Is Bad For French Shipping And Ports (Helmer)
Erdogan Says Netanyahu Literally ‘Hitler’ (RT)
Some Western Countries Say Netanyahu’s ‘End’ Is Near – Erdogan Adviser (Sp.)
Milei Mulls Plan To Force Through Radical Reforms (RT)
The DOJ Took More than Two Years to Answer a FOIA (Martens)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Petchesky

 

 

Torah

 

 

 

 

Ritter

 

 


The global population growth rate peaked 60 years ago and has been largely in sharp decline ever since.

 

 

Ritter

 

 

 

 

” Jack Smith does not want Trump to point out to the jury that a political and selective prosecution is political and selective.”

Jack Smith Files Motion to Stop Trump from Raising New J6 Evidence (PB)

Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a motion Wednesday morning seeking to prevent former President Donald Trump from claiming in his federal case that he was targeted for political prosecution by President Joe Biden as a form of “election interference.” Donald Trump, unironically, stands accused of “election interference” in connection to his legal and constitutionally protected election challenges over the 2020 election. Smith said in his motion that Trump should be barred from “introducing evidence, making arguments, or framing questions to advance a theory of selective or vindictive prosecution.” Judge Chutkan, an anti-Trump jurist who has consistently sided with the state’s prosecution efforts, is expected to fulfill all of Smith’s demands, no matter how contrary to due process or deleterious to the cause of justice.

The excessively constrictive measures would further rein in the speech of the 2024 presidential candidate in the midst of a campaign that has thus far established him as the clear favorite. The absurdity of Smith’s court demands were further illuminated by legal analyst Julie Kelly. “Jack Smith, in likely vain attempt to keep March 4 trial date, filed another pretrial related to what the jury should be allowed to consider. (All pretrial deadlines now on hold),” Kelly wrote on X. “Smith wants to preclude the jury from hearing evidence about Jan 6 in his Jan 6 case; Smith wants to prevent jury from learning about presence of undercover agents; After warnings by govt officials in 2016 and 2020 that malign foreign influences were attempting to interfere in national elections, Smith wants any evidence related to 2020 warnings kept from the jury; Jack Smith does not want Trump to point out to the jury that a political and selective prosecution is political and selective.” Political commentator Alexander Muse reacted to the news.

According to court documents, at least twenty FBI and ATF agents were embedded around the capitol building on January 6. There are multiple videos, among the limited number that have been made public, of undercover police officers on January 6 — some of them even urging the protesters to ‘go to the Capitol.’ A Congressman recently stated there were “at least 200” undercover federal agents in the crowd on January 6; including official FBI agents and human assets. FBI Director Christopher Wray has refused to give the number of federal agents that were in the crowd on January 6 after repeatedly being questioned on the matter. The Biden administration’s Department of Justice will not only turn America’s election process upside-down in the name of ‘stopping Trump,’ but it will corrupt its justice system to the core in order to do so. Even if that means stripping the accused of due process rights. Needless to say, this has nothing to do with “democracy,” and has everything to do with a corrupt ends-justify-the-means mentality that has state actors like Jack Smith stopping at nothing in order to get the desired result: In this case, re-election of a Democratic president.

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“..a list of candidates “generally advocated by the national news media to be potential presidential candidates.”

Trump Can Remain On Michigan Primary Ballot, State Supreme Court Rules (Pol.)

Michigan’s highest court said Wednesday that Donald Trump can appear on the state’s Republican primary ballot, but the court declined to weigh in for now on whether Trump is eligible to run in the general election and serve again as president. The court turned away an appeal from Michigan voters who argue that Trump should be barred from the ballot because of his efforts to subvert the 2020 election and stoke violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The voters cite a provision of the 14th Amendment that, in some circumstances, bars people from holding public office if they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.” Last week, the Colorado Supreme Court became the first court in the country to declare Trump ineligible to run. The Colorado ruling is almost certain to end up at the U.S. Supreme Court soon.

Meanwhile, similar challenges have proceeded in dozens of other states. On Wednesday, the Michigan Supreme Court essentially punted on the question in the critical swing state, saying in a terse order that it would not take up the issue of Trump’s eligibility now. Earlier this month, a lower court ruled that Michigan’s secretary of state does not have the authority to remove Trump from the primary ballot. The voters challenging Trump’s eligibility — who were backed by the liberal advocacy group Free Speech for People, which has brought similar challenges across the country — tried to appeal that ruling to the Michigan Supreme Court. But the state Supreme Court, which consists of four Democrats and three Republicans, declined to hear the appeal, writing without elaboration that the court was “not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court.”

The Michigan Supreme Court’s order does not prevent the voters from contesting Trump’s eligibility to appear on the general election ballot if he wins the Republican nomination. By then, the U.S. Supreme Court may have definitively resolved the issue. One member of the state supreme court dissented from the decision not to hear the appeal now. Justice Elizabeth Welch, a Democrat, said the court should have heard the appeal and formally affirmed the lower court’s conclusion that the Michigan secretary of state could not strip Trump from the primary ballot. Trump celebrated the Michigan Supreme Court’s order on Wednesday. In a post on his social media site, Trump said the case was a “Desperate Democrat attempt to take the leading Candidate” off the ballot.

Michigan has an unusual process to select candidates for the presidential primary ballot. The secretary of state creates a list of candidates “generally advocated by the national news media to be potential presidential candidates.” Political parties may also submit additional candidates, and others can petition to get added.

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“..Other messages called for the justices to be dragged from their homes, hanged and shot..”

US Police Bolster Patrols for Colorado Judges Amid Violent Threats (Sp.)

Colorado’s Denver Police Department announced on Tuesday it was investigating reports of threats of harassment against justices on the Colorado Supreme Court, adding that as a result security detail had been bolstered for the judges. “The Denver Police Department is currently investigating incidents directed at Colorado Supreme Court justices and will continue working with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to thoroughly investigate any reports of threats or harassment,” Denver police said in a statement Tuesday. “Due to the open investigations and safety and privacy considerations, we will not be providing details of these investigations. The Department is providing extra patrols around justice’s residences in Denver and will provide additional safety support if/as requested.”

On Friday, the FBI also said it was investigating threats against the justices, and was working alongside local law enforcement in order to address potential threats of violence. “The FBI is aware of the situation and working with local law enforcement,” said Vikki Migoya, a spokesperson for the FBI Denver Field Office. “We will vigorously pursue investigations of any threat or use of violence committed by someone who uses extremist views to justify their actions regardless of motivation.” The threats of violence follow a 4-3 ruling made last week by the Colorado Supreme Court in which they made the unprecedented ruling to disqualify Trump from the state’s Republican presidential primary ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

“We conclude that because President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Secretary to list President Trump as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot,” the court’s majority wrote in an unsigned opinion. Following their decision, a flood of violent rhetoric descended upon the justices across social media platforms, with many of the messages coming from Trump supporters. The messages included posts which pledged to either maim or even kill the justices. Other messages called for the justices to be dragged from their homes, hanged and shot, said the SITE Intelligence Group. Trump’s campaign has vowed to appeal the ruling to the US Supreme Court, which is dominantly conservative. The Trump camp has blasted the effort as yet another politically-motivated effort to block his chances at serving a second presidential term.

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Seems weird that they’re only finding this out now. We’ve all seen how many people watch Tucker Carlson on X vs on Fox.

Ramaswamy’s Campaign Stops Spending Money On TV Ads (JTN)

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign is no longer spending money on TV ads and doesn’t have any currently booked, according to an ad tracking firm and the campaign. For the first week of December, Ramaswamy’s campaign spent about $200,000 on TV ads and later on in the month, it dropped to only $6,000 on TV ads, according to NBC News. The campaign stated that money will still be spent on advertising, just not on television. “We are focused on bringing out the voters we’ve identified — best way to reach them is using addressable advertising, mail, text, live calls and doors to communicate with our voters on Vivek’s vision for America, making their plan to caucus and turning them out,” the campaign’s press secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the outlet in an interview.

This change comes less than a month before the Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary and the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses. “As you know, this isn’t what most campaigns look like. We have intentionally structured this way so that we have the ability to be nimble and hyper targeted in our ad spending,” McLaughlin also said. Other GOP primary presidential candidates, including former President Donald Trump, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, are still running advertisements on television.

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“It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other.”

The US Is Preparing For War With China (CP)

The Chinese view, based on what they call “Xi Jinping Thought,” is that the US-China association is the most important bilateral relationship in the world. As Chinese President Xi Jinping has explained: “How China and the US get along will determine the future of humanity.” This view is predicated on the acceptance of a high degree of integration between the two countries’ economies. They see this “entwining” as something to be promoted because both countries stand to benefit from each other’s development. Overarching the bilateral relationship from the Chinese perspective is a stance of friendly cooperative relations. A “common prosperity,” they believe, can be built on three principles. First is mutual respect. A critical aspect of that pillar of mutual relations is not crossing the red lines of either of the two global powers. Second is peaceful coexistence. This entails a commitment to manage disagreements through communications and dialogue. And third is win-win cooperation.

For example, increased trade with China boosted the annual purchasing power for US households. That the US and China occupy such dominant positions in the world entails concomitant responsibilities. According to the Chinese, major countries have major responsibilities to humanity. They point out that global problems, such as climate change, cannot be solved without US-China cooperation. Indeed, the US and China together contribute to 40% of the planet’s current greenhouse gas emissions. Beijing contrasts their posture with what they explicitly criticize as the Biden administration’s “zero-sum mentality.” In a zero-sum game, one player’s gain is equivalent to the other’s loss. This differs from the Chinese vision of “win-win” relations based on cooperation for mutual benefit. The Chinese take exception to the US definition of bilateral relations as one of antagonistic “strategic” competition.

The opposing paradigms were displayed at the APEC summit in San Francisco on November 15, where the two world leaders met face-to-face for the first time in two years. We do not know what was discussed in the closed-door meeting. But in a press conference afterward, US President Joe Biden said of the person he had just spent four hours: “Well, look, he’s a dictator in the sense that he is a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that’s based on a form of government totally different than ours.” Even neo-con US Secretary of State Antony Blinken winced at the press conference. His grimace was captured in a video that went viral.

Later that day, Chinese President Xi calmly instructed, as if responding to Biden’s indiscretion, “It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other.” Peaceful coexistence for the Chinese necessitates a tolerance and acceptance of different social systems and modes of being. Xi further commented, “the planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed.” Fortune acknowledged that Xi offered a vision different from what it characterized as Biden’s “winner-take-all” mentality. The business magazine noted that Biden has continued Trump’s tariffs on some Chinese products while tightening export controls and investments in high-tech areas such as advanced chips.

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“The drone technology of today has changed the modern battlefield in every way that the machine gun changed warfare during World War I or the tank changed warfare during World War II.”

Scott Ritter: US Sustainability in Jeopardy as World Turns Against Hegemon (Sp.)

As 2023 comes to a close, the Israel-Palestinian crisis and the Ukrainian conflict are dominating world news, prompting questions as to what next year holds in store for the international community. Sputnik’s Dimitri Simes, Jr. sat down with former US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter to sum up the results of the year and discuss how things may pan out in 2024. The Ukrainian military will continue to sustain a strategic defeat in 2024 as it is exhausted in terms of manpower, ammo and arms, according to Sputnik’s interlocutor. It’s up to Moscow and the Russian Armed Forces’ operational tempo whether the conflict will drag on until 2025, as per Ritter. Russia’s special military operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine has never meant to be a blitzkrieg, the expert stressed, adding that the conflict will end when political and military objectives set by the Russian leadership are accomplished.

Presently, Russia is continuing to “grind” the Ukrainian military and steadily liberate its new territories, thus accomplishing the demilitarization task. When it comes to Moscow’s political goals, it’s important to stamp out the forces behind the 2014 coup d’etat that brought ultra-nationalists and neo-Nazis, including the Azov Battalion, the Svoboda Party and other ideological heirs of Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, to power. In the course of the special military operation, Russia has mastered modern warfare, per Sputnik’s interlocutor. “The Ukrainian-Russian conflict has opened up a new chapter in modern warfare,” Ritter stressed. “The drone technology of today has changed the modern battlefield in every way that the machine gun changed warfare during World War I or the tank changed warfare during World War II.

The drones have changed the face of modern warfare, and I think that armies all around the world are going to be studying or should be studying what’s taking place on the battlefield between Ukraine and Russia today.” Ritter rubbished the claims made by US President Joe Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that having won the Ukrainian conflict, Russia would proceed to take on NATO member states. Per Ritter, Washington’s rhetoric is “fear-mongering” aimed at justifying further military spending. After accomplishing its goals in Ukraine, Russia will focus on strengthening its military and stepping up the protection of its borders in the West, Arctic and the East, where they are threatened by the US and their NATO allies, according to the military expert.

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“..hegemonic stability theory” vs “balance of power theory..”

Righting A Wrong: Burying Decades of US-Led Wars (Sweidan)

As previously mentioned by The Cradle, “Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip is best understood to be a US-backed one,” one that is being fought to safeguard US influence and interests in West Asia. However, the maneuvering room for Washington’s allies is shrinking dramatically. Unlike the diverse strategic options West Asian countries explored during the Ukraine war, Gaza offers no such latitude. It is fundamentally Washington’s war, demanding collective mobilization to defend the US position. It is also telling that the US-led multination task force, Operation Guardian of Prosperity in the Red Sea, is already facing major set-backs since its recent inception, with some members pulling out and others choosing to remain unnamed.

White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby had to awkwardly caveat the secrecy like this: “There are some countries that have agreed to participate and be part of the operation in the Red Sea, but they have to decide how much they want that to be public. And I’m going to leave it to them so that they can describe it somehow, because not everyone wants to be public.” For example, the role of NATO member Turkiye has transformed into that of an energy transmission station for Israel, while the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan serve as a transit bridge for goods bound for the occupation state that Yemen prevents from passing through the Red Sea. Notably, shipments from Turkiye to Israel surged to 355 after 7 October, with many linked to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and individuals close to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, including his son Buraq.

Even Egypt, restricted to allowing aid trucks through the Rafah crossing, could not facilitate aid to Palestinians without US approval. In international relations, there are two main theories that address the relationship between power and the spread of peace. The first is the hegemonic stability theory which posits that the international order is likely to remain stable when one country is the dominant global power. The proponents of this theory believe that the existence of a single hegemon deters all powers in the world and prevents them from spreading tension. However, given the reality that the United States has dominated a conflict-ridden global order for four decades, it can be argued that the presence of the hegemon did not lead to global stability. Rather, the dominant was the major source and catalyst for spreading tension around the world. It is sufficient to look at the distribution of US bases in the world and the proliferation of military agreements signed by Washington to understand how the US consistently provokes rivals and challengers, and creates strife.

The second is the balance of power theory, in which states seek to protect themselves by preventing any country from acquiring enough military power to control all other nations. If one power dominates – such as the United States – the theory predicts that weaker countries will unite in a defense alliance. According to this theory, a balance of power between competing states or alliances raises the cost of tension for everyone and ensures stability in the world. Thus, achieving peace today requires a rise in the level of power among Washington’s rivals, power which will provide the deterrence required to limit the spread of tensions around the world. Increasing the capabilities of Washington’s rivals is now a key requirement for all peaceful peoples and nations. And according to the balance of power theory, uniting against Israel is the most successful way to stabilize West Asia and its environs today.

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“The begging of their Ukrainian underlings is causing ever more irritation in Washington, London and Brussels.”

Zelensky’s News Conference Exposed West’s Fatigue – Zakharova (TASS)

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s recent year-end news conference signaled that Kiev lacks confidence about its future and the West has grown tired of Ukraine’s political setbacks, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. “Everyone has seen the Kiev regime’s lack of confidence about its own future amid growing Western fatigue with their failures,” she said at a news conference. “The begging of their Ukrainian underlings is causing ever more irritation in Washington, London and Brussels.” “There is a growing reluctance among ordinary people in Western society to nurture the corrupt regime from their own pockets,” the diplomat went on to say. “The sooner the collective West realizes that the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, which it provoked, is possible only through achieving the goals of the special military operation, the sooner peace will come.”

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“Zelensky and his entire gang do not care about the consequences that their own people will face..”

Kiev Cooking Up False Flag Involving Toxic Substances – Zakharova (TASS)

Kiev is plotting to carry out a false flag operation involving the use of Western-made toxic substances in order to accuse Russia of alleged use of chemical weapons, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing. “There is nothing [in terms of concrete information] about Bucha: no names, no dates of birth, no passport data, they simply don’t exist. There was nothing, because the entire thing was a false flag operation,” she emphasized. “The Kiev regime is plotting something similar this time. They may organize another anti-Russian provocation with the use of Western-made toxic substances in order to launch a new campaign within UN structures and the world media to accuse our country of the alleged deliberate use of chemical weapons,” the diplomat said.

Zakharova pointed out that, according to available information, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is actively involved in the preparation of such a false flag event, and has enlisted the cooperation of the Kiev-based Ukrainian company Realab. “It specializes in the import of chemical reagents and precursors. In October-November 2023, Ukraine purchased in Germany a so-called small batch of triethanolamine and nitrogen-containing sodium compound produced by the US company Honeywell. The company is American, [but is] located in the city of Seltz (Germany),” she added.

At the same time, the spokeswoman noted that triethanolamine is included in the Chemical Annex of the Chemical Weapons Convention and is subject to annual declaration. “This compound is a precursor for the synthesis of a toxic substance with a dermal explosive effect, such as nitrogen mustard gas. Nitrogenous sodium compounds are highly toxic and their striking effect is similar to that of cyanide,” Zakharova stressed. “According to Russian experts, these chemicals may be used by the SBU to produce a chemical agent to carry out a limited act of provocation on the territory controlled by the Kiev regime within the range of our troops,” she said.

According to the diplomat, amid growing world fatigue with the Kiev regime and reductions in financial and military aid from the West, Kiev is sufficiently desperate to take any steps that might put the Ukrainian conflict back in the headlines and at the top of the international agenda. “The regime of [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky continues to eagerly carry out the instructions of its overseas masters to wage war to the last Ukrainian. They do not care at all about the consequences of this false flag operation, just as they did not care at all about the consequences of using the depleted uranium shells that were delivered to the Kiev regime by the UK. Zelensky and his entire gang do not care about the consequences that their own people will face if this very false flag operation [involving highly toxic chemicals] is actually carried out,” Zakharova concluded.

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“Macron shot the messenger..”

US-Israel Genocide In Gaza Is Bad For French Shipping And Ports (Helmer)

The message delivered last week to French President Emanuel Macron was a dramatic one: Never mind Israel throttling the Palestinians, Macron was told, the Houthis and their Arab and Iranian allies are capable of throttling France. Macron shot the messenger. Bernard Émié was fired last Wednesday, December 20, and Nicolas Lerner put in his place. The announcement — the first time there’s been such a switch between the traditionally competing foreign and domestic intelligence chiefs — was made in a tweet by the French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu. Émié has been the head of France’s foreign intelligence agency, the DGSE (Directorate-General for External Security), since 2017. His replacement is Nicolas Lerner, head of France’s internal security agency, the DGSI (Directorate-General for Internal Security), since 2018. By coincidence on the very same day of Émié’s sacking, Lecornu took a telephone call from Washington.

US Secretary of Defense General Lloyd Austin told Lecornu “the Red Sea is vital for global commerce, noting that the scale and increasing frequency of these attacks constitute a significant international problem that must be addressed. The United States and France are both making significant contributions to stability in the region and seek further collaboration on bilateral and multilateral solutions. Secretary Austin thanked France for its support to the 44-nation joint statement condemning the Houthis’ illegal attacks on international shipping.” This is the Pentagon “readout”. The meaning is the opposite. France is pulling its naval forces in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden out of Austin’s military operation and of targeting by the US and Israel of Houthi units on the Yemen shore, as well as of the Iranian intelligence vessels, MV Behshad at anchor in the Red Sea, and the MV Saviz in the eastern Indian Ocean (Arabian Sea).

In fact, the elimination of Émié, according to French intelligence sources, signals that US backing for Israel’s genocidal operation against the Gaza Palestinians, and the expansion of the war by the Houthis of Yemen and Hezbollah of Lebanon, are driving French national interest calculations in the opposite direction from the Americans and Israelis. Émié is a former French ambassador to Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Algeria, and the French Foreign Ministry’s chief policymaker for the Arab world for several years before he was appointed to run the DGSE in 2017. Lerner, by contrast, has no direct Arab experience. A university classmate of President Macron’s, his career has been limited to police operations in the south of France, Corsica, and Paris, and then in the private office of the Interior Minister as Macron chopped the ministry’s head three times in eighteen months.

The French press are struggling to explain what has happened to the heads of their intelligence services. According to the state press agency AFP and Le Monde, “Emié launched reforms within the DGSE and saw the agency’s budget increase. He is said to have improved relations with the domestic security agency. But many have criticised the DGSE under him for failing to foresee the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and a string of military coups in former French colonies Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.” A rightwing, bank-owned regional newspaper, L’Est Républicain, claims: “Bernard Emié and his successor Nicolas Lerner contributed to improving the often tense relations between the DGSE and the DGSI, the replacement of the former by the latter confirming links described in the intelligence community as very regular and professional.”

Defense Minister Lecornu has been struggling with Macron’s pro-US, pro-Israel, anti-Russian line as the war in Gaza has been escalating. Towards Israel, Lecornu said the week after the Hamas operation began in October, “the bulk of the support we’re providing today is intelligence. The intelligence provided is provided as part of the regular partnership between our two countries. Unfortunately, we have a long history in the fight against terrorism, and our intelligence services have particularly powerful resources and sensors…Iran poses undeniable security challenges, both in its support for Russia in the war in Ukraine and on the issue of nuclear proliferation. Today, the priority is to avoid escalation. Israel has the right to defend itself and its people from these atrocities. However, this response must be proportionate and consistent with the laws of war. We emphasize that no other actor hostile to Israel should seek to take advantage of the situation…There is a very difficult situation in the Gaza Strip. France has nothing to be ashamed of, it has always been one of the most reliable countries in terms of aid and support.”

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“The Israeli military is the “most moral army in the world,” and it is currently battling “the most disgusting and cruel terrorist group in the world..”

Erdogan Says Netanyahu Literally ‘Hitler’ (RT)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is no different from Adolf Hitler, Türkiye’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has said, condemning Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Erdogan fired the new diplomatic broadside at Netanyahu on Wednesday when he delivered an opening speech at an award ceremony in Ankara. West Jerusalem now has “Nazi camps” of its own to hold Palestinians in, the president stated, implying the campaign in Gaza was as bad – or even worse – than the Holocaust committed by Nazi Germany. “We’ve seen the Nazi camps of Israel. How does this happen? They used to speak ill about Hitler, but how are you any different than Hitler?” Erdogan stated. They are going to make us miss Hitler. Is what this Netanyahu is doing any less than what Hitler did? It is not.

The only real difference between the late Nazi fuhrer and the Israeli PM is the broad support from the West for Netanyahu and his campaign against Hamas, the Turkish leader claimed. “He is richer than Hitler; he gets the support from the West. All sorts of support comes from the United States. And what did they do with all this support? They killed more than 20,000 Gazans,” he stressed. Türkiye’s president has long sought to portray himself as a protector of Palestinians, repeatedly criticizing Israeli policies. Erdogan drastically ramped up his rhetoric amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which broke out in the aftermath of the attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on southern Israel on October 7.

The new remarks, arguably the most hostile ones produced by Erdogan to date, have prompted a response from Netanyahu. Israeli PM dismissed the criticism, pointing fingers at Erdogan’s questionable account and allegations of committing genocide in Türkiye and beyond. “Erdogan, who commits genocide against the Kurds, who holds a world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his rule, is the last person who can preach morality to us,” Netanyahu stated, falling short of accusing Erdogan of being the true Hitler himself. The Israeli military is the “most moral army in the world,” and it is currently battling “the most disgusting and cruel terrorist group in the world,” Netanyahu added, referring to Hamas.

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“How can you explain bombs being dropped on children being treated for cancer?”

Some Western Countries Say Netanyahu’s ‘End’ Is Near – Erdogan Adviser (Sp.)

Several Western countries say “the end” for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is near since “the world has already seen” the Jewish state’s “brutality” in actions in the Gaza Strip, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Chief Adviser Akif Cagatay Kilic said Wednesday. Earlier on Wednesday, Erdogan criticized Netanyahu and once again compared him with Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler. The Israeli prime minister, for his part, stated that Erdogan, who “is committing genocide against the Kurds and who holds the world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his regime, is the last person who can preach morality to us.”

“Netanyahu made a statement today about our president. You are ruthlessly and indiscriminately dropping bombs on people. Some circles do not want to understand the scale of the catastrophe when we talk about genocide. Our president spoke loudly about this in Germany and Greece. While many European capitals remained silent, our president demonstrated his position. Netanyahu is trying to wash the blood off his hands. But the world has already seen it. A permanent ceasefire and peace will only come when peace comes to Gaza. Israel is brutal, its policies are brutality. How can you explain bombs being dropped on children being treated for cancer? Many Western countries say this is the end of the road for Netanyahu,” Kilic stressed in an interview with Turkish broadcaster TRT Haber.

Additionally, the head of the communications department in the Turkish presidential administration, Fahrettin Altun, emphasized that the Israeli prime minister is “the last person to talk about anything related to genocide.” “The Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is the last person to talk about anything related to genocide. He has mastered skills to sell the world, his war crimes against civilians as self-defense. Even though the world fails to stop him, the history will judge him as the war criminal he is… Netanyahu is the last person to talk about our struggle against terrorism,” Altun said on X. Altun also highlighted that Netanyahu is “the last person to talk about morality,” adding that he “cannot lecture anyone about how to conduct counter-terrorism operations because he has no experience in this arena!” The Turkish communications chief further said that the Israeli prime minister “has been on a mission to drive Palestinians out of their lands for the last four decades” and that he has now taken it “to a new level by using the Israeli army to kill civilians in their homes, hospitals and refugee camps.”

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Wonder where this will go.

Milei Mulls Plan To Force Through Radical Reforms (RT)

Newly inaugurated Argentine President Javier Milei is “on the warpath” against the National Congress and could put pressure on the legislature by holding public votes on policy proposals, La Nacion reported on Wednesday. Referring to a major economic reform that his cabinet presented earlier this month, Milei told La Nacion: “If they [the Congress] reject it, I would call for a plebiscite and have them explain to me why they are against the people.” The proposed legislation would impose a two-year state of emergency, deregulate the economy, privatize state property, and alter the national healthcare system, among other changes.

Argentine law allows for both binding and non-binding referendums, termed “public consultations”, although only the National Congress can initiate a binding one. If a non-binding proposal by the executive branch is approved in a plebiscite, the parliament is obliged to consider it. “They cannot accept that they lost, that the population chose something else,” Milei said of the opposition in the National Congress. He claimed some lawmakers were “seeking bribes,” but did not provide details to back up the allegation. One example of a non-binding referendum in Argentina was in 1984, when a vote was called on the government’s plan to resolve a border dispute with Chile. Overwhelming public support subsequently put pressure on the opposition in the Congress.

Milei, a libertarian economist and former MP, was considered a dark horse in Argentina’s presidential election last month. He was voted in on a promise to generate economic growth through radical public spending cuts and liberalization. Argentina is suffering high levels of inflation, which Milei has vowed to address through “shock therapy.” The new president has claimed that opponents of his plans are experiencing “Stockholm syndrome,” and has vowed a harsh crackdown under his government. In the same interview with La Nacion, Milei confirmed that he wants to introduce 20,000 and 50,000 peso bills. The largest note is currently 2,000 pesos, although inflation has wiped much of the value off the national currency over the years. Keeping wads of cash is “torture” for Argentines and “puts a label saying ‘steal here’” on those carrying larger sums, Milei argued.

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Pam Martens and Russ Martens run Wall Street On Parade. This is one crazy story.

The DOJ Took More than Two Years to Answer a FOIA (Martens)

On July 20, 2021 the U.S. Senate voted 56-44 to confirm Kenneth Polite (pronounced Po-leet) to head the most powerful criminal law enforcement office in the United States, the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. The vetting of this candidate immediately raised red flags at Wall Street On Parade. Despite Polite owing more than $1.5 million in debts according to his financial disclosure form and public mortgage records; paying over 18 percent interest on an outstanding balance on a credit card; 19.99 percent interest on a personal loan; and then accepting a job where his income was going to be slashed by approximately 77 percent – not one Senator on the Senate Judiciary Committee asked a single question about Polite’s unusual financial obligations during his confirmation hearing on May 26, 2021.

In addition, Polite was coming from the law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bochius, which had plenty of red flags itself. Polite was a partner there earning approximately $877,500 in 2020. His job at the Justice Department was to pay less than $200,000 annually. Morgan, Lewis has, for decades, provided legal representation to the Wall Street mega banks. Polite’s financial disclosure form revealed that JPMorgan Chase was one of his clients over the prior 12 months. JPMorgan Chase is a recidivist lawbreaker on Wall Street with an unprecedented five felony counts brought by the Justice Department and admitted to by the bank. Having a recidivist felon that is the largest bank in the United States as a recent client and then moving into the job as a potential prosecutor of that bank is not good optics, so Polite signed an Ethics Agreement (EA) that read in part:

“he will be required to recuse from particular matters involving specific parties involving his former employer or former clients for a period of two years after he is appointed….” During the time that Polite was ostensibly recusing himself from matters involving JPMorgan Chase, the Attorney General of the U.S. Virgin Islands brought a civil case in federal court in Manhattan against JPMorgan Chase for “actively participating” in Jeffrey Epstein’s international sex-trafficking ring where Epstein and his wealthy pals were sexually assaulting underage girls. According to documents released in the lawsuit, the bank was alleged to have laundered more than $5 million in hard cash for Epstein over the span of a decade without filing the legally-required Suspicious Activity Reports with law enforcement. In addition, various employees of the bank were making visits to Epstein’s Manhattan mansion where sexual assaults of minors were alleged to have occurred.

The Criminal Division of the Justice Department has yet to bring a criminal case against JPMorgan Chase for either willfully participating in and/or covering up Epstein’s crimes for more than a decade. [..] The number of red flags swirling about Polite’s vetting to become the top criminal cop in the United States and supervise a department of some 1400 prosecutors and staff, prompted Wall Street On Parade to file a Freedom of Information Act request for documents with the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) on July 26, 2021. We requested “all electronic correspondence from November 6, 2020 through July 20, 2021 that relates to the nomination or confirmation or vetting of Kenneth A. Polite for the position of Assistant Attorney General at the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice.”

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Li river

 

 

Condor
https://twitter.com/i/status/1739960815313137904

 

 

Elk

 

 

Tortoise

 

 

Sleeping whales

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Dec 192023
 


Pablo Picasso Portrait of the artist’s mother 1896 (he was 15)

 

They Can Wait at Leisure, Whilst Netanyahu Labours – and Errs (Alastair Crooke)
US Prepares Its Ukraine War Coalition Fleet In The Red Sea (Helmer)
Middle East ‘Totally Out Of Control’ – Trump (RT)
Russian Policy Towards The Gaza War & Palestine Genocide Is Mistaken (Helmer)
The American Political Crisis (Paul Craig Roberts)
Impeachment: Biden Under Formal Investigation (Patrick Lawrence)
Trump Attorneys Ask Fulton County Judge to Dismiss Indictment (ET)
Yatsenyuk Suggests How West Could Pressure Russia (RT)
EU May Strip Hungary Of Voting Rights To Seal Ukraine Aid Deal – FT (TASS)
Brussels Launches Legal Action Against Elon Musk’s X (EN)
In the Game of Strip Poker, Someone Ends Up Naked (Kunstler)
Secret Pakistan Document Undermines Espionage Case Against Imran Khan (IC)
Rolling Thunder Global Propaganda – Mark Crispin Miller (USAW)
Pfizer Seeks To Treat Most TURBO CANCERS Caused By mRNA Vaccines (Makis)

 

 

 

 

Tucker

 

 

Water vs fire

 

 

 

 

Blair-Bush initiative..

They Can Wait at Leisure, Whilst Netanyahu Labours – and Errs (Alastair Crooke)

In a small dimly lit room in Gaza, it was possible to discern first the museum-piece wheel chair, and then the crumpled, blanketed figure of the paraplegic figure who occupied it. Suddenly a high-pitched squeal seemed to emit from the wheelchair; it’s occupant’s hearing aid had gone wild, and was to continue to shriek at regular intervals during my visit. I wondered how much the chair-occupant could hear, with such a mal-adjusted ear-piece. Settled into discussion, I realised that disabled or not, his mental state was sharper than a knife. He was as tough as nails; had a dry humour and his eyes perpetually sparkled. He was clearly enjoying himself – except when wrestling with the whistles and shrieks from his hearing aid. How was it that such charisma was packed within such a slight figure? This man in the wheelchair and with the rickety earpiece – Sheikh Ahmad Yasin – was the founder of Hamas. And what he said to me that morning has come to upend the Islamic world today.

What he said was: “Hamas is not an Islamic movement. It is a liberation movement, and anyone, be they Christian, or Buddhist – or even I – could join it. We all were welcome”. Why was this simple formula somehow so significant and connected to today’s events? Well, the ethos of Gaza, at that time (2000-2002), was predominantly that of ideological Islamism. The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was deeply embedded. It was not then a resistance movement per se – it was capable of violence, but its prime focus was social work and uncorrupted governance. It wanted to show how well it could govern. Yasin’s comment was revolutionary because liberation trumped dogma and the various ‘schools’ of political Islam. This ultimately was to become ‘Gaza Hamas’ – at odds with its conventional leadership resident in Doha. Sinwar and Dief are ‘Yasin’s children’.

‘Long story short’, a little while later, Yasin, on one of his Friday prayers’ wheel-chair trundles across the road to his adjacent mosque, was blown to pieces by an Israeli missile as he exited. The Muslim Brotherhood wing of Hamas did get their chance to show their hand at governance: They (fairly) won the 2006 Palestinian Authority elections in Gaza, and took a majority of seats – some in the West Bank too. President Bush and Condaleeza Rice were horrified. They had supported the elections … but they never once imagined …Thus, PM Blair and President Bush put together a secret (unacknowledged to the EU) plan in response: Hamas leaders – plus the movements’ social support NGOs – were to be eliminated.

And the Palestinian Authority would crack down on all and every Hamas activity – in close collaboration with Israel. The West Bank, in this plan, would be the recipient of large financial aid to construct a prosperous western-style consumer/security state, and Gaza explicitly was to be impoverished. It would be made to ‘stew in its own juices’ under 16 years of siege; to wallow in poverty. The Israelis gave the Blair plan its empirical basis – calculating exactly how many calories, per head, how much fuel and gas would be allowed to enter Gaza – that would just maintain a subsistence standard of living. And since this Blair-Bush initiative, Palestinians have been irredeemably divided, with no political project even faintly possible.

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Operation Prosperity Guardian..

US Prepares Its Ukraine War Coalition Fleet In The Red Sea (Helmer)

On Monday, General Lloyd Austin, the US Secretary of Defense, announced that the US is assembling a fleet of warships to defend Israel’s port of Eilat, the Gulf of Aqaba, and Israel’s Red Sea shipping route by threatening to attack Yemen if it exercises its Law of the Sea right to regulate military transit through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The Austin fleet is to be assembled from the coalition of NATO states at war with Russia in the Ukraine. Austin’s call, announced by the Pentagon while Austin is in Israel, follows the failure of the USS Eisenhower and its squadron, with additional French and British warships, to prevent the collapse of commercial container and tanker shipping to and from Israel. “The recent escalation in reckless Houthi attacks originating from Yemen,” Austin announced, “threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners, and violates international law.

“The Red Sea is a critical waterway that has been essential to freedom of navigation and a major commercial corridor that facilitates international trade. Countries that seek to uphold the foundational principle of freedom of navigation must come together to tackle the challenge posed by this non-state actor launching ballistic missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) at merchant vessels from many nations lawfully transiting international waters.” “This is an international challenge that demands collective action. Therefore, today I am announcing the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an important new multinational security initiative under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces and the leadership of its Task Force 153, which focuses on security in the Red Sea.

Operation Prosperity Guardian is bringing together multiple countries to include the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain, to jointly address security challenges in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, with the goal of ensuring freedom of navigation for all countries and bolstering regional security and prosperity.” Bahrain on the Persian Gulf — the only Arab state included on Austin’s list — and the Seychelles, the island state in the Indian Ocean, are included to provide shore base facilities for the proposed Yemen-attack fleet. However, no country with naval bases on the Red Sea shore, territorial waters, and exclusive economic zones extending into the waterway — Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, and Djibouti — has publicly agreed to participate or approved this escalation of the Gaza war to benefit Israel. The Pentagon has also asked the Australian Navy for a frigate to join the Red Sea fleet, but the Australian government in Canberra is reluctant to agree, and Austin has dropped the country from his list.

All of the governments on Austin’s list, with the exception of the US, voted last week at the United Nations General Assembly for Israel to halt its operations in the Gaza war. In this context, none of these states recognizes Israel’s right to impose its blockade of Gaza’s ports extending into Palestine’s territorial waters, the Gaza Maritime Area, and Israel’s de facto military rule of the international waters of the Mediterranean, including the Gaza Marine gas field. “Freedom of navigation”, Austin’s version of the legal doctrine of his Operation Prosperity Guardian, does not apply to the Gaza Maritime Area.

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“I am the only candidate who can make this promise to you: I will prevent World War III..”

Middle East ‘Totally Out Of Control’ – Trump (RT)

Former US President Donald Trump has claimed that the current situation in the Middle East is “out of control” and suggested that, unlike Joe Biden, he could avert looming disaster in that region and globally. Trump, who is running for a new term in office, warned that a “catastrophe” could happen in the Middle East if the situation is “not handled with strength and precision,” in comments posted on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday. In similar remarks made during a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada, he accused the Biden administration of squandering his legacy in the form of the Abraham Accords, with which he claimed to have “made peace” in the region.

Under Trump, the US mediated a series of normalization treaties between Israel and Arab nations. Saudi Arabia was reportedly negotiating a similar arrangement when the October 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas took place. Israel’s response using overwhelming military action in Gaza has triggered mass outcry in the Muslim world, effectively making such a deal impossible for the foreseeable future. The former president is campaigning on the claim that, under his leadership, the conflict in the Middle East would not have erupted, and neither would the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine. Trump has repeatedly claimed that he could stop the latter crisis in 24 hours. With Biden left in power for another four years after the 2024 election, the world faces an existential threat, Trump told supporters in Nevada. “I am the only candidate who can make this promise to you: I will prevent World War III,” he said.

Trump’s bid to regain the presidency is being undermined by dozens of charges filed against him in several cases, including one that alleges that he sought to defraud voters in Georgia in 2020 by subverting his election loss in the state. He claims to be a victim of political persecution. Biden has been supportive of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, but this position has alienated a large portion of Democratic voters. According to pollster YouGov, as of late November, just 22% of them sympathized with Israelis more than Palestinians, compared to 14% holding the opposite view. The same metrics for Republicans were 63% and 3%, respectively. A majority of American voters would support a ceasefire in both the Middle East and the Ukraine conflicts.

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“Constitution’s Article 18(3): “The exercise of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen shall not violate the rights and freedoms of other people.”

Russian Policy Towards The Gaza War & Palestine Genocide Is Mistaken (Helmer)

In Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s national address of October 28 he erased all differences between the Jewish religion, Zionist ideology, and Israeli state policy. He invoked this trinity in the “chain of heroes of Israel that has continued for over 3,000 years, from Joshua, Judah Maccabee and Bar Kochba, and up to the heroes of 1948, the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War and Israel’s other wars. Our heroic soldiers have one supreme goal: To destroy the murderous enemy and ensure our existence in our land. We have always said ‘Never again’. ‘Never again’ is now.” And finally, he invoked the benediction of the Jewish God. “On your behalf, on behalf of all of us, I pray for the wellbeing of our soldiers: ‘May G-d make the enemies who rise against us be struck down before them! May He subdue our enemies under them and crown them with deliverance and victory.’”

If Netanyahu were a Russian Israeli, these remarks would be a Russian crime. In the constitution for the multi-ethnic and multicultural Russian Federation, every Russian has the Article 26 right “to determine and indicate his nationality”, and the Article 28 freedom of religious belief, including the right to no religious belief. Russians living in Israel and Palestine have the same rights, which is why the Foreign and Emergencies Ministries are doing everything they can now to evacuate them to Russia if that’s why they request. However, the Russians in Israel, like the Russians in Russia, cannot exercise their Article 26 and 28 rights without accepting the Constitution’s Article 18(3): “The exercise of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen shall not violate the rights and freedoms of other people.”

Speaking jurisprudentially, the one million Russians of Israel – about 90% of whom have taken Israeli nationality under Aliyah, the law of Jewish return – are violating their Article 18(3) duty if they profit from, collaborate in, or defend state and settler terrorism against the Palestinians, wherever and however this is occurring between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The Russians of Israel — if that is the nationality they choose in order to apply for evacuation to safe haven — may also be violating the Russian law against terrorism and extremism under Articles 205 and 282 of the Russian Criminal Code depending on where they live, how they live, the arms and military training they have accepted, what they do for a living, and who they vote for in Israeli elections.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russians at home and also abroad may not support or participate in terrorism propaganda, plans, or acts, whether of the Arab, Muslim, Israeli, Zionist, or Jewish variety. It is not yet settled in Russian foreign policy whether the rights of national liberation and self-defence apply as equally to Palestine state groups like Hamas, Fatah and their associated armed units as they apply to Israel state groups like the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and their associated armed settler units.

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“The Democrats welcome the invaders as they have ways to add them to Democrat votes. The Republican businessmen welcome the invaders, as they provide cheap labor and hold down US wages..”

The American Political Crisis (Paul Craig Roberts)

It is necessary to understand that Congress and the President are not accountable to the voters. More important than votes is the campaign contributions that lead to election. The House and Senate and President are elected on the basis of large sums of money contributed by the rich and powerful financial and economic interests, such as the military/security complex, Wall Street, the pharmaceutical, energy, agribusiness and other industries. Elected officials have to comply with the interests of those who provide the money, or next election the money goes to their opponents. The Jewish billionaire George Soros uses his money to put in office aggressive partisan Democrat state attorneys general who target Republicans. The result is that the Republicans cannot defend Trump, because the establishment doesn’t want Trump defended.

It is necessary to understand that the US is not a nation. It is a Tower of Babel. Untold millions of immigrant-invaders enter the country illegally every year, for year after year, and nothing can be done to stop the invasion. The Democrats welcome the invaders as they have ways to add them to Democrat votes. The Republican businessmen welcome the invaders, as they provide cheap labor and hold down US wages. The two political parties serving their short-term interests are destroying America. The immigrant-invaders overwhelm the school systems, medical facilities, police, and support systems of affected states and localities, making it difficult for them to service the interests on their municipal bonds. So, you see, it matters not how many votes this or that poll shows this or that candidate has.

Trump is being prosecuted by Democrat prosecutors in courts presided over by Democrat judges in jurisdictions where there are black Democrat juries. Law is being used as a weapon to remove a president and presidential candidate perceived by the establishment to be a threat. Trump will not be permitted to be President. If he is not imprisoned, he will be assassinated, unless the Establishment thinks it can control Trump by controlling his appointments and continuing to harass him. Perhaps the Establishment thinks that 8 years of high stress on an elderly man has done its damage and a little more stress will finish Trump off.

On top of it all, US living standards are falling. Middle class jobs are disappearing and the middle class with them. Many Americans work 2 or 3 part time jobs with no pension or medical benefits. After the Soviet collapse, US corporations began offshoring manufacturing jobs to China and Asia. The Federal Reserve, the central bank, serves the interests of the large banks at the expense of everyone else. In short, the US has become a dysfunctional country. But the foreign policy is still in the hands of the aggressive neoconservatives, who still cling to their agenda of US hegemony, principally to constrain Russia and China and to open the Middle East to Israeli expansion. As I hope this makes clear, the US is unstable across the board. The notion that an election can correct the situation is absurd.

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“The Biden family will stay as far outside the corridors of justice as it can in coming months, avoiding hearings, courtrooms, and legal proceedings for the simple reason it cannot win in any such context..”

Impeachment: Biden Under Formal Investigation (Patrick Lawrence)

Six days before the House vote, the Justice Department unsealed a nine-count indictment charging Hunter Biden with tax evasion, failure to file returns, and “false or fraudulent” returns when he did file them during his dissolute, influence-peddling years, 2016 to 2019. Three of the violations are felonies. In my read the new indictment is more of the same from David Weiss, the corrupt special counsel who has been protecting the Bidens for years: The document is full of rip-roaring language but makes no mention of Hunter’s violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which is the front door leading to Pop’s collaboration as Hunter sold vice-presidential access to the Ukrainians, the Chinese, the Kazakhs, and others. It will be interesting nonetheless to see how this sop to demands for justice plays out.

My prediction: The new indictment is Weiss’s groundwork for another excessively lenient plea bargain such as the one he fashioned last summer but failed to get past a conscientious judge. The question is whether such a plan would withstand sharpening congressional scrutiny — or whether it would worsen the mess that now surrounds the Bidens and their allies. The House Oversight Committee had subpoenaed Hunter Biden to sit for closed-door questioning by the time the grand jury indictments were made public. This session was scheduled for last Wednesday, hours before the House impeachment vote. Hunter is now threatened with a contempt of Congress citation for failing to appear. The younger Biden instead gave a press conference in front of the Capitol during which he got two things done.

One, he altered the Biden regime’s story for the second time. As readers will recall, the president’s first claim — he never discussed Hunter’s business with him — evolved some time ago into, “The president was never in business with Hunter.” Last week Hunter had it this way: “Let me state as clearly as I can: My father was not financially involved in my business.” If you net this out, it amounts to an implicit admission that Pop lied in his earlier versions of the Biden family story. It was on this point that a Fox News reporter sent Jean–Pierre into near hysterics last week. Two, during his appearance at the Capitol with microphones before him like bouquets of flowers, Hunter Biden lapsed into the tinniest of Pop’s many public-relations ploys: He played the pity card by pimping his personal difficulties. “They ridiculed my struggle with addiction; they belittled my recovery,” he complained of those running the impeachment proceedings. “And they have tried to dehumanize me — all to embarrass and damage my father, who has devoted his entire public life to service.”

I don’t see how much of this spaghetti will stick to the wall, but the tableau tells us something important. The Biden family will stay as far outside the corridors of justice as it can in coming months, avoiding hearings, courtrooms, and legal proceedings for the simple reason it cannot win in any such context. I have not yet heard of a court of public opinion trumping a court of law, but, desperate as the Bidens are at this point, it seems the only strategy available to them.

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“Instead, it directly targets core protected political speech and activity. For this reason, it is categorically invalid under the First Amendment.”

Trump Attorneys Ask Fulton County Judge to Dismiss Indictment (ET)

Former President Trump’s Georgia attorneys submitted a court filing on Dec. 18 arguing that the former president’s comments were political speech protected under the Constitution’s First Amendment in the aftermath of the 2020 election. “Every single alleged overt act listed and count charged against President Trump seeks to criminalize content-based, core political speech and expressive conduct,” President Trump’s team wrote.
The former president and more than a dozen other people were indicted in Fulton County, Georgia, by District Attorney Fani Willis, who accused them of conspiring to overturn the election in the state. Several defendants in the case have pleaded guilty in exchange for more lenient punishment, although President Trump and the remaining defendants have pleaded not guilty.

On Dec. 18, the former president’s lawyers said that even if the facts that the prosecutors have alleged are true, a judge should dismiss the indictment as a violation of his core First Amendment rights. “This Court should hold that the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech, when applied to the core political speech and expressive conduct alleged in the indictment against a President of the United States, demands a pretrial remedy and that remedy is dismissal of the indictment,” the lawyers said. But Ms. Willis’ case “does not merely criminalize conduct with an incidental impact on protected speech,” they said. “Instead, it directly targets core protected political speech and activity. For this reason, it is categorically invalid under the First Amendment.”

Ms. Willis has said she is seeking an August trial date for President Trump and the remaining co-defendants, a time frame that would put the current front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in court defending himself in the months, weeks, and even days leading up to the November general election. Trump lawyer Steve Sadow has said that if the former president is the nominee, this would be “the most effective election interference in the history of the United States.” Ms. Willis’s team has also said they want to have a single trial for the rest of the defendants. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the case, has expressed skepticism about the idea of trying too many people at once. He said earlier this month that even 12 people at once could be a stretch.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys have been exchanging evidence. Pretrial motions for most of the defendants are due early next month. In an interview with The Associated Press, Ms. Willis said she believes more of the co-defendants will take plea deals, although she did not elaborate. Attorney Sidney Powell, Trump attorney Jenna Ellis, attorney Kenneth Chesebro, and bail bondsman Scott Hall have taken plea deals in exchange for guilty pleas. Last week, Ms. Powell issued a 13-word apology, which was part of the plea agreement. “I apologize for my actions in connection with the events in Coffee County,” she wrote.

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How to start WWIII.

Yatsenyuk Suggests How West Could Pressure Russia (RT)

Meaningful negotiations between Ukraine and Russia will only be possible if the West demonstrates readiness to fight Russia and secure NATO membership for Ukraine, former Ukrainian prime minister Arseny Yatsenyuk has said. In an interview with Espreso TV on Saturday, Yatsenyuk, who headed the government in the first two years after the Maidan coup in 2014, acknowledged that negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the current format are “unrealistic.” Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has insisted that the conflict should be settled based on his so-called ten-point peace plan, which calls for Russia’s withdrawal from all territories claimed by Kiev, reparations from Moscow, and a war crimes tribunal. Zelensky also officially banned any talks with Putin last year.

Yatsenyuk, who now chairs the Kiev Security Forum, said he can “hardly imagine” a scenario in which talks between Kiev and Moscow would lead to Russia’s withdrawal of its troops and the payment of reparations, while Ukraine joins NATO and the EU at the same time. He recalled how Russia submitted proposals for long-term security guarantees to the US and NATO in December 2021, shortly before the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine. Moscow’s demands included preventing the further eastward expansion of NATO, denying accession to the alliance of the former USSR states, and limiting the bloc’s military activities close to Russian borders. However, the West refused to discuss the Russian proposals.

According to the former prime minister, NATO and EU member states should play the “very same game” as Russia did back then and tell Moscow that “we’ve made a political decision, Ukraine will be a member of NATO. Full stop. We are not discussing this decision with you.” “Within this decision, we invite you to sign a new agreement between Russia and NATO, a new agreement on conventional arms control in Europe, a new START agreement on the limitation of strategic nuclear weapons, a new agreement on cybersecurity,” Yatsenyuk continued. He agreed when the host pointed out that Moscow would never agree to such terms, but insisted that the move would still put Kiev and the West in a stronger position. “To the world’s publicity, we will say this: ‘We wanted exactly this kind of negotiation with Russia, we offered them what we could, and Russia refused it too,’” the former PM explained.

Yatsenyuk then said peace talks would only make sense “if the West was ready to demonstrate such political will,” calling it “the establishment of a new world order.” “I want the West to theoretically agree to this model and reaffirm the readiness to fight for the new member [Ukraine],” he concluded. Moscow has repeatedly indicated that it is ready for a dialogue with a view to ending the conflict in Ukraine, so long as Russia’s core interests are respected. On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said any talks would have to account for “Russia’s legitimate interests,” and must mean “putting an end to attempts to build [one’s] own security at the expense of others,” referring to Ukraine’s efforts to join the NATO bloc.

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“Maybe Hungary can create more trouble. Maybe Hungary can force us to use a few different tools. But ultimately Hungary cannot stop us providing money to Ukraine..”

EU May Strip Hungary Of Voting Rights To Seal Ukraine Aid Deal – FT (TASS)

EU member states are considering the possibility of stripping Hungary of its voting rights in order to conclude an agreement on allocating funds to Ukraine, The Financial Times has quoted European diplomats as saying. According to the officials, the EU may apply Article 7 of the 2007 European Union Treaty, which allows for depriving a country of the right to vote due to a violation of European legislation. This process can be blocked by any other EU member, but as the daily notes, after Poland’s recent elections, “Hungary no longer has a guaranteed protector” the EU. Despite this, some EU members are wary of the idea of imposing restrictions on Budapest. Instead, they intend to demonstrate to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban the “full costs” of isolating the country within the EU in order to force him to change his mind regarding the allocation of funds to Ukraine.

If that fails, the FT says, the EU’s 26 other members could strike a deal on their own, although “it would take time and only offer a short-term fix.” “Maybe Hungary can create more trouble. Maybe Hungary can force us to use a few different tools. But ultimately Hungary cannot stop us providing money to Ukraine,” said another EU senior official present at the summit. On December 15, Orban said that Budapest did not intend to support the idea of financial aid to Ukraine from the EU budget. He confirmed that at the EU summit in Brussels he had blocked an amendment to the EU budget that envisaged the allocation of 50 billion euros to Ukraine in 2024-2027.

Fico

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“We take any breach of our rules very seriously. And the evidence we currently have is enough to formally open a proceeding against X..”

Brussels Launches Legal Action Against Elon Musk’s X (EN)

The European Commission has launched legal action against social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, under its landmark rules for online platforms, the Digital Services Act (DSA). The executive said Monday it would probe whether X may have breached EU rules “in areas linked to risk management, content moderation, dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers.” The move represents the first-ever proceeding under the DSA, which was designed to create a safer space online, and adds further turmoil to a company that has struggled to find a stable footing since the $44-billion acquisition by Elon Musk. It follows a request for information sent by the Commission to X in October after it received indications the platform was spreading illegal content and disinformation, particularly terrorist and violent content in the context of the Israel-Hamas war.

Since August 2023, X is one of 17 platforms designated under the DSA as a “very large online platform,” which makes it subject to new, stringent norms on the dissemination of illegal content, the protection of fundamental rights and public security. “We take any breach of our rules very seriously. And the evidence we currently have is enough to formally open a proceeding against X,” said Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s executive vice-president. The opening of the proceeding makes it clear that “the time of big online platforms behaving like they are ‘too big to care’ has come to an end,” said Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for the internal market, promising an “in-depth investigation.” The executive will continue monitoring the platform’s compliance with all other obligations under the DSA and could take further action if any wrongdoing is detected, said a Commission spokesperson. The Commission has urged the company to “cooperate” on the probe, the spokesperson added.

Four potential infringements: The Commission said on Monday its investigation would focus on alleged breaches under four articles of the DSA related to: • The dissemination of illegal content, including measures taken to identify and swiftly remove illegal content and to allow users to flag such content. • Measures taken to combat information manipulation, such as the so-called “community notes” introduced in 2021 to debunk misleading posts. • Measures to increase transparency, amid suspected failures to provide researchers with adequate access to X’s publicly accessible data, including on paid ads. • The suspected deceptive design of X’s user interface, such as the so-called “blue checkmark,” a paid-for continuation promoted by Elon Musk that designates a user as an “active, notable, and authentic” member of the platform.

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“..the law against “obstructing official proceedings,” is about to be adjudicated in the US Supreme Court involving convicted J-6 defendants..”

In the Game of Strip Poker, Someone Ends Up Naked (Kunstler)

The blob’s weakness and idiocy are clearly on display in the four court cases against Mr. Trump, which look like a cartoon of thieves throwing stuff out of a hijacked furniture truck at the cars in pursuit behind them. There’s DA Alvin Bragg’s joke case in Manhattan around the dead-on-arrival Stormy Daniels business. End-of-story, as T0ny Soprano always liked to say. New York’s AG, Letitia James, vowed to get Mr. Trump on something, anything, while electioneering, and delivered a bullshit case to Judge Arthur Engoron that is sure to get tossed on appeal — and will eventually get both Ms. James and the Judge disbarred (and possibly prosecuted) for their trouble. There’s Fulton County (GA) DA Fani Willis’s laughable RICO rap against Trump, Guiliani, et al,. for complaining about the obviously janky ballot-counting activity there in 2020.

And then, there are US AG Merrick Garland’s two cases against the former president. The DC case brought under Special Counsel Jack Smith, claiming that Mr. Trump somehow led an “insurrection” at the US Capitol on 1/6/21. This turkey was rehearsed in earlier House J-6 Committee hearings, so shabbily staged that Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) arranged to have all the evidence destroyed (including witness deposition transcripts) as soon as the hearings wrapped. Mr. Trump’s defense is probably immaterial in Judge Tanya Chutkan’s DC courtroom. But one of the case’s main predicates, the law against “obstructing official proceedings,” is about to be adjudicated in the US Supreme Court involving convicted J-6 defendants. If the court tosses it, Jack Smith’s case goes out the window too. If not, and Mr. Trump is successfully railroaded by Judge Chutkin, you can be sure the appeal will be expedited to SCOTUS and die there. If there even is a trial before the election of 2024. In any case, Mr. Trump will still be on the ballot next November.

The second Garland / Jack Smith case is the most interesting. That would be the Mar-a-Lago documents case. According to the reporter who styles himself as “Sundance” at The Last Refuge news site, the purpose of the August 2022 Mar-a-Lago raid was not to seek classified documents at issue in a dispute between the former president and the National Archives — as the public has been given to understand by the blob’s news media. The actual purpose was to find a 10-inch-thick dossier of documents collected over many months by Mr. Trump’s deputies to be used in future prosecutions of DOJ, FBI, and other officials and private persons (including Hillary Clinton, the DNC, the DNC’s law firm Perkins Coie,) who were implicated in the Russia collusion hoax, especially after the failure of Special Counsel John Durham to even depose many of these parties and persons.

There were apparently many copies made of Mr. Trump’s dossier, and distributed among anti-blobsters, but these were all heavily redacted — names were all blacked out. The binder at Mar-a-Lago was unredacted and this was what the FBI was after in the August 2022 raid. Is there any chance by now that the FBI hasn’t disposed of 10,000 emails and documents that were in its possession pertaining to the Russia hoax and other crimes? Do you suppose that the unredacted Trump dossier was the only copy? I wouldn’t. So far, Mr. Trump and his lawyers have not mentioned this. Why wouldn’t they play this hand close to the chest? Will it be consequential in the long and tortured course of things? What do you think?

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The US wants him gone..

Secret Pakistan Document Undermines Espionage Case Against Imran Khan (IC)

A crucial document from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, undermines a major plank in the high-profile prosecution of the country’s former prime minister, Imran Khan. Khan remains behind bars while he faces trial for allegedly mishandling a secret document, known as a cypher, which the prosecution claims compromised the integrity of the encrypted communication system used by the state’s security apparatus. But according to an ISI analysis leaked to The Intercept, that claim is entirely false. Internally, the agency concluded that the leak of the text of a cypher could in no way compromise the integrity of the system, an assessment contrary to public claims made repeatedly by prosecutors.The main charge against Khan relates to his handling of a diplomatic cable describing a key meeting in March 2022 between U.S. and Pakistani officials in Washington.

Khan, while prime minister, had repeatedly alluded to the existence of a cypher that outlined U.S. pressure on Pakistan to remove him from power in a vote of no confidence. Though he never disclosed its full contents, at times, in public speeches, he quoted statements recorded in it from U.S. officials promising to reward Pakistan for his ouster. At one rally, Khan even waved what he said was the printed text of the document, without revealing its exact contents. Prosecutors assert that Khan damaged Pakistani national security by exposing the text of this encrypted document, contents they say could potentially be used by rival intelligence agencies to crack the code of a wide range of other secret Pakistani communications. A criminal complaint against Khan alleges that he “compromised the entire cypher security system of the state and secret communication method of Pakistani missions abroad,” through his alleged mishandling of the cypher.

The former prime minister faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty under Pakistan’s Official Secrets Act and could face the death penalty if charged with treason in the case. On August 9, 2023, The Intercept published the text of the cypher outlining U.S. pressure against Pakistan to remove Khan. Shortly afterward, Pakistan’s own intelligence agency issued an assessment addressing the very question of how damaging publishing such a text would be. The internal conclusion of the ISI was crystal clear: No threat to Pakistan’s encryption existed.On August 11, two days after The Intercept story was published, an internal request for information was sent to the ISI by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The question at hand: Does the revelation of the plain text of such a cypher compromise the integrity of the system’s encryption?

The response, filed by the Inter-Services Intelligence Secretariat under the heading ISI-Policy Matters, and titled “Breach of Crypto Security,” determined that contrary to the present charges against Khan, revealing the text of a cypher poses no risk to the government’s encrypted communications network. “If plain text of an encrypted message (cryptogram) … is leaked it has no effect on security of encryptor,” the analysis, which was filed on August 23, concludes. “Leakage of a plain text message does not compromise the algorithm.”

Concern about the security of an encryption system is not entirely unfounded. Some encryption systems can theoretically be compromised by what is known as a “plaintext attack,” in which an attacker has access to a copy of both the plain and encrypted versions of a document’s text and can use the two versions to determine the encryption system.But the spy agency’s conclusion in the days following The Intercept’s publication of the secret cypher was that the disclosure of the short piece of text alone — without the encryption key — did not pose a risk. “If plain text of an encrypted message (cryptogram) using DTE is leaked, it has no effect on security of the encryptor due to following,” the analysis reads, referring to “an offline encryption device.”

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“It’s the perfect crime because there is a long delay between the pulling of the trigger and the collapse due to the bullet. You see what I mean? Sometimes it can take people two years to succumb to the consequences of taking the shot..”

Rolling Thunder Global Propaganda – Mark Crispin Miller (USAW)

New York University (NYU) Professor Mark Crispin Miller (MCM) is an expert in propaganda. Dr. Miller says from infection to injection, Covid 19 was a global “propaganda masterpiece.” Propaganda on this level has never happened before in human history. Dr. Miller explains, “The media has been crucial to this entire operation, and I would take that a little further. I would say since the beginning of 2020, we have been subjected to a ‘Rolling Thunder of Propaganda’ drives one after another. First, there was the (CV19) virus panic. Then, there was the George Floyd moment. Now, there is a new documentary that shows George Floyed was not actually murdered. . . . It’s called ‘The Fall of Minneapolis.’ . . . . There was the 2020 Election. There was the so-called ‘insurrection.’ That was a wave of crackpot hysteria . . . because it was not an insurrection . . . or coup attempt.

Then, there was Ukraine, and the entire back story of Russia’s invasion was completely missing from all the coverage. . . . This is all the result of the media doing the opposite of what it is supposed to do. The ‘Framers’ (of the Constitution) realized the absolute necessity of having a free press. . . . This was before the corporate media cartels, which is what we have now. . . . The Framers knew . . . to offer a counterforce to federal power, we absolutely had to have a free press. . . . The reason why the press has First Amendment protections is it . . .tells truths the federal authorities does not want us to know. To say the press has failed abysmally is actually giving them too much credit. They have been instrumental throughout this nightmare, whose aim is radical depopulation and destruction of democracy. . . . if you just tell the other side of the story, you are public enemy #1.”

With more than 700 million mRNA CV19 bioweapon injections in the US alone and more than 13 billion CV19 injections globally, the implications of this depopulation agenda is the biggest story ever short of a global thermal nuclear exchange. This, too, was part of the “Rolling Thunder Global Propaganda” campaign. Dr. Miller has dedicated his Substack to reveal mounting and massive deaths and injuries one person at a time. Many doctors are revealing data and sources proving the CV19 vax did not help a single person. Dr. Miller calls the CV19 so-called vaccine “the perfect crime.” Dr. Miller explains, “It’s the perfect crime because there is a long delay between the pulling of the trigger and the collapse due to the bullet. You see what I mean? Sometimes it can take people two years to succumb to the consequences of taking the shot. It’s the perfect crime. I also liken it to the infamous mass murders of mid-century. . . . This had much more sophistication than those mass murders.

It’s not just the bigger numbers, but they got people to take this willingly. Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot were all coercive. . . . This is the first mass murder that is the result of getting people to clamor for it. The panic over the Corona virus was so successful that people were craving vaccination—craving it.” The good news from Dr. Miller is that it appears people are waking up at a fast pace. He points to the low uptake of more CV19 boosters in a range of only 3%. Dr. Miller is dedicated to waking people up to the mass propaganda psyop that has led people in a disastrous direction. Dr. Miller says, “People can subscribe to my Substack, and you can do it for free. I am doing this for the public good. I am always grateful for paid subscribers because I am on disability now as a professor at NYU, but I am not doing it for that reason. I am doing it because something really, really evil is going on, and people have to snap out of it. People have to wake up. I do believe people can wake up, and there are indications that people are waking up.”


From the comments on the Mark Crispin Miller article.

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X thread.

Pfizer Seeks To Treat Most TURBO CANCERS Caused By mRNA Vaccines (Makis)

Pfizer completes $43 Billion acquisition of Seagen on Dec.14, 2023 – becomes largest oncology company to treat most TURBO CANCERS caused by mRNA Vaccines – deep dive into the sinister aspects of this very bizarre deal. Pfizer OVERPAYS $43 billion on small Cancer Drug Company that barely makes $2 billion a year. Pfizer doesn’t need the cash. It will also issue $31 billion in debt to purchase it. Everyone is taking this at face value. But something very sinister lurks in the details of this deal. Pfizer (and Moderna) COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines cause Turbo Cancers. Based on my published description of 100s of Turbo Cancer cases in over 30 articles: Here are the Top 5 Turbo Cancers we will see by numbers in mRNA Vaccinated people:

• Lymphoma (various types) • Brain Cancers (mostly glioblastoma) • Breast Cancer (mostly triple negative, Stage 3/4) • Colon Cancer (Stage 4) • Lung Cancer (Stage 4). Rounding out the Top 10 Turbo Cancers by # of people affected (no particular order): • leukemias (worst prognosis) • melanomas (Stage 4) • sarcomas (Stage 3,4) • testicular/ovarian (rapid progression, Stage 1-4) • kidney (RCC Stage 4). Pfizer’s new acquisition takes them from being able to treat 2 of these Turbo Cancers, to being able to treat 7 out of 10. Not bad. But there’s more. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla did a media interview tour about the $43 Billion Cancer drug deal and this is what he has to say:

– 33% of people WILL get cancer (he’s certain)
– entire families WILL be affected (he’s certain)
– The new cancer treatments are like “missiles” that will target “most” cancers
– he will produce them AT A SCALE THAT HAS NOT BEEN SEEN BEFORE.
– 2025
– “We have a Global Network”
– ” we have very quick way of completing clinical trials”
– will be produced “AT SCALE”, “just like mRNA”

Think about what he is telegraphing. Read the above again. Why would any company need to produce cancer treatments “AT SCALE”? Seeking Alpha analysis theorizes it would take Pfizer at least a decade just to break even from this deal. Financially, this $43 billion Acquisition makes NO SENSE for Pfizer. Unless something else happens…

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Be kind
https://twitter.com/i/status/1736743114524520451

 

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1737001536591462815

 

 

 

 

Lucky chops

 

 

China students

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Dec 172023
 
 December 17, 2023  Posted by at 8:35 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  36 Responses »


Edward Hopper Sunday 1926

 

CNN Narrative Around “Missing” Dossier On Trump-Russia Conspiracy (CTH)
Congress Approves Bill Barring Any President From Withdrawing From NATO (Hill)
Trump Quotes Putin to Prove US Democracy in Danger (Sp.)
Is Free Speech a Relic in America? (Bovard)
Scott Ritter: Joe Biden’s World War III Fantasy
Putin Reveals Secret Talk On Gaza War (Helmer)
Opposition to Netanyahu Explodes After IDF Killing of Israeli Captives (Sp.)
Running On Empty, the US Leaves Zelenskyy Hanging (Luongo)
US Knows Ukraine Can’t Win – Kremlin (RT)
Ukraine on Brink of Humanitarian Collapse, Authorities Admit (Sp.)
Zelensky’s Tone Deaf DC Trip Leaves Republicans Wishing He’d Never Come (Sp.)
Italian PM Meloni Talks Orban Out Of Veto On Ukraine’s EU Accession (TASS)
Money for Nothing and Nothing for Money (Kunstler)
Musk Doesn’t Believe In Aliens (RT)

 

 

 

 

Jack Smith

 

 

Deep State targets Elon Musk

 

 

 

 

Letitia

 

 

 

 

Nap Mearsheimer

 

 

Nap Macgregor

 

 

Pointless conflict

 

 

Today’s the youngest you’ll ever be, so live like it.

 

 

 

 

Many have addressed the dossier (binder). sundance does it best. Recommended reading.

CNN Narrative Around “Missing” Dossier On Trump-Russia Conspiracy (CTH)

• Big picture #1 The FBI/DOJ is now seriously worried that President Trump will win the 2024 election.
• Big picture #2 CNN (Natasha Bertrand, Evan Perez and Zachary Cohen) mouthpieces for the FBI Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy fraud, now begin positioning defenses against Trump s evidence of the fabrication. They want to proactively stop the dossier they know consists of the evidence.
• FACT: The authors know all the details about the 10-inch-thick dossier that was given by Trump to the DOJ for declassification 1/20/21, but shout that it is now missing.
• FACT: The raid on Mar-a-Lago came after President Trump filed a 108-page civil lawsuit in March 2022 against the coconspirators. Including: Hillary Clinton, Hillary for America Campaign Committee, DNC, DNC Services Corp, Perkins Coie, Michael Sussmann, Marc Elias, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Charles Dolan, Jake Sullivan, John Podesta, Robby Mook, Phillipe Reines as well as Fusion GPS, Glenn Simpson, Peter Fritsch, Nellie Ohr, Bruce Ohr, Orbis Business Intelligence, Christopher Steele, Igor Danchenko, Neustar Inc., Rodney Joffe, James Comey, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Kevin Clinesmith and Andrew McCabe.

The DOJ was given one copy of the 103 binder to release publicly. Now ask yourself, what documentary evidence was used to write the lawsuit? lolol, duh! The motive for the DOJ/FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago is found in the search for the binder of evidence. The national archives classified documents angle was the justification the cover story. The raid on Mar-a-Lago was the recovery effort. Who authorized the Mar-a-Lago search warrant? The same judge from the civil action. I have previously written about the binder and all of the issues around it. The CNN article is filled with multiple tell-tale indicators of why it is written.

[..] Last year, CTH outlined a four-part series of articles going deep into the background of the DOJ-FBI raid of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, along with the outline into why it was important to them. It doesn’t matter how many different legal angles and Deep State justifications the DOJ attempts to deploy in order to divert away from what took place; the background of who, what, when and why they raided Mar-a-Lago will not change. In Part One, we outlined the background of the modern Deep State. In Part Two, we outlined the specifics of how President Trump was targeted by political operatives using tools created by the DC system. In Part Three, we outlined how and why President Trump was blocked from releasing documents. And then finally, as below in Part 4, we assembled the specifics of what documents likely existed in Mar-a-Lago.

It is important to remember, the Presidential Records Act –the presented pretext for the document conflict– is not a criminal statute. An FBI raid cannot be predicated on a document conflict between the National Archives and a former president. The DOJ-NSD warrant, and the subsequent raid on Mar-a-Lago, can only be related to records the U.S. government deems “classified” and material vital to national security interests. Hence, DOJ National Security Division involvement. In prior outlines, we have exhaustively covered the details of President Trump’s desire to publicly release information about DOJ and FBI conduct in their targeting of him during the fabricated Trump-Russia claims. However, to understand the nature of the documents he may hold, we first review the declassification memo provided by President Trump to the DOJ upon his departure from office.

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How the war industry controls Washington.

Congress Approves Bill Barring Any President From Withdrawing From NATO (Hill)

Congress has approved legislation that would prevent any president from withdrawing the United States from NATO without approval from the Senate or an Act of Congress. The measure, spearheaded by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), was included in the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which passed out of the House on Thursday and is expected to be signed by President Biden. The provision underscores Congress’s commitment to the NATO alliance that was a target of former President Trump’s ire during his term in office. The alliance has taken on revitalized importance under Biden, especially since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“NATO has held strong in response to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war in Ukraine and rising challenges around the world,” Kaine said in a statement. He added the legislation “reaffirms U.S. support for this crucial alliance that is foundational for our national security. It also sends a strong message to authoritarians around the world that the free world remains united.” Rubio said the measure served as a critical tool for congressional oversight. “We must ensure we are protecting our national interests and protecting the security of our democratic allies,” he said in a statement.

Biden has invested deeply in the NATO alliance during his term, committing more troops and military resources to Europe as a show of force against Putin’s war. He has also overseen the expansion of the alliance with the inclusion of Finland and ongoing efforts to secure Sweden’s full accession. Trump, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, has sent mixed messages on the alliance ahead of 2024. The former president’s advocates say his tough talk and criticisms of the alliance served to inspire member-states to fulfill their obligations to reach 2 percent of defense spending, lightening the burden on the U.S. But Trump’s critics say the former president’s rhetoric weakens the unity and force of purpose of the alliance. And they expressed concerns that Trump would abandon the U.S. commitment to the mutual defense pact of the alliance or withdraw the U.S. completely.

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‘Politically-motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy.’

Trump Quotes Putin to Prove US Democracy in Danger (Sp.)

Former US President and 2024 Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump quoted Russian leader Vladimir Putin to prove that democracy in the States is in danger. Trump addressed his supporters during a campaign rally at the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center Arena in Durham on December 16. The presidential hopeful emphasized that even the Russian president believes that Trump is being politically persecuted. “Even Vladimir Putin – has anybody heard of Vladimir Putin of Russia? – says that Biden’s, and this is a quote, ‘Politically-motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy.’ So, you know, we’ve talked about democracy, but the whole world is watching the persecution of a political opponent that’s kicking his ass. It’s an amazing thing. And they’re all laughing at us,” Trump stressed.

Putin commented on Trump’s prosecution at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in September 2023, stating that the accusations against the ex-President regarding his alleged “ties” with Moscow are “complete nonsense.” “As for the prosecution of Trump… for us, what is happening in today’s conditions, in my opinion, is good, because it shows how rotten the American political system is… All that’s happening with Trump is political persecution of a political rival,” Putin said. The US presidential election is scheduled for November 5, 2024. In a number of polls, Trump, who dominates the Republican primary race, maintains a narrow lead over incumbent US President Joe Biden. Trump was indicted by a grand jury in August on four charges connected to the January riot at the US Capitol. The former US president has pleaded not guilty. Trump’s trial is set to begin on March 4, 2024.

Putin Trump

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“Almost half of Democrats surveyed in September 2023 affirmed that free speech should be legal “only under certain circumstances.”

Is Free Speech a Relic in America? (Bovard)

Is the First Amendment becoming a historic relic? On July 4, 2023, federal judge Terry Doughty condemned the Biden administration for potentially “the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.” That verdict was ratified by a federal appeals court decision in September 2023 that concluded that Biden administration “officials have engaged in a broad pressure campaign designed to coerce social-media companies into suppressing speakers, viewpoints, and content disfavored by the government.”In earlier times in America, such policies would have faced sweeping condemnation from across the political spectrum. But major media outlets like the Washington Post have rushed to the barricades to defend the Biden war on “misinformation.” Almost half of Democrats surveyed in September 2023 affirmed that free speech should be legal “only under certain circumstances.” Fifty-five percent of American adults support government suppression of “false information” — even though only 20 percent trust the government.

The broad support for federal censorship is perplexing considering that courts have vividly laid out the government’s First Amendment violations. Doughty delivered 155 pages of damning details of federal browbeating, jawboning, and coercion of social-media companies. Doughty ruled that federal agencies and the White House “engaged in coercion of social media companies” to delete Americans’ comments on Afghanistan, Ukraine, election procedures, and other subjects. He issued an injunction blocking the feds from “encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.” Censors reigned from the start of the Biden era. Barely two weeks after Biden’s inauguration, White House Digital Director Rob Flaherty demanded that Twitter “immediately” remove a parody account of Biden’s relatives. Twitter officials suspended the account within 45 minutes but complained they were already “bombarded” by White House censorship requests at that point.

Biden White House officials ordered Facebook to delete humorous memes, including a parody of a future television ad: “Did you or a loved one take the COVID vaccine? You may be entitled….” The White House continually denounced Facebook for failing to suppress more posts and videos that could inspire “vaccine hesitancy” — even if the posts were true. Facebook decided that the word “liberty” was too hazardous in the Biden era; to placate the White House, the company suppressed posts “discussing the choice to vaccinate in terms of personal or civil liberties.”Flaherty was still unsatisfied and raged at Facebook officials in a July 15, 2021, email: “Are you guys f–king serious?” The following day, President Biden accused social-media companies of “killing people” by failing to suppress all criticism of COVID vaccines.

Censorship multiplied thanks to an epic bureaucratic bait-and-switch. After allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Act was created to protect against foreign meddling. Prior to Biden taking office, CISA had a “Countering Foreign Influence Task Force.” In 2021, that was renamed the “Mis-, Dis- and Mal-information Team (‘MDM Team’).” But almost all the targets of federal censorship during the Biden era have been Americans. Federal censorship tainted the 2020 and 2022 elections, spurring the suppression of millions of social-media posts (almost all from conservatives). During the 2020 election, CISA targeted for suppression assertions such as “mail-in voting is insecure” — despite the long history of absentee ballot fraud.

CISA aims to control Americans’ minds: A CISA advisory committee last year issued a report that “broadened” what it targeted to include “the spread of false and misleading information because it poses a significant risk to critical function, like elections, public health, financial services and emergency responses.” Thus, any idea that government officials label as “misleading” is a “significant risk” that can be suppressed. Where did CISA find the absolute truths it used to censor American citizens? CISA simply asked government officials and “apparently always assumed the government official was a reliable source,” the court decision noted. Any assertion by officialdom was close enough to a Delphic oracle to use to “debunk postings” by private citizens. Judge Doughty observed that the free-speech clause was enacted to prohibit agencies like CISA from picking “what is true and what is false.”

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“Joe Biden and his national security team are scrambling to manage the consequences of policy failure..”

Scott Ritter: Joe Biden’s World War III Fantasy

If the threat of a Third World War in the face of Congressional inaction wasn’t enough, Biden authorized the Pentagon to declassify and release to CNN an intelligence report that claimed that Russia had suffered enormous casualties in its war with Ukraine, with some 315,000 of an estimated 360,000 troops that made up Russia’s pre-conflict ground force, having been killed or wounded. The declassified intelligence report also claimed that 2,200 of Russia’s 3,500 tanks have been lost, along with 4,400 of 13,600 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers. The release of the declassified report was clearly timed to influence the US Congress by emphasizing the very talking points that have been repeatedly made by Senator Graham and others that the US aid was “Best money we’ve ever spent” because “the Russians are dying.”

Given the history of the US intelligence community of declassifying intelligence reports for the specific purpose of releasing the information to mainstream media outlets to shape public opinion—even if the intelligence community knows the information contained in the report is wrong—one must take the report regarding Russian casualties with a heavy grain of salt. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia currently has some 617,000 troops deployed in the Special Military Operation zone. These forces are on the offensive, actively advancing on several fronts against a Ukrainian Army which is rapidly losing its ability to sustain large-scale ground combat operations. This doesn’t sound like the performance of an organization that suffered some 87% casualties, a figure which would make the survivors combat ineffective. The fact is, US and European support for Ukraine is flagging, and Ukraine is facing an existential crisis in the coming weeks and months that it most likely will not be able to resolve in its favor.

While Russian troops are taking casualties, it is far more likely than not that the real Russian casualty figures are significantly less than the number reported in the declassified US intelligence report, spread out over the original force and the hundreds of thousands of mobilized reservists and volunteers who have entered the fighting since. These losses pale in comparison to the more than 400,000 dead and nearly one million wounded Ukraine has suffered. Russia’s combat power grows every day, with fresh troops and equipment being made available for the war effort. Ukraine, on the other hand, has exhausted its reserves, and is left scraping the bottom of its human resources barrel to man whatever units it is able to organize from what is left of Ukraine’s diminished, and diminishing, arsenal. While the Russian Army is indeed large, and growing, and its capabilities expanding as it becomes more combat experienced, it is an army with a very specific mission—the defeat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The Russian force structure is currently more than sufficient to defeat the Ukrainians on a frontage that stretches some 2,000 kilometers in length. It is even large enough to secure some additional Ukrainian territory, in addition to liberating the newly absorbed Russian territories of the Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donetsk, and Lugansk regions still held by Ukraine. But there are physical limitations as to what one can accomplish with 617,000 troops and occupying all of Ukraine before invading Poland and/or the Baltics is well beyond the capacity of the Russian forces currently deployed in the Special Military Operation. Moreover, Russian President Vladimir Putin has never intimated that Russia had any intention to either occupy all of Ukraine or seek to attack NATO — just the opposite. The Russian goals and objectives of the Special Military Operation are spelled out very clearly — demilitarization (the destruction of the Ukrainian Armed Forces), de-Nazification (the elimination of the regime of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the pro-Nazi political element inside Ukraine), and permanent neutrality for Ukraine (i.e., Ukraine will never join NATO).

There is no intent to take the war to NATO. Such thinking is a fear-based construct of the Biden administration that is inaccurate and far removed from reality, little more than a fantasy which the sober-minded Russian government, ever mindful of the need to carefully manage escalation because of the Special Military Operation, will pay scant attention to. Joe Biden and his national security team are scrambling to manage the consequences of policy failure. Putin, it seems, has not lost the war with Ukraine. Russia is winning, something no amount of funding by either the US, the Europeans, or both, can reverse. The best thing that could happen to Ukraine is for the congressional Republicans to hold steadfast to their objections and allow Ukraine to be taken off the life support that US funding provides. Ukraine is a terminal case. Continuing to underwrite its failed war effort simply prolongs the agony of its people.

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“There are secret discussions at the military level and at the foreign ministry level. But not with Putin.”

Putin Reveals Secret Talk On Gaza War (Helmer)

President Vladimir Putin has revealed secret details of the Russian initiative on the Gaza war. According to the President, Russia has a three-point proposal. “First, it is necessary to keep people in Gaza. Second, it is necessary to bring humanitarian aid on a massive scale to these people.to keep people in Gaza.” Putin’s third proposal is establish a Russian field hospital to treat wounded Palestinians at the Rafah stadium, rebuilt in 2019 after Israel destroyed the original one in 2009. “But for this to happen, we need to have consent from both Egypt and Israel. I talked to the President of Egypt, and he is in favour of this idea. I also talked to Prime Minister Netanyahu, and they consulted various armed agencies. The Israeli side believes that opening a Russian hospital in Gaza is not safe.” Putin made his disclosures in response to a Turkish reporter’s question about the Gaza war during the Direct Line broadcast on Thursday.

Putin did not mention a ceasefire; he did not criticize Israeli military operations in Gaza except to refer to the deaths of children. “The Secretary-General of the United Nations called today’s Gaza the biggest children’s cemetery in the world. This opinion speaks volumes. It is an objective opinion, what else can I say?” Putin praised the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for “playing a significant leading role in improving the situation in Gaza…He is very active in this matter. And God bless him.” Putin omitted to mention Iran, ignoring his talks in Moscow a week ago with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Following their five-hour negotiations, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian announced that “Russia is thinking about an initiative on Gaza.” A Moscow political analyst commented after viewing Putin’s latest remarks: “Netanyahu refused a Russian field hospital but allows a UAE one? That is telling. This shows that Putin defers to the Israelis on anything related to Gaza. Nothing has changed in his position.”

[..] The Kremlin communiqué did not reveal what Netanyahu had told Putin. Subsequently, Netanyahu’s office briefed the Israeli press to report that in the 50-minute conversation, Netanyahu took the offensive, “flogs Putin”, and “expressed his annoyance over anti-Israel stances by Russian representatives at the United Nations and other fora…[and] sharp criticism over the dangerous cooperation between Russia and Iran.” Putin’s disclosure of his idea of a Russian field hospital at the same location as the UAE hospital appears to clarify the role he has been discussing with the director of the Federal Service of National Guard Troops, Viktor Zolotov. During yesterday’s four-hour long session, Putin mentioned his negotiations with Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey. There is no mention of Iran in the Kremlin transcript of the broadcast. “Not to mention Iran can indicate there are some secret discussions,” a Moscow source says, “although I doubt it. There are secret discussions at the military level and at the foreign ministry level. But not with Putin.”

Putin also stopped short of defending his Foreign Ministry’s attempts over two months and several sessions of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to secure international backing for a ceasefire, a stop to Israeli attacks on civilian targets, and humanitarian relief – every one vetoed by the US. “As for the UN’s role,” Putin said, “you know, it is nothing out of the ordinary and I have already said that. During the Cold War, there were different forces and different countries that often blocked decisions promoted by other countries. But the United Nations was initially created for the purpose of finding a consensus. Without a consensus, decisions cannot be made. So, nothing out of the ordinary is happening at the UN; it was always like this, especially during the Cold War. There is a reason why Foreign Minister of the USSR Gromyko had the nickname, Mr No, because the Soviet Union very frequently vetoed decisions. It is very significant. When there is a veto, no steps that a country sees as hostile towards itself will be taken. And it is important. It is important to preserve such mechanisms in the UN; otherwise it will simply be reduced to a talking shop as happened during a certain period after World War I.”

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“Bennett was criticized for a debate performance where he declared, “I’ve killed lots of Arabs in my life and there’s no problem with that.”

Opposition to Netanyahu Explodes After IDF Killing of Israeli Captives (Sp.)

Large demonstrations rocked the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv over the weekend as the country’s military admitted responsibility for the killing of three Israeli captives who were reportedly attempting to surrender. “Today we learned what happens when there is no deal,” shouted protesters outside the urban headquarters of the Israel Defense Force. The demonstrations began Friday after news first emerged of the captives’ death. The Israeli civilians, all of them in their 20s, appeared outside of a building in the Shejaiya neighborhood in northern Gaza City, according to an IDF statement released Saturday. The young men held a white flag signifying their surrender and emerged shirtless to demonstrate they weren’t hiding weapons. One reportedly yelled “help” in Hebrew. All three were shot by Israeli service members in violation of international law dictating the rules of military conduct. An IDF spokesperson said the soldiers reacted in response to a feared threat from the group Hamas.

“The shooting at the hostages was against the rules of engagement,” conceded IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi. “It is forbidden to shoot at someone who raises a white flag and seeks to surrender. However, this shooting was carried out during combat and under pressure.” Halevi said that he accepted responsibility for the killings and claimed “we will do everything” to prevent similar incidents in the future. A brief ceasefire earlier in December resulted in the exchange of captives held on both sides of the conflict. Hamas brought about 240 Israelis back to Gaza during their surprise October 7 operation in Israel, while Israel holds thousands of Palestinians in prison, including some 2,500 who are detained without charges. Among the captives held by Israel are at least 146 Palestinian minors. Protesters have urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate a new ceasefire and exchange of captives. US media has reported that the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency was scheduled to meet with the Qatari Prime Minister this weekend to discuss the matter.

“Israel needs to actively pursue another deal, even if it means halting military operations in Gaza or releasing Palestinian prisoners with blood on their hands,” said retired Israeli Major General Noam Tibon to US media. “Otherwise, the cabinet is neglecting the hostages, and we risk not bringing them back alive.” Meanwhile, family members of citizens held in Gaza have slammed the Israeli Prime Minister’s prosecution of its proclaimed war on Hamas. “Yesterday, I heard a minister in the cabinet say that the conditions haven’t matured for the return of the captives,” said Rubi Chen, the father of 19-year-old Israeli soldier and US citizen Itay Chen who is being held by Hamas. “What is the cabinet waiting for? We urge immediate negotiation for the return of all hostages.” Israeli society has been torn apart by massive protests for more than a year as controversial Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enters his 17th year as the Middle Eastern country’s head of state.

Previously Israeli opposition took to the streets to protest a legal reform package proposed by Netanyahu that critics said would have gutted the independence of the country’s judiciary. Elements of the sweeping proposal were placed on hold amidst the show of defiance, which saw Israeli military reservists threaten mass resignations from their posts. When a member of Israel’s opposition finally took power for just over a year in 2021, former Prime Minister Neftali Bennet’s governance showed just how far politics in the country had shifted away from the liberal Labour Zionism that characterized previous administrations. Bennett was criticized for a debate performance where he declared, “I’ve killed lots of Arabs in my life and there’s no problem with that.” Recently, controversy erupted after video emerged of a 1986 interview with Netanyahu where he appeared to justify the bombing of hospitals. Israel has been sharply criticized for its handling of their military incursion into Gaza, with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres saying, “Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children.”

About 70% of the more than 18,700 Palestinians killed in the besieged enclave are thought to be women and children, according to Gaza health authorities that the UN has claimed have offered accurate numbers in the past. Israel disputes the death toll. Some observers have questioned the competence of the IDF, with critics claiming the military force is more focused on filming TikTok videos than engaging professionally on the battlefield. Historically the army’s so-called Hannibal Directive has excused the killing of civilians – even Israeli civilians – in the name of pursuing greater combat objectives.

Patience

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“..it’s the emptiness of the lives they’ve led which they need to prove to everyone. How else can they justify their actions to themselves?”

Running On Empty, the US Leaves Zelenskyy Hanging (Luongo)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made one last ditch effort to plead for US monetary and military support for the war against Russia. President “Biden” all but blackmailed the American people last week over this issue, threatening us with sending our children to fight a war to cover up his corruption and Davos’ antihuman agenda. The contempt with which I hold these people cannot be overstated. Biden has no more legitimacy to threaten us with fighting a war with Russia for Ukraine than Zelenskyy does. Yet his handlers think nothing of putting those words in his mouth after shoving his morning dose of stimmies into him to prop him up in front of the teleprompter for him to hopefully not misread. If that last sentence doesn’t make your blood boil, I’ve not been doing my job properly lo these past six years. So, challenge accepted then. Watch this clip of Zelenskyy telling us we need to forego everything to save his sorry ass.

This level of rhetoric is the zenith of toxic thinking. There is no time for anything other than fighting XXX. For Zelenskyy it is Putin. For the vampires and ghouls like Al Gore, John Kerry and Tony Blair screeching at COPE28, it is climate change. For Democrats and the Media it is Trump. By framing all of these topics in this way they betray their own agendas. It is nothing more than the full court press that all tyrants push when they are at their most vulnerable. If things were going their way they wouldn’t have to exhort people to give up everything to fight their fight for them. If Zelenskyy wasn’t such a tool for Davos and/or the Neocons who pushed him into this position, I’d actually feel some pity for him. But my humanity has limits. There comes a point where you have the face the consequences of the actions you have taken.

I don’t care if you are him, Joe Biden, George Soros, Anthony Fauci, Klaus Schwab, or any of their lieutenants. You can only outrun the hangman for so long. You can only hide behind the law and the veneer of civilization that put you in your position of power for so long. Eventually the lies and the double-dealing, the fast-talking and the pride, all catch up with you. Eventually, you ask for something that no one is willing to part with and it all comes crashing down. If Zelenskyy has an ounce of shame left in him he would go back to Kiev and makes plans to give Putin his pound of flesh to save those of the people he’s supposed to represent. Swallow the pride, save the people.

But he won’t. Neither will Biden. Or Warren. Or Hillary. Or any of them. They would rather burn the world to the ground and blackmail us to the very end than face the one thing they are all afraid of… and it isn’t just death as Alex Jones told Tucker Carlson on X/Twitter the other day. … it’s the emptiness of the lives they’ve led which they need to prove to everyone. How else can they justify their actions to themselves?

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“..between NATO’s encroachment towards Russia’s borders and the role the US and its allies are playing in the standoff between the two neighbors, Moscow can hardly trust the Western nations.”

US Knows Ukraine Can’t Win – Kremlin (RT)

The US has to review its current position on both the Ukraine conflict and relations with Russia if it wants to restore dialogue with Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told NBC in an interview published on Friday. Russia is ready to work with any American administration but would very much prefer a “more constructive” approach from Washington, he added. The interview was published just a day after President Vladimir Putin accused the US and its allies of orchestrating the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev and essentially disrupting Russia’s years-long efforts to build normal relations with Ukraine. He also questioned the prospect of restoring relations between Russia and the West, saying that between NATO’s encroachment towards Russia’s borders and the role the US and its allies are playing in the standoff between the two neighbors, Moscow can hardly trust the Western nations.

Putin would be ready to work with “anyone who will understand that from now on you have to be more careful with Russia and you have to take into account its concerns,” Peskov told NBC’s Keir Simmons in Moscow, adding that the Russian leader would like to see a US president who is “more constructive” toward Russia and values dialogue more. The Kremlin spokesman also criticized America’s current role in the Ukraine conflict by saying that Washington only throws taxpayer money “into the wind” and is unnecessarily prolonging the hostilities by sending conflicting signals to Kiev, which end up just leading to more Ukrainian deaths. A much-touted Ukrainian counteroffensive has largely failed to bring about any notable changes to the front lines over some six months of the operation. According to Russian Defense Ministry estimates, Ukraine has lost over 125,000 troops and 16,000 pieces of heavy equipment in failed attempts to advance over the past half year.

“You have to understand your responsibility for this,” Peskov said. “You are telling them [Ukrainians] — go and die,” he continued, adding that “you know pretty well that they cannot win” but still offer Kiev more money and armaments. Russia has repeatedly stated it was ready for peace talks with Kiev as long as “the reality on the ground” is taken into account. In the autumn of 2022, four former Ukrainian territories, including the two Donbass republics, joined Russia following a series of referendums. Kiev declared the referendums “sham” and has been pushing for its own “peace formula” under which Russia would withdraw its troops not only from the four regions but from Crimea as well before any talks could even commence. Moscow dismissed Ukraine’s demands as being detached from reality. “America is strongly involved in this conflict,” the Kremlin spokesman told NBC, adding that the standoff between the two neighbors is in fact a “hybrid war” against Russia launched by Washington.

Such confrontational tactics have been detrimental to global security, Peskov warned, adding that the world is “less safe than it used to be’’ before dialogue between Moscow and Washington was “shut down.” Contacts between the two nations were reduced to minimum after Russia launched its military operation in February 2022. The US and its allies openly supported Kiev in the conflict and slapped Moscow with an unprecedented number of sanctions. Western nations then also started supplying arms to Ukrainian forces. The ties have not been severed entirely, though. On Thursday, Putin revealed that dialogue between the two nations continues, particularly about the Americans accused of espionage in Russia. When asked during his marathon press conference about US nationals Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich, the president said that Russia was willing to exchange them but wanted to reach a deal with Washington that would be “mutually acceptable.”

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“..there may be fewer resources for the social and humanitarian spheres than we would like, which means we must endure more and longer for less money.”

Ukraine on Brink of Humanitarian Collapse, Authorities Admit (Sp.)

Amid battlefield disappointments, the Kiev regime is facing financial woes, with patron states increasingly less eager to send billions down the Ukraine “sinkhole.” President Volodymyr Zelensky returned basically empty-handed from his US visit, while in Europe, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban threw water on Kiev’s fiscal appetites. Ukrainian citizens will have a hard time scraping by next year, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk warned on Telegram. In a “statement of the obvious,” the Ukrainian official admitted that the government will face difficulties fulfilling its social and humanitarian obligations due to the ballooning budget deficit. “In 2023, two new factors emerged. Accordingly, we must all adapt quickly,” was how Vereshchuk phrased it. According to her, firstly, the conflict “may last longer than we first thought.” She added, “Secondly, there may be fewer resources for the social and humanitarian spheres than we would like, which means we must endure more and longer for less money.”

This admission by the Ukrainian deputy prime minister came as the head of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) Tax Committee Daniil Getmantsev earlier underscored that state coffers are critically dependent on assistance from Kiev’s allies in NATO’s proxy war against Russia. By the end of the year, he stated, Ukraine needed to attract about $9.5 billion in financial support in the form of grants and preferential loans. Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal also held out hope of Ukraine receiving financial assistance to a tune of over $30 billion from the EU, US, and IMF, as well as patron states, to cover the country’s state budget deficit. Shmyhal said on September 15 that Ukraine’s government had adopted a draft budget for 2024 that presupposed record military spending worth $45.6 billion. This means there will be a scramble to cover social sphere costs, healthcare, and education. According to Ukraine’s Finance Ministry, the draft budget for 2024 provides for spending on security and defense at a level of over $48 billion, which constitutes 23% of GDP.

Ukraine’s financial woes come hand in hand with battlefield disappointments. After the botched summer counteroffensive, Kiev’s Western patrons have been facing growing “Ukraine fatigue.” Wheedling money out of the US and the EU is becoming ever more challenging for President Volodymyr Zelensky, as his recent lackluster Washington foray showed. Zelensky failed to convince lawmakers in Washington to approve a $61 billion aid package that US President Joe Biden has been pressuring Congress to approve. In Europe, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocked the European Union from approving a €50 billion aid package for Ukraine, even as he allowed a vote to open accession negotiations for Ukraine in the bloc to go forward.

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“..the Biden administration has deliberately sought to minimize contacts between officials in Kiev and Congressional Republicans..”

Zelensky’s Tone Deaf DC Trip Leaves Republicans Wishing He’d Never Come (Sp.)

Ukraine’s president traveled to the US capital to speak with President Joe Biden and other officials in an attempt to secure tens of billions of additional US taxpayer dollars for the proxy war against Russia. Just how impactful the trip was remains unclear, given that the House of Representatives has now adjourned for the Christmas holidays. Some Republicans reportedly couldn’t help but feel irritated by Volodymyr Zelensky’s two-day visit to Washington this week, privately telling media that the Ukrainian president did more harm than good for his cause by meddling in American politics, and wishing that he’d stayed home. “Zelensky’s visit…was not good. It was completely tone-deaf and missed the point and the issues that are really at the heart of the current funding disputes,” a Republican congressional aide said, referring to the ongoing battle over a $105 billion supplemental funding request by the Biden administration, which includes over $61.4 billion for Ukraine, plus resources to shore up the US border with Mexico.

Republican lawmakers are seeking to hammer out a deal with the White House to revamp border policy to more closely resemble that of President Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, in exchange for approval of the new money for Ukraine, although weeks of wrangling have apparently yet to yield a compromise. “It would have been better if [Zelensky] had just not come in the broader supplemental fight. It’s going to take a little bit of time to get over this,” the aide said. Some Republicans reportedly took issue with Zelensky’s approach during his trip, accusing him of trying to paint them as being “soft on Russia” over their effort to focus on domestic priorities. Another anonymous Republican aide said that the Biden administration has deliberately sought to minimize contacts between officials in Kiev and Congressional Republicans, presumably in a bid to prevent the further exacerbation of tensions among the faction of the GOP that’s growing increasingly resistant to shelling out more for cash on Ukraine.

“The ability for Republicans to talk to the Ukrainians at very senior levels is very limited. What you’re seeing is 18 month of that policy coming home to roost, where senior Ukrainian officials have no real engagement with any Republicans in the House or the Senate,” the aide said. It’s unclear what sparked the disconnect, although it was in May of 2022 that 57 House Republicans and 11 GOP senators voted against a $40 billion supplemental aid package, with that number rising to 70 House lawmakers this past July in a proposed amendment to the annual defense bill to cut off all military aid to Ukraine. The measure failed, and the $886 billion National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 includes $300 million in annual “security assistance” to Ukraine through the end of 2026. However, that’s just a fraction of the $61.4 billion supplemental request by the Biden administration.

But Republican concerns about continuing to foot the bill for Ukraine aid apparently aren’t limited to the party’s anti-interventionist MAGA wing, reports suggest, with “even the most rock-ribbed Reagan Republicans” reportedly feeling that “they’ve been bearing most of the political costs” in sending taxpayer money to Ukraine, all “without any political concessions for their party.”

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“Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said earlier in the day that his country would veto the European Union’s talks on the accession of Ukraine if they are found to be detrimental to Hungarian interests..”

Italian PM Meloni Talks Orban Out Of Veto On Ukraine’s EU Accession (TASS)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni talked out Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban from imposing veto on Ukraine’s EU accession, Italy’s Libero Quotidiano reported on Saturday. According to the daily, the Italian and Hungarian politicians arranged a bilateral meeting on the issue before the start of the EU summit in Brussels last week. Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said earlier in the day that his country would veto the European Union’s talks on the accession of Ukraine if they are found to be detrimental to Hungarian interests. “In case Brussels, tries to squeeze in during the preparations for the real talks on the [Ukrainian] accession something that would harm us, we will be forced to resort to the tool of tough veto,” Szijjarto said.

Speaking to journalists last Friday ahead of the European Union’s Summit in Brussels on December 14-15 Orban said: “No sense of launching talks today with Ukraine [on EU’s admission].” Hungary’s Premier Orban stated previously in the month that he objected to including the issue of Ukraine’s EU membership on the agenda of the organization’s meeting in Brussels on December 14-15. Hungary has repeatedly stated its intention to keep channels of communication with Russia open in order to continue looking for ways to resolve the Ukraine crisis, among other things. Putin and Orban focused on this issue at their meeting in Beijing on the sidelines of the Belt and Road international forum on October 17.

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“Every loan that goes bad causes some money to disappear — poof! — and when a whole lot of that happens there is no money. The Federal Reserve digital currency is a kind of last resort way around that.”

Money for Nothing and Nothing for Money (Kunstler)

The financialized economy was primed to blow up in September of 2019 when symptoms of severe distress materialized in an arcane corner of the system known as the reverse repo market where banks loan each other money on extremely short term, usually overnight, to provide so-called “liquidity” — meaning the appearance of solvency. The crisis expressed itself as a dangerously sharp rise in interest rates. The Fed came up with enough liquidity to paper over the crisis, and then, miraculous to relate, the Covid-19 “emergency” a few months later gave them cover to “print” trillions of dollars and distribute the “money” rapidly into the on-the-ground economy where people bought the things of daily life.

The result of that monetary mischief was today’s inflation. Inflation, of course, is one way of going broke. You have a lot of money that is increasingly worthless. The other way of going broke is deflation, where you have no money. In the aggregate of a deflation, nobody will have any money, so at least you’ll have company in the misery of being broke. My guess is that a grievous deflation is where the current situation is headed. Deflations are provoked when people and companies can’t meet their debt obligations — can’t “service” their loans (pay interest), or pay back contracted sums of borrowed money, or simply can’t pay their bills. Every loan that goes bad causes some money to disappear — poof! — and when a whole lot of that happens there is no money.

The Federal Reserve digital currency is a kind of last resort way around that. It is a simple way for the system to pretend there is a lot of money around when there really isn’t any. It has the huge additional advantages, by way of computerized accounting, to allow the authorities to control what everybody spends their money on, especially the ability to block the purchase of this or that: a train ticket, gasoline, meat, if the authorities feel like it. It also enables the authorities to extract taxes, duties, and penalties at will, without any cooperation from the citizen. A Fed digital currency would be a giant step into the worst kind of exquisitely targeted tyranny. The excuse, of course, would be a “national emergency.”

A digital currency would likely first be tested among the most indigent in society, those with little or no income. It already is, actually, in the debit cards currently issued to illegal border-jumpers. Their card accounts are refilled monthly, making this the equivalent of a guaranteed basic income. Next, this privilege will be extended to the lower economic ranks of American citizens, and so on upward, until the whole middle-class and even the higher levels are enlisted, and then the authorities will have the ability to push everyone around.

That’s the hypothesis, anyway. I don’t believe it’s going to work. The authorities have underestimated the number of citizens who know what it means to be sovereign individuals. They will decline to be pushed around. They might even push back, start stomping on the blob’s tentacles as it reaches across the land. The citizens of one region or another of our country might go so far as to establish their own money, which would make them sovereign regions of sovereign individuals. That is going to be a problem that the blob and blobism cannot overcome.

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“Unfortunately I have seen no evidence of aliens yet,” he said in a speech at the 74th International Astronautical Congress in October, adding that “we are the aliens.”

Musk Doesn’t Believe In Aliens (RT)

Humankind is most likely the only species “in this part of the galaxy” with a consciousness, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk told an audience in Italy on Saturday, comparing our species to “a tiny candle in a vast darkness.” Speaking at an event organized by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Musk explained his desire to settle humans on Mars by quoting Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, whose ‘Fermi Paradox’ questions why, if extraterrestrial life is so probable, humans have yet to discover evidence of it. “One of the explanations, and perhaps the one that appears to be the most accurate, is that consciousness is extremely rare,” Musk said.

“People often ask me do I know about aliens or something like that,” he continued. “The crazy thing is that I’ve seen no evidence of aliens whatsoever. Most likely, at least in this part of the galaxy, we are the only consciousness that exists.” “And so you can think of human consciousness really as like a tiny candle in a vast darkness, and we must do everything we can to ensure that the candle does not go out,” he concluded. Musk has repeatedly insisted that humanity can only continue if low birth rates in the Western world are reversed, and if humans manage to become a “spacefaring civilization.” Although the second test-launch of SpaceX’s Starship rocket ended in an explosion last month, the billionaire hailed the launch as another step toward making “all life multiplanetary.”

SpaceX began developing the Starship rocket in 2012 with the express aim of using it to transport crews and cargo to the red planet. In the early stages of its development, SpaceX referred to the rocket as the ‘Mars Colonial Transporter’. Musk has often been asked his opinion on aliens, and despite jokingly referring to aliens as his “friends,” he has always cited the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial life. “Unfortunately I have seen no evidence of aliens yet,” he said in a speech at the 74th International Astronautical Congress in October, adding that “we are the aliens.”

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Max
https://twitter.com/i/status/1638312091399471104

 

 

Hydraulic

 

 

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Dec 132023
 
 December 13, 2023  Posted by at 9:47 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , ,  50 Responses »


Edward Hopper Chop Suey 1929

 

Netanyahu: Israel Received Full US Support for Gaza Ground Operation (Sp.)
Israel Losing Support Over ‘Indiscriminate Bombing’ – Biden (RT)
BRICS and the Resistance Axis (Pepe Escobar)
Germany’s Blind Support For Israel In Gaza (Cradle)
US Rapidly Coming To End Of Its Ability To Help Ukraine – Biden (TASS)
Ukraine, US ‘Digging’ for New Strategy as Time and Money Run Out (Sp.)
Ukraine on Brink of Coup as Zelensky Begs US for More Money (Sp.)
Biden Pledges $200 Million For Ukraine After Zelensky Meeting (RT)
Zelensky’s Visit ‘Disgraceful’ – Senator JD Vance (RT)
Ukrainian General Reveals Discord Among Frontline Troops (RT)
The Pentagon Is A Multitrillion-Dollar Fraud (Scott Ritter)
BRICS Candidate Ethiopia Likely To Default – Reuters (RT)
Tucker Carlson: 2024 Presidential Election Is Being Rigged (Kanekoa)
Tucker Carlson Says Does Not Think He Would Be Good Pick for Trump’s VP (Sp.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Optimus

 

 

 

 

80 years ago was WW2

80 years before that was the Civil War

80 years before that was the Revolution.

 

 

 

 

“..and containment of international pressure aimed at ending the war..”

Netanyahu: Israel Received Full US Support for Gaza Ground Operation (Sp.)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the country received full US support for a ground operation in the Gaza Strip. “I really appreciate the US support for the destruction of Hamas and the return of our hostages. After intensive discussions with President [of the United States Joe] Biden and his people, we received full support for a ground entry [into the Gaza Strip] and containment of international pressure aimed at ending the war. Yes, there are disputes about the ‘day after Hamas,’ and I hope that we will come to an agreement here,” Netanyahu said in a video address posted on X (formerly known as Twitter). “I want to make my position clear — I will not allow Israel to repeat the mistake of Oslo. I will not allow that, after the enormous sacrifices among our citizens and soldiers, we allow those in the Gaza Strip who support terrorism, finance terrorism. Gaza will be neither Hamastan nor Fatahastan,” the PM added.

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Hmmm. Where do they get the bombs?

Israel Losing Support Over ‘Indiscriminate Bombing’ – Biden (RT)

US President Joe Biden warned that Israel risks losing international support if it continues its “indiscriminate” bombing campaign in Gaza at a campaign fundraiser in Washington, DC on Tuesday, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “change his government.” Biden offered some of his harshest criticisms of Israel to date, suggesting that its war against Hamas risked a loss of support among Washington’s allies. All of the other UN Security Council members except the UK (which abstained) had attempted to issue a resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza last week, which was vetoed by Washington. “Israel’s security can rest on the United States, but right now it has more than the United States. It has the European Union, it has Europe, it has most of the world… But they’re starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place,” Biden said.

He went on to cite a private discussion with Netanyahu in which Israel’s prime minister likened the Gaza conflict to the Second World War and observed that “a lot of civilians died” in Allied bombing raids. However, Biden said he rejected that comparison and told Netanyahu that “all these institutions were set up after World War II to see to it that it didn’t happen again.” Calling Netanyahu’s administration “the most conservative government in Israel’s history,” Biden said the prime minister must “change his government,” without elaborating, only adding that it had made long-term solutions “very difficult.” “We have an opportunity to begin to unite the region… and they still want to do it. But we have to make sure that [Netanyahu] understands that he’s got to make some moves… You cannot say no Palestinian state,” the president continued.

Although Israel has accepted the creation of a Palestinian state in principle in past negotiations, Netanyahu has long opposed the move. In a statement earlier on Tuesday, he insisted that he would never “repeat the mistake of Oslo,” referring to a 1993 peace deal which created a roadmap for a Palestinian state. Despite Biden’s more critical comments to donors, elsewhere he has continued to voice staunch support for Israel’s military operation. During a White House event to mark the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah on Monday, he told attendees “I am a Zionist” while reiterating Washington’s “unshakable” commitment to Israel’s security.

The president continues to urge lawmakers to approve a spending package which includes $14.3 billion in military aid for Israel, and recently bypassed a congressional review to fast-track the sale of $106.5 million in tank shells to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Israel began its assault on Gaza following a surprise attack by Hamas on October 7, which claimed the lives of some 1,200 Israelis and saw more than 240 people taken hostage. In retaliation, the IDF has pounded the Palestinian enclave with heavy airstrikes and launched a major ground invasion, killing more than 18,400 people so far, according to local officials.

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“..rumors that it needs Israel to finish Plan Gaza between Christmas and the start of January..”

BRICS and the Resistance Axis (Pepe Escobar)

At first, there were reasons to suspect that the bland condemnation of the genocide in Gaza by the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was a sign of cowardice. Yet a renewed appraisal may reveal everything is evolving organically when it comes to the intersection of the Big Picture designed by the late Iranian Quds Force Commander General Qassem Soleimani with the meticulous micro-planning by Gaza’s Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who knows the Israeli mentality inside out and considered in detail its devastating military response. Arguably, the most incandescent focus of detailed discussions in Moscow these past few days is that we may be approaching the point where “a signal” will unleash a concerted Axis of Resistance response.

For the moment, what we have are sporadic attacks: Hezbollah destroying Israel’s communication towers facing the southern Lebanon border, Iraq’s resistance forces attacking US bases in Iraq and Syria, and Yemen’s Ansarallah concretely blocking the Red Sea for Israeli ships. All that does not form a concerted, coordinated offensive – yet. And that would explain the desperation within the Biden administration in Washington, complete with rumors that it needs Israel to finish Plan Gaza between Christmas and the start of January. Not only have the global optics of the Gaza assault become horrifyingly unsustainable, but most of all, a lengthier military campaign dramatically raises the likelihood of a “signal” to the Axis of Resistance.

And that will result in the end of all the Hegemon’s elaborate plans for West Asia. The geopolitical goals of Zionism are quite clear: re-establish its self-constructed aura of dominance in West Asia and maintain steady control over US foreign policy and the military alliance. Depravity is a key component for accomplishing these goals. It’s so easy to bomb, shell, and burn ultra-soft civilian targets, including thousands of women and children, turning Gaza into a vast cemetery, while the White Man’s Burden Club urges Israeli occupation forces to kill them, of course, but more silently.

Cue to toxic Atlanticist and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offering bribes, in person, to Egypt’s and Jordan’s leaders – $10 billion to Cairo and $5 billion to Amman – as confirmed with Brussels diplomats. That’s the mind-numbing EU solution to stopping the Gaza genocide. All Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah bin al-Hussein would need to do is to “facilitate” the forced exodus and Final Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza to their respective territories. Because the eschatological goal of Zionism remains an undiluted Final Solution, whatever happens in the battleground. And, of course, as the 7 October Hamas-led Al-Aqsa Flood operation suggests, to destroy Jerusalem’s Islamic Al-Aqsa Mosque and build a Jewish Third Temple on top of its ashes.

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“Nazi Germany [..] is documented to have killed 10,547,000 ethnic Slavics compared to 5,291,000 Jews..”

Germany’s Blind Support For Israel In Gaza (Cradle)

Since the 7 October Al-Aqsa Flood operation tore to shreds Israel’s security delusion, the west has rallied staunchly behind Tel Aviv, offering unwavering support across political, military, media, intelligence, and other domains. Amid this display of western unity, Germany has distinguished itself, standing prominently at the forefront of the EU as a fervent advocate for Israel and a solid opponent of any form of assistance to Palestinians, even the children among them. This, despite that the Israeli army has killed over 10,000 infants and children in Gaza since the start of its air and ground assault two months ago. Less than a week after Al-Aqsa Flood, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz offered up military aid toward Israel’s Gaza campaign, saying: “At this moment, there is only one place for Germany — the place at Israel’s side … Our own history, our responsibility arising from the Holocaust, makes it a perpetual task for us to stand up for the security of the State of Israel.”

According to Scholz and his ilk, Germany must constantly redeem itself by shielding the Jewish generations that followed World War II. But then why does Berlin not feel a similar obligation to protect the non-Jewish Slavic civilians, whose numbers killed by Nazi Germany equal those of the Jewish victims? The German “guilt complex” has manifested itself through annual payments exceeding $1 billion since the end of WWII in 1945. These reparations, totaling approximately $86.8 billion to Israel between 1945 and 2018, were recently extended until 2027. While these funds are ostensibly meant to compensate Jews for the horrors inflicted by Nazi Germany, a closer examination of the historical figures raises doubts about the coherence of the German narrative.

The enormous death toll of 17 million people at the hands of Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945 includes 6 million Jews and 5.7 million Soviet civilians. Yet other sources claim that the number of ethnic Slavic deaths far surpasses that of Jews. Shockingly, Nazi Germany, driven by radical ideological policies, is documented to have killed 10,547,000 ethnic Slavics compared to 5,291,000 Jews. If we look closer, we find that the majority of the Slav civilians killed were from Poland, Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, predominantly from Orthodox Christian backgrounds. Why, then, are they not receiving reparation payments out of a similar sense of German guilt, which weighs on the conscience of Germany’s leaders? This, in turn, raises questions about the true motivations behind supporting and financially aiding Israel – whether it is a principled stance as Berlin outwardly promotes, or merely a political maneuver.

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“Putin is banking on the United States failing to deliver for Ukraine,” he said. “We must prove him wrong.”

US Rapidly Coming To End Of Its Ability To Help Ukraine – Biden (TASS)

The US administration is about to exhaust its ability to help Ukraine unless the US Congress approves additional funding, US President Joe Biden said.”But without supplemental funding we are rapidly coming to an end of our ability to help Ukraine respond urgent operational demands that it has,” he said at a joint news conference after talks with his visiting Ukrainian counterpart, Vladimir Zelensky. The United States “will continue to supply Ukraine with critical weapons and equipment as long as we can,” he pledged, adding that earlier on Tuesday he approved $200 million-worth military assistance to Kiev, which included “critically needed equipment” such as air defense interceptors, artillery, and ammunition.

“Putin is banking on the United States failing to deliver for Ukraine,” he said. “We must prove him wrong.” The White House submitted to Congress in October a supplemental finding request for the 2024 fiscal year, which began in the US on October 1, primarily to help Israel and Ukraine, but also to contain China and Russia in the Asia Pacific regiion. In total, the executive branch, led by Democrat Biden, would like to have about $106 billion for these purposes.

The future of the request and alternative bills remains unclear. Several Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate have recently spoken out against continued financial aid to Kiev. House Speaker Mike Johnson repeatedly said that he intends to condition the provision of further aid to Ukraine to the tightening of the control over the US’ southern border. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell spoke in a similar way. On December 6, the bill on another large batch of aid to Ukraine and Israel, as well as on countering Russia and China in the Asia Pacific, failed a procedural vote in the Senate, despite Biden’s special address to the Congress, in which he called on the lawmakers to approve the spending before they break for the holiday recess.

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“..military officials are devising a new strategy to “create enough of a credible threat” forcing Moscow into “meaningful negotiations” at the end of 2024 or in 2025..”

Ukraine, US ‘Digging’ for New Strategy as Time and Money Run Out (Sp.)

With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s arrival in Washington to plead for more aid, the US media is seemingly trying to assure their readers that not all is lost for the Kiev regime on the battlefield. The New York Times has hinted that American and Ukrainian military officials are devising a new strategy to “create enough of a credible threat” forcing Moscow into “meaningful negotiations” at the end of 2024 or in 2025. However, the two parties have yet to agree on the specific details that this strategy would entail. When evaluating the outcome of the failed Ukrainian counteroffensive, the newspaper pinned the blame on Kiev. It pointed out that the Ukrainians had divided up their forces between the eastern and southern fronts, rather than concentrating on retaking the southeastern coastline.

However, the media stated that the failure cannot solely be attributed to Ukraine not adhering to NATO’s strategic plan. The newspaper also recognized that American and Ukrainian strategists “did not initially realize” to what extent the Russians were strengthening their defenses. “Ukrainian troops training in Germany practiced breaking through defenses far less strong than what they would eventually face,” the report noted. Furthermore, Russia has demonstrated its expertise in employing diverse drone technologies and has effectively monitored the contact line, preventing Ukrainian forces from breaching its defenses. By the conclusion of 2023, Russia has bolstered its military presence, beefed up its arsenal, and obtained a significant advantage in terms of firepower, according to the report.

The only silver lining, in the eyes of the West, were Kiev’s missile attacks on Crimean infrastructure. However, even these actions failed to alter the overall power dynamics on the battlefield. Currently, the US military is urging their Ukrainian counterparts to embrace a strategy known as “hold and build.” This tactic entails reinforcing Ukraine’s military industrial capacity by digging in and making substantial improvements throughout 2024. Washington believes that this would “improve Ukraine self-sufficiency” and help it “repel any new drive” from Russia. The goal described by the media appears to be far more modest than what was declared by the West and Kiev before the Ukrainian counteroffensive disaster. Likewise, Washington’s funding for the effort would be more modest, too, the newspaper noted. Having forked out over $111 billion to Ukraine over the 21 months of the conflict, US lawmakers want to see “a new strategy” before they vote for any additional funds.

Furthermore, Ukrainian generals and senior civilian officials have “unrealistic expectations” about Washington’s capabilities, since the US simply does not have that amount of weapons that Kiev wants to be supplied with, according to the media. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has decided to dispatch Lt. Gen. Antonio A. Aguto Jr. on the ground “to work more directly” with the Ukrainian military leadership and bolster coordination with Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, the top American commander in Europe. International observers are taking the rhetoric coming from Ukrainian and American officials about a new “long-term” strategy of digging in or boosting Ukraine’s industrial capacity, with a grain of salt. Speaking to Sputnik on December 1, Russian military expert Ivan Konovalov wondered as to who would pay for Kiev’s plan to build new defenses along the contact line.

According to some estimates, Ukraine would have to strengthen at least 2,800 km (1,700 miles) to create a defense line. It would take at least eight to nine months to accomplish this feat, while its cost would be around $10 billion, per Russian military observers’ estimates. Given that Kiev is almost out of money and Republican lawmakers are hesitant to greenlight a new multi-billion package for Ukraine, the situation is hanging in the balance.

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“Ukraine (like the West, having broken all agreements with Russia) has nothing with which to negotiate.”

Ukraine on Brink of Coup as Zelensky Begs US for More Money (Sp.)

Nearly two years since the escalation of the Ukrainian conflict in February 2022, the regime in Kiev finds itself dependent on financial and military assistance from its Western sponsors. With Ukraine’s economy in tatters, the country’s leadership now struggles to find the money it desperately needs amid the ongoing conflict with Russia, as political powers in the United States and the EU become increasingly reluctant to waste their money on Kiev’s military escapades. Earlier, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington DC to plead before the US Congress for more military and financial help, essentially trying to convince the US legislators that spending another few tens of billions of dollars on satisfying Kiev’s war effort is a good idea.

While the fate of the next US package to Ukraine currently hangs in the balance amid the congressional debates between Democrats and Republicans, renowned political commentator and binary economist Prof. Rodney Shakespeare has suggested that “elements in the USA’s political structure” apparently hope to convince Ukraine to sue for peace by delaying this funding. Shakespeare, however, did not seem to think highly of this tactic, arguing that “Ukraine (like the West, having broken all agreements with Russia) has nothing with which to negotiate.” “Ukraine does not understand this and neither does the West. At present, both Ukraine and the West think that there is some sort of military stalemate. But there is NO stalemate – only the continuing and disastrous loss of Ukraine’s manhood (and now, apparently, even its pregnant womanhood),” he said, apparently referring to Kiev’s recent efforts to press-gang women into military service.

As the reality of the “disastrous situation” Ukraine currently finds itself in becomes apparent, “a coup in Kiev is becoming likely,” Shakespeare remarked. He added that the recent death of a top Ukrainian military officer who was killed by a grenade explosion while celebrating his birthday, as well as the poisoning of Ukraine’s spy chief’s wife, “all point in the same direction.” “Ukraine will stagger on for a little while but a coup and recognition of the disastrous military situation are likely to make irrelevant the terms for allocating (or not) new funds and make much more relevant the overall outcome of the war,” he said. Shakespeare also pointed out that in its current state, Ukraine “will soon collapse” if the flow of money from Kiev’s foreign sponsors were to cease.

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$200 million instead of $60 billion. “The latest $200 million in aid announced by Biden will come from the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA)..”

Biden Pledges $200 Million For Ukraine After Zelensky Meeting (RT)

US President Joe Biden has promised another $200 million in emergency military aid for Ukraine. He made the pledge during an Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on Tuesday. The meeting comes after a bill intended to provide $60 billion in aid for Kiev was blocked in the US Senate last week, as Republicans demanded tougher immigration control on the southern US border in exchange for approving Ukraine assistance. Speaking to reporters after the Tuesday meeting, Biden insisted that Congress “pass the supplemental funding for Ukraine” before breaking for recess, adding that failure to do so would be “the greatest Christmas gift” to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The decisions we make now are going to determine the future for decades to come, particularly in Europe,” Biden said. The latest $200 million in aid announced by Biden will come from the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which allows the Biden administration to transfer weapons from US stocks without congressional approval in the event of an emergency. The package will include ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), high-speed anti-radiation missiles, anti-armor systems, artillery rounds, missiles, demolition munitions, 4 million rounds of small arms ammunition, generators and other equipment and spare parts, the Associated Press reported, citing US officials.

Earlier in the day, Zelensky met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to plead for more aid amid Kiev’s ongoing conflict with Russia. The Ukrainian leader met with House Speaker Mike Johnson, as well as a number of other senators. Posting on X (formerly Twitter), Zelensky said he’d had a “friendly and candid conversation” with senate leaders. Republican leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Tuesday, however, that it would be “practically impossible” for Congress to pass the supplemental funding package, which includes the stalled $60 billion for Kiev, before Christmas, saying it needed to be done as part of a broader package that includes changes to border security policy.

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“..if you want to secure your border first, you are actually a Putin puppet: He said this publicly today..”

Zelensky’s Visit ‘Disgraceful’ – Senator JD Vance (RT)

The visit by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to the US is an attempt to pressure Americans to give up their fight for border security and allow more funding for Kiev instead, Republican Senator James David Vance said on Tuesday. On Monday, Zelensky arrived in Washington, where he was scheduled to meet with US President Joe Biden, who is struggling to secure congressional approval for the new multibillion-dollar aid pledged to Kiev. Speaking to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, the Ohio senator called Zelensky’s move to seek more funding “utterly disgraceful.” Vance added that the Ukrainian president is coming to the US “lecturing” Americans and “demanding” more of their taxpayer dollars.

He said Zelensky’s visit will end with an “undignified process” in which the Ukrainian leader will demand that US lawmakers sign off on further funding or be labeled “puppets” of Russian President Vladimir Putin. After arriving in Washington, the Ukrainian leader gave an address at the National Defense University of the US, claiming that the delays and scandals related to “unresolved issues on Capitol Hill” are inspiring the Kremlin. Commenting on this, Vance said that “if you want to secure your border first, you are actually a Putin puppet: He said this publicly today,” and added that he found it “disgraceful” and “grotesque.” Last week, a bill that was supposed to provide more than $110 billion for overseas security, including more than $60 billion for Kiev, was blocked in the Senate.

It came as Republicans demanded tougher immigration controls on the southern US border. On Tuesday, Zelensky was scheduled to meet with US President Joe Biden to discuss “the continuation of defense cooperation” between the states and their coordination of efforts in the coming year, according to his office. This all comes amid Ukraine’s six-month counteroffensive against Russia, which has failed to yield any significant results. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, since the beginning of June, Kiev’s troops have lost more than 125,000 military personnel and 6,000 pieces of heavy equipment.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that as Ukrainian leaders plead for more military aid from Western allies, draft-eligible men are trying to flee the country at a time when they are needed “more than bullets.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday reiterated that Moscow would prefer to achieve its goals in the Ukrainian conflict politically and diplomatically, noting that Russia is “still ready for negotiations.” He added that the possibility of reaching agreements has been disrupted by Kiev. Last October, Zelensky signed an official decree banning any negotiations with Russia under President Vladimir Putin.

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“There are not cemeteries, but entire burial fields. People on the frontline take such things to heart and they do not accept shades of gray..”

Ukrainian General Reveals Discord Among Frontline Troops (RT)

Ukrainian frontline troops are disgruntled with the way Kiev is handling the ongoing conflict with Russia, including the gaslighting it engages in via the national media, retired Gen. Sergey Krivonos warned on Monday. Soldiers wonder why they must shed blood on behalf of an uncaring government, he claimed. Krivonos is a critic of President Vladimir Zelensky, who sacked him from the National Security and Defense Council in late 2020 for allegedly not being a team player. The commander, who has since left the military, allegedly under pressure, blasted what he perceives to be a disconnect between the government and the military. He was interviewed by Priamyi, a TV channel that currently broadcasts only online that is historically associated with the country’s former president Pyotr Poroshenko.

The general said Kiev was “teasing the tiger” with its treatment of troops, who, he warned “may act quite harshly” in response. “There are not cemeteries, but entire burial fields. People on the frontline take such things to heart and they do not accept shades of gray. For them, there is either black or white,” he said. The Russian Defense Ministry has estimated Ukrainian losses between June and November at over 125,000 troops. Kiev does not report its casualties, but Western media say that they must be steep, judging by the rapidly expanding graveyards and other circumstantial evidence. Kiev is running out of career military and is struggling to conscript soldiers, since civilians “are less than eager to fight for a military and national government that is viewed as rife with corruption and incompetence,” the Washington Post reported last week.

Krivonos cited a recent announcement by the Ukrainian state-owned railway operator that seasonal trains would be on offer for people visiting ski resorts as an example of what irritates troops. He believes the country needs to go into total war mode and accused Zelensky of failing to do so due for fear of losing popularity. The Zelensky government has contributed to the problem by using the state-controlled “television marathon” – the only programming on the air – to gaslight the public, the general said. He called the content “one of the worst manipulations” of the Ukrainian people. Another problem is tolerance of graft, he alleged. People who empty their pockets buying overpriced eggs should not get farewell applause from MPs and disappear into the night, he said in a clear nod to Aleksey Reznikov. The former defense minister was sacked in September, months after a scandal erupted over the procurement of overpriced food for troops by his department. ‘Reznikov’s eggs’ reports became the subject of gallows humor in Ukrainian trenches.

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“..the US defense establishment increasingly physically resembles the numbers on the ledgers the accountants have been trying to balance – it just doesn’t add up.”

The Pentagon Is A Multitrillion-Dollar Fraud (Scott Ritter)

Recently, the Pentagon admitted it couldn’t account for trillions of dollars of US taxpayer money, having failed a massive yearly audit for the sixth year running. The process consisted of the 29 sub-audits of the DoD’s various services, and only seven passed this year – no improvement over the last. These audits only began taking place in 2017, meaning that the Pentagon has never successfully passed one. This year’s failure made some headlines, was commented upon briefly by the mainstream media, and then just as quickly forgotten by an American society accustomed to pouring money down the black hole of defense spending. The defense budget of the United States is grotesquely large, its $877 billion dwarfing the $849 billion spent by the next ten nations with the largest defense expenditures.

And yet, the Pentagon cannot fully account for the $3.8 trillion in assets and $4 trillion in liabilities it has accrued at US taxpayer expense, ostensibly in defense of the United States and its allies. As the Biden administration seeks $886 billion for next year’s defense budget (and Congress seems prepared to add an additional $80 billion to that amount), the apparent indifference of the American collective – government, media, and public – to how nearly $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars will be spent speaks volumes about the overall bankrupt nature of the American establishment. Audits, however, are an accountant’s trick, a series of numbers on a ledger which, for the average person, do not equate to reality. Americans have grown accustomed to seeing big numbers when it comes to defense spending, and as a result, we likewise expect big things from our military.

But the fact is, the US defense establishment increasingly physically resembles the numbers on the ledgers the accountants have been trying to balance – it just doesn’t add up. Despite spending some $2.3 trillion on a two-decade military misadventure in Afghanistan, the American people witnessed the ignominious retreat from that nation live on TV in August 2021. Likewise, a $758 billion investment in the 2003 invasion and subsequent decade-long occupation of Iraq went south when the US was compelled to withdraw in 2011– only to return in 2014 for another decade of chasing down ISIS, itself a manifestation of the failures of the original Iraqi venture. Overall, the US has spent more than $1.8 trillion on its 20-year nightmare in Iraq and Syria. These numbers are mind-numbingly large – so large that they become meaningless to the average person. The US defense enterprise is so massive that it is literally a mission impossible to speak of balancing the books.

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“Ethiopia will become a member of BRICS on Jan 1..”

BRICS Candidate Ethiopia Likely To Default – Reuters (RT)

Ethiopia will hold a call with its international bondholders later this week after the African nation failed to pay a $33 million bond coupon that was due on Monday, according to a senior finance ministry official, as quoted by Reuters. Last week, the finance ministry said the country’s efforts to renegotiate the bond terms before the deadline for the coupon payment had fallen through. The sides had reportedly disagreed over how long to extend the maturity and spread out repayments of its single $1 billion international bond maturing in December 2024 . After the grace period of 14 days expires, the East African nation is expected to become the latest emerging-market sovereign to default on its debt, unless Addis Ababa successfully restructures it in time.

Zambia, Ghana and Sri Lanka have defaulted on Eurobonds in recent years. Tunisia, Pakistan and Bolivia are also currently at risk, Bloomberg reported, citing bond market pricing. Ethiopia, which requested a debt overhaul under the G20 Common Framework in early 2021, had managed to service interest payments on its international bond until now. According to the statement issued by the Ethiopian finance ministry, the nation will seek a “broadly similar treatment” from bondholders. “It would be important to treat all our creditors equitably,” the ministry said. Meanwhile, State Minister of Fiscal Policy and Public Finance Eyob Tekalign Tolina told Reuters that the “authorities’ intention is to remain current on our obligations.”

According to Tolina, there will be a call with investors holding the international bond on Thursday. Ethiopia, which was severely hit by the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and a military conflict in its northern Tigray region, is currently struggling to pay its debts. The nation is also seeking a four-year loan from the International Monetary Fund. Ethiopia will become a member of BRICS on Jan 1. The invitation to join was approved in August and extended to Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The group currently consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

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X thread.

“..I’ve got a bunch of kids, and they have to live here…” “And I want them to live in a country with a functioning justice system and elections that are semi-real.”

Tucker Carlson: 2024 Presidential Election Is Being Rigged (Kanekoa)

.@TuckerCarlson talks about how the 2024 presidential election is being rigged by Biden’s bogus prosecution of Trump. “You are trying to take the front runner out of the race on bogus legal charges.” “You’re violating the rule of law. You’re mocking our sacred norms, and you’re doing it with the presidency at stake.” “To indict him on that at the same time that the sitting President did the same thing. And you’re expecting me to go along with it?” “The idea that you’re prosecuting a man with a felony charge for bringing home documents and not returning them to the national f**kin archives.”

“Are you serious? Is there a single high-level bureaucrat in Washington who doesn’t do that every single day?” “The second they indicted him on ridiculous charges and raided Mar-a-Lago and went through his wife’s underwear drawer and all of that s**t…” “That can’t stand because I have to live here and I’ve got a bunch of kids, and they have to live here…” “And I want them to live in a country with a functioning justice system and elections that are semi-real.” “And if we allow this to happen, none of that will come to pass.”

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“I know I can give good speeches. But there is much more to that. Would I be good at that? Probably not..”

Tucker Carlson Says Does Not Think He Would Be Good Pick for Trump’s VP (Sp.)

US media personality Tucker Carlson said Tuesday that he does not think he would be a good pick as the next US vice president if former US President Donald Trump wins the 2024 election. “I know I can give good speeches. But there is much more to that. Would I be good at that? Probably not,” Carlson said in a live broadcast on X Spaces, adding that he has never “done anything like that before.” As a main guest of the X Spaces conversation, Carlson also said he was concerned about the US judicial system, as it is trying to convict Trump to get rid of him from the presidential race. In mid-November, Trump said in an interview that he would consider picking Carlson as his running mate in the 2024 US presidential election because “he’s got great common sense.”

The US presidential election is scheduled for November 5, 2024. In a number of polls, Trump, who dominates the Republican primary race, maintains a narrow lead over incumbent US President Joe Biden. Trump was indicted by a grand jury in August on four charges connected to the January riot at the US Capitol. The former US president has pleaded not guilty. Trump’s trial is set to begin on March 4, 2024.

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First steps

 

 

Sand Tiger Shark

 

 

Gaboon Viper
https://twitter.com/i/status/1734502324536590734

 

 

Dogs

 

 

Xmas lights

 

 

 

 

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