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As a cardiologist, my two greatest fears concerning COVID-19 vaccine myocarditis are: 1) sudden cardiac death, 2) permanent damage to the heart resulting in scar.
The reason why scar is important is because it puts the patient at risk for two late complications: 1) malignant arrhythmias and cardiac arrest, 2) development of dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure.
In clinical practice I have observed a few patients with small areas of damage (<15% of the left ventricle with late gadolinium enhancement) return to normal on follow-up cardiac MRI. However I remain concerned about patients with larger areas of damage.
Warren and colleagues studied patients with COVID-19 vaccine myocarditis with serial MRI data and the following abstract results:
“Sixty-seven patients with C-VAM (mean age 30 ± 13 years, 72% male) underwent CMR evaluation. Median time from vaccination to CMR was 548 (range 398-603) days. Twenty patients (30%) had persistent LGE, most frequently found in the basal inferolateral segment (n = 11). At diagnosis, nine patients (13%) were classified as definite and 58 (87%) as probable myocarditis. With integration of CMR LGE data, 16 patients (28%) were reclassified from probable to definite myocarditis. Persistent LGE on CMR occurs in one third of patients with C-VAM. Without CMR at diagnosis, almost one third of patients are misclassified as probable rather than definite myocarditis.”
However, it was Table 3 that caught my eye—particularly those with baseline and follow up MRI scans completed out to 556 days.
Apparently 47% of this small sample had persistently abnormal MRI scans far more than a year after the initial diagnosis of vaccine damage. These patients may have permanently scarred hearts by COVID-19 vaccination and could have a lifetime of worry about severe outcomes years into the future.
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Featured image is from Mercola
The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
Reviews
This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon
In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia
In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig
Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac
A reading of Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late. You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
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16 Lebanese have died from Israeli airstrikes on the south of Lebanon since March 27. The first strike was on Hebbarieh, where seven young paramedic volunteers died, in the second attack five died at Tair Harfa, of which three were Hezbollah paramedics, and then an attack on Naqoura killed four, of which two were paramedics from the Amal Movement.
Seven young medical volunteers were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Hebbarieh. The Islamic Emergency and Relief Corps operate a medical center in the Sunni village of 2,000 inhabitants which has never before been targeted by Israel. There had been ten persons earlier at the center, and after some left, the center was hit in a massive airstrike that residents recalled as being similar to an earthquake. The volunteer medical crew were all young, with the oldest of the dead just 25 yrs.
The center was run by the Jamaa Islamiya (Islamic Group), a Sunni Muslim group affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood which had been established as a Lebanese political party over 50 years ago.
Sheikh Mohammed Takkoush, the Secretary-General of the Islamic Group, said coordination with Hezbollah, the Shiite resistance organization, is vital to fight Israel.
The Muslim Brotherhood is a global organization with a very heavy presence in America and Great Britain. US President Barak Obama was particularly closely affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and elevated the group to an ally status when he used their armed fighters as foot-soldiers in his project to overthrow the Syrian government.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has brought forward several legislative bills aimed at outlawing the Muslim Brotherhood in the US, but he has not had support from the US Congress.
Usually, Israel strikes Hezbollah and Shiite targets in Lebanon, but this marks a first for Hebbarieh. The village elder reported at least ten houses had been destroyed in the attack, along with numerous cars which were burnt.
The south of Lebanon is home to Christians, Sunnis, Druze and Shiites. During the Israeli occupation of Lebanon, 1985-2000, all the various religious communities suffered equally under the brutal Israeli military regime, which saw even women and children imprisoned at al-Haim prison. After the Israelis left in 2000, the prison was opened as a museum and memorial to the torture and suffering the Lebanese endured for decades. In the summer 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon, the prison was completely destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in an effort to erase the evidence of crimes against humanity committed there.
Hezbollah released a statement condemning Israel’s heinous criminal aggression, and pointed out that the center targeted was a medical center serving families in the village.
Other health centers in the south are operated by Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Society, and the Amal Movement’s Risala Scouts, whose medical teams have carried out the majority of rescue missions since the war broke out in southern Lebanon in October.
Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, condemned the Israeli airstrike on the medical volunteers in Hebbarieh calling it a heinous crime. Jumblatt called the attack a massacre that goes against all international laws, and called for an urgent complaint to the UN Security Council. Jumblatt is well known for his close relationship with America.
Wael Abou Faour, Member of Parliament representing the PSP, described the attack as a “mass crime” against humanitarian workers.
The Amal Movement referred to it as a massacre, and a war crime committed by Israel. The movement also said that the international community could no longer remain silent or turn a blind eye to what the Israeli war machine is committing in Palestine and Lebanon, considering these acts to be tantamount to crimes against humanity.
Nabieh Berri, the leader of the Amal Movement, and has held the office of Speaker of the Parliament for decades. He is an American citizen of Lebanese birth, having lived in the US previously. His movement is allied strategically with Hezbollah, which is also a political party which won through open elections seats in the Lebanese Parliament.
The American media paints Lebanon as a country under the domination of an armed group, Hezbollah. However, Lebanon is home to many resistance groups, who may be from different religions, or political parties, but all hold the same passionate view towards Israel: that the occupation of Palestine must end, and Israel must end the occupation of Lebanese territory in Shebaa Farms. The armed resistance to occupation is guaranteed to all peoples by the Geneva convention.
Tair Harfa Attack
Israel bombed Tair Harfa after sunset on March 27, killing five, three of whom were Islamic Health Society paramedics. The president of the Tair Harfa municipal council, Qassem Haidar, said that the Israeli airstrike targeted a house in the village, completely destroying it.
Naqoura Massacre
Naqoura is a small city in southern Lebanon. Since March 23, 1978, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been headquartered in Naqoura.
Israel bombed Naqoura shortly after the Tair Harfa attack. Two paramedics from the Risala Scouts were killed along with three others at a café as they were about to break their fast in the Holy month of Ramadan.
The Amal Movement announced the death of two of its members: Ali Ahmad Mahdi, and first responder Hussein Ahmad Hojeir. Both men were from Naqoura and were killed in the Israeli attack.
Nearly 240 Hezbollah resistance fighters and about 40 civilians have died in Lebanon, while the cross-border exchanges of fire have killed nine civilians and 11 soldiers in Israel.
Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon had already killed more than half a dozen medical personnel and rescue workers, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Other Israeli Strikes on Lebanon
Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of the town of Mais al-Jabal and shelled the town of Blida in the Marjayoun district.
Heavy Israeli artillery fire targeted the outskirts of Adaisseh, with two Israeli artillery shells falling east of the village of Taybeh, and the Israeli army fired with machine guns at residential neighborhoods in the village of Kfar Kila and the outskirts of Odaisseh, also an Israeli drone fired a missile on a House in Dhaira, Sour district, but the explosive failed to detonate.
Hezbollah Strikes Back
In response to the recent deadly attacks on southern Lebanon, Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona and the military base of the Israeli 769th Brigade in the Kiryat Shmona barracks, which killed one person.
Hezbollah also said they fired on surveillance equipment at the Israeli site of Miskav Am, opposite the Lebanese village of Adaisseh.
More than 32,000 people have been killed in Gaza and 74,000 wounded, women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. Hezbollah, and many other resistance groups, are standing in solidarity with the suffering Palestinian people.
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Soldiers in uniforms round up civilians at gunpoint. They separate the men from the women and children. The men are stripped naked and blindfolded, then taken into a room by the soldiers, gunshots are heard, and finally only the soldiers emerge from the room. The scene, panic, terror and brutality remind us of the Nazi abuse of Jews in the holocaust. But, this time it is the Jews who are killing and abusing, having learned nothing of humanity from their past suffering.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) entered Al Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza city on March 18 and have claimed to have made 500 arrests. Doctors and nurses are made to be guides to the 500 IDF invading soldiers as they search the hospital and torture their victims. Patients, their families and medical staff have been forced to stand outside the hospital as human shields, protecting the IDF from resistance to the occupation of the hospital, while 250 people have been killed by the IDF since entering the hospital.
Although most of those arrested were males, in some cases they did arrest mothers and their children. When the women and children became unnecessary to the IDF goals, they forced them to walk long distances to the south without and water or food for days. When they finally arrived in the south, some were near death from dehydration and the children starving.
Al Shifa is the largest medical complex in Gaza. It began as a British Army barracks, and over the decades of use as a hospital, areas were added on and in the 1980’s Israel constructed underground bunkers which included a tunnel system.
The hospital was first attacked and raided on November 15, 2023, with the UN, WHO and other humanitarian organizations condemning the attack which caused the deaths of patients and premature babies. The IDF claimed the Al Shifa hospital was being used by Hamas as a command center, and pointed to the Israeli built tunnels under the hospital as having supported Hamas and its resistance fighters. Despite the IDF’s incessant accusation, the Washington Post and Amnesty International both said there was no credible evidence to support the IDF’s claim.
Since then, the hospital has been under intermittent attack by the IDF, culminating in the recent invasion and occupation of the hospital which has resulted in mass arrests, executions, sexual abuse, humiliation of innocent civilians, deprivation of both water and food, and the attack on civilian homes near the hospital.
The IDF goal was to justify their claim that Al Shifa served as a Hamas asset. If they couldn’t find the evidence they needed, they could manufacture the proof they sought. The IDF needed to arrest hundreds of men and claim they were Hamas resistance fighters, or their allies. The hospital was sheltering 30,000 people, and many were men accompanied by their families. But, the IDF needed more men, so they began attacking the homes surrounding the hospital, and then invading the homes and removing the males found to add to their list of fighters they were creating
One family in a nearby house hunkered down and tried to survive by hiding in a small room, while the father of the large family would crawl to the kitchen to find anything to feed his children. Then the house began to fall apart after days of shelling, which allowed the IDF to invade the home and remove the man, blindfolded and naked. This was repeated among the neighborhood.
Gaza is a conservative society, and men and women wear clothes to cover themselves up as a sign of respect of themselves, their family and their society. Whereas in the West, going shirtless and in very short shorts might be acceptable, in Gaza it is not. The IDF stripped arrested men to their under pants alone and sent them to the neighboring houses near Al Shifa to warn residents they had 30 minutes to evacuate or die in the bombing.
The eye witness accounts are coming out of Gaza about severe sexual abuse by the IDF. Females have reported being raped by IDF soldiers in a gang rape scene, as well as alone in front of their fathers, brothers or husband. In the religious and conservative society of Gaza, these crimes will be hushed up, swept under the rug, in an effort by male members of the family to preserve the honor and dignity of the victim. However, this leaves the victim to deal with the trauma of sexual abuse alone, and without a support system that gets the facts into the light of day. The abuse and trauma are magnified because she can’t talk about it. But, many women and girls are defying the taboos and telling their story to humanitarian workers.
There are no foreign journalists in Gaza. The one and only foreign journalist who was granted a Visa to go inside Gaza by the Israelis was CNN’s Clarissa Ward, and she was only allowed several hours in December. Despite the bombardment and siege of Gaza, emails, Facebook messages and Whatsapp messages and videos continue to emerge from the battle zone.
Al Shifa hospital’s current nightmare is but one of many healthcare service providers in Gaza who have been under siege. Food and medicine had been going into Gaza in a slow trickle, but now the doors are shut and sealed. Israel refuses to allow any UN trucks into Gaza after they claimed the UNRWA is in a conspiracy with Hamas. Other humanitarian aid groups say their aid is also prevented from entering Gaza.
More than 32,200 Palestinians have since been killed and over 74,500 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
The international community agrees that only a ceasefire along with massive aid distribution can save Gaza from genocide and starvation. Yesterday, the UN Security Council passed a non-binding resolution calling for a ceasefire for the remainder of the month of Ramadan. But, will Israel comply? The International Court of Justice gave Israel an instruction to improve the humanitarian aid into Gaza or face an ultimate ruling by the court of genocide. However, Israel until now has completely disregarded the court’s urging.
In the end, only US President joe Biden holds the keys to turning off the IDF war machine in Gaza. Only Biden has the power to cut off the weapons flow to Israel. But, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stood firm on his promise to invade Rafah, whether it causes mass deaths beyond comprehension, or not. Will Netanyahu enter Rafah in defiance of Biden and the UN? If he does, will Biden turn on the red-light?
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Rarely has the International Court of Justice been so constantly exercised by one topic during a short span of time. On January 26, the World Court, considering a filing made the previous December by South Africa, accepted Pretoria’s argument that the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was applicable to the conflict in so far as Israel was bound to observe it in its military operations against Hamas in Gaza. (The judges will determine, in due course, whether Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the genocidal threshold.) By 15-2, the judges noted that “the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is at serious risk of deteriorating further before the Court renders its final judgment.”
At that point 26,000 Palestinians had perished, much of Gaza pummelled into oblivion, and 85% of its 2.3 million residents expelled from their homes. Measures were therefore required to prevent “real and imminent risk that irreparable prejudice will be caused to the rights found by the Court to be plausible, before it gives its final decision.”
Israel was duly ordered to take all possible measures to prevent the commission of acts under Article II of the Genocide Convention; prevent and punish “the direct and public incitement to genocide” against the Gaza populace; permit basic services and humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip; ensure the preservation of, and prevent destruction of, evidence related to acts committed against Gaza’s Palestinians within Articles II and III of the Convention; and report to the ICJ on how Israel was abiding by such provisional measures within a month. The balance sheet on that score has been uneven at best.
Since then, the slaughter has continued, with the Palestinian death toll now standing at 32,300. The Israelis have refused to open more land crossings into Gaza, and continue to hamper aid going into the strip, even as they accuse aid agencies and providers of being tardy and dishonest. Their surly defiance of the United States has seen air drops of uneven, negligible success (the use of air to deliver aid has always been a perilous exercise). When executed, these have even been lethal to the unsuspecting recipients, with reported cases of parachutes failing to open.
On March 25, the UN Security Council, after three previous failed attempts, passed Resolution 2728, thereby calling for an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan “leading to a lasting sustainable” halt to hostilities, the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”, “ensuring humanitarian access to address their medical and other humanitarian needs” and “demands that the parties comply with their obligations under international law in relation to all persons they detain”.
Emphasis was also placed on “the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance to and reinforce the protection of civilians in the entire Gaza Strip”. The resolution further demands that all barriers regarding the provision of humanitarian assistance, in accordance with international humanitarian law be lifted.
Since January, South Africa has been relentless in its efforts to curb Israel’s Gaza enterprise in The Hague. It called upon the ICJ on February 14, referring to “the developing circumstances in Rafah”, to urgently exercise powers under Article 75 of the Rules of Court. Israel responded on February 15. The next day, the ICJ’s Registrar transmitted to the parties the view of the Court that the “perilous situation” in the Gaza Strip, but notably in Rafah, “demands immediate and effective implementation of the provisional measures indicated by the Court in its Order of 26 January 2024”.
Throughout the following month, more legal jostling and communication took place, with Pretoria requesting on March 6 that the ICJ “indicate further provisional measures and/or to modify” those ordered on January 26. The application was prompted by the “horrific deaths from starvation of Palestinian children, including babies, brought about by Israel’s deliberate acts and omissions … including Israel’s concerted attempts since 26 January 2024 to ensure the defunding of [the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and Israel’s attacks on starving Palestinians seeking to access what extremely limited humanitarian assistance Israel permits into Northern Gaza, in particular”.
Israel responded on March 15 to the South African communication, rejecting the claims of starvation arising from deliberate acts and omissions “in the strongest terms”. The logic of the sketchy rebuttal from Israel was that matters had not materially altered since January 26 to warrant a reconsideration: “the difficult and tragic situation in the Gaza Strip in the last weeks could not be said to materially change the considerations upon which the Court based its original decision concerning provisional measures.”
On March 28, the Court issued a unanimous order modifying the January interim order. Combing through the ghoulish evidence, the judges noted an updated report from March 18 on food insecurity from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Global Initiative (IPC Global Initiative) stating that “conditions necessary to prevent Famine have not been met and the latest evidence confirms that Famine is imminent in the northern governorates and projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May 2024.” The UN Children’s Fund had also reported that 31 per cent of children under 2 years of age in the northern Gaza Strip were enduring conditions of “acute malnutrition”.
In the face of this Himalaya of devastation, the Court could only observe “that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing a risk of famine, as noted in the Order of 26 January 2024, but that famine is setting in, with at least 31 people, including 27 children, having already died of malnutrition and dehydration”. There were “unprecedented levels of food insecurity experienced by Palestinians in the Gaza strip over recent weeks, as well as the increasing risks of epidemics.”
Such “grave” conditions granted the Court jurisdiction to modify the January 26 order which no longer fully addressed “the consequences arising from the changes in the situation”. In view of the “worsening conditions of life faced by Palestinians in Gaza, in particular the spread of famine and starvation”, Israel should take “all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance”.
The list of what is needed is also enumerated: food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene, sanitation requirements, and “medical supplies and medical care to Palestinians throughout Gaza, including by increasing the capacity and number of land crossing points and maintaining them open for as long as necessary”.
A less reported aspect of the March 28 order, passed by fifteen votes to one, was that Israel’s military refrain from committing “acts which constitute a violation of any rights of the Palestinians in Gaza as a protected group” under the Genocide Convention “including by preventing, through any action, the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance.”
In this, the Court points to the possible, and increasingly plausible nexus, between starvation, famine and deprivation of necessaries as state policies with the intent to injure and kill members of a protected group. It is no doubt something that will weigh heavily on the minds of the judges as they continue mulling over the nature of the war in Gaza, which South Africa continues to insist is genocidal in scope and nature.
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Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He currently lectures at RMIT University. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). Email: [email protected]
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Two legal cases posing globe-spanning threats to our most basic freedoms unfolded separately in Britain and the Netherlands this week. Neither received more than perfunctory coverage in western establishment media like the BBC.
One was the last-ditch appeal of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in London against efforts by the United States to extradite him so he can be locked away for the rest of his life.
Assange’s crime, according to the Biden administration, is that he published leaks exposing the systematic war crimes signed off on by the US and British establishments in Iraq and Afghanistan. The British government, perhaps not surprisingly, has assented to his extradition.
The other case was heard by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. Weeks after the World Court judges deemed it plausible that Israel was carrying out genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the US client state was back in the dock on a separate matter.
The judges have been asked by the United Nations General Assembly to provide an advisory opinion on whether Israel’s now-permanent occupation and colonisation of the Palestinian territories amounts to an illegal annexation of territory where it has established an apartheid regime.
Separately, Israel also has to report back on whether it has adhered to the court’s earlier ruling that it cease activities that might amount to genocide.
While the cases of Assange and Israel might appear to share little in common, they are, in fact, intimately connected – and in ways that have underscored the degree to which the West’s so-called “rules-based order” is being exposed as a hollow sham.
Media Silence
One telling similarity is the limited media coverage each case has attracted despite the gravity of what is at stake. The BBC’s main evening news dedicated mere seconds to the first day of the Assange hearing, and near the end of its running order.
If the US gets its way, the courts would effectively hand the White House the power to seize any publisher who shines a light on US state crimes, and then disappear them into its draconian incarceration system.
The purpose of reclassifying investigative journalism as espionage is to further chill critical reporting and free speech. Any journalist contemplating taking on the US national security state would remember Assange’s cruel fate.
But in truth, much of the establishment media appears to need no such threats, as confirmed by the many years of obedient, near-non-existent reporting on Assange’s mistreatment by British and US authorities.
Meanwhile, if The Hague rules in its favour, Israel would be emboldened to accelerate its theft and colonisation of Palestinian land. The ethnic cleansing and oppression of Palestinians would deepen, with the risk that current regional tensions could further escalate into a wider war.
A win for Israel would rip up the legal framework written after the horrors of the Second World War and the Holocaust, stripping the weak and vulnerable of the protections supposed to be afforded to them by international humanitarian law. Conversely, it would signal to the strongest and most belligerent that they can do as they please.
The legal clock would be set back eight decades or more.
Stinging Hypocrisy
Yet strangely, both of these momentous cases – critical to the preservation of a modern liberal democratic order and the rule of law – have received barely a fraction of the interest and media attention dedicated to the death of Alexei Navalny, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In flaunting their concerns about Navalny, the western media have once again echoed rather than tackled the all-too-obvious hypocrisies of western governments.
US President Joe Biden this week announced sanctions against Moscow for the targeting of the Russian political dissident. That is the very same Biden seeking, at the same time, to lock a dissident Australian journalist, Assange, out of sight for up to 175 years for bringing to light US war crimes.
For years, the western media have paraded their horror over Navalny’s treatment and various attempts on his life, which they always ascribe to the Kremlin. But there has been barely an eyebrow raised over reported discussions by the CIA in 2017 plotting potential ways to abduct and assassinate Assange.
Few have highlighted the fact that Assange has already suffered a stroke amid his persecution and the 15-year confinement imposed on him by US and UK authorities. He was too unwell to attend this week’s court hearings or even to watch the proceedings via a digital link from the court.
The former UN special rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, has long warned that Assange is being slowly “crushed” through isolation and psychological torture, with grave consequences for his health.
Assange’s lawyers warned the High Court in London this week that there was a serious danger the US would add more charges once Assange was extradited, including ones warranting the death penalty. This threat to the life of a western journalist fell under the media radar.
According to medical experts, and accepted by the first judge to hear the extradition case, Assange is in danger of committing suicide should he end up in the strict isolation of a US super-max prison.
The media’s tears for Navalny sting with their hypocrisy.
Blank Cheque
Another revealing similarity between the Assange and Israel cases is that both are in front of the courts only because Washington has dug in its heels and refused to resolve the legal issues, despite their deeply ominous implications.
Were the US to withdraw its extradition request, Assange could be set free immediately. The oppressive cloud hanging over the future of a free society, one that has the right and ability to hold its officials to account for wrongdoing, would instantly lift.
Basic freedoms, such as those enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution, are being shredded only because a consensus reigns among the US political class – from Democrats to Republicans – to snuff out such rights.
Similarly, were the US to insist that the mass slaughter of children in Gaza stop – more than 12,000 have died so far – Israel’s guns would fall silent immediately.
Were it to demand that Israel bring to an end its occupation of the Palestinian territories and 17-year siege of Gaza, and were the US to take a genuinely even-handed approach to peace talks, the World Court could set aside its hearings against Israel. Its opinion would be superfluous.
Washington, whatever its protestations, has such power. It is the US and its allies supplying Israel with bombs and ammunition. It is the US and its allies providing the military aid and diplomatic cover that allows Israel to act as an attack dog in the oil-rich Middle East.
Israel’s intransigence, its hunger for others’ land, its dehumanisation of the Palestinian people, and its constant resort to military options would have to be abandoned, however unwillingly, were it not being written a blank cheque by the US.
Instead, the US cast a veto this week at the Security Council, blocking efforts to impose a ceasefire to end the genocide. The UK abstained.
Also this week, US officials told the World Court’s judges they should not call for Israel to end its occupation anytime soon. In Orwellian fashion, decades of violent oppression by Israel and the illegal settlement of Palestinian land were characterised by the US as “Israel’s very real security needs”.
Intimidation Campaign
The cases are connected in yet another way.
In the Assange case, the US demands an absolute global legal jurisdiction to hound critics, those who wish to pull away the veil of secrecy that shields western officials from accountability for their crimes.
It wishes to silence those who would expose its lies, deceptions and hypocrisies. It hopes to be able to disappear into its prison system those seeking to enforce the West’s self-professed commitment to a democratic order and lawful behaviour.
In parallel, and for similar reasons, Washington demands the opposite for itself and client states such as Israel. It insists on absolute global legal immunity, whatever they do.
Its veto at the Security Council is wielded to that effect, and so is its campaign of intimidation against judicial authorities who entertain the fanciful notion that the same international law used to rein in enemies might constrain Washington and its allies.
Israel’s legal team at the ICJ (Source: Al Jazeera)
When the ICJ’s sister court at The Hague, the International Criminal Court, sought to properly investigate the US for war crimes in Afghanistan, and Israel for atrocities in the occupied Palestinian territories, Washington went on a rampage.
It placed financial sanctions on leading figures of the ICC and blocked entry to its investigators so they could not carry out their duties. Israel has similarly barred a series of UN special rapporteurs from entering the occupied Palestinian territories to report on human rights abuses there.
Just as the persecution of Assange is meant to terrorise other journalists from considering holding US officials to account for their crimes, the bullying of the highest legal authorities on the planet is intended to send a clear message to national court systems. Certainly, that message appears to have been loudly received in London.
Information Void
Another connection is perhaps the most significant. Assange once observed: “Nearly every war that has started in the past 50 years has been a result of media lies.”
It is only because of a void of real information – whether omitted by journalists for fear of upsetting powerful actors, or shielded from view by those same powerful actors’ self-serving secrecy policies – that states can persuade their publics to get behind wars and violent resource grabs.
The only people to gain from these wars are a tiny, wealthy elite at the top of society. All too often it is ordinary people who pay the price: either with their lives or through damage to the parts of the economy on which the public depends.
The continuing proxy war in Ukraine – a Nato-funded and armed war with Russia, using Ukraine as the battlefield – is a perfect illustration. It is ordinary Ukrainians and Russians who are dying.
Despite the West spurring on the bloodshed, European economies have been wrecked and further deindustrialised, while as a direct result of the fighting, yet another surge in consumer prices has hit the most vulnerable.
But a few – including major energy corporations and arms manufacturers, as well as their shareholders – have reaped a large windfall from the war. It has been precisely the same game plan in Gaza.
It is the job of the media to connect the dots for western publics by serving as a watchdog on power. But once again, they have failed in this, their most important professional and moral duty. The villains have yet again gotten away with their crimes.
It is the war criminals and genocide enablers in Washington who are free, while Assange is locked up in a dungeon and the people of Gaza are slowly being starved to death.
Assange’s project was designed to reverse all that. It was about bringing the war criminals in western capitals to book through truth-telling and transparency. It was about pulling back the veil.
Were Assange free, and were the whistleblowers and people of conscience in the corridors of power emboldened rather than terrorised by his treatment, we might live in a society where our leaders dared not arm a genocide; and dared not conspire in the starvation of two million people.
This is why the fates of the people of Gaza and Julian Assange are so tightly sealed together.
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Do cell phones, Bluetooth devices, WiFi and other wireless tech cause cancer or is it just another “coincidence” that tin-foil hat conspiracy theorists are sharing on their smartphones?
Let me tell you about such a “coincidence” I witnessed firsthand…
Many years ago, I hired a young lady to help out around the apartment and in the office, as my wife was quite ill and I was already working seven days a week (still am, I guess). The new assistant came in six days a week for a few hours and completed a long list of items in record time. The whole time she’d be singing and was a joy to have around.
Until, after about six months, she began slowing down and making mistakes. I asked her what was up. She said she was having trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep at night.
I asked her a few questions about her sleeping arrangements. It turned out to be an EMF nightmare: she and her husband both slept in a small, loft room, upon a large futon on the floor with a tin roof above them. On either side of their bed, they each had their laptops and their smartphones active, recharging and certainly not in airplane mode. They also kept their WiFi blasting all night.
I suggested that maybe they should experiment and get all the tech out of their sleeping chamber and kill the WiFi at night.
She looked at me like I had suggested they move out to the wilderness and live in a cave.
I then told her about the $30 million, ten-year study the US Department of Health and Human Services conducted, exposing rats to 2G and 3G cellphone radiation. I believe the scientists were trying to prove that wireless tech was harmless.
Their experiment failed.
The study concluded
“there is clear evidence that male rats exposed to high levels of radio frequency radiation (RFR) like that used in 2G and 3G cell phones developed cancerous heart tumors, according to final reports released today. There was also some evidence of tumors in the brain and adrenal gland of exposed male rats.”
She told me that she wasn’t worried about that and Jesus would heal her if she got cancer.
Well, you can’t argue with faith. So I didn’t mention it again.
Fast forward a few months and she’d become quite sick — throwing up and having to lie down after an hour of work. She had to quit.
A week later, she emailed to let us know that she had cancer and was beginning chemotherapy. The doctors found one tumour on her heart (just like the rats in the study) and the other in her neck.
Coincidence? Sure. Just like getting vaccinated and dying suddenly is a coincidence.
There is a pile of studies, such as the above, showing that EMFs from wireless tech affect our physical and mental health. It’s not a tin-foil hat theory (in fact, wearing a tin-foil hat would turn your head into an EMF antenna).
Of course, Apple, Facebook and Samsung don’t want you to know that these addictive, can’t-sleep-without-them-by-my-side, money-making devices may be slowly killing you. And neither does the $176 billion a year cancer drug industry (vaccines only manage half that revenue at about $88 billion per year). By 2026, cancer drug sales are expected to almost double to $320.6 billion.
Chemotherapy ain’t cheap.
But the 2024 EMF Hazard Summit is. In fact, it’s free to attend.
Nick Pinault, the “EMF Guy,” has brought together 20 doctors, scientists and researchers — who aren’t being bribed by Big Tech or Big Pharma — to talk about the big dangers of EMF exposure and how to protect yourself (hint: don’t sleep with your cellphone and laptop recharging beside your bed).
Jesus didn’t save my assistant from cancer — just like he won’t save you from an oncoming train if you stand on the tracks. Instead, he counselled that we should “be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”
The online event begins April 11th, but you can wisely register now and get instant access to Nick Pineault’s free EMF guide (“6 Signs You Might be Electro-Sensitive”) here.
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John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story , the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. You get free chapters from his novels by subscribing to his Blazing Pine Cone email newsletter.
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Here’s a live broadcast of the disaster area in Baltimore, Maryland.
“Can we take the idea that this [Baltimore bridge collapse] was a terrorist attack off the table … and absolutely we cannot do that,” President Trump’s former national security adviser (and retired lieutenant general) Michael Flynn told Alex Jones in an online interview.
REPORT: There were no vehicles traveling on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it fell into the ocean thanks to heroic police officers who jumped into action.
It has now been confirmed that the only people on the bridge when it collapsed was a pothole repair crew.
Meanwhile, the White House and federal government agencies have been quick to declare this was not a terror attack.
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Update (1423ET):
Maritime job placement company BalticShipping shows the captain of the container ship is a Ukranian.
Update (1356ET):
Bloomberg Intelligence reports:
Reinsurers Could Bear Brunt of Baltimore Bridge Collapse Claims
The bulk of claims from the March 26 Baltimore bridge collapse will likely fall on reinsurers. The ship has about $3 billion of reinsurance coverage over a $100 million retention. Chubb is reported to be the lead insurer on the bridge’s property cover but might recover losses paid. We note it’s still early, and this will be a complex loss.
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Update (1229ET):
President Biden is expected to address the press at 1230 PM EST regarding the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse at the Port of Baltimore. At 0130 AM EST, a container ship lost propulsion and collided with the 1.6-mile-long bridge, leading to an instant collapse.
The current issue revolves around an emerging disruption in mid-Atlantic supply chains. The major East Coast port is now paralyzed due to the mangled bridge blocking the only shipping lane in and out of the harbor.
Bloomberg reports that the US automotive supply chain will be disrupted. Data shows that Mazda Motor and Mercedes Benz, Subaru of America, Mitsubishi Motors of North America, and Volkswagen Group have the most exposure to the port.
Source: Bloomberg
“It’s a large port with a lot of flow through it, so it’s going to have an impact,” John Lawler, Ford Motor Co.’s chief financial officer, said Tuesday on Bloomberg TV.
Lawler continued, “We’ll work on the workarounds. We’ll have to divert parts to other ports along the East Coast or elsewhere in the country.”
Earlier, Consol Energy shares plunged nearly 10%, the most since October, as the bridge collapse will affect its massive coal terminal, which is served by CSX trains.
A major sugar refinery owned by American Sugar Refining Inc. warned its Domino Sugar refinery only has six to eight weeks of raw sugar supplies as the blockage affects ships moving in and out of the port.
Major cruise ship terminal
The supply chain snarls have sent major logistics companies scrambling across the US East Coast on Tuesday afternoon.
“Our first priority is engaging clients to make plans for containers that were originally routed to Baltimore that will be discharged at other ports on the Eastern Seaboard,” Paul Brashier, vice president of drayage and intermodal for ITS Logistics, told CNBC.
“These diverted volumes will impact the ports of New York/New Jersey, Norfolk and the Southeast and we have to prepare trucking and transload capacity to get that freight to its intended network,” Brashier said.
Goetz Alebrand, senior vice president and head of ocean freight for the Americas at DHL Global Forwarding, told CNBC:
“The immediate impact is with the cargo on board and its accessibility. Other planned shipments through Baltimore will likely be rerouted, potentially increasing cargo flow to New York, Norfolk, and nearby ports.
“Bulk and car carriers reliant on Baltimore must assess operations in the event of a prolonged closure.”
According to the shipping journal Lloyd’s List, Baltimore is the eleventh-largest port in the nation, making an average of 207 port calls per month.
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Update (1018ET):
An unclassified report from the DHS National Operations Center says the container ship “lost propulsion” before it rammed the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Here’s a video of the incident:
Video seems to show repeated power losses on ship just before it destroyed Francis Scott Key Bridge.pic.twitter.com/REoGCL9zcu
Bloomberg’s Brendan Murray explains how the collapsed bridge blocking the only shipping lane in and out of the Port of Baltimore is about to spark a supply chain crisis across the Mid-Atlantic:
An economic disruption along the US East Coast is unfolding with potentially tragic human consequences after a container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, sending nearly the entire roadway structure crumbling into the water.
The immediate priority of the rescuers is finding people who may have been on the bridge either working or driving across. The ship, the Singapore-registered Dali, was operated by charter company Synergy Group and is time chartered by Maersk carrying Maersk customers’ cargo.
Of secondary concern in the days ahead will be tough questions about the effect on business, commuters, holiday travelers and the economy across the region.
The Port of Baltimore — the biggest handler of US imports and exports of cars and light trucks — looks to be out of commission indefinitely. The resulting bottleneck could accelerate a shift of goods through West Coast ports. Another crucial question: Which other ports have spare capacity to handle the Ro-Ro vessels that carry automobiles if Baltimore is closed for an extended period.
And it begins:
One very big logistical complication in the Baltimore bridge collapse is that the Francis Scott Key Bridge was the main route for hazardous materials (which aren't allowed to be transported through the tunnels) pic.twitter.com/dj2vR7OVdL
ABC News reports the Singapore-flagged “Dali” container ship “lost propulsion” as it left the Port of Baltimore just before it rammed the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
“The vessel notified MD Department of Transportation (MDOT) that they had lost control of the vessel and a collision with the bridge was possible,” ABC quoted the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as saying, adding, “The vessel struck the bridge causing a complete collapse.”
Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove says, “Authorities are heavily downplaying the risk of foul play here.”
Authorities are heavily downplaying the risk of foul play here.
"We don't see anything that relates to that at this time. It's an open investigation but there's nothing that points to that, " Wiedefeld said.
No indication as of now of "nefarious intent," per the White House.
BREAKING🚨: Mass Casualties. Ship collides with Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. This comes just days after the Crocus terror attack in Moscow which has been widely blamed on the West. pic.twitter.com/zgC4tO24wH
A massive container ship chartered by Maersk and moving outbound from the Port of Baltimore struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge around 0130 ET. The bridge collapse has paralyzed a large swath of the largest inland port on the East Coast. The port is ranked 9th for total dollar value of cargo and 13th for cargo tonnage among US ports.
Governor Wes Moore released a statement on the collapse, declaring a State of Emergency in Maryland:
“My office is in close communication with US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, and the Baltimore Fire Department as emergency personnel are on the scene following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. I have declared a State of Emergency here in Maryland and we are working with an interagency team to quickly deploy federal resources from the Biden Administration. We are thankful for the brave men and women who are carrying out efforts to rescue those involved and pray for everyone’s safety. We will remain in close contact with federal, state, and local entities that are carrying out rescue efforts as we continue to assess and respond to this tragedy.”
Chief Kevin Cartwright, the Baltimore City Fire Department’s director of communications, told Fox Baltimore that at least 20 people and several vehicles had fallen into the river.
In markets, Maersk shares in Copenhagen are trading down more than 3% on the news.
Shocking radio transmission: “The entire Key Bridge is in the harbor.”
Radio traffic from the first arriving @BaltimoreFire unit.
“SOC5 to Battalion 6 and Communications, I’m at Fort Armistead, be advised the entire bridge, the entire Key Bridge is in the harbor.” pic.twitter.com/wTlPxLStRf
Shocking footage is coming from Baltimore City, home to one of the nation’s largest marine ports. It shows a container ship striking the 1.6-mile-long Francis Scott Key Bridge and collapsing it.
🚨#BREAKING: Mass Casualty has been Declared after a Large Container Ship Collides with Key Bridge Causing it completely Collapse⁰ 📌#Baltimore | #Maryland
Currently, numerous agencies, including the Coast Guard and fire department have just declared a mass casualty incident as… pic.twitter.com/wvOTOVbvHE
The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland which crosses the Patapsco River has reportedly Collapsed within the last few minutes after being Struck by a Large Container Ship; a Mass Casualty Incident has been Declared with over a Dozen Cars and many Individuals said to… pic.twitter.com/SsPMU8Mjph
“This effectively shuts down the Port of Baltimore completely. I’m truly speechless,” one X user said.
Pictured: Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed. This is the bridge I drive every single day. This effectively shuts down the Port of Baltimore completely. I’m truly speechless pic.twitter.com/BzqPa3axJ2
According to the ship tracking website MarineTraffic, the Singapore-flagged cargo ship “Dali” slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge around 0130 ET. Bloomberg notes the ship was chartered by Maersk (remember Maersk’s Ever Given in the Suez Canal a few years ago?).
The bridge spans the Patapsco River and carries an estimated 11.5 million vehicles annually. In this collapse, the only shipping lane in and out of the port was severed.
Baltimore is the most inland port on the East Coast and is connected to the I-95 highway network. With no commercial vessels sailing in and out of port anytime soon, this is catastrophic for port operations and could spark supply chain snarls in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. We suspect inbound vessels are rerouting sails this morning.
The bridge collapse has severed these major marine terminals. It’s unknown when operations will be restored.
According to the Maryland government’s website, the Port of Baltimore handled over 52 million tons of international cargo valued at more than $80 billion last year, ranking it as the ninth busiest port in the United States. The data shows that the port handled 847,158 autos and light trucks in 2023, the most of any US port. The port also handles farm and construction machinery, sugar, gypsum, and coal.
The port supports 15,330 direct jobs and 139,180 jobs in Maryland, according to the Maryland government’s website.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s office posted on X:
“I’m aware of and en route to the incident at the Key Bridge. I have been in contact with Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace, Gov. Wes Moore (and the county executives of Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties). Emergency personnel are on scene, and efforts are underway.”
Developing…
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Os ataques ucranianos a Belgorod continuam a acontecer. O regime de Kiev intensifica cada vez mais a sua violência contra pessoas comuns nas fronteiras russas, atingindo alvos civis e matando cidadãos pacíficos. Nos meios de comunicação ocidentais, a responsabilidade pelos ataques é normalmente atribuída a supostos “grupos dissidentes russos”, mas, segundo fontes locais, esta informação é incorreta e destina-se a disfarçar o envolvimento direto da inteligência ucraniana nos ataques.
No dia 14 de março, fui a Belgorod durante uma expedição de imprensa da Associação de Jornalistas do BRICS. A intenção da viagem era investigar os ataques ucranianos na região durante o dia anterior ao início do processo eleitoral na Federação Russa. Cobrimos a situação local e relatamos vários bombardeios contra áreas civis. Porém, além de mostrar a realidade sobre os ataques ucranianos, também tivemos a oportunidade de obter algumas informações interessantes sobre os verdadeiros responsáveis pelos crimes cometidos em Belgorod.
Durante o meu trabalho no terreno, falei com vários militares locais e ouvi alguns detalhes interessantes sobre estes ataques. Afirmam que, ao contrário do que afirma a comunicação social ocidental, estes ataques não são levados a cabo por cidadãos russos expatriados, mas por profissionais ucranianos, apesar de os assassinos se descreverem publicamente como “guerrilheiros russos”.
Os militares de Belgorod dizem que o chamado “Corpo de Voluntários Russos” (RDK, na sigla em russo) e a “Legião Russa da Liberdade” são, na verdade, organizações falsas. Os seus supostos “líderes” são, na verdade, cidadãos russos expatriados, que trabalham como propagandistas do regime de Kiev. No entanto, o pessoal destas organizações, segundo fontes, não é na verdade composto por soldados russos, mas por comandos ucranianos. Com isto, seria possível cumprir o objetivo de propagandear a alegada existência de uma “forte oposição” dentro da Federação Russa. Afirmam que tais grupos estão diretamente subordinados à inteligência militar de Kiev, não tendo autonomia nas suas ações.
Os militares afirmam que não há provas de qualquer migração significativa de “dissidentes russos” para território ucraniano desde o início da operação militar especial. Seria necessário um grande número de expatriados para criar milícias armadas suficientemente fortes para realizar ataques contra Belgorod – ainda mais depois de as forças russas terem eliminado vários dos invasores, impondo baixas consideráveis aos grupos. Apesar de terem perdido vários dos seus soldados, estas milícias continuam a atacar frequentemente a fronteira, o que mostra que têm a capacidade de substituir rapidamente o pessoal. É virtualmente impossível que todos estes soldados sejam dissidentes russos, o que indica que os ucranianos estão a lutar na região sob a bandeira dos “guerrilheiros russos”.
Na opinião pública ocidental, há um impacto propagandístico relevante com a história dos “guerrilheiros” russos que lutam na Ucrânia. Cria-se uma narrativa infundada para dizer que existe uma forte oposição interna ao governo de Putin, com muitos cidadãos russos dispostos até a lutar na guerra por Kiev. A mídia induz as pessoas comuns a acreditar que a operação militar especial não tem apoio popular, descrevendo-a como uma medida rejeitada a tal ponto que vários russos decidiram lutar contra o seu próprio país.
Tudo isso, porém, é uma falácia. Os resultados do processo eleitoral russo mostram como o atual governo é amplamente aprovado pelo povo. Além disso, o apoio à operação especial na Ucrânia é quase unânime na Rússia, como mostram várias sondagens de opinião. A única alternativa que resta ao Ocidente face a tal apoio ao governo e à operação é utilizar mecanismos de guerra psicológica e propaganda para distorcer a realidade. Fazer com que as pessoas comuns no Ocidente acreditem que a Rússia é uma “ditadura ilegítima” combatida por milícias “partidárias” é uma forma de promover a guerra, fazendo com que os contribuintes apoiem o envio de mais dinheiro e armas para Kiev.
A informação recolhida no terreno é vital para desmascarar a narrativa ocidental. Os militares locais, que lidam diariamente com o terror ucraniano e conhecem bem os seus inimigos, têm uma opinião que difere de tudo o que é dito pelos jornais ocidentais. No entanto, o bloqueio midiático imposto aos canais russos e pró-Rússia impede que esta informação relevante chegue à opinião pública ocidental, criando uma barreira de comunicação. Esta é a forma como o Ocidente tem espalhado mentiras sobre o conflito nos últimos dois anos.
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The US has supported Islamic terror before, ISIS, Al Qaeda, Al Nusra, and in Chechnya – yes, the US has even supported Islamic terror inside Russia in the Caucasus.
During the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the US flew Islamic terrorists into ex-Yugoslavia.
Already within 55 minutes of the Crocus terror attack, all US media in coordinationannounced that “Ukraine didn’t do it”. How could the US know before anyone else – unless Washington KNEW beforehand what was planned and happening.
Already before 8 March 2024, the US embassy in Russia warned Americans in Moscow against terror at “concerts.” The US clearly had knowledge, but yet the US withheld from Russia concrete information which Russia could act on.
The terror suspects are not the usual jihadists – they were doing it for money, and they fled the scene, not wanting to die as “martyrs”.
An image alleging to be the perpetrators before the attack was clearly made-up by westerners.
Faces were blurred, not usual for ISIS. And the “fighters” raised their left hand, not the right hand which in Islam is the clean hand.
Ukraine (with US support) has committed several acts of severe terror inside Russia before.
Ukraine has for years shielded Jihadists and ISIS terrorist leaders – and given them Ukrainian passports with false identities. The CIA knew all the time. See this.
The suspects of the Crocus terror crime were heading towards Ukraine – where the Ukrainians had “opened a window” for their passage.
Ukraine’s security services are created, steered, monitored, and supported by the USA – in all details.
Based on the smoking trail linking the Crocus terror attack to Kiev and Washington, Russia is right now quickly digging into Ukrainian and US relations with Islamic terrorists.
In early March 2022, the BBC quoted Syria-based terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) explicitly expressing solidarity with the Kiev regime. High-profile HTS member al-Shamali al-Hurr took to Telegram to cheer Ukrainian victories by sharing footage and graphic images of damaged Russian military hardware and dead soldiers. See this.
Even without a “smoking gun” proving US guilt, it is becoming more and more clear where this is going.
Russia is right now seeing criminal evidence and intelligence information piling up which all points to US-Ukrainian organization of the Crocus terror crime.
Devastating for the US in the World
One of my friends in international relations pointed out that it is pivotal whether Russia can deliver this perspective to the rest of the world. Russia will of course never be able to sell to the US and the West – Russia knows that, and Russia doesn’t care too much about that either.
China
But as Russia digs up the evidence, Russia will have enough of evidence and intelligence information to deliver this perspective to China. And China will know, that China can be the next target of US-organized “Islamic” terror at any time.
China will draw the consequences – not openly, but very, very effectively at the policy level. It will be extremely bad for the USA. China siding with Russia on this will already be a game-changer for Global Politics.
India
Russia is already getting top-attention among the broad Indian public to the perspective, that US-Ukraine were the real perpetrators, using “ISIS-K” as a front for their own act of terror against Russia. See these two popular videos from two big Indian news media on that issue.
The following is going out directly to 1.4 billion Indians:
This is completely devastating for the USA.
Russia will obviously present its evidence to top circles in Delhi – and top circles in Delhi will be sufficiently convinced to make some unannounced but big underlying changes as well. If it goes as I see it most likely, it will put an enormous road-block on how far India is willing to ever go with the USA.
Africa
Then you have Africa. I am not on doubt, that a lot of African states – if not outright the vast majority of them – will accept Russia’s narrative. After all, what Russia has suffered, Africa suffers all the time…
The US Going Down?
The US media – steered by the CIA and its think tanks – is already spinning its own net of lies and parallel realities.
With US participation in the Israeli genocide starving one million people in Gaza, and now US commitment of incredible terrorism, the majority of the world sees the US as a decrepit, failing, and Nihilistic violent entity.
The US is going down in the non-Western world – which is the majority in both numbers and power.
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Karsten Riise is a Master of Science (Econ) from Copenhagen Business School and has a university degree in Spanish Culture and Languages from Copenhagen University. He is the former Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mercedes-Benz in Denmark and Sweden.
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WE, participants of the International Conference held in Belgrade on March 22-24, 2024, on the occasion of marking the 25th anniversary of NATO’s armed aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) dedicated to the theme “From the Aggression to a New Just Order”, gathered from all over the world, hereby declare:
We belong to different countries, nations, ideologies, religions and civilizations, but stand firmly united in our commitment to peace, equality, and prosperity for all peoples, as well as in our condemnation of interventionism, expansion, domination, and hegemonism.
We firmly condemn the unprovoked armed aggression by NATO against the FRY (Serbia and Montenegro) in 1999 as an unlawful, invading and criminal war against a sovereign, peace-loving European country, waged devoid of a UN Security Council mandate, in blatant violation of the United Nations Charter, the OSCE Helsinki Final Act (1975) and the fundamental principles of international law.
We underline:
That the aggression was carried out under false pretexts and that therefore NATO’s responsibility cannot be diminished.
It was not state authorities but, instead NATO’s expansionism that actually threatened a ‘humanitarian disaster’. What happened in Rachak was not a ‘massacre of civilians’, but instead legitimate response of the state to terrorism.
The ‘Horseshoe Plan’ did not exist. ‘Humanitarian’ wars or interventions do not exist. Prevention of human suffering can hardly be prevented by depleted uranium, cluster bombs and by poisoning air, soil and water.
Back in 1999, NATO reintroduced the war on the European soil, ironically, a war that Europe waged on itself.
Image is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
It was neither a “little Kosovo war”, but rather a war of these geopolitical goals:
a) carving the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija out of Serbia and a full control over the Balkans;
b) deployment of the US troops in the Balkans for the purposes of the strategy of Eastward expansion;
c) creating a precedent for subsequent interventions conducted in violation of international law and of the inviolability of the UN Security Council;
d) justifying the existence of NATO and its acting beyond the area defined in its Founding Act of 1949.
“Wherever the law presented obstacle to the policy of expansion, it must be removed” – was yet another NATO new rule.
The NATO aggression embodied the undoing of the legal order of peace and security in Europe and the world, established on the outcome of the Second World War.
Today, the Balkans is more unstable, Europe militarized on dangerous tracks, without autonomy, identity and vision.
The aggression took lives of 1,139 soldiers and police officers, about 3,000 civilians also including 89 children, while some 10,000 people were wounded. However, the consequences of prolonged effects of weapons filled with depleted uranium and toxic compounds are by far greater.
NATO, also, bombed the Embassy of the PR of China, in Belgrade, killing three Chinese journalists and destroying the building of the Chinese Embassy.
We pay our highest respect to all the fallen innocent people and express our deepest, sincere condolences to their families.
The aggressor had been systematically destroying or badly damaging civilian infrastructure, such as railways, roads, bridges, airports, energy system, as well as apartment buildings, industrial facilities, schools, hospitals, kindergartens, and many more objects. Over thirty radio and TV stations and transmitters had been bombed including the national public TV RTS killing 16 professional employees on duty. The direct damage totals some USD 100 billion.
We emphasize that NATO and its member states, participants in the illegal act of aggression, are obliged to compensate Serbia for the war damage they have inflicted.
We appeal that special state and expert bodies, tasked with determining the consequences of aggression on the health of people and the environment, resume their work, and that the war crimes against civilians and crimes of non-compliance with the war-related conventions be prosecuted and sanctioned.
We express our strong support and solidarity with Serbia’s efforts to mitigate the consequences of the aggression and her endeavoring to prevent the continuation of NATO’s armed aggression by other means.
We express our full support to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia in her internationally recognized borders within which she continued her membership in the UN, the OSCE, and other universal international organizations.
We are deeply concerned about the mass-scale violation of the basic human rights of the Serbian community in Kosovo and Metohija embodied in continuation of their systematic expulsion from, and in preventing the free and safe return of over 250,000 expelled Serbs and other non-Albanians to, their homes and property.
We firmly believe that the future status of the Province of Kosovo and Metohija may be resolved only in accordance with international law and, in particular, with UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of June 10, 1999, which is lasting, legally binding document. We demand that all provisions of the UNSC resolution 1244 be fully respected and implemented.
We condemn each and all violations of that Resolution and the policy of blackmail and pressuring, and all one-sided steps aimed at legalizing the seizure of state territory and completing the ethnic cleansing of the remaining Serbian population, in preparation to create the so-called Greater Albania.
We oppose the unipolar world order based on the strategy of hegemonism and global domination with NATO as its military feast. The aggression against the FRY in 1999 was speeding up of the strategy of expansion to the East, and a source of danger to peace in Europe and the world. At the time of the aggression, NATO had 19 members, and today counts 32. After the erection of US military base Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo and Metohija, there followed dozens of new NATO bases. Presently, Europe hosts a far larger number of foreign military bases and stockpiles of nuclear weapons than it did during the bipolar world and the Cold War era.
We express our deepest concern about the accelerated escalation of hostilities and conflicts in global relations that add fuel to the fire of conflict, continued provocations, and the looming danger of a global conflict. The world sits on the brink of the abyss. Humanity will either restrain the rampant aggressiveness of the alienated power centers, or fall into that abyss.
This makes us stand unified in the demand for an immediate beginning of the dialogue at the strategic level, under the auspices of the UN, aimed at putting to a halt the escalation, the accumulation of conventional and nuclear weapons, and the breaching of international agreements.
We demand the closure of foreign military camps, the complete withdrawal from Europe of the US tactical nuclear weapons and installations of the so-called anti-missile defenses that make security more volatile.
We call for an end to war-mongering rhetoric, and invite all responsible statesmen to resort to dialogue and to finding peaceful, just and sustainable solutions to the ongoing conflicts and crises.
We appeal to all peace-loving forces in the world to join forces in the struggle for the observance of international law, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, reinforcing the authority and role of the United Nations and other universal international organizations, the observance of principles of equality, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and for cooperation and coordination in the fight against terrorism and separatism as global threats.
We support the process of multi-polarization of global relations and their democratization on the basis of the sovereign equality of all states and peoples.
We support the peace, security and development initiatives that are based on the principle of mutual indivisibility of peace, security and development, and that take note of the root causes of problems. The key roles in that process play BRICS, EAEU, Global Initiative “Belt and Road”, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, NAM. We support the abolition of all monopolies, privileges based on ‘exceptionalism’. We refuse unilateral sanctions, erection of new ‘walls’ or divisions. Attempt to divide the world into ‘democracies’ and ‘autocracies’ is a trickery of the power-centers designed to extend the life of the unipolar world order.
The policy of confrontation, interventionism, and interference in internal affairs, backed by the military-industrial complex and large financial capital, must give way to dialogue, partnership, respect for fundamental norms of international law and the multi-polar world order.
Peace, stability, democracy and inclusive development require radical changes in present global relations, observance of sovereign equality, non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, multilateralism, respect of common interests, and exclusion of any egoism, protectionism and privileges of the past.
The biggest obstacle to the world order of sovereign equal nations is the relics of the Cold War. That is why NATO should be dissolved and the doctrine of hegemonism, expansionism and neo-colonialism consigned to history.
We condemn the mass-scale killing of the innocent Palestinian people, in particular of children, and call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and other areas inhabited by the Palestinian people, in order to finally stop this human suffering unprecedented in recent history, and for unhindered delivery of food, medicines, water, and other necessities of life to the vulnerable population.
We support a two-state solution, the free and safe return of all expelled persons, the abolition of the occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state within the pre-June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as the capital, all in accordance with the United Nations Resolutions.
We express our solidarity with the people of Cuba who have been suffering the devastating consequences of the unilateral US embargo for many years. The Cuban people have an inalienable right to choose the paths of internal development of their own, without external interference. We demand respect for the UN positions on the lifting of the US blockade of Cuba, and the removal of Cuba from the list of ‘states sponsoring terrorism’ because it was inserted without any bases.
We hold that the Ukrainian crisis is a corollary of NATO’s strategy of expansion to the East, under betrayal of all agreements of the otherwise.
We believe this crisis can be resolved peacefully, by acknowledging and removing the causes and by guaranteeing equal security for all countries. The common future of humanity excludes egotism and selfish approaches such as the ‘golden billion’ security thesis.
We express our acknowledgment and gratitude to our hosts – the Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals, the Club of Generals and Admirals of Serbia, SUBNOR of Serbia, the Diaspora Fund for Serbia, and the Association of Veterans of the Military Intelligence Service, as well as to the citizens of Serbia – for their hospitality and good organization of the Conference.
The organizers express their acknowledgment to the participants of the Conference, including the World Peace Council and all its members, for their decades long solidarity and support to Serbia and the Serbian people, as well as for their extraordinary contribution to the results of this Conference.
(Belgrade, March 23, 2024)
Statement of Condemnation of the Terrorist Attack in Moscow
Image: Russian Crocus City Hall amphitheater interiors, day after terrorist attack on 22 March 2024 (Licensed under CC BY 4.0)
Participants of the International Conference held in Belgrade on March 22-24, 2024, on the occasion of marking the 25th anniversary of NATO’s armed aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
Condemn in strongest terms the heinous, bestial and provocative terrorist attack in Moscow that killed so many innocent people, and express belief that the perpetrators will be quickly apprehended and brought to justice.
At the same time, express their deepest condolences to the families of the killed and the injured ones, to the citizens of Moscow, and to the entire Russian people, in the moment of their pain and huge grief.
Call for a determined and coordinated combatting terrorism as a global danger that threatens all the peoples of the world.
(In Belgrade, March 23, 2024)
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L’attacco terroristico alla sala concerti di Mosca, che ha provocato la morte di 140 inermi civili (numero che può aumentare dato l’alto numero di feriti) è stato compiuto da quattro killer professionisti, membri dell’ISIS-K (Stato Islamico Khorasan), che hanno compiuto la strage con spietata freddezza. La dinamica dell’attacco dimostra che è impossibile che abbiano agito da soli.
Lo sottolinea il presidente Putin nel discorso di cittadini della Russia: “Hanno tentato di fuggire e si stavano dirigendo verso l’Ucraina, dove, secondo le prime informazioni, era stata preparato per loro un varco sul lato ucraino per attraversare il confine di Stato. Stiamo identificando e smascherando la base di complici che sta dietro dietro questi terroristi: coloro che hanno fornito loro il trasporto, pianificato le vie di fuga dalla scena del crimine e preparato i nascondigli con armi e munizioni. Tuttavia, è già chiaro che non ci troviamo di fronte semplicemente a un attacco terroristico pianificato con cura e cinismo, ma a un omicidio di massa premeditato e organizzato. Come i nazisti che un tempo compivano massacri nei territori occupati, hanno pianificato un’esecuzione dimostrativa, un sanguinoso atto di intimidazione. Tutti gli autori, gli organizzatori e le menti di questo crimine saranno puniti in modo giusto e inevitabile, chiunque essi siano e chiunque li abbia diretti. Identificheremo e consegneremo alla Giustizia ogni singolo individuo che sta dietro a questi terroristi”.
L’ISIS-K è una fazione dell’ISIS – il movimento islamico promosso, finanziato e armato dagli Stati Uniti, dai membri europei della NATO e dalle monarchie del Golfo, per scardinare dall’interno lo Stato Siriano, per frammentare ulteriormente l’Iraq, la Libia e altri paesi. Quando, dopo vent’anni di guerra, USA e NATO sono costretti a ritirarsi dall’Afghanistan, dove vanno al governo i Talebani l’ISIS-K inizia una serie di sanguinosi attacchi terroristici in Afghanistan, che poi si estendono all’Iran e al Pakistan man mano che si estendono l’area e l’influenza dei BRICS basate sulla stretta cooperazione tra Russia e Cina.
Siamo quindi di fronte a un rilancio del “terrorismo Islamico” ad opera principalmente dei servizi segreti statunitensi e britannici, affiancati da quelli ucraini e da altri. Lo scopo è colpire all’interno la Russia, nel momento in cui sta prevalendo militarmente sull’Ucraina di Kiev, e giustificare la guerra di Israele contro i palestinesi e le operazioni belliche USA in Medioriente facendole apparire come azioni di difesa contro il “terrorismo islamico”. Nel quadro di tale strategia, c’è la possibilità di attacchi terroristici anche in paesi europei membri della NATO.
Os Centros de Controle e Prevenção de Doenças (CDC) no início deste mês responderam a uma solicitação da Lei de Liberdade de Informação (FOIA) de documentos contendo informações sobre a frequência de miocardite em pessoas que receberam as vacinas COVID-19 – produzindo um documento 148- documento de página.
Dois tweets do repórter do Epoch Times Zachary Stieber em 7 e 8 de março revelaram que o pedido FOIA “pedia informações sobre vários estudos que os CDC publicaram sobre casos de miocardite em receptores da vacina COVID-19.
“Um documento dos CDC que nos foi enviado em resposta a um pedido da Lei de Liberdade de Informação… foi totalmente redigido”, escreveu Stieber, acrescentando que um segundo documento que os CDC forneceram como parte do mesmo pedido “está em grande parte redigido”.
Os documentos redigidos geraram críticas da mídia, de especialistas médicos e de outros, incluindo Robert F. Kennedy Jr., presidente licenciado da Children’s Health Defense (CHD).
Num tweet de 11 de março, Kennedy, que concorre à presidência como candidato independente, escreveu:
De acordo com Vigilant News, o documento totalmente redigido é “um relatório de 148 páginas sobre miocardite após injeção de COVID-19”.
“Parece que há algo muito contundente que eles estão tentando esconder porque cada palavra é editada”, escreveu Vigilant News.
Respondendo a uma pergunta do usuário do X (ex-Twitter), Charles Rozier , que perguntou se é mesmo possível verificar se o documento totalmente redigido “realmente está em conformidade com a solicitação FOIA”, Stieber escreveu: “Não se pode saber”.
Segundo Stieber, um dos estudos produzidos pelo projeto MOVING foi publicado no The Lancet em setembro de 2022.
Esse estudo descobriu que “após pelo menos 90 dias desde o início da miocardite após a vacinação com mRNA contra a COVID-19, a maioria dos indivíduos da nossa coorte foram considerados recuperados pelos prestadores de cuidados de saúde”.
No entanto, de acordo com o estudo, “estes resultados podem não ser generalizáveis, dado o pequeno tamanho da amostra e é necessário um acompanhamento adicional para o subconjunto de pacientes com resultados de testes atípicos ou não considerados recuperados”.
Stieber disse que um porta-voz dos CDC disse ao Epoch Times: “Os CDC planejam enviar outro artigo sobre as descobertas atualizadas do projeto para revisão por pares” em janeiro de 2025.
A ‘relação dos CDC com a verdade é, na melhor das hipóteses, duvidosa’
Especialistas médicos e de saúde disseram ao The Defender que não ficaram surpresos com as ações dos CDC.
Brian Hooker, Ph.D. , diretor científico do CHD, disse que a divulgação de um documento totalmente redigido “é muito típico dos CDC, pois eles têm mentido e se escondido desde o experimento Tuskegee e antes”.
Ele adicionou:
“A sua relação com a verdade é, na melhor das hipóteses, duvidosa e estão empenhados em esconder a ligação muito óbvia entre as vacinas contra a COVID-19 e a miocardite, tal como fizeram desde o início do lançamento da vacina.
“Os CDC sabiam desta ligação já em janeiro de 2021, poucas semanas após o lançamento da vacina, e nunca se pronunciou sobre o assunto. É criminoso que continuem a fraudar o público americano.”
Em 2022, os CDC recusaram-se a divulgar documentos em resposta a três pedidos FOIA apresentados pela Rede de Ação de Consentimento Informado (ICAN). As solicitações diziam respeito aos dados de lesões da vacina COVID-19 que os CDC coletaram por meio de seu aplicativo V-safe. A ICAN processou e, em setembro de 2022, um tribunal federal ordenou que os CDC divulgassem os dados.
O cardiologista Dr. Peter McCullough disse ao The Defender: “Os CDC e as agências de saúde pública não podem se perguntar por que a comunidade médica e o público em geral perderam toda a confiança em sua honestidade, integridade e competência. Produzir este documento em resposta a um pedido é uma vergonha.”
“Cento e quarenta e oito páginas. A coisa toda está redigida. De que adianta um estudo se não há nada nele?” Shamp, uma enfermeira registrada, disse durante a reunião.
Documentos fortemente redigidos obtidos pelo CHD através de um pedido FOIA em março de 2023, e documentos vazados para o Projeto Veritas naquele mês revelaram que os CDC e a Pfizer retiveram evidências de que as vacinações contra a COVID-19 estavam causando miocardite.
Um estudo publicado em fevereiro descobriu que, independentemente da gravidade da miocardite, houve 71,7 vezes mais casos de miocardite entre os vacinados do que entre os hospitalizados por COVID-19.
Ocasionalmente, o Defender publica conteúdo relacionado à missão sem fins lucrativos da Children’s Health Defense, que apresenta as opiniões do Sr. Kennedy sobre as questões que o CHD e o The Defender cobrem regularmente. De acordo com as regras da Comissão Eleitoral Federal, este conteúdo não representa um endosso ao Sr. Kennedy, que está de licença do CHD e concorre como independente à presidência dos EUA.
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Russian attacks are increasing across Ukraine. In recent days, critical infrastructure targets, such as energy facilities, have once again been hit by Moscow’s artillery – something that has not happened since the first half of 2023.
On March 25, in an even more intense attack, the headquarters of Ukrainian intelligence in Kiev were destroyed by Russian missiles, making it clear that a new phase of the conflict is beginning.
The intensification of attacks is a clear response to Ukrainian terrorism.
Kiev’s attacks on Russian borders, mainly in the Belgorod oblast, have caused several problems, generating victims and destroying civilian infrastructure. As well known, protecting its peaceful and undisputed territory is one of the priorities of the Russian Federation, which is why the Ukrainian incursions are considered true violations of red lines, thus justifying the resumption of high-intensity bombings against critical infrastructure targets.
The reasons why Russia avoids targeting Ukrainian infrastructure are simple.
Moscow has maintained a moderate stance since the beginning of the conflict, avoiding as much as possible to generate side effects against the civilian population.
Although critical infrastructure is legitimate target, many ordinary citizens are harmed by the side effects of these bombings, which leave them without energy supplies. Moscow did its best to prevent such attacks, but Kiev’s insistence on bombing Belgorod, Kursk and other border areas left Russian forces no alternative but to target the infrastructure that allows the enemy war machine to work.
However, one of the most important points in this recent wave of attacks is that Moscow is not limited to destroying infrastructure, but is also targeting command facilities and decision-making centers.
Several reports say that Moscow bombed the headquarters of the SBU and GUR, the two main Ukrainian intelligence agencies, in Kiev. There is little official information circulating about the case, which is natural in these situations given the sensitive nature of the topic, but images circulating on the internet make it clear that serious damage was imposed on the regime’s decision-making centers.
🇺🇦🇷🇺Russians use new Zircon Missiles and not Iskander missiles in attack on Kiev SBU headquarters and 2 Patriot weapons systems.
Hypersonic weapons are generally agreed upon to be above 5x the speed of sound. The current classes of hypersonic missiles that Russia has are in… https://t.co/hq4AD6zdgT
Russia is believed to have used hypersonic missiles in such attacks.
Furthermore, it is very likely that high-level personnel were killed in the bombings, causing very serious damage to Kiev’s forces. Certainly, details and accurate data will be published in the near future, making the Ukrainian losses clear to public opinion.
It is curious that bombings of Ukrainian intelligence facilities occurred precisely after the terrorist attack against Crocus City Hall, when more than 130 Russian civilians were murdered in the suburbs of Moscow. Investigations into the attack continue.
So far, what is known is that the perpetrators of the crime were radical Muslim Tajik immigrants. However, there is not enough evidence to determine whether the reason for the attack was related to the extremist ideology of the criminals, as they confessed to having been hired to commit the murders for money.
In other words, despite being Wahhabi militants, the killers played the role of mercenaries. The attack did not have typical aspects of an operation carried out by radical Islamic groups, in which the killers usually use suicidal methods in search of “martyrdom”. In the case of Crocus, the criminals committed the murders and then tried to flee to Ukraine, which is strong evidence that they were acting with the support or under control of Kiev’s intelligence.
The Russian authorities have already made it clear that the only concrete information so far is about the perpetrators of the crime, as there is no official data on the masterminds. It is necessary to find out who ordered and financed the attack. Many analysts believe that there was Ukrainian and Western participation, as these are the main agents interested in promoting terror inside Russian territory. Certainly, all of this will be discovered very soon.
In fact, Moscow attacking Ukrainian intelligence facilities shortly after the Crocus incident may be an indication that the Russians already know, or at least suspect, that Kiev has involvement in the Crocus incident.
The destruction of Ukrainian decision-making centers may be due to a Russian desire to prevent the enemy from being able to plan new terrorist incursions.
In any case, these recent events reveal that the Ukrainian conflict is entering a new phase. The Russians appear increasingly unwilling to tolerate violations of their red lines. So far, Moscow has maintained an extremely moderate stance to avoid escalations, but the enemy’s insistence on killing innocent civilians is making Russian patience run out – which is why attacks on decision-making centers and critical infrastructure will certainly be more and more frequent.
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Lucas Leiroz is a member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert. You can follow Lucas on X (former Twitter) and Telegram. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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Weapons such as the 3M22 “Zircon”, a scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missile, have been inducted into service in recent years and are now also being transferred to land-based platforms, specifically the K300P “Bastion-P” coastal defense system. With a 1500 km range (perhaps even more) and Mach 9 speed, the “Zircon” is over 3 times faster and its range is at least double that of the P-800 “Oniks” supersonic missiles originally used by the aforementioned platform, further enhancing Russia’s already unprecedented long-range strike capabilities (to both the Neo-Nazi junta’s and NATO’s horror, as previously mentioned).
With such a range (at least 1500 km or possibly even beyond 2000 km), the usage of “Zircon” allows Moscow to target any location on the territory of Ukraine.
However, it should be noted that the Eurasian giant always had this ability.
The difference now is that it can do so much faster and with far less warning time. The usage of air-launched and ground-based hypersonic missile systems such as the 9-A-7660 “Kinzhal” and “Iskander-M” is still very much relevant, as evidenced by the latest elimination of high-ranking NATO officers (although their deaths will surely be attributed to “sudden” skiing accidents).
However, the “Iskander-M” can use a massive 700 kg HE warhead that is best used against frontline targets and higher concentrations of troops in the rear.
Virtually the same goes for much faster “Kinzhal” missiles. In addition, these can sometimes be detected by NATO ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) assets, particularly airborne and space-based, giving the Neo-Nazi junta officers and their foreign “advisers” just enough time to run away (albeit not much and certainly not always). The launch of an “Iskander” can be detected by early warning systems, while ISR can pick up the MiG-31K/I deployment. This information can be relayed to the Kiev regime or any NATO personnel on the ground. On the other hand, detecting a scramjet-powered “Zircon” can be a lot more problematic.
Then the numbers come into play:
Kiev: 3 minutes 30 seconds;
Lvov: 5 minutes 20 seconds;
Dnepropetrovsk: 2 minutes 30 seconds;
Vinnitsa: 3 minutes 40 seconds;
Kharkov: less than 4 minutes;
Odessa: less than 1 minute.
Imagine being an officer of the SBU, GUR (Neo-Nazi junta’s military intelligence) or some of the NATO occupation forces.
You’re stationed in a building, living in the illusion that you’re safe when the Russian SVR or GRU learns about your location and relays this information to units in Crimea who then fire a “Zircon” at that building.
This is how much time you’d have before impact. However, let’s consider the best-case scenario and imagine that NATO ISR assets detect the missile immediately after launch (which is extremely improbable). This is how much time you’d have to evacuate. Is it possible to run away in time? Certainly, but that doesn’t mean it’s very likely. On the contrary, the sheer panic resulting from a warning would surely make the evacuation a lot more difficult. The same goes for the “Kinzhal” and “Iskander” missile launches.
However, the primary reason why the “Zircon” is a lot more dangerous for high-value targets (HVTs) in the rear is because it has a much smaller warhead (around 300 kg), meaning that the Russian military is more likely to use it in long-range strikes.
Firing an “Iskander” or “Kinzhal” could cause unacceptable damage to purely civilian infrastructure in the surrounding areas, both due to their larger and more destructive warheads, particularly in the case of “Kinzhal”, with the speed also giving it massive kinetic energy.
On the other hand, precisely because of the large-scale deployment of “Zircon” missiles, Russia has more options to strike decision-making centers in Ukraine.
This explains the panic in NATO and the Pentagon, which are now in a dilemma about how to ensure the safety of their occupation forces in Ukraine.
I suggest everyone watch closely for news about the “sudden deaths” of NATO officers in various “freak accidents” in the coming days and weeks.
Expectedly, the Neo-Nazi junta insists they’ve achieved this with “US-made missile defense systems over Kyiv, on March 25”.
The report never named any system specifically, but it can be assumed that future claims will attribute the supposed “kill” to the atrociously overhyped “Patriot” SAM that has been failing everywhere for the last 30+ years, even against rather primitive ballistic missiles, but is “suddenly so successful” against the latest hypersonic ones. In addition, it’s rather interesting how they can “achieve” that, but have been absolutely helpless against over 300 P-800 “Oniks” missiles. Not a single one has been shot down, despite being 3-4 times slower and less maneuverable than the “Zircon”.
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Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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When I awoke early on Tuesday morning, I was stunned to learn that the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore had collapsed. We are being told that it was a tragic “accident” and that there is no evidence that any foul play was involved. Hopefully that is true. But no matter how it was caused, this tragedy is going to have an enormous impact on U.S. supply chains. And of course this comes at a really bad time, because Houthi missile strikes in the Red Sea and low water levels in the Panama Canal have been putting a tremendous amount of strain on global supply chains recently.
The Port of Baltimore — the biggest handler of US imports and exports of cars and light trucks — looks to be out of commission indefinitely. The resulting bottleneck could accelerate a shift of goods through West Coast ports. Another crucial question: Which other ports have spare capacity to handle the Ro-Ro vessels that carry automobiles if Baltimore is closed for an extended period.
This is a really big deal, because over 750,000 vehicles came through that port last year alone…
The port is the busiest in the U.S. for car shipments, handling more than 750,000 vehicles in 2023, according to data from the Maryland Port Administration. It is also the largest U.S. port by volume for handling farm and construction machinery, as well as agricultural products.
Retailers like Home Depot, Bob’s Furniture, IKEA, and Amazon are just some of the companies that use the port to import goods. Other top imports include sugar and gypsum.
“This will have an impact for trade all along the East Coast and it will continue until we know how quickly” the port can reopen, said Richard Meade, editor-in-chief of the shipping journal Lloyd’s List.
Vessels were already being diverted to New York and down to Virginia on Tuesday, said Meade. “There will be dozens of diversions in the next week and hundreds in the coming months as long as Baltimore is shut down.”
This isn’t the end of the world, and shipments can certainly be diverted to other ports.
But we are talking about the 11th largest port in the entire nation, and so this will definitely be a serious blow…
More than 52 million tons of foreign cargo, worth some $80 billion were transported out of the port last year, according to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. The 11th largest port in the nation, Baltimore served an average of 207 calls a month last year, according to the shipping journal Lloyd’s List.
In addition, it is going to take a very long time for the Francis Scott Key Bridge to be rebuilt.
As Lara Logan has pointed out, that section of I-695 was the “second busiest strategic roadway in the nation for hazardous material”…
Second busiest strategic roadway in the nation for hazardous material now down for 4-5 years – which is how long they say it will take to recover. Bridge was built specifically to move hazardous material – fuel, diesel, propane gas, nitrogen, highly flammable materials, chemicals and oversized cargo that cannot fit in the tunnels – that supply chain now crippled.
One expert is projecting that it will take more than two years to rebuild the bridge…
While trade is nimble and will reroute, over the long term the bridge will need to be fundamentally engineered and rebuilt, and that will take years.
“It will be in excess of two years,” said Meade, of Lloyd’s List. “There will be significant disruption and cost to this infrastructure project. In 1977, the bridge cost $60 million. Take in inflation and the rapid pace to redesign and build will increase procurement premiums. This will be a very expensive project.”
I would be shocked if it happens that quickly.
We shall see.
In any event, we are talking about a multi-faceted crisis that is going to be affecting U.S. supply chains for the foreseeable future.
At a press conference following the collapse of the bridge, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg openly admitted that we are looking at a “major and protracted impact on supply chains”…
“There is no question this will be a major and protracted impact on supply chains,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said during a Tuesday afternoon press conference in Baltimore.
I think that this is the first time I have ever agreed with Pete Buttigieg on anything.
Sadly, this is just the beginning.
In the months ahead, U.S. supply chains will be hit with additional challenges.
So if there are things that you are planning to purchase, I would do that now.
Before I end this article, there is one more thing that I wanted to mention.
Global supplies of cocoa just keep getting tighter and tighter, and on Tuesday the price of cocoa jumped above $10,000 per metric ton for the first time ever…
Cocoa prices hit a record Tuesday as supply constraints fuel prices higher.
Futures for May delivery were up 3.9% at $10,030 per metric ton, marking the first time the commodity breaks above the $10,000 mark. Cocoa has been on a tear this year, soaring nearly 138%.
Difficult weather conditions and disease have affected production in West Africa, which produces about 70% of the world’s cocoa. The two largest producers, Ivory Coast and Ghana, have been hit by a combination of heavy rain, dry heat and disease recently.
In January, it was less than half that price.
If you love chocolate, stock up on it while you still can.
Of course the same thing could be said about countless other things.
Do you remember the supply chain problems that we experienced a couple of years ago?
Well, what is eventually coming is going to absolutely dwarf that.
Many are using the term “black swan event” to describe the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, but the truth is that we are moving into a time when there will be one “black swan event” after another.
So get prepared while there is still an opportunity to do so, because the months and years ahead of us are going to be extremely chaotic.
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Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod continue to happen. The Kiev regime increasingly intensifies its violence against ordinary people on Russian borders, hitting civilian targets and killing peaceful citizens. In the Western media, responsibility for the attacks is commonly attributed to supposed “Russian dissident groups”, but, according to local insiders, this information is incorrect and intended to disguise the direct involvement of Ukrainian intelligence in the illegal attacks.
On March 14, I went to Belgorod during a BRICS Journalists Association press expedition. The intention of the trip was to investigate the Ukrainian attacks in the region during the day before the start of the Russian Federation’s election process.
We covered the local situation and reported several bombings against civilian areas. However, in addition to showing the reality about the Ukrainian attacks, we also had the opportunity to obtain some interesting information about those really responsible for the crimes committed in Belgorod.
During my work on the ground, I spoke with several local military personnel and heard some interesting details about these attacks.
They say that, contrary to what the Western media claims, these raids are not carried out by expatriate Russian citizens, but by Ukrainian professionals, despite the murderers publicly describing themselves as “Russian partisans”.
Belgorod’s military says that the so-called “Russian Volunteer Corps” (RDK, in its Russian acronym) and the “Russian Freedom Legion” are, in fact, fake organizations.
Their supposed “leaders” are in fact expatriate Russian citizens, who work as propagandists for the Kiev regime. However, the personnel of these organizations, according to sources, are not actually made up of Russian soldiers, but of Ukrainian commandos. With this, it would be possible to meet the objective of propagandizing the alleged existence of a “strong opposition” within the Russian Federation. They claim that such groups are directly subordinate to Kiev’s military intelligence, having no autonomy in their actions.
The military says that there is no evidence of any significant migration of “Russian dissidents” to Ukrainian territory since the beginning of the special military operation. A large number of expatriations would be necessary to create armed militias strong enough to carry out raids against Belgorod – even more so after Russian forces had eliminated several of the invaders, imposing considerable casualties on the groups. Even though they have lost several of their soldiers, these militias continue to attack the border frequently, which shows that they have the ability to quickly replace personnel. It is virtually impossible that all of these soldiers are Russian dissidents, which indicates that Ukrainians are fighting in the region under the flag of “Russian partisans.”
In Western public opinion, there is a relevant propaganda impact with the story of Russian “partisans” fighting in Ukraine. An unfounded narrative is created to say that there is strong domestic opposition to Putin government, with many Russian citizens willing to even fight at war for Kiev. The media induces ordinary people to believe that the special military operation does not have popular support, describing it as a measure rejected to the point that several Russians decided to fight against their own country.
All of this, however, is a fallacy. The results of the Russian electoral process show how the current government is widely approved by the people. Furthermore, endorsement of the special operation in Ukraine is almost unanimous in Russia, as shown by several opinion polls. The only alternative left to the West in the face of such support for the government and the operation is to use mechanisms of psychological warfare and propaganda to distort reality. Making ordinary people in the West believe that Russia is an “illegitimate dictatorship” fought by “partisan” militias is a way of promoting war, making tax payers support sending more money and weapons to Kiev.
The information collected on the ground is vital to debunk the Western narrative. The local military, who deal daily with Ukrainian terror and know their enemies well, have an opinion that differs from everything said by Western newspapers. However, the media blocking imposed on Russian and pro-Russian channels prevents this relevant information from reaching Western public opinion, creating a communication barrier. This is the way in which the West has spread lies about the conflict over the last two years.
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Lucas Leiroz is a member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert. You can follow Lucas on X (former Twitter) and Telegram. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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Spain will acquire combat-tested Israeli military material worth €207 million at a time when the Iberian country also promised to recognise a Palestinian state and cut military exports to Israel. Decisionmakers in Madrid justify cutting exports to Israel due to “massacres” against Palestinians, but at the same time, export weapons to Ukraine, contributing to the massacre of civilians in eastern Europe.
The Ministry of Defence of Spain, through the General Subdirectorate of Acquisitions of Weapons and Materials, has initiated the purchase of Israeli-made weapons by awarding a contract to Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, one of the three largest military-industrial companies in Israel, to equip the Air Force’s Eurofighter Litening V fleet. In the award announcement, Rafael was claimed to be “the only one technically qualified to develop the project from a technical point of view” since it included the use of laser-guided precision munitions.
It also happens that the Litening V laser pods by Rafael have been used for months in Israel’s bombing campaign of Gaza, which has caused more than 31,000 deaths to date. Like almost all the war material that Israel usually exports, the Litening V laser pods are weapon support equipment whose manufacturers boast of their “combat proven” status due to their effectiveness against the Palestinians.
Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister José Manuel Albares announced on more than one occasion the “total embargo” on the export of weapons to Israel. The contract awarded to Rafael obviously concerns an import and not an export, and, in this manner, Spain’s virtue signals against Israel whilst still benefitting from its military-industrial complex.
However, according to a study by the Delàs Center for Peace Studies, Israeli weapons imports carry a greater severity than military exports to Tel Aviv. In effect, the purchase of military material from Israel strengthens the country’s military and security model and, more importantly, contributes to subduing the Palestinians, which Israel makes economically viable with the sale of its combat-tested military products.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says he is going to recognise Palestine as an independent State and that he considers what Israel is committing in the Gaza Strip “an indiscriminate massacre,” but then he continues to buy weapons from Israel. Therefore, it is not feasible to grant any type of credibility to the statements of the members of the Spanish government.
Last November, Sánchez vowed to prioritise the recognition of Palestinian statehood as its main foreign policy priority. However, when speaking after a summit in Brussels on March 22, he suggested to reporters that Spain would coordinate with other EU countries instead of unilaterally making the decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.
“We want to take this step united. It’s a decisive step in order to lay the foundations of a lasting peace,” he said in an evident U-turn, adding that the EU should “carefully calibrate” the right moment to take the step.
At the same time, before the Congressional Defence Commission, the Secretary of State for Commerce reported on the list of shipments of military material to Ukraine between March 2022 and February 2024. The amount supplied is equivalent to €190 million. These are mainly drones, grenade launchers, anti-tank mines, artillery ammunition, anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, tracked vehicles, night vision equipment, and 10 Leopard 2A4 tanks.
But this list does not take into account a new batch of Leopard 2A4 battle tanks since the Interministerial Board for Trade and Control of Defence Material and Dual-Use Technologies (JIMDDU) authorised the shipment of another 19 of these armoured vehicles to Kiev once they are repaired and conditioned at the facilities of the Santa Bárbara Sistemas factory in the province of Seville.
Ten of the 19 tanks have already been transferred from the Army base in Casetas near Zaragoza, where they were stored. According to military sources cited by El Heraldo de Aragón, the plan is to send them to Ukraine at the end of June. To this end, the parts and spare parts necessary for its reconstruction must first be found, and when the entire process is completed, Spain will have sent a total of 29 Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
Nonetheless, shipping will be complicated since these vehicles are in even worse condition than the dozen reconditioned Leopards already shipped in 2023. Spain is sending such poor-conditioned vehicles to Kiev to increase its rearmament because the old stock must be disposed of before buying new weapons and equipment.
In this context, Spain justifies not exporting weapons to Israel because of the “indiscriminate massacre” of Palestinians but exports weapons to Ukraine, which contributes to the massacre of people in Ukraine and Russia’s newly liberated territories. Compounding the contradiction is then the fact that Spain imports military equipment from Israel while refusing to export to the Jewish state and promising to recognise a Palestinian state.
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Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
As investigações sobre os responsáveis pelo ataque à Prefeitura de Crocus continuam em andamento. Embora se saiba que os assassinos sejam radicais islâmicos da Ásia Central, ainda não há confirmação de quem foi o verdadeiro mandante do crime. No entanto, as suspeitas de envolvimento das agências de inteligência ucranianas e ocidentais crescem cada vez mais. Além disso, existe a possibilidade de um proeminente oligarca ucraniano estar a financiar tais actos terroristas contra Moscou.
Como é sabido, existem esquemas complexos de corrupção e atividades ilícitas na Ucrânia, envolvendo agentes locais e internacionais. No entanto, pouco se sabe sobre o quão profundamente ligadas estas redes criminosas estão ao terrorismo patrocinado por Kiev. Os oligarcas ucranianos não só cometem crimes fiscais e lavagem de dinheiro, mas também usam os seus lucros pessoais para promover o terror contra os “inimigos” do regime neonazista.
Recentemente, as autoridades russas têm investigado o caso de Nikolai Zlochevsky, proprietário da empresa de gás ucraniana “Burisma”. Zlochevsky já se tornou amplamente conhecido em todo o mundo por suas atividades ilícitas, principalmente devido às suas estreitas relações com a família Biden – ainda mais especialmente, com Hunter Biden, filho do presidente americano. Hunter trabalhou na Burisma enquanto morava na Ucrânia, onde participou dos esquemas ilícitos de Zlochevsky.
Mais tarde, Zlochevsky passou muitos dados sensíveis sobre os crimes de Hunter Biden a um informante do FBI, gerando um escândalo público que se tornou viral na mídia de língua inglesa. A informação confirma também que o envolvimento dos Bidens não se restringe a Hunter, com o presidente norte-americano e outras figuras públicas do Partido Democrata a participarem em negócios ilegais ucranianos.
No entanto, pouco foi dito até agora nos meios de comunicação social sobre a verdadeira razão pela qual Zlochevsky e os seus parceiros americanos foram protegidos pelas autoridades ucranianas, apesar de violarem as leis locais: em troca de uma carta branca na corrupção, Zlochevsky tornou-se um patrocinador da máquina de guerra ucraniana. O oligarca tem enviado grandes somas de dinheiro para instituições dos setores militar e de inteligência ucranianos há anos. O seu trabalho tem sido vital, especialmente na compra de drones para as forças armadas ucranianas, por exemplo. O mais controverso, porém, é o apoio financeiro dado por Zlochevsky às atividades secretas da GUR (a inteligência militar de Kiev).
Zlochevsky foi identificado pelos investigadores russos como um dos principais apoiadores do GUR. Acredita-se que ele já tenha enviado um total de 22,5 milhões de dólares para a agência. As agências estatais, em teoria, não deveriam receber este tipo de financiamento irregular, o que nos leva a crer que este dinheiro é utilizado para atividades paralelas e não oficiais – o que, no caso ucraniano, significa terrorismo.
Os investigadores russos acreditam, por exemplo, que o dinheiro de Zlochevsky foi usado para financiar a operação terrorista de drones contra Moscou em maio de 2023. Considerando o seu envolvimento na compra de drones e redes de inteligência, é praticamente uma certeza que Zlochevsky esteja envolvido no caso. Outras atividades em que a GUR está diretamente envolvida também chamaram a atenção das autoridades russas relativamente à possibilidade de financiamento direto por parte de Zlochevsky. É o caso dos recentes assassinatos e tentativas de assassinato de civis no território da Federação Russa, por exemplo.
O GUR está por trás dos ataques contra os jornalistas Daria Dugina, Vladlen Tatarsky, o escritor Zakhar Prilepin e outras figuras públicas russas conhecidas. Certamente, o financiamento para pagar as complexas operações por trás destes crimes não veio de fontes oficiais, mas de dinheiro irregular, como aquele que Zlochevsky fornece ao GUR. No entanto, é necessário lembrar que as atividades da inteligência ucraniana nunca foram “autônomas”. Desde 2014, todo o aparato estatal ucraniano, incluindo o seu serviço secreto, é controlado por agentes americanos. Na prática, a inteligência americana utiliza os seus ativos ucranianos como proxies para cometer crimes que estão previamente planjados em Washington.
Conforme mencionado, ainda não se sabe quem ordenou o ataque terrorista à Prefeitura de Crocus, mas há alguns pontos do caso que parecem indicar a participação direta do GUR. Esta possibilidade é tão plausível que Moscou já reagiu imediatamente ao ataque, destruindo o quartel-general da inteligência ucraniana em Kiev. O ataque a Crocus teve um alto custo operacional. Os assassinos foram contratados como mercenários e receberam suas armas dos locatários. Além disso, alguém pagou pela viagem até a fronteira em Bryansk. Se o GUR esteve envolvido nesta operação, é muito provável que o dinheiro ilícito de Zlochevsky tenha sido usado.
Considerando que o GUR é, na prática, um ativo da CIA e que recebe financiamento ilegal de oligarcas ucranianos ligados a Biden para promover o terror em território russo, então parece haver uma rede internacional muito profunda a ser investigada por Moscou, a fim de descobrir os verdadeiros culpados pelo massacre de Crocus.
Em uma revisão da literatura sobre os efeitos dos alimentos ultraprocessados na saúde do coração, pesquisadores do Hospital Tangdu da China, da Universidade Médica da Força Aérea, na província de Shaanxi, encontraram uma associação positiva e previsível entre o consumo de alimentos ultraprocessados e eventos cardiovasculares, como ataques cardíacos e derrames.
Quer seja medido pela percentagem do total de calorias ou pelo número de refeições, os investigadores descobriram que cada aumento de 10% no consumo de alimentos ultraprocessados estava associado a um aumento de quase 2% no risco de eventos cardiovasculares.
Aumento de 10% no consumo de alimentos ultraprocessados levou a risco de 1,9% de eventos cardiovasculares
Trabalhando nas bases de dados biomédicas PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library e Web of Science, os investigadores identificaram 43.502 artigos “potencialmente relevantes”.
Os estudos tiveram que ser observacionais e envolver indivíduos com pelo menos 18 anos de idade. Em estudos observacionais, os sujeitos são livres para se envolverem, ou não, na “exposição” – por exemplo, comer um alimento ou tomar uma droga – na medida que desejarem.
Os estudos incluídos na revisão também tiveram que utilizar o Sistema de Classificação de Alimentos NOVA, que categoriza os alimentos de acordo com a seguinte escala: alimentos não processados ou crus, alimentos minimamente processados que passaram por limpeza e preparo normais, alimentos processados que normalmente são embalados e contêm ingredientes adicionais e alimentos ultraprocessados feitos inteiramente ou principalmente de substâncias extraídas de alimentos ou de ingredientes artificiais.
Além disso, os desfechos do estudo deveriam ser eventos cardiovasculares, incluindo doenças e mortes relacionadas a ataque cardíaco, acidente vascular cerebral, ataque isquêmico transitório (frequentemente chamado de “ mini-AVC ”), procedimentos cardíacos invasivos, como stents ou cateteres, hospitalização por angina instável (dores no peito). causada por fluxo sanguíneo restritivo) ou insuficiência cardíaca aguda.
Os estudos também tiveram que expressar os riscos relativos do consumo de alimentos ultraprocessados em comparação com outras categorias e relatar resultados estatisticamente significativos.
Após a aplicação desses filtros, restaram apenas 20 estudos envolvendo 1.101.073 sujeitos. Entre esses, 58.201 eventos cardiovasculares ocorreram durante um período médio de acompanhamento de 12,2 anos. Os indivíduos foram então classificados nas quatro categorias de consumo de NOVA e rastreados quanto a eventos cardiovasculares.
Durante todo o processo, os pesquisadores compararam os resultados das três categorias de consumo superiores com o grupo de menor consumo de alimentos ultraprocessados.
Não importava se o consumo de alimentos ultraprocessados era medido pelo peso percentual de todos os alimentos consumidos ou pelo número de porções: um aumento de 10% (em peso dos alimentos) no consumo de alimentos ultraprocessados foi associado a um risco adicional de 1,9% de eventos cardiovasculares, e cada porção diária correspondeu a um risco elevado de eventos cardiovasculares de 2,2%.
Utilizando o grupo de menor consumo como referência, nenhum efeito foi observado no segundo grupo de menor consumo. No entanto, o risco de eventos cardiovasculares aumentou acentuadamente – 6% para os consumidores do segundo grupo de maior consumo e 21% para as pessoas do grupo de maior consumo.
Os pesquisadores do Tangdu também procuraram associações com risco de doença cerebrovascular, mas não encontraram nada notável.
O estudo teve vários pontos fortes: os seus mais de um milhão de participantes foram suficientes para mostrar associações de causa-efeito, mesmo modestas, incluiu estudos que não mostraram nenhuma associação ou mesmo uma associação benéfica com alimentos ultraprocessados, e distinguiu entre eventos cardiovasculares e cerebrovasculares.
As principais desvantagens da meta-análise foram a falta de controle sobre as metodologias dos estudos originais, a forma como os investigadores mediram os parâmetros de avaliação final, o tamanho e a composição da amostra e a utilização do “consumo mais baixo” em vez do consumo zero como grupo de referência.
A escolha das estatísticas pelos autores dos estudos originais também não foi controlável. Isso pode parecer um ponto menor, mas como há mais de uma maneira de analisar dados, os cientistas geralmente selecionam o método que lhes dá a resposta que procuravam.
O próprio processamento pode contribuir para o baixo conteúdo nutricional
Os investigadores da Tangdu encontraram uma relação linear entre o consumo de alimentos ultraprocessados e a saúde cardiovascular – o que significa que o efeito aumenta na mesma proporção que a causa: o dobro da causa, o dobro do efeito – mas não com a saúde cerebrovascular.
Como pode ser isso, visto que ambos envolvem vasos sanguíneos?
“O sistema vascular, especialmente o endotélio, é de grande heterogeneidade entre os órgãos, o que pode explicar a diferença observada”, disse o Dr. Lijun Yuan, médico-chefe de diagnóstico de ultrassom do Hospital Tangdu e um dos coautores do estudo, ao The Defender.
As células endoteliais formam uma única camada dentro dos vasos sanguíneos e são responsáveis pela troca de nutrientes e resíduos entre o sangue e os tecidos circundantes.
“Heterogeneidade” significa que as células epiteliais assumem funções diferentes dependendo do órgão onde o vaso sanguíneo se encontra. A comida lixo pode afetar algumas populações de células endoteliais (aqui, aquelas ligadas ao coração), mas não outras (as associadas ao cérebro).
“Também pode ser devido às diferenças no tamanho da amostra dos estudos disponíveis”, acrescentou ela.
Aqui, Yuan está se referindo à dificuldade de comparar um efeito em grupos de indivíduos grandes e pequenos. Grupos maiores tendem a fazer com que efeitos clinicamente insignificantes pareçam mais relevantes do que realmente são.
Uma relação linear significa que causa e efeito são previsíveis – não significa que a relação consumo-risco seja a mesma em todo o lado.
Por exemplo, os consumidores dos EUA tiveram melhores resultados do que o resto do mundo quando as porções diárias foram a medida de exposição, e piores quando o número de calorias ou porções foi utilizado.
Isso pode ocorrer porque o corpo vê as “calorias vazias” dos alimentos ultraprocessados como enchimento, e não como nutrição. Como observaram os pesquisadores da Tangdu: “As características mais proeminentes dos UPF [alimentos ultraprocessados] são a má qualidade da dieta, bem como a menor densidade de nutrientes dos alimentos e maior densidade de energia dos alimentos”.
O próprio processamento também pode contribuir para o baixo teor nutricional dos alimentos ultraprocessados. Muitos desses alimentos são cozidos em alta temperatura para evitar a deterioração e são embalados em excesso para prolongar a vida útil.
Sabe-se que os produtos químicos liberados das “embalagens excessivas” de alimentos ultraprocessados liberam vestígios de substâncias químicas que também podem contribuir para o risco de eventos cardiovasculares, de acordo com os autores da revisão.
O consumo de alimentos ultraprocessados fornece calorias e produtos químicos sem nutrição, causando assim ganho de peso e doenças, em vez dos nutrientes necessários para o desenvolvimento normal e a saúde.
E por serem viciantes, os alimentos ultraprocessados muitas vezes ditam os gostos alimentares de uma pessoa para o resto da vida, o que significa que esses hábitos de consumo se autoperpetuam.
Os alimentos ultraprocessados tornaram-se um problema de saúde global, especialmente nos países em desenvolvimento. A loja de fast food de frango KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) levou 61 anos para acumular 4.618 lojas nos EUA, mas menos de 30 anos para abrir quase o mesmo número na China.
A adesão da China ao fast food teve consequências, uma vez que um terço dos adultos chineses em geral e metade dos que vivem nas cidades têm excesso de peso.
“Atualmente, os alimentos ultraprocessados são muito comuns na China”, disse Yuan ao The Defender, “e os jovens são os seus principais consumidores”.
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Introduction. The Crocus City Hall Attack (March 2024) vs. the Downing of MH-17 (July 2014)
The Western media are accusing president Putin of implementing a “False Flag” in relation to the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack:
“After all, Putin has used terror attacks in the past as a pretext to clamp down on dissent inside Russia” says Radio Free Europe
“Concert hall attack dents Putin’s tough image. He tries to use it to rally support for Ukraine war” (AP)
“ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack,” U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever.” (CNN)
Official FSB statement by Alexander Bortnikov
On March 26, 2024, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Bureau (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov responding to journalists probing the question as to Who Was Behind the Terrorists?
He stated unequivocally that the United States, Great Britain and Ukraine were involved. According to Gilbert Doctorow
“Bortnikov is by definition a member of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle of advisors.”
Bortnikov’s statement was made in consultation with President Putin.
The terrorist attack has resulted in more than 300 deaths. Bortnikov pointed his finger at Ukraine’s SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) which on March 25 was targeted by Russian missiles.
“According to sources from the Kyiv Post, the missiles were aimed at the premises where high-ranking SBU officials are located.”
Flight MH-17: Flash Back to July 2014
On 17 July 2014, a few months after the Euromaidan Coup d’état, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) was shot down in Eastern Ukraine, resulting in more than 300 deaths.
In chorus, both the media and Western governments accused Russia without a shred of evidence.
While FSB Head Alexander Bortnikov was fully aware of the role of Ukraine’s SBU Intelligence (See below), the Kremlin decided to limit its response. It denied any role in the downing the MH-17 flight, while also refusing to turn over the four men to stand trial in the Netherlands.
In August 2019, I presented a carefully documented report entitled The Downing of Malaysian Airlines MH17: The Quest for Truth and Justice tothe Kuala Lumpur MH17 Conference organized by JUST, the PGPF and the CRG in collaboration with the International Islamic University of Malaysia.
In many regards, the Crocus City Hall Terrorist attack reveals the falsehoods and manipulation of the evidence pertaining to the Downing of the MH 17 flight in July 2014.
In both cases, the West accuse Russia of waging a false flag.
It also confirms the insidious role of Ukraine’s intelligence agency (SBU) which was behind the MH-17 operation. (see below)
According to President Obama (hours after the tragedy):
“… the downing of MH17 should be “a wake-up call” to Europe to get serious about confronting Russia over Ukraine after EU leaders have proved reluctant to impose tought sanctions.” (Telegraph, July 18,2019)
The Wall Street Journal reports (July 18, 2014) that “Obama is getting his wish and Brussels is now weighing new sanctions”:
On July 22, 2014, The European Union decided to expand its sanctions blacklist against Moscow including Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
EU foreign ministers decided to “draw up further broad measures including an arms embargo and financial restrictions on Russian businesses, … following the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.” (Guardian, July 22, 2019)
It is worth recalling that immediately after the MH17 plane crash on July 17 2014, prior to the conduct of a preliminary investigation, Secretary of State John Kerry and US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power pointed their finger at Moscow without a shred of evidence.
In November 2022, a Netherlands Court found the Kremlin responsible for the alleged attack: two Russians and a “separatist Ukrainian” were identified as “guilty of mass murder for their involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17”.
The Court ruling was fraudulent, based on fabricated evidence.
The 2019 Conference was dedicated to the memory of the victims.
It was also a national tragedy for the people of Malaysia.
The downing of MH17 with 283 passengers and 15 crew on board, took place barely a few months following the mysterious disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 after departing on March 8, 2014 from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing, with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board..
According to the official narrative, Malaysian Airlines MH 17 was downed by a BUK anti-aircraft missile by “pro-Russian separatists” with the support of Moscow.
The MH17 Inquiry was conducted in an insidious fashion, largely responding to political interests.
Important pieces of evidence including eye witness reports, audio and video material transmitted through Ukraine Intelligence (SBU) have either been manipulated or excluded from the Dutch inquiry, which largely endorses Washington’s accusations directed against Moscow.
According to Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in a statement at the Prime Minister’s office in May 2019:
“They never allowed us to be involved from the very beginning. This is unfair and unusual. So we can see they are not really looking at the causes of the crash and who was responsible.
But already they have decided it must be Russia. So we cannot accept that kind of attitude. We are interested in the rule of law, in justice for everyone irrespective of who is involved.
“They [the West] are accusing Russia but where is the evidence?
The SBU accused Russia of having ordered a false flag attack involving the shooting down of its own Aeroflot plane leading to the death of its own citizens, and then blaming it on the Kiev regime, with the Kremlin using the tragedy as a casus belli pretext to invade Ukraine.
According to the report: The Donetsk militia were aiming at a Russian Aeroflot passenger plane and shot down the Malaysian MH17 airliner by mistake.
That’s the official Ukraine government story which was acknowledged by the Ukrainian as well as several Western media. See below.
According to Britain’s foremost news tabloid, The Mail on Sunday, quoting the head of Ukraine intelligence,
The insidious design of the pro-Russian rebels (allegedly supported by Moscow) was to shoot down a Russian commercial airline plane with tourists en route to Cyprus, with a view to blaming the Ukrainian government.
The objective of this alleged “false flag” covert operation was to create a justifiable and credible pretext for Vladimir Putin to declare war on Ukraine.
In an utterly twisted logic, according to Ukraine’s head of intelligence:
“the [Donesk] rebels were meant to down [the] Aeroflot plane… to justify the invasion [of Ukraine by Russia]”,
Valentyn Nalyvaichenko (right), head of Ukraine intelligence (24 February 2014 – 18 June 2015) the pro-Russian rebels were “aiming at a Russian passenger plane “so Putin had reason to invade”.
“the crime was planned as a ground for bringing of Russian troops into Ukraine, that is – CASUS BELLI for the Russian military invasion.” (Official statement of Ukraine Security Service, in annex below)
In a bitter irony, according to the SBU report, the alleged “false flag” covert op got muddled. The Donesk rebels got it all wrong and hit the MH17 plane by mistake.
That’s the “official line” which was made public by the Kiev government on August 7, 2014, 3 weeks after the MH17 tragedy.
Below is a detailed and carefully documented report.
the SUB Ukraine Intelligence Report (August 2014) is in Annex
Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, March 29, 2024
The Downing of Malaysian Airlines MH17:
The Quest for Truth and Justice.
Review of the Evidence
by Michel Chossudovsky
August 15, 2019
Introduction
Moscow was accused without evidence of being behind the downing of MH17 from the very outset. Both Kiev and Washington concluded prior to the conduct of an investigation that:
“MH17 had likely been brought down by a ground-to-air missile fired from separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine.”
There are three distinct reports:
Ukraine government report prepared by Ukraine’s Secret Service (SBU), August 7, 2014 (text in annex)
The first official report on behalf of the Ukrainian government was released by Ukraine’s SBU secret service on August 7 2014, barely three weeks after the MH 17 tragedy (July 17, 2014).
The SBU report (which is discussed later in more detail) accuses pro-Russian rebels of having downed the plane with Moscow’s support.
The Dutch Safety Board Report released in September 2015 largely endorses the BUK missile narrative.
And, a year later in September 2016, The Dutch Joint investigation Team (JIT) as part of a criminal investigation “confirmed” that the Malaysian airlines plane was “hit by a Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missile that was brought into Ukraine from Russia before the shootdown and subsequently taken back across the border.”
The assumption prior to the conduct of the DSB investigation was that a BUK missile had brought down MH17, and Russia was behind it.
Concrete evidence supporting other interpretations (including on site testimonies and the presence of a second aircraft) was casually dismissed by the DSB:
‘Obama and I agreed that the investigation will not be hidden and the international teams have to be given access to the crash scene.’
In August 2016, Ukraine president Poroshenko visited Malaysia for discussions with Prime Minister Razak Najib:
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said Malaysia will work with Ukraine to bring the perpetrators to justice. “We will do whatever we can to find the truth for the sake of families who lost their loved ones in this tragic incident. “We are waiting for the criminal investigation report, which is expected to be tabled by the year-end, followed by a meeting to decide on the next course of action,” said Najib. (New Straits Times, August 4, 2016)
Washington’s agenda in liaison with the Kiev regime was to blame Russia. This agenda was never questioned by the Najib government.
Erasing the Initial Evidence
Much of the initial evidence and testimony including eyewitness reports (from various independent sources), recorded in July-August 2014 (in the immediate wake of the event) contradicts the official version. This body of evidence has been dismissed and in some cases destroyed.
In September 2015, in its final report, the Dutch Safety Board presented its findings regarding the Buk TELAR surface-to-air missile system which allegedly shot down MH-17 over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.
On 24 May 2018 the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) published an update of its findings pointing (without firm evidence) to the role of the 53 Anti-Missile Brigade of the Russian Army. In May 2018, they launched an appeal for people in Donesk to come forward to corroborate their “findings” re. the deployment of the BUK missile system:
On the following day, the governments of Australia and the Netherlands officially declared that “they hold Russia responsible for the incident”. (see Polygraph Info, May 25, 2018)
Moscow remains the “main suspect” in this politically twisted investigation, which has now led to a legal procedure in the Netherlands directed against the alleged perpetrators.
On June 19, 2019, the International Joint Investigation Team (JIT) announced (video) that international arrest warrants have been issued against four “separatist commanders” of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR). These warrants concern Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko, and Russian citizens Sergei Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov, and Igor Girkin.
Moreover, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced in mid-July 2019 that “the UK will provide financial support to the specialist criminal court in the Hague” which is slated to host the trial of the four suspects.
In this report we will first focus on the Timeline as well as selected evidence which has been suppressed including the presence of a second aircraft.
We will then review the official report of the Kiev government prepared by Ukraine’s intelligence service (SBU) as well as the role of the SBU in feeding “evidence” to the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) and the Joint Investigation Team (JIT)
Analysis of the Evidence
Timeline
July 15, 2014. Two Days Before the Tragic Event
A division of Buk missile systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was, according to Pravda, deployed to the Donetsk Oblast on July 15, two days before the downing of the Malaysian airlines MH17 flight. The Buk missile system has the capabilities of downing an aircraft flying at 35,000 feet.
Russian Defense sources confirmed the presence of several Ukraine missile batteries in the Donesk oblast operated by the Ukraine armed forces:
‘The Ukrainian military has several batteries of Buk surface-to-air missile systems with at least 27 launchers, capable of bringing down high-flying jets, in the Donetsk region where the Malaysian passenger plane crashed, Russian Defense Ministry said”(RT, July 17, 2014)
The Prosecutor General of Ukraine Vitaliy Yarema confirmed that the Donesk rebels did not have [Ukrainian] Buk or S 300 ground to air missiles which could have downed the plane, which suggests that the missiles of the Ukraine armed forces had been deployed but they were not in the possession of the rebels, a premise which remains central to the US-Kiev official version that the rebels, supported by Moscow, were responsible for attacking Malaysian Airlines MH17.
According to the Kiev Post report:“Ukrainian prosecutor general says militants did not seize Ukrainian air defense launchers”:
“Members of illegal armed units have not seized air defense launchers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donetsk, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema said.” (Kiev Post, July 19, 2014)
According to Russia’s Itar-Tass report (July 2014)
“After the passenger airliner was downed, the military reported to the president that terrorists do not have our air defense missile systems Buk and S-300,” the general prosecutor [of Ukraine] said. “These weapons were not seized,” he added.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko said on July 17 that the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 airliner had been downed by an air defense missile system Buk.
From both Russian and Ukrainian sources there was evidence of Ukrainian BUK missiles deployed in Eastern Ukraine and official statements that the Donesk rebel forces had no access to the Ukraine Buk air missiles. The Kiev Post report did not (in this July 19 report) mention the presence of Russia BUK missiles in Donetsk oblast.
July 17, 2014. Day of the MH17 Tragedy
The Boeing-777 of the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur “disappeared from the radars and crashed on Thursday evening July 17 near Grabovo in Ukraine’s Donetsk oblast.
The Flight Path of MH17 Was Changed? July 17 Plane Route was over the Ukraine War-zone
The maps below clearly indicate a change in flight path for Malaysian airlines MH17 on July 17. They also indicate on the map the two regions of Ukraine which are part of the warzone, namely Donetsk and Lugansk.
The first dynamic map compares the two flight paths:
It indicates the regular flight path on July 16th which takes the plane in a Southeasterly direction across the Sea of Azov.
The second flight path which is that of July 17th takes the plane over the Donesk oblast warzone, bordering onto Lugansk oblast.
The four static images indicate screen shots of the Flight Paths of MH17 for July 14-17, 2014
The information conveyed in these maps suggests that the flight path on July 17 was changed.
MH17 was diverted from the normal South Easterly route over the sea of Azov to a path over the Donetsk oblast.
Who was behind the change of the flight path? And why was the flight path changed?
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE
Changing MH17 Route From July 14, 2014 to July 17, 2014
Screenshots of Flight Paths of MH17 for July 14-17, 2014
The Presence of a Second Aircraft
The presence of another aircraft is corroborated by the Russian Ministry of Defense which pointed to the presence of a Ukrainian Su-25 jet in the flight corridor of the MH17, within proximity of the plane.
While Russian official sources may be considered unreliable and politically inclined, the presence of a second aircraft was also confirmed by numerous witnesses in Donesk oblast as well as by a BBC report conducted at the crash site on July 23.
“eyewitnesses in the Donetsk region saw Ukrainian warplanes near the passenger jet. They say they heard sounds of powerful blasts and saw a Ukraine warplane shortly before the crash. (ITAR Tass)
The presence of a second aircraft was also confirmed by air traffic controller Luis Lopez reporting in real time (on his twitter) from the Borisopol airport. This source is controversial and cannot be corroborated. His twitter account was closed down. He was reported to have left Ukraine. He gave a couple of interviews and then disappeared. Was his life threatened?
Suppressed BBC Report
All the eyewitnesses interviewed by the BBC confirmed the presence of a Ukrainian military aircraft flying within proximity of Malaysian Airlines MH17 at the time that it was shot down:
Eyewitness #1: There were two explosions in the air. And this is how it broke apart. And [the fragments] blew apart like this, to the sides. And when …
Eyewitness #2: … And there was another aircraft, a military one, beside it. Everybody saw it.
Eyewitness #1: Yes, yes. It [second aircraft] was flying under it, because it could be seen. It was proceeding underneath, below the civilian one.
Eyewitness #3: There were sounds of an explosion. But they were in the sky. They came from the sky. Then this plane [second plane] made a sharp turn-around like this. It changed its trajectory and headed in that direction [indicating the direction with her hands].
BBC Report below (removed by BBC) scroll down for alternative youtube version
The original BBC Video Report published by BBC Russian Service on July 23, 2014 was removed by the BBC.
In a bitter irony, The BBC is suppressing its own news productions.
This is the BBC Report which is still available on Youtube
BELOW SCREENSHOT OF BBC TV REPORT ENTITLED “AND THERE WAS ANOTHER AIRCRAFT” SUPPRESSED BY THE BBC
It had been blocked [March 8, 2016] once more by the BBC. The BBC censors its own reports.
Several other reports and eyewitness testimonies confirm the presence of a second aircraft. Of significance is a December 2014 report by Komsomolskaya Pravda which conducted an interview with a Ukrainian serviceman.
While the substance of the interview (translated from Russian) is contradictory it nonetheless suggests the presence of a second aircraft as confirmed by the suppressed BBC report.
The BBC Refutes and Confirms its Own Lies
It is worth noting that subsequent BBC reports tend to refute the substance of their first onsite investigation in Donesk Oblast with the exception of a May 2016 BBC documentary which puts forth “several theories”.
The documentary puts forth evidence which initially refutes the official story while also intimating and concluding that Russia might have been behind the MH17 tragedy.
The official investigation report into MH17 flight argues that only a powerful ground-to-air missile could be responsible. Yet, there are eyewitness accounts of other aircrafts seen flying next to MH17 close to impact. To further fuel the conspiracies, Russia and Ukraine blame each other but both countries are unable to provide all the critical radar data from that day. ( See BBC notice here),
According to Australia News in a review of the May 2016 BBC documentary, the Kiev regime is identified as the culprit:
A CONTROVERSIAL new documentary will investigate claims that Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a Ukraine fighter jet, instead of a Russian missile.In a new BBC documentary titled ‘The Conspiracy Files: Who Shot Down MH17?’, eyewitnesses will share their accounts of how they saw the aircraft being downed by a nearby fighter jet.
“There are eyewitness accounts of other aircraft seen flying next to MH17 close to impact,” a statement from the BBC said.
Link to the May 2016 BBC Documentary
Bullet Sized Holes
According to the report of German pilot and airlines expert Peter Haisenko, the MH17 Boeing 777 was not brought down by a missile.
What he observed from the available photos were perforations of the cockpit:
This aircraft was not hit by a missile in the central portion. The destruction is limited to the cockpit area. Now you have to factor in that this part is constructed of specially reinforced material
It is worth noting that the initial statements by OSCE observers (July 31) broadly confirm the findings of Peter Haisenko:
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe reported that shrapnel-like holes were found in two separate pieces of the fuselage of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines aircraft that was believed to have been downed by a missile in eastern Ukraine.
Michael Bociurkiw of the OSCE group of monitors at his daily briefing described part of the plane’s fuselage dotted with “shrapnel-like, almost machine gun-like holes.” He said the damage was inspected by Malaysian aviation-security officials .(Wall Street Journal, July 31, 2014)
The monitoring OSCE team has not found evidence of a missile fired from the ground as conveyed by official White House statements. As we recall, the US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power stated –pointing a finger at Russia– that the Malaysian MH17 plane was “likely downed by a surface-to-air missile operated from a separatist-held location”:
The team of international investigators with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are uncertain if the missile used was fired from the ground as US military experts have previously suggested, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. (Malay Mail online, emphasis added)
The initial OSCE findings dispelled the claim that a BUK missile system brought down the plane.
Evidently, inasmuch as the perforations are attributable to shelling, a shelling operation conducted from the ground could not have brought down an aircraft traveling above 30,000 feet.
No firm evidence that a BUK missile had actually been fired on July 17th 2014
Expert analysis confirms that the firing of a BUK missile would have left a visible white vapor trail in the sky for about ten minutes after firing (see below).
According to witnesses in Donesk oblast, no vapor trail was seen in the sky on that day. What they saw was a second plane.
There were various images of smoke trails presented and analyzed. (see the BBC documentary). These pictures however do not correspond to a clearcut white vapor trail associated with the launching of a BUK missile.
There were no satellite images or photographic evidence of a vapor trail.
The following images (from BUK missile tests) indicate the nature of the vapor trail.
Screenshots of RT documentary, October 22, 2019
Report of the Russian Union of Engineers (RUE)
A detailed and comprehensive report by the Russian Union of Engineers (English translation) largely corroborates the presence of a Second Aircraft (confirmed by eye witnesses, BBC interviews).
“… Russian air traffic control recorded the ascent of a Ukrainian Air Force aircraft, presumably an Su-25, in the direction of the Malaysian Boeing 777. The distance between the SU-25 aircraft from the Boeing 777 was between 3 and 5 km.”
The RUE report also corroborates the “bullet hole” analysis as well as the statements of the OSCE and Peter Haisenko (mentioned above):
A detailed analysis of its fragments can provide a more complete picture of the causes of the crash. … you can see the different forms of damage to its shell or skin – tears and factures, holes with folds on the outer and the inner sides of the fuselage, tell- tale signs of a powerful external impact on the plane.
Of particular note are the holes folded inward in the fuselage. They are round- bored, and usually grouped. Such holes can only be formed by metal objects with a circular cross-section, possibly rods or shells from an aircraft gun. The question arises: who could deliver such projectiles to the aircraft, by what means, and what might they look like?
The report also focusses on the absence of photographic evidence of a visible vapor trail of a BUK missile.
In this case there has been no evidence of a trail of white condensation which would be by-product of the consumption of rocket fuel which would appear and persist for some minutes after the launch and be visible to those standing in a radius of within 10 km from the missile launch-site. (RUE report, p. 7)
It concludes after careful investigation that the MH17 Boeing 777 was “not brought down by the means of anti-aircraft missile fire from a BUK-M1 installation.”
According to the Russian Union of Engineers: the MH17 Boeing 777 “flying a horizontal course at 10000 metres could quite feasibly find itself within range of the Rocket / Cannon armament of a fighter, either a MIG-29 or an SU-25.”
Thus, according to the analysts from the Russian Union of Engineers, we have the complete destruction of the Boeing 777 as [a result of] missile systems using “air-to-air” close-combat missiles as well as a 30-mm aircraft cannon or an SPPU-22 container with GSh-23L 23-mm dual-barrel guns. At the same time, when firing on a target, a laser range finder can be used, or a laser sight, that allows for significantly improved accuracy. This is indicated by the pattern of damage and the dispersal of the fragments: there are round holes, which are typically produced as a result of gun shots, and discontinuous holes characteristic of flechette rockets. (RUE report, page 12)
Media Spin: Shrapnel, Bullet Holes, “High Energy Objects”
The media has reported that a BUK surface to air missile was indeed fired and exploded before reaching its target.
According to the official explanation (DSB), it was not the missile that brought down the plane, it was the shrapnel resulting from the missile explosion (prior to reaching the plane) which punctured the plane and then led to a loss of pressure.
This is largely the position of the Dutch Safety Board which explains the holes as a result of the explosion of the missile. This is analysis is tenuous. A shelling operation from a jet fighter was simply not considered by the DSB.
The holes according to the DSB report were the result of so-called “high energy objects coming from the warhead [Buk missile]” (i.e shrapnel from the missile). This assessment was used to dispel the evidence concerning the second aircraft.
According to a BBC report (September 9, 2014) “Cockpit window contained numerous small puncture holes suggesting small objects entered from above level of cockpit floor. Damage to forward section indicates plane penetrated by large number of high energy objects from outside”.
The holes from outside were presented as the result of the explosion of the missile, according to the DSB (13 October 2015)
At 13.20 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) a 9N314M warhead, launched by a Buk surface-to-air missile system from a 320-square-kilometre area in the eastern part of Ukraine, detonated to the left and above the cockpit. The forward section of the aircraft was penetrated by hundreds of high-energy objects coming from the warhead.
The statement of the OSCE observer Michael Bociurkiw is not acknowledged by the Dutch Safety Board and JIT reports.
“… international investigators believed data from the flight recorders show “the reason for the destruction and crash of the plane was massive explosive decompression arising from multiple shrapnel perforations from a rocket explosion”.
Surface-to-air missiles such as the Buk system widely believed to have shot the passenger jet down can explode near their targets, blasting a cloud of shrapnel into them.”
” The downed Malaysia Airlines jet in eastern Ukraine suffered an explosive loss of pressure after it was punctured by shrapnel from a missile…. They say the information came from the plane’s flight data recorders, which are being analysed by British experts.”
“Machine Gun Like Holes” Caused by a Second Aircraft or a BUK Missile?
The shrapnel marks should be distinguished from the small entry and exit holes “most likely that of a 30 millimeter caliber projectile” fired from a military aircraft. According to the findings of Peter Haisenko:
If we now consider the armament of a typical SU 25 we learn this: It is equipped with a double-barreled 30-mm gun, type GSh-302 / AO-17A, equipped with: a 250 round magazine of anti-tank incendiary shells and splinter-explosive shells (dum-dum), arranged in alternating order. The cockpit of the MH 017 has evidently been fired at from both sides: the entry and exit holes are found on the same fragment of it’s cockpit segment
Our review of the evidence points to
the presence of a second aircraft,
“bullet like holes” pointing to the possibility of an attack by a second aircraft
No firm evidence of a BUK missile attack directed against MH17.
Absence of photographic evidence of a vapor trail from a BUK style missile on July 17, 2014
The Official Kiev Government Report Prepared by Ukraine Intelligence (SBU)
Of significance, Ukraine’s Secret Service (SBU) was given the mandate by the Ukraine authorities of coordinating and gathering the evidence in Eastern Ukraine as well as transmitting it to the Dutch Safety Board and the JIT.
According to the official SBU report entitled Terrorists and Militants planned cynical terrorist attack at Aeroflot civil aircraft published on August 7, 2014, the SBU accused Russia of having ordered a false flag attack involving the shooting down of its own Aeroflot plane leading to the death of its own citizens, and then blaming it on Kiev, with Russia using the tragedy as a casus belli pretext to invade Ukraine. According to the report: The Donetsk militia were aiming at a Russian Aeroflot passenger plane and shot down the Malaysian MH17 airliner by mistake.
That’s the official Ukraine government story which was acknowledged by the Ukrainian as well as several Western media. See below.
According to Britain’s foremost news tabloid, The Mail on Sunday, quoting the head of Ukraine intelligence, the insidious design of the pro-Russian rebels (allegedly supported by Moscow) was to shoot down a Russian commercial airline plane with tourists en route to Cyprus, with a view to blaming the Ukrainian government. The objective of this alleged “false flag” covert op was to create a justifiable and credible pretext for Vladimir Putin to declare war on Ukraine.
In an utterly twisted logic, according to Ukraine’s head of intelligence:
“the [Donesk] rebels were meant to down [the] Aeroflot plane… to justify the invasion [of Ukraine by Russia]”,
Valentyn Nalyvaichenko (right), head of Ukraine intelligence (24 February 2014 – 18 June 2015) that the pro-Russian rebels were “aiming at a Russian passenger plane “so Putin had reason to invade”.
“the crime was planned as a ground for bringing of Russian troops into Ukraine, that is – CASUS BELLI for the Russian military invasion.” (Official statement of Ukraine Security Service, in annex below)
In a bitter irony, according to the report, the alleged “false flag” covert op got muddled. The Donesk rebels got it all wrong and hit the MH17 plane by mistake.
That’s the “official line” which was made public by the Kiev government on August 7, 2014, 3 weeks after the MH17 tragedy.
The former head of Ukraine’s secret service has claimed rebels intended to down a Russian airliner to give Vladimir Putin a pretext for invasion – but blasted Flight MH17 out of the sky by mistake.
Why on earth would pro-Russian rebels who are at war with the Kiev regime shoot down a Russian passenger plane AFL-2074 allegedly with a view to harnessing Russia’s support? It does not make sense.
What’s more, according to SBU Chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko’s statement, Moscow was helping the pro-Russian rebels in their alleged false flag op to shoot down Russia’s Aeroflot plane by providing them with a Buk missile system, which allegedly had been discretely smuggled across the border to the Donesk region of Eastern Ukraine. The Aeroflot plane was slated to be “shot down over territory controlled by Ukrainian government troops” with the support of Russia:
Valentyn Nalyvaichenko said that Russian-backed fighters were supposed to take their BUK rocket launcher – which had been transported across the Russian border – to a village called Pervomaiskoe in Ukrainian-held territory west of Donetsk.
But they “screwed up”. The Buk rocket launcher was apparently positioned in the wrong rural location and because of that it targeted the MH17 by mistake:
Instead, they mistakenly positioned it in a rebel-controlled village of the same name to the east of the city.
Got it wrong? Valentyn Nalyvaichenko claims pro-Russian rebels targeted the wrong civilian airliner
If they had gone where they had been ordered, he said, they would have hit an Aeroflot flight carrying civilians travelling from Moscow to Larnaca in Cyprus.
Crucially, the crash site would have been in Ukrainian-held territory. (Mail on Sunday, August 9, 2014)
The August 2014 “intelligence” report released by SBU Chief Nalyvaichenko bordered on ridicule and incompetence to say to the least.
(Since its release in August 2014, the link to the original SBU report is no longer available. The text of the SBU report (press release) is published in annex to this article.
Who is Valentyn Nalyvaichenko. His role in the MH17 investigation
Valentyn Nalyvaichenko commissioned the SBU report on behalf of the Kiev government in July 2014 in coordination with The National Security and National Defense Committee (RNBOU) of which the Secretary General was Andriy Parubiy (February 27, 2014 — August 7, 2014), followed by the appointment of Oleksandr Turchynov (December 16, 2014 — 19 May 2019)
The RNBOU oversees National Security and Intelligence (SBU), the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces, Law Enforcement.
Parubiy who became president (chair) of the Ukrainian Parliament is the co-founder of the Neo-Nazi Social-National Party of Ukraine (subsequently renamed Svoboda). He has been routinely received with red carpet treatment in Canada, the US and the European Union.
Both Nalyvaichenko and Parubiy are followers of Ukrainian Nazi leader Stepan Bandera, who collaborated in the mass murderer of Jews, Russians and Poles during World War II. (For more details on Parubiy click here)
Can we trust the SBU?
Following the MH17 tragedy, the head of Ukraine’s SBU was entrusted with the gathering and feeding of evidence to the Dutch inquiries. In fact most of the information and analysis (including recordings of telephone conversations, video, audio material) transmitted to the JIT emanated from the SBU.
Is the information and evidence transmitted by the SBU reliable?
An indepth forensic analysis conducted by OG IT Forensic Service led by Akash Rosen points to the manipulation of telephone conversations, video and audio material by the SBU. The OG IT report confirms unequivocally that the “evidence” submitted by Ukraine’s SBU to the JIT has been manipulated.
Akash Rosen was interviewed in the MH17 documentary entitled MH17 Call for Justice, directed by Yana Yerloshova, which sheds light on the deceptive role of Ukraine’s Secret Service.
Fraud and Corruption within the SBU. The Neo-Nazi connection
While the media has remained silent on the matter, the insidious and corrupt role of the SBU has nonetheless been acknowledged. A December 2015 report in the Irish Times suggests that:
The Dutch government has been warned that the criminal case against those who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 could be undermined because the Ukrainian security service, the SBU, which has provided key evidence, is widely regarded as institutionally corrupt.
Both justice minister Ard van der Steur and the Dutch public prosecutor’s office are coming under increasing pressure to make statements about the integrity of the evidence gathered by the SBU following a string of scandals, including the sacking of its boss, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko.
The SBU has played a crucial role in two elements of the MH17 investigation. It has handed over phone conversations between pro-Russian rebels intercepted shortly before the jet, … It was also responsible for securing the main elements of the Boeing 777’s shattered fuselage in the hours after it crashed in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, spreading debris over 50 sq km.
“Institutionally corrupt” is an understatement. The former head of the SBU is an avowed Nazi. Ukraine’s intelligence service not to mention the National Guard and elements within the military in 2014-2015 were largely under the control of the two neo-Nazi parties: Svoboda and Right Sector.
The SBU was also in permanent liaison with Western intelligence including the CIA and MI6.
The head of Ukraine intelligence Valentyn Nalyvaichenko appointed by the Kiev regime worked in tandem with the Neo-Nazi Right Sector leader Dmitro Yarosh who in turn played a key role in setting up the Azov Battalion (see image right), a National Guard entity integrated by Neo-Nazis, operating in Eastern Ukraine in so-called “anti-terrorist” operations. Dmitro Yaroch, who became member of parliament was appointed advisor to the Chief of general staff of the Ukrainian army.
Eduard Dolinsky, director of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, “made the accusation on Facebook against Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (see the news website evreiskiy.kiev.ua report) after Nalyvaichenko said his organization [the SBU] needed to base its work on the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UPA, which murdered thousands of Jews in the ’40s. The UPA under the leadership of Stepan Bandera collaborated with the Third Reich during World War II”( quoted in The Times of Israel 15 April 2015)
In an [April 2015] interview with the local media … Nalyvaichenko said the Security Service “does not need to invent anything new, it is important to build on the traditions of the [Nazi] Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and UPA in the 1930-1950 years.”
The popularity of UPA, which for a time collaborated with the Nazi occupation to further UPA’s ambitions of sovereignty from Russia, has soared in Ukraine since a 2013 revolution that led to armed conflict with pro-Russian militias in Ukraine’s east.
Earlier this month [April 2015], the Ukrainian Parliament passed a bill that opened the door to state recognition of UPA, previously a taboo because of the widespread war crimes committed by its troops. The Times of Israel (15 April 2015)
Those war crimes have not ceased. The Atlantic Council, (June 18, 2015) a Washington Think Tank with close links to both the Pentagon and the US State Department acknowledged that the Right Sector had permeated Ukraine’s military intelligence apparatus:
Poroshenko Bloc MP Serhiy Leshchenko released a document confirming old rumors that Right Sector’s Dmitro Yarosh [Neo-Nazi leader] worked for Nalyvaichenko when he was a member of parliament from 2012 to 2014. While the connection between the two raises some questions about the events of Euromaidan and the origins of Right Sector, this attack alone wasn’t enough to discredit Nalyvychenko. Yarosh is now a member of parliament and an advisor to the chief of general staff of the Ukrainian army. In other words, Yarosh has been legitimized by the political establishment. . . .
Details of the SBU Report
While the SBU report focussing on an alleged false flag was casually acknowledged by the Western media, Washington remained silent on the matter. Nobody in the US intelligence community acknowledged or corroborated the statement of their Ukrainian counterparts.
Moreover, while the SBU was feeding “evidence” to the Dutch inquiries, the SBU report (August 7, 2014) was not acknowledged or mentioned in the reports of the Dutch Safety Board and the JIT.
As we recall, immediately after the MH17 plane crash on July 17 2014, Secretary of State John Kerry and US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power pointed their finger at Moscow without a shred of evidence. In the wake of this official and “authoritative” SBU August 7 2014 announcement by the Kiev regime, Obama, Kerry, Samantha Power et al, chose to remain mum. The Ukraine Secret Service’s official statement concerning the crash of Malaysian airlines MH17 was so outlandish. It simply did not fit the usual mold of media disinformation.
In a new and rather unusual twist, however, according to the Kiev regime, the Donetsk militia did not intend to shoot down Malaysian airlines MH17.
What the “pro-Russian rebels” (according to the SBU report) were aiming at was a Russian Aeroflot passenger plane. The MH17 was shot down “by mistake” according to an official statement by the head of Ukraine’s Secret Service, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko (Ukraine News Service, August 7, 2014).
According to SBU Chief Nalyvaichenko:
“Ukraine’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies have established during the investigation into a terrorist attack on the Boeing… that on that day, July 17, and at that time military mercenaries and terrorists from the Russian Federation planned to carry out a terrorist attack against a passenger aircraft of Aeroflot en route from Moscow to Larnaca… as a pretext for the further invasion by Russia,”
“This cynical terrorist attack was planned for the day when the [Malaysia Airlines] plane happened to fly by, planned by war criminals as a pretext for the further military invasion by the Russian Federation, that is, there would be a casus belli,” he added.
Thus, according Nalyvaichenko, the terrorists downed the Malaysian airliner by mistake.” (Ukraine Interfax News, August 8, 2014)
The head of Ukraine’s secret service has claimed rebels intended to down a Russian airliner to give Vladimir Putin a pretext for invasion – but blasted Flight MH17 out of the sky by mistake.
Nalyvaichenko said that the Kiev government reached this conclusion “in the course of its own investigation into the downing of MH17”.
“Had the terrorists succeeded in downing the Aeroflot jet, it would have created the needed casus belli for Russia to invade Ukraine from its East to its West” according to Nalyvaichenko (see Tweet above, see also Transcript of August 7, 2014 SBU document in Annex)
While Nalyvaichenko was dismissed by Poroshenko from the SBU in June 2015, much of the “evidence” of MH!7 had been gathered and processed during his mandate.
There was no visible shift in direction of the SBU following his dismissal. Nalyvaichenko’s Deputy Vasyl Hrytsak was appointed head of SBU (July 2015- May 2019)
The so-called “pro-Russian rebels” had allegedly planned an Operation Northwoods type “false flag” with utmost proficiency.
The covert op allegedly consisted in downing a Russian passenger plane with Moscow’s support. The alleged objective was for Moscow to place the blame on the government of Ukraine for having ordered the downing of the Aeroflot plane (resulting in the deaths of Russian tourists), thereby creating a “useful wave of indignation” across the Russian Federation.
The alleged “false flag” slated to be implemented by the Donetsk “terrorists and mercenaries” would then, according to the scenario depicted by Ukraine’s Chief Spy, spearhead public support for a Russian invasion of Ukraine, with patriotic Russian troops coming to the rescue of the “pro-Russian separatists”:
The mass killing of Russian tourists could then have been blamed on the Ukrainian army, giving Moscow a justification for invasion, said Mr Nalyvaichenko, head of the Ukrainian intelligence service, the SBU. (Daily Mail, August 9, 2014)
The official SBU report states that the:
“The Russian side would need a compelling argument for such a step, for example accusation of the Ukrainian government in mass murder of the Russian citizens [on the plane]” (See complete SBU statement in Annex below).
According to the head of Ukraine’s Secret Service: “It is incredibly cynical that the act of terrorism was planned [by the rebels] against peaceful innocent Russian citizens who were on the way to their holidays with children”:
‘This cynical terrorist act was intended to justify an immediate military invasion by the Russian Federation,’ he said.
Aeroflot flight AFL2074 was close to Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 when it was blown out of the sky on July 17, killing all 298 on board, he said.
… He claimed this was a significant conclusion of Kiev’s probe into MH17’s downing. (Daily Mail, August 8, 2019)
A Russian invasion plan had allegedly been scheduled –according to the official SBU report– to commence on July 18, on the day following the planned downing of Aeroflot flight 2074. But when the MH17 flight was downed by mistake, the Russian invasion plan scheduled for July 18, according to the Kiev scenario, was cancelled.
This whole scenario was fabricated. There were no indications or evidence that Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine on July 18th, 2014.
Mainstream Media Response to Kiev Regime’s Accusations
Normally, the Western media would provide ample coverage and commentary to an official Kiev statement pertaining to MH17 accusing Russia. It’s part of the MSM routine of “Russia bashing” and demonizing president Vladimir Putin.
With the exception of Ukraine News Service and London’s Daily Mail, however, the official statement of the head of Ukraine’s Secret Service went largely unnoticed. Normally, a declaration of this nature would be picked up by the wire services with syndicated reports flooding the front page of the Western news chain.
Screenshot Daily Mail on Sunday, August 09, 2014
Was the mainstream media instructed to temporarily “put a hold” on reporting the “revelations” of Ukraine’s Secret Service.
The Kiev regime’s allegations are far-fetched to say the least: the Donesk rebels –largely involved in combat operations– had neither the capabilities nor the desire to undertake a complex intelligence operation of this nature. What purpose would it serve? Cui Bono?
Does Russia require a fake humanitarian pretext to intervene when several thousand civilians in the Donbass region had been killed by the Azov Battalion (image right, flag with Nazi SS symbol) and Ukrainian Armed Forces, not to mention the Odessa massacre perpetrated by the Kiev regime’s Neo-Nazi national guard.
Ironically, barely four days after being accused by Kiev of planning to invade Ukraine, Russia’s President Putin agreed with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso that Moscow would not only collaborate with the Red Cross on channeling humanitarian aid to Eastern Ukraine through Russian territory, but that the agreement reached with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), had the support of the Kiev government.
It is worth noting that neither the Russian government nor the Russian media have commented extensively on (or responded to) the accusations directed against Moscow contained in Ukraine’s dodgy Secret Service’s MH17 report.
Was Washington consulted before the release of the dodgy SBU False Flag report?
Did Washington give them the “Green Light” to release the SBU report as a means of “Framing Russia”?
Or did the White House or the State Department decide that the SBU’s “fake intelligence” was visibly flawed and could not effectively be used for propaganda purposes against Russia?
Were the CIA and MI6 consulted? Britain’s Secret Service MI6 subsequently had access to the plane’s black box, which was handed over by a Malaysian official to the Dutch task force and which in turn was entrusted to an unnamed partner entity in the UK.
Concluding Remarks
The Day After
According to the SBU in its August 7, 2014 official report on behalf of the Ukraine government, the Kremlin’s planned “false flag” to bring down a commercial Aeroflot flight en route to Cyprus and blame the tragedy on the Kiev regime, was to be used to justify the launching of a major war against Ukraine.
the crime was planned as a ground for bringing of Russian troops into Ukraine, that is – CASUS BELLI for the Russian military invasion. …
“the [Donesk] rebels were meant to down [the] Aeroflot plane… to justify the invasion [of Ukraine by Russia]” (see complete text in Annex)
These statements border on ridicule. They reveal the corrupt and criminal nature of the SBU.
If a Russian military invasion of Ukraine had been planned to commence on July 18th, 2014 there would have been ample evidence of deployment and movement of Russian forces in proximity of the border in the days prior to the July 17th tragedy. Sloppy intelligence? No such evidence was forthcoming indicating the movement of Russian forces.
It is worth noting that the only movement of military hardware documented by both Ukrainian and Russian sources was the deployment of a BUK missile system belonging to the Ukrainian armed forces, reported on July 15, 2014.
According to Ukrainian sources, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Vitaliy Yarema confirmed that “the Donesk rebels did not have [Ukrainian] Buk or S 300 ground to air missiles which could have downed the plane”, which suggests that the missiles of the Ukraine armed forces had been deployed but they were not in the possession of the rebels, a premise which remains central to the US-Kiev official version that the rebels, supported by Moscow, were responsible for attacking Malaysian Airlines MH17.
A final note:
The alleged Russian Invasion Plan was slated to start on the 18th according to SBU Chief Nalyvaichenko.
Intelligence data proved that on July 18 the militants have already waited for the introduction of Russian Armed forces into the territory of Ukraine. (See official report of Ukraine Security Service (SBU, in annex below)
This account seems to be at odds with both the SBU and JIT statements that the alleged Russian BUK Missile had been brought in secretly on the 16th of July into Donesk, and was planned to be discreetly moved back across the border into Russia on the 17th or 18th.
If Russia had been planning an invasion to commence on July 18th, why on earth would they need to discretely move their military hardware back across the border to Russia.
During the investigation of Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 downing the law enforcement and intelligence bodies established that terrorists and militants have cynically planned the terrorist attack at Aeroflot civil aircraft, AFL-2074 Moscow-Larnaca, which was flying over the territory of Ukraine at that moment. Hereof informed the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Mr. Valentyn Nalyvaichenko during the briefing today.
He underlined – the crime was planned as a ground for bringing of Russian troops into Ukraine, that is – CASUS BELLI for the Russian military invasion.
According to the official Ukrainian data, June 17, 2014, at the mentioned time two regular international flights were operating over the territory of Ukraine following the filed requests for aircraft clearance – MAS17 plane of the Malaysia Airlines and AFL-2074 one of Aeroflot.
The routes of the mentioned international flights were approaching the sky over Donetsk. At 16:09 in the area of Novomykolaivka town the routes of the mentioned flights crossed. It is worth noting that the flight specifications of the aircrafts were almost identical – the Malaysian aircraft flew at a height of 10,100 m at a speed 909 km/h, while the Russian one – at a height of 10,600 m at a speed 768 km/h.
At 16:20 from the area of ‘Pervomaiske’ village, north-east from Donetsk, near the town of Torez, terrorists shot down the Malaysian jet, which then crashed near Grabove, Donetsk region.
According to the intercepted and published data about the ‘Buk” missile system, the terrorists had received an order to place the system near ‘Pervomaiskoe’ village, V. Nalyvaichenko mentioned. The namesake village is located about 20 km to the north-east from Donetsk.
The terrorists (most of them are not locals, but the Russian mercenaries) misrecognized the namesake villages and moved the other way, the SSU Head said. The odd route of the ‘Buk’ missile system on the territory of Ukraine proves that fact. The system crossed the Russia-Ukraine border in Luhansk region, then was deployed westward to Donetsk and moved back to the border between Donetsk and Luhansk regions afterwards.
By setting up the ‘Buk’ missile system in ‘Pervomaiske’ village located to the west from Donetsk and taking into consideration the military specifications of the weapon, the terrorists could have shot down the Russian civilian jetliner with its further crashing on the Ukrainian territory controlled by the ATO [Ukraine] forces.
In that case Russia would receive an opportunity to accuse the Ukrainian authorities of downing the Russian plane, assaulting the Russian citizens and would use this irresistible proof for its invasion into Ukraine.
Russian side would need a compelling argument for such a step, for example accusation of the Ukrainian government in mass murder of the Russian citizens.
“A peculiar cynicism appears in the fact that the terrorist act was planned just against the peaceful, innocent Russian citizens, who were flying with their children on vacation”, – V. Nalyvaichenko, stressed.
Intelligence data proved that on July 18 the militants have already waited for the introduction of Russian Armed forces into the territory of Ukraine. The Russian side had been giving grounding for such developments for the several previous days. The Russian Mass Media had massively published information about the alleged shelling of the RF territory from the Ukrainian side.
For further details see [link no longer available]
Aparte de la declaración semioficial, nada indica que ISIS haya llevado a cabo el ataque al Crocus City Hall en Moscú.
Las agencias de noticias occidentales informan que, a través de su vehículo oficial, la agencia de noticias Amaq, ISIS declaró que “el ataque se produce en el contexto de una guerra violenta entre el Estado Islámico y los países que luchan contra el Islam”.
Esta afirmación no tiene sentido cuando miramos el país que fue atacado. Rusia es uno de los mayores aliados de los países islámicos. Y no me parece que ISIS esté precisamente preocupado por luchar contra los enemigos del Islam, ya que también se atribuyó la responsabilidad de un reciente ataque que mató a casi 100 personas en Irán, un país musulmán.
¿Qué naciones estarían “luchando contra el Islam”? En primer lugar, tenemos obviamente a Israel, que promueve el genocidio en Gaza. Todos los musulmanes militantes ven a Israel como el mayor enemigo del Islam. Pero ISIS no comete ataques en Israel, aunque eso sería muy fácil para Hamás o la Jihad Islámica. Hezbollah y Ansarullah también han atacado a Israel.
ISIS no ataca a Israel. Tampoco ha llevado a cabo ningún ataque importante en Estados Unidos, aunque es visto por la mayoría de los creyentes musulmanes como el segundo mayor enemigo del Islam y el mayor patrocinador de Israel.
Francia ha aplicado medidas dictatoriales contra los creyentes musulmanes, pero ha pasado un tiempo desde que ISIS llevó a cabo ataques importantes en el país. Lo mismo ocurre en el Reino Unido, donde la policía arresta a manifestantes que protestaban por la masacre de musulmanes en Gaza. En Alemania, el canciller Olaf Scholz ha sido uno de los más firmes partidarios del genocidio israelí, pero esto no parece molestar a ISIS.
Ninguno de los atacantes capturados declaró ser miembro de ISIS, ni siquiera haber sido reclutados para una misión sagrada, aunque la mayoría aparentemente son de origen musulmán.
De hecho, según ha difundido hasta el momento las autoridades rusas, los delincuentes declararon que actuaron exclusivamente por motivos económicos. No eran militantes de ningún grupo, ni de ISIS. Eran mercenarios pagados para matar gente, sin ideología declarada.
La prensa controlada por el imperialismo occidental difunde la creencia ciega en la atribución del ataque al ISIS. Todo empezó, como siempre, con noticias de Estados Unidos.
Parece un intento de establecer una verdad como cierta para evitar cualquier cuestionamiento, cualquier declaración diferente, que luego sería considerada una teoría de conspiración o persecución por parte del gobierno ruso contra Ucrania.
El gobierno estadounidense se apresuró a decir que Ucrania no tenía nada que ver con el ataque, mucho antes de que se formularan acusaciones contra los ucranianos. Todo el mundo conoce la historia del culpable que, justo después de hacer algo mal, es el primero en decir que no fue él. Esta declaración de Washington huele muy mal.
María Zajárova dio en el clavo: ¿cómo pueden los EE.UU. asegurar con tanta vehemencia que no fue Ucrania, si todavía nadie tiene información sobre lo que pasó? Si saben que supuestamente no era Ucrania, ¡entonces tienen pistas de quién fue!
Estados Unidos también se contradice al declarar, a través de John Kirby, que no tenía conocimiento de un complot en Moscú, y luego afirma que avisó a los rusos a principios de mes. Aunque advirtieron, considerando que no se puede creer a Estados Unidos, la información pudo haber sido una bandera falsa para despistar a los rusos y bajar la guardia ante el ataque que se produciría apenas dos semanas después.
El grupo musical Picnic, que actuaba en el teatro, apoya la operación militar especial en Ucrania. Según las investigaciones de las autoridades rusas, los responsables del ataque planeaban huir a Ucrania, donde ya tenían contactos que les ayudarían a escapar.
Vale, Ucrania es la frontera más cercana y segura para un terrorista que acaba de perpetrar un atentado en Moscú. Pero seamos realistas, en plena guerra entre Ucrania y Rusia, esto también huele muy mal para el lado ucraniano.
Sobre todo porque el secretario del Consejo Nacional de Defensa y Seguridad de Ucrania, Alexei Danilov, dijo a la televisión ucraniana que “les ofreceremos este tipo de entretenimiento más a menudo”. Los ucranianos, como los israelíes, no son muy discretos…
Los medios de propaganda occidentales habían causado revuelo anteriormente por las palabras de Dmitri Peskov, quien afirmó que Rusia se encuentra, en la práctica, en estado de guerra. Sería la prueba faltante de la amenaza, el peligro, la agresión y la megalomanía asesina de Vladimir Putin para apoderarse de Ucrania y del mundo.
El mismo día, respondiendo a una pregunta sobre si la OTAN estaba preparada para un conflicto con Rusia, Robert Bauer, miembro del comité militar de la OTAN, afirmó: “¡la respuesta es sí! Esta es nuestra principal tarea por hacer”. Sobre esto la prensa guardó silencio.
La situación actual muestra una peligrosa tendencia hacia la escalada de la guerra. Emmanuel Macron consideró enviar tropas francesas, mientras oficiales alemanes fueron sorprendidos discutiendo un ataque al puente de Crimea.
También en vísperas del ataque, Ucrania incrementó los bombardeos contra las regiones fronterizas. Todos estos son signos de una escalada del conflicto. Desde que Rusia puso en funcionamiento su picadora de carne, allá por 2022, ya se informó que ucranianos desesperados se embarcarían en acciones terroristas en territorio ruso, ya que no tendrían ninguna posibilidad de victoria en el campo de batalla.
Las embajadas de Ucrania son notorias reclutadoras de terroristas. El 10 de marzo, la embajada de Ucrania en Tayikistán publicó un anuncio para el reclutamiento de mercenarios tayikos. Según información preliminar, algunos de los capturados tras el atentado en Moscú son tayikos.
Los ataques que mataron a Darya Dugina en agosto de 2022 y a Vladlen Tatarsky en abril de 2023 son parte de esta nueva estrategia ucraniana. La muerte de Evgeny Prigozhin, en agosto de 2023, está ahora más cerca de ser obra de los ucranianos que de los propios rusos.
El periodista ruso Andrey Medvedev cita algunos puntos: 1) Amaq News no se había utilizado durante algún tiempo para informar sobre las acciones de ISIS; 2) los integrantes de este grupo huyeron luego del ataque y no tomaron rehenes, lo que difiere de las acciones anteriores.
Rusia acababa de vivir un momento de éxtasis con la abrumadora reelección de Vladimir Putin. Un momento de extrema felicidad y celebración para el Kremlin y la inmensa mayoría de la población rusa. Esta elección fue boicoteada, saboteada y calumniada por todo el imperialismo occidental, que patrocina a Ucrania, y lógicamente fue vista por él como una clara señal del fortalecimiento del gobierno ruso.
Al mismo tiempo, sería un buen momento –precisamente por la guardia baja debido al ambiente festivo– para un ataque sorpresa como este.
Ucrania y sus patrocinadores de la OTAN tienen todas las razones – sabiendo cómo piensan y actúan durante décadas – para llevar a cabo este tipo de cobardía contra Rusia. ISIS no tiene ningún motivo.
Pero incluso si en realidad fue orquestado por ISIS, eso no exime de culpa a Estados Unidos y sus satélites. Después de todo, quienes están detrás de ISIS son las mismas personas detrás de Vladimir Zelensky.
Eduardo Vasco
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Eduardo Vascoé jornalista especializado em política internacional, correspondente de guerra e autor dos livros-reportagem “O povo esquecido: uma história de genocídio e resistência no Donbass” e “Bloqueio: a guerra silenciosa contra Cuba”.
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How much longer will the Biden administration and the mainstream media continue to deny that we are in the midst of a very painful economic downturn? Debt levels have never been higher, delinquency rates are spiking, the commercial real estate market is crashing, the banking industry is mired in turmoil and large companies are conducting mass layoffs all over the nation. Anyone that attempts to claim that the U.S. economy is in good shape is just being delusional. Unfortunately, it is those that are at the bottom of the economic food chain that are being hurt the most.
If you want to know what is really going on with the economy, pawn shops are a great place to look.
When the economy is doing well, pawn shop inventories tend to go down because people aren’t pawning much stuff and there is lots of buying going on.
But when the economy is not doing well, pawn shop inventories tend to go up because people are pawning lots of stuff for fast cash and there aren’t as many buyers as there were during the good times.
So what are we seeing during the early stages of 2024?
One pawn shop owner that was recently interviewed by USA Today admitted that he has “a glut of inventory” right now…
Clay Baron has everything in his pawn shop from gold rings and pearl necklaces to vintage cowboy boots, silver belt buckles, stereos and ticking clocks.
The only thing he’s short on is space. “Right now we have a glut of inventory,” Baron said, “which tells me that our clientele doesn’t necessarily have money.”
Accumulating pawn shop inventory means fewer buyers than sellers – a sign that for the lowest-income Americans, times remain tough.
That same article pointed out that inventory levels have also grown rapidly at some of the largest pawn shop chains in the entire nation…
Two of the largest, publicly traded pawnshop corporations in the U.S. – which between them own roughly 1,700 pawnshops nationwide – are also reporting growing inventory and increased demand for short-term loans.
FirstCash Holdings Inc. operates nearly 1,200 pawnshops under the FirstCash and Cash America brands in 29 states and the District of Columbia. The company reported “record pawn receivables” in its most recent year-end earnings report and a 10% increase in inventory at its U.S. stores.
EZCORP Inc. also owns 530 pawnshops in the U.S. and reported an 8% increase in inventory at U.S. stores in the company’s latest earnings report. The “challenging macro-economic backdrop” continued to fuel demand for short-term cash loans, the company said.
If anyone comes to you and tries to convince you that the economy is doing well, just show them these numbers.
That will be the end of any debate.
One of the reasons why so many Americans need fast cash is because debt loads have risen to unprecedented levels. Here is just one example…
For Denise and Paul Nierzwicki, credit cards are the only way to make ends meet. The couple, ages 69 and 72, respectively, have about $20,000 in debt spread across multiple cards, all with interest rates above 20%.
The trouble started during the pandemic, when Denise lost her job and a business deal for a bar that they owned in their hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, went bad.
They applied for Social Security, which helped, and Denise now works 50 hours a week at a restaurant. Still, they’re barely scraping together the minimum payments for their credit card debt.
Can you imagine how much stress they must be feeling on a daily basis?
Sadly, there are millions of others that are in similar positions.
The combination of high debt levels and high interest rates has created a “perfect storm” of suffering for U.S. consumers, and so it should be no surprise that delinquency rates have been surging…
The signs are obvious. Last week we noted that banks’ charge-offs are accelerating, and are now above pre-pandemic levels.
…and leading this increase are credit card loans – with delinquencies that haven’t been this high since Q3 2011.
On top of that, while credit cards and nonfarm, nonresidential commercial real estate loans drove the quarterly increase in the noncurrent rate, residential mortgages drove the quarterly increase in the share of loans 30-89 days past due.
When large numbers of people start getting behind on their mortgages, it is only a matter of time before foreclosures start to spike.
Home foreclosures rose again in February as Americans continue to grapple with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
That is according to a new report published by real estate data provider ATTOM, which found that there were 32,938 properties in February with foreclosure filings, which includes default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions.
Sadly, things are only going to get worse during the months ahead, because the labor market is starting to get very tight.
Cheyenne Barton, 26, of Kissimmee, Florida, graduated in December with one degree in biomedical sciences and another in computing technology and software development – the kind of practical background employers have coveted.
She initially targeted software development jobs but is now looking for “really any job” where she can use her degrees.
Barton has applied for about 1,000 positions but hasn’t yet notched an interview.
Companies “say they want recent grads who are teachable and can learn quicker,” she says. “But then you apply for the job and it’s like, ‘Oh, we already have over 100 applications with people who are more qualified.’”
Wait a second.
Joe Biden told us that good jobs are easy to find these days.
So why can’t Cheyenne Barton even get an interview?
Something is not adding up.
Of course the truth is that we have seen a major shift in the labor market in recent months. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the number of layoffs in February was the highest that they have ever recorded for that particular month…
The pace of job cuts by U.S. employers accelerated in February, a sign the labor market is starting to deteriorate in the face of ongoing inflation and high interest rates.
That is according to a new report published Thursday by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which found that companies planned 84,638 job cuts in February, a 3% increase from the previous month and a 9% jump from the same time last year.
It marked the highest layoff total for the month of February in data going back to 2009.
The outlook for the rest of the year is absolutely dismal.
So even more Americans will fall into poverty.
And even more Americans will fall into hunger.
And even more Americans will end up homeless.
Over the weekend, a story about a homeless man in Wasco, California that was apparently eating “a severed human leg” has been going viral…
Video footage shot in Wasco, California appears to show a crazed maniac waving around a severed human leg and taking bites out of it before police apprehended him Friday.
Reports have suggested that the man ‘stole’ the leg from the scene of a train accident, where a person was earlier hit and killed.
The footage shows the man, identified as 27-year-old Resendo Tellez, holding and examining the limb, with witnesses saying he was eating parts of it, before attempting to walk away waving it around as multiple police cars close in on him.
That is pretty shocking.
But it is also a preview of where this country is heading.
The economic suffering of the past couple of years has been very painful, but the truth is that it isn’t even worth comparing to what is in front of us.
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Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.
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To the uninitiated, I explain first that the FSB is the successor organization to the Soviet Union’s well-known and much feared KGB. However, the FSB today might be better compared with the FBI in the United States. It deals with domestic criminality of all kinds and with threats to Russian civilians such as terrorism. The agency and its head are rarely in the news.
In this respect, the FSB is less visible both at home and abroad than the Foreign Intelligence Service headed by Sergei Naryshkin, a state figure who spent five years of this millennium as chairman of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of the legislature, and also three years as head of the Presidential Administration. In both positions Naryshkin was very often seen on television performing his duties.
By contrast, Bortnikov spent the past 15 years in his FSB offices out of sight. However, the spectacular attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue has propelled him to center stage and yesterday he met with the Russian state television journalist Pavel Zarubin for an interview and then allowed himself to be questioned further by a gaggle of other journalists on his way out along a corridor. This spontaneous Q&A was later broadcast on the television news. What Bortnikov had to say was extraordinary and bears directly on whether you and I should now be looking for bomb shelters. Regrettably you will not find any of it in the lead stories of today’s mainstream media. The Financial Times, for example, features an account of Xi’s meeting with CEOs of American businesses to mend ties: interesting, but not very relevant if we are at the cusp of WWIII.
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Bortnikov is by definition a member of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle of advisors. He, Putin and Naryshkin are all roughly the same age. At 72, Bortnikov is just several years older.
I was struck in particular by his poise and prudent, carefully weighed choice of words while setting out where the investigation is heading with transparency and a ‘let the chips fall where they may’ unaffected demeanor.
The journalists were all probing the question of who stood behind the terror attack. Bortnikov told them…and us: standing behind the terror act committed by Islamist extremists are the United States, Great Britain and Ukraine.
Russian Crocus City Hall amphitheater interiors, day after terrorist attack on 22 March 2024 (Licensed under CC BY 4.0)
Bortnikov said that the preliminary findings indicate that the four perpetrators of the slaughter were headed by car to the border with Ukraine where they were awaited on the other side.
He very calmly explained that the involvement of foreign powers is being clarified and that he will say nothing out of pure emotion now but will wait for the facts to be solidly collected before being presented.
Nonetheless, it was entirely newsworthy that he named the United States, Great Britain and Ukraine as the likely puppet masters of the terror act. Let us remember that following the bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines, the most significant attack on critical civilian infrastructure globally in the last 50 years, Russian officials did not point the finger directly at any country. There was innuendo but no direct accusations such as we heard from Bortnikov yesterday.
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Meanwhile, quite apart from Mr. Bortnikov’s chat with journalists, a lot of new elements to the terror attack at Crocus City Hall were posted yesterday on the Russian state television news and analysis program Sixty Minutes.
In particular, we learned that in the last days of February and first couple of days of March two of the four attackers were in Istanbul. The departure and arrival of one at a Moscow airport was recorded on video. We were told which hotels they stayed in, and the selfies and other photos taken by one in Istanbul were put up on the screen. It is still not clear with whom they met in Turkey. However, the timing itself is very important, because the point was made that they returned to Moscow to carry out a terror attack on 8 March, International Women’s Day, a sacred date on the Russian calendar. Had they done so on that day, the effect would have been catastrophic for the presidential elections in Russia one week later.
However, per Sixty Minutes, it was determined that Russian state security on 8 March was too tight for the terrorist mission to succeed and the United States decided to pull the plug on that operation. Note that this is approximately the time when Victoria Nuland tendered her resignation at the State Department (5 March). The possible causal link here surely deserves attention by my peers in the U.S. ‘dissident’ community.
In any case, the scenario which was explored later in the day on the Evening with Vladimir Solovyov talk show is that the Ukrainians decided to proceed with the terror attack a week after the Russian presidential elections, when it lost most of its rationale. They did so over the objections of Washington.
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From time to time, readers ask why I pay attention to talk shows like Vladimir Solovyov’s. These skeptics tend to ignore that Solovyov invites not just the usual irresponsible academics and journalists who can amuse the public but also some very serious statesmen who are close to the center of power in Russia and exert influence on the conduct of foreign and domestic policy, including in particular committee chairmen and other key personalities from the State Duma.
So it was last night when we heard from a member of the Committee on Relations with the Commonwealth of Independent States (Former Soviet Union). With reference to the never ending terror attacks on civilians in the Russian border region of Belgorod coming from nearby Kharkiv (Ukraine), he said it is time to raze Kharkov to the ground: issue a warning to the population to get in their cars and head West, then blow it all to bits. Kharkiv is, by the way, Ukraine’s second most populous city after Kiev.
In general, the mood of panelists and of the host Solovyov himself is now changing in a cardinal manner: Ukraine is seen as an enemy state and the sooner it is finished off the better. There was talk last night on the need for missile strikes to flatten the presidential palace in Kiev along with all military and other decision making government centers in the capital.
As we have observed repeatedly over the past two years. President Putin has been a voice for moderation and restraint, resisting actions that might precipitate WWIII. That is clearly coming to an end when his own FSB director names the United States and the UK as planners of the biggest terror attack in Russia in 20 years.
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Featured image: Alexander Bortnikov (Licensed under CC BY 4.0)
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On Nov. 26, 2023, 24 year old healthcare worker Jayden’s life was turned upside down. She had been experiencing a migraine for days. On Nov. 27, a CT and MRI confirmed she had a brain tumor just a bit smaller than baseball in size.
Jayden Zientara, a health care partner at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, recently underwent brain surgery.
The 24-year-old said it all started with a bad migraine in late Nov. 2023.
“I never get migraines or headaches, so like any other person, I took Ibuprofen and Tylenol, hoping my headache would go away,” she said.
After another miserable 24 hours, Zientara decided to go to urgent care and see if the doctors there could help address her pain.
“I was prescribed … sleep meds and headache meds … and was told that if my migraine didn’t go away in the next 24 hours, that I needed to go get a CT scan,” she recalled.
Two days later, Zientara said the pain had not subsided — so she went to get a scan.
“After I received the CT, they told me I had a brain mass and needed to get transferred to Vanderbilt for an MRI,” she said.
The MRI showed that Zientara had a brain tumor roughly the size of a baseball — and that she would need surgery to remove it.
Within a few days, Zientara was in surgery.
Doctors removed and biopsied her tumor — and confirmed that it was brain cancer.
“My specific brain tumor is called an astrocytoma, and it’s commonly found in men over 40 and children under two,” she said.
The rare tumor took doctors about 12 hours to remove, she said.
However, Zientara needed to be awake for part of it so that her brain would be stimulated during surgery.
Prior to the procedure, Zientara said doctors asked her what they could engage her on during the procedure to stimulate her brain.
Zientara said the Boston Celtics and her little brother were topics she “could talk about for hours.”
“I also told them I could list all 50 states in alphabetic order,” she said.
And so, when the health staff asked her about the 50 states during surgery, Zientara began to sing a song while doctors were removing her brain tumor.
“It’s a song I’ve known since I was young,” she told Fox News Digital.
She added, “I learned it in elementary school, and I’ve never forgotten it.”
Although Zientara said she does not remember being awake during the surgery, she loved seeing the video of herself singing and naming all 50 states.
The patient’s mom, Jamie Zientara, said she was shocked to see her daughter recite such a thing while undergoing surgery.
“I knew that there would be some type of video recorded,” she said.
“However, I was not expecting that.”
She added, “The exposure and outpouring of support she has received has been nothing short of amazing.”
Since then, Jayden Zientara has been home with her family in Illinois ahead of her upcoming chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
Jayden Zientara said each of her treatments will last for six weeks, but she’s not afraid of the process.
“After my first brain surgery, I guess you could say I’m a pro,” she joked.
The care worker said her mother has been a huge support to her during this time and she’s grateful for that.
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Migraines are a bad sign for the COVID-19 vaccinated.
Mar. 21, 2024 – 37 year old Antiques Roadshow host Theo Burrell has terminal brain cancer (glioblastoma). The first symptom was car sickness on a journey I’d done many times before. I’d never had car sickness as a child so that was strange. Then I had what I thought was a migraine – visual disturbance, lots of vomiting. That progressed to constant headaches and sinus problems, with my vision getting progressively worse.
Feb. 2024 – Melbourne, Australia – 27 year old Tahlia West had a “never-ending stream of migraines” – she was finally diagnosed with a rare brain tumor in the pituitary.
Nov. 6, 2023 – Liverpool, UK – The Night Cafe Indie lead singer 26 year old Sean Martin died suddenly Nov. 6, 2023. His girlfriend revealed that he had been suffering migraines.
Oct. 2023 – 33 year old Safa Srour, Dubai based beauty and fashion influencer was jet-setting between international fashion weeks when she had migraines. She was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm.
Sep. 3, 2023 – Sep.3, 2023 – Biloxi, MS – 21 year old Alesia Lockhard is in US National Guard Reserve. In May 2023 after weeks of suffering from chronic migraines & nausea she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Rhabdomyosarcoma.
Sep. 2023 – UK – 45 year old Pippa Griffiths, photographer, developed migraines, due to an undiagnosed meningioma.
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Dr. William Makis is a Canadian physician with expertise in Radiology, Oncology and Immunology. Governor General’s Medal, University of Toronto Scholar. Author of 100+ peer-reviewed medical publications.
Featured image is from COVID Intel
The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
Reviews
This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon
In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia
In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig
Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac
A reading of Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late. You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
In recent developments– barely a few days following the reelection of Vladimir Putin (October 17, 2024)five Islamic State gunmen (ISIL) waged a brutal terror attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Concert Hall attached to a shopping mall, at the outskirts of Moscow. The attack has resulted in more than 130 deaths.
The Islamic State (IS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) which happens to be a creation of the CIA claimed responsibility for the attack.
On March 7, 2024, 10 the days before Russia’s presidential elections, the US Embassy in Moscow had warned the Kremlin that a terror attack may take place in a shopping mall, within the next few weeks… It also “warned US citizens in Moscow not to visit shopping malls.”
What is the Islamic State (ISIL, ISIS-Daesh)?
Ask former President Barack Obama who in 2014 ordered a major counter-terrorism operation directed against the Islamic State under the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (R2P)
The counter-terrorism mandate is a fiction. America is the Number One “State Sponsor of Terrorism”.
In 2014 President Obama launched a “counter-terrorism campaign” allegedly directed against The Islamic State (ISIL, ISIS-Daesh).
It was an outright act of war disguised as a fake counter-terrorism operation.
It consisted in providing a justification for the extensive bombing of Iraq and Syria, largely targeting residential areas and civilians.
In turn, ISIS-Daesh was covertly supported and funded by the U.S. and its allies including Israel.
Israel was directly involved in President Obama’s “counter-terrorism” bombing raids directed against Syria, while also supporting Al Qaeda and ISIS mercenaries out of the Golan Heights.
Since 9/11, “America’s The Islamic State has gone Global”.
The Islamic State is not limited to the the Middle East and Central Asia.
West Africa, Central Africa, Southeast Asia, Western Europe, Russia, Turkey, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, and many more.
There are Islamic State related jihadist networks supported covertly by Western intelligence in all major regions of the World with the exception of Latin America.
Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, March 25, 2024
* * *
26 Things About the Islamic State (ISIS-ISIL-Daesh)
that the U.S. Government Does Not Want You to Know About
by Michel Chossudovsky
November 2014
Going after ” Islamic terrorists”, carrying out a worldwide pre-emptive war to “Protect the American Homeland” are used to justify a military agenda.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a creation of US intelligence. Washington’s “Counter-terrorism Agenda” in Iraq and Syria consists in Supporting the Terrorists.
The incursion of the Islamic State (IS) brigades into Iraq starting in June 2014 was part of a carefully planned military-intelligence operation supported covertly by the US, NATO and Israel.
The counter-terrorism mandate is a fiction. America is the Number One “State Sponsor of Terrorism”
The Islamic State is protected by the US and its allies. If they had wanted to eliminate the Islamic State brigades, they could have “carpet” bombed their convoys of Toyota pickup trucks when they crossed the desert from Syria into Iraq in June.
\
The Syro-Arabian Desert is open territory (see map below). With state of the art jet fighter aircraft (F15, F22 Raptor, CF-18) it would have been -from a military standpoint- a rapid and expedient surgical operation
It could not have been undertaken without the unbending support of the Western media which has upheld Obama’s initiative as a counter-terrorism operation.
“Advertisements, paid for from CIA funds, were placed in newspapers and newsletters around the world offering inducements and motivations to join the Jihad.”
3. Since the Reagan Administration, Washington has supported the Islamic terror network.
Ronald Reagan called the terrorists “freedom fighters”. The US supplied weapons to the Islamic brigades. It was all for “a good cause”: fighting the Soviet Union and regime change, leading to the demise of a secular government in Afghanistan.
President Reagan and Mujahideen leaders from Afghanistan
Ronald Reagan meets Afghan Mujahideen Commanders at the White House in 1985 (Reagan Archives)
5. Osama bin Laden, America’s bogyman and founder of Al Qaedawas recruited by the CIA in 1979 at the very outset of the US sponsored jihadist war against Afghanistan . He was 22 years old and was trained in a CIA sponsored guerilla training camp.
Al Qaeda was not behind the 9/11 Attacks. September 11, 2001 provided a justification for waging a war against Afghanistan on the grounds that Afghanistan was a state sponsor of terrorism, supportive of Al Qaeda. The 9/11 attacks were instrumental in the formulation of the “Global War on Terrorism”.
THE ISLAMIC STATE (ISIL)
6. The Islamic State (ISIL) was originally an Al Qaeda affiliated entity created by US intelligence with the support of Britain’s MI6, Israel’s Mossad, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Saudi Arabia’s General Intelligence Presidency (GIP), Ri’āsat Al-Istikhbārāt Al-’Āmah ( رئاسة الاستخبارات العامة).
7. The ISIL brigades were involved in the US-NATO supported insurgency in Syria directed against the government of Bashar al Assad.
8. NATO and the Turkish High Command were responsible for the recruitment of ISIL and Al Nusrah mercenaries from the outset of the Syrian insurgency in March 2011. According to Israeli intelligence sources, this initiative consisted in:
“a campaign to enlist thousands of Muslim volunteers in Middle East countries and the Muslim world to fight alongside the Syrian rebels. The Turkish army would house these volunteers, train them and secure their passage into Syria. (DEBKAfile, NATO to give rebels anti-tank weapons, August 14, 2011.)
9.There are Western Special Forces and Western intelligence operatives within the ranks of the ISIL. British Special Forces and MI6 have been involved in training jihadist rebels in Syria.
10. Western military specialists on contract to the Pentagon have trained the terrorists in the use of chemical weapons.
“The United States and some European allies are using defense contractors to train Syrian rebels on how to secure chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria, a senior U.S. official and several senior diplomats told CNN Sunday. ( CNN Report, December 9, 2012)
11. The ISIL’s practice of beheadings is part of the US sponsored terrorist training programs implemented in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Jihadist fighters have met Israeli IDF officers as well as Prime Minister Netanyahu. The IDF top brass tacitly acknowledges that “global jihad elements inside Syria” [ISIL and Al Nusrah] are supported by Israel. See image below:
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon next to a wounded mercenary, Israeli military field hospital at the occupied Golan Heights’ border with Syria, 18 February 2014″
SYRIA AND IRAQ
14 The ISIL are the foot soldiers of the Western military alliance. Their unspoken mandate is to wreck havoc and destruction in Syria and Iraq, acting on behalf of their US sponsors.
15. US Senator John McCain has met up with jihadist terrorist leaders in Syria. (see picture right)
16 The Islamic State (IS) militia, which is currently the alleged target of a US-NATO bombing campaign under a “counter-terrorism” mandate, continues to be supported covertly by the US. Washington and its allies continue to provide military aid to the Islamic State.
17. US and allied bombings are not targeting the ISIL, they are bombing the economic infrastructure of Iraq and Syria including factories and oil refineries.
18. The IS caliphate project is part of a longstanding US foreign policy agenda to carve up Iraq and Syria into separate territories: A Sunni Islamist Caliphate, an Arab Shia Republic, a Republic of Kurdistan.
THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM (GWOT)
19. “The Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT) is presented as a “Clash of Civilizations”, a war between competing values and religions, when in reality it is an outright war of conquest, guided by strategic and economic objectives.
20 U.S. sponsored Al Qaeda terror brigades (covertly supported by Western intelligence) have been deployed in Mali, Niger, Nigeria, the Central African Republic, Somalia and Yemen.
These various affiliated Al Qaeda entities in the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are CIA sponsored “intelligence assets”. They are used by Washington to wreck havoc, create internal conflicts and destabilize sovereign countries.
22. The US is also supporting Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist organizations in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region of China. The underlying objective is to trigger political instability in Western China.
23 The Terrorists R Us: While the US is the unspoken architect of the Islamic State, Obama’s holy mandate is to protect America against ISIL attacks.
24 The homegrown terrorist threat is a fabrication. It is promoted by Western governments and the media with a view to repealing civil liberties and installing a police state. The terror attacks by alleged jihadists and terror warnings are invariably staged events. They are used to create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.
In turn, the arrests, trials and sentences of “Islamic terrorists” sustain the legitimacy of America’s Homeland Security State and law enforcement apparatus, which has become increasingly militarized.
The ultimate objective is to instill in the minds of millions of Americans that the enemy is real and the U.S. Administration will protect the lives of its citizens.
25. The “counter-terrorism” campaign against the Islamic State has contributed to the demonization of Muslims, who in the eyes of Western public opinion are increasingly associated with the jihadists.
26 Anybody who dares to question the validity of the “Global War on Terrorism” is branded a terrorist and subjected to the anti-terrorist laws.
The ultimate objective of the “Global War on Terrorism” is to subdue the citizens, totally depoliticize social life in America, prevent people from thinking and conceptualizing, from analyzing facts and challenging the legitimacy of the inquisitorial social order which rules America.
The Obama Administration has imposed a diabolical consensus with the support of its allies, not to mention the complicit role of the United Nations Security Council. The Western media has embraced the consensus; it has described the Islamic State as an independent entity, an outside enemy which threatens the Western World.
The Big Lie has become the Truth.
Say no to the “Big Lie”. Spread the message.
The truth is ultimately a powerful weapon.
Please help us continue. We rely on the support of our readers.
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The diabolical massacre of over 300 people (nearly half of whom are dead now) at the Crocus City Hall is the worst terrorist attack in Russia in the last 20 years and one of the worst in the world in the last half a decade. And yet, many in the mainstream propaganda machine called it a “shooting”, possibly a “mass shooting” or simply an “attack” and similar terms that show just how little empathy there is for Russian civilians. The terrorist attack in and of itself was horrible enough, but the monstrous glee that was coming from the Neo-Nazi junta and its supporters made things far worse.
Rather interesting how the US could claim this mere hours after the terrorist attack, when not even Russian services who were on the ground had all the details, but it “doesn’t really know” who destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines, except that it was a “mysterious deep-diving Ukrainian group”.
Even worse, Washington DC is yet to conclude the 9/11 investigation 23 years after the attacks that were a defining moment of America’s 21st-century history.
It’s “almost as if” the political elites are hiding something. But, for some reason, they “immediately know” who’s behind a terrorist attack 10,000 km away and insist their favorite puppet regime “most certainly had nothing to do with it”.
What’s more, the US started defending the Neo-Nazi junta before Russia came out with any official statements about its involvement.
And while the troubled Biden administration, including vice president Kamala Harris, is fighting tooth and nail to “prove” the Kiev regime’s “innocence”, the latter’s on the brink of throwing parties to celebrate the brutal massacre of hundreds of unarmed Russian civilians. There are at least two such disturbing cases, one where a Ukrainian restaurant included something called “the Crocus City set” in its menu and another where Ukrainian gamers created a map of the Crocus City Hall concert hall in the globally popular Counter Strike FPS game, where they can shoot and set fire to virtual hostages or even plant explosives to blow them up.
Apart from the (now former) Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov, who not only praised the terrorist attack, but also mocked the victims and Russia as a whole and threatened with more such massacres, there’s also the SBU head Vasyl Malyuk who openly boasted about organizing terrorist attacks that killed a number of Russian public figures, including Darya Dugina and Maxim Fomin (aka Vladlen Tatarsky), clearly implying that he’s also involved in the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack.
This brings us to another similar episode that happened in the US when the infamous neocon warmonger Victoria Nuland used the opportunity to threaten Russia on the second anniversary of its special military operation (SMO).
Days later, she left the State Department. It seems the Neo-Nazi junta isn’t the only one trying to cover their tracks, although Nuland appears to have been a bit more cunning by leaving before the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack. But Nuland is not the only one. Last year, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, made similar threats.
“There should be no Russian who goes to sleep without wondering if they’re going to get their throat slit in the middle of the night,” Washington Post quoted Milley, who also added: “You gotta get back there, and create a campaign behind the lines.”
What happened with Milley soon after this?
You guessed it – he retired. But terrorist attacks across Russia keep escalating. In the meantime, the political West is further exposing its monstrous hypocrisy by condemning the treatment of the terrorists who committed the Crocus City Hall massacre. American journalist Julia Davis is “worried” about their well-being, while the former chief of the CIA’s Russia ops Steve Hall stated that this demonstrates the supposed “difference in values between what is happening in Russia and what is happening in the West”. Yes, there’s a clear difference, because Russia didn’t run the infamous Abu Ghraib prison where American occupation forces tortured countless Iraqi soldiers and civilians.
Russia also doesn’t run the brutal Guantanamo Bay detention camp where hundreds (if not thousands) have been illegally incarcerated, some of whom have been in solitary confinement for decades without ever being charged with a crime.
However, the question is – why is it all so sloppy and too obvious? If analysts and journalists noticed all this so easily, Russian intelligence and state services certainly know far more. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently pointed out this hypocrisy, referring to the offer by so-called “international institutions” to supposedly “help” with the investigation regarding the latest terrorist attack, but ignored similar Russian requests regarding the Nord Stream sabotage. It should be noted that this terrorist attack was also previously announced by the US, which pledged to ensure that the pipeline becomes “a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea”. In other words, the true terrorists aren’t even bothering to hide anymore (and haven’t been for quite some time now).
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name (only available in desktop version).
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On the occasion of the first nationwide lockdown imposed by the Ardern government, in 2020, my plans to return to the United States to visit my few remaining relatives were stymied. During that time my planned leave from work was spent volunteering at a local health practice in a low-decile area of the region, making home visits and writing scripts.
When the second lockdown was decreed — on the basis of a single person testing ‘positive’ for a chimerical pathogen — my cousin passed away in Philadelphia. She was the last tangible and emotional link to my mother, yet I was prevented from traveling anywhere, prevented from joining her children to mourn her and celebrate her courageous and vigorous life spent fighting off a severe heart condition for decades. I had seen her last some 7 years ago.
I remember too that during the lockdowns and the insipid colour-coded reentry phases, I had begun to despair that humanity might ever recover. We were forbidden from gathering, from protesting, from visiting our elderly and infirm, and from mourning our dead.
In retrospect it is an astonishingly heinous crime to have subjected an entire population to restrictions and violations of the most fundamental of rights, but the propaganda was so strong and relentless — daily death counts and case counts worldwide and dire messages of worse to come, over and over and over — that the majority accepted the constraints with nary a peep.
I took refuge in film, from time to time, but what I remember is the sensation of looking at a lost world, a world of community and rubbing shoulders, of easy association and crowded summer beaches — particularly in Italy. I discovered the unheralded masterpiece of director Dino Risi — Il Sorpasso— The Overtaking — and reveled in the glimpses of freely-communing bodies and souls as two unlikely protagonists motored their way together from Rome through the Italian countryside during a summer holiday.
I had wondered, as I watched and rewatched Il Sorpasso, if we would ever return to such facile grace again, bristling at the iron heel of the ‘single source of truth’ that blithely turned gregarious beings into recluses, and knowing that the quarantining of health people was an as yet unheard-of innovation in pandemic protocols.
Everything about covid was false, from the beginning, and the lies came thicker and faster than a plague of locusts: masks, ‘social’ distancing, a necessary gene-altering jab, the ‘impossibility’ of treating the incomparably ‘lethal’ virus …
Now people are congregating again, crowding the streets when not working from home, a relatively novel institution developed and honed during covid, congenially embraced by those who love to lounge in pyjamas with their laptops, and for whom the barrier between work and home has become delightfully permeable.
I marvel at the absence of rush-hour traffic on certain days here in Wellington. I note too that on the city beaches the healthy and resilient impulse to socialize has reared its irrepressible head. Teenagers preen and flirt, swimmers swim, kids scream and yell, and the more mature simply bask in the sun and the scene, desperately hoping that normality will not be upended by another fraud.
I muse with irony at the marketing that convinced so many people to feel unified while their rights were demolished: ‘we’re all in this together’ went the slogan, precisely as we were mandated to be apart.
For many of us, privileged to have been brought up with the perfume of freedom and hope, the lockdowns brought home the terrifying realities of what so many peoples in history have suffered as slaves, as victims of rape and other coercions: that horrible and indescribable feeling of no escape.
If the authorities attempt to impose another set of deceptive and destructive restraints, if they attempt to sound the knell of fear and pound the message home with further falsehoods and repetition, I like to think that even the Lilliputians who complied and participated in enforcing the senseless depredations of our humanity will, at last, resist.
I guess we’ll see. Meanwhile the unsung relics of the lockdowns remain in view: so many shuttered businesses, so many once-thriving establishments now closed. So many of the jabbed who know that something is amiss unwilling to acknowledge that they have been had …
*
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Dr. Garcia is a Philadelphia-born psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who emigrated to New Zealand in 2006. He has authored articles ranging from explorations of psychoanalytic technique, the psychology of creativity in music (Mahler, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Delius), and politics. He is also a poet, novelist and theatrical director. He retired from psychiatric practice in 2021 after working in the public sector in New Zealand. Visit his substack at https://newzealanddoc.substack.com/.
The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
Reviews
This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon
In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia
In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig
Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac
A reading of Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late. You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name (only available in desktop version).
To receive Global Research’s Daily Newsletter (selected articles), click here.
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Gilbert Doctorow now confirms with his own analysis my prediction that Putin’s toleration of provocations is spinning the Ukraine conflict out of control.
Doctorow is a careful analyst never overstating a situation. In this interview, he says that the Russia’s Federal Security Bureau (FSB) statement implicating the US and UK governments in the Crocus attack had to have been approved by Putin and that implicating the US and UK in the Crocus attack has brought us to the level of danger of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Doctorow reports that Russian television has undergone a massive change following the Crocus attack. Commentators are unwilling to accept any longer Putin’s nonresponse to attacks on Russians. Television talk is suddenly very violent with talk of flattening Kharkiv and Kiev and bringing a quick end to the conflict that has been permitted to endure for far too long.
It seems that a fatal red line has been crossed.
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Paul Craig Roberts is a renowned author and academic, chairman of The Institute for Political Economy where this article was originally published. Dr. Roberts was previously associate editor and columnist for The Wall Street Journal. He was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy during the Reagan Administration. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Who hasn’t heard about the mysterious sudden cardiac deaths occurring around the world? They are just the tip of an iceberg. Heart disease caused by vaccinations is on the agenda of young and old alike.
I predict with sadness and disgust that the remaining Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza will be killed or expelled, mostly the former, despite all our efforts. The main reason is that, Joe Biden, as recently described by Aaron David Miller, sees no compelling alternative for Israel that doesn’t include doing grievous harm to Palestinian civilians.
The most extraordinary thing about Julian Assange is that he is being treated as if he were an American citizen. “Treason” was the original cry, now converted to “espionage.”
25 years ago, NATO under US command demolished with war what remained of the Yugoslav Federation, the State that hindered its expansion eastwards towards Russia. In the following twenty years, NATO expanded from 16 to 30 countries and, with the war in Ukraine that began in 2014, it expanded to 32.
When exposing a crime is treated as committing a crime, you are being ruled by criminals. In the current governmental climate, obeying one’s conscience and speaking truth to the power of the police state can easily render you an “enemy of the state.”
When it comes to the bleeding and crushing of human life in Gaza by the Israeli Defence Forces (32,300 dead Palestinians and rising), resolutions demanding a cease fire of a conflict that began with the attack on Israeli soil by Hamas militants have tended to pass into voting oblivion.
The article “Harvard Shuts Geoengineering Project” by Cauf Skiviers, explains Bill Gates, funder of the project, stopping Harvard from carrying out the study to preserve the climate narrative. How is this relevant? That Bill Gates calls the shots on what should and should not go forward is nothing new. Surprising is that he was willing to finance such a study in the first place. Why?
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Now, you and everybody can have your own hyper-realistic robot-copy – including your facial expressions and everything.
The realistic appearance of robots in the video (see above) is today – imagine how indistinguishable robot copies of humans will be from real humans in a decade or two.
At the same time, Artificial General Intelligence and Artificial Human Emotions are being developed. In not many years, humanoid robots will have intelligence beyond humans. Robots will also register and handle your feelings, and have feelings and desires (objectives) of their own. And robots can be employed by the government or others without you knowing it.
The World of Blade Runner, of “I Robot” and other science fiction is just years around the corner.
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Karsten Riise is a Master of Science (Econ) from Copenhagen Business School and has a university degree in Spanish Culture and Languages from Copenhagen University. He is the former Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mercedes-Benz in Denmark and Sweden.
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Collective punishment is a war crime. Those who inflict it on civilians are terrorists.
To endeavour to disguise the crime by calling it ‘collateral damage’ when it is perpetrated deliberately against tens of thousands of mainly women and children, is not only a crime but an act of extreme cowardice.
It doesn’t take bravery to point a missile at a residential family home, from a Lockheed Martin F-16 war plane, screaming 500m over a completely defenceless village, at midnight.
It doesn’t take bravery to drop banned, white phosphorus on a school, hospital or clinic.
It doesn’t take bravery to shoot to kill an unarmed, female journalist doing her professional job by reporting the truth; or a hospital doctor trying to save the life of a mutilated child.
It doesn’t take bravery to deliberately starve two million people of food and water.
It takes a special type of cowardice.
The type where the perpetrator pretends to be a professional soldier, operating under the strict moral code of the international laws of war, in accordance with the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions on Human Rights, the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Court – when, in fact, he is a war criminal.
So, of the two terrorist organizations, fighting each other today, which is the most extreme example of cowardice and criminality?
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Hans Stehling is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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The future always surprises us to some degree. But we make plans, anyway, based on our projections, and we adjust them when our predictions are at least partially wrong, which they always are, because they make assumptions based upon things that we take for granted, such as our health and that meteors and tsunamis will not disrupt those plans. Bearing that in mind, I will make some predictions for the immediate future of Gaza and Israel, and their relationships with the rest of the world. I’m sorry if it is not a happy picture.
First, I predict with sadness and disgust that the remaining Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza will be killed or expelled, mostly the former, despite all our efforts.
The main reason is that, Joe Biden, as recently described by Aaron David Miller, sees no compelling alternative for Israel that doesn’t include doing grievous harm to Palestinian civilians.
Properly translated, this means the greatest genocide since WWII. If this is an accurate picture of the thinking of the Biden administration, there can be little doubt that the US will continue to supply Israel with the means to make the population of Gaza disappear. The option of denying those means to Israel is simply unthinkable to Joe and his government. It might mean giving up their comfortable and prestigious futuresm presidential libraries and all.
Joe Biden is not Dwight D. Eisenhower, nor John Kennedy, nor even Richard Nixon or Jimmy Carter.
We no longer have a president with the guts or the acumen to defy anyone, least of all the Zionist Lobby, and we have no prospect of ever having such a person in the White House in the foreseeable future.
Donald Trump? He needs the Israel Lobby even more than Biden, and if they weren’t comfortable with him, they would have sabotaged his candidacy a long time ago. Both of them have the same morals as Netanyahu. I rest my case.
A ceasefire? I cannot imagine it.
The week-long November pause worked because neither side gave up too much strategically and both benefited politically. There is no similar bargain on the horizon. If Hamas gives up all its captives, it has nothing left to trade. That’s why the Hamas proposal is in three stages, with the final stage being an independent Palestinian state with the right to defend itself, and with multilateral guarantees for its security and independence.
That is of course totally unacceptable to Israel, and they said so. For them, the “occupied territories” are more accurately called “greater Israel”, which has not yet been sufficiently settled by Zionist Jews to justify extending the official borders to encompass it. Too many non-Jews. They will address that problem in its turn, but for now the priority is to empty Gaza. So much for the two-state solution, which Israel embraced as long as all they had to do was sit at a negotiations table, keep the deal just out of reach and blame the Palestinians for its failure. Now they’re having none of it.
When will Israel’s genocide end, and what will the result look like? First, the Palestinian population in Gaza will have fallen by at least 2 million, the result of both murder and expulsion, as noted earlier. The orphaned children will be far fewer than the dead ones, but those who survive will be shipped to western countries for adoption, so that they will lose their names and their cultural heritage. But I’m sure they will have loving parents and become well-adjusted western citizens.
As for Israel, its world has been changing since October 7th. First, it is losing – and will continue to lose – its liberal population. It began years ago, but Israel’s population has declined by roughly 10 percent since October 7th, 2023, in parallel with the decline in the population of Gaza, but by choice instead of genocide.
The fanatics with genocidal intentions are not the ones leaving, mostly the ones who are more in keeping with traditional Jewish values of being a light unto the nations – or at least not a source of darkness. The emigrants are mainly those who are giving up on the Zionist project. They are not the only ones. American and other western Jews are losing their appetite for the Zionist menu, which allows us to maintain our respect for integrity.
This of course means that Israel will be far more isolated than previously, both from the Jewish diaspora and from the non-Jewish communities that previously supported Israel. It’s amazing how a little thing like genocide can cause your friends to turn on you. I suspect that Israeli products, institutions, and culture will be shunned by much of the world. No more trips to Israel as prizes on television game shows.
I have no doubt that Gaza will be annexed to Israel, and I imagine that developers will create Zionist dream communities along the coast, on top of the graves and rubble of their victims.
But there might be fewer new immigrants than they might have hoped for. Israel’s future, if it has one, will be as a violent fortress for Zionist exclusivism, supported by a slowly shrinking world Zionist network and their allies using the resources of other countries in much the same way that Israel is using the United States today, and enriching those individuals and interests that cooperate with them.
I leave it to you to decide if this sounds like a strategy for success.
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Paul Larudee is a retired academic and current administrator of a nonprofit human rights and humanitarian aid organization. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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“Putin Should be Concerned about more terror attacks” says John Bolton
Video
How does Bolton know that?
This is like Biden warning that Nord Stream might blow up.
Bolton has been implicated in all dirty missions of the US in other countries.
Perhaps Bolton knows something about terror against Russia (and others) which he doesn’t tell.
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Karsten Riise is a Master of Science (Econ) from Copenhagen Business School and has a university degree in Spanish Culture and Languages from Copenhagen University. He is the former Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mercedes-Benz in Denmark and Sweden.
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The most extraordinary thing about Julian Assange is that he is being treated as if he were an American citizen. “Treason” was the original cry, now converted to “espionage.”
There was no espionage. Wikileaks published, and made available to the New York Times, The Guardian, and other media organizations leaked information. The media organizations published the information, just as did Wikileaks, but they are not charged. Neither is Wikileaks charged. Only Julian Assange is charged.
Nothing is any different from Ellsberg releasing the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times. The US government wanted to prosecute both, but was prevented by the First Amendment and long-accepted duty of media organizations to hold government accountable.
The stark deterioration in the protective power of the First Amendment and journalistic freedom since 1971 demonstrates the rise in tyranny. Tyranny is what Julian Assange is experiencing, not a legitimate prosecution.
Let’s carefully examine the issue of “espionage.” Espionage is a function of every embassy everywhere in the world. The purpose of embassies is not simply to represent a country’s commercial and political interests. It is also to collect information, the more sensitive the better. When embassy personnel are caught engaging in espionage, the personnel are required to leave the country. They are not prosecuted.
It is well known that US embassies contain CIA agents posing as diplomats. Under the protocol governing the Assange case, Russia, China, any number of countries could arrest members of US embassies and put them on trial. Indeed, many countries could do this to one another. What prevents it is not merely good judgment, but the fact that foreign citizens are not subject to the laws of other countries. Only the US, which imagines itself as some kind of international unipower, asserts the worldwide primacy of its laws. This is an absurd claim and has no legal basis.
The orchestrated, in fact legally incorrect, case against Assange is based on nothing but Washington’s demand for revenge.
Here is what Assange is guilty of: He released leaked information that showed conclusively that the United States government is a liar, a deceiver of its allies, and a war criminal. The purpose of the case against Assange is to pay him back and to intimidate all journalists from ever again publishing information unfavorable to the US government.
In other words, the purpose of the Assange case is to end forever the ability of media to hold government accountable. The Assange case is the fundamental foundation for tyranny. Once it is in place, tyranny is unleashed.
That so many dumbshit “patriots” support “getting Assange” indicates complete stupidity. “Getting Assange” means getting themselves, and they are too stupid to see it.
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Paul Craig Roberts is a renowned author and academic, chairman of The Institute for Political Economy where this article was originally published. Dr. Roberts was previously associate editor and columnist for The Wall Street Journal. He was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy during the Reagan Administration. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Featured image: Assange billboard in front of the Capitol Building. [Source: Photo Courtesy of Randy Credico]
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25 years ago, NATO under US command demolished with war what remained of the Yugoslav Federation, the State that hindered its expansion eastwards towards Russia. In the following twenty years, NATO expanded from 16 to 30 countries and, with the war in Ukraine that began in 2014, it expanded to 32.
In the 1999 war, the role of the Italian government, chaired by Massimo D’Alema, was crucial. As we can hear from the official audio recording, Vice President Sergio Mattarella announced the start of the war to the Italian Senate on the evening of March 24, 1999, and explained the reasons according to the official version.
While the United States and other NATO countries’ planes dropped the first bombs on Serbia and Kosovo, Democratic President Clinton announced:
“At the end of the 20th century, after two world wars and a cold war, we and our allies will be able to leave our children a free, peaceful and stable Europe”.
For 78 days, 1,100 planes took off mainly from Italian bases, and carried out 38 thousand raids, dropping 23,000 bombs and missiles.
“Of the 2000 targets hit in Serbia by NATO planes – the Pentagon later documented – the American secret services chose 1999 and only one by the European ones”.
The bombings dismantled Serbia’s structures and infrastructure causing victims, especially among civilians. The resulting health and environmental damage is not quantifiable. Due to the bombing, thousands of tons of highly toxic chemicals (including dioxin and mercury) leaked from the Pancevo refinery alone, while other damage was caused by NATO’s massive use of depleted uranium shells in Serbia and Kosovo.
The D’Alema government placed Italian territory, particularly the airports, at the complete disposal of the armed forces of the United States and other countries, to implement what the Prime Minister defines as “the right of humanitarian interference“. 54 Italian planes took part in the bombings, making 1,400 raids, and attacking the targets indicated by the US command.
“In terms of the number of planes we were second only to the USA. Italy is a great country and we should not be surprised by the commitment shown in this war” – declared Prime Minister D’Alema during his visit to the Amendola base on 10 June 1999 – underlining that, for the pilots who participated, it was a great human and professional experience.”
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This article was originally published in Italian on Grandangolo, Byoblu TV.
Manlio Dinucci, award winning author, geopolitical analyst and geographer, Pisa, Italy.
He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization.
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“…The vaccination turned out to be the greatest blessing for the money and world’s elites, for the pharmaceutical industry and politics. They could pursue their own interests, under the common slogan “Everything for public health”, “everything for the well-being of the general public”. To achieve this goal, they created the WHO. This non-democratically elected people, basically a private association that is in the process of gaining power over the healthcare system in the 190 Member States”“
Kevin McKernan discovered that this crucial step of removal of plasmid DNA had not been carried out conscientiously. Huge amounts of plasmid DNA have been found in packaged form. This ensured their successful delivery to the cells. Kevin’s discovery has now been confirmed in several other laboratories, Also in Germany. Large amounts of DNA contamination were found in all 27 batches examined so far. Four weeks ago, the Canadian medical authority even confirmed the discovery of plasmid DNA. However, the authority does not see this as a sufficient reason for to withdraw the approval. By the way, question for the interested public, has the responsible German authority, the Paul Ehrlich Institute of the Federal Ministry of Health carried out reliable scientific measurements? Question, answer, no. Not to this day.”
“Who hasn’t heard about the mysterious sudden cardiac deaths occurring around the world? They are just the tip of an iceberg. Heart disease caused by vaccinations is on the agenda of young and old alike. Fortunately, to save the honor of German science, well-known pathologists stood up and carried out the world’s first research work, who discovered the connection between vaccination and severe organ damage. Professor Arne Burkhardt, who recently tragically died in an accident, and his dear friend Professor Walter Lang, who spoke to you today. Dr. Michael Mörz in Dresden and the world-famous Professor Peter Schiermacher, director of the Institute of Pathology at Heidelberg University. Thanks to their work, it is now scientifically proven. And so it says in this work from Peter Schiermacher’s group, Literally, it has been proven beyond a doubt that vaccination can lead to fatal myocarditis.”“
Anyone who praises RNA vaccines as safe and effective, Anyone who claims that vaccination rarely causes serious side effects is either incredibly ignorant or infinitely evil. And they ar committing a crime. Just like everyone who actively or passively pursues and supports this vaccination. Because it is now scientifically proven that vaccination can only have negative effects and this to a life-threatening extent.”
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Featured image is a screenshot from the video
The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
Reviews
This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon
In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia
In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig
Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac
A reading of Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late. You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
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President Zelensky yesterday 26 March just fired Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary head of Ukraine’s national security council.
Mr. Danilov was Zelensky’s top security guy. See this.
The dismissal of Ukraine’s security chief Danilov comes just as bad news are surfacing about possible Ukrainian-US involvement in the terror attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow.
For a wrap-up of the facts surrounding Ukraine’s likely involvement in the Crocus terror attack – see also Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, senior advisor to the UN:
So the big question is if the Ukrainian government in one way or another was involved in this.
And there are lots of reason to believe the answer could well be Yes.
For a 1 hour overview of US cooperation with ISIS and other extremist “Islamic” groups, listen to Kevork Almassian, a Syrian analyst living in Germany:
Lots of more sources exist of the US support for “Islamic” terrorism for anyone who want to take a look.
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Karsten Riise is a Master of Science (Econ) from Copenhagen Business School and has a university degree in Spanish Culture and Languages from Copenhagen University. He is the former Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mercedes-Benz in Denmark and Sweden.
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When exposing a crime is treated as committing a crime, you are being ruled by criminals.
In the current governmental climate, obeying one’s conscience and speaking truth to the power of the police state can easily render you an “enemy of the state.”
The government’s list of so-called “enemies of the state” is growing by the day.
Wikileaks founderJulian Assange is merely one of the most visible victims of the police state’s war on dissidents and whistleblowers.
Five years ago, on April 11, 2019, police arrested Assange for daring to access and disclose military documents that portray the U.S. government and its endless wars abroad as reckless, irresponsible, immoral and responsible for thousands of civilian deaths.
Included among the leaked materials was gunsight video footage from two U.S. AH-64 Apache helicopters engaged in a series of air-to-ground attacks while American air crew laughed at some of the casualties. Among the casualties were two Reuters correspondents who were gunned down after their cameras were mistaken for weapons and a driver who stopped to help one of the journalists. The driver’s two children, who happened to be in the van at the time it was fired upon by U.S. forces, suffered serious injuries.
There is nothing defensible about crimes such as these perpetrated by the government.
When any government becomes almost indistinguishable from the evil it claims to be fighting—whether that evil takes the form of war, terrorism, torture, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, murder, violence, theft, pornography, scientific experimentations or some other diabolical means of inflicting pain, suffering and servitude on humanity—that government has lost its claim to legitimacy.
These are hard words, but hard times require straight-talking.
It is easy to remain silent in the face of evil.
What is harder—what we lack today and so desperately need—are those with moral courage who will risk their freedoms and lives in order to speak out against evil in its many forms.
Throughout history, individuals or groups of individuals have risen up to challenge the injustices of their age.
Nazi Germany had its Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The gulags of the Soviet Union were challenged by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. America had its color-coded system of racial segregation and warmongering called out for what it was, blatant discrimination and profiteering, by Martin Luther King Jr.
And then there was Jesus Christ, an itinerant preacher and revolutionary activist, who not only died challenging the police state of his day—namely, the Roman Empire—but provided a blueprint for civil disobedience that would be followed by those, religious and otherwise, who came after him.
Indeed, it is fitting that we remember that Jesus Christ—the religious figure worshipped by Christians for his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection—paid the ultimate price for speaking out against the police state of his day.
A radical nonconformist who challenged authority at every turn, Jesus was a far cry from the watered-down, corporatized, simplified, gentrified, sissified vision of a meek creature holding a lamb that most modern churches peddle. In fact, he spent his adult life speaking truth to power, challenging the status quo of his day, and pushing back against the abuses of the Roman Empire.
Much like the American Empire today, the Roman Empire of Jesus’ day had all of the characteristics of a police state: secrecy, surveillance, a widespread police presence, a citizenry treated like suspects with little recourse against the police state, perpetual wars, a military empire, martial law, and political retribution against those who dared to challenge the power of the state.
For all the accolades poured out upon Jesus, little is said about the harsh realities of the police state in which he lived and its similarities to modern-day America, and yet they are striking.
Secrecy, surveillance and rule by the elite. As the chasm between the wealthy and poor grew wider in the Roman Empire, the ruling class and the wealthy class became synonymous, while the lower classes, increasingly deprived of their political freedoms, grew disinterested in the government and easily distracted by “bread and circuses.” Much like America today, with its lack of government transparency, overt domestic surveillance, and rule by the rich, the inner workings of the Roman Empire were shrouded in secrecy, while its leaders were constantly on the watch for any potential threats to its power. The resulting state-wide surveillance was primarily carried out by the military, which acted as investigators, enforcers, torturers, policemen, executioners and jailers. Today that role is fulfilled by the NSA, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the increasingly militarized police forces across the country.
Widespread police presence. The Roman Empire used its military forces to maintain the “peace,” thereby establishing a police state that reached into all aspects of a citizen’s life. In this way, these military officers, used to address a broad range of routine problems and conflicts, enforced the will of the state. Today SWAT teams, comprised of local police and federal agents, are employed to carry out routine search warrants for minor crimes such as marijuana possession and credit card fraud.
Citizenry with little recourse against the police state. As the Roman Empire expanded, personal freedom and independence nearly vanished, as did any real sense of local governance and national consciousness. Similarly, in America today, citizens largely feel powerless, voiceless and unrepresented in the face of a power-hungry federal government. As states and localities are brought under direct control by federal agencies and regulations, a sense of learned helplessness grips the nation.
Martial law. Eventually, Rome established a permanent military dictatorship that left the citizens at the mercy of an unreachable and oppressive totalitarian regime. In the absence of resources to establish civic police forces, the Romans relied increasingly on the military to intervene in all matters of conflict or upheaval in provinces, from small-scale scuffles to large-scale revolts. Not unlike police forces today, with their martial law training drills on American soil, militarized weapons and “shoot first, ask questions later” mindset, the Roman soldier had “the exercise of lethal force at his fingertips” with the potential of wreaking havoc on normal citizens’ lives.
Acts of civil disobedience by insurrectionists. Much like the Roman Empire, the American Empire has exhibited zero tolerance for dissidents such as Julian Assange, Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manningwho exposed the police state’s seedy underbelly. Jesus was also branded a political revolutionary starting with his attack on the money chargers and traders at the Jewish temple, an act of civil disobedience at the site of the administrative headquarters of the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish council.
Military-style arrests in the dead of night. Jesus’ arrest account testifies to the fact that the Romans perceived Him as a revolutionary. Eerily similar to today’s SWAT team raids, Jesus was arrested in the middle of the night, in secret, by a large, heavily armed fleet of soldiers. Rather than merely asking for Jesus when they came to arrest him, his pursuers collaborated beforehand with Judas. Acting as a government informant, Judas concocted a kiss as a secret identification marker, hinting that a level of deception and trickery must be used to obtain this seemingly “dangerous revolutionist’s” cooperation.
Torture and capital punishment. In Jesus’ day, religious preachers, self-proclaimed prophets and nonviolent protesters were not summarily arrested and executed. Indeed, the high priests and Roman governors normally allowed a protest, particularly a small-scale one, to run its course. However, government authorities were quick to dispose of leaders and movements that appeared to threaten the Roman Empire. The charges leveled against Jesus—that he was a threat to the stability of the nation, opposed paying Roman taxes and claimed to be the rightful King—were purely political, not religious. To the Romans, any one of these charges was enough to merit death by crucifixion, which was usually reserved for slaves, non-Romans, radicals, revolutionaries and the worst criminals.
Jesus was presented to Pontius Pilate “as a disturber of the political peace,” a leader of a rebellion, a political threat, and most gravely—a claimant to kingship, a “king of the revolutionary type.” After Jesus is formally condemned by Pilate, he is sentenced to death by crucifixion, “the Roman means of executing criminals convicted of high treason.” The purpose of crucifixion was not so much to kill the criminal, as it was an immensely public statement intended to visually warn all those who would challenge the power of the Roman Empire. Hence, it was reserved solely for the most extreme political crimes: treason, rebellion, sedition, and banditry. After being ruthlessly whipped and mocked, Jesus was nailed to a cross.
The Passion of the Christ
Jesus—the revolutionary, the political dissident, and the nonviolent activist—lived and died in a police state. Any reflection on Jesus’ life and death within a police state must take into account several factors: Jesus spoke out strongly against such things as empires, controlling people, state violence and power politics. Jesus challenged the political and religious belief systems of his day. And worldly powers feared Jesus, not because he challenged them for control of thrones or government but because he undercut their claims of supremacy, and he dared to speak truth to power in a time when doing so could—and often did—cost a person his life.
Unfortunately, the radical Jesus, the political dissident who took aim at injustice and oppression, has been largely forgotten today, replaced by a congenial, smiling Jesus trotted out for religious holidays but otherwise rendered mute when it comes to matters of war, power and politics.
Yet for those who truly study the life and teachings of Jesus, the resounding theme is one of outright resistance to war, materialism and empire.
What a marked contrast to the advice being given to Americans by church leaders to “submit to your leaders and those in authority,” which in the American police state translates to complying, conforming, submitting, obeying orders, deferring to authority and generally doing whatever a government official tells you to do.
Will we follow the path of least resistance—turning a blind eye to the evils of our age and marching in lockstep with the police state—or will we be transformed nonconformists “dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood”?
As Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us in a powerful sermon delivered 70 years ago, “This command not to conform comes … [from] Jesus Christ, the world’s most dedicated nonconformist, whose ethical nonconformity still challenges the conscience of mankind.”
Ultimately, as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, this is the contradiction that must be resolved if the radical Jesus—the one who stood up to the Roman Empire and was crucified as a warning to others not to challenge the powers-that-be—is to be an example for our modern age.
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Point to point navigation describes the long-lost art of celestial navigation, the ability to use the stars to chart a course across the open seas in the age before compasses. The key to successfully executing point to point navigation lay in fixing one’s position vis-à-vis the North Star. Failure to do so meant risking sailing aimlessly about a sea with no fixed reference points, an act that leads to death or, perhaps worse, becoming a castaway on some unchartered point on earth.
After a storm, a ship’s captain and his navigator would scan the skies for the North Star, from which they could establish not only what direction true north was, but also where they were in reference to the position of the North Star in the sky, so that they might navigate to safety.
When special operations forces are compromised behind enemy lines, they conduct what they call “escape and evasion,” the act of avoiding detection and probable death or capture, while making their way to a pre-designated haven from which they can regroup or be extracted. The CIA trains its operations officers in similar skill sets. Both colloquially refer to such actions as “finding their true north.”
The perpetrators of the horrific attack on the Crocus City Hall and Concert Center in Krasnogorsk, a metropolitan community located to the northwest of Moscow, were no different than any other terrorist/militant before them; after their act of mass murder, they sought out their “true north” to make good their escape.
Western governments, analysts, and pundits have loudly proclaimed that the men who carried out the attack on the Crocus City Hall had nothing whatsoever to do with Ukraine, and instead have collectively embraced a narrative that paints the men as members of the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K). ISIS is an off-shoot of Al-Qaeda-Iraq (AQI) which emerged in 2013 when core AQI members relocated to Syria. In 2014 ISIS declared itself to be a caliphate and began a series of operations which saw it take control on a third of Syria and a quarter of Iraq before being driven back and ultimately defeated by a coalition which included Iraq, the United States and Iran.
In 2014 Central Asian fighters affiliated with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan formed a branch of ISIS in Afghanistan known as ISIS-K, where they stood for Khorasan (ISIS-K). Khorasan is an ancient term for the territory encompassed by modern day Iran, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. ISIS-K continues to operate today in Afghanistan and Iran, as well as inside the former Soviet Central Asian republics, including Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Terrorists attacking the Crocus City Hall
According to US officials, the United States collected intelligence that ISIS-K was planning an attack on Moscow in early March.
This intelligence was behind a public warning issued by the US embassy in Russia on March 7 that “extremists” were planning an imminent attack on large gatherings in Moscow.
“US citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours,” the warning, published on the embassy website, stated. American citizens were warned to avoid crowds, including concerts. These US officials likewise claimed (and Russia has acknowledged) that Russia had been informed about the intelligence behind the March 7 warning. This information was shared based upon the “duty to warn” principle where US intelligence about potential terrorist attacks must be shared with the suspected targets. However, rather than passing this information through formal channels, it was done unofficially, through informal channels, significantly diluting the impact of the information.
The attackers posted a photograph of them reciting the Shahada, or Islamic oath and creed (“I bear witness that there is no deity but God, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God”) which, if made sincerely, is all that is required to be identified as a Muslim in the eyes of God. While Islamic scholars note that it is only necessary to recite the words, for jihadists reciting Shahada accompanied by a raised right index finger, has become de riguere—Osama Bin Laden delivered it in this fashion, as did Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the founder of the Islamic State.
Shahada is a ritual, and those who make Shahada must understand its importance for it to have any meaning. As such, if one incorporates the raising of the right index finger as part of the Shahada ritual, it must be done piously. The use of the right hand is critical—in the Muslim faith, the right hand symbolizes all that is good, and the left is reserved for unclean acts:
“No one among you should eat with his left hand or drink with it, for the shaytaan (devil) eats with his left hand and drinks with it.”
The four attackers delivered this oath by raising their left hands.
They also published this photograph with their faces blurred—they were shielding their identity.
There can be no subterfuge when reciting Shahada—it is an oath made before God and in the eyes of men.
Moreover, the blurring of their faces indicated that the attackers intended to survive their mission.
The Crocus City Hall attackers making Shahada
For most militants affiliated with ISIS-K, true north is the path to martyrdom, a one-way ticket to paradise.
Their goal is to inflict as much harm as possible before being dispatched from this mortal earth, an act that is usually made certain using a suicide vest detonated at a time when more death and destruction can be wrought.
The perpetrators of the Crocus City Hall attack, however, did not wear suicide vests. Indeed, they had no intention of losing their lives, but rather to live and be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor, a purported $5,500 payment for services rendered.
These weren’t Islamist militants.
These were mercenaries who disguised themselves as Islamic militants.
The Crocus City Hall attackers in their getaway car
And when they finished their murderous rampage, the purported ISIS-K fighters jumped into their car and headed toward their “true north.”
Ukraine.
Ukraine. The source of their money.
Ukraine. The source of their motivation.
The Russian investigation into the terror attack is still in its early stages. There are many facts left to be uncovered.
But there is a plethora of data which allows one to populate the puzzle with enough pieces to begin to see a discernable shape take form.
Russian authorities went out of their way to make sure that all four perpetrators were captured alive.
The perpetrators are in the process of being interrogated. Many of the techniques being used by Russia would not be permitted in the United States as they could readily be classified as torture. And many intelligence professionals—me included—discount the value of any confession made under severe duress.
But the Russian interrogations are aided by the fact that the Russian investigators are not engaged in a fishing expedition, but rather are guided by specific facts derived from the forensic examination of the cell phones of the four terrorists, which are currently in the possession of Russian authorities.
One of these phones was recovered at the crime scene, and the data contained on this phone was used by Russian security officials to track the terrorists as they drove out of Moscow, toward Ukraine. Telephone numbers contained on the recovered phone allowed the Russians to zero in on the remaining phones, and monitor phone calls made by the terrorists in real time—including numerous calls to persons inside Ukraine who were working to create a gap in the Russian-Ukrainian border that the terrorists could escape through.
True North.
The Russians have been able to identify the core structure of a support network in Moscow which provided the four terrorists with transportation and housing.
Eleven arrests have been made in this regard.
The Russians have identified a network operating in Turkey who were affiliated with the recruitment, training and logistical preparation and support of the terrorist operation in Moscow.
Forty arrests have been made as a result.
But more importantly, Russia has gathered enough information to issue a warrant for the head of the Ukrainian security service, Vasyl Malyuk, on charges of public incitement of terrorism. Likewise, the head of the Russian security service, Alexander Boritnikov, has stated that when it comes to delivering justice to Ukrainians who may have been involved in the attack on the Crocus concert venue, “Everything is ahead of us.”
Russia, it seems, is navigating point to point.
Not toward a safe haven, but rather on a path of retribution.
And its “true north” is the same as that of the terrorists.
Ukraine.
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[This article was originally published in August 2023.]
After two-and-a-half months of failed negotiations, the U.S. government on Thursday intensified its effort to quash Mexico’s limits on genetically modified corn imports by calling for the formation of a dispute settlement panel under a North American trade deal.
In a 2020 decree backed by agricultural, consumer, environmental, public health, and worker groups, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO)announced plans to phase out genetically modified (GM) corn and the herbicide glyphosate by January 2024.
Under pressure from the U.S. government and impacted industries, he issued a new decree in February reiterating plans to block GM corn imports for human consumption by then but lifting the deadline for imports intended for livestock feed and industrial use.
“The Mexican government will show what has occurred: Its cherished tortillas are being contaminated with glyphosate and GM corn. And they intend to put a stop to that.”
While AMLO’s move was seen as a concession to the U.S. and lobbyists challenging his policies, the Biden administration in June still requested 75 days of formal negotiations. After talks ended Wednesday, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai confirmed the decision to form a panel under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
“Through the USMCA dispute panel, we seek to resolve our concerns and help ensure consumers can continue to access safe and affordable food and agricultural products,” Tai said Thursday. “It is critical that Mexico eliminate its USMCA-inconsistent biotechnology measures so that American farmers can continue to access the Mexican market and use innovative tools to respond to climate and food security challenges. Our bilateral relationship with Mexico, one of our oldest and strongest trading partners, is rooted in trust and honesty, and there are many areas where we will continue to cooperate and work together.”
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack similarly said that “Mexico’s approach to biotechnology is not based on science” and “the United States is continuing to exercise its rights under the USMCA to ensure that U.S. producers and exporters have full and fair access to the Mexican market.”
The Mexican Ministry of Economy responded in a statement that “Mexico does not agree with the position of the United States” and “is prepared to defend the Mexican position before this international panel and demonstrate: 1) that the national regulation is consistent with the commitments signed in the treaty; and 2) that the challenged measures do not have commercial effects.”
Recibe México solicitud de Estados Unidos para establecer un panel arbitral del #TMEC sobre maíz transgénico.
La Secretaría de Economía se encuentra preparada para coordinar la defensa de México y demostrar que la regulación nacional es consistente con… pic.twitter.com/1AycEsj9Yy
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) has previously supported Mexico’s efforts to phase out GM corn and glyphosate and on Thursday challenged claims by U.S. officials and agribusiness about Mexican obligations under the treaty and the potential economic impact of the policies.
“U.S. agribusiness exporters, the biotech industry, and their allies in Congress are pushing this case, intent on compelling Mexico to accept U.S. exports without debate. It is an assault on Mexico’s food sovereignty,” said Karen Hansen-Kuhn, IATP director of trade and international strategies. “Trade rules should provide a forum to protect and advance rights, rather than block them.”
Hansen-Kuhn on Thursday authored an op-ed about Mexico’s rights under the USMCA while ITAP senior adviser Timothy A. Wise wrote about “exaggerated claims of economic damage” that “sprang from a convenient set of assumptions, all of which are flawed and now outdated in light of the more recent presidential decree.”
“As Mexican Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro stated in response to the USTR request for technical consultations, Mexico’s decree is based on science, and she will challenge the U.S. government in the consultations to show ‘quantitatively, with numbers, something that has not occurred: that the corn decree has commercially affected U.S. exporters,'” Wise also said.
“The Mexican government will show what has occurred: Its cherished tortillas are being contaminated with glyphosate and GM corn,” he continued. “And they intend to put a stop to that.”
Under USMCA’s dispute settlement rules, a five-person panel, chosen from a roster of pre-approved experts, must be convened within 30 days, with a chair jointly chosen and the U.S. side choosing two Mexican panelists and Mexico choosing two American panelists. The panel will review testimony and written submissions and its initial report is due 150 days after the panel is convened.
Previous USMCA dispute panels last year ruled in the U.S.’s favor in a dispute over Canadian dairy quotas, and against the U.S. on automotive rules of origin, siding with Mexico and Canada.
There have been other disagreements between the U.S. and Mexico, most notably over energy in which the U.S. has argued that Mexico’s nationalist policy prejudices foreign companies.
Arturo Sarukhán, a former Mexican ambassador to the United States, said on social media Thursday that “of the two consultation processes—energy and yellow corn—this is the one that is politically most relevant for the White House in 2024,” given the significance of agricultural states such as Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden, who is seeking reelection, and the GOP nominee, which could be former President Donald Trump, who signed the USMCA.
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Jessica Corbett is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.
Featured image: Screen shot of Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador from MILENIO broadcast of press conference on July 4, 2022
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The UN Security Council presents one of the great contradictions of power in the international system. On the one hand vested with enormous latitude in order to preserve international peace and security, it remains checked, limited and, it can be argued, crippled by an all too regular use of the veto by members of the permanent five powers (US, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France).
When it comes to the bleeding and crushing of human life in Gaza by the Israeli Defence Forces (32,300 dead Palestinians and rising), resolutions demanding a cease fire of a conflict that began with the attack on Israeli soil by Hamas militants have tended to pass into voting oblivion. The United States, Israel’s great power patron and defender, has been consistent in using its veto power to ensure it, exercising it on no less than three occasions since October 7.
On March 25, a change of heart was registered. Washington, reputationally battered for its unconditional support for Israel, haughtily defied by its own ally in being reduced to airdrops of aid for the expiring residents of Gaza, and resoundingly ignored by the Netanyahu government in moderating the savagery of its operations in the strip, abstained. In terms of resolution protocol, it meant that 14 out of 15 Council members favoured the vote.
Resolution 2728 calls for an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan “leading to a lasting sustainable” halt to hostilities, the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”, “ensuring humanitarian access to address their medical and other humanitarian needs” and “demands that the parties comply with their obligations under international law in relation to all persons they detain”. The resolution further emphasises “the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance to and reinforce the protection of civilians in the entire Gaza Strip”. All barriers regarding the provision of humanitarian assistance, in accordance with international humanitarian law” are also to be lifted.
The wording of the resolution has a degree of lexical ambiguity only tolerable to oily diplomats and paper mad bureaucrats. Neither Hamas nor Israeli hostages are mentioned, ghosts unacknowledged at the chattering feast. Does the latter, for instance, cover Palestinian prisoners?
The justification from the US delegation was uneven and skewed. The abstention, Secretary of State Anthony Blinkenexplained, “reaffirms the US position that a ceasefire of any duration come as part of an agreement to release hostages in Gaza.” While some provisions of the text had caused disagreement in Washington, the sponsors of the resolution had made sufficient changes “consistent with our principled position that any ceasefire text must be paired with the release of the hostages.”
Mild mannered approval for this sloppy, weak position (the apologetics of abstentions are rarely principled, suggesting a lack of moral timbre) followed. Hadar Susskind, President and CEO of Americans for Peace Now, even praised the stance in Newsweek. “By allowing the resolution to pass the US has staked out a position in favor of ending this horrible war, and in opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prioritization of his political well-being over the current and future good of Israelis and Palestinians alike.”
For his part, Netanyahu cancelled a planned Washington visit of two of his ministers, Ron Dermer and Tzachi Hanegbi, to specifically discuss the impending attack on Rafah, though much of this is bound to be studiously ceremonial, given the language of inevitability associated with the planned operation. Besides, neither are versed in anything related to military matters. But just as one pays attention to a wealthy, doddering relative who keeps funding your bad habits in the hope that you might, one day, see sense, it pays to feign courtesy and interest from time to time to your benefactor.
As if to prove this point, John F. Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, reminded journalists that various other meetings would still be taking place between the US and Israel, notably those between President Joe Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, and with Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III.
In a gruff statement, the Israeli PM rebuked the abstention as “a retreat from the consistent American position since the beginning of the war”. In taking that stance, Washington had given “Hamas hope that international pressure will enable them to achieve a cease-fire without freeing the hostages.”
Netanyahu’s approach to Hamas, Gaza and the Palestinians has become one with his obsession with political survival and rekindling the fires of the Israeli electorate. As far back as December, a Likud official was already making the observation that the PM had adopted the posture of a vote getting electioneer even as the war was being prosecuted. “Netanyahu is in full campaign mode. While the external political threats are gradually increasing, Netanyahu knows that over time the attacks and the calls to remove him will also increase. He has been acting first to win back his base.”
For the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, the resolution had to be implemented. “Failure would be unforgivable.” But failure to do so, certainly in the context of the planned assault on Rafah so solemnly denounced by the international community, is most likely.
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Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He currently lectures at RMIT University. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). Email: [email protected]
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The CDC’s own research found that the long denied vaccine-SIDS link is real.
If you believe the official pronouncements of top governmental health agencies like the CDC and FDA, all the vaccines in the present day schedule are a priori safe and effective.
Not only are you told that they can’t harm you, but that not taking them can kill you.
Parents are under even more pressure. They are told that refraining from vaccinating their infants or children will greatly increase their risk of dying or being disabled. Worse, they are increasingly labeled as ‘crazy’ and ‘irresponsible’ anti-vaccine zealots who are putting the lives of others in danger.
But what happens when the actual evidence from the scientific and clinical literature produced by these very agencies contradicts their own vaccine policies?
This is exactly what has happened with the publication of a new study in the Journal of Pediatrics titled ,
The CDC has boldly denied that there is any evidence supporting a causal link between vaccines and infant death, despite the fact that their own webpage on the topic acknowledges that “From 2 to 4 months old, babies begin their primary course of vaccinations. This is also the peak age for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).” Written off as coincidence, the CDC suggests that stomach sleeping is the primary modifiable risk factor.
Because SIDS is the 3rd leading cause of death in infants, and because the U.S. has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the developed world, one would think that more progress would have been made toward understanding its causes. Perhaps, as explored in this past article, the signal of harm is being ignored. Neglect and suppression of available data has recently been exposed with the confession of a top CDC vaccine scientist who was compelled to covered up data revealing an autism-MMR link in African-American boys.
In the new study, the CDC and FDA researchers themselves acknowledge “the scarcity” of post licensure safety data on Hib vaccines in today’s vaccination schedule. They evaluated reports involving the currently licensed Hib vaccines received from January 1, 1990, through December 1, 2013 available on the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
Presently, the CDC recommends 4 doses of the Hib vaccine at the following ages: 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 12 months through 15 months.
The Hib vaccine is described on the CDC website as “very safe” and “effective” at preventing Hib disease, which it states can be deadly. They list “most common side effects as usually mild and last 2 or 3 days,” including “redness, swelling, and warmth where the child got the shot” and “fever”. Nowhere is there listed death or disability as a possible side effect.
In stark contrast to these statements the study uncovered the following highly concerning results:
VAERS received 29,747 reports after Hib vaccines; 5179 (17%) were serious, including 896 reports of deaths. Median age was 6 months (range 0-10.22 months). Sudden infant death syndrome was the stated cause of death in 384 (51%) of 749 death reports with autopsy/death certificate records. The most common non-death serious AE categories were neurologic (80; 37%), other noninfectious (46; 22%) (comprising mainly constitutional signs and symptoms); and gastrointestinal (39; 18%) conditions. No new safety concerns were identified after clinical review of reports of AEs that exceeded the data mining statistical threshold.
Consider also that VAERS is a passive surveillance system, which suffers from profound underreporting. According to the VAERS site’s own disclaimer:
“Underreporting” is one of the main limitations of passive surveillance systems, including VAERS. The term, underreporting refers to the fact that VAERS receives reports for only a small fraction of actual adverse events. The degree of underreporting varies widely. As an example, a great many of the millions of vaccinations administered each year by injection cause soreness, but relatively few of these episodes lead to a VAERS report.
According to Barbara Loe Fisher, founder of the National Vaccination Information Center, underreporting may result in overlooking 99% or higher of all vaccine associated injuries:
Former FDA Commissioner David Kessler estimated in a 1993 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association that fewer than 1 percent of all doctors report injuries and deaths following the administration of prescription drugs. This estimate may be even lower for vaccines. In one survey that our organization conducted in New York in 1994, only 1 doctor in 40 reported to VAERS.
Considering the influence of underreporting, these deaths represent only the tip of the iceberg of vaccine-induced infant morbidity and mortality caused by Hib vaccines. The study also mentioned an earlier analysis which found that infant death is the most common cause of death reported by all vaccine linked reports on VAERS, “accounting for almost one-half of all deaths reported.”
Obviously, this is an appalling study. The death of even 1 child for a potentially ineffective medical intervention designed to prevent a rarely fatal illness is a tragedy. Nor can any single vaccine be proven to have prevented any single case of disease because the clinical outcome (end point) is a non-event. This is not the case, however, for vaccine side effects which can be linked directly to the vaccination event with plausible scientific mechanisms.
What is perhaps most astounding is the researcher’s conclusion:
Review of VAERS reports did not identify any new or unexpected safety concerns for Hib vaccines.
This callous disregard for the evidence — evidence that clearly shows the CDC misrepresents the safety of the Hib vaccine — speaks to the blind investment in vaccine policy decisions over human wellbeing. Millions of parents have listened to the CDC and FDA and believed that these vaccines not only work but are safe. Informed consent requires those undergoing a quasi-mandatory medical intervention like vaccination to know the true risks associated with it. Failing to do so is clearly a violation of this medical ethical protection against being abused, and in some cases disabled and even killed.
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My Take…
VAERS has 1881 deaths of babies 0 to 2 years old after Hib Vaccine.
1514 deaths are < 6 months.
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Dr. William Makis is a Canadian physician with expertise in Radiology, Oncology and Immunology. Governor General’s Medal, University of Toronto Scholar. Author of 100+ peer-reviewed medical publications.
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“We still don’t know how many shooters there were. We don’t know what the weapons were. We don’t know what the firearms were. We don’t know what the explosives were. We don’t know how many were actually killed, how many wounded, but yet the US State Department knows that it was not Ukraine,” stated former CIA and State Department analyst Larry Johnson, according to Sputnik.
This indicates that the US government has no grounds to declare that there is no Ukrainian connection to the terrorist attack that claimed the lives of innocent Russians in Moscow.
The former analyst then highlighted another significant point stating that the statement “comes on a day that one of the CIA propaganda outlets came out and said that the Biden administration and the intelligence community were very concerned about what they call ‘brazen’, unwarranted attacks by Ukraine.”
Based on these premises, the former CIA and US State Department analyst announced that he suspected that Washington had information regarding the attack, yet withheld this information from Moscow.
“On what basis do officials in Washington draw any conclusions in the midst of the tragedy about anyone’s innocence? If the United States has or had reliable information in this regard, then it must be immediately transferred to the Russian side.”
Zakharova then stressed that
“if there is no such data, then the White House has no right to issue indulgences to anyone,” adding “All those involved, as stated by the Russian leadership, will be identified by the competent authorities.”
As for the Deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, he underscored that
“Terrorists understand only retaliatory terror.”
Medvedev further emphasized that
“If it is established that these are terrorists of the Kiev regime, it is impossible to do otherwise with them and their ideological inspirers. All of them must be found and ruthlessly destroyed as terrorists. Including officials of the state that committed such an atrocity.”
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On March 25, Russia initiated a UN Security Council (UNSC) session concerning the 25th anniversary of the illegal NATO bombing of Serbia (then officially known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). The attack was essentially the final act of the political West’s direct involvement, following nearly a decade of aggression by NATO whose endgame was to dismantle Yugoslavia, primarily by reducing Serbian ethnic space as much as possible.
Both were fully (Croatia) or partially (Bosnia and Herzegovina) secured by NATO after the belligerent alliance engineered the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from these areas. However, the political West wasn’t done with Yugoslavia (reduced to only Serbia and Montenegro).
On March 24, 1999, under the false pretext of supposedly “protecting” the separatist Albanian population in the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohia, NATO launched a massive air attack on FR Yugoslavia. For the next 78 days, after failing to defeat the Serbian military, NATO launched strikes against civilian infrastructure, determined to bring the country to its knees by destroying its economy and killing thousands of civilians. By the time it was over, NATO’s attack on Serbia was just one of the countless instances of the political West’s unpunished aggression against the world, disguised as the so-called “humanitarian intervention”, as per usual.
However, the latest UNSC session about this issue seems to have been “too unpleasant” for NATO, so its most prominent powers, particularly the permanent UNSC members, the United States, United Kingdom and France, effectively blocked the discussion. Russia’s proposal was supported by China and Algeria. Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic stated that Belgrade is “disappointed because today the truth about the NATO aggression against FR Yugoslavia in 1999 was prevented from being heard at the UNSC”. The Permanent Representative of Russia at the UNSC Vasily Nebenzya said that he understood that was “uncomfortable for NATO representatives at this table to hear this and to discuss it”, but stressed that it was important to have the discussion, “not only because of what happened but also because of what is happening now in that region”, obviously referring to ongoing tensions.
The political West criticized Russia’s initiative, insisting “it was unnecessary”. At the very beginning of the session, the Permanent Representative of France at the UNSC, Nicolas de Rivière, opposed the discussion, claiming that “this topic will not contribute to progress in any way”, obviously trying to avoid NATO’s responsibility, as it was the belligerent alliance that orchestrated the conflict in Yugoslavia in order to dismantle the country and then systematically destroy any pockets of resistance. The discussion about this at the UNSC would surely result in many questions regarding the functioning and the unreasonable power balance in the UN, which is often being used to justify NATO aggression against the world or, perhaps even worse, it’s simply ignored when Russia and/or China are using legal mechanisms to prevent it. This not only nullifies the very point of the UN, but it also makes international law void.
Any discussion that could result in the UN’s reform toward a more fair international order is immediately blocked by the political West. Worse yet, the belligerent power pole wants to impose the ludicrous “rules-based world order” that boils down to “international law” that the world “must follow”, but which the political West can interpret in any way it wants, giving it a free hand at maintaining (or even expanding) the extremely exploitative neocolonialist system. In addition, the discussion about NATO aggression on Yugoslavia/Serbia would also expose the belligerent alliance’s offensive-oriented nature. Namely, NATO has never been a “defensive alliance”, as it has never actually defended anything. Quite the contrary, its so-called “humanitarian interventions” around the world have resulted in the death and destruction of dozens of millions of lives, worsening the actual humanitarian situation.
It should also be noted that Russia decided to push for the discussion despite experiencing a horrendous terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall just three days before. This is a clear indicator that Moscow doesn’t forget its friends and allies, even when going through the toughest of times. It should also be noted there’s a wide political consensus in Russia when it comes to the question of NATO aggression on Serbia, as both houses of the Russian State Duma adopted the draft document that Representative Nebenzya submitted at the UN. The document called on the world to condemn NATO aggression against FR Yugoslavia, prevent continued attempts to conceal the truth about its true motive and hold NATO perpetrators legally accountable. Truly independent media have covered the aggression on Yugoslavia extensively, exposing the blatant lies and deceit used as pretexts to destroy it.
Globally renowned expert and Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Ottawa Michel Chossudovsky,also the Editor-in-Chief of Global Research, one of the most prominent independent media outlets on the planet, has been particularly active in this regard.
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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Looks like the USA has more terrorist attacks in the pipeline.
US media is now preparing the global public that more terror will emerge under the US cover of “ISIS-K”.
Moscow rampage reveals ambition, deadly reach of ISIS successor groups
“The Islamic State quickly claimed responsibility for Friday’s rampage through the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Krasnogorsk, a few miles west of central Moscow. U.S. counterterrorism officials believe it was ISIS-K, specifically, that recruited the four gunmen who fired automatic weapons at concertgoers before setting fire to the building, killing at least 139 in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in the history of modern Russia.
More attacks may be coming, counterterrorism officials warn. In a development that has been largely overshadowed by the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, ISIS-K and other regional groups have been expanding in size and ambition in recent years.” (Joby Warrick, Robyn Dixon and Souad Mekhennet, The Washington Post, March 25, 2024)
This is typical of US-Western security services. If their cover story and front-organizations are being revealed, they don’t fold but double down on them to keep them running.
As doubt rises in Russia and the world about the “ISIS-K” as the real perpetrator behind the heinous attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow, the CIA will organize new terror inside and outside of Russia to “prove” that “ISIS-K” is a real thing outside US control. At the same time, the CIA has unleashed the biggest US mainstream media like Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal to ridicule Russia and Putin that they couldn’t prevent the attacks and for pointing to the real western perpetrators behind “ISIS-K”.
Former UK security insider Alastair Crooke has revealed that “ISIS-K” is an American creation. Listen to Alastair Crooke explaining that “ISIS-K” is not real but just a US cover organization:
The US “fighting terror” is a lie.
Like the US created Taliban, Al Qaeda, Al Nusra, and other extremist groups, the US created “ISIS-K” to attack US enemies. For the US, terror is really good, as long as hits US enemies and doesn’t come back to the USA itself.
At first, it seemed overwhelming to understand that the US really engages such violent extremism and terrorism – but the trail of the US on the terror path is overwhelming.
The US supported and used Nazis to gain control over Ukraine in 2014.
That was openly documented in Western media at the time, though it has later been censored. For 4 years, the US let the ISIS “Khalifat” in Syria and Iraq export enormous amounts of oil via clearly visible tanker convoys through Syria to Türkiye to finance ISIS fighting Al Assad.
That ISIS also used its oil money to finance terror in Paris, Madrid, and Berlin didn’t bother the Americans.
The CIA even organized a cover story in one of the big US media was it was so “difficult” for the US to stop ISIS’ enormous oil exports – pure disinformation from the CIA to whitewash the US from its support of ISIS.
Only when Russia entered Syria, was the industrial ISIS oil export bombed away. In a few weeks, Russia stopped the ISIS oil export which the US had let ISIS do for 4 years. The ISIS oil was sold in Türkiye via the highest ranking people, further indicating that the US also had a role in the further distribution of the oil financing ISIS’ deadly expansion and atrocities. At the same time, the US agreed to support Al Qaeda in Syria, also against Al Assad, just using the new name of Al Nusra. New name, same (US) thing.
And for years, the US has used Ukraine to shelter top ISIS leaders and give them genuine Ukrainian passports with false identities, even as they continued directing their international terrorism from Ukrainian soil and under the eyes of Ukraine’s security Service SBU. This was published in 2019 in the UK, when CIA-SBU ties were firmly established. See this.
The SBU, according to US media, has been built from scratch by the CIA. The predecessor of the SBU before the Nazi coup in 2014 had too many contacts with Russia, according to US opinion. So the US appointed its current leader Budanov as chief of a new SBU and led Budanov to build up and staff the new, now current, SBU from scratch.
Rest assured, that all Western security services are involved in this ring of terror involving Nazis and Islamic terrorists alike.
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Karsten Riise is a Master of Science (Econ) from Copenhagen Business School and has a university degree in Spanish Culture and Languages from Copenhagen University. He is the former Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mercedes-Benz in Denmark and Sweden.
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The Third Reich’s manpower reserves was reaching its end as 1944 began which is now eight decades ago. The average age of a soldier in the German Wehrmacht through 1943 was 31.5 years, which was four years older than the average age in the German Army in 1917.
At the start of 1944 Nazi Germany on paper had 304 divisions in operation, 179 of which were in eastern and central Europe, 53 were in France, 26 in the Balkans, 24 in Scandinavia and 22 in Italy. Growing numbers of German divisions fighting against the Soviet Army had been “fought out”. They were no longer of division size due to the heavy casualties they had suffered. Through 1944 German forces stationed in western and northern Europe were increasingly sent eastwards in a vain attempt to offset their losses.
The great majority of the damage inflicted against the Wehrmacht in World War II was caused by the Soviet military.
It can be stressed that Russia possessed more than enough capabilities, manpower and military resources to defeat the Nazis, and without the need for a Western Allied amphibious landing in France.
In May 1944 the number of Germans fighting against the Russians had sunk to its lowest total since Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Russia had begun on 22 June 1941, while the number of Soviet troops in May 1944 had reached its highest point, and altogether they outnumbered the Germans by almost three-to-one.
Yet according to author Samuel W. Mitcham, in May 1944 the Germans at their closest point were 290 miles from Moscow, whereas the Soviet soldiers that month were still 550 miles from Berlin at their closest point. This would change dramatically in coming months with large-scale advances made by the Russians, such as during Operation Bagration, which was launched exactly three years after the Nazis had attacked Russia.
German units seriously depleted by Russian troops were often transferred to France, where some of them underwent reorganisation to prepare for a Western Allied landing. While it is normal for top level commanders to be of an experienced age, often over 60-years-old, one of the Germans’ main issues in the war’s latter stages was in shortages of frontline soldiers of an appreciably younger age. Some of the newly recruited men in the German gun-crews in France were 55-years-old or more.
With an American-led landing in western Europe becoming an inevitability, in early November 1943 Hitler had appointed Field Marshal Erwin Rommel as inspector of German coastal fortifications in the west which stretched from Norway southward to France. Rommel was not impressed by Germany’s defences, called the Atlantic Wall, and the many hundreds of miles of coastline meant the Nazis could merely erect a system of strongpoints and not a continuous line of concrete structures and minefields. By January 1944 even the strongpoint system was far from finished.
To strengthen the defensive lines, Rommel requested vast amounts of mines of different types, such as anti-tank mines, anti-landing craft mines, anti-personnel mines and nonferrous mines, the latter of which would be unidentifiable on enemy mine detectors, the Germans hoped. They also wanted mines detonated by trip wires and remote-controlled mines.
If the Anglo-Americans could be delayed on the French beaches, and if high casualties could be inflicted on them before they were allowed to reinforce, the Germans might decisively defeat their landing and force them back into the sea. Admiral Friedrich Ruge, a German naval officer stationed in France for most of the war and who was advising Rommel in 1943 and 1944, wrote how the field marshal “knew that there was no hope of winning, but hoped that the war could be brought to a tolerable end… So he looked for a way to defeat the landing on the beach, and to win a respite which could be exploited politically”.
From early 1941 to early 1944, around 1.7 million mines had been laid by the Germans in western and northern France. On 13 January 1944 Rommel requested a major increase of mine deployment to General Alfred Jodl of the Wehrmacht high command, who was visiting France. Rommel wanted two million mines to be laid each month. Rommel had a number of other ideas relating to Germany’s fortifications in western Europe. To solidify the defence, the mined and fortified areas were to be extended five to six miles inland. The number of strongpoints along or beside the coast would be increased, as would anti-tank guns and heavy machine guns in the forward sectors.
The panzer units were moved much closer to the coastlines where a Western Allied landing was expected, to enable the Germans to launch a counterblow towards the beaches in the opening hours of the amphibious assault. The enemy landing would have to be defeated within the first day, Rommel felt. Allied soldiers, upon arriving on the beaches or water’s edge, would have no tanks, artillery or heavy weapons. Some of them would probably be suffering from varying degrees of seasickness, due to the often unsettled waters of the English Channel which separates southern England from northern France, across which the Allies had to sail.
Rommel demanded the laying of mines in the English Channel itself. The German Navy, which had never been the strongest branch of the country’s military, lacked the vessels needed to drop significant numbers of mines into the English Channel. Rommel was also having problems in his relations with German Army officers, like Colonel-General Hans von Salmuth, who was commanding the German 15th Army in the region of Pas-de-Calais in the far north of France.
Colonel-General von Salmuth had previously commanded different Wehrmacht forces following the Nazi invasion of the USSR in 1941, such as the 30th Corps and the 2nd Army, and he was then sent to France in August 1943. Rommel first inspected von Salmuth’s 15th Army in December 1943, and he informed the colonel-general that he wanted hundreds of thousands of mines to be laid along his section of the coastline. Less than four weeks later Rommel again visited von Salmuth’s command area to see how things were going, and he was not satisfied with the progress made.
Rommel told von Salmuth to increase the amount of hours per day that troops under his command spent laying mines, even if it meant reducing time for training. Von Salmuth responded to Rommel in a haughty manner, telling the field marshal that he wanted his troops to be well-trained and prepared, and not overextended as a result of mine laying. Rommel replied, “Evidently you don’t intend to carry out my orders”.
Von Salmuth informed Rommel there was no realistic hope of the field marshal completing his program within a year, and that anyone who told him he could is either “trying to flatter you or he’s a pig idiot”. Von Salmuth’s superior attitude made it obvious that he felt he knew more than Rommel about military affairs. Rommel, who was quietly furious, waited until the other officers had disappeared into their vehicles, before he pulled von Salmuth to one side and severely criticised him for his disrespectful behaviour.
Mitcham wrote that “Salmuth’s face was red when he escorted the marshal [Rommel] back to the car, and his manner had changed completely. Rommel bade him farewell as if nothing had happened. As they drove away, the Desert Fox winked at Admiral Ruge and said: ‘He is a thoroughly rude fellow and has to be treated the same way!'” From January 1944, minefield and obstacle building in von Salmuth’s 15th Army increased substantially. Rommel’s angry words made the colonel-general see sense.
There was, as noted, a shortage of troops in the Wehrmacht. Major-General Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben’s German 709th Infantry Division, which was stationed in Normandy, France, and would be engaged in heavy fighting when the Western Allies landed there on 6 June 1944, had to defend a 40-mile wide front. A division could be expected to successfully defend a front of six miles in width against a large enemy force, not 40 miles, which gives an idea of how stretched the Germans were.
Part of Rommel’s solution to von Schlieben’s problems was the sowing of mines and construction of concrete bunkers. These obstacles would help to slow the Western Allies down and inflict significant losses on them, but the overall strategy remained to rapidly defeat the enemy on the beaches. Rommel discovered that the Normandy coast, located in northern France, was particularly neglected up until January 1944.
Between the port of Dieppe in the Normandy region, 600 miles along the coast to Saint Nazaire in western France, just 11 German batteries were in position with a combined force of 37 guns. By early 1944, the only adequately fortified areas were Cap Gris-Nez in the northern tip of France, the port of Brest in the extreme west of France, and the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and Herm) located not far off the French north-western coast.
The Nazi construction and engineering force, Organisation Todt, was almost entirely committed to building fortifications around the ports along with railroad reparations and maintenance. As a result, Rommel chose to put the German soldiers themselves to work in laying the minefields, anti-landing devices and other barriers. By 20 May 1944, the Germans had laid 4,193,167 mines in the stretch of northern France resting on the English Channel which included Normandy.
The Germans erected obstacles underneath the water and on the sand, to act as blockers to disable enemy ships coming ashore and personnel carriers. Some of the underwater obstacles consisted of stakes driven into the ground with an anti-tank mine connected to the tip. When a vessel struck the stake, the mine would detonate; other obstacles comprised of concrete triangular-shaped devices (tetrahedrons) with steel blades or anti-tank mines attached.
Further instruments of war were used like the nutcracker mine, consisting of a stake discreetly sticking out of a concrete housing which contained a heavy shell. Should something accidentally make contact with the protruding stake, the heavy shell would explode and strike the unsuspecting enemy.
The Germans proved effective at building fake or dummy gun emplacements and batteries, which regularly fooled Allied pilots on their bombing raids. By the time of the Anglo-American landing in Normandy, the US and British air forces had destroyed a modest 16 German guns in total, all in northern France, eight in Pas-de-Calais, five in the Seine-Somme area and three in Normandy. The Germans believed that the Western Allies would execute their landing at high tide, to reduce the distance they had to travel from the beach to solid ground inland which would provide some cover.
On the 2nd of January 1944, Rommel resumed his inspection of German coastal defences, this time in Belgium and the Netherlands. As he travelled in his vehicle through the interior of those countries, Rommel was understandably left in a sour mood by the liberalism and debauchery he repeatedly saw when driving along the Belgian and Dutch streets. Rommel rarely intervened to rectify the behaviour which he encountered, but on occasion he would be compelled to when out of strict military necessity. He wrote to his wife in various letters and complained to her about the attitude of the western Europeans, and in general he disliked the atmosphere that he came across.
The Germans thought it unlikely the Anglo-Americans would attempt their landing in Belgium or the Netherlands. Large parts of the Belgian and Dutch terrain consists of marshy or boggy ground, which is not suitable for armoured vehicles, and there are great numbers of obstacles like canals, rivers and streams scattered across Belgium and the Netherlands.
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This article was originally published on Geopolitica.RU.
Shane Quinn obtained an honors journalism degree and he writes primarily on foreign affairs and historical subjects. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
Sources
Samuel W. Mitcham Jr., The Desert Fox in Normandy (Praeger Publishers; 1st edition, 28 May 1997)
Chris Bellamy, Absolute War: Soviet Russia in the Second World War (Pan; Main Market edition, 21 August 2009)
“World War II anti-landing devices found in Guernsey”, BBC, 7 February 2012
Samuel W. Mitcham Jr., Hitler’s field marshals and their Battles (Leo Cooper Ltd. edition, 1 February 1988)
Donald J. Goodspeed, The German Wars (Random House Value Publishing, 2nd edition, 3 April 1985)
“Von Salmuth, Hans, Colonel-General, 1888-1962”, Generals.dk [World War II]
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What is it about British justice that has a certain rankness to it, notably when it comes to dealing with political charges? The record is not good, and the ongoing sadistic carnival that is the prosecution (and persecution) of Julian Assange continues to provide meat for the table.
Those supporting the WikiLeaks publisher, who faces extradition to the United States even as he remains scandalously confined and refused bail in Belmarsh Prison, had hoped for a clear decision from the UK High Court on March 26. Either they would reject leave to appeal the totality of his case, thereby setting the wheels of extradition into motion, or permit a full review, which would provide some relief. Instead, they got a recipe for purgatorial prolongation, a tormenting midway that grants the US government a possibility to make amends in seeking their quarry.
A sinking sense of repetition was evident. In December 2021, the High Court overturned the decision of the District Court Justice Vanessa Baraitser to bar extradition on the weight of certain assurances provided by the US government. Her judgment had been brutal to Assange in all respects but one: that extradition would imperil his life in the US penal system, largely due to his demonstrated suicidal ideation and inadequate facilities to cope with that risk.
With a school child’s gullibility – or a lawyer’s biting cynicism – the High Court judges accepted assurances from the Department of Justice (DOJ) that Assange would not face the crushing conditions of detention in the notorious ADX Florence facility or suffer the gagging restrictions euphemised as Special Administrative Measures. He would also receive the appropriate medical care that would alleviate his suicide risk and face the prospect of serving the balance of any sentence back in Australia. The refusal to look behind the mutability and fickle nature of such undertakings merely passed the judges by. The March 26 judgment is much in keeping with that tradition.
The grounds for Assange’s team numbered nine in total entailing two parts. Some of these should be familiar to even the most generally acquainted reader. The first part, comprising seven grounds, argues that the decision to send the case to the Home Secretary was wrong for: ignoring the bar to extradition under the UK-US Extradition Treaty for political offences, for which Assange is being sought for; that his prosecution is for political opinions; that the extradition is incompatible with article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) noting that there should be no punishment without law; that the process is incompatible with article 10 of the ECHR protecting freedom of expression; that prejudice at trial would follow by reason of his non-US nationality; that the right to a fair trial, protected by article 6 of the ECHR, was not guaranteed; and that the extradition is incompatible with articles 2 and 3 of the ECHR (right to life, and prohibiting inhuman and degrading treatment).
The second part of the application challenged the UK Home Secretary’s decision to approve the extradition, which should have been barred by the treaty between the UK and US, and on the grounds that there was “inadequate specialty/death penalty protection.”
In this gaggle of imposing, even damning arguments, the High Court was only moved by three arguments, leaving much of Baraitser’s reasons untouched. Assange’s legal team had established an arguable case that sending the case to the Home Secretary was wrong as he might be prejudiced at trial by reason of his nationality. Following from that “but only as a consequence of that”, extradition would be incompatible with free speech protections under article 10 of the ECHR. An arguable case against the Home Secretary’s decision could also be made as it was barred by inadequate specialty/death penalty protection.
What had taken place was a dramatic and savage pruning of a wholesome challenge to a political persecution garishly dressed in legal drag. On the issue of whether Assange was being prosecuted for his political opinions, the Court was happy to accept the woeful finding by Baraitser that he had not. The judge was “entitled to reach that conclusion on the evidence before her, and on the unchallenged sworn evidence of the prosecutor (which refutes the applicant’s case).” While accepting the view that Assange “acted out of political conviction”, the extradition was not being made “on account of his political views.” Again, we see the judiciary avoid the facts staring at it: that the exposure of war crimes, atrocities, torture and various misdeeds of state are supposedly not political at all.
Baraitser’s assessment on the US Espionage Act of 1917, that cruel exemplar of war time that has become peacetime’s greater suppressor of leakers and whistleblowers, was also spared necessary laceration. The point missed in both her judgement and the latest High Court ruling is a seeming inability to accept that the Act is designed to circumvent constitutional protections, a point made from the outset by the brave Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette.
On the issue of whether Assange would be denied due process in that he could not foresee being prosecuted for publishing classified documents in 2010, the view that US courts are “alive to the issues of vagueness and overbreadth in relation” to the Act misses the point. It hardly assures Assange that he would not be subject “to a real risk of a flagrant denial” of rights protected by article 7 of the ECHR, let alone the equivalent Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.
The matter of Assange being denied a fair trial should have been obvious, evidenced by such prejudicial remarks by senior officials (that’s you Mike Pompeo) on his presumed guilt, tainted evidence, a potentially biased jury pool, and coercive plea bargaining. He could or would also be sentenced for conduct he had not been charged with “based on evidence he will not see and which may have been unlawfully obtained.” Instead, Baraitser’s negative finding was spared its deserved flaying.
“We, like the judge, consider the article 6 objections raised by the applicants have no arguable merit, from which it follows that it is not arguable that his extradition would give rise to a flagrant denial of his fair trial rights.”
Of enormous, distorting significance was the refusal by the High Court to accept “fresh evidence” such as the Yahoo News article from September 2021 outlining the views of intelligence officials on the possible kidnapping and even assassination of Assange. To this could be added a statement from US attorney Joshua Dratel who pertinently argued that designating WikiLeaks a “non-state hostile intelligence service” was intended “to place [the applicant] outside any cognizable legal framework that might protect them from the US actions based on purported ‘national security’ imperatives”.
A signed witness statement also confirmed that UC Global, the Spanish security firm charged by the CIA to conduct surveillance of Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, had means to provide important information for “options on how to assassinate” Assange.
Instead of considering the material placed before them as validating a threat to Assange’s right to life, or the prospect of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the High Court justices speculated what Baraitser would have done if she had seen it. Imaginatively, if inexplicably, the judges accepted her finding that the conduct by the CIA and UC Global regarding the Ecuadorian embassy had no link with the extradition proceedings. With jaw dropping incredulity, the judges reasoned that the murderous, brutal rationale for dealing with Assange contemplated by the US intelligence services “is removed if the applicant is extradited.” In a fit of true Orwellian reasoning, Assange’s safety would be guaranteed the moment he was placed in the custody of his would-be abductors and murderers.
The High Court was also generous enough to do the homework for the US government by reiterating the position taken by their brother judges in the 2021 decision. Concerns about Assange’s mistreatment would be alleviated by granting “assurances (that the applicant is permitted to rely on the First Amendment, that the applicant is not prejudiced at trial (including sentence) by reason of his nationality, that he is afforded the same First Amendment protection as a United States citizen, and that the death penalty not be imposed).” Such a request is absurd for presuming, not only that the prosecutors can be held to their word, but that a US court would feel inclined to accept the application of the First Amendment, let alone abide by requested sentencing requirements.
The US government has been given till April 16 to file assurances addressing the three grounds, with further written submissions in response to be filed by April 30 by Assange’s team, and May 14 by the Home Secretary. Another leave of appeal will be entertained on May 20. If the DOJ does not provide any assurances, then leave to appeal will be granted. The accretions of obscenity in the Assange saga are set to continue.
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Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He currently lectures at RMIT University. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). Email: [email protected]
Featured image: Supporters of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange protest outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, during his continuing extradition hearing. Picture date: Wednesday April 20, 2022. Picture: PA Wire
The attack left Russia and the world in shock. Despite the ongoing NATO-orchestrated conflict in Ukraine, the country has been largely safe from such attacks. The FSB and other relevant services have prevented hundreds of similar attempts over the years, meaning that the latest terrorist attack certainly has elements that are not consistent with the usual pattern.
Contemplating U.S. history for the past 55 plus years confirms the continuity of government policy for war and economic policies that enrich the wealthy at the expense of the working class and massacre the innocent around the world. But we can pretend otherwise.
Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski recently told German press agency dpa that “Ukraine and Poland have been one country for 400 years. [Conventionally intervening in Ukraine] would provide fodder for Russian propaganda. Therefore, we should be the last ones to do so.”
ICTR prisoners in Senegal have written this eloquent letter, which should serve as a basic document for any course in international criminal law given by any university in the world.
Britain was the biggest imperial power for well over a century. During its heyday it used to control about a quarter of the global landmass. So vast was this empire that there was always sunlight on one part or the other of this vast territory, leading to the boast that the sun never sets on the British Empire.
This is a fascinating story. How does any company get a deal like this: “government paid an additional $150 million to Medicago in the form of a non-refundable agreement to purchase COVID-19 vaccine doses in advance.” NON-REFUNDABLE.
The road to the Crocus Center in Moscow began in Turkey, as one of the attackers confessed who killed 143 concert goers and injured more than 150 on Friday night. Russia has said the all the attackers have been captured on their way to Ukraine in an effort to escape.
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As of this writing, the death toll was 137 killed and over 180 wounded. The total tally could be worse, as dozens of people are critically injured and may not survive in the following days.
The attack left Russia and the world in shock. Despite the ongoing NATO-orchestrated conflict in Ukraine, the country has been largely safe from such attacks.
The FSB and other relevant services have prevented hundreds of similar attempts over the years, meaning that the latest terrorist attack certainly has elements that are not consistent with the usual pattern.
Some in the political West, as well as the foreign-backed opposition in Russia, are accusing the FSB of supposed “incompetence”, obviously trying to use the tragedy for political purposes.
However, Russian services promptly arrested the attackers and detained at least 11 other suspects, preventing some of them from reaching the border with Ukraine.
It’s rather peculiar that the terrorists chose to leave Russia in such a way, especially considering that it’s effectively impossible to cross the border between the two countries due to the ongoing conflict.
Thus, the involvement of the Neo-Nazi junta is already implied due to this alone.
“Having fun in Moscow today? I think it’s a lot of fun. I would like to believe that we will arrange such fun for them more often. After all, they are ‘brotherly’ people, and you need to please your relatives more often and visit them more often. So, we’ll walk,” Danilov said.
In other words, apart from open support for the terrorists, he effectively threatened to arrange more such attacks.
The video is so disturbing and enraging that its authenticity has been called into question.
And indeed, it’s yet to be 100% confirmed that Danilov actually said this.
However, such statements are certainly not out of the ordinary for the Kiev regime.
Namely, one of its former top-ranking officials, Aleksey Arestovich, openly showed his admiration for the so-called Islamic State (previously known as ISIS and ISIL) and its depraved ways. What’s more, his statements about this predate the special military operation (SMO), meaning that this wasn’t some emotional reaction to it, but a conviction that Arestovich held for years. ISIS/ISIL/IS is a global Islamic terrorist group, infamous for horrific war crimes, destruction and simply havoc they have brought upon the peoples of Syria, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, the Philippines, etc.
On the other hand, while the terrorists who attacked the Crocus City Hall were obviously inspired by the IS, to conclude that’s all there is to it would be naive, to say the least.
In a statement for Ukrainska Pravda, given minutes after the initial reports about the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack, Andrii Yusov,a GUR (Kiev regime’s military intelligence) spokesperson said that this was a “deliberate provocation by Putin’s special services”. Yusov’s accusations came at a time when the Afghanistan-based ISIS-K (Khorasan Province) took responsibility, while the Russian government still hadn’t issued any official statements. It’s almost as if Yusov was trying to preemptively shift responsibility for the terrorist attack.
Thus, this terrorist attack would accomplish nothing that Russia didn’t already have.
On the other hand, the Neo-Nazi junta and its overlords in the political West stand to gain everything from this. Apart from insisting that Russian services are supposedly “incompetent”, thus undermining their reputation, Moscow’s enemies also get the benefit of fomenting and exploiting religious divisions in Russia, particularly between ethnic Russians and various Muslim minorities. This comes at a time when the latter have shown overwhelming support for their country, as demonstrated by a large number of Muslims in the Russian military, be it Tatars, Bashkirs, Chechens, etc.
There’s also a geopolitical dimension to it, as most Muslim-majority countries around the world have shown full support for Moscow, meaning that any internal conflict on religious grounds in Russia would diminish that support.
On the other hand, we all know full well who controls the actions of the Kiev regime, which leads to perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle – the involvement of the United States and NATO. Namely, just two weeks before the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall, the American Embassy in Moscow called on US citizens in Russia to avoid public gatherings.
Why would Washington DC instruct its (arguably) most important embassy to make such an announcement unless they knew something was coming?
It’s monstrously hypocritical of the US to offer condolences when, at the very least, it knew that an attack was coming, but chose not to warn the Russian side.
On the other hand, this begs the question of how did Washington DC know, further implying that it was actually involved. South Front reports that, quoting leaked information, the four terrorists were recruited by a man named Salmon Khurasani, known to have close links to both the CIA and IS in Central Asia.
The reason why the term “total war” is the most fitting is because it includes a plethora of tools that are being used against Russia, including deep psy-ops that are supposed to shape the narrative.
It’s only a matter of time before the political West launches its own propaganda campaign that Moscow conducted a supposed “false flag”.
This accomplishes at least two important goals. First, it shows that the US can supposedly “predict events” (when the truth is that it actually engineers them), and two, it creates the illusion that Russia wanted to initiate a wider conflict with the said “false flag”.
However, what many keep forgetting is that the US-led political West has a propensity for projection, especially through mass media such as movies, TV series and video games, all very effective ways to influence the masses and public opinion.
Namely, video gamers surely remember the hugely popular Call of Duty series, specifically its Modern Warfare 2 iteration, published in 2009.
In short, it boils down to a “Russian ultranationalist” group storming the Domodedovo airport in Moscow, killing hundreds of civilians in the process. In-game, this was later used as an excuse by Russia to attack the entire NATO.
Interestingly, the main protagonist in the aforementioned level is a CIA agent named Joseph Allen. His goal was to infiltrate the “Russian ultranationalist group” that launched the false flag.
So, what does this have to do with current events? Well, it’s quite clear that NATO’s strategic planners have a tendency to project events through mass media years or decades in advance. And it should be noted that the entire Modern Warfare segment of the Call of Duty franchise goes even further.
Back in 2019, the already overtly Russophobic Modern Warfare was rebooted specifically to present the Russians in an even worse light. The Pentagon insisted that Moscow, particularly its soldiers, are shown in a dehumanizing manner.
To that end, it even pinned American war crimes on Russia.
It should be noted that the first part of the reboot was released back in 2019, which was three years before the SMO. Either way, it’s perfectly clear that the political West’s endgame is to not only dehumanize the Russian people and manufacture hatred toward them through mass media, but to also shape the narrative and public opinions with preplanned events, often years or decades in advance.
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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All these lands constituted the territory of the loose Polish-Lithuanian Union after Krewo in 1385 and the tighter Commonwealth after Lublin in 1569, but Warsaw only had direct rule over Eastern Ukraine for less than a century, parts of Western Ukraine for 230-360 years, and Eastern Galicia for over 420 years.
Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski recently told German press agency dpa that “Ukraine and Poland have been one country for 400 years. [Conventionally interveningin Ukraine] would provide fodder for Russian propaganda. Therefore, we should be the last ones to do so.” His quip about those two’s history is misleading, however, since both the length of time that they were together as well as the nature of their relations are disputable.
Regarding the first, the Union of Krewo in 1385 led to the creation of the loose Polish-Lithuanian Union, which was the precursor of the tighter Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that emerged from the 1569 Union of Lublin. For the nearly two centuries between those two unions, the vast majority of modern-day Ukraine was under the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s control with the exception of Eastern Galicia and Western Podolia, within which are the well-known city of Lwow and town of Kamieniec Podolski.
The Crown Kingdom of Poland only took control of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s modern-day Ukrainian regions after the Commonwealth’s creation, thus meaning that the majority of what’s nowadays known as Ukraine was part of Poland itself for less than 230 years, not 400. Less than a century later, the 1667 Treaty of Andrusovo, which ended the Polish-Russian War that was sparked by the Khmelnitsky Uprising a few years prior, saw St. Petersburg wrest control of Kiev and most of Eastern Ukraine from Warsaw.
Poland then lost Polish-majority Western Galicia (with the exception of Krakow) and Ukrainian-majority Eastern Galicia to Austria a little over 100 years after that during the first partition in 1772.
Western Podolia and most of the Ukraine’s remaining western regions then followed slightly more than two decades later after the second partition of 1793 gave them to Russia. The third partition just two years later in 1795 then saw Russia take the rest of Poland’s majority-Ukrainian-inhabited lands.
Eastern Galicia’s Lwow was part of the Polish Crown since 1349, Western Podolia’s Kamieniec Podolski officially joined in 1430 but switched hands with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for decades before that since the mid-14th century, while the rest of Ukraine’s western regions came under its control in 1569. Accordingly, the first was part of Poland for over 420 years, the second for at least 360 years though possibly longer depending on how one measures it, and the last for less than 230 years.
It should also be mentioned that the never-implemented Treaty of Hadiach from 1658 would have trifurcated the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by carving out a “Ruthenian” (old-style term for what are nowadays Ukrainians) Duchy from most of Poland’s formerly Lithuanian lands apart from Volhynia. This is relevant in the context of Sikorski’s quip since it shows that some of those Ukrainian elites that remained under Warsaw’s control after the Khmelnitsky Uprising wanted a separate political identity.
The purpose in sharing these facts is to show that Polish-Ukrainian history isn’t as simple as he portrayed it as being at the geopolitical level, not to mention the local one as proven by the 1648-1657 Khmelnitsky Uprising and the 1468-1769 “Koliivshchyna”, both of which were anti-Polish bloodbaths. Sikorski wanted to signal support for Ukraine, but in doing so, he might have ruffled some folks’ feathers with his misleading claim that overlooks Lithuania’s historical autonomy from 1385 onwards.
The Grand Duchy was an equal member of the Commonwealth alongside the Polish Crown, not a province or vassal of the latter like casual outside observers oftentimes assume. While each were technically part of the same country, they also de facto functioned as their own states due to the wide autonomy that they preserved to administer their internal affairs, which is why the notion that Lithuanian-controlled modern-day Ukraine was “part” of Poland isn’t what most folks might imagine.
All these lands constituted the territory of the loose Polish-Lithuanian Union after Krewo in 1385 and the tighter Commonwealth after Lublin in 1569, but Warsaw only had direct rule over Eastern Ukraine for less than a century, parts of Western Ukraine for 230-360 years, and Eastern Galicia for over 420 years. Throughout that entire time, a separate Ukrainian identity was forming, and its roots laid the basis for the fascist interpretation thereof that arose during the interwar years and was revived after 2014.
Oversimplifying the geopolitical dimension of Polish-Ukrainian history like Sikorski did by claiming that they’ve “been one country for 400 years” overlooks the key facts touched upon in this piece that account for the present state of socio-political affairs in this former Soviet Republic. It misleads casual outside observers into thinking that bilateral ties are much better than they presently are due to their shared history, which is actually more complicated than he let on and seen very differently by both.
It’s important to dispel the illusion that Sikorski reinforced since it distracts from Ukraine’s three-month-long anti-Polish infowar campaign that was detailed here in mid-March. To be sure, there’s no longer any crisis in bilateral ties like they briefly experienced late last year under Poland’s former conservative-nationalist government, but trouble is still brewing. Upon becoming aware that their history isn’t as simple as he made it seem, casual outside observers can better these dynamics as they unfold.
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Andrew Korybko is an American Moscow-based political analyst specializing in the relationship between the US strategy in Afro-Eurasia, China’s One Belt One Road global vision of New Silk Road connectivity, and Hybrid Warfare. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Featured image: Sikorski with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2023 (Licensed under CC BY 3.0 pl)
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Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a spate of books and articles extolling the word “soul” became the rage in the United States. Soul became the chic word. It popped up everywhere. Everything seemed to acquire soul – cars, toasters, underwear, cats’ pajamas, assorted crap, kitsch, etc. Soul sold styles from boots to bras to bibelots from The New York Times to O Magazine.
The vogue in soul talk spread to every domain as everyone was commodified and capital was financialized. While political, economic, and ecological reality spun out of regular people’s control and they felt unable to feel connected to a religious tradition that cut through the materialistic and war miasma, they were ravaged with a hunger to devour, to consume. It was soul propaganda, highbrow New Ageism at its finest, the religious equivalent of an old-fashioned Ralph Lauren interior. It was the era of consuming souls in a society that had become a spiritual void. At least for those who had become divorced from their bodies and tradition at its best. Fantasy started to rapidly replace reality.
The great popularizer of this new sense of soul and self (though no-self would be more accurate) was Thomas Moore, the author of the best-selling book – Care of the Soul, “a pathbreaking lifestyle handbook” and soon to be soul franchise (The Soul of Sex, Soul Therapy, The Soul of Christmas, etc.) His works replaced the idea of an existential self with a precious, epicurean conception. “You have a soul, the tree in front of your house has a soul, but so too does the car parked under the tree,” he said, adding that things “have as much personality and independence as I do.” Ah, soul!
Not soul as I once learned in Catholic school: the essence of human freedom and consciousness in God united with the body.
Definitely not soul as the essence of a person bound by conscience to God and other human beings.
Not soul as in “For what shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his soul.”
Not even soul as the dictionary defines it” “the immortal essence of an individual life.”
Although I have seen this soul-talk used for decades now to sell all sorts of bullshit and thought I couldn’t be surprised by any more usage, I just stumbled on one that took my breath away. I read in Life Undercover, a memoir by RFK, Jr.’s presidential campaign manager, daughter-in-law, and former CIA spy under nonofficial cover in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and North Africa, Amaryllis Fox (Kennedy), that CIA work is “soulful work.” I didn’t know this. I thought its job was to spy, kill, and foment chaos for its Wall St handlers (with certain exceptions being some analysts who gather information). I recall former CIA Director Mike Pompeo saying,
“I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. It’s – it was like – we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.”
Or as my friend Doug Valentine, an expert on the CIA, puts it, the CIA is “Organized Crime,” not a bunch of soul-force workers out to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. He writes:
CIA and military intelligence units now operate out of a global network of bases, as well as secret jails and detention sites operated by complicit secret police interrogators. Their strategic intelligence networks in any nation are protected by corrupt warlords and politicians, the ‘friendly civilians’ who supply the death squads that in fact are their private militias, funded largely by drug smuggling and other criminal activities.
Yet Fox effusively thanks her CIA colleagues for their great work and for making her the woman she has become.
“Your allegiance is to the flag, to the Constitution, to some higher power, be that God or Love,” she writes in gratitude.
For some reason, I don’t think the assassinated JFK or RFK would buy her love talk; rather, they may quote another eloquent Irish-American, the playwright Eugene O’Neill: “God damn you, stop shoving your rotten soul in my lap.”
The man Fox is trying to elect president of the U.S., Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., also wrote a memoir – American Values – that revolves around an indictment of the CIA for an endless series of crimes: “What are we going to do about the CIA?” he quotes his father saying to his aide Fred Dutton at the beginning of JFK’s presidency, before both Kennedys had yet to be killed by the soulful CIA. Kennedy, Jr. writes:
Critics warned that the ‘tail’ of the covert operations branch would inevitably wag the dog of intelligence gathering (espionage). And indeed , the clandestine services quickly subsumed the CIA’s espionage function as the Agency’s intelligence analysts increasingly provided justification for the CIA’s endless interventions.
56 years later his campaign manager Fox Kennedy – you can’t make this weirdness up – married to RFK, III, is touting the soulful work of the Agency.
She replaced Dennis Kucinich, who was a strong a supporter of the Palestinians. Is Fox and RFK, Jr.’s relationship a matter of what the Boss says to Luke in the iconic movie Cool Hand Luke – “What we got here is failure to communicate” – or the kind of communication that takes place in elite circles behind closed doors?
Sometimes sick people utter truths that lead to sardonic assent. They remind you of history that is so shameful you cringe. Fox and Pompeo also seem to live in separate realities, their psyches twisted by some deep evil force for which they both worked.
And here we are in another presidential election year. When you think about presidential politics, you have to laugh.
I like to laugh, so I think about them from time to time. It’s always a bad joke, but that’s why they are funny. It makes no difference whether the president is Ford, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, Bush Jr., Obama, Trump, Biden, or anyone who tries to square the oval office for their special sort of big change that never comes.
Those who tell you with a straight face that the lesser of two (or more) evils is better than nothing have not studied history. They choose the evil of two lessers and wash their hands. They live on pipe dreams, as Eugene O’Neill put it in his play The Iceman Cometh:
To hell with the truth! As the history of the world proves, the truth has no bearing on anything. It’s irrelevant and immaterial, as the lawyers say. The lie of a pipe dream is what gives life to the whole misbegotten mad lot of us, drunk or sober.
I am reminded of advice I was given during the immoral and illegal Vietnam War when I had decided to apply for a discharge from the Marines as a conscientious objector. But if you don’t go to the war, people said to me with straight faces, some poor draftee will.
The military needs good people. To which I would often respond: Like the country needs good commanders-in-chief such as Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. It’s like what people say about buying a lottery ticket when your odds are 1 in 500,000,000 – someone has to win. Ha! Ha! Never reject the system is always the message.
Contemplating U.S. history for the past 55 plus years confirms the continuity of government policy for war and economic policies that enrich the wealthy at the expense of the working class and massacre the innocent around the world. But we can pretend otherwise. For an egregious recent example, the three leading candidates in this year’s election – Biden, Trump, and RFK, Jr. – all stand firmly behind the Israeli genocide in Gaza that any human being with a soul would condemn.
That these men are controlled by the Israel Lobby is obvious, but we can pretend otherwise.
That this is corruption is obvious, but we can pretend otherwise.
We can pretend and pretend and pretend all we want because we are living in a pretend society.
What’s that old Rodney Dangerfield joke: the problem with happiness is that it can’t buy you money? Well, the problem with presidential politics is it can’t buy you the truth, but if you do it right it can fetch you money, a lot of corrupt money to help you rise to the pinnacle of a corrupt government. For the truth is that the CIA/NSA run U.S. foreign war policy and the presidents are figureheads, actors in a society that lost all connection to reality on November 22, 1963.
Scotte Ritter has recently written the following about the CIA and its spearheading of the U.S. war against Russia through Ukraine:
Now, amid such a tense environment, it appears the C.I.A. has not only green-lighted an actual invasion of the Russian Federation, but more than likely was involved in its planning, preparation and execution.
Never in the history of the nuclear era has such danger of nuclear war been so manifest.
That the American people have allowed their government to create the conditions where foreign governments can determine their fate and the C.I.A. can carry out a secret war which could trigger a nuclear conflict, eviscerates the notion of democracy.
If this is soulful work, God help us.
Ask the 32,000 + dead Palestinians in Gaza whose voices cry out for justice while the top presidential contenders cheer on the Israeli/U.S. slaughter.
“The terrible truth is,” writes Douglass Valentine, “that a Cult of Death rules America and is hell-bent on world domination.”
And yes, presidential politics is a funny diversion from that reality. Eugene O’Neill could be humorous He played the Iceman theme to perfection, the Grim Reaper of two faces.
There was a tale circulating in the 1930s that a man came home and called upstairs to his wife, “Has the iceman come yet?” “No,” she replied, “but he’s breathing hard.”
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This article was originally published on the author’s website, Behind the Curtain.
Edward Curtin is a prominent author, researcher and sociologist based in Western Massachusetts. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
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On Monday, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling for a two-week ceasefire in Gaza, after the United States abstained from a vote on the resolution.
Biden administration officials made it clear that they allowed the resolution to pass because it is “non-binding” and will have “no impact at all” as the US continues to arm and support Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The resolution declares that the Security Council “demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, respected by all parties, leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire, and also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield explained that, in the view of the US, the “non-binding” resolution “put pressure on Hamas” for the “release of the first hostage.” She added,
“what this resolution means is that a ceasefire of any duration must come with the release of hostages.”
White House National Security spokesman John Kirby was even more explicit, saying,
“It is a non-binding resolution. So there’s no impact at all on Israel and Israel’s ability to continue to go after Hamas.
“It does not represent a change at all in our policy,” Kirby added.
Asked by a reporter whether the US has “no longer got Israel’s back,” Kirby replied,
“Nothing could be further from the truth. Of course, we still have Israel’s back. I mean, as you and I are speaking, we are still providing tools and capabilities, weapons systems, so that Israel can defend itself.”
He added that there is “no change by this non-binding resolution in what Israel can or cannot do in terms of defending itself.”
In other words, the United States will continue to provide weapons and funding for Israel’s ongoing genocide, which has to date left over 40,000 people dead, missing or injured and has destroyed or damaged most buildings in the Gaza Strip.
American imperialism has been the leading global enabler of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, providing the Netanyahu government with weapons, funding, and diplomatic air cover.
Earlier this month, press reports revealed that the Biden administration has provided over 100 separate arms transfer packages to Israel, each falling below a minimum threshold for reporting to Congress.
The secret weapons shipments include, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, “at least 23,000 precision-guided weapons, including Hellfire air-to-ground missiles, drones, and Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, which turn unguided bombs into ‘smart’ bombs,” as well as bunker-buster bombs.
In response to the US’s failure to veto the resolution, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who was in Washington to coordinate Israel’s planned assault on Rafah, made it clear that Israel intends to move against the city where more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians have been crammed together.
“We will operate against Hamas everywhere—including in places where we have not yet been.” He added, “We have no moral right to stop the war while there are still hostages held in Gaza.”
In response to the UN vote, the Netanyahu government canceled a subsequent planned meeting between Israeli cabinet members and White House representatives in Washington.
“The State of Israel will not cease firing. We will destroy Hamas and continue fighting until every last hostage has come home,” Israel Katz, Israel’s foreign minister, said in a statement on Twitter.
The same day as the vote at the UN Security Council, Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on Palestine, issued a statement saying there is evidence to support the claim that Israel’s actions in Gaza fit the criteria for genocide.
Her report presents a devastating picture of the horrendous impact of the US-Israeli genocide:
After five months of military operations, Israel has destroyed Gaza. Over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 13,000 children. Over 12,000 are presumed dead, and 71,000 injured, many with life-changing mutilations. Seventy percent of residential areas have been destroyed. Eighty percent of the whole population has been forcibly displaced. Thousands of families have lost loved ones or have been wiped out. Many could not bury and mourn their relatives, forced instead to leave their bodies decomposing in homes, in the street, or under the rubble. Thousands have been detained and systematically subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment. The incalculable collective trauma will be experienced for generations to come.
In the strongest language yet used by the UN in condemning the genocide, Albanese’s report concludes that
“there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met.” She added that Israel’s civilian and military leadership have attempted to “legitimize genocidal violence against the Palestinian people.”
Critically, Albanese pointed to the repeated statements of genocidal intent by Israeli officials. She wrote,
“In the latest Gaza assault, direct evidence of genocidal intent is uniquely present. Vitriolic genocidal rhetoric has painted the whole population as the enemy to be eliminated and forcibly displaced. 150 high-ranking Israeli officials with command authority have issued harrowing public statements evincing genocidal intent.”
These include the declarations by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that the population of Gaza consists of “human animals” and the declaration by Israeli President Isaac Herzog that “an entire nation out there … is responsible” for the October 7 attack, adding that Israel would “break their backbone.”
In the midst of these developments, Israel is preparing its planned ground offensive against Rafah with a systematic bombing campaign. On Monday, Israel bombed a house in Rafah, killing at least 15 people, including at least four children.
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Below is the English version of a letter to the Judges of the ICTR and the Mechanism on the manifest failures of the law as practiced at the ICTR.
ICTR prisoners in Senegal have written this eloquent letter, which should serve as a basic document for any course in international criminal law given by any university in the world.
We think it’s time to pay more attention to the men and women detained by the United Nations. They have no real right to release after serving long years in detention. Reconciliation implies forgiveness in both senses.
The word “genocide” and ICTR prisoners.
The word genocide is omnipresent in today’s public discourse, with the premeditated genocide of the Palestinians by Israel with the support of the United States and Great Britain.
You will see in the attached document that the genocide in Rwanda was legally presumed without the proof required by the Tribunal.
For Israel, although genocide has been proven prima facie, the West does not accept this in contrast to their automatic acceptance of the Rwandan “genocide” which has never been proven.
It seems to me that this issue deserves to be revisited from top to bottom.
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Despite all the conflict in the world, it seems that most people have the same basic goals in life. That’s not really surprising given that we operate by the same physiological processes, we have the same psychological abilities, and we live in basically the same environment.
Most of us want freedom, although there are examples in history of people waiting until their freedom was taken before recognizing that it was a vital need. But as a rule, people want the freedom to choose how to live their lives and don’t want others dictating it. That’s why nations and great social movements are often built on concepts of freedom.
We all want health and this includes all the things needed to maintain health including food, water, shelter, and peace of mind. It could also include useful medicines, surgery or health guidance. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, physiological and safety needs fall into the larger category of health. Like freedom, health is something we don’t appreciate until it’s gone.
The instinctual goal to reproduce is within each of us or we wouldn’t be here today. For old folks like me, biological reproduction is no longer a primary goal but our common need to be loved and remembered is, in a sense, a psychological reproductive need. A reproductive goal is about propagation, moving beyond our life.
Achieving these goals requires us to have a good understanding of the environment in which we live and, more so, a good understanding of people. Anyone who desires to remain free and healthy, with or without reproduction, should take advice from the ancient Greeks to “Know Thyself.” Knowing ourselves means understanding life, understanding people, and understanding our environment.
Understanding Life
Living beings have a lot in common. For example, we all have metabolic cycles that produce and consume the chemical compounds that maintain and energize our cells. We all have genetic code that provides the toolbox that our cells use to develop and maintain our bodies. We’re all designed to reproduce and respond to environmental stimuli as well.
It’s actually amazing how similar animals are on a molecular scale. Fish, frogs, sheep, humans, and mice all share basically the same set of genetic tools. The difference is what we do with the tools but there are similarities in development patterns. For instance, cells have an intrinsic ability to organize themselves into a body plan and this ability is ancient and shared by many species.
Geneticist Enrico Coen, in his book Cells to Civilizations, describes seven core principles in the growth of living systems and creative processes.[1] Coen says that these seven principles are demonstrated in all four of life’s greatest transformations: evolution, development, learning, and culture.
Whether it be a gene, a cell, an organism, or a society, each unit of life experiences these seven principles as it evolves, develops, learns, and creates.
Coen’s first three principles,
1. population variation,
2. hereditary persistence, and
3. reinforcement simply state that there are differences between individuals that persist over generations and that are selected for by the current environment. Most of us understand that.
4. Competition
Competition is a result of the fact that more than one “difference” is present at any time and the ones that best fit the current environment will persist.
Survival of the fittest may be the most misunderstood concept in evolution as many people typically equate fitness with strength and that is not what it means to be fit for the environment. In fact, the weakest could be the best fit in many situations but in general the winner at any given time is the one that exhibits a set of differences that mirrors the environment well, maximizing the number of variables that are optimally fit.
Evolutonary biologist Andreas Wagner, in his book Life Finds a Way, describes the means by which molecules, genotypes, and organisms evolve within their respective environments by traversing their respective fitness (or adaptive) landscapes.[2] There’s a good deal of randomness involved—it’s not all about competition.
Finding the most stable combination of attributes in a complex landscape is a function of both natural selection and the availability of genes due to random chance, a concept known as genetic drift. Wagner applies these concepts to creativity and innovation as well, with divergent thinking (drift) used to generate ideas balanced by convergent thinking (selection) to isolate solutions.
Of course, competition is seen throughout human society in academics, business, government and geopolitical frameworks. Some people embrace competition so much that they never make it to the next principle, which is where the “we” comes in. These include people with anti-social personality disorders like psychopaths—people with no empathy and trouble regulating self-esteem as described by Ramani Durvasula.[3] People with psychopathy, which appears to be caused by an underdeveloped amygdala, don’t care about what happens to others. They just can’t get to “we.”
5. Cooperation
Nonetheless, individuals often work together for their mutual benefit. I know, crazy. People cooperate by forming families, friendships, communities, businesses and nations, some of which become venues for competition.
In some circles the question of whether cooperation is a better life strategy than competition is discussed. This leads to the misunderstanding that we can have one without the other. As Coen puts it, cooperation emerges as an outcome of evolution and persists in a feedback loop with competition. It’s not one or the other, we will live through both repeatedly.
Some people still get stuck in the process at cooperation. They might be saints, idealists or victims.
6. Combinatorial richness
The cyclic principles of variation, competition and cooperation have led to some beautiful results in evolution. For example, some animals have extended their senses into the environment so that minute movements of air, water, light, and electrical or chemical content can be detected far from the source. Sometimes they get signals that we do not, like the infrasonic signals used by whales and elephants, or the fine temporal structure of bird song. All in the pursuit of freedom, health, and reproduction.
Adaptation can take a lot of time though. Plants are unable to learn new relationships in a lifetime (e.g. grass does not learn to duck down when a lawn mower is started) but animals can. Being able to learn new relationships depends on the added complexity of an elaborate nervous system.
7. Recurrence
Recurrence is the relentless repetition of this overall process. As we get better at adapting there is more competition and more need for variation so we have to go back to the first principle, the development of new differences, and this leads again to the emphasis on individuals and the loss of “we.” Some might naively try to emphasize or remain at a stage of competition or cooperation but we’re a product of the process and we’re best served by imitating it.
Understanding People
Because we have an elaborate nervous system that brings about consciousness and psychology, the most important facts unique to humanity are psychological. In terms of achieving our goals, understanding the state of our psychology is most useful.
Who we are psychologically begins with the unconscious. As most people know, we understand things unconsciously as well as consciously. What many people forget is that our unconscious mind, which is not accessible to us, drives a lot of our decision making.[4] It’s estimated that 95% of our mental, and therefore emotional and physical, activities operate unconsciously. This fact brings to mind a question: How much of what we strive for in life, including freedom and health, is a consequence of unconscious instinctual drives, as in the case of biological reproduction?
An important part of understanding human nature today is deception. That is, we are often deceived and we deceive ourselves. I’ve written about the well-documented psychological biases and defense mechanisms that affect people and about how our species evolved a tendency to self-deceive.[5]
Carl Jung described how we deceive ourselves and others through development of our persona. This is the self-image we display for public consumption that is not an accurate representation of who we are, leaving out the negative aspects of our personality.
The challenge we face today is that the falsehoods resulting from our tendencies to deceive each other and ourselves are amplified by the many blind spots brought about through propaganda and censorship. Nonetheless, better knowing ourselves can help us to respond to threats that abuse our psychological limitations.
Understanding Our Environment
Despite how important it is to be aware of our current environment, it’s not easy to keep up with the change. As Coen wrote, “Our environment is a rich setting, involving many different types of correlated change.” In support of our goals of freedom, health and reproduction, let’s focus on dangers in our current environment.
Byron Tau’s new book Means of Control details how we are being tracked in many ways and how our data, which defines a pattern of who we are, is for sale.[6] Tau explains how the justifications that led to this startling fact arose from what we’ve been told about the 9/11 crimes.
To those who are engaged in tracking us, people have become data patterns. Through our credit card usage, store loyalty cards, apps that we give GPS access to, and ongoing geolocation of our devices and vehicles, our individual histories and preferences are readily available for exploitation. Today this data is sold to aggregators and collectors including but not limited to military and intelligence agencies around the world.
It doesn’t need to be said that military and intelligence agencies don’t have a great track record of caring about humans and neither do large corporations. Of course, from the perspective of these kinds of entities, a good track record has nothing to do with supporting freedom, health, democracy or any other typically human goal. For them it’s about wealth and power and, as Tau wrote, the success of mass surveillance “lies in the secrecy.”
Tau emphasizes a quote from novelist Thomas Pynchon. “Once the technical means of control have reached a certain size, a certain degree of being connected one to another, the chances for freedom are over for good.” The technical means of control are being put in place today.
There are those who would harm us for their own objectives. This includes people who just don’t care about others and people who have agendas that involve our submission to them.
The people who would harm us include a wide variety of deceivers—scammers who steal billions annually, thieving politicians and government contractors, and various people who sell us lies in the form of misinformation or disinformation that persuade us to do things we would not do of our own accord.
People with severe psychopathy would harm us physically, mentally, and emotionally in order to achieve their own objectives. Due to their underdeveloped amygdala, which normally regulates fear and social behaviors, they not only don’t care if they harm others—they want to harm others. Unfortunately, people with psychopathy are estimated to account for about 1% of the human population. The odds that some of them are in positions of authority is good.
Power is concentrating at an exponential rate and it doesn’t matter if this is happening through intent. The result is the same–the concentration and centralization of power in the hands of a few.
The great danger here is that once such power is concentrated, anyone could take it. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. We need to be ready for that, to whatever extent we can, while remembering that a majority of people will obey authority to the point of harming others.[7]
As the U.S.-Western empire declines and the process of globalization leads to a world government, let’s not kid ourselves. The only ideology of the current empire is the accumulation of wealth and power and that won’t change by replacing our overlords with those of a different nationality. No doubt we can expect that new empires will take a shot at controlling everything until there is just one. Then the only enemy left to target will be the people.
As always, the question remains, what can we do?
The thinking that led to this essay suggests a few things we can do and some we should not do. To begin with, we should use the 5% of our thinking that is conscious to help us achieve our common goals. We should not assume that the institutions we have developed for cooperation–academics, business, government, media–have the same goals because, despite some court rulings, they are not human beings. They might also have become arenas of unhealthy competition.
We should continually be striving to understand ourselves and our environment and never accept simplistic narratives that present a new threat from which our institutions will claim to save us. The dangers we face are not about a political party or a political leaning, and they are not about specific governments or corporations. They are more related to the extensive deception in our lives.
We should use critical thinking to recognize the dangers and opportunities in our environment. At the very least this should include being highly skeptical of every narrative presented by government, non-democratic global governance organizations, and the mainstream press. Especially the fear-based narratives.
We should innovate and create using a balance of divergent and convergent thinking. Creativity is born of a broad perspective that allows for comparisons and metaphors. Therefore, we should ask, what happens when we see these kinds of dangers in nature or in history? Are there strategies that have been successful for other species or cultures?
That’s a lot to consider but it presents a perspective that needs to be developed and suggests ideas for further research.
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This article was originally published on Dig Within.
Notes
Enrico Coen, Cells to Civilizations: The Principles of Change That Shape Life, Princeton University Press, 2012
Andreas Wagner, Life Finds a Way: What Evolution Teaches Us About Creativity, Basic Books, 2019
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Britain was the biggest imperial power for well over a century. During its heyday it used to control about a quarter of the global landmass. So vast was this empire that there was always sunlight on one part or the other of this vast territory, leading to the boast that the sun never sets on the British Empire.
In more recent times, however, an important talking point relates to whether Britain is fast losing the independence of its foreign policy, as this gets increasingly linked too closely to the priorities of the world’s most dominant power the USA.
Recently one of the world’s most quoted authorities on international relations, Prof. John Meirsheimer of the University of Chicago, USA, said in an interview with the New Statesman (Weekend Interview, February 10, 2024)—
“The British will do almost anything the Americans want them to do. The Americans often find that their allies don’t always want to go along with their various schemes. But there’s one exception to that—Britain.This did not used to be the case. The Americans desperately wanted the British to join the fight in Vietnam, but the British declined. But I think if we were to have a Vietnam today, and the American government were to ask the British to get involved, they would enthusiastically jump into the fight.”
Further, Prof Meirsheimer questioned the wisdom of this policy. He stated,
“Such loyalty does not make good strategic sense. Especially if you look at the withering away of the British military. It is not like the British military power is growing; it seems to be heading in the other direction. And in that situation you would expect the British to cut back on their commitments to these various escapades that the Americans involve them in. But that’s not happening. Quite the contrary.”
In an article ‘Global Britain is becoming a stooge of the USA’ (Conversation, September 27, 2021), Victoria Honeyman, Associate Professor of British Policy, University of Leeds, has written,
“The USA has always been able to shout ‘jump’ and the UK ask ‘how high’ but the public humilation which goes with that does not fit well with the post-Brexit rhetoric of a strong, ‘global’ Britain.”
In fact a quick search of the discourse on US-UK relations of recent times would reveal that words like ‘stooge’ and ‘poodle’ have been used quite frequently to capture the subservient role of what was earlier the biggest imperial power. This was particularly highlighted at the time of the lackey-like loyalty displayed by Tony Blair in his highly unethical and opportunist support for the entirely false reasons being mentioned by the US to justify the invasion of Iraq. This is when the words ‘Bush’s poodle’ or simply ‘poodle’ were widely used for Tony Blair. In the musical video accompanying George Michael’s song ‘Shoot the Dog’, which was quite high on the popularity charts at that time, George W. Bush throws a ball for the dog to fetch. Instead Blair fetches the ball. After Blair a few rather weak efforts were made to correct the balance somewhat, but these did not have any durable impact. Then things worsened again with Boris Johnson being a very enthusiastic stooge and rushing to Ukraine to do the Empire’s bidding of sabotaging a peace accord between Ukraine and Russia which was close to bearing fruit.
Such a relationship would not have been so objectionable if the USA was in the same phase not adopting an irrationally and excessively aggressive foreign policy resulting in enormous destruction in many parts of the world. According to widely cited Brown University’s estimates on costs of the USA’s war on terror during (approximately) the first two decades of this century, nearly 900,000 people died directly in this and if indirect costs are also included, then as many as 4.5 million perished. Whether in Afghanistan or Iraq, Libya or Syria or elsewhere, Britain was most often the most willing collaborator of the USA in all this avoidable destruction.
Hence ethically and in a moral sense, this excessive loyalty has been a disaster for Britain as it has led to one massive destruction after another which was entirely avoidable and entirely unjustified. However even in a strategic sense, it makes little sense for the UK to keep getting involved in more and more wars and making more and more enemies.
What I saw while reporting on violence in a slum may be related here to reveal the dangers inherent in the present role assumed by Britain. Most of the violence in this slum was being caused by a dominant person who can best be described as a slumlord of sorts. To maintain his grip over the slum he often took with him a person, whom local people referred to as ‘chuutbhaiya’ (smaller collaborator), from door to door while imposing his diktats by beating any dissenting person. However something happened which forced the slumlord to relocate to his rural base. Now his smaller collaborator was left alone in a vulnerable position. The people now gathered together and beat him up so badly that he had to run away. This explains the high risks a smaller collaborator incurs when making more and more enemies at the behest of big brother whose protection may not always be available.
Britain was involved in the plunder and exploitation of many countries and regions during the colonial times. Even while leaving it created mischief due to which there is repeated outbreak of conflict in Palestine, in the Indian sub-continent and elsewhere.
Hence it would be much better for Britain to try to make up for this now by essentially becoming a country of peace and justice. Unfortunately it has chosen a path which is exactly the opposite of this. It is very disruptive towards world peace, and in addition it brings entirely avoidable dangers to Britain. In the context of Ukraine, Britain during the last decade 2014-24 has been consistently involved in highly provocative activities with the USA and NATO allies. At the same time, the economic and social problems of the common people of Britain have been increasing, particularly the bottom 33% of the population.
Hence Britain should seriously think of changing its priorities so that the people of Britain can be at peace with themselves and with the entire world. Its historically most beneficial role can be to try its best to take the USA too in the same direction, using its close cultural and other links at various levels with the USA.
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Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Planet in Peril, Protecting Earth for Children, A Day in 2071 and Man over Machine. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Featured image: UK Prime Minister Liz Truss meets with US President Joe Biden in New York City on September 21, 2022 (Photo credit: No 10 Downing Street)
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Sep. 2021 – University of California – Grow and eat your own vaccines?
A $500,000 grant from National Science Foundation awarded to: show DNA containing the mRNA vaccine can be successfully delivered into plants, demonstrate plants can produce enough mRNA, determine the right dosage.
“Ideally, a single plant would produce enough mRNA to vaccinate a single person,” said Juan Pablo Giraldo, an associate professor in UC Riverside’s Department of Botany and Plant Sciences who is leading the research, done in collaboration with scientists from UC San Diego and Carnegie Mellon University.
“We are testing this approach with spinach and lettuce and have long-term goals of people growing it in their own gardens”
Key to making this work are chloroplasts — small organs in plant cells that convert sunlight into energy the plant can use. “They’re tiny, solar-powered factories that produce sugar and other molecules which allow the plant to grow”
“They’re also an untapped source for making desirable molecules.”
It is possible for chloroplasts to express genes that aren’t naturally part of the plant, by sending foreign genetic material into plant cells in a protective casing.
“Our idea is to repurpose naturally occurring nanoparticles, namely plant viruses, for gene delivery to plants,”
Some engineering goes into this to make the nanoparticles go to the chloroplasts and also to render them non-infectious toward the plants. The idea is to do this with mRNA.
One of the challenges with this new technology is that it must be kept cold to maintain stability during transport and storage.
On Feb. 25, 2022, Health Canada approved the world’s first plant based COVID-19 vaccine for use in adults aged 18 to 64.
Canada has ordered 76 million doses of Covifenz, the main ingredient of which was manufactured in the leaves of a tobacco relative.
Medicago, the Quebec-based pharmaceutical company behind the plant-based jab, has agreed to supply the Canadian government with 76 million doses of the vaccine as soon as possible, the Associated Press reports.
Medicago uses Nicotiana benthamiana, a close relative of the tobacco plant, to manufacture virus-like particles that mimic SARS-CoV-2’s spike protein but don’t cause infection or disease.
The particles are then harvested from the plants, purified, and combined with an immune-boosting adjuvant—made by British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline—to make the vaccine. The virus-like particles can be stored in a refrigerator at two to eight degrees celsius, unlike the mRNA vaccines that require extremely cold storage.
Medicago plans to test the shot as a booster.
Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist based in Toronto, tells CBC Newsthat the vaccine’s approval is good news, even though most Canadians are already vaccinated with two or more doses. “Is this going to have a major impact on us here in Canada? Probably not. But there might be some individuals who choose to get vaccinated with a non-mRNA product”
April 17, 2023 – Government of Canada Website – COVID-19 plant-based vaccines
The virus’ genetic code is delivered to the leaf cell of the plant using a harmless bacteria. The plant’s natural cell process is used to produce a non-infectious VLP that mimics the spike virus that causes COVID-19.
The plant-based technology is developed in carrier plants that can be relatives to the potato, corn, tobacco or others.
The technology uses the plant’s natural cell process to produce protein VLPs and the plants quickly produce large quantities of these VLPs.
“The particles are injected into your body through a muscle. Once injected, they mimic the structure of the virus.”
“the COVID-19 plant-based vaccine meets the safety, effectiveness and quality standards of Health Canada.”
Dec. 8, 2023 – Ottawa getting $40 million refund from former parent company of Quebec COVID vaccine maker
The money Medicago received from the federal government included $173 million from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) in 2020 to help it develop vaccine technology and build its Quebec City manufacturing facility.
In a press release, ISED said Ottawa has reached a deal with Medicago’s former parent company Mitsubishi to recoup $40 million that was used to help build the facility.
The National Post revealed last month that, on top of the ISED money, the government paid an additional $150 million to Medicago in the form of a non-refundable agreement to purchase COVID-19 vaccine doses in advance.
Medicago’s facility closed down in February 2023 after Mitsubishi decided to discontinue marketing its COVID vaccine Covifenz and funding the company overall.
This past June, Canada’s contract with Medicago to purchase the vaccines was terminated by mutual consent.
A deal has been worked out to allow Medicago’s former employees to purchase the facility. Medicago’s research and development assets, intellectual property and equipment will be transferred from Mitsubishi to a new Quebec company called Aramis Biotechnologies. Aramis is run by former Medicago employees, ISED said.
Ottawa probably won’t get back the $150 million it gave Medicago to purchase vaccines in advance.
Oct. 24, 2022 – This COVID-19 Vaccine Is the First Plant-based Vaccine for Humans
Medicago’s vaccine method is different—it starts by introducing the genetic code for making the spike protein into plants, not humans. This code acts like an instruction manual: the plant cells read it and then use the information to start pumping out spike proteins in surplus, Dr. Ward said.
Using Virus-like Particles
All of these spike proteins then start clumping together to form molecules that look like viruses. These molecules, called virus-like particles (VLPs), form in the leaves of the plant and are the antigen in Medicago’s vaccine.
The spike protein portion of the Coronavirus genome is introduced into the plant so that the plant’s cellular machinery can synthesize multiple spike proteins, according to an article from February 2022 in Cellular and Molecular Immunology. The spike proteins form together, three at a time, to form trimers. These proteins travel to the plant’s cell membrane, spontaneously assemble, and use a piece of the membrane to ‘bud off’ as a viral-like particle (VLP).
“These VLPs are very complex molecular structures that look like a virus—same size, same organization—except they have no genetic information inside, so they’re non-infectious,” Dr. Ward explained. Once injected into the body, these “pseudo viruses” trick the immune system into action, Dr. Adalja said. But, unlike actual viruses, they cannot replicate or make us sick.
Adding an Adjuvant
Other than VLPs, Medicago’s vaccine has one other key component: an adjuvant made by GlaxoSmithKline, according to the June 2022 study. Adjuvants are ingredients found in some, but not all, vaccines, which generate a more robust immune response, according to the CDC.
“Use of an adjuvant can be of particular importance in a pandemic situation as it may boost the immune response and reduce the amount of antigen required per dose,” Dr. Ward explained. “[This] allows more vaccine doses to be produced and, therefore, contributes to protecting more people.”
Dr. Ward said they do know that the plant-based vaccine produces a stronger immune response than other types of vaccines, thanks to VLPs. According to Dr. Ward, VLPs maintain their structure as they travel through our blood—think of them like flowers drifting in a rapidly moving stream, Dr. Ward said. In comparison, other vaccines use singular spike proteins, which are like individual flower petals that quickly disperse in our bloodstream.
“[Since] VLPs get delivered as a bundle—and a bundle looks more like a virus to the immune system—the immune system reacts more strongly,” Dr. Ward said.
The WHO said plant-based vaccines are cheaper to produce. Medicago declined to disclose the cost of its product. Instead, the company stated it is priced fairly and in line with other vaccines.
My Take…
This is a fascinating story.
How does any company get a deal like this: “government paid an additional $150 million to Medicago in the form of a non-refundable agreement to purchase COVID-19 vaccine doses in advance.” NON-REFUNDABLE.
It is safe to say that the technology probably doesn’t work and the Canadian government was either scammed or was in on the scam.
Still…what is this technology? It started off like this:
“Ideally, a single plant would produce enough mRNA to vaccinate a single person”
“We are testing this approach with spinach and lettuce and have long-term goals of people growing it in their own gardens”, “Grow and eat your own vaccines”
Instead, it turned into a genetically modified tobacco plant (partly owned by tobacco company Philip Morris) producing clumps of spike protein that had to be extracted, injected into a person’s muscle and ended up in the blood stream as floating clumps of spike protein with a fancy name “virus-like particles, or VLPs”, which needed an adjuvant from GlaxoSmithKline to induce an immune response.
So that is where we are with “edible vegetable mRNA Vaccines”.
That being said, there is a push to get some type of oral mRNA Vaccines on the market. I will cover that in an upcoming substack.
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Dr. William Makis is a Canadian physician with expertise in Radiology, Oncology and Immunology. Governor General’s Medal, University of Toronto Scholar. Author of 100+ peer-reviewed medical publications.
Featured image is from COVID Intel
The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
Reviews
This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon
In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia
In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig
Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac
A reading of Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late. You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
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On March 24, 2024, the Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany, Annalena Baerbock, traveled for talks to Egypt, Israel, and the “Palestinian Territories” (AA). On the Foreign Ministry website, she is quoted as follows:
“We stand by our responsibility for Israel’s security: Hamas must lay down its weapons and must never bring back the terror of October 7 upon the people of Israel. However, this goal cannot be achieved purely militarily. Military action has its limits in international humanitarian law. Only an immediate humanitarian ceasefire leading to a lasting ceasefire keeps the hope for peace alive.”
On the day of Ms. Baerbock’s departure, the Israeli army continued its aerial attacks unabated from the ground and water and also targeted the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where the majority of the population has sought refuge.
The declarations of the German Foreign Minister echo as do those of her US counterpart Blinken. This is not surprising, as anyone who only demands that Hamas lay down its arms and does not do the same to Israel makes themselves not credible.
This is especially true since both Germany and the USA have supplied and continue to supply many of these weapons themselves. Ms. Baerbock, like her US counterpart Blinken, acts unilaterally as a party and thereby forfeits their potential roles as mediators. Therefore, Germany and the USA’s efforts to achieve a ceasefire are not taken seriously, neither by Israel nor the Arab world.
Ms. Baerbock says,
“The people need everything: Every box of food, medicines, water purification tablets, or medical equipment counts. Every box blocked on trucks in front of Gaza’s fences is one too many. With our international partners, we leave nothing untried.”
The dropping of relief supplies over the Gaza Strip is actually a drop in the bucket, a grand spectacle that distracts from Germany and the USA’s co-responsibility for the humanitarian catastrophe. The famine in the Gaza Strip cannot even be alleviated by dropping a few boxes of relief supplies.
Germany, the USA, and the other NATO countries are not only actively involved in Gaza but in all conflicts and wars that geopolitically shake the world. This is especially true for Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. At many Easter marches in 2024, a cessation of hostilities and the beginning of peace negotiations will be demanded, including in Munich. Peace or at least a ceasefire can only be achieved if all parties involved in the conflict come together at the negotiating table.
The world is closer to the brink of a nuclear catastrophe than even during the Cold War. The reason is that all mechanisms established and international treaties signed back then have been eliminated or terminated in the last 10 years. Today, there are not even confidence-building measures that would allow de-escalatory steps. The states are geared towards confrontation!
Against this backdrop, the traditional demands of the peace movement for negotiations, disarmament agreements, and the abolition of nuclear weapons will once again be relevant—a support as never before!
Humanity feels the consequences of militarization and armament every day. The labor unions point out in their Easter march call that the welfare state is losing out to the militarized state. The recent statements by the Pope on the Ukraine war give hope that more and more churches and civil society forces recognize that the militaristic narrowing of societal discourse must be stopped. The press and all other media bear a special responsibility here, dear colleagues!
According to the latest findings of the World Meteorological Organization, it is clear that the goals set in Paris to limit global warming are already being missed.
This dramatic development affects us all. Despite this, by joining forces, humanity must prevent the worst and somehow get the impending climate catastrophe under control. Instead of wasting billions on armament and war, states must finally collaborate, and humanity must pool all available resources.
All means must be used for socio-ecological transformation, education and healthcare, humanitarian aid, and securing the foundations of humanity.
Easter March Munich on Easter Saturday, March 30, 2024
11:15 Opening rally Marienplatz
City Greeting: Brigitte Wolf, The Left
Maria Feckl, DFG/VK
12:00 Demonstration – City Center
1:30 p.m. Closing rally Marienplatz
Speech: Linda Schneider, ver.di labor union, regional director of Bavaria
Martin Pilgram, Pax Christi
Jürgen Rose, Darmstädter Signal, Lieutenant Colonel (ret.) of the Bundeswehr
Philipp from SDAJ
Music: StreetOps Music
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The road to the Crocus Center in Moscow began in Turkey, as one of the attackers confessed who killed 143 concert goers and injured more than 150 on Friday night. Russia has said the all the attackers have been captured on their way to Ukraine in an effort to escape.
A message on the social media, Telegram, claims responsibility for the attack by the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K).
The US media reports that the US government had warned Russia of a possible attack being planned by the IS-K. The deadly attack is just days old, and a thorough investigation is needed, but what is clear: the road to the attack began in Turkey, and was part of a Radical Islamic revival sponsored by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
One of the attackers has confessed that he arrived in Russia from Turkey, and was radicalized there by an Islamic cleric. The confessor is a citizen of Tajikistan in central Asia. Turkey had been a secular government following the political ideology championed by the father of Turkey, Ataturk, who asked his nation in the aftermath of WWI to look to the west and become modern, while turning away from the east and old traditions which Ataturk saw as an obstacle to cultural and economic progress.
But, Erdogan was a follower of a political form of Islam, which is termed Radical Islam. Under the decades of Erdogan rule in Turkey, the society has turned backwards to the east, and embraced a non-secular trend. Erdogan claimed that the Turkish people are the descendants of ancient ethnic groups in central Asia. Places, like Tajikistan became recognized as ‘brothers’ to the Erdogan regime.
Members of IS-K and Al Qaeda from the Central Asian republics can legally reside and work in Turkey, successfully infiltrating the local society. They patiently await commands from their clerics to carry out terrorist attacks, adeptly navigating security measures. Istanbul’s Basaksehir, is a favorite haven for Uzbek, Tajik, and Turkmen migrants.
The US-NATO attack on Syria began in 2011 for the purpose of regime change.
Erdogan, a long standing US ally was asked to be a partner in the Obama-led war on secular Syria, to create a Muslim Brotherhood friendly state in Damascus, who could be a perfect partner to the Muslim Brotherhood ruling party of Erdogan in Ankara. Obama launched a similar plan in both Libya and Egypt with varying success.
The Muslim Brotherhood thrived in the US and UK and was represented in key positions in the government and society in both places. This was a group following Radical Islam, but they wore suits and ties and appeared to be productive members of society, all the while planning openly to deconstruct democratic governments little by little to realize their dream of an Islamic State with Islamic Law as the only constitution.
Russia had suffered many Radical Islamic terror attacks over decades killing dozens. President Putin saw the US-UK and Turkey sponsoring the terrorists in Syria, and by 2015 made a decision to save Syria from becoming an Islamic State by entering the battlefield against the terrorists who were gaining territory.
As many experts explained at the time: Russia could stop the march of Radical Islam in Syria, or wait and battle them on the streets of Moscow.
Erdogan and Putin were pitted as enemies in Syria by the US-NATO war. After Turkey shot down a Russian plane over Syria, and a Turkish security officer killed a Russian diplomat in cold-blood, the relationship between the two major nations hit a low point.
But, the US stabbed their loyal ally Turkey in the back in Syria. Washington sponsored the Kurds who are the enemy of Turkey. The PKK is a terrorist group which has killed over 30,000 people over 30 years. The Kurds in Syria formed an armed militia the SDF and the YPJ which are directly tied to the PKK, and share the same Communist political ideology. The Pentagon took the SDF and YPJ under its wing and provided everything a modern army could want, including paychecks in dollars. Erdogan complained to Obama, to Trump and to Biden, but all his complaints about the Kurds fell on deaf ears in Washington.
Dr. Kamal Jafa, the geopolitical expert in Aleppo, reported that there was a meeting at the Al Shadade military base in Syria, under the occupation of the US military, between the SDF and Ukrainian officials seeking armed IS terrorists to fight the Russians in Ukraine. An agreement was made to transfer certain Russian speaking IS terrorists held in prisons by the SDF in Syria to Ukraine.
Ukraine was developing plans to work with the SDF to attack Russian troops in Syria. However, in late December 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called a halt to that planning, as The Washington Post reported, citing a leaked US document that dates from January 2023. The document also discusses the attitude of the Turkish government, which was aware of Ukraine’s planning to strike Russian targets in Syria.
Just hours after the Moscow attack, John Kirby, a spokesman for President Biden’s National Security Council, stated publicly that the Ukrainians had nothing to do with the attack. People asked the question, “How would you know who is, or is not involved, when the attack just occurred, and no arrests have been made?” Others commented, “If you know who is not involved, then you must know who is involved.”
Idlib is the last terrorist controlled area in Syria. It is under the armed control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, commanded byAbu Mohamed al-Julani, who is on the US wanted list, with a $10 million bounty on his head. This is despite being in full view of the media, including the US media who came to interview him while wearing a suit and tie, in an effort by his American handlers to cleanup his image, and rebrand him as a US approved alternative to President Assad in Damascus.
All the UN and other humanitarian aid arriving in Idlib passes first through the hands of Julani and his terrorists, who distribute the aid to their families and associates, and refuse to share with those opposed to his Radical Islamic occupation. The left over aid is sold in Julani’s new shopping mall, Al Hamra, with its escalators taking shoppers over several luxurious floors. Not surprisingly, recent street protests in Idlib have called for his ouster and execution from the 3 million civilians living under a brutal and repressive regime which forbids females to take part in any training programs offered by humanitarian groups.
Commentators have asked, if the US knows that Idlib is the headquarters of IS-K, and other armed groups following Radical Islam, why do they denounce the Syrian Arab Army, or their ally, the Russian military, and their plan to eliminate the terrorist presence in Idlib? If the whole world recognizes Idlib as a center for terrorism, then why not get rid of the threat, which poses a threat to civilians in Syria, Russia and Europe? The US and Turkey are keeping Idlib safe from attack in order to be able to use those armed assets when and where they chose.
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