“Beware the Ides of March!” Rank Betrayal Permeates Trumpf Junta

Julius Caesar betrayed and assassinated by his closest friends and allies. He did not heed the warning: “Beware, the Ides of March.” Painting by Vincenzo Camuccini.

Today is the “Ides of March” and fitting to describe the rank betrayal perpetrated by Donald Trumpf on America’s international allies and Republican supporters. Coriolanus is doing his best to keep up with the carnage caused by America’s Godzilla.

Kursk Falls to Russian Forces After Trumpf Withdraws US Intelligence Support

The cutting of US intelligence to Ukrainian soldiers forced a partial retreat and regrouping in Kursk. This was the only Russian territory occupied by Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces during the three-year war which Moscow began. Scenes of Kiev’s troops mangled, burned, and on the run filtering back to the capital have reinforced distrust of America and Russia. As you read previously here on Coriolanus, American volunteers fighting in Ukraine feel “betrayed by their country.” This villainy was followed up with more atrocities.

Russian Forces Execute Five Ukrainian POWs

Ukrainian war crimes investigator at earlier scene of Russian butchery.

After re-taking a significant portion of Kursk thanks to Trumpf, Russian forces allegedly executed five Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs). A video circulating on social media purportedly shows unarmed Ukrainian soldiers killed after being captured by Russian troops. “We once again see a cynical disregard for international humanitarian law on the part of the Russian army,” a Ukrainian spokesman said, adding that he had sent letters to the UN and the ICRC to document the suspected war crime. The news comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first visit to Kursk Oblast on 12 Mar since Ukraine launched its cross-border incursion into the region in August 2024. Russian forces and Wagnerites have been committing war crimes against Ukrainians since Feb 2022.

Trumpf Blocks War Crimes Investigations

War crimes investigators and forensics specialists gathering the corpses of Ukrainian victims.

And child abduction from Ukraine is exactly what led to Vladimir Putin’s indictment by the ICC:

“Today, 17 March 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “the Court”) issued warrants of arrest for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.

Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born on 7 October 1952, President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022.”

An ICC international arrest warrant remains active for Vladimir Putin. Trumpf sanctioned the ICC to remove arrest warrants from war criminals Vladimir Putin and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

Canadian Afghan War Veterans: “Angry and Betrayed”

Pte. Danny Drapeau, of Alpha Company 1st Battalion Royal 22e Regiment, waits to lower the Canadian flag for the last time at FOB Zangabad on Sunday, 19 Jun 2011. (Photo: Murray Brewster / The Canadian Press)

The notion that Canadians fought and died in Afghanistan to help defend the US — because of the terrorist attacks on 11 Sep 2001 — runs deep among Canadian veterans of that war and their families. Canadian and American troops fought together and bled together in the scorched hinterlands of Afghanistan. Now many Canadians who fought in Afghanistan say Trumpf’s behavior leaves them feeling angry and betrayed, irked by his threats to annex Canada through economic force, the trade war, and a plan to make life harder for Canadians visiting the US.

The Trumpf junta plans on requiring Canadian citizens planning to stay in the country for more than 30 days to register their information with the US government and submit to fingerprinting. Effective 11 Apr, affected people would have to create an account with USCIS and schedule an appointment for fingerprinting as part of a background check. 

A meme circulating online — a photo of troops in front of the maple leaf rock monument at Ma’sum Ghar, the Canadian forward operating base in western Kandahar — was recently captioned: “We went because you were attacked. We didn’t ask for your thanks. Neither did 158 of us who died for you.”

But it was the bullying of the Ukrainian president in the Oval Office and Vice-President JD Vance’s insistence that Volodymyr Zelensky show gratitude that set off many veterans.

While real estate scion Donald Trumpf avoided military conscription during the Vietnam War with a podiatrist’s letter claiming that his “bone spurs” made him illegible for the draft, 40,000 Canadians enlisted in the US military to fight against North Vietnam and the Viet Cong. At least 134 were killed.

The Canadian Vietnam War Memorial in Ontario, Canada.

Canadians and Americans have a shared history of spilling blood for each other, something the grossly imbecilic Trumpf has ignored.

Trumpf Budget Betrays Farmers, Veterans, Poorer Republican Voters

The Republican budget was designed to give unnecessary tax breaks to obscenely wealthy oligarchs by cutting America’s social safety nets like Medicaid and Medicare, as well programs to assist under-privileged people regardless of their political affiliation. From funding cuts to tariffs, American farmers have found themselves struggling to find markets for their products and facing the risk of steep losses for the year ahead. Farmers will lose millions in local food purchases after sweeping federal cuts at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) led to the closure of two programs funding fresh food for schools and food banks.

The USDA announced nearly $1 billion in cuts last week, shuttering the Local Food for Schools program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement.

“We’re just in such a state of shock,” a farmer said. “We just don’t really even know how to respond to all this. We thought that this was sacred and really untouchable. So it’s just quite a shock and very devastating. Everyone thinks all farmers voted for this, but we did not vote for this.”

Thanks to the Trumpf junta, farm bankruptcies and farmer suicides are on the rise. “We have seen a definite increase in the suicide rate and depression in farmers in the US, especially in the Upper Midwest,” reported a soybean farmer from Minnesota.

Astonishingly, sycophantic and under-qualified FBI Director Kash Patel is moving to criminalize groups like Habitat for Humanity for receiving grants from the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration, as if America’s premier internal security had nothing better to do with its time and resources.

Thanks to Trumpf and Felon Musk, the worst person in the world, the US will see a return of Hoovervilles within a few years straight out of the Great Depression:

Thousands of Veterans Protest Trumpf Nationwide

All of these draconian measures taken by the Trumpf junta are designed to inflict cruelty on the masses, regardless of their political affiliation or previous military service to the country. If Trumpf supporters feel betrayed by their avatar, so be it. On 5 Nov 2024, these Americans voted Trumpf and the oligarchs into the White House simply because they wanted a white man to be President, against their own economic interests. Simply put, the ruling Republicans are vampires, nothing more, nothing less, taking advantage of their cultist followers.

Besides Enriching the Oligarchs, What is America’s Godzilla Really Up To?

American voters and allies were warned of the “Ides of March” before the election. Now Trumpf’s ignominious betrayals rival or surpass that of Brutus and Cassius against Julius Caesar or Judas Iscariot in Golgotha.

Sources:

https://newrepublic.com/post/192660/trump-fbi-charge-climate-organizations

https://kyivindependent.com/kyiv-says-ukrainian-troops-regrouped-in-kursk-oblast-denies-encirclement/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2019/08/30/amid-trump-tariffs-farm-bankruptcies-and-suicides-rise/

https://crooksandliars.com/2025/03/trump-now-demanding-canadians-be

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/veterans-afghan-war-us-1.7481929

https://newrepublic.com/article/192790/trump-kidnapped-ukrainian-kids-nixed-contract

https://ukraine.un.org/en/264368-un-says-russia-continues-torture-execute-ukrainian-pows

https://kyivindependent.com/russian-troops-executed-five-ukrainian-pows-in-kursk-oblast-ombudsman-says/

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/kursk-russia-ukraine-war-putin-ceasefire-b2713769.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/farmers-face-steep-losses-middle-trumps-trade-war-funding-cuts-rcna195967

Mark Carney: Canada’s New Prime Minister

Rather than give you a biography of Mark Carney which Followers of the Watch can easily look up, here are some quick facts about the new Prime Minister. Mr. Carney (59) has not previously been elected to public office and doesn’t have a seat in Parliament. While that’s not unprecedented, this means that he can’t participate in debates or votes — and it suggests that he may call an election sooner rather than later.

Mr. Carney led the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and then served as United Nations special envoy on climate action and finance. A father of four, the Prime Minister is a graduate of Harvard and Oxford and holds three citizenships: Canadian, British, and Irish. While some Canadian politicians hold multiple passports, Mr. Carney believes the prime minister should not, so he began the process of surrendering his European citizenships. Mr. Carney, a centrist, has been sharply critical of Donald Trumpf and will stand up to him, but he will also listen to his concerns, imagined or real.

The new Prime Minister holds a PhD degree and will surround himself with a stellar new cabinet. He will need little advice. Nevertheless, Coriolanus has 27 years experience in military intelligence and has been to war, an experience Mr. Carney has not underwent. So your author humbly offers some suggestions for Mr. Carney once “he gets his sea legs.”

First, recognize the State of Palestine. The State of Palestine is recognized by 146 countries around the world with Norway, Spain and Ireland joining the list. In 2024, the US Democratic Party did not heed the words of the tremendous antiwar movement and the voices of Arab-Americans, costing them the election which led America to Trumpf 2.0.

Second, change the laws about tax-deductible charities. Through these schemes, Canadians send millions of dollars to Israel which has been ethnically cleansing itself of Palestinians for decades. In 1991 the Ottawa Citizen estimated that Canadians sent more than $100 million a year to Israel and possibly as much as $200 million. Assuming $100 million has been sent to Israel yearly since 1967 (when the tax deduction was codified) and with approximately 30% of the $5.4 billion total subsidized by the taxpayer, that’s around $1.7 billion in Canadian public support. Israel is a wealthy country with a GDP per capita of $52,642; Canada is $53,431.

Canada is ranked 28 out of 145 countries in terms of military power by the Global Firepower Index (GFI), but mighty Israel is ranked 15. So, why are Canadians allowed to subsidize a wealthy, powerful country with universal health care and nuclear weapons, as a tax deduction?

Third, re-establish diplomatic relations with Iran. In 2012, then conservative PM Stephen Harper recklessly severed relations with Tehran, costing Canada a valuable set of eyes and ears within the country and the Middle East. Note that Ottawa never severed ties with Havana or participated in the useless embargo of Cuba, going against US policy for decades. What would be the difference here?

Fourth, consider establishing a special immigration program for talented ex-federal employees ruthlessly fired from America’s FBI, CIA, CDC, DOS, NIH, NOAA, NTSB, FAA, USDA, or NSA through the notorious DOGE. Ottawa would immediately benefit from their education, experience, and training, particularly since America is now an unreliable ally and Pariah State.

Fifth, Canada’s intelligence agencies, CSIS and RCMP, must establish point-to-point relations with different foreign organizations outside NATO (if they haven’t already). Some excellent candidates for Canada would be Finland, Jordan, Denmark, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, and Taiwan, to name but a few. Canada could gather its own intelligence without fear of compromise by the Russophiles in the USIC. A few techniques will help Ottawa maintain secure communications with its non-US partners. One, Canada can establish separate secure computer servers to prevent US penetration. Two, Canada can employ more diplomatic couriers to move information securely, albeit more slowly, through Air Canada flights. To save money, selected Air Canada pilots may be accredited as Diplomatic Couriers under the Vienna Convention, the most secure method of transmitting intelligence. Once the pilot lands his plane at say Amman or Helsinki, he would be met by a Canadian diplomat at the airport gate to receive the diplomatic pouch. When the plane departs for Toronto or Montreal, they do the same in reverse.

Sixth, the Prime Minister must stand up to Donald Trumpf, Felon Musk, as well as war criminals Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu, two experts at ethnic cleansing in the name of “patriotism.”

These two ICC-indicted war criminals are not conversing in Yiddish. (25 Jun 2012 Jerusalem photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem / Pool / Flash90)

And good bye and good luck to the physically fit and charming Mr. Justin Trudeau, who was splendid as the Prime Minister of Canada for many years.

Sources:

https://www.pm.gc.ca/en

https://www.wfdd.org/story/5-things-know-about-mark-carney-canadas-next-prime-minister

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ottawa-shutters-embassy-in-iran-expels-all-iranian-diplomats-in-canada

The many ways Canada supports Israeli apartheid – rabble.ca

https://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.php?country_id=canada

America Becoming “Disease Haven”

America’s anti-vaxxer Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

After finally recovering from the COVID epidemic, the US is facing other health perils and the Trumpf administration will be responsible for it.

Deadly Super Fungus Spreading in US Hospitals

A drug-resistant fungus, Candida Auris, is spreading rapidly in US hospitals, posing a severe threat to patients who need invasive medical equipment. Georgia has seen over 1,300 cases as of the end of Feb 2025. Candida Auris, or C. Auris, is particularly dangerous in health care settings, where it spreads easily through invasive medical equipment such as breathing tubes, feeding tubes, syringes, or catheters. The fungus is resistant to many household cleaners and traditional hospital disinfectants, like ammonia-based cleaning solutions. C. Auris is not a threat to the general public.

Preventable Measles Spreading

Avian Flu Spreading

Craig Spencer, an Ebola virus survivor and Emmy-award winner, is a public health professor and emergency medicine physician at Brown University. He warns that the Trumpf junta is poised to leave the US a haven for disease. Spencer argues that Trump and his ally Elon Musk have “actively dismantled the infrastructure the country relies on to detect and confront deadly pathogens,” and adds that “we are sure to regret it.”

Spencer points to several key decisions made by Trumpf that are particularly alarming: The dismantlement of the US Agency for International Development, the withdrawal of the US from the World Health Organization, and the decision to clamp down on public communications from the CDC.

Trumpf is America’s Godzilla and doesn’t care about the masses until he needs their votes.

Sources:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-disease/

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/texas-measles-outbreak-hospital-newborn-babies-exposed-rcna196519

Tanker Collision in North Sea

The UK Coast Guard reports:

“Both vessels remain presently stable with salvors boarding both the STENA IMMACULATE and the SOLONG today to continue carrying out comprehensive damage assessments.

“The locations of the vessels are unchanged – the STENA IMMACULATE remains at anchor. The SOLONG continues to be held in a safe location connected to a tug.

“There are now only small periodic pockets of fire on the SOLONG which are not causing undue concern. Specialist tugs with firefighting capability remain at both vessels’ locations.

“Regular aerial surveillance flights continue to monitor the vessels and confirm that there continues to be no cause for concern from pollution from either the STENA IMMACULATE or from the SOLONG.

“The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is also assisting in the response, and continues to advise that any public health risk on shore is deemed to be very low. The UKHSA will keep risk assessments under continual review as further information becomes available.”

STENA IMMACULATE pictured on 12 Mar 2025 (Photo: Maritime and Coastguard Agency)

SOLONG pictured on 11 March 2025 (Photo: Maritime and Coastguard Agency)

“The collision in the North Sea “has a high risk of being an environmental disaster in really important protected areas,” Naomi Tilley, Oil and Gas Campaign Lead at Oceana UK, an environmental group focused on oceans.

The UK Coastguard said an exclusion zone of about half of a mile had been established around both vessels.

“At this stage, it’s too early to assess the extent of any environmental damage,” Greenpeace UK said. explaining that the severity of any impact would depend on a number of factors, including “the amount and type of oil carried by the tanker, the fuel carried by both ships, and how much of that, if any, has entered the water.”

Incredible that in the 21st century, with technology, radar, radios, and GPS, that such a calamity could occur. This is just what the world could use, more environmental damage.

Sources:

https://hmcoastguard.uk/news/updates-vessels-incident-coast-east-yorkshire

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-sea-tanker-collision-environmental-impact/?intcid=CNR-02-0623

Trumpf Pardon Doesn’t Cover 6 Jan Terrorist for FBI Murder Plot

Edward Kelley on 6 Jan 2021. (Photo: Public domain)

Donald Trumpf’s sweeping pardons of insurrectionists who attacked the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021 do not extend to the separate crime of Edward Kelley (35) of Maryville, TN, who plotted to murder FBI agents that investigated him. UDSJ Thomas Varlan ruled that the miscreant’s actions after his initial arrest were “separated from the defendant’s conduct in the DC Case by years and miles.”

A cooperating defendant, who previously pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy, testified that he and Kelley planned attacks on the Knoxville FBI Field Office using car bombs and incendiary devices appended to drones. He also testified that the conspirators strategized about assassinating FBI employees in their homes and in public places such as movie theaters.

Edward Kelley, who was convicted on 6 Jan charges after the government presented extensive evidence showing he was the fourth rioter to breach the Capitol after he assaulted law enforcement, was pardoned by Trumpf along with more than 1,500 other convicted insurrectionists. But Kelley had separately been charged with plotting to murder law enforcement officers involved in the investigation in a separate case. A federal jury in Tennessee convicted Kelley on those charges in November, and he is set to be sentenced 7 May. 

Edward Kelley mugshot.

This is at least one piece of good news out of the sordid mess that Trumpf created in the US. The FBI agents could rest a bit easier knowing that this lunatic will be imprisoned for a life, unless Trumpf decides to pardon him a second time.

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/federal-jury-convicts-man-conspiring-murder-fbi-employees

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trumps-jan-6-pardon-doesnt-cover-rioters-plot-kill-fbi-agents-judge-ru-rcna195673

Bear Feels Grass for First Time in 20 Years

Post-Election Democratic Party Dismay and Discourse: “Ready! Aim! Fire!!!”

Democratic Party voters and strategists are still conducting their post-mortem analysis of the 2024 catastrophe. Kamala Harris energetically filled rallies, selected a sound, competent, popular running mate in Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, set records in fund-raising, and trounced Donald Trump in their one nationally televised debate.

Yet, Kamala Harris lost both the Electoral College and the popular vote. 2004 was the last time the Democrats lost the popular vote (former US Navy Seal John Kerry: 48.3%; George “Dubya” Bush: 50.7%).

Post-COVID inflation, Latino male support shifting to the GOP, Kamala Harris not appearing on a podcast (racist blue-collar Joe Rogan), insufficient campaign time, or America was not ready for a woman of color to be POTUS, were factors that contributed to the Kamala Harris defeat in one way or another.  

Not all, but some Democrats have reached their own infallible, unshakeable conclusion as to why Kamala Harris lost in 2024. A small but vocal portion of the Democratic Party blame the 3,500,000 Arab-Americans that did not vote for Kamala Harris on Election Day, particularly the community in swing-state Michigan.

Kamala Harris won a miserable 20% of the vote in Michigan while Donald Trump barely eked out a 1% edge over her (21% supported the Republican). Green Party candidate Jill Stein won the lion’s share with 59% of their vote. Had Dr. Stein selected a Palestinian-American VPOTUS running mate, she might have won even more votes in the Wolverine State. Kamala’s dismal numbers shouldn’t have surprised political strategists. TV commentator Mehdi Hasan said not only did Harris not court the Muslim and Arab America vote, Harris “actively spurned it.” Worse, US arms shipments to Israel continued unabated throughout the campaign season.

In the blogosphere, some Democrats claim that thanks to these spurned Arab-American Michiganders, “things will get worse for Palestinians” in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under Donald Trump: “So there!”

One furious blogger sounded like a war-hawk Likudnik by suggesting the US “carpet-bomb Dearborn, MI,” like the USAF did over the skies of North Vietnam in the 1960s and early 1970s. These words came from a Democrat.

44,500 Palestinians have been killed, over 105,000 wounded or maimed, and 2.3 million Gazans have been displaced. The UN warns of an imminent famine this winter in Gaza. So, how much worse could it get for Palestinians who are being slaughtered at an average rate of 3,000 per month since 7 Oct 2023, with a sitting Democrat in the White House?

The ones who have been hurling venomous vituperation at Arab-Americans– “hijab-wearers”— sound like Donald Trump with his tropes about “the enemy within.” We can almost hear them think: “Wouldn’t it be better without all these goddamned Arabs?” Basically, these angry Democrats made Arab-Americans a convenient but illogical scapegoat responsible for Kamala Harris’ cataclysmic loss.

Wiser would be for Democrats to look at the enormous anti-war segment of the American population for why they lost in November 2024 and not blame the “hijab wearers” or “Hamas lovers.”

Demonstrators protest outside the UN during a resolution to demand the cease-fire in Gaza on 12 Dec 2023 in NYC. (Photo by Kena Betancur / VIEWpress)

In early 2024, 67% of Americans of all political affiliations wanted the Biden/Harris Administration to join the international call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. US vetoes at the UN Security Council frustrated peacemakers. After being sidelined at the 2024 DNC Convention in Chicago, anti-war Democrats and Americans simply did not turn out nationally on 5 Nov for Kamala Harris. This explains the huge difference in numbers between 2020 Biden/Harris and 2024 Harris/Walz presidential elections.

In 2024 to protest the brutality of the Likud regime, USAF Airman Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Wash DC. (Photo: Social media)

To protest the brutality of the Saigon regime in 1963, Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Duc set himself on fire. (Photo: Public domain)

As history taught us, after anti-war Democrats were sidelined in 1968, they too did not turn out nationally for Hubert Humphrey, ushering in the corrupt Richard Nixon era. You may read the exact numbers for both elections in my 20 Nov post about the striking parallels between 1968 and 2024.

Being anti-war in 1968 did not make one a “Viet Cong lover”; being anti-war in 2002 did not make one a “jihadi lover;” being anti-war in 2024 did not make one a “Hamas lover.”

Indicted war criminal Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s unrelentless Nakba against the Palestinians and his incalcitrant lack of cooperation with the Biden Administration in reaching a ceasefire to free the hostages sealed the fate for the Democrats in 2024. In the US, the number of anti-war Americans far, far outnumber 3,500,000 Arab-Americans (who are not all eligible to vote by age). VPOTUS Kamala Harris may have been better served paying attention to the powerful antiwar sentiment reverberating throughout the American people as evidenced by the thousands of protests on US college campuses in 2024.

Sources:

How Kamala Harris Thumbed Her Nose at Arab American and Muslim Voters – CounterPunch.org

3.5 Million Reported Middle Eastern and North African Descent in 2020

Most Michigan Muslims voted for Jill Stein, followed by Trump, exit poll suggests

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1035521/popular-votes-republican-democratic-parties-since-1828/

Thích Quảng Duc: The Burning Monk | Barbara O’Brien

Aaron Bushnell: Aaron Bushnell: Candlelight Vigil Planned Outside Israeli Embassy In Washington DC For US Airman Who Set Himself On Fire | US News News, Times Now

Campus protests over Gaza are spreading: See our map

Two-Thirds of US Voters Across Political Spectrum Support Permanent Gaza Cease-Fire | Common Dreams

FBI Arrests NYC Woman Over FSB Contacts

Nomma Zarubina (Social media)

The US charged a Russian woman who engaged with anti-war opposition activists over false statements about her ties with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

NYC resident Nomma Zarubina (34) was accused of concealing her 2020 recruitment by an FSB agent under the code name “Alyssa,” according to the Russian America for Democracy in Russia (RADR).

“[Zarubina] aimed to build a network of US contacts among journalists, military personnel, think tank researchers and Russia experts to influence their perspectives,” RADR said.

Zarubina faces up to five years in prison if found guilty of making false statements to law enforcement agencies. She was released on $25,000 bail and banned from traveling outside New York. A judge scheduled a preliminary hearing in her case 30 days from 21 Nov. 

On 19 Nov, the defendant spoke in Canada’s Parliament Hill at a conference on Russia’s future where she mingled with MPs, academics, and policy makers.

Zarubina has engaged with its community organizers across various cities, attended discussion panels hosted by US think tanks and posed for photos with notable Russian opposition figures since 2023. Zarubina recently began appearing as an expert at conferences held by the Free Nations of PostRussia Forum, a Poland-based platform that advocates for Russia’s decolonization and fragmentation into 41 independent states. 

Russia last year labeled the Free Nations of PostRussia Forum an “undesirable organization,” and on  22 Nov designated 172 of what it called its “subdivisions” as terrorist organizations.

Zarubina advocated for a “United States of Siberia” at the forum’s joint panel with the Jamestown Foundation in April, according to the Russian civil activist news outlet activatica.org. Zarubina actively supported President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea on social media, according to an analysis by the investigative news website Agentstvo.

Zarubina wrote on Facebook that media reports about her arrest amount to “rumors, opinions and blackmail.”

Zarubina told the Sibir.Realii news outlet that she had been summoned by the Russian special services in late 2020 but denied receiving any instructions from them. She then claimed to voluntarily report those and other contacts with Russians to the FBI in April 2021.

“I’ve since been in touch with the Americans around once every six months,” the US-funded outlet quoted Zarubina as saying.

“I’ve known the people who arrested me for four years. I thought we had a very good relationship, I was kind of helping them,” she added.

Zarubina voiced fears that she may now become the target of Russia’s security services, which she said were unaware of her contacts with the FBI despite claiming to have her under surveillance in NY.

“This is no longer the level of false statements, but of treason. And it’s not safe for me to be in New York either.”

There is more to this story than meets the eye. As a covert influencer for the Kremlin, through a penny-ante 18 USC 1001 violation, Nomma Zarubina has been rendered ineffective by the FBI Counterintelligence Division. But there may be an undisclosed reason for her arrest and public exposure. If Nomma Zarubina attempted to walk the tight-rope as a double agent, then she failed both the FBI and the FSB. We shall see what fate has in store for our modern day Mata Hari.

Sources:

U.S. Charges Russian Woman Over FSB Contacts – Reports – The Moscow Times

Russian Woman Arrested in U.S. For Alleged Ties To Russian Intelligence

Russian consultant accused of spying for Moscow spoke at Parliament Hill forum two days before arrest by FBI – The Globe and Mail

Russian America for Democracy in Russia Inc – GuideStar Profile

Israel: Nakba Remorselessly Continues as Gaza Pummeled Again

A rescuer sifts through charred debris after an Israeli strike hit a makeshift camp for displaced Palestinians, in Mawasi Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on 4 Dec 2024. (Photo: AFP)

Israel launched more attacks on targets in Gaza. One IDF strike that hit a tent camp housing displaced people killed at least 21 and wounded 28 in southern Gaza. The IDF said its aircraft struck senior Hamas militants “involved in terrorist activities” in the area.

At least 15 bodies were brought to the hospital, but reaching a precise number of dead was difficult because many were dismembered, some without heads or badly burned. The strike hit the Mawasi area, a sprawling coastal camp housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

Earlier strikes elsewhere in Gaza killed eight people, including four children.

A wounded Palestinian child is carried on a stretcher at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, following an Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, central Gaza, 4 Dec 2024. (Photo: AP)

UN officials say there are no safe areas left in Gaza and that most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times.

Displaced Palestinians make their way as they flee the northern part of Gaza, amid an IDF operation in the northern Gaza Strip, 4 Dec 2024. (Photo: Reuters)

Further north, another Israeli airstrike hit three houses in Gaza City, killing at least ten people and wounding many others. Many victims were still trapped under the rubble with rescue operations under way.

11 people were killed in three airstrikes on areas in central Gaza, including six children and a medic. Five of the dead had been lining up outside a bakery.

A further nine Palestinians were killed by tank fire in Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 44,500 Palestinians, more than half of the verified deaths women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry. Israel says that the death toll includes thousands of militants it has killed.

As you read in the previous post, at one point more IDF soldiers are going to have pangs of guilt over their conduct in this horrible Nakba. Leaked videos of IDF personnel abusing Palestinian prisoners were a sign of discontent within the ranks of the Israeli military. PTSD, depression, alcohol/drug addiction, and suicides will take their toll on Israeli society as it did on America following all of her wars. In the meantime, more Palestinians will be killed and wounded; they too will be suffering from irrevocable PTSD.    

This US Vietnam War veteran is homeless like millions of Palestinians and may be suffering from PTSD like them and Israelis (Photo: Courtesy of endhomelessness.org)

Source:

Dozens killed in new Israeli attacks in Gaza, Palestinian officials say

Norway: Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Alfalfa Sprouts Stricken 23

Norwegian officials are investigating a national outbreak of Salmonella that may be linked to alfalfa sprouts. 23 people had fallen in nine regions.

Patients have been reported since mid-October. They range in age from 18 to 79 with a median of 48 years old and 16 of them are women. Eight people have been hospitalized. Bacteria with a similar genetic profile have been detected in all patients, which suggests a common source of infection.

“Several of the infected people in the outbreak reported eating sprouts. Earlier this year, FHI also saw an increase in cases of Salmonella infection where sprouts have been suspected as the cause of disease,” said Umaer Naseer from FHI.

Consumers are advised to throw away sprouts purchased in recent weeks. This also applies to products where alfalfa sprouts are an ingredient, such as sandwiches, baguettes, salads, and wraps.

The suspicion is based on patient interviews, epidemiological data, patients’ purchasing information and product distribution patterns.

Norske Spirer has recalled products containing organic alfalfa sprouts from the market.

Norway recorded 757 Salmonella cases in 2023, with 37 percent infected in the country and 63 percent infected abroad. Three Salmonella outbreaks affected 14 people. 

Swedish update

Meanwhile, in Sweden there has been a recall as authorities continue to investigate a different Salmonella outbreak also linked to sprouts.

The Public Health Agency of Sweden said 92 people from 18 regions have been infected with one of 12 genetically closely related Salmonella Typhimurium sequence type (ST) 36 variants.

Authorities made a connection between illness and consumption of alfalfa sprouts germinated from a certain seed batch. SydGrönt and Munkagrodden issued a recall and stopped germination from the seed lot.

Source:

Norway links Salmonella outbreak to sprouts | Food Safety News

Update: FBI Arrests Alleged Sex Predator John Doe 49

Thanks to all of you who identified the distinctive tattoos from a previous post, the FBI arrested alleged child abuser John Doe 49 AKA Christopher Lynn Driskill (48) of Texas. We knew John Doe 49 would be found with maximum public exposure, and he was. If convicted, this sexual deviant faces up to 30 years in federal prison.

If you are experiencing or witness child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 911.

The National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline — 800.656.HOPE (4673) — provides free, 24/7 support for those in need.

Anyone with tips may call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation of criminal conduct, not evidence. Mr. Driskill is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Source:

Northern District of Texas | Alleged Child Molester Identified by His Distinctive Tattoos | United States Department of Justice

American Warzone: Three Dead, Five Wounded in Chicago’s Gage Park Neighborhood

Eight people were shot, including three fatally, Monday afternoon at a social gathering in Chicago’s Gage Park neighborhood.

The shooting was reported to police around 2:10 p.m. CST in the 3500 block of West 59th Street, Chicago Police Chief of Patrol Jon Hein told reporters in a press conference.

Hein said investigators were still conducting interviews. He described the victims as being four men and four women between the ages of 20 and 35. All were Hispanic. Six of the victims were located at the scene and were transported by ambulance to the hospital. The other two victims self-transported.

Asked if any of the victims were migrants, Hein retorted that their immigration status “is irrelevant at this time.”

“We have eight victims, and we’re going to solve this crime and find the individuals responsible for this heinous, terrible incident,” he said, calling on members of the public with information about the shooting to contact the authorities.

He added that police have previously received calls at the residence where the shooting took place. The circumstances leading up to the shooting were unclear, but Hein said the victims had been attending an unspecified social gathering.

The Windy City has been re-dubbed “Chiraq” because of the endemic shootings plaguing the metropolis. According to The Gun Violence Archive, a non-advocacy group that tallies gun violence across the US, there have been at least 473 mass shootings with four or more victims so far this year.

Per the CDC, in 2022 there were more than 48,000 firearm-related deaths in the US. That’s approximately 132 people dying from a firearm-related injury each day. These are war-time casualty numbers without an enemy invasion.

US Army medics treating the wounded during a Field Training Exercise (FTX). (Photo: US Army)

Sources:

8 shot, 3 fatally, in Chicago’s Gage Park neighborhood – UPI.com

Fast Facts: Firearm Injury and Death | Firearm Injury and Death Prevention | CDC

The Arctic Could Be Ice-Free by Summer 2027: What it Means for Weather, Shipping and Polar Bears

While most projections of the Arctic’s sea ice have focused on month-by-month conditions, a new study has revealed possible predictions down to the day.

Previous expectations had the Arctic Sea loss predicted around 2030, but these results reveal that an ice-free day could occur as early as late summer 2027. 

Nine other simulations, while less likely, predict that it could occur within the next three to six years.

Scientists, from the study published in Nature Communications, say the Arctic’s first ice-free day is now inevitable and irreversible, regardless of how humans alter greenhouse gas emissions.

Source: Mappery.com

The Arctic Ocean covers a vast area of more than 16 million square kilometres, and for thousands of years, it has witnessed a natural seasonal event: layers of frozen seawater dramatically build up over the winter months into a thick ice cap that peaks in March before it melts in September. 

In recent decades, however, this dramatic event has been less prevalent. 

Sea ice has declined by more than 12 per cent every decade since 1978, when satellite imagery – the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer or ‘SMMR’ – started recording Arctic sea ice growth and retreat.

That’s 80,000 square kilometers every year – roughly the same size as Austria or the Czech Republic

Scientists define ‘ice-free’ as the sea ice area dropping to less than one million square kilometers in a short time, which is considered a climate tipping point. 

A team of international researchers used over 300 computer models to predict the first ice-free day. These showed an accelerated timeline compared to what was previously projected

Rapid ice loss events are typically associated with intense winters and spring warming. 

Long-term, if the Arctic Ocean is regularly declared ice-free, this could significantly impact the fragile ecosystem of the northernmost sea, including everything from the ‘emblematic polar bear to the crucial zooplankton,’ the study reveals. 

Polar bear Gerda (six) cuddles up with her cub at Novosibirsk Zoo in Russia. Zoos may be the safest places for these poor creatures. (Photo: Vera Salnitskaya)

The day the Arctic shows ice-free conditions is symbolically significant. It will visually highlight how humans have changed one of our planet’s defining natural features: from a white to a blue Arctic Ocean.

The sun never sets in the Arctic during summer, so without the reflective ice reflecting sunlight into space, the ocean will absorb and distribute a substantial amount of heat around the Earth. 

International waters do not have any jurisdiction, so commercial industries could exploit opportunities found in the warmer Arctic waters. They could fish and deep-mine previously inaccessible marine and mineral populations, while freight companies could take a quicker shipping route across the Northwest Passage.

The warming could also lead to more erratic and extreme weather events through changing wind and ocean current patterns. 

Warmer years have already occurred: in March 2022, some of the Arctic was 50F/10C warmer than the average, which caused areas around the North Pole to almost melt.

The study’s authors say there is still a chance to delay the timeline for the sea ice melt in the near future. 

“Any reductions in emissions would help preserve sea ice,” added Jahn.

Arctic-oriented military installations; mostly Russian.

The Kremlin is ready to exploit the untold wealth under the Arctic Sea and have military plans and resources specifically for that purpose, so the Kremlin welcomes the melting sea ice. Earlier this year, NORAD intercepted the first Chinese bombers flying near the ADIZ, accompanied by Russian planes. Beijing has eyes on the untapped resources in the Arctic as well.

In 2007, a Russian deep-sea submersible planted a flag on the Arctic seabed claiming the continental shelf.  The area is estimated to hold 258 billion tons of fuel equivalent.  

Sources:

The Arctic could be ice-free by summer 2027: What it means for weather, shipping and polar bears | Euronews

Russia in the Arctic – Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik

Speculation Swirling about President Biden Pardoning President-elect Donald J. Trump

President Gerald R. Ford pardoning Richard M. Nixon on national TV, 8 Sep 1974.

Democratic Congressman James Clyburn supports President Joe Biden pardoning Donald Trump, agreeing with Senator Joe Manchin (I-WVA) after Special Counsel Jack Smith filed to dismiss the two federal cases against the president-elect.

Speculation is rife and causing dismay among Democrats that such a sacrilege could even be entertained. The judicial system, including the Supreme Court, has– and will– blatantly shield Donald Trump from any legal jeopardy. State prosecutors have been stymied as well.

Either way, Trump has made a mockery of justice and will continue to do so after he leaves office, clearly demonstrating that wealthy oligarchs are above the law in the US.

President Biden may as well as get the last word in before he retires. So, here is the pardon that Joe Biden should read live soberly and somberly on his teleprompter in the Oval Office to a rapt, international audience like Gerald Ford exactly 50 years ago:

“Now, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Donald J. Trump for all offenses against the United States such as inciting insurrection, vile treachery, business fraud, racial discrimination, cowardly draft evasion, being an unregistered agent of the Russian government, tax avoidance, Mammon-like graft, voter suppression, plundering classified information, slander, libel, sexual misconduct, and manifest deception against the American people, which he, Donald J. Trump, has heinously committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from June 14, 1946 through January 19, 2025.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this tenth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-four.”

JOSEPH R. BIDEN

This way, the message is heard far and wide and will last forever. Plus, Joe Biden gets in the last word about Donald J. Trump on international TV.

And kick for that matter. “Here’s a pardon for you, Donald!”

Source:

Donald Trump Pardon Supported by Top Democrat – Newsweek

Affectionate Cats