Europe Step Ups for Ukraine

Activists display a 500-square-metre banner in support of Ukraine in Brussels, 6 Mar 2025. (Photo: EPA-EFE / OLIVIER MATTHYS)

Dedicated Followers of the Watch, Coriolanus is doing his utmost best to keep up with the madness of King Trumpf and the repercussions of his destructive policies on behalf of Vladimir Putin. Not to be neglected is Felon Musk, the worst person in the world, who will receive a dedicated post about his nefarious activities in the near future.

Vladimir Putin with his protege in Helsinki, Finland on 16 Jul 2018. (AP Photo / Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Trumpf’s Underhandedness

Two of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s political rivals have confirmed that they have been in contact with members of US President Donald Trumpf’s entourage. Secret discussions have been held about holding snap presidential elections in Ukraine that could potentially unseat President Volodomir Zelensky before a final peace deal is signed.

Yulya Tymoshenko and Petro Poroshenko are currently much less popular in Ukraine than Zelensky. Just 10% of Ukrainian voters said they would support Poroshenko in a presidential election, while only 6% said they would vote for Tymoshenko. The former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, who is currently serving as the Ukrainian ambassador to London, has been Zelensky’s main political rival for some time now, with 21% of Ukrainians surveyed saying they supported him.

Trumpf has also indicated a desire to revoke the temporary legal status for around 240,000 Ukrainians in the US who fled Putin’s brutal Feb 2022 invasion. His cruelty knows no bounds.

This underhanded back-channel operation to undermine President Zelensky is right out of the Republican playbook. In 1968 Richard Nixon’s aides convinced Saigon to stop the Paris Peace talks and in 1980 Ronald Reagan’s aides convinced Tehran to release the American embassy hostages after Jimmy Carter lost the 1980 Presidential elections. Both nefarious plots promised a good deal for cooperation; both Saigon and Tehran complied. In this case, Vladimir Putin and US business interests would be the beneficiaries of a pro-Kremlin leader in Ukraine.

The US has halted intelligence sharing with Kiev, threatening Ukraine’s ability to strike Russian targets amid the full-scale war, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said during a TV interview. “Trumpf had a real question about whether President (Volodymyr) Zelensky was committed to the peace process, and he said let’s pause,” Ratcliffe said. The move follows Washington’s decision to freeze all military aid supplies to Ukraine following a public spat between Zelensky and Donald Trumpf. The decision was likely intended to put pressure on Zelensky in peace talks.

American volunteer soldiers fighting in Ukraine say that they feel “betrayed” by their own country after the US halted military aid and stopped sharing intelligence with Kiev.

Alexis Antilla is an American volunteer fighting in Ukraine. (Photo: CBS, circa 2022)

“(US President Donald Trumpf) betrayed every one of us,” a US Army veteran, who goes by the callsign ‘Goldfish’ said.

And on the frontlines, a Ukrainian sniper named “Lektor” achieved a remarkable feat.

Ukrainian Army sniper “Lektor” in an undated photo.

A soldier of the Main Intelligence Directorate named “Lektor” in a duel with a Russian sniper killed him at a record 2,069 meters. That’s an incredible two kilometers.

According to Lektor, the chances of hitting the target from such a distance were low.

“This distance is the limit for the caliber of weapons with which I worked. Plus, it was a moving target. There is very little chance of hitting a moving target, given that the bullet flies at that distance of 4 seconds, the target moves, there is one wind near me, and a completely different one near the target, which affects the trajectory of the bullet. But that’s how it turned out. Everything is right, it turns out, he did it,” the sniper notes.

At the same time, Lektor added that after this shot, he could not leave his position for a long time, as the enemy was trying hard to detect it.

France Responds

Paris has signaled they will provide intelligence to Ukraine following this unsurprising stab in the back from Putin’s protege. Paris has approximately 100 military and commercial satellites in orbit.

Artist’s rendition of a Comsat NG satellite. (Image: Thales Alenia Space)

More ominously, France will consider extending the protection of its nuclear arsenal to its allies said French President Emmanuel Macron, while warning that Europe needs to be ready for the US to not “remain by our side” in the Ukraine-Russia war.

“I’ve decided to open the strategic debate on the protection by our deterrence of our allies on the European continent,” he said in a live broadcast on his official social media channels. Macron stressed the need for Europe to continue assisting Ukraine and strengthen its own defense. “Our nuclear deterrence protects us, it is complete, sovereign, French from end to end,” Macron said of France’s nuclear arsenal. “This protects us much more than many of our neighbors.”

The Suffren can sail autonomously for 70 days at a depth of 350m. (Photo: AFP)

France is ranked 7 out of 145 countries in terms of military strength by the Global Firepower Index (GFI). They possess an arsenal of 290 nuclear warheads with the range to strike Moscow. Roughly 80% of the warheads are for delivery by three ballistic missiles submarines. Decades ago, France established its own nuclear arsenal so as not to depend on the US and it seems they were right. In a nuclear exchange with Russia, Paris would be atomized within minutes. This is the conundrum of “Mutually Assured Destruction” (MAD). Look where Trumpf and Putin have taken the world.

The EU Responds with ReArm Europe

Excerpt from EU President Ursula von der Leyen statement:

“We are living in the most momentous and dangerous of times. I do not need to describe the grave nature of the threats that we face. We are in an era of rearmament. And Europe is ready to massively boost its defense spending. Both, to respond to the short-term urgency to act and to support Ukraine but also to address the long-term need to take on much more responsibility for our own European security. ReArm Europe could mobilize close to EUR 800 billion Euros for a safe and resilient Europe. We will continue working closely with our partners in NATO.” Signed, EU President Ursula von der Leyen.

Europe and NATO are working around the US, as Washington under Trumpf is now viewed as a hostile power under occupation by the Kremlin. The UK, Turkiye, and Canada expressed willingness to deploy peacekeepers to Ukraine within a “coalition of the willing.” Europe will adjust to the new security and intelligence paradigm, although this will be difficult for some of the member states as they relied on the US “Rock of Gibraltar” for nearly 80 years.

Sources:

Trump team meets with Zelensky’s political rivals in apparent bid to remove him from power — Novaya Gazeta Europe

Ukraine war latest: US halts intelligence sharing with Ukraine, CIA director confirms

Press statement by the President on the defense package

Macron says France to consider protecting European allies with its nuclear arsenal | CNN

www.globalfirepower.com

‘He betrayed every one of us’ – US soldiers in Ukraine speak out after Trump’s military aid halt

www.bbc.com

Canada ‘ready and able’ to join Ukraine peacekeeping force, defense minister says | CBC News

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/politics/government/trump-planning-to-revoke-legal-status-of-240-000-ukrainian-refugees-key-developments/ar-AA1AmTXY

Canada Punches Back Against Trumpf

Ontario Premier Doug Ford along with PM Justin Trudeau have been leading the national charge against Trumpf.

Canada, a G-7 nation that enjoys $53,431.20 per capita GDP, is not taking Trumpf lightly. Ontario Premier Doug Ford slapped a 25% surcharge on US-bound electricity, which will affect New York, Michigan, and Minnesota. Ontario cancelled its $100-million contract with Felon Musk’s Starlink as well. The contract, signed in 2024, was intended to provide Starlink satellite internet to 15,000 remote homes and businesses in northern Ontario.

A $100 million contract for 15,000 remote homes? What in blazes did Felon Musk almost get away with in Ontario?

Premier Doug Ford also removed all US alcohol and liquor from its official stores run by the LCBO. The LCBO is the largest single purchaser of alcoholic beverages on the planet, serving a population of nearly 16 million people.

The province of Manitoba proudly followed suit. These moves will result in a loss of $1 billion to American companies. Please click link:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1897348869815722066

CEO Brown Forman, the manufacturer of Jack Daniel’s Whiskey in Tennessee, said that Canadian provinces removing American liquor from its shelves is “worse than a tariff.” In 2024, the “Volunteer State” solidly voted for Donald Trumpf as you could see below.

In 1998, Frank Sinatra was famously buried with a pack of Camel cigarettes, a Zippo lighter, and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey. A mourner quipped, “Here, Frank, you may need this.”

To the west, British Columbia is hitting back at economic threats from the US by introducing tools to impose fees on US truck traffic travelling through the province on the way to Alaska.

Premier David Eby said the tolls may or may not be used, but warned that Canada needs to have tools available to fight the tariffs coming from America’s Godzilla.

British Columbia Premier David Eby

Eby made the announcement on the lawn of the Legislative Assembly building in Victoria, which had been draped with a large Canadian flag, while members of his party chanted “Canada” in the background.

Of course there are other countermeasures Canada and her provinces are individually and jointly pursuing against Trumpf but time constraints preclude listing them all. Coriolanus has a suggestion for Canadian sports franchises that value their patriotism over profits.

If the Toronto Blue Jays baseball franchise boycotted the 2025 Major League Baseball (MLB) season which opens soon, this would likely result in a multimillion-dollar loss for the US economy according to AI calculations.

Total Estimated Cost to the US Economy

Direct Game Revenue Loss: $152 million (tickets, concessions, etc.)

Local Economic Impact: $228 million to $380 million (multiplier applied)

Broadcast/Sponsorship Loss: $30 million to $50 million (US share)

Tax Revenue Loss: ~$30 million

Total Loss Range for US: $410 million to $612 million

Similarly, if the Toronto Raptors boycotted the 2025 NBA season, AI calculations estimate that the US economy might see a loss of $300-$500 million.

In a trillion dollar economy these amounts may seem small, but they will have some economic impact. More importantly, the psychological impact will be much more effective. Plus, MLB and the owners will have to scramble and find 162 replacement games (out of a total 2,430 games), which will upset their schedules. Since most owners are wealthy oligarchs overcharging fans for beer, hot dogs, and hamburgers at the stadiums, why not give them the headache?

Sources:

Ontario Removes All American Alcohol From Store Shelves | Crooks and Liars

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/ontario-starlink-1.7475817

Ontario slapping 25% surcharge on U.S.-bound electricity Monday, Ford says | CBC News

B.C. planning legislation that could toll trucks travelling to Alaska, Eby says | CBC News

Mavericks Owner’s $100 Million Trump Donation Dwarfs All Other Sports Owner Political Giving

US National Security Weakens as FBI and CIA Culled Again by Trumpf

FBI Senior SA James Dennehy (Photo: Sarah Yenesel / EPA, via Shutterstock)

The top agent at the FBI’s New York field office has been forced out of his job, following clashes with Justice Department officials over Trump administration directives.

The veteran agent, James E. Dennehy, was told to retire from his role leading the FBI’s largest field office, delivering another blow to the senior ranks of the bureau. Mr. Dennehy, who had been running the office since Sep 2024, had angered Trumpf administration officials by supporting bureau leaders who resisted turning over the names of those who investigated the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Mr. Dennehy had also angered Attorney General Pam Bondi by what she claimed was the New York office’s failure to turn over all the investigative files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier charged with sex trafficking who killed himself in prison. Ms. Bondi provided no evidence to back up her assertion.

Mr. Dennehy’s departure comes after weeks of turmoil at the FBI that saw nearly a dozen executives at headquarters removed unexpectedly, leaving a leadership vacuum and confusion on the seventh floor of the Hoover Building in Washington, DC.

Mr. Dennehy, who served for seven years as a USMC officer before joining the bureau in 2002, spent most of his career investigating or supervising counterintelligence cases, which, in essence, involved chasing (Russian or Chinese) spies rather than building criminal cases.

Underqualified sycophant John Ratcliffe is the ninth director of CIA. (Photo: CIA)

The government cuts ordered by the Trump administration have hit CIA. Some officers hired in the last two years have been summoned to a location away from the agency’s headquarters in Langley, VA, and asked to surrender their credentials to security personnel.

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the reports that newly hired agents were being fired were troubling and would “undercut our national security.”

In fact, some young agency officers working inside Langley have been hesitant to answer their phones, worried that it will be a call from security asking them to report to an off-site location. The firings have devastated morale and cut productivity.

CIA officers are formally on probation for four years. But the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has been focused on paring back more recent hires.

The first two years of CIA officers’ careers are a time of intense training, and the government spends large amounts of money to teach them spy tradecraft, languages, and other skills.

More experienced officers who transfer to CIA from other intelligence agencies also face a lengthy probationary period. Senator Warner stated that if the layoffs affect those officers, it would effectively waste years of training investment.

These culls are designed to rid the US Intelligence Community (IC) of non-conformists, those who are not loyal to Trumpf or minority employees, using the guise of cost-cutting. As a former member of the USIC, Coriolanus worked with several CIA officers, some would go on to become friends. Your author is appalled that the US government has become a cat’s paw to the Kremlin, thanks to Donald Trumpf, and the damage he is causing to the US is irreparable. These are important lessons for Ottawa, London, Paris, Brussels, Kiev, and Tokyo, Seoul: Remain vigilant to foreign interference and espionage lest you follow America’s hideous path.

Sources:

North Carolina Man Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Illegally Export Sensitive Technology to China

David C. Bohmerwald, the owner of a Raleigh-based electronics resale business called Components Cooper, Inc., pled guilty to attempting to export accelerometer technology with military applications to China without a license, in violation of the Export Control Reform Act (“ECRA”), and faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced.

Ultra Low Noise Miniature Triaxial Accelerometers

Bohmerwald (63) purchased 100 accelerometers from a US-based electronics company and then attempted to export the devices to a company in China. These accelerometers have a wide array of applications ranging from research and development of products to defense uses. When used for military applications, accelerometers are crucial to structural testing, monitoring, flight control, and navigation systems. The technology can help missiles fly more accurately and measure the precise effect munitions have on structures. A license is required to export the accelerometers to China.

The US based electronics company notified law enforcement due to Bohmerwald’s suspicious and unusual purchase request. Among other things, when Bohmerwald purchased the accelerometers, he claimed that they were for an end user in Missouri. In fact, when federal agents contacted the Missouri company, they denied having an order pending with Bohmerwald and his business, Components Cooper.

After Bohmerwald received the accelerometers, he dropped two parcels at a local FedEx shipping store. One of the packages was addressed to a business in China. An agent with the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, detained the package and found it contained 100 accelerometers. The agent confirmed that there were no relevant licenses on file to support the export of the items. In addition, Bohmerwald falsely listed the value of the package at $100, when the true value was nearly $20,000. When interviewed by agents, Bohmerwald admitted to acquiring the technology on behalf of a Chinese-based company, knowing that the technology was export-controlled, and knowing export of the items required a license.

As long as Beijing has the manpower, funds, and resources, Chinese espionage will continue unabated as stealing technology can be cheaper than research and development (R & D). Moreover, as long as there are traitors in the West who are willing to sell out their country for money, as you have read about here on Coriolanus, the USIC (and allies) will have their hands full for some time.

Source:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/raleigh-man-pleads-guilty-attempting-illegally-export-sensitive-technology-china

Israel Shin Bet: Netanyahu’s Policies Paved the Way for 7 Oct 2023 Attacks

ICC-indicted Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying to fire the director of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar. (Photo: Maya Alleruzzo / AP)

Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, has said Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies were among the underlying causes of the 7 Oct 2023 attack in which Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 Israelis and seized 251 captives. In its report on the 7 Oct 2023 attack, Shin Bet acknowledged its own responsibility, admitting it was aware of warning signs that Hamas was planning an operation, but the agency did not grasp the scale, timing, and location of the planned attack. Netanyahu’s acquiescence in the flow of funds from Qatar to Gaza was designed to divide Palestinians by boosting Hamas at the expense of the Palestinian state.

The gunmen attacked to seize Israeli hostages because thousands of Palestinians were being held in security detention for years without trial or hearing. Amnesty International reported many Palestinians were tortured in those military prisons. With no way to get these captives freed, Hamas took hostages for a prisoner swap. Two trades took place in Nov 2023 before Bibi unleashed the full-scaled Nakba during the entire year of 2024, which led to his indictment as an alleged war criminal by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague. In 2024, the “Crime Minister” continued the Nakba every single day to ethnically cleanse Gaza, delay his corruption trial, and weaken the Democrats in the 2024 election. He partially succeeded.

Hundreds of Palestinian detainees in Israeli military detention have been subjected to mistreatment and torture.

Palestinian children in IDF detention. (Undated photo)

Is it any wonder that armed gunmen from Gaza went on a rampage to abduct Israelis in order to conduct a prisoner trade?

Israel Security Agency director Ronen Bar speaks at the World Summit on Counter-Terrorism at Reichman University in Herzliya, 11 Sep 2022. He poses a threat to Netanyahu far greater than the Iranians or Palestinians. (Photo by Avshalom Sassoni / Flash 90)

Spokesperson Eli Feldstein is seen at an event with PM Benjamin Netanyahu during the Nakba against the Palestinians in Gaza. He is under investigation by the Israel Attorney-General’s office for the alleged theft and leaking of classified IDF documents to contacts in Qatar. (Photo: IDF)

Coriolanus visited pre- and post-apartheid South Africa and can testify that Netanyahu followed a similar strategy the Afrikaaners used to divide their opposition. The Afrikaaners secretly funded the Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party who were opposed to the African National Congress as they were predominantly from the Xhosa tribe. Using tribal warfare, Pretoria kept the two massive groups at each other’s throats for years, much like the disunified Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza. Over time, the white minority government realized their hold on power was untenable, so they released Nelson Mandela and transitioned away from apartheid with a minimum amount of bloodshed.

Dubbed the “Crime Minister” by his political opposition and “Israel’s curse” by a Canadian newspaper, Netanyahu has an outstanding international arrest warrant out for him issued by the ICC. His wife Sara and he are embroiled in a corruption trial and “Bibi” faces a serious inquiry into his handling of the 7 Oct 2023 surprise attack by Palestinian resistance fighters.

All indictments are merely allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/05/israeli-security-agency-says-netanyahus-policies-paved-the-way-for-2023-hamas-attack?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky&CMP=bsky_gu

https://www.timesofisrael.com/report-5-months-before-oct-7-shin-bet-head-told-netanyahu-war-in-gaza-inevitable/

Israel/OPT: Horrifying cases of torture and degrading treatment of Palestinian detainees amid spike in arbitrary arrests – Amnesty International

AG orders criminal probe into Netanyahu’s aides’ ties to Qatar | The Times of Israel

Investigators Assess if Netanyahu’s Aides Forged Oct. 7 Phone Records – DNyuz

US Stops Sharing Air Quality Data From Embassies Worldwide

The US government will stop sharing air quality data gathered from its embassies and consulates, worrying local scientists and experts who say the effort was vital to monitor global air quality and improve public health. The State Department said its air quality monitoring program would no longer transmit air pollution data from embassies and consulates to the EPA’s AirNow app and other platforms, which allowed locals in various countries, along with scientists around the globe, to see and analyze air quality in cities around the world.

The US embassy’s hourly smog updates have irked Beijing officials—and spurred mitigation measures. (Photo: Kevin Frayer / Stringer / Getty Images)

Air Quality Index (AQI) rooftop sensors on top of the US Embassy in Beijing provided genuine data on the massive extent of air pollution in China where the 2008 Olympics were held. This is America’s Godzilla censoring any info or discussion about the environmental degradation that the wealthy are creating with their global factories. There was no harm in sharing this information, so this is also just being spiteful and nasty, like Godzilla.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/05/world/us-air-quality-pollution-intl-hnk/index.html

https://www.science.org/content/article/rooftop-sensors-us-embassies-are-warning-world-about-crazy-bad-air-pollution

Unvaccinated Americans Dying or Sickening from Preventable Illnesses

The New Mexico Department of Health said that the state had its first measles death. The victim tested positive for the measles virus after death and the official cause of his demise is under investigation. The adult, who was unvaccinated, didn’t seek medical care before dying.

Measles is spreading rapidly in West Texas, with 159 cases reported so far. Most of the cases are in Gaines County. In neighboring Lea County, New Mexico, ten cases have been identified. A school-age child in Texas last week was the first person to have died in the outbreak and the first to have died from measles in the US in a decade. Most of the people who have gotten the measles in Texas haven’t been vaccinated, including the child who died. Mexican authorities warned their citizens to avoid Texas.

The Minnesota Department of Health reported a case of tetanus in an unvaccinated child under ten years of age in 2024. The child experienced pain and stiffness in the neck, and he could not breathe on their own. They were intubated and admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). The child had no visible wounds, and parents were not aware of any recently healed wounds. Tetanus is a rare, but a very serious vaccine-preventable disease that causes significant illness and can be fatal. Also called lockjaw, it is a disease caused by bacteria that affects the body’s muscles and nerves. Tetanus cannot be spread from person to person and vaccination is the best way to prevent it. Luckily, the child survived.

The CDC reported that there are at least 32,000 cases of pertussis (“whooping cough”) in the US. This is another disease that is preventable with vaccination. Antibiotics can treat the bacterial infection, but only if it’s caught within the first few weeks, before the arrival of the exhausting, painful cough. Then, the only treatment is comfort care with plenty of rest and fluids while the infection runs its course.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr made a small fortune as an anti-vaxxer before joining the Trumpf regime. He vowed to “Make America Healthy Again.” (Photo: Rebecca Noble / Getty Images)

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote in a recent editorial that “vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity.” But Kennedy, a longtime notorious anti-vaccine activist, stopped short of calling for parents to vaccinate their children. “The decision to vaccinate is a personal one,” he wrote.

RFK Jr. has claimed that cod liver oil, budesonide, and clarithromycin have shown “very, very good results” as remedies for measles. Infectious disease experts, however, say these treatments don’t have much medically sound backup and are not intended as measles remedies. The only proven way to prevent measles is through the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Two doses are 97% effective.

Each of these unnecessary deaths and illnesses are the result of anti-vaxxer propaganda. If these idiots wish to die or allow their families to die because of this gross misbelief, so be it. But they are also harming innocent people. When COVID-19 was raging, false prophets touted the effectiveness of ivermectin (a horse de-wormer) as an alternative to vaccination. The number of preventable COVID deaths under Trumpf was incalculable. Now the effectiveness of cod liver oil as a treatment for measles is spreading. Avian flu is spreading globally and Trumpf cut resources at CDC and NIH, as well as withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization (WHO). We can only guess how many needless deaths all of this chaos will cause.

Sources:

Second measles death reported in ongoing outbreak

Minnesota officials report tetanus case in unvaccinated child in 2024

RFK Jr. Claims Cod Liver Oil, Steroids, Antibiotics Can Treat Measles—Here’s What Doctors Say

Whooping cough cases in the US are the highest they’ve been in a decade | CNN

Helpful Cats

After Hobbling NATO, Trumpf Targets NAFTA (USMCA)

After making unreasonable demands on the governments of Canada and Mexico, Trumpf enacted 25% tariffs on imports from these countries. He also included China in this imbroglio igniting an international trade war. Even though Canada PM Justin Trudeau and Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum made good faith efforts to appease the American tyrant, they should have realized Trumpf was committed to this destructive plan because that is what Russian President Vladimir Putin wants: A disruption in the Western political, economic, and military architecture. These tariffs amount to a 25% sales tax for American consumers that the US government will collect on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China. Ottawa immediately responded with counter-tariffs, while Mexico City and Beijing are deliberating on their responses.

“Have fun???”

Economic analysts forecast the potential for a recession in the West, which won’t harm Russia or the global oligarchs. The economic downturn won’t hurt Trumpf either, as his immense holdings are in real estate.

Meanwhile millions of Americans shop at the Dollar Stores— even for food items– whose prices will now increase since 95% of their goods are made in China.

This is No Way to Treat an Ally

Besides being NATO partners, the US and Canada jointly operate NORAD, defending North American airspace. Here they are intercepting Russian and Chinese bombers on 24 July 2024.

(Photo: NORAD)

And in actual combat, Canadians suffered casualties on behalf of America’s imperial overdrive. 159 Canadian soldiers and seven civilians were KIA in Afghanistan as part of NATO (ISAF). Moreover, these warriors were sent into the teeth of the Taliban, Kandahar. And while avid golfer Donald Trumpf dodged the draft because of spurious “bone spurs,” he avoided combat in Vietnam. Meanwhile, 20,000 Canadians enlisted in the US military to fight in Vietnam where at least 134 were KIA, like this US Army Ranger below:

Canadian Rob McSorley (L) is pictured in March 1970 with two members of his US Army Ranger regiment after a dangerous recon mission. McSorley was KIA only weeks after this photo was taken. (Photo: L Company Ranger 75th Infantry Archives)

Mexico, attacked, defeated, and dismembered by the US (1846-48), remained a neutral country until the Second World War when they joined the Allies. The Mexican Air Force flew with the USAAF during WWII. The “Aztec Eagles” of the 201st Squadron lost several pilots fighting the Japanese alongside American aviators.

Aztec Eagles pilots Lt. Raul Garcia Mercado, squadron commander Capt. Radames Gaxiola, Lt. Manio Lopez Portillo, Capt. Pablo Rivas Martinez and Lt. Roberto Urias Abelleyka review a mission plane before takeoff at Luzon in July 1945. The National WWII Museum, Gift in Memory of Isaac Utley, 2012.019.234.

Mexican and American aircraft stand side-by-side at Clark Field in the Philippines. The one on the left is a 201 Escuadrón aircraft with a vertically-striped tail. If you look closely, you can see the Mexican national insignia on the fighter’s right wing. (Courtesy National Archives).

The Aztec Eagles were Mexico’s only military unit to ever engage in combat outside the country’s national borders.

In the years after World War II, no less than five of the young pilots who began their flying careers in Escuadrón 201 would reach the rank of general in the Mexican Air Force.

What a way for the US to treat its allies, friends, and trade partners. But none of this should be a surprise as this is Putin’s plan: Split the West and sow discord within the system and it’s working. Canadians are booing the US national anthem and ridding their shelves of American products throughout the provinces. They are also traveling to other destinations and selling their winter homes in Florida.

Republican voters wanted to “take back the country,” meaning electing a white man to the White House, so they voted against their own economic interests as capitalism only works for the wealthy. The masses need social safety nets and affordable housing, food, and medical care.

Now some Republican voters are regretting voting for Trumpf and those resentments will increase and harden as the effects of the uncalled trade wars cause hardship for Americans. Prices will go up along with a reduced demand for US products, potentially causing layoffs. The value of 401K investments will decrease along with Wall Street. While Trumpf was announcing his tariffs on TV, the chiron showed the S & P 500 plummet in value.

Sources:

NORAD detects, tracks and intercepts Russian and PRC aircraft operating in the Alaskan ADIZ > North American Aerospace Defense Command > Press Releases

www.nationalww2museum.org

Nero Plays Lyre While the Carolinas Burn

NORTHCOM informs:

“Approximately 2,400 Soldiers from elements of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT), 4th Infantry Division, from Fort Carson, CO will soon deploy to enhance DHS and ICE efforts to maintain security at the southern border. Tasks carried out by 2nd SBCT will include detection and monitoring; administrative support; transportation support; warehousing and logistic support; vehicle maintenance; and engineering support. Personnel will not conduct or be involved in interdiction or deportation operations. The 2nd SBCT provides unique military capabilities to protect and maintain the sovereignty and territorial integrity and security of the southern border, a top priority of the DOD.”

Strykers are built for the US Army in Ontario, Canada. I wonder if Trumpf knows that? (Photo: US Army)

Meanwhile, North and South Carolina are combatting wildfires like the ones that devastated southern California earlier this year. So, what does America’s Godzilla do? Rather than sending these Soldiers to help in disaster assistance, he is deploying them to the already over-militarized Mexican border to stop the flow of “illegal migrants” and drugs. The Carolinas are Red States that voted for Nero is who is busy playing the lyre.

Through Elon Musk’s notorious DOGE, America’s Godzilla has fired federal employees from NOAA, NPS, the USFS, and FEMA (as well as other agencies), all people that could prevent, mitigate, or repair damages to America’s infrastructure.

Sources:

Additional troops to enhance border security operations > U.S. Northern Command > Press Releases

American Warzone: Two Suspects in Georgia Beauty Queen Murder Arrested

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has charged Tsion Clayton (23) and Kimone Green (21) both of Lowndes County, GA with one count of Malice Murder in connection to the death of Brianna Long on 29 Oct 2023. Brianna was hit by a stray bullet as she worked as a bartender at The Pier Bar near Valdosta State University (VSU), where she was a student. A co-worker at the bar was also hit by a bullet and later recovered from his injuries. In an average year, 1,543 die by firearms violence in Georgia. In 2022, 48,000 Americans lost their lives to gun violence. These are wartime casualty figures without a foreign invader that Americans seem to tolerate.

Malice murder suspects Tsion Clayton and Kimone Green.

The lives of young Tsion Clayton and Kimone Green are effectively over as well, since they will either face life imprisonment or the death penalty. Georgia has executed 1,022 convicts since 1735; 77 between 1983 and 2024.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Sources:

Two individuals arrested in Remerton death investigation – Valdosta Today

everytownresearch.org

California Food Safety: Botulism Risk Prompts Vegetable Recall

The FDA informs:

“AKT Trading Inc. of Torrance, California, is recalling certain prepared vegetable products manufactured by Choshiya Honten Co., Ltd. due to a potential risk of Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium which can cause life-threatening illness or death. The products lack the necessary “Keep Refrigerated” statement, which could lead to hazardous bacterial growth if stored at room temperature. Consumers are warned not to use the product even if it does not look or smell spoiled.

Botulism, a potentially fatal form of food poisoning, can cause the following symptoms: general weakness, dizziness, double-vision and trouble with speaking or swallowing. Difficulty in breathing, weakness of other muscles, abdominal distension and constipation may also be common symptoms. People experiencing these problems should seek immediate medical attention.”

The products were distributed at Tokyo Central / Marukai stores located in California. Consumers with questions may contact AKT Trading Inc. at 310-715-2174 (M-F 9:30am-6:00pm in PST) or info@aktusa.com.

Source:

AKT Trading Inc. Recalls Prepared Vegetable Products Because of Possible Health Risk | FDA

US Aviation Update

When flying was fun…

Multiple Flights Landing in DC Receive False Midair Collision Warnings

Traffic Collision Avoidance System in cockpit of commercial aircraft. (Photo: Wu Hao / Getty Images)

The FAA launched an investigation into multiple mid-air collision warnings heard by more than a dozen flights on the approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport this past weekend. The planes reportedly heard the warnings despite there being no other air traffic in the immediate vicinity.

Several flight crews on aircraft due to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport, which is near Washington DC, heard warnings on their alerts on their Traffic Collision Avoidance System. The messages told crews that another aircraft “was nearby when no other aircraft were in the area. “

The mid-air collision warnings come just weeks after a deadly crash between a helicopter and a commercial jet in the skies above Washington DC. The aerial crash between American Eagle flight 5342 and a US Army Blackhawk helicopter occurred just a few miles from Ronald Reagan National Airport and killed 67 people. Trumpf had idiotically compared this aviation tragedy to a round of golf.

As Ian Fleming once wrote: “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.” This could be the work of disgruntled or fired FAA personnel, or other malicious actors angry with the Trumpf administration and Felon Musk for firing people. Years ago there was a spate of high-powered green laser attacks at landing aircraft in the US and Canada, temporarily blinding the crew. If another aviation tragedy occurs because of these false warning signals, causing confusion for the pilots, innocent passengers and crew will be killed in an effort to discredit Trumpf and Felon Musk. These two miscreants are already discredited and need no help from the outside.

Miami Couple Accused of Throwing Coffee at Airport Staff

Rafael Seirafe-Novaes and Beatriz Rapoport De Campos Maia. (Photo: Miami-Dade Corrections)

Rafael Seirafe-Novaes (40) and Beatriz Rapoport De Campos Maia (29) were arrested for assault at Miami Intl Airport. The couple were denied boarding when they arrived late for their American Airlines flight to Cancun and attempted to force their way onto the flight. Both suspects ignored no trespassing signs and verbal commands from a ticket agent before busting through staff onto the restricted jet bridge. The two allegedly pushed and threw coffee at the staff and were charged with battery and trespassing.

Besides potential incarceration, the two possibly face a lifetime ban from flying American Airlines. Rowdiness and attacks on aircrew have increased over the years. Passengers must overcome traffic getting to the airports, then are pressured to get through the rigmarole of exhausting airport security screening. Then economy class passengers have the pleasure of being crammed together like olives in a jar on some flights. This is why some airports utilize stress-relief pets to avoid circumstances like this. But in the case of rushed Rafael Seirafe-Novaes and Beatriz Rapoport De Campos Maia, probably nothing could have defused them.

Xeli is a 12 pound, 5-year-old, female domestic short hair cat. She is a registered therapy cat at Denver Intl Airport and loves meeting new people.

Delta Air Lines Flight to New Orleans Returns to Boston After ‘Smoky Odor’ Detected in Cabin

Among other planes, Delta operates a fleet of 36 environmentally efficient and quiet A220-100s. (Photo: Delta Airlines)

A Delta Air Lines flight to New Orleans Sunday morning was forced to return to Boston after a “smoky odor” was detected in the aircraft’s cabin.

Shortly after takeoff, Delta Flight 1398 to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport declared an emergency for priority handling from air traffic control.

“Our flight crew followed established procedures and returned to Boston safely,” a Delta spokesperson said in a statement. “We sincerely apologize to our customers for the delay in their travels.”

The Airbus A220 aircraft carrying 87 passengers, three flight attendants and two pilots made it back to the gate at Boston Logan International Airport safely, and the plane was met with emergency response personnel on the ground, per protocol.

There is no further information yet on the cause of the smoky odor in the cabin. Hazarding a guess, this could have either been overheated internal wires in the console or overheated powerful lithium-ion batteries. The most common lithium-ion-powered devices on planes are phones, laptops, wireless headphones and tablets. About 35% of reported overheating incidents involved e-cigarettes, and 16% involved power banks. Battery overheating incidents rose 28% from 2019 to 2023, although such events remain relatively rare, according to UL Standards & Engagement.

Lithium-ion battery burning a Smartphone.

Russia Asks US to Reopen Airspace and Resume Direct Flights Despite Sanctions

A harem of Aeroflot flight attendants in front of an Airbus 350-900 named “Tchaikovsky.”

Russia has asked US representatives to consider reopening US airspace to Russian aircraft and resume direct flights between the two countries.

In a statement issued on 28 Feb 2025, the ministry said the official proposal was made during discussions between Russian and US authorities in Istanbul, Turkiye, on 27 Feb 2025.

The statement discussed “the normalization of the functioning of the diplomatic missions of both countries as a follow-up to recent bilateral contacts at the top and high levels.”

In accordance with the instructions of the foreign ministers, the two leaders discussed ways to overcome the numerous “irritants” inherited from previous US administrations, the Russian statement noted. The Russian Foreign Ministry added that the US was asked to consider the possibility of restoring direct flights to and from Russia.

According to a statement from the US after the Istanbul meeting, the US and Russia had “constructive discussions,” but did not specifically mention Russia requesting that direct flights between the two countries be restored.

Meanwhile, Europe is tightening the screws on Moscow. On 24 Feb 2025, the European Commission announced renewed sanctions against Moscow, including an extension of the flight ban on airlines from other countries flying to Europe if they operate domestic flights within Russia. The latest package extends the flight ban to third-country airlines that conduct domestic flights within Russia or supply aviation goods to Russian airlines. The ban impacts transactions with two airports in Moscow, Vnukovo Airport (VKO) and Zhukovsky Airport (ZIA), as well as four regional airports.

Putin’s protege, Trumpf, has already ordered USCYBERCOMMAND to stop offensive operations against the Kremlin and the Justice Department is no longer investigating election interference or Russian oligarchs. With a public distraction turning the world’s eyes to the left, on the right Trumpf will ease the flight sanctions on Russia.

An international arrest warrant from the ICC remains active against Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes.

All indictments are merely allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Sources:

https://www.jalopnik.com/1803349/multiple-flights-dc-false-midair-collision-warings/

Couple accused of throwing coffee at airplane staff

Delta flight 1398 returns to Boston after reports of odor on board | CNN

Lithium-Ion_Battery_Incidents_and_Their_Impact_on_Aviation_Safety

Russia asks US to reopen airspace and resume direct flights

EUROPOL: Criminal Ringleader and Nine Associates Arrested After Killing Witness

Slovenian special police officer in action.

A Bosnian criminal leader ran his operations from prison and after he was released, hid in Slovenia. In late Nov 2024, the undercover ringleader allegedly organised and coordinated the professional assassination of a witness in a case.

Taking a multi-stage approach, police forces methodically moved against the criminals. In three separate action days, ten people were arrested, including the organisation’s leader, and significant amounts of weapons, explosives, and drugs were seized.

The high-value target was taken into custody during the operation’s first action day in December 2024. His criminal network was hierarchically organized, with each member fulfilling roles such as logistician, counter-surveillance specialist, assassin, as well as weapons, explosives and drug trafficker. Investigations are ongoing.

Amongst the items seized: An automatic rifle, several handguns (some with removed serial numbers), silencers, and over 200 Rounds of ammunition; several remote controls and electric detonators for explosive charges; 10 Kg of Heroin, 3.5 Kg of Cocaine, 18 Kg of Morphine; a large number of electronic devices, mobile phones, SIM Cards, forged and counterfeit documents.

The Balkans remains atop the Global Organized Crime Index for Europe. Gangs compete with each other trafficking people, drugs, weapons, counterfeit currency, and stolen items. Unfortunately, bystanders and innocent people get hurt or killed by these international gangsters where religion or ethnicity can take a second place to profits.

Sources:

Criminal ringleader and nine associates arrested after killing a witness | Europol

The Slovenia Times

Morocco: Measles Spreading

Morocco has a population of 37,387,585 people and enjoy a $8,900 per capita income. (Source: CIA)

The Moroccan Ministry of Health announced that the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region recorded two deaths and 441 new infections of Bouhamroun, as measles is called there.

According to the ministry, the Tangier region ranks third nationally in terms of infection rates, after the Rabat-Salé-Kenitra region, which came first with 807 cases and two deaths, followed by the Casablanca-Settat region with 558 cases and two deaths.

Measles symptoms. (Photo: Getty Images)

Nationwide, the total number of deaths from the disease has reached eight, while the number of cases has exceeded 2,860, according to the latest official statistics.

Morocco is among the countries with high rates of Bouhamroun cases, along with other countries such as Romania. Measles is also spreading in Texas, thanks to anti-vaxxers, and Mexico issued a warning to its citizens to avoid traveling to the Lone Star State.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), immunization coverage in Morocco among one-year-olds improved between 1990 and 2013: Measles from 79.0% to 99.0% and polio type 3 from 81.0% to 99.0%.

Sources:

EMROPUB_2016_EN_19275.pdf

Ministry of Health reveals death toll and injuries in Tangier – Tangier News Magazine

Cat Falls in Love With Girl Next Door

America’s Godzilla Betrays Ukraine, Threatens Canada, Targets US Law Firm Employing Democrats, Weakens FBI and CIA

Followers of the Watch, Coriolanus is doing his utmost best to keep up with the chaos caused by Vladimir Putin’s protege in the White House, Donald Trumpf (AKA America’s Godzilla).

France President Emmanuel Macron visited the White House and publicly corrected Donald Trumpf about who started the war and European economic support for Ukraine during the past three years of Russia’s brutal invasion. On camera America’s Godzilla lied twice and this meme below captured the exchange perfectly. The link at bottom will take you to the video.

Is there anybody on the planet does NOT know that Trumpf is a Kremlin puppet who threw Ukraine under the bus with this Neville Chamberlain “peace in our time” mineral extortion scheme/peace plan? See below for Ukraine update.

The Dotard-in-Chief reiterated his desire to annex Canada and has vowed to press ahead with 25% tariffs on imports from the country when a one-month reprieve elapses on 4 March. Peter Navarro, a top White House official and convicted felon, proposed expelling Canada from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network to increase pressure on the country.

In addition, Godzilla roared that he would strip security clearances from lawyers at a prominent Washington law firm aiding former Special Counsel Jack Smith, the man who investigated him. Trumpf demanded a review of any federal government work Covington & Burling may have, intensifying his bid to truculently punish his enemies.

The law offices of Covington & Burling in Washington, DC. (Photo: Andrew Kelly / Reuters)

Covington & Burling employs high-profile Democratic lawyers who worked in the Obama and Biden administrations. Signing executive orders before reporters in the Oval Office, the twice-impeached and convicted Dotard-in-Chef described the plan to reporters and offered to childishly send the pen he used to Jack Smith, who led two investigations against him as Special Counsel.

To the dismay and shock of thousands of FBI agents, Trumpf hired an unqualified rightwing former podcast propagandist to be Deputy Director. The former USSS agent, Dan Bongino, once called the FBI “irredeemably corrupt. Kash Patel then re-assigned hundreds of FBI agents from Washington, scattering them throughout the US. Across the Potomac River, CIA personnel are conducting damage assessment after a White House email about civil service layoffs appeared to compromise the names of certain undercover officers.

This damage control, reported CNN, is “just one of multiple aftershocks from President Donald Trump’s push to take a jackhammer to the federal government — including the CIA. The administration’s efforts to cut the workforce and audit spending at the CIA and elsewhere threaten to jeopardize some of the government’s most sensitive work, current and former US officials familiar with internal deliberations say.”

CIA honors its fallen officers at its memorial wall, which uses stars rather than names, in keeping with their clandestine calling. (Photo: CIA)

As Dame Agatha Christie once wrote: “Who benefits from this crime?” All of these moves by Donald Trumpf benefit Vladimir Putin. Godzilla is weakening America’s internal and external security apparatuses. By relocating FBI agents outside Washington, Trumpf reduces any resistance forces nearby while also making life easier for foreign espionage assets to operate in the National Capital Region (NCR). By alienating Canada and other allies, Putin is watching NATO beginning to fracture. Putin will continue to fund the rightwing in Europe who will parrot his lines about the evils of Ukraine and NATO. Trumpf’s audacious and offensive behavior towards Canada has galvanized their population on both sides of the aisle and their imminent elections will present an anti-Trumpfer from either the Conservative or Labor Party. The international intelligence-sharing architecture once headed by the US presents another separate dilemma. NATO, the remaining Five-Eyes partners, Japan, and South Korea will limit intelligence-sharing with the US. Israel’s Mossad may also be leery about sharing sensitive information with the US. Bilateral intelligence sharing programs exclusive of the US will probably be the way ahead for the Western powers.

What will Trumpf target next? Medicare? VA benefits? Social security? Mexico?

Sources:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/suspension-of-security-clearances-and-evaluation-of-government-contracts/

https://www.ft.com/content/2dfa3c11-64a7-49f6-83df-939b8d1cfb8e

https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-macron-canada-mexicoreciprocal-49caafc1240db7e17cfb45e71520dc98

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2025-02-24/trump-macron-discuss-ukraine-russia-full-remarks-video

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/fbi-agents-express-shock-dismay-naming-right-wing-podcaster-no-2-post-rcna193498

Israel Charges Two IDF Reservists with Espionage on Behalf of Iran

Yuri Eliasfov, Georgi Andreyev (Photo: Sharon Zur)

Two IDF reservists Yuri Eliasfov (22) and Georgi Andreyev (21) were charged with collaborating with an Iranian foreign agent known as “Boaz” and carrying out actions intended to harm Israel’s national security.

Eliasfov is accused of aiding an enemy in war, providing information that could benefit the enemy, contact with a foreign agent, aggravated forgery and other offenses. Andreyev is charged with contact with a foreign agent, vandalism and tampering with evidence. Neither has a previous criminal record.

According to the indictment filed in Haifa District Court, Eliasfov served as a technician in the Iron Dome air defense system and later during his reserve service, while Andreyev was a technician at the Israeli Air Force’s operations center and also served in reserves. The two have been friends for years.

The two spray-painted pro-Iranian graffiti in public places across Israel in exchange for $100 in cryptocurrency, photographed the creation and sent the images to “Boaz” before erasing part of the text.

Eliasfov allegedly sent “Boaz” blurred images of sites he claimed were military locations, receiving payment. He later offered to sell him weapons.

Between November 1-3 last year, while on reserve duty, Eliasfov recorded the Iron Dome radar screen, capturing classified data on the system’s location. He sent “Boaz” an edited clip containing highly classified information and offered the full video for $10,000, demanding an $800 advance payment.

Iron Dome battery (Photo: Israeli Security Ministry)

During his compulsory service, Eliasfov allegedly took eight photos of Iron Dome’s computer systems containing classified data and stored them on his phone, knowing they were highly confidential.

“Boaz” reportedly believed Eliasfov was a commander in the IDF’s elite Egoz unit with military connections. The Iranian agent expressed interest in Israeli Air Force bases, aircraft and specifically Nevatim Airbase, targeted in an Iranian attack last October.

The espionage war between Israel and Iran will continue along with their state of belligerency. Note that Iranian anti-Israeli attitudes intensified after Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon in the early 1980s which killed thousands of Shiites and led to the creation of Lebanese Hezbollah. When the Shah of Iran was in power, both CIA and Mossad worked and trained the Peacock Throne’s notorious security service, the SAVAK. As you previously read here on Coriolanus, in 2024 Israel’s security services previously rendered ineffective a few other Iranian spy rings. These two suspects are Ashkenazi Jews with Slavic names, like some of the other spies netted by the Shin Bet.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Source:

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/ryc11k4q00yg

Ukraine Update

Ukraine’s Schools Preparing Next Generation to Defend Itself from Russia

School children during a “Defense of Ukraine” lesson in Kyiv Oblast. (Photo: Lisa Bukreyeva / The Kyiv Independent)

In a small town in Kyiv Oblast, 10th grader Alina Marynenko just beat her entire class to be the most accurate shooter on an AK-47 simulator.

“Fourteen out of fifteen! I set a record! We beat the boys!” Marynenko yells out to her class.

Marynenko and her classmates fired the simulated weapon during a “Defense of Ukraine” lesson, an experimental course part of a wider educational reform passed after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The course has been part of the Ukrainian school curriculum since Soviet times, also known over the years as “Pre-Conscription Training” and “Defense of the Homeland.” If before 2022, the subject was seen as obsolete, hardly taken seriously by students who at times saw it more as an opportunity to goof off, Russia’s all-out aggression has given it a new life.

Schoolchildren practice with firearms during a “Defense of Ukraine” lesson in Kyiv Oblast. (Photo: Lisa Bukreyeva / The Kyiv Independent)

The program’s backers maintain they are not aiming to train 16 and 17-year-olds to be soldiers, but preparing them for a reality where Russian aggression is ongoing, with no clear end in sight.

FPV drone flying simulator in a “Defense of Ukraine” classroom in Kyiv Oblast. Ukraine has become an expert at precision drone warfare. (Photo: Lisa Bukreyeva / The Kyiv Independent)

Similarly and sadly, the Kremlin is militarizing their youth as well. In 2024, the Russian state introduced a mandatory discipline for middle and high school called the “Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Motherland.” For about 60 years, Soviet schoolchildren assembled and disassembled assault rifles, learned how to put on gas masks, and provided first aid during the lessons of “Basic Military Training” (BMT). This subject was removed from the school curriculum in the late 1980s and replaced with FLS.

A Russian army officer wearing a “Z” symbol, associated with support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, demonstrates a Kalashnikov assault rifle to a boy during a pro-military event in Krasnogorsk, Russia, on 24 Feb 2024. The event, organized by local authorities, coincides with the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. (Contributor / Getty Images)

Russian teenagers take part in a ceremony to join the patriotic Youth Army cadet movement in the main hall of the Stalingrad Battle Museum in Volgograd, Russia, on 25 Jan 2023. (Photo: Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP via Getty Images)

Ukrainian Intelligence Chief: “Putin Wants All of Warsaw Pact Back”

Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. (Photo: Ukrainian Defense Ministry.)

Ukraine’s intelligence director Kyrylo Budanov warns Russia views itself as an empire seeking to reclaim former Soviet territories, with Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria as targets if Ukraine is defeated.

“Russia doesn’t see itself as a federation—it sees itself as an empire. The model its leadership envisions is a version of the Soviet Union that includes former Warsaw Pact countries. This won’t change if the worst-case scenario unfolds.”

According to him, absorbing these nations is Russia’s “minimum objective” in its imperial ambitions.

“If we fall, Poland is next. I’m saying this outright—not to instill fear, but to make it clear. Then will come for the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria. A full rollback.”

Despite Moscow’s claims of openness to negotiations, Russia continues its relentless aerial attacks on Ukraine.

Budanov added that Russia has received 120 long-range self-propelled artillery pieces and 120 multiple launch rocket systems from North Korea.

The DPRK has already supplied this equipment to the Russian troops and they have begun to use it. We are talking about 120 self-propelled artillery systems of 170 mm caliber and 120 MLRS of 240 mm caliber.

“These are quite impressive numbers,” the DIU chief emphasized.

He added that “it’s another question altogether” how much more North Korean weapons are being supplied to Russia. The intelligence chief noted that the DPRK provides the occupiers with 49% of 122-152 mm artillery ammunition and 122 mm MLRS rockets.

Russian Military Losses

Russian military funeral.

ICC-indicted war criminal Vladimir Putin’s Nakba against Ukraine has cost his country dearly. According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, Russia has lost 870,700 troops since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on 24 Feb 2022.

This number includes 1,170 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past 36 hours.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,201 tanks, 21,183 armored fighting vehicles, 38,702 vehicles and fuel tanks, 23,686 artillery systems, 1,299 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,085 air defense systems, 370 airplanes, 331 helicopters, 26,961 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Donald Trumpf sanctioned the ICC in an effort to remove the international arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu.

If a ceasefire or peace is arranged, Ukraine will walk away from this conflict much like Japan and Finland did after their wars with the much larger Russia: combat-experienced and esteemed in the eyes of the international community. Russia and Ukraine might look like North and South Korea, two highly-militarized states at stone’s throw of each other. But genuine negotiations between Kiev and Moscow have not yet begun. US and Russian envoys discussing the future of Ukraine in Saudi Arabia without their presence was a poor sign of imperial arrogance. When someone asks what’s for dinner, this usually means it’s them. Either way, Putin’s goal of absorbing Ukraine into his fold have so far failed. And how much longer can Putin and Trumpf live? Will their successors want to maintain this ideal of a “Greater Russia”? As long as Europe can keep supporting Kiev without the US, Ukraine can outlast her enemies.

Sources:

https://euromaidanpress.com

https://kyivindependent.com/general-staff-russia-has-lost-870-700-troops-in-ukraine-since-feb-24-2022/

Dead Body Placed Beside Australian Couple on Qatar Airways Flight for Four Hours

An Australian couple have spoken of the “traumatic” moment the body of a dead passenger was placed next to them on a Qatar Airways flight. Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin, who were travelling to Venice for a dream holiday, said a woman died in the aisle beside them during the flight from Melbourne to Doha. The couple say cabin crew sat her corpse, which was covered in blankets, next to Mr Ring for the remaining four hours of the flight and did not offer to move him, despite there being empty seats. Qatar Airways said it apologized for “any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused,” adding that it was in the process of contacting passengers.

Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin. Inset: Mitchell Ring on the infamous flight. (Courtesy 9Now Australia)

Qatar Airways crew stated the deceased passenger was too large to move to the vacant seats in business class. But this large passenger was able to squeeze her way into economy class? Perhaps the crew didn’t want to upset the oligarchs enjoying Business Class. And in case you missed it, this week there was another aviation incident when a private jet entered the runway without authorization from air traffic control resulting in a near-miss in Chicago. Between President Planecrash in the US and this mortifying experience, who thinks the skies are friendly enough to fly?

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz03l18jv97o

https://abcnews.go.com/US/southwest-plane-lands-safely-chicago-after-close-call/story?id=119174069

North Korean Hackers Steal Record $1.5 Billion in Single Crypto Hack

North Korean hackers have stolen $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency in a single heist, making it the largest crypto hack on record..

The hackers struck Bybit, which describes itself as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, with over 40 million users.

In a matter of minutes on Friday, the hackers stole a significant portion of North Korea’s reported annual gross domestic product. And over the weekend, the hackers were already laundering about $160 million of the stolen loot through a series of accounts connected to North Korean operatives, according to crypto-tracing firm TRM Labs. In a single hack, the North Koreans have nearly doubled what they stole in crypto last year, the firm said.

An ethereum coin. Credit: CFOTO / Future Publishing via Getty Images

North Korea’s formidable hacking corps is an essential source of revenue for the nuclear-armed, sanctions-battered dictatorship.

Kim Jong-un enjoying a cigarette while his people starve. (Undated photo: KCNA)

In addition to hacking, North Korea makes money by producing and selling illegal drugs, counterfeit consumer goods and currency, and human/arms/wildlife trafficking. Pyongyang added to its coffers by keeping the salaries of the soldiers it sent to fight and die in Russia, as well as by selling weapons to Moscow. The fight to defeat North Korean crime must be through vigilance and intelligence-sharing, otherwise Kin Jong-un will continue developing his weapons of mass destruction (WMD) unabated. Lastly, Coriolanus has dealt with organized crime decades ago and he learned this philosophy years ago: “If you don’t understand it, get rid of it.” This axiom certainly applies to investing in crypto-currency. No Followers of the Watch should even be tempted to think about this unregulated demi-currency.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/24/politics/north-korean-hackers-crypto-hack/index.html

Health News: Four Things to Increase Your Lifespan

Stacy Andersen, a behavioral neuroscientist at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, is a codirector of the New England Centenarian Study, which examines the lives of people over 100 who are in good health. She has traveled the country visiting centenarians in their homes, meeting their families, and often sitting down with them for breakfast to try to pinpoint why they have lived so long.

Ms. Anderson, who studied centenarians for twenty years, contends doing these four things will add to your life expectancy. Of course this excludes genetic, financial, and environmental factors impacting us.

1) Eat foods from five different colors every day.

You can get a diverse range of nutrients by eating a variety of fruits and vegetables. (Istetiana/Getty Images)

2) Exercise daily and mix it up.

Yoga, tennis, swimming, jogging, martial arts, weight-lifting all help.

3) Get good-quality sleep.

4) Challenge yourself to learn a new skill.

Learn to play different games, a musical instrument, or another language.

Many researchers suggest that having a pet in your life may also increase your longevity. Reducing alcohol, coffee, soda, and tobacco consumption can’t hurt either. Coriolanus has some work to do himself.

Source:

https://www.businessinsider.com/things-longevity-scientist-centenarians-does-for-live-longer-2025-2

US Army Choir Sings Protest Song from Les Misérables at White House

At the Governor’s Ball in the White House earlier this week, the US Army Choir sang an arrangement from Les Misérables. The Victor Hugo novel (and musical) revolves around anti-monarchy and fighting tyranny, famous for its climactic scene from the Paris Uprising of 1832. The US Soldiers gleefully protested the sham Trumpf administration right under their very noses. Watch and listen:

Coriolanus is proud of his Soldiers.

Pocket-Sized Kitten Changes This Man Into Cat Lover Forever

Trumpf Continues Purging Pentagon of Competent Leadership to Putin’s Delight

President Donald Trumpf continued purging the Defense Department of experienced, capable leaders through his inept and alcoholic SECDEF “Whiskey Pete” Hegseth. The latest victim is a 40-year veteran of the US Navy and someone easily qualified to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Staff CJCS). Admiral Lisa Franchetti spent roughly half of her 40-year career at sea, commanding a destroyer, two carrier strike groups and the US Sixth Fleet. She was the first female officer to rise to the Navy’s top job of Chief of Naval Operations.

Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the US Chief of Naval Operations, during a media conference in Perth, Australia, in July 2024. (Photo: Richard Wainwright/EPA, via Shutterstock)

The announcement came in a statement emailed to reporters Friday night, shortly after President Trumpf said he was firing Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“Whiskey Pete” Hegseth said in his statement that he would also replace Gen. James C. Slife, the Air Force’s vice chief of staff, as well as the top uniformed lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. was the 21st Joints Chiefs of Staff Chairman. (Photo: United States Air Force)

Trumpf and Hegseth are firing competent commanders because they are minorities and competent and will weaken US national security. The purge of civilian and military inspectors-general, as well the military’s top lawyers, signals a dark future era of unaccountability within the DOD which already has trouble with contractor corruption, bribery, cost overruns, etc. Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, and Sailors fighting discrimination will not find sympathetic voices with the Trumpf-Hegseth appointed Inspector-Generals or Judge Advocate Generals (JAGs).

‘The US Is Doing Russia’s Work’ Say Ecstatic Propagandists

Putin’s media mouthpieces are in a lather of excitement over Trumpf’s recent moves, including abandoning Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky.

Coriolanus completed several tours with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and will be perfectly blunt. “Whiskey Pete” Hegseth is an alcoholic, misogynist US Army National Guard officer who never made it past the rank of Major. He is neither competent nor experienced enough to qualify as an aide-de-camp to Admiral Franchetti or General Brown, let alone lead the world’s most powerful military. This dipsomaniac and Trumpf sycophant didn’t have the courage to fire General Brown or Admiral Franchetti in person.

A national disgrace leads the US Department of Defense.

Below are screen captures of “Whiskey Pete” Hegseth hurling an axe at a target during his Fox TV show. The axe would strike and injure a US Army NCO playing in the military band behind the barrier.

“Whiskey Pete” Hegseth was later sued over this idiotic incident.

The US proposed its own UN resolution marking the third anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine after refusing to back one drafted by Kiev and backed by Europe. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described it as “a simple, historic resolution … that we urge all member states to support in order to chart a path to peace.”

The draft US resolution does not condemn Russia as the aggressor in the conflict, nor does it make any acknowledgement of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. “This resolution is consistent with President Trumpf’s view that the UN must return to its founding purpose, as enshrined in the UN Charter, to maintain international peace and security, including through the peaceful settlement of disputes,” Rubio’s statement said.

No wonder Russian President Vladimir Putin is thrilled with his intelligence asset, America’s Godzilla, who is destroying US institutions through DOGE, appointing incompetent cabinet secretaries, while firing thousands of capable civil servants in health, aviation safety, forestry management, agricultural surveillance, environmental protection, and nuclear weapons security.

How much destruction will America’s Godzilla wreak in four years on behalf of Vladimir Putin?

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/22/politics/ukraine-war-us-proposes-un-resolution/index.html

Update: Ukraine-Russia

Front Page of the Rightwing New York Post ( 21 Feb 2025)

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he was willing to step down if it meant peace in Ukraine. His remark came days after President Trumpf questioned his legitimacy and called him a “dictator without elections,” echoing a Kremlin talking point.

“If it brings peace to Ukraine, and if you need me to step down — I am ready,” Mr. Zelensky said during a news conference on Sunday, on the eve of the third anniversary of the war. “Second, I can exchange this for NATO.”

This is a highly unlikely scenario given Trumpf’s opposition to allowing Ukraine into the military alliance. EU leaders are meeting for an extraordinary summit on 6 Mar to discuss additional support for Ukraine, European security guarantees and how to pay for European defense needs.

Cuban Mercenaries Fighting for Kremlin

(Image: RFE/RL.org)

Cuban mercenaries have been fighting for Russia, like Frank Dario Jarrosay Manfuga (36) above who joined Russia’s army in Jan 2024 and was captured in Mar 2024.

A former geography teacher he later became a professional musician to increase his income.
“I never intended to kill anyone. I never wanted to participate in a war. I have a family,” said Manfuga, who claimed he was tricked into boarding a Russia-bound plane with the promise of a job in construction. He has no desire to return to Russia or Cuba and Manfuga’s claim that he was duped could not be verified.

An estimated 5,000 Cuban soldiers are fighting for Russia,” Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat, co-founder of the Cuban Democratic Directorate, a US-based NGO advocating for democratic change in communist Cuba reported. “This network could not function without the Cuban regime’s approval.” Unlike North Koreans, Cuban fighters in Russia have left a significant social media footprint, with many openly embracing the Kremlin’s militarism and ideology.

Putin Promotes War Criminal

Unindicted war criminal Major-General Sergei Atroshchenko.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has promoted Sergei Atroshchenko, who ordered the bombing of a drama theater in Mariupol on 16 Mar 2022, to the rank of Major-General.

The AP reports as many 600 Ukrainians were killed in a deliberate strike against defenseless civilians. (Photo: CNN)

After occupying Mariupol, Russian forces began demolishing the drama theater building to destroy evidence of the war crime.

Ukrainian Security Services Prevent Assassination

The Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police detained a saboteur who prepared a terrorist attack in the center of Odessa on 20 Feb.

The saboteur set up an IED near the car of the special prosecutor. Law enforcement officers pursued and detained the perpetrator, an 18-year-old resident of Odessa. He was recruited by Russian intelligence through a Telegram channel in search for “easy” money. On the instructions of the Russian special services, the saboteur personally constructed an improvised explosive device (IED) with a capacity of 300g in TNT equivalent.

To increase the lethality, the suspect stuffed the explosives with metal nuts and planted it under the military prosecutor’s car. Opposite the “target”, the attacker installed a hidden mobile phone with a remote access function for the FSB. Later, the Russian special service remotely activated the explosives, injuring a passer-by.

During exploitation of the crime scene, a mobile phone with evidence of his communication with his Russian handlers was seized from the detainee.

President Zelensky is capable, competent, and clever, a genuine national leader who cares about the future of his people. Ukrainian secret services continue to thwart Russian assassination attempts within their homeland. This suspect, like other young miscreants, prepared the IED for money, not out of love for Mother Russia or hatred of Ukraine. No doubt that Major-General Sergei Atroshchenko is on the Special Prosecutor’s list or in the cross-hairs of the Ukrainian espionage network for either justice or vengeance. Ukrainian military intelligence has previously liquidated HVT war criminals within Russia. The case of the Cuban mercenaries underscores their need for money and loyalty to Russia, as well as demonstrating that Moscow still needs manpower. Lastly, the question of American mercenaries fighting for Russia emerges as some are fugitives from US justice. How will they be treated by the US government at the end of hostilities?

Two criminals in love. Benjamin Netanyahu would complete the menage-a-trois.

Sources:

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-cuban-recruits-fighters-ukraine-mercenaries/33315782.html

https://english.nv.ua/nation/putin-promotes-atroshchenko-to-military-general-after-mariupol-theater-bombing-50492041.html

https://ssu.gov.ua/novyny/sbu-ta-natspolitsiia-po-hariachykh-slidakh-zatrymaly-ahenta-fsb-yakyi-na-zamovlennia-rf-pidirvav-avto-viiskovoho-prokurora-v-odesi

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-leaders-meet-extraordinary-summit-ukraine-eu-defence-march-6-2025-02-23/

US Bloodbath: No End in Sight to America’s Undeclared War on Itself

General Garibaldi’s red shirts prevailed over the Army of the Two Sicilies in the Battle of Volturno (Oct 1860. (Courtesy of Peter Dennis)

In the past 48 hours several shootings terrorized and killed American citizens, including police officers, throughout different parts of the US.

Louisville, Kentucky

Police work the scene of a shooting outside a driver’s licensing office in Louisville, Kentucky, 21 Feb 2025. (Source: WHAS TV)

Three people were shot and killed in a parking lot outside a driver’s licensing office in Louisville, Kentucky. A male victim died at the scene while two female victims died at a hospital. No suspect is in custody and the shooter fled the scene. Authorities didn’t discuss any potential connection between the victims.

“There does not seem to be a public threat,” police said at a news conference, even though the murderer was on the loose.

In an average year, 827 people die and 1,857 are wounded by guns in Kentucky. The Bluegrass State has the 11th-highest rate of gun violence in the US. Gun deaths and injuries cost Kentucky $9.6 billion each year, of which $183.4 million is paid by taxpayers. In Kentucky, 54.6% of adults have firearms at home. Licenses in 2021: 108,833

York, Pennsylvania

Patrolman Andrew Duarte had served with the West York Borough Police Department for over two years and previously served with the Denver Police Department for five years. This was a good-looking young man who seemed quite happy. (Photo: public domain)

Officer Andrew Duarte died while responding to a 10:43AM call about an active threat at UPMC Hospital in York, Pennsylvania.

No patients were injured during the shooting, and the five-story, 104-bed hospital has been secured, according to a statement by Pennsylvania State Police. It’s unclear if there were any other injuries.

“At this time, the shooter is deceased and there is no danger to the public. The hospital is secured,” police said.

In an average year, 1,759 people die and 4,020 are wounded by guns in Pennsylvania. The Keystone State has the 20th highest rate of gun violence in the US. Pennsylvania firearm licenses in 2021: 348,167. An estimated 40.7% of adults in Pennsylvania have guns in their homes.

Virginia Beach, Virginia

VBPO Cameron Girvin. He seemed like a happy person. No photo available of VBPO Christopher Reese.

Police Officers Christopher “Chris” Reese and Cameron Girvin were shot while conducting a traffic stop at Sylvan Court at approximately 2330 Friday evening.

“While on patrol Officer Reese and Officer Girvin observed a car with an expired plate and executed a traffic stop. During the traffic stop the officers asked the subject to exit the vehicle and the subject refused; when finally exiting the vehicle the subject “tussled” with the officers and immediately produced a pistol, shooting both Officer Reese and Officer Girvin. While the officers were incapacitated and on the ground, the subject shot each officer a second time and then fled the scene. The subject was found in a shed near the initial scene with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

First responders attempted life-saving procedures and both officers were transported to local hospitals but would succumb to their wounds.”

Nota Bene: Coriolanus does not like the use of the word “tussled” as any local or federal judge would immediately question the definition of the word and what exactly transpired between the police officers and the suspect (who was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound).

In an average year, 1,065 people die and 1,911 are wounded by guns in Virginia. Around 44.6% of adults in Virginia have guns at home. Federal firearm licenses: 423,707.

Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico

Security Forces members assigned to the 377th Security Forces Squadron responded to an incident at approximately 2AM Saturday, 22 Feb resulting in a shooting incident. One Airman received a nonfatal gunshot wound to the hand and was transported to UNM Medical Center for treatment. He has since been released with no life-threatening injuries.

The other Airman was found dead at the scene. The cause of death and the incident remains under investigation by local authorities. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations was leading the probe along with the FBI and Albuquerque PD. Authorities said there is currently no threat to the public, even though the suspect remains at large.

In an average year, 433 people die and 618 are wounded by guns in New Mexico. The “Land of Enchantment State” has the 12th-highest rate of gun violence in the US. In New Mexico, 46.2% of adults have at least one gun at home. Firearms licenses in 2021: 122,968

Indiana

Trinity Shockley (18) Credit: Morgan County Sheriff’s Office

Last week, an 18-year-old from Mooresville, Indiana, was arrested for allegedly planning a mass school shooting at Mooresville High School. The Mooresville Metropolitan Police Department received information around 7PM 11 Feb from the FBI about someone who was potentially planning a school shooting on 14 Feb 2025.

During the department’s investigation, officers identified the person of interest as Trinity Shockley, of Mooresville. Court documents say Trinity is transgender, going by the name Jamie. Someone called the FBI and reported that Trinity was planning a shooting and that she had access to an AR-15 and ordered a bulletproof vest.

This is a catastrophe averted. The student reportedly had expressed admiration for other mass shooters, including Nikolas Cruz, who murdered 17 people and wounded 17 others at Parkland High School, Florida on 14 Feb 2018.

In an average year, 1,111 people die and 1,556 are wounded by guns in Indiana. Indiana has the 30th-highest rate of gun violence in the US. Indiana firearm licenses in 2021: 157,546. In Indiana, 44.8% of adults have at least one firearm at home.

NRA-rated A+ Republican US Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) at the 2015 CPAC convention. (Photo: Adweek)

In 2022, the CDC reported the US suffered 48,000 gun-related homicides. These are wartime casualty numbers. Every day 327 people are shot in the US. Of those, on average, 117 will die. By contrast in 2023 the entire country of Canada with approximately 41.6m people suffered 289 homicides by firearms. That averages to less than one firearm-related murder per day.

The US government may wish to consider deploying US Army medics or US Navy Corpsmen like the soldiers below throughout the country to triage and treat her daily casualties, like a warzone.

(Photo: US Army)

Unless America does something drastic and soon, her undeclared war with herself will reach 50,000 annual gun deaths possibly in 2025 or 2026. But remarkably, America’s Godzilla is doing the exact opposite. Trumpf recently signed an Executive Order reversing federal firearm regulations, making purchasing guns easier.

Sources:

https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/indiana/18-year-old-charged-allegedly-planning-mass-shooting-mooresville-high-school-trinity-shockley/531-3ab9d4e1-1d0c-4948-a6e3-289847054be5

Click to access Gun-Violence-in-Indiana-2024-05.pdf

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/gun-ownership-rates-by-state/41/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/protecting-second-amendment-rights/

Click to access Gun-Violence-in-New-Mexico-1.pdf

https://www.kirtland.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4074588/one-airman-dead-and-another-hospitalized-outside-kirtland-release-2/

Click to access Gun-Violence-in-Virginia-2024-05.pdf

https://www.odmp.org/

South Carolina Convict to be Killed in First Firing Squad Execution in 15 Years

Brad Sigmon. (Photo: Courtesy of Brad Sigmon legal team)

“A South Carolina man on death row has chosen to be killed by firing squad, and if his execution goes forward next month, it would be the first time in 15 years that capital punishment in the US is carried out by gunfire. Brad Sigmon (67) is scheduled to be shot to death on 7 Mar, part of a spate of rapid killings the state has pursued in the last six months as it revives executions after a 13-year pause.

South Carolina now directs those on death row to choose how they will be killed — electric chair, lethal injection or shooting. If they decline to make a selection, the state electrocutes them. Attorneys for men on South Carolina’s death row have previously objected to firing squads, raising concerns about the pain caused by shootings and arguing the method constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. But Sigmon selected a firing squad in part because of concerns about the state’s lethal injection methods, his attorneys said.”

Utah and Idaho are also considering the use of firing squads (I wrote an OP about this several weeks ago). One rifleman is anonymously given a powerful blank cartridge so he can think that he wasn’t the one who killed the prisoner. (Photo: NY Post / Shutterstock)

Source:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/21/brad-sigmon-death-penalty-firing-squad

Australia Warns Airlines to Beware of Chinese Navy Live-Fire Exercise

Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning and auxiliary ships. (Photo: navalnews.com)

Australia warned international airlines flying between Australian airports and New Zealand to beware of Chinese warships conducting a live-fire exercise in the Tasman Sea.

Regulator Airservices Australia had warned commercial pilots of a potential hazard in airspace between the countries as three Chinese warships conduct exercises off the Australian east coast.

Several international flights had diverted as a result.

“It would be normal practice where a task group is engaging in exercises for there to be advice given to vessels and aircraft in the area and Airservices Australia is doing what it should do, which is to give that advice,” Australian FM Penny Wong said.

Australia was discussing with China about the notification and transparency around its naval exercises, “particularly live-fire exercises,” Wong said.

Australian military ships and planes have been monitoring the Chinese warships for days as they pass in international waters off the Australian east coast.

The Royal Australian Navy Fleet consists of 27 commissioned ships and 11 non-commissioned ships manned by 16,000 officers and seamen; 4,600 in the reserves. The Chinese navy has 384,000 active personnel manning 788 ships and 600 aircraft.

Civil aviation has paid the price of flying near active military warzones Russia shot down a Malaysian Airlines several years ago, as well as an Azerbaijani Airways flight recently. This warning and quarantine zone is an obvious safety measure from Canberra. Conducting live fire drills in this vicinity is clearly a provocation from Beijing. Since Australia and New Zealand are allies of the US, perhaps China is testing the reaction from Trumpf.

Sources:

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/australia-warns-airlines-beware-chinese-navy-live-fire-119033470

https://www.airservicesaustralia.com/

Inside Britain’s Fascist Fight Clubs: Secret Footage Shows Far-Right Group Preparing for ‘Race War’

“A white supremacist group masquerading as a fitness club has been secretly working to build a far-right militia, holding training sessions in plain sight.

An undercover investigation by ITV News has revealed how ‘Active Club England’ is following a blueprint established by neo-Nazi networks in the US and Europe, using extreme fitness and fraternity as a front to recruit and radicalize members for a so-called “race war”.

ITV News has uncovered how a recruitment drive in the wake of the 2024 summer riots attracted dozens of new members. By capitalizing on social unrest, the group expanded to more than 100 members, with one branch drawing enough new followers to begin fortnightly training sessions at a park in Vauxhall, south London, just steps from MI6 headquarters.”

Last year Scotland Yard’s counter-terror chief reported a “startling” rise in the number of children in London becoming lured into terrorist activity with arrests now running at double the 20-year average.

Fight club members regularly took part in boxing training sessions in London and had to meet strict fitness standards. (Credit: ITV News)

Jay Barlow was sentenced in Sep 2024 for the possession of a knife and a racist offence against a police officer. (Credit: Metropolitan Police)

Rundo was arrested in a Romanian gym in 2023. (Credit: X/@Shtuni)

From 30 Jul to 5 Aug 2024, [a] far-right, anti-immigration protests and riots occurred in England and Northern Ireland.

There are hundreds of these right wing maniacs ready to commit violence against immigrants, people of color, Muslims, and Jews in the UK, and many have already sone so. Worse, these neo-Nazis are preparing for an ominous “race war.” One thug laments on the difficulties of obtaining firearms in the UK, unlike the ease found in other countries. Britain’s MI5 and Scotland Yard have their hands full dealing with these dangerous lunatics. The Kremlin has been linked to supporting rightwing, white supremacist groups throughout Europe and no doubt Elon Musk’s social platforms are facilitating their hate messages.

Watch the video here: https://www.itv.com/news/2025-02-11/undercover-footage-shows-far-right-group-preparing-for-race-war

Source:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/terrorism-arrests-children-london-far-right-islam-metropolitan-police-b1129874.html

Is This A Woman or a Man?

Ms. Hunter Schafer (Getty Images)

“Hunter Schafer, a transgender woman and star of hit HBO teen drama Euphoria, has said a new US passport lists her as male, despite selecting female when she filled out the paperwork. Ms. Schafer said she changed her gender markers for her driver’s license and passports when she was a teenager, but that her birth certificate was never amended. The US State Department, which issues passports, says on its website that it will “only issue passports with an M or F sex marker that match the customer’s biological sex at birth.”

America’s Godzilla reversed the US State Dept policy which previously allowed a citizen to mark “X” under gender for their passport.

Thailand has long recognized a third gender called Kathoeys or “Ladyboys.”

So are DHS airport inspectors or border patrol agents at the Ports of Entry (POE) going to conduct strip searches or genetic tests on Ms. Schafer or kathoeys from Thailand?

Whatever happened to the time-honored American tradition of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?”

Source:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg4klq45ngvo

Cat in Shelter Was Sad So He Was Sent to Nursing Home

No Doubt America’s Godzilla is Russian Asset, But When Did The Kremlin Recruit Trumpf?

Followers of the Watch should not have been surprised by the US position at the recent NATO conference in Munich, Germany. Basically, Donald Trumpf abandoned support for Kiev after his demands for half of Ukraine’s rare earths were rebuffed. But that too was kabuki theater, just like Trumpf’s previous bloviating against Vladimir Putin to stop the war against Ukraine, ominously threatening that all “options were under consideration.” The historic parallel to British and French appeasement to Nazi Germany over Czechoslovakia in Munich 1938 is remarkable.

Henceforth, the EU, NATO, and the world for that matter, must treat the US as being under the nefarious occupation of Russia for at least the next four years, as if America was invaded and defeated like France or the Netherlands during the Second World War. NATO leaders are scrambling to find solutions to assist Ukraine without the US and will come up with workarounds. One answer might be through EUFOR, an entity the US does not participate in. Allies will stop sharing critical intelligence with the US.

What a Trumpf Tower in Russia might look like.

Many theories have propagated about how Donald Trumpf became an asset for the Kremlin. One theory is Russian intelligence holds compromising and damaging information on the 47th President (kompramat). In the 2016 election, Trumpf didn’t hesitate to publicly invoke the assistance of Russia or Wikileaks: “Russia, if you’re listening now….” Wikileaks then published damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Another theory is the KGB recruited Trumpf in 1977 who saw him as an “exploitable target”. In 1987 after returning from Russia with his wife Ivana, Trumpf ran political advertisements critical of US foreign policy that was detrimental to the USSR.

One investigative journalist alleged that Donald Trumpf was a Confidential Informant (“CI”) for the FBI, coughing up an occasional Russian or Italian mobster in NYC while making money with them. In the 1980s and 90s, Trumpf’s greatest legal exposure was his dealings with the Russian mafia in NYC. This theory explains why many of Trumpf’s associates were convicted of crimes in NYC back then, while nothing happened to him other than declaring business bankruptcies.

After his arrest on 11 Dec 1990, mobster Sammy “the Bull” Gravano turned state’s evidence to help convict godfather John Gotti, his nominal boss. The lead prosecutor of the case was Robert Swan Mueller III. When Trumpf found out Mueller was named Special Counsel to investigate him, he collapsed into a chair and muttered, “I’m f*cked.” This theory also explains why Trumpf is purging both the FBI and government records wherever possible.

Russian-American mobster, convicted felon, and Former Donald Trumpf associate Felix Sater became an informant for the FBI and testified unsatisfactorily to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HSPIC).

Whenever Trumpf was recruited by the Kremlin remains unclear, despite all of the official and unofficial investigations conducted over the past several years. What is clear, is that Trumpf and the Republican’s white supremacist philosophy aligns with that of Vladimir Putin, in addition to their shared commitment to wealthy oligarchs.

Vladimir Lenin’s term for these two were “useful idiots.” When Trumpf and DOGE cut their Medicare and social security benefits, who will they blame?

Vladimir Putin arrogantly escorting his cultivated intelligence asset in Helsinki, Finland, in 2018. Both conferred without bodyguards or interpreters around them as Putin’s English is more than passable (and he is fluent in German).

Sources:

https://investigaterussia.org/

Click to access 2020-05-04-Felix_Sater-MTR_Redacted.pdf

Trump associate Felix Sater grilled by House Intel

https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-cultivating-trump-asset-40-years-says-ex-kgb-spy-2021-1

https://intelligence.house.gov/

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/kgb-spy-russia/

https://gregolear.substack.com/p/tinker-tailor-mobster-trump

Oracle Titan Larry Ellison Wants to Put Data, Including DNA, in One Huge AI System

As if dealing with Felon Musk is hard to stomach, here comes Larry Ellison…

Oligarchs must see us as chattel, experiments, organ donors, or something to be eaten.

FTA:

“If governments want AI to improve services and security for their citizens, then they need to put all their information in one place – even citizens’ genomic data – according to Larry Ellison, the Oracle database tycoon.

Ellison shared his take on what governments need to do to succeed with AI during a discussion with his buddy former UK prime minister Tony Blair at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.

The world’s fourth-most-richest man – a good friend also of the world’s richest man Elon Musk – insisted artificial intelligence is soon going to change everyone’s lives ‘across the board.'”

Ellison wants constant AI surveillance of everyone to keep people “on their best behavior.”

The 1978 film Coma was based on Robin Cook’s bestseller about organ harvesting for the wealthy.

Sources:

https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/12/larry_ellison_wants_all_data/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky

American Detainees in Mexico

Mexican prison inmates. (Photo: Reuters)

There are less than 100 Americans wrongfully detained overseas in Russia, China, and Venezuela, and considered political prisoners. AMCITs are also legitimately convicted and imprisoned overseas for crimes such as drug trafficking or violent crime. The State Dept website was unable to provide these numbers.

During one of Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum’s daily press briefings, she confirmed a journalist’s inquiry about American detainees in Mexico with a staggering number.

President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo

President Sheinbaum stated that over the past six years, 2,600 American citizens were arrested in Mexico for offenses related to organized crime — including the smuggling of drugs and firearms — since Dec 2018. She added that the US government asked for “many” of them to be extradited to face charges in the US.

“In the United States, there is also organized crime, and there are US citizens who come to Mexico … to carry out these illicit activities. Why do we say there is organized crime in the US? Because if there wasn’t, who would distribute fentanyl in US cities?” Sheinbaum said.

President Sheinbaum reiterated that Mexico is willing to collaborate with the US government on security issues. However, she stressed that Washington also has to “do its work” to “avoid the trafficking of drugs in their country.”

There is only one gun shop in the entire country of Mexico which is located on a military base near the capital. But in 2023, Mexico suffered 31,062 homicides Between 200,000 and 750,000 weapons manufactured by US gunmakers are smuggled across the border into Mexico every year, many of which are found at crime scenes. The Mexicans call this the ‘Iron River.’ American drug use and weapons manufacturing are driving up deaths in the US and Mexico. President Sheinbaum is considering lawsuits against US gunmakers.

Sources:

https://www.gob.mx/presidencia/en#14885

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98q8y1gl4xo

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/14/mexico-gunmakers-lawsuit-terror

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Americans_wrongfully_imprisoned_or_detained_abroad

Sudan and Russia Finalize Naval Base Agreement

Yasen-class nuclear submarine in Havana, Cuba.

In a joint press conference. Khartoum and Moscow are in full agreement on establishing a Russian naval base in Sudan. The agreement for constructing the naval facility in Port Sudan was initially signed in 2020, with discussions starting as early as 2017.

The base is intended to host up to four Russian ships and no more than 300 personnel. The agreement faced delays due to the fall of President Omar al-Bashir’s regime, which was replaced by military rule. The nation witnessed coups in 2019 and 2021. Additionally, reports from Dec 2024 indicated Sudan’s refusal to host the Russian base.

Bloomberg reported, citing sources within Sudanese intelligence, Russia offered Sudan an advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile system to seal the deal.

Aid organizations have said Sudan is the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with the largest internally displaced population and fears that famine has broken out in parts of the country.

The civil war that started in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) further complicated relations between Russia and Sudan, as the Wagner group threw its weight behind the RSF while the Kremlin appeared to back the Sudanese army.

With the US pulling out of Africa, expect China and Russia to fill the void, expanding their influence and power bases. This appears to be a small base for Russian naval operations, but anything is better than nothing. After the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the fate of Russia’s air and naval base in Syria is still up in the air. If the Kremlin offered Sudan an advanced air defense weapon to “seal the deal,” that may be a sign of urgency on their part to secure something on the African continent.

Sources:

https://uawire.org/sudan-and-russia-finalize-naval-base-agreement

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/13/sudan-first-russian-naval-base-in-africa-go-ahead

https://www.dw.com/en/fate-of-russian-military-bases-in-syria-remains-open/a-71027207

Preventable Measles Outbreak in Western Texas

A fast-growing measles outbreak in West Texas has escalated from two children in one county to 48 people across multiple counties in just two weeks.

To assist with Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s confirmation as Secretary of Health and Human Services, America’s Godzilla wrote on Truth Social:

“20 years ago, Autism in children was 1 in 10,000. NOW IT’S 1 in 34. WOW! Something’s really wrong. We need BOBBY!!! Thank You! DJT,”

In 2013, Trumpf tweeted:

“Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn’t feel good and changes – AUTISM. Many such cases!”

Measles was a leading cause of death in the early 20th century. In the 1950s, the US reported over 500,000 cases of measles each year. In 2000, the US declared measles eliminated due to a highly effective vaccination program. From 2000–2023, measles vaccination prevented an estimated 60.3 million deaths globally. In 2023, 107,500 people died from measles worldwide, mostly children.

America’s Godzilla is spreading lies about vaccinations to the American people while Felon Musk’s DOGE guts the CDC, NIH, and HHS, an organization that anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr will now head. More Americans will needlessly get sick and die during the next four years.

America’s Godzilla will kill many Americans over the next four years.

Sources:

https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/video/measles-outbreak-in-west-texas-escalates-to-48-cases/:

https://www.dshs.texas.gov/news-alerts/confirmed-case-measles-january-2025

Trump says ‘something really wrong’ with autism rates ahead of RFK Jr. vote

Top Canadian Lawmaker Vows 100% Tariffs on Musk’s Teslas in ‘Surgical’ Reprisals to Future Trump Threats

Chrystia Freeland, who is running to replace Justin Trudeau, has threatened tariffs on Musk’s Teslas (AP)

Lawmaker has threatened to slap a 100% tax on Elon Musk’s Tesla vehicles in retaliation to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Chrystia Freeland, who resigned last month as Justin Trudeau’s deputy and finance minister, has vowed “surgical” reprisals to the 25% tariff that Trump has placed on all steel imports.

Freeland, who is running to be the next leader of the Liberal Party and prime minister of Canada, said that if forced, the nation will “inflict the biggest trade blow that the United States has ever endured.” Her threat comes as the EV maker is struggling with declining global sales and potential backlash to its CEO’s political views.

Freeland also threatened to “go after” Wisconsin dairy farmers. “We know how important they are for the President. And we’re not going to let them sell their products in Canada anymore,” she said.

Tesla Cybertruck on fire in front of a Trumpf hotel in Las Vegas, NV on 1/1/2025. The driver shot himself and died.

Tesla was recently awarded a $400m contract from the State Dept for armored Cybertrucks which will be unregulated. Felon Musk’s name was subtly removed from the contract. He was under investigation by five separate Inspector Generals when Trumpf fired them.

Ms. Freeland is competent and has experience dealing with Trumpf. Freeland studied Russian history and literature at Harvard University. During 1988–89, she was an exchange student in Kiev and she is fluent in Ukrainian. If Ms. Freeland becomes Canada’s Prime Minister later this year, Trumpf will have an able adversary to the north, the way President Sheinbaum has become an effective foil for America’s Godzilla to the south.

Sources:

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/chrystia-freeland-trump-tariffs-musk-b2696624.html

https://time.com/7221880/state-department-2025-procurement-forecast-tesla-armored-electric-vehicles-musk/

Elon Musk’s Companies Were Under Investigation by Five Inspectors General When the Trump Administration Fired Them and Made Musk the Investigator

Defense Counsel for Luigi Mangione Sets Up Personal Website for Him

Luigi Mangione, suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in NYC, arrives at a heliport surrounded by an army of members of the NYPD on 19 Dec 2024 in NYC. (Photo: IBT)

https://www.luigimangioneinfo.com/

The comprehensive website has a calendar for his state and federal trials, updates, FAQs, and messages from the defendant. Luigi Mangione is being prosecuted by both New York State and the US government, indicative of his dangerous role as a symbolic vanguard-martyr against a cruel capitalist system that puts profits over people. Luigi was either taking personal vengeance out on millionaire CEO Brian Thompson, fighting back against a system that perpetrates “social murder” on its citizens, or both. The US is the world’s largest economy and is the only developed nation without universal health insurance.

Former health insurance company CEO Wendell Potter about the killing of Brian Thompson: “I’m not shocked.”

https://peopleoverprofitnyc.org/protest

The storming of the Bastille on 14 Jul 1789 was intended to seize gunpowder and weapons. The prison contained only seven inmates and was already scheduled for demolition, but was seen by the revolutionaries as a symbol of the monarchy’s abuse of power.

When XJK (Extra-Judicial Killing) seems to be seen as the only solution to America’s cataclysmic problems caused by greedy oligarchs, CEOs, and megalomaniacs, the US is heading for its own Bastille Day.

An indictment is merely an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Feral Cat Brings Her Newborn Kittens to Person’s Car to Save Them

This previously unapproachable stray cat became approachable for the sake of her litter.

America’s Godzilla Continues Deadly Global Rampage

Followers of the Watch, Coriolanus is doing his best to keep up with the wake of destruction Donald Trumpf is leaving behind in his catastrophic warpath against the people of the United States and the world.

In no specific order of damage assessment, here we go. Against the wishes of California Governor Gavin Newsom (D), and most likely the advice of the US Army Corps of Engineers, Trumpf ordered the release of 2.2 billion gallons of water from the Lake Kaweah and Lake Success reservoirs north of Los Angeles. But these waters would not reach Los Angeles anyway and will be needed for farmers later this year. This was a terrible waste of water that will punish Blue State Californians this upcoming spring and summer, particularly if a blistering heatwave sets in or another drought arises.

A buoy sits on dry cracked earth on a dry inlet of Shasta Lake on 30 Aug 2014 in Lakehead, CA. (Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Trumpf Endangering Passenger Air Travel

The FAA banned its employees from attending advisory panels set up to explore how to make air travel safer. “It appears that safety is being forced to take a back seat due to fear of retribution, which means we all lose,” said an FAA official. Trumpf has separately come under criticism for forcing out key aviation safety officials in the days before the recent Ronald Reagan Airport crash, at the recommendation of tech billionaire oligarch Elon Musk. Trumpf recently remarked that a high-speed railway project isn’t necessary because, according to him, a plane ticket can be purchased for only $2.

Trumpf Stops All Global USAID Activities, Ordering Personnel Home

USAID activities. This organization was created by President John F. Kennedy.

This monumentally idiotic ukase forces thousands and thousands of USAID staff and their families to abandon their homes and projects and return to the US within 96 hours. Food and medicines intended for vulnerable people in Africa and Asia are going to be wasted or looted, like in war- and disease-riven Sudan, costing thousands of innocent lives. Gizmodo reports that USAID was investigating Felon Musk’s Starlink contracts in Ukraine, one of which costs at least $23 million.

The Worst Person in the World.

America’s Godzilla has already destroyed the Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB) and intends on eliminating the Department of Education and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) which fights for safe working conditions in America’s factories and farms.

Trumpf Spreads Autism Misinformation in RFK Jr. Senate Confirmation Push

The nephew of JFK pockets half a million dollars a year from ant-vax charity groups. His cousin Caroline said that RFK Jr secretly vaccinated his own children. (Image: NY Post)

Godzilla cited inaccurate figures of autism diagnoses as a reason why the US Senate should confirm Robert F Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Trumpf wrote on Truth Social:

“20 years ago, Autism in children was 1 in 10,000. NOW IT’S 1 in 34. WOW! Something’s really wrong.”

That social media post wasn’t the first time Trumpf has floated misinformation about autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In a Dec 2024 interview with TIME magazine, Trumpf said he’d have a “big discussion” with Kennedy about potentially ending childhood vaccination programs, noting the “autism rate is at a level that nobody ever believed possible.”

While Trumpf did not insinuate a tie between autism and vaccines in his Tuesday post, he has in the past. But wait, things get worse for Americans and national security. Godzilla evicted former four-star Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan from her home with only three hours notice this week. Trumpf had fired Admiral Fagan, the first woman to ever lead the Coast Guard, on the second day of his regime. Admiral Fagan barely had time to gather her personal belongings and was forced to spend the night with friends.

Trumpf demanded and received the names of 5,000 FBI personnel that investigated him and the white supremacist terrorists that attacked the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021. Remarkably, America’s first line of defense surrendered the names to Trumpf. The Fourth Reich can rescind the TS-SCI security clearances of these personnel, rendering them incapable of employment in the US Intelligence Community (USIC) and thus their termination from the FBI. These agents and analysts also become vulnerable to retaliation from the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, the FSB, drug cartels, the mafia, or the Hell’s Angels.

Moreover, Putin’s protege ordered CIA to offer buyouts to its entire workforce, to align it with Trumpf’s priorities. CIA is also freezing the hiring of job applicants already given a conditional offer. Some of those frozen offers are likely to be rescinded if the applicants do not have the right background for the agency’s new goals, which include targeting drug cartels, the reckless and unnecessary trade war, and undermining China.

What would this man below say about these craven capitulations to the Kremlin and the state of US national security?

Here’s what a Quebec (Canadian) newspaper had to say about America’s Godzilla.

Sources:

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/04/trumps-autism-rfk-jr-confirmation

https://nypost.com/2022/02/02/robert-f-kennedy-jr-anti-vax-crusade-is-making-him-millions/

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/cia-offers-buyouts-entire-workforce-align-with-trump-priorities-wsj-reports-2025-02-05/

https://www.rawstory.com/faa-advisory-panels/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/live-blog/trump-canada-mexico-tariffs-live-updates-rcna190371

White Supremacist Leader Found Guilty of Conspiring to Destroy Regional Power Grid

Brandon Russell studied nuclear physics, was a Florida Army National Guardsman, and founder of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division. (Mugshot: Tampa Police Dept).

After a six-day trial, a federal jury found Brandon Russell (29) a resident of Orlando, FL, guilty of conspiracy to damage an energy facility. From Nov 2022 to 3 Feb 2023, Russell conspired to carry out attacks against critical infrastructure, specifically transformers located within electrical substations, in furtherance of Russell’s racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist beliefs. Russell posted links to open-source maps of infrastructure, which included the locations of electrical substations, and he described how a small number of attacks on substations could cause a “cascading failure.” Russell also discussed maximizing the impact of the planned attack by hitting multiple substations at one time.

Russell recruited a Maryland-based woman, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, to carry out the attacks in Baltimore and elsewhere. They planned to damage energy facilities involved in the transmission and distribution of electricity and to cause a significant interruption and impairment of the Baltimore regional power grid. The intended monetary loss associated with the planned attacks would have exceeded $75 million.

Russell faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to damage an energy facility. A sentencing date has not been scheduled.

Sarah-Beth-Clendaniel was sentenced to 18 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release.

Followers of the Watch may recall a previous post about these two dangerous miscreants, now rendered ineffective. The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) may want to throw away the key on these two lunatics or send them to El Salvador or Guantanamo Bay.

Source:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/maryland-woman-sentenced-18-years-federal-prison-conspiring-destroy-baltimore-region

Ukraine Update

SBU Detains Two Russian Saboteurs Preparing Terrorist Attack in Rivne

Ukrainian security services prevented a mass casualty attack in the center of Rivne, detaining two Russian saboteurs. The suspects were supposed to leave an improvised explosive device (IED) in a bag near the administrative building of a law enforcement agency. The attackers planned to detonate the explosives by calling a mobile phone connected to the IED.

The attack was to take place when there were many law enforcement officers near the police station and the miscreants themselves would still be near the explosive device.

“In this way, the ‘Ruscists’ planned to kill the maximum number of police officers and ordinary citizens and at the same time eliminate the perpetrators of the terrorist attack as ‘unnecessary’ witnesses.”

The SBU officers exposed the Russian agents in advance and thwarted the plot. Both suspects were detained red-handed when they were trying to plant explosives near the district police department. At the scene, a bag equipped with an IED and additional covert surveillance devices with remote access function for the Russian special services was seized from the detainees.

The saboteurs are two 19-year-olds who were looking for “quick” money on Telegram channels now face twelve years prison and financial confiscation.

These two imbeciles below were lucky as they would have been blown up in the attack by their nefarious handlers who were concealed at a safe, remote distance. As noted here on Coriolanus, Ukraine’s security services are constantly improving.

Laser Weapon Deployed Against Russian Target

The Tryzub (Trident) is based on the UK DragonFire system.

Ukraine is already using laser technologies to hit Russian targets, said Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi, commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces:

“Laser technologies are already hitting certain objects at a certain altitude.”

The commander first said in mid-Dec 2024 that Ukraine is among the few nations with laser weapon capabilities. According to Sukharevskyi, Ukraine’s laser system, called Tryzub, can down aircraft at altitudes exceeding two kms.

The Unmanned Systems Forces, established less than a year ago, already include combat and research units operating across air, land, and sea.

Russia recently attacked Ukraine with 102 drones; 59 were downed by air defense, and 37 went off radar.

The UK DragonFire Laser (Photo: UK MOD)

For Ukraine, this development is critically important, as it relies on the supply of anti-aircraft ammunition and missiles from its European partners. Another significant advantage is cost efficiency. Missiles cost tens of thousands of dollars, while a single laser shot costs several dollars.

Sources:

https://ssu.gov.ua/novyny/sbu-zatrymala-dvokh-ahentiv-rf-yaki-hotuvaly-terakt-bilia-raiupravlinnia-politsii-u-rivnomu

https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-using-laser-weapons/

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/01/31/7496112/

Ocean Surface Warming Over 400% Faster Than in 1980s

Sea surface temperature anomalies for 27 January 2025. The deeper the warm colors, the more anomalously high the sea temperature is. (NOAA)

The unexpected jump in global temperatures since 2023 has helped fuel a relentless assault of associated disasters around the world, including the Los Angeles fires and the deadly Valencia floods in Spain, leaving researchers scrambling for explanations.

Data from the world’s oceans now reveal that an alarming acceleration in sea surface warming likely contributed. A new study from the University of Reading in the UK finds the tops of our oceans are warming more than four times faster than in the late 1980s.

The Earth’s diminishing reflectivity may be contributing to this. The ocean’s dark surface helps it absorb heat, whereas white clouds and aerosol particles in the atmosphere help bounce the sun’s radiation back into space. In 2020, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted a new rule to cut back on sulfur pollution from shipping fuel, but because the aerosol particles in emissions acted as a seed for clouds, the regulation had the unintended effect of dimming the marine layer of clouds that blanket the ocean.

Excess ocean warmth has had wide-ranging consequences. In April 2024, 77% of the world’s coral reefs became imperiled in the most extensive bleaching event on record, threatening the livelihoods of a billion people and a quarter of marine life. Changing ocean temperatures also shift weather patterns, potentially intensifying droughts, downpours, and storms alike.

There is still time to change the course of Earth’s energy imbalance (EEI) if we stop emitting fossil fuels (green line scenario). (Merchant et al., Environ. Res. Lett., 2025)

Our Future Unless We Do Something Now

The remains of beachside homes in California destroyed in the Palisades Fire, 16 Jan 2025. (Photo: Mario Tama / Getty Images)

Aftermath of the floods in Valencia, Spain, 20 Oct 2024. (Photo: David Ramos /Staff / Getty Image News)

Police officers in an inflatable boat look for residents to evacuate in Guipry Messac, western France (Photo: AP)

Sources

https://www.reading.ac.uk/news/2025/Research-News/Ocean-surface-warming-four-times-faster-now-than-late-1980s

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-ocean-surface-is-warming-over-400-faster-than-in-the-1980s

https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/extended-reconstructed-sst

https://grist.org/oceans/why-earth-oceans-record-hot-streak/

NASA Images Reveal Mysterious Square Structure on Mars

The following images originate from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and its Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC), with the original photo accessible via Arizona State University’s Mars Image Explorer.

According to several AI calculations, the base of this Square structure is estimated to measure 235 meters on each side (approximately 770 feet). Interestingly, the width of the Great Pyramid in Egypt is nearly identical, at about 230 meters.

One of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Great Pyramid of Giza was built in 2600 BC over a period of 26 years. (Photo: Diego Delso)

The photo below was taken by NASA’s Viking One orbiter and released on 25 July 1976.

This image captured the public’s attention because of a feature that looks very much like a human face. Further observations confirmed that this is in fact just a hill in Mars’ Cydonia region. The human brain is wired to identify faces, even when they aren’t there. (Source: NASA/JPL)

Coriolanus shall be perusing through books like these over the next few days.

Megalomaniac racist DOGE czar Felon Musk expressed a desire to see this mysterious Martian square up close. Let’s send him forthwith.

Sources:

https://science.nasa.gov/planetary-science/programs/mars-exploration/

https://global-data.mars.asu.edu/

https://www.caclubindia.com/trending/square-structure-mars/

INTERPOL: Nearly 20,000 Live Animals Seized in Largest-Ever Wildlife and Forestry Operation

Tiger cubs rescued in the Czech Republic. (Photo: INTERPOL)

138 countries and regions joined forces to target fauna and flora trafficking worldwide

From INTERPOL:

Nearly 20,000 live animals, all endangered or protected species, have been seized in a global operation against wildlife and forestry trafficking networks, jointly coordinated by INTERPOL and the World Customs Organization (WCO).

Operation Thunder 2024 brought together police, customs, border control, forestry and wildlife officials from 138 countries and regions, marking the widest participation since the first edition in 2017.

Authorities arrested 365 suspects and identified six transnational criminal networks suspected of trafficking animals and plants protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Such species are illegally trafficked to meet specific market demands, whether for food, perceived medicinal benefits, “luxury” and collector items or as pets and competition animals.

Significant seizures include:

Indonesia: 134 tons of timber headed to Asia via ocean freight.
Kenya: 41 tons of exotic timber headed to Asia via ocean freight.
Nigeria: 4,472 kg of pangolins scales
Türkiye: 6,500 live songbirds discovered during a vehicle inspection at the Syrian border.
India: 5,193 live red-eared ornamental slider turtles concealed in passenger suitcases arriving from Malaysia at Chennai Airport.
Peru: 3,700 protected plants intercepted en route from Ecuador.
Qatar: Eight rhino horns found in a suspect’s luggage while transiting from Mozambique to Thailand.
United States: One ton of sea cucumbers, considered a seafood delicacy, smuggled from Nicaragua.
Hong Kong, China: 973 kg of dried shark fins originating from Morocco seized at the airport.
Czech Republic: Eight tigers, aged between two months and two years, discovered in a suspected illegal breeding facility.
Indonesia: 846 pieces of reticulated python skin, from the world’s longest snake species, concealed on board a ship.
Australia and the United Kingdom reported seizures of bear bile, often used in traditional medicine.

More than 300 firearms, vehicles and poaching equipment.

Source:

https://www.interpol.int/News-and-Events/News/2025/Nearly-20-000-live-animals-seized-365-suspects-arrested-in-largest-ever-wildlife-and-forestry-operation

US/Canada: Measles Cases in Texas, Manitoba

At least four cases of measles, including two involving school-aged children, have been reported in southeast Texas in less than two weeks, putting state health agencies on alert as other counties have also reported cases in Gaines, Harris, and Lubbock.

For some communities, this is the first case of measles in more than 20 years.

About 1 in 5 unvaccinated people in the US who get measles will be hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Manitoba provincial public health officials are warning citizens of possible exposure to measles. Officials say there have been five confirmed cases of measles in southern Manitoba, all connected to an outbreak in Ontario. All of the affected individuals are from the same household and had recently travelled to Ontario. They have all been asked to isolate at home.

81 cases of measles have been reported in Ontario in 2024 and 2025.

Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease. General symptoms may include fever, cough, runny nose, watery eyes, and a full-body rash. This disease can cause serious health consequences and even death, especially for young and unvaccinated children. Up to three of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles may die from respiratory and neurologic complications. Vaccinations and “herd immunity” are the key to stopping the spread of measles.

Anti-VAXXERs are a threat to community health. (File image/PNN)

Sources:

https://www.dshs.texas.gov/news-alerts/measles-health-alert-advisory-feb-5-2019

https://www.mrt.com/news/health_and_wellness/article/gaines-county-measles-cases-20146836.php

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/30/texas-measles-vaccinations-schools/

https://www.chvnradio.com/articles/5-cases-of-measles-confirmed-in-southern-manitoba-connected-to-outbreak-in-ontario

Grey Wolf‘s Silly Howl Spreads Joy

Donald Trumpf is America’s Godzilla

Salon writes: ‘Trumpf’s First Week: “Designed to destroy the US from within.”

During the first ten days of his second term, Trumpf’s dozens of executive orders and edicts have included “freeing virtually all of his supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, attempting to nullify the 14th Amendment and end birthright citizenship, declaring a national emergency on the US-Mexico border, launching nationwide raids against undocumented immigrants and their communities as part of ‘the largest deportation plan in American history,’ escalating attacks on the LGBTQ community, closing down government programs and offices focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, withdrawing from both the World Health Organization and the Paris climate accord, and throwing out many other changes made by the Biden administration regarding the environment, the economy, education and other areas.”

As well as handing over the federal government to gluttonous oligarch racist Elon Musk and his DOGE and moving to eliminate USAID and the EPA, Trumpf fired dedicated FBI agents who had investigated Jan 6 insurrectionists. Recall that at the 2018 Helsinki Summit, Trumpf sided with Russia’s FSB over America’s FBI and CIA.

To bypass the immigration court system for his massive deportation plan, Trumpf intends to implement the obscure 1798 Alien Enemies Act, last used to justify internment camps for people of Japanese, German, and Italian descent during World War Two.

Yes they are, but not to white supremacists like Donald Trumpf, Elon Musk, and Republicans

After Trumpf announced that he was slapping tariffs on Canadian goods, hockey fans in both Ottawa and Calgary responded by booing the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ before their respective hockey games. Trumpf said Americans could feel “some pain” from the emerging trade war triggered by his tariffs against Canada, Mexico, and China. The Wall Street Journal wrote the tariffs ‘Makes No Sense,’ savaging it as the ‘Dumbest Trade War in History.’ In retaliation, Ontario Premier Doug Ford “ripped up” Ontario’s nearly $100 million contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink in the wake of US tariffs on virtually all Canadian goods. Several Canadian provinces removed US wines from their shelves.

The effects of the Dotard-in-Chief’s imbecilic policies had an immediate effect on the world economy. On 3 Feb, the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded more than 500 points lower at the open. The S&P 500 shed 1.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.9%. Crude oil jumped 2% on concern of supply disruptions in North America from the new tariffs.

Followers of the Watch, Coriolanus is doing his utmost best to keep up with America’s Godzilla as he destroys the US and sows discord between Canada, NATO, and the EU on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the global billionaire oligarchy.

Sources:

https://www.salon.com/2025/01/30/first-week-designed-to-destroy-the-united-states-from-within/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ford-ripping-up-province-contract-with-starlink-1.7448763

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canadian-hockey-fans-boo-us-national-anthem-calgary-ottawa

https://apnews.com/article/stock-market-trump-tariffs-5f365936ea9bdf45a0460556f3a5f4e8

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-plans-invoke-obscure-18th-century-wartime-law-bid-mass-deportations-2025-02-03/

German General Warns: “We Are No Longer at Peace”

German Alexander Sollfrank, Commander of the Operational Command of the Bundeswehr.

The commander of the German military’s newly established Operational Command, Alexander Sollfrank, warned of increasing Russian attempts to disrupt life in Germany in an interview with dpa. There have been “intrusion attempts” into facilities of the Bundeswehr, as Germany’s military is known, as well as drone sightings.

“We are no longer at peace. We are observing hostile activities against the Bundeswehr in Germany, against infrastructure, including spying.”

Last year US and German counterintelligence agents foiled a Russian assassination attempt on Armin Papperger, the CEO of an arms manufacturer sending weapons to Ukraine. The plot was one of a series of Russian plans to assassinate defense industry executives across Europe who were supporting Ukraine’s war effort.

Western intelligence agency cooperation saved Armin Papperger’s life.

NATO continues to maintain a high alert level for Russian sabotage and espionage.

In the latest incident over the weekend, an undersea cable between Sweden and Latvia, which is used by the Latvian State Radio and Television Centre (LVRTC), was damaged, although the exact cause remains still unclear. The authorities in Stockholm are investigating possible serious sabotage and have detained a suspicious vessel.

Undersea cables are vulnerable to damage by large heavy anchors. (Source: TeleGeography, “Submarine Cable Map”, 20 May 2022)

In a separate German interview with Bild, NATO Chief Mark Rutte has said he has ideas about any future peace negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow that are a “little secret,” but will ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin will “never try again” to conquer Ukraine.

“We must ensure that (Putin) can never, ever again conquer even one square kilometer of Ukraine,” the NATO chief replied, adding the most important thing for NATO to do right now is to support Kyiv with weapons and training for its soldiers.

Rutte went on to say that if Ukraine decides to enter peace talks, it will then have to bring Putin to the negotiating table.

“I can’t describe to you exactly how these talks will go,” Rutte said, adding: “I already have ideas about what this composition could look like. But we don’t want to make Putin any smarter than he already is. We’re making it a little secret.”

“The front is moving in the wrong direction. But at what price?,” the NATO Chief advised, adding, the Russians are paying for it with 1,000 to 1,500 people a day who are dying or seriously wounded. And yet the Russians are not achieving their goals.”

“Only the end is certain — Putin will never try again after this,” Rutte concluded.

Thanks to the devastating UK-manufactured and supplied Storm Shadow drone weapon system, NATO has given Ukraine a fighting chance.

These interviews are for German public consumption as the only language the Kremlin understands is action or force. But demonstrating confidence and unity against Russia is welcome, especially in the light that a Vladimir Putin protege now occupies the White House. NATO is signaling they are stepping up to fill the imminent void the US will be leaving.

Despite Trumpf’s efforts, the ICC has outstanding international arrest warrants issued for Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Sources:

https://kyivindependent.com/putin-will-never-try-again-after-this-nato-chief-has-secret-ideas-for-ukraine-peace-talks/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/german-general-warns-russian-meddling-111425881.html

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/11/politics/us-germany-foiled-russian-assassination-plot/index.html

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_225230.htm

Former Federal Reserve Senior Adviser Indicted For Economic Espionage

John Harold Rogers (63) of Vienna, VA, a former Senior Adviser for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (FRB), was arrested on charges that he conspired to steal Federal Reserve trade secrets for the benefit of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

In furtherance of the conspiracy, Rogers allegedly made false statements to the Federal Reserve Board Office of Inspector General, and those false statements had a material impact on its investigation.

John Harold Rogers. Do you wonder if this Judas is smiling today? (Photo: Social media)

“As alleged, the defendant violated the trust placed in him by the Federal Reserve Bank by putting US trade secrets in the hands of his PRC co-conspirators, knowing full well that such information would benefit the PRC Government and PRC instrumentalities.”

“The Chinese Communist Party has expanded its economic espionage campaign to target US government financial policies and trade secrets in an effort to undermine the US and become the sole superpower.”

Rogers, a US citizen with a Ph.D. in Economics, worked as a Senior Adviser in the Division of International Finance of the FRB from 2010 until 2021, where he was entrusted with confidential FRB information. The confidential information that Rogers allegedly shared with his Chinese co-conspirators, who worked for the intelligence and security apparatus of China and who posed as graduate students at a PRC university, is economically valuable when secret.

China holds a large amount of US foreign debt (approximately $816 billion as of Oct 2024). The data Rogers shared with his co-conspirators could allow China to manipulate the US market, in a manner similar to insider trading. Gaining advance knowledge of US economic policy, including advance knowledge of changes to the federal funds rate, could provide China with an advantage when selling or buying US bonds or securities.

The indictment alleges that from at least 2018, Rogers allegedly exploited his employment with the FRB by soliciting trade-secret information regarding proprietary economic data sets, deliberations about tariffs targeting China, briefing books for designated governors, and sensitive information about Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) deliberations and forthcoming announcements. He passed that information electronically to his personal email account, in violation of FRB policy, or printed it prior to traveling to China, in preparation for meetings with his co-conspirators. Under the guise of teaching “classes,” Rogers met with his co-conspirators in hotel rooms in China where he conveyed sensitive, trade-secret information that belonged to the FRB and the FOMC.

In 2023, Rogers was paid approximately $450,000 as a part-time professor at a Chinese university.

On 4 Feb 2020, in response to questioning by the Office of the Inspector General for the Federal Reserve Board, Rogers lied about his accessing and passage of sensitive information and his associations with his co-conspirators.

Rogers is charged with conspiracy to commit economic espionage and with making false statements. Conspiracy to commit economic espionage carries a maximum statutory penalty of 15 years in prison, and a maximum fine of $5 million. Making false statements carries a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison.

A criminal indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

John Harold Rogers (63) threw his life away for 30 pieces of silver.

As the British Empire gave way to the US and the Cold War with the USSR emerged after WWII, China now wishes to be new world hegemon. But in reality, the struggle is between global billionaire oligarchs versus the masses.

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/former-senior-adviser-federal-reserve-indicted-charges-economic-espionage

US Mercenary Firms to Take Charge of Key Gaza Checkpoints as Part of Ceasefire

Palestinians make their way back to their homes in northern Gaza. (Photo: Ramadan Abed / Reuters)

US “private security” contractors will deploy armed guards to Gaza and inspect vehicles of Palestinians returning to their homes in the north via an Israeli-installed checkpoint that divides the strip into two parts.

Citing two Israeli officials and a source with direct knowledge, Axios reported that the planned deployment is expected to start in the coming days.

The two US companies, Safe Reach Solutions (SRS) and UG Solutions, will operate a checkpoint on the Netzarim corridor, a key road south of Gaza City. Salaries for these ex-US Army Special Forces soldiers, Rangers, or USN Seals will probably range from $1,000 to $1,500 per day.

Israeli forces set up the Netzarim corridor, which divides the Gaza Strip into two halves, during its war on the strip to prevent displaced Palestinians from returning to the northern part.

The deployment was negotiated as part of the ceasefire agreement, brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar, between Israel and the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas. It aimed to solve a key sticking point around the movement of displaced Palestinians back to northern Gaza.

“The consortium’s role is to oversee, manage, and secure a critical vehicle checkpoint along Salah al-Din Road, facilitating the safe return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza. The consortium aims to ensure orderly vehicle movement while preventing the transport of weapons northward, in line with the ceasefire terms,” a source familiar with the issue claimed.

The US contractors are expected to remain in Gaza until the end of the first phase of the deal, which took effect on Sunday. According to the agreement, Palestinians displaced to the south could return seven days into the truce.

An Egyptian security company, which has been approved by the Egyptian intelligence service, will also be involved in the checks.

“There may be additional members and nationalities in the future,” a source familiar with the issue said.

It will be the first time in decades that US private security companies will operate in Gaza. American contractors have a dark history of crimes against non-combatants and civilians in war zones.

US mercenaries in Iraq.

Four security guards from the private military firm Blackwater received jail sentences for killing 14 civilians, including two children, in Iraq’s Baghdad in 2007, a massacre that sparked an international outcry over the use of mercenaries in war. However, they were later pardoned by Donald Trump during his first presidential term in 2020.

There is a reason why the United Nations stands firmly against the use of mercenary fighters: Because mercenaries, at the end of the day, have performed far more atrocities than acts of valor on the battlefield.

Sources:

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2025/01/mil-250124-presstv04.htm

https://brewminate.com/blackwater-and-the-corporate-mercenaries-whove-changed-the-rules-of-war/

Western France Battles Worst Floods in Decades Following Storm Ivo

More than 1,600 people have fled their homes in western France as a third major storm in a week brought record rainfall and extreme flooding.

Storm Ivo hit areas already struggling with flooding from storms Eowyn and Herminia. Red weather alerts remain active in three regions of Brittany – Ille-et-Vilaine, Loire-Atlantique, and Morbihan.

Their combined impact of the storms was exacerbated by the fact that the ground was already drenched from previous persistent rainfall.

National weather service Météo France warned that the situation could get worse in the coming days and authorities are on high alert. The French interior ministry said Paris had dispatched 1,500 additional firefighters to the affected areas.

“It’s quite catastrophic,” a local resident said. “I am also thinking of how the clean-up will be difficult for all these people once the waters recede.”

The night and day flying Tiger mosquito, an invasive species, carries chikungunya, dengue, and Zika, and they are spreading in France. See threat map below

The danger of waterborne diseases as well as breeding grounds for Tiger mosquitos have drastically increased in this area of western France, presenting another problem for the wobbly Macron government. Last year Paris sent warships and rescuers to Mayotte following Cyclone Chido which may have killed thousands.

Sources:

https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20250131-western-france-battles-worst-floods-in-decades-after-triple-storm-assault

Tiger mosquito warning in France

https://www.yahoo.com/news/france-rushes-help-mayotte-where-092132223.html

US Urges Ukraine to Hold Elections After Ceasefire

Retired US Army Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, Special US Envoy to Ukraine and Russia.

FTA:

“The US is urging Ukraine to hold elections, possibly by the end of the year, particularly if a truce with Russia is reached in the coming months, according to President Donald Trump’s top Ukraine official.

Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, told Reuters that presidential and parliamentary elections, suspended since the all-out war began, “need to be done.” He argued that most democratic nations hold elections during wartime and that doing so would strengthen Ukraine’s democracy. “That’s the beauty of a solid democracy, you have more than one person potentially running,” Kellogg said.

Trump and Kellogg have indicated they are working on a plan to broker a peace deal within the first months of the new administration, though details remain scarce. While the strategy is still being developed, two sources familiar with White House discussions and a former US official briefed on the matter said Trump officials are considering pushing Ukraine to hold elections as part of an initial ceasefire with Russia.

The Kremlin has questioned the absence of elections, with Russian President Vladimir Putin insisting that the Ukrainian leader lacks the legal authority to sign binding agreements. However, Putin has said Zelensky could still take part in negotiations if he first repeals a 2022 decree that bans talks with Russia while Putin remains in power.”

As predicted, the Trumpf-Putin axis talking points against Ukraine have begun. This agitprop plants the seed in the American media that Ukrainian President Zelensky is somehow corrupt or illegitimate by not holding elections. Such elections give the Kremlin an opportunity to allow hidden pro-Kremlin Fifth Columnists to run for Parliament. This position is nothing short of a blatant attempt to undermine President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine.

You wonder what retired US Army Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg thinks about the despicable manner in which Trumpf disposed of his former warrior-colleague, retired US Army General Mark Milley?

US Army General Mark Milley’s portrait was removed from the Pentagon hours after Trumpf’s inauguration ceremony.

Source:

https://kyivindependent.com/us-urges-ukraine-to-hold-elections-after-ceasefire-trumps-envoy-tells-reuters/

Sudan: Dengue Outbreak Amid Worsening Health Crisis and Conflict

Per CIA, Sudan has a population of slightly over 50m people with a GDP per capita of $2,500.

Health authorities revealed an outbreak of dengue fever in the Naqib area of Drudib locality in the Red Sea state, where more than five deaths and more than 200 infections were recorded, amid growing concern about the rapid spread of the disease and the absence of effective intervention. Citizens expressed their fears about the deterioration of the health situation and the weak medical response.

Reports confirmed 11 new cases of cholera, including two deaths, bringing the total to 52,517, with 1,407 deaths. Four new cases of dengue fever were also recorded, bringing the total to 9,283 cases and 16 deaths in the Gedaref and White Nile areas. More than 330,000 displaced people have arrived in the states of Kassala, Gedaref, and River Nile, amid severe shortages of potable water and health services, further complicating the humanitarian crisis.

Sudan is undergoing an ethnic war between “riverine Arabs” from the former ruling class in Khartoum and “Darfur Arabs.” These “Darfur Arabs” were considered backwards and “Africanized” by the former rulers. But “Darfur Arabs” comprise the RSF base and in turn dislike the former Khartoum ruling class. Russia is duplicitously supplying both sides of the conflict and the US will be withdrawing aid and assistance to Africa, including eliminating USAID, under the new Trumpf regime.

Accused war criminal RSF commander Gen. Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa.

Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Sources:

تفشي حمى الضنك في “لنقيب” وتفاقم الأزمة الصحية في السودان

https://www.state.gov/genocide-determination-in-sudan-and-imposing-accountability-measures/

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2772

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/russia-sudan-war-saf-rsf-hedges-bets-both-sides-support

Bengal Cat and Mini Dachshund Having Fun

Sanctioned Russian Firms Sold $2BN Air Defense System to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia agreed to pay sanctioned Russian arms companies more than two billion euros for the Palantir air defense system, according to leaked documents. Trade data shows that some equipment was delivered in 2023, the year after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Details about arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other countries are included in leaked emails and internal documents from Roselectronics, which were analyzed by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

The Pantsir is a self-propelled air defense missile and gun system which can shoot down missiles, airplanes, helicopters, aerial bombs, and drones, like the recent Azerbaijani Airlines flight.

The documents show that Saudi Arabia ordered 39 trucks capable of shooting down aircraft, as well as ten vehicles housing “command posts” to direct the operations of combat vehicles. Also included in the purchase were hundreds of missiles, as well as additional vehicles.

A sanctioned Rostec subsidiary called United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation, was appointed to oversee the supply of the radio communications systems that were also purchased under the contract.

Efforts were made to conceal the identities of the clients.

For example, in the de-coded documents, foreign customer “012” stands for Algeria. In 2022, Russia was going to supply Algeria with its Acacia-E automatic aerospace defense system.

Foreign customer “364” of the Post-3M radio reconnaissance station in 2021 was Iran. Foreign customer “818″ of the Polyana-D4M1 command and control system is Egypt. Project 82P is Saudi Arabia. The “82” is a part of the country code for Saudi Arabia (682), and the letter “P” refers to the product name — Pantsir.

And these Russian arms sales provide geo-political influence at the UN.

Saudi Arabia voted for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine while promising to provide Ukraine with $400 million in humanitarian aid. However, Riyadh abstained from voting on more than half of the UN resolutions regarding Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Other countries doing arms deals with the Kremlin either voted in Russia’s favor or abstained: Algeria, Egypt, India, Uganda, Belarus, China, Uganda, Ethiopia.

President Trump’s first phone calls included one to bully the Danish PM over selling Greenland to the US. His other call was to Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS), the notorious murderer of Saudi dissident/journalist Jamal Khashoggi and financial backer of Jared Kushner, his son-in-law. Whatever matters these two malefactors discussed, it wasn’t in the best interest of international peace, justice, or the masses.

Sources:

Sanctioned Russian Firms Sold $2B Air Defense System to Saudi Arabia, Leaked Documents Show | OCCRP

European arms imports nearly double, US and French exports rise, and Russian exports fall sharply | SIPRI

A Peek at the Poland-Belarus Border

Per CIA, Belarus has a population of 9.5 million people and GDP per capita is $27,700. Poland, an EU and NATO member has a population of over 39 million people and GDP per capita is $44,400.

For almost four years, Poland has been on a permanent state of high alert because of Belarus, which stands accused of luring asylum seekers from far-away destitute nations and pushing them en masse towards the border with the purpose of sowing chaos and polarising Polish society. During its six-month presidency of the EU Council, Poland presented a program under the slogan “Security, Europe!” that broke down the concept of security into seven different dimensions, one of them was migration.

And thanks to Belarusian Supremo Aleksandr Lukashenko, here’s what the Polish-Belarusian border looks like:

(Copyright Euronews)

The Polish-Belarusian border is equipped with thermos-vision cameras and sensor cables. (Copyright Euronews)

This road connecting the two countries is firmly blocked. (Copyright Euronews)

Poland argues its actions, such as turning away migrants, are necessary to defend the EU’s external borders. (Copyright Euronews)

Warsaw has urged the EU to think of migration as a security issue. (Copyright Euronews)

A Polish-German border crossing.

And the man responsible for this, Aleksandr Lukashenko, is set to win a seventh term in an election the opposition calls another “farce”. Amnesty International described the Belarus elections as being held in a “climate of total fear and repression.”

Just one of the thousands of Lukashenko’s political victims:

Imprisoned Belarusian human rights activist and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski sits in a defendant’s cage during a court session in Minsk on 5 Jan 2023. (Photo: Vitaly Pivovarchyk / BelTA Pool Photo via AP)

Here is a Lukashenko protestor from 2020. (Photo: Tut.by via AP)

Recent protests against Lukashenko resulted in a brutal crackdown with more than 65,000 arrests and thousands beaten, bringing condemnation and sanctions from the West. His iron-fisted rule since 1994 — Lukashenko took office two years after the demise of the Soviet Union — earned him the nickname of “Europe’s Last Dictator,” relying on subsidies and political support from close ally Russia. The Belarussian dictator never bothered to change the name of the KGB like Russia and Ukraine did after the fall of the USSR.

(Image: Nataliia Shulga / Al Jazeera)

The 71-year-old Lukashenko, who only knows about life from the former Soviet Union, is afraid of his own people as well as losing power. And people in his proximity are afraid. A former minister said that officials sit with their heads down during meetings with him, avoiding eye contact with him out fear.

Sources:

At the Poland-Belarus border, security and migration merge into one | Euronews

Belarus strongman set to win a 7th term in an election the opposition calls a farce – ABC News

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/01/belarus-authorities-hold-presidential-election-in-climate-of-total-fear-and-repression/

“Jacuzzi of Death” for Sealife in Gulf of Mexico

Imagery courtesy of The Sun UK

The “Jacuzzi of Death” is filled with tragic creatures that have been killed in its toxic waters. This horrifying spot in the Gulf of Mexico is known to kill everything that goes inside it.

The dead zone is a 100-foot-wide “bottomless” pocket filled with toxic substances.

This concoction of methane, excessively salty water, and hydrogen sulphide means nearly everything that crosses its path is killed.

The murderous underwater lake sits nearly 3,000 feet below the Gulf of Mexico.

Its briny waters are so dense the death trap has been dragged to the bottom of the gulf and cannot mix with the rest of the ocean.

The “Jacuzzi of Death” is 3,000 ft below the Gulf’s surface.

A crab in the toxic zone.

Nearly all creatures that unknowingly enter the area die.

This death pool is four times saltier than the ocean waters around it, which ensures these bodies never mix.

Images reveal how these toxic waters slowly disintegrate the unfortunate crabs and fish that end up in the death zone.

This dangerous spot was found by scientists ten years ago when they realized creatures would enter never to be seen again. The death zone was dubbed a “jacuzzi” as the temperature of this pool is warmer than the waters around it. Mussels are the only living creature that can survive in these toxic waters. Colonies of bacteria have also been able to survive in this underwater spot.

The unfortunate crab being pickled.

The “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico has been growing for decades. Pollution, sewage treatment plants, fertilizer chemicals from farm land, beef production, oil toxins, and other sources along the Mississippi River wash into the Gulf of Mexico, causing algae blooms that deplete oxygen from the water, endangering marine life.

Analysis and imagery: NOAA

Oil Toxins Pervasive in Gulf of Mexico

Some analysts assess that we are the last generation to enjoy genuine, safe ocean seafood. Unless marine pollution is stopped, the analysts are correct. President Trump ordered the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America, but the AP style guide continues referring to it by its original name, as will Coriolanus.

Sources:

Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone

https://www.usf.edu/marine-science/news/2020/oil-toxins-pervasive-in-gulf-of-mexico.aspx

Inside the ‘Jacuzzi of Death’ where anything that DARES enter will be killed & left to disintegrate in toxic waters | The US Sun

Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ larger than average, scientists find | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Thieves Use Explosives to Steal Gold Artifacts from Dutch Museum

The Helmet of Cotofenesti, pictured in the Romanian Museum of Antiquities, is strikingly decorated with mythological beasts and a pair of eyes. (Getty Images).

Four ancient gold artifacts were stolen from a Dutch museum in an overnight raid in the early hours of Saturday morning. Thieves used explosives to blast their way into the Drents Museum in Assen, which was hosting an exhibition of priceless Romanian jewellery made from gold and silver. They stole three Dacian spiral bracelets and the exhibit’s central piece – the strikingly decorated Helmet of Cotofenesti, which was crafted almost 2,500 years ago.

All four stolen items are of huge cultural significance to Romania, with the Helmet of Cotofenesti considered a national treasure.

Romania’s ministry of culture has promised to take all possible steps to recover the stolen items, which had been loaned to the Dutch museum from Bucharest.

Police are also investigating a burning vehicle which was found on a nearby road, which they suspect may be linked to the burglary.

No arrests have been made, but authorities suspect multiple individuals were involved. Police have called global policing agency INTERPOL to help with the investigation. Please see next story.

This was a professional operation. These artifacts are valueless to the thieves, so they are either working for an unscrupulous oligarch or they intend to sell them back to Bucharest for millions of dollars. The stolen items could have easily been taken out of the country by boat or ship.

Source:

Thieves use explosives to steal gold ‘masterpieces’ from Dutch museum

INTERPOL Publishes First Ever Silver Notice Targeting Criminal Assets

Not all Notices are available to the general public, like war criminal Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu or Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Red Notices issued on behalf of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague.

From INTERPOL:

“INTERPOL has published its first-ever Silver Notice to help trace and recover criminal assets, combat transnational organized crime and enhance international police cooperation.

The Notice, requested by Italy, seeks information on the assets belonging to a senior member of the mafia.

The Silver Notice is the newest addition to the Organization’s suite of color-coded Notices and Diffusions, which enable countries to share alerts and requests for information worldwide. It is being launched as part of a pilot phase involving 52 countries and territories, which will run at least until November 2025.

Through Silver Notices and Diffusions, member countries can request information on assets linked to a person’s criminal activities such as fraud, corruption, drug trafficking, environmental crime, and other serious offenses. It will facilitate locating, identifying, and obtaining information about laundered assets including properties, vehicles, financial accounts and businesses. Countries may subsequently use such information as a basis for bilateral engagement, including bilateral requests for seizure, confiscation or recovery of assets, subject to national laws.

Countries and territories participating in the pilot phase:

Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Burundi, China, Colombia, Congo, Ecuador, Estonia, France, Gabon, Georgia, Gibraltar (UK), Guinea, Hungary, India, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea (Rep. of), Kuwait, Latvia, Malawi, Malta, Moldova, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Trinidad & Tobago, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe.”

Source:

INTERPOL publishes first Silver Notice targeting criminal assets

Vietnam: 30 Children Poisoned with Pink Colored Rodenticide

Several students of Phu Lam Primary School in northern Vietnam picked up some bottles of pink water solution in a ball bag next to the school gate, then shared and drank it together, poisoning themselves.

The patients were hospitalized, suffering with symptoms of fatigue, nausea, vomiting yellow fluid, dull abdominal pain around the navel, and some seizures. Doctors determined that the children were poisoned with fluoroacetate rodenticide, based on the results of toxicity tests and clinical diagnosis. The children are being closely monitored and treated while police in Tuyen Quang province investigate the case

Images provided by the family. Photo: BVCC

Last year, twenty Lai Chau children were hospitalized on suspicion of accidentally ingesting rat poison like the one pictured below.

A nefarious actor deliberately left that ball bag with the pink juice near the school. As previously posted on Coriolanus, there is a pattern of food poisoning incidents in Vietnam.

Sources:

Nearly 30 students were poisoned with rodenticides – VnExpress Health Newspaper

20 Lai Chau children hospitalized on suspicion of eating the wrong rat poison – VnExpress Health Newspaper

US/Canada Auto Recall: 80,000 Kia Vehicles for Improper Air Bag Deployment, Improper Wiring

2024 Kia Sorento

Automaker Kia America is recalling more than 80,000 vehicles due to floor wiring beneath the front passenger seat that can become damaged and prevent airbags and seat belts from deploying properly.

Damaged wiring can also cause an unintended side curtain air bag deployment, according to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The recall covers 80,255 2023-2025 Niro EV, Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV), and Hybrid vehicles.

To remedy the situation, dealers will inspect, replace and reroute the floor wiring assembly, as necessary, for free. In addition, dealers will install wiring covers. Owners will be notified by letters mailed in Mar 2025.

The recall follows one in November, when Hyundai and Kia recalled over 208,000 electric vehicles to fix a transistor in a charging control unit that could be damaged and stop charging the 12-volt battery. That in turn could cause loss of drive power, increasing the risk of a crash.

Sources:

Kia recalls more than 80,000 U.S. autos due to improper air bag deployment and improper wiring | AP News

RCLRPT-25V024-8197.PDF

Hyundai, Kia recall EVs to fix problem that can cause power loss | AP News

Transport Canada Recall – 2025011 – KIA – Canada.ca

Maine Coon Cat Becomes Accidental Frequent Flyer After Being Left on Plane by Mistake

Margo Neas holds her cat Mittens at her home in Melbourne, Australia, 22 Jan 2025. (Photo: Rod McGuirk / AP)

A Maine coon cat named Mittens became an accidental jetsetter this month when her cage was overlooked in a plane cargo hold and she made three trips in 24 hours between New Zealand and Australia.

Mittens (8) was booked for one-way travel with her family from Christchurch, New Zealand to their new home in Melbourne, Australia on 13 Jan. But owner Margo Neas said Wednesday that as she waited for Mittens to be unloaded from the plane’s freight area, three hours passed with no sign of the cat.

It was then that ground staff told Neas the plane had returned to New Zealand — with Mittens still on board. The return trip involves about 7.5 hours in the air.

Mittens, not usually an affectionate pet, is “the cuddliest she’s ever been,” said Neas.

Source:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/22/travel/mittens-cat-australia-new-zealand-intl-hnk/index.html

The Fourth Reich Begins in America

(Montage courtesy of James Marshall Crotty, The Huffington Post)

Donald Trump’s second presidency heralded in the new Fourth Reich with a breath-taking malicious maelstrom of white supremacist and authoritarian executive orders and directives. None of this should come as a surprise to Americans or anybody in the world, particularly the people of Germany who issued the US a warning the first time Donald Trumpf ran for President in 2016.

Americans lived through Trump’s first term holding their nostrils in horror and will do so again.

Within two hours of the Fuhrer’s inauguration on Monday, former CJCS General Mark Milley’s portrait was removed from the Pentagon.

Trump had deep resentment toward Milley, and once called him “slow moving and thinking” and a “moron.” Hours earlier, former President Joe Biden had issued a pre-emptive pardon to Milley and others against potential retaliation.

To punctuate the arrival of the Fourth Reich, at Trump’s Inaugural Ball South African-born trillionaire Elon Musk twice rendered the Nazi salute to a delighted and cheering audience.

A PhD scholar on Nazi Germany and the Third Reich commented on social media that Musk’s expert salute was perfect and unmistakable.

Here is a cheat-sheet of the Fuhrer’s agenda:

Within the first 36 hours of his coronation, the Fuhrer began terminating civil servants whom he described as members of the “Deep State” and relieved Admiral Linda Fagan, the first woman to lead the US Coast Guard.

Admiral Linda Fagan speaks at the US Coast Guard change of command ceremony at USCG Headquarters in Washington, 1 Jun 2022. (Photo: AFP)

The tempest of terror continued when Trump replaced the Ukraine team at the Pentagon and ordered a suspension of all US foreign aid (whether this includes Israel is unclear). The Fuhrer pardoned 1,500 6 January insurrectionists, including the leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers (the Proud Boys have been listed as a terrorist organization by Canada). The White House took down its Spanish language version of its website. The Fuhrer also rescinded sanctions against lunatic Israeli Settlers who have been killing Palestinians and seizing their land. See later story.

With avian flu spreading throughout the world, the Fuhrer withdrew the US from the World Health Organization (WHO) and ordered all federal health agencies to stop external communications (warnings, advisories). Trumpf also fired special advisers at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that were investigating nefarious Chinese cyber-hacking groups, like Salt Typhoon. The Fuhrer will be announcing dates for the start of tariffs against China, Canada, and Mexico.

The Fuhrer also withdrew USSS protection from his former national security advisor John Bolton who has legitimately angered the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Force (IRGC). Mr. Bolton has the funds to pay for his own security detail. His reckless Islamophobia shouldn’t keep costing American taxpayers money to protect him.

Followers of the Watch, Coriolanus will endeavor to keep up as best as possible while the Fuhrer implements his austerity plans to impoverish Americans, destroy affirmative action, alienate allies, threaten neighbors, deport people of color, and dismantle the US from within on behalf of the Kremlin.

Oxfam: “Takers, Not Makers: Billionaires Added Two Trillion Dollars to Their Pockets in 2024”

Oxfam informs:

“Most billionaire wealth is taken, not earned The idea that extreme wealth is a reward for
extreme talent is pervasive and strongly reinforced in our media and popular culture.
But this perception is not rooted in reality. This report makes the case that the extreme wealth of today’s billionaire class is largely unearned, where inheritance, cronyism and monopoly power generate extreme wealth. Unchecked, we are about to see the biggest transfer of the largest generational wealth in human history handed over – hardly earned, hardly taxed.”

The wealth of each of the richest ten men has grown by almost US$100 million a day in 2024 on average. Even if you saved US$1,000 daily since the first humans 315,000 years ago, you still would not have as much money as one of the richest ten billionaires. If any of the richest ten billionaires lost 99% of their wealth, they’d still be a billionaire.

Obviously this will get worse for Americans as the largest wealth-extraction scheme run by a cabal of greedy billionaire oligarchs takes over the US government and economy.

Source:

Click to access English%20-%20Davos%20Executive%20Summary%202025.pdf

Russian Drones Hunting Ukrainian Civilians in Kherson Like a “Safari”

From the Economist:

“For six months Russian drones have been attacking civilians daily, chasing cars and pedestrians through the streets of Kherson in what locals call a “safari”.

“There have been more than 1,000 drone strikes since last summer, injuring over 500 people and killing 36, according to municipal authorities. Surveillance drones patrol high up; smaller attack drones (known as FPVs, or first-person-view drones), with a flying time of 20-40 minutes, sit on rooftops to conserve battery power. The munitions dropped are often makeshift: mortar shells, grenades, canisters containing shrapnel or darts, or bottles of petrol that ignite.”

Russian First Person View (FPV) kamikaze drone with a MON-50 mine containing lethal and maiming shrapnel. (Open source photo)

“Shops, schools, clinics, private houses, delivery vans, buses, firetrucks and other first responders are routinely targeted. Several administrative officials have been wounded. In one case, says Roman Mrochko, the head of the military authority in Kherson, a minibus “was almost completely destroyed, but the driver heroically saved the injured people by driving, you could say on scrap metal, to the hospital.” In the riverside neighborhoods where the attacks are concentrated, designated “red zones” by Russians on Telegram channels, life has been throttled. There is no gas, water, electricity or municipal heat. Public transport is suspended. Ambulances wait outside the area for police in armored cars to ferry the wounded to them.”

Russian forces have been accused of committing war crimes in Kherson. Investigators uncover three victims. (Photo: Govt of Ukraine)

There is no military value in hunting and killing civilians like this for sport. This is purely sadism and terrorism. The ICC indicted and issued an international arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, but there is reporting that Donald Trumpf will be sanctioning the ICC to remove warrants against him and fellow PIFWC Benjamin Netanyahu. See next story.

Source:

https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/01/18/russian-pilots-appear-to-be-hunting-ukrainian-civilians

Of course. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is After Putin and Netanyahu, So Trump is Going After the ICC

The man who handed Donald Trump the White House by sabotaging the Democratic Party in 2024 in a previous meeting with the Fuhrer.

KGB veteran Vladimir Putin met with his protege in Finland, 16 Jul 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The ICC indicted and issued international arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin (17 Mar 2023) and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (21 Nov 2024) for alleged war crimes against the people of Ukraine and Gaza.

Israel National News reports:

“US President Donald Trump plans to introduce sweeping sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC).”

“The sanctions will target both ICC personnel, including judges and prosecutors, and the institution itself. The administration intends to classify the ICC as a threat to US national interests, utilizing designation procedures akin to those employed by the State Department for global terrorist organizations. This designation will impose strict penalties on anyone associated with the court’s operations.”

“Global financial institutions will be compelled to sever ties with ICC personnel or face sanctions from the US. Similar to measures imposed on sanctioned Israeli citizens by the outgoing administration, ICC staff will be unable to carry out routine banking activities, such as accessing credit cards or conducting financial transactions. Their assets will effectively be frozen, with exceptions allowed only for basic necessities like food purchases. Additionally, all US-based assets belonging to ICC employees and the institution itself will be frozen.”

“Beyond these unilateral measures, the incoming administration aims to rally US allies to reject cooperation with ICC arrest warrants targeting Israeli officials.”

On the strength of the ICC Rome Statute, Ukraine requested that Mexico arrest Putin if he attended Claudia Sheinbaum’s presidential inauguration on 1 Oct 2024. Mexico demurred and Putin sent a deputy anyway.

If signatory countries like Poland or France seek exceptions for Netanyahu, or Mongolia and Mexico for Putin, the ICC is only good for picking low-lying fruit like warlords from the Balkans or Africa. In essence, the ICC has the same enforcement mechanisms as the Vatican.

Official ICC Portrait of Jack Smith. Many Americans pinned their hopes on his success against Donald Trump when he was Special Counsel. (Credit: Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office)

Both indictments are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Sources:

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/401849

https://www.icc-cpi.int/defendant/netanyahu

https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and

Former CIA Analyst Pleads Guilty to Leaking Israeli Attack Plans on Social Platform

Asif William Rahman was arrested in Cambodia. (Photo: Guam Department of Corrections)

Asif William Rahman (34) of Vienna, VA, pleaded guilty to retaining and transmitting Top Secret National Defense Information to people who were not entitled to receive it. This information was publicly posted on a social media platform in October 2024.

Rahman was an analyst at CIA since 2016. On 17 Oct 2024, Rahman accessed and printed two Top Secret documents containing National Defense Information regarding a US foreign ally and its planned actions against a foreign adversary. Rahman removed the documents, photographed them, and transmitted them to individuals he knew were not entitled to receive them. By 18 Oct 2024, the documents appeared publicly on multiple social media platforms, complete with the classification markings.

Beginning in the spring of 2024 and continuing through Nov 2024, Rahman repeatedly accessed and printed classified National Defense Information and transmitted to multiple individuals he knew were not entitled to receive it.

Rahman pleaded guilty to two counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information related to the national defense. He is scheduled to be sentenced on 15 May 2025. He faces a maximum penalty of ten years in prison for both counts in the plea agreement.

Asif William Rahman was the individual who leaked IDF attack plans on social media in an effort to prevent Israel from attacking Iran last year. Rahman is reportedly a Yale University graduate. The poor guy tried to prevent Israel from plunging the world into further war and now pays the price of his espionage. The road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions as Mr. Rahman has found out.

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-cia-analyst-pleads-guilty-transmitting-top-secret-national-defense-information

https://ifpnews.com/us-cia-official-document-israeli-attack-iran/

The Philippines: Clade II Mpox Virus Case Reported in Baguio City

Mpox symptoms. (Photo: AFP)

Residents of Baguio are urged to stay alert after the first case of mpox was reported in the city. The Baguio City Health Services Office confirmed that the patient is a 28-year-old male. His infection was caused by the less severe Clade II mpox virus, not the more deadly Clade I.

The patient completed isolation and was cured on 17 Jan 2025.

The Baguio City Mayor reassured the public, stating that there is no cause for panic or a lockdown. He strongly advised the public to follow health protocols, including wearing face masks, practicing physical distancing, maintaining hand and personal hygiene, and ensuring proper ventilation.

The Department of Health (DOH) noted that the mpox virus can be transmitted through “direct contact with skin or mucosal lesions” during activities such as talking, breathing, kissing, touching, hugging, sexual intercourse, or through respiratory secretions. It can also be contracted indirectly through contaminated bedding, clothing, linens, or other objects.

Symptoms of mpox include skin rash or mucosal lesions, fever, swollen lymph nodes, sore throat, muscle aches, back pain, headache, and low energy.

Authorities urged the public to observe health protocols to avoid infection, such as covering the mouth when coughing or sneezing, avoiding skin-to-skin contact, staying out of crowded areas, frequent handwashing, and maintaining good airflow. Those with symptoms are advised to seek medical consultation immediately.

The WHO informs:

In 2022–2023 a global outbreak of mpox was caused by the clade IIb strain. Mpox continues to be a threat today, and an upsurge of cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other countries caused by clades Ia and Ib has raised concern. There are vaccines for mpox. Vaccination should be considered along with other public health interventions.

Sources:

https://tribune.net.ph/2025/01/19/baguio-reports-first-case-of-monkeypox

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mpox

Nakba Continues in West Bank: IDF Kills Ten and Wounds 40 Palestinians in Jenin

Indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation aimed to “defeat terrorism” in Jenin. (Photo Reuters).

No sooner than the guns go silent in Gaza, the “Crime Minister” of Israel launches an “extensive and significant” operation to “defeat terrorism” in Jenin, long seen as a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups. Ten Palestinians were killed, 40 wounded; three doctors and two nurses were among those wounded by Israeli gunfire. A medical worker told the British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians:

“I was called in [on Tuesday] due to the surge of injuries, and the moment I stepped out of the car making my way to the emergency entrance a sniper shot me below the knee. Another doctor was shot in the same spot,” he added. “The Israeli army is shooting non-stop.”

In another barbaric development in the West Bank, dozens of masked Israeli extremists attacked Palestinians in two villages east of Qalqilya, Jinsafut and al-Funduq, setting fire to Palestinian homes and cars and smashing property. At least 21 Palestinians were injured, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. Two Israelis were also shot, apparently when an Israeli police officer opened fire while responding to the violence.

A Palestinian shop in the village of Jinsafut was set on fire overnight, when suspected Israeli settlers went on the rampage. (Photo: AFP)

The far-right, pro-settler Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, welcomed the US removing sanctions from Settlers. In a post on X, Smotrich praised Trump’s “unwavering and uncompromising support for the state of Israel.”

According to the Israeli anti-settlement group, Peace Now, in 2024 settlers also established 59 new outposts, without authorization from the Israeli government. That was more than double the number from the previous year – which was also a record year for settlement outpost establishment.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this – as did the previous Trump administration.

There is no reporting of IDF attempts to arrest the Palestinians suspected of being terrorists nor any reports of Israeli police attempting to stop the Settlers from attacking Palestinians, their homes, cars, or businesses.

The hard-working American taxpayer dollar continues to fund ethnic cleansing in Israel, as well as their world-class universal healthcare system.

Source:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg750yzdr8o

Four Types of Tigers in One Photo

From left to right, the Golden Tiger, Snow White Tiger, Bengal Tiger and White Tiger. There are nine subspecies of tigers. How the photographer got them to pose like this is uncanny. This was originally posted on Reddit. There was no information as to which sanctuary these tigers are living in. (Photo courtesy of Nature is Amazing.)

America’s Spartacus and Brutus

Abolitionist and American martyr John Brown. To his right, former US Senator, US Secretary of War, then Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis.

After Abolitionist John Brown’s heroic seizure of the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, VA on 3 Jul 1859 to amass weapons for his emancipation campaign, disappointingly no slaves joined his Spartacus-like tiny army of 21 volunteers (including his own sons).

John Brown’s tiny force was defeated by Colonel Robert E Lee leading a company of US Marines. One of his sons was killed.

This was an era when Abolitionists were reviled and demonized as Southerners were terrified of a slave revolt like the one which occurred in Haiti decades ago. Using the Slave Patrols, the antebellum South was a police state.

Wounded and captured, John Brown was quickly tried for his heresies in arguably a “kangaroo court.” But prosecutors were unsure how to charge John Brown and the grand jury indicted him on “treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia” and inciting people “to rebellion and insurrection,” which includes “riot, robbery, murder, and arson.”

Virginia Governor Henry Wise, while abhorring his views, pronounced John Brown “the gamest man I ever saw.”

Hiram Griswold, defense counsel for John Brown, argued that “no man is guilty of treason unless he be a citizen of the state against which the treason so alleged has been committed”–and that Brown, a citizen of New York, could not therefore commit treason against Virginia. As for the charge of inciting a slave revolt, his lawyer insisted “there is a manifest distinction” between trying to free slaves, which Brown admittedly did, and inciting them “to rebellion and insurrection,” which includes “riot, robbery, murder, and arson.” Brown’s goal was to liberate slaves, not kill slaveowners or inflict mayhem.

Defense counsel conceded that citizens were shot during the Harper’s Ferry incident. But to call these shootings “murders” as the state sought to do, was to confuse common criminal conduct with the unfortunate but sometime necessary consequences of a military battle. The deaths, Griswold contended, were not “murders” within the meaning of Virginia law, but rather battlefield casualties.

The gallant courtroom defense of John Brown failed and he was found guilty after 45 minutes of jury deliberation.

John Brown was publicly executed on 2 Dec 1859, five months from his raid on Harper’s Ferry.

Execution of John Brown. Shakespearean actor John Wilkes Booth was a spectator. (Source: David Hunter Strother)

Fast Forward Six Years to the “Battle of Philippi” Ending the American Civil War

Confederate Army commander Robert E. Lee (or Cassius) surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on 9 Apr 1865. President Jefferson Davis attempted to head west to continue the war with die-hard guerilla forces unwilling to concede, but the turncoat and his small party were captured by Union forces one month later.

In between the Confederate Army surrender and the capture of America’s Brutus, John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. Jefferson Davis was imprisoned in Fort Monroe, VA, and confined to a casemate, forced to wear fetters on his ankles, required to have guards constantly in his room, forbidden contact with his family, and given only a Bible and his prayerbook to read. Public outcry against these harsh conditions led to an easing of his discomforts.

Sketch of Jefferson Davis in Fort Monroe casemate by Alfred Waud (1865).

In late summer 1865, Attorney General James Speed determined that it was best to try Davis for treason in a civil criminal trial. In June 1866, the House of Representatives passed a resolution by a vote of 105 to 19 to put Davis on trial for treason. Union prosecutors worried a jury might sympathize with Davis and acquit him in an act of jury nullification that would be interpreted as validating the constitutionality of secession. Ultimately, after two years of imprisonment, Jefferson Davis was released unscathed in Richmond on 13 May 1867. His bail of $100,000 (~$1.79 million in 2023) was posted by the oligarchs of his day: Horace Greeley, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Gerrit Smith.

The Different Treatment Between the American Spartacus and Brutus

John Brown introduced the terrifying concept of racial equality to Southern slave-owners that threatened their prosperity, the status quo, and the myth of white supremacy. Bewildered prosecutors against America’s Spartacus cobbled together their charges against him and railroaded John Brown to his execution, all within five months. The incredibly dangerous meme of racial equality had to be quickly and decisively crushed.

But for America’s Brutus whose secession attempt cost hundreds of thousands of American lives and millions of dollars in damage, post-Civil War prosecutors were unable to convict Jefferson Davis of one, single charge. After two years Jefferson Davis was released unscathed from prison on 13 May 1867. The all-important meme of white supremacy was not quickly and decisively crushed.

While the “Battle of Philippi” defeated Brutus and Cassius and dissolved the geographic Mason-Dixon Line, the meta-physical apartheid of America and the meme of white supremacy remains to this day. Witness the several failed Congressional and criminal attempts to convict Donald Trumpf, the ultimate avatar of whiteism, just like Jefferson Davis, whose princely bond of $100,000 was paid by oligarchs 160 years ago. There should be no mystery that Trumpf wants to rename US military bases with the names of defeated Confederate generals.

Endnotes:

Only two Confederates would hang for war crimes after the US Civil War: Henry Wirz and Samuel “Champ” Ferguson. White supremacist Jefferson Davis would move to Canada and return to the US, outliving President Abraham Lincoln by 24 years and John Brown by 30 years. He died in Mississippi at the ripe old age of 81 on 6 Dec 1889. The Lost Cause of the Confederacy movement considered him to be a hero. In the late 19th and the 20th centuries, his legacy as Confederate leader was celebrated in the South. Some historians claim that John Wilkes Booth may be considered a Brutus or a Judas Iscariot for stalking and eventually assassinating President Abraham Lincoln.

Ralph Waldo Emerson would call John Brown’s 1859 courtroom oration, along with the Gettysburg Address, one of the two greatest American speeches:

“The New Testament teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them….I have endeavored to act on that instruction. I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered, as I have done…in behalf of His despised poor, is no wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood farther with the blood of my children and the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I say let it be done.”

Sources:

The Trial of John Brown: An Account

https://www.folger.edu/blogs/shakespeare-and-beyond/murder-most-foul-how-shakespeare-connects-abraham-lincoln-and-john-wilkes-booth/

Jefferson Davis – Wikipedia

https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Brown-American-abolitionist

https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/only-two-confederates-were-executed-for-war-crimes-during-the-civil-war/

John Brown (abolitionist) – Wikipedia

Chrystia Freeland to Run for Leader of Canada’s Liberal Party

Chrystia Freeland (Photo: Reuters)

Former Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland intends to run to lead the country’s governing Liberal Party saying “I’m running to fight for Canada.”

Freeland recently fell out with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the direction of the country’s financial policies. Her resignation from her post in December was a blow to Trudeau’s already-shaky hold on the Canadian government, helping to usher in his own resignation after nine years as prime minister.

Freeland had long been one of Trudeau’s closest allies in his Liberal Party. She held the key role of Canada’s finance minister starting in 2020 – the first woman to hold the position – and helped to lead the country through the pandemic and its aftermath. The two disagreed on how to address US President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs, among other financial policies as Canada faced a C$60b deficit ($42bn; £33bn).

Following his win in November, Trump, who takes office on Monday, suggested that he would impose potential 25% tariffs on Canadian goods. In a public resignation letter, Freeland criticized Trudeau’s leadership, denounced his use of “costly political gimmicks” and said Canada must push “back against ‘America First’ economic nationalism”.

Ms. Freeland is of Ukrainian descent and a Rhodes Scholar. She has a strong reputation for competence and has experience dealing with Donald Trumpf. Canada must hold general elections in October 2025, but could come as soon as spring.

The threat of a Trumpf presidency caused Canadian PM Justin Trudeau to launch the Council on Canada-US Relations, comprised of leaders in business, innovation, and policy, in order to use their sectoral expertise in dealing with the US. Canadians along the political spectrum are uniting against Trumpf’s blasphemies.

Conservative Ontario Premier Doug Ford wears a “Canada is not for sale” hat on his way into Wednesday’s First Minister’s meeting in Ottawa. (Photo by Bryan Passifiume / Toronto Sun / Postmedia Network)

America’s neighbor to the south is also ridiculing Donald Trumpf as well.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm277d030evo

https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2025/01/16/prime-ministers-council-canada-us

US: State of Georgia Confirms Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza; All Poultry Activities Suspended

From the Georgia Department of Agriculture:

The Georgia Department of Agriculture and the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed a positive case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in a commercial poultry operation located in Elbert County, GA. This is the first confirmed HPAI case in a commercial poultry operation in Georgia, and the fifth detection in the state of Georgia. As a result of this detection, effective immediately, all in-state poultry exhibitions, shows, swaps, meets, and sales are suspended until further notice.

All commercial poultry operations within a ten kilometer (6.2 mile) radius have been placed under quarantine and will undergo surveillance testing for a period of at least two weeks.

Avian flu will have a serious impact on the poultry industry with ramifications across a broad spectrum of the US. For example, pets can be affected by avian flu tainted food. While dogs are less vulnerable to avian flu, cats are not.

This beautiful cat died in Dec 2024 after eating from a contaminated batch of Northwest Naturals pet food. (Photo:
Jamila Acfalle)

One of the last official acts of the Biden Administration was to fund Moderna to discover a vaccine for the Avian flu. This will be President Trumpf’s first major health crisis.

President Trumpf’s medical care plan for all Americans.

Source:

https://agr.georgia.gov/pr/highly-pathogenic-avian-influenza-confirmed-commercial-poultry-flock-georgia-all-poultry

INTERPOL, Germany, and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Unite to Tackle Environmental Crime

Environmental crime is one of the most profitable forms of criminal operations worldwide, with estimates putting it as the third most profitable criminal activity behind drug trafficking and counterfeit crimes.

From INTERPOL:

The Federal Environment Ministry of Germany, INTERPOL and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) are joining forces to combat the devastating impact of environmental crime.

With a EUR Five million investment from the German government’s International Climate Initiative (IKI), the three-year project aims to identify and prevent transnational crimes impacting the climate, biodiversity and the environment across five key areas: fisheries crime, forestry crime, illegal mining, pollution crime, and wildlife crime.

Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke:

“Transboundary organized environmental crime exacerbates the triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution. So it is important to me to ensure that protecting the environment goes hand in hand with combating environmental crime.

“Criminal organizations are causing massive damage to the natural foundations of our lives. For example, they kill and trade in critically endangered species, clear forests that provide key carbon reservoirs and habitats, and poison landscapes with illegally dumped waste, making them uninhabitable. By cooperating with INTERPOL and WWF, we will join forces and make a valuable contribution in the fight against transboundary environmental crime.”

INTERPOL Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza:

“Environmental crimes threaten our planet, our daily lives and the future of generations to come. From illegal logging to hazardous waste dumping, there are no borders to environmental crimes, which are uniquely destructive, with long term consequences that extend far beyond the immediate damage. This joint project with Germany and WWF will help provide real support in developing capabilities, intelligence and ultimately, operational outcomes.”

EUR five million is a drop in the bucket when dealing with international organized crime, but the investment is taken in good spirit. One of the issues INTERPOL can address is the “Sand mafia,” one of the largest crime syndicates in the world who are accused of plundering the earth. Stealing sand from beaches or from off-shore with dredgers, these criminals increase beach erosion worldwide. The stolen sand is used for lucrative building construction.

Sources:

https://www.interpol.int/News-and-Events/News/2025/Tackling-Environmental-Crime-Germany-INTERPOL-and-WWF-unite-efforts

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sand-mafias-are-plundering-the-earth/

US/Canada: Rate of Dementia Cases Increasing Every Year

More than 25 different diseases and conditions can cause dementia; Alzheimer’s disease being the most common cause.

From Nature:

The number of US adults who will develop dementia each year was projected to increase from approximately 514,000 in 2020 to approximately one million in 2060. The relative growth in new dementia cases was especially pronounced for Black adults.

US Analysis:

“Using data from a community-based, prospective cohort study (n=15,043; 26.9% Black race, 55.1% women and 30.8% with at least one apolipoprotein E4 (APOE ?4) allele), we estimated the lifetime risk of dementia (from age 55 years to 95 years), with mortality treated as a competing event. We applied lifetime risk estimates to US Census projections to evaluate the annual number of incident dementia cases from 2020 to 2060. The lifetime risk of dementia after age 55 years was 42% (95% confidence interval: 41–43). Rates were substantially higher in women, Black adults and APOE 4 carriers, with lifetime risks ranging from approximately 45% to 60% in these populations. The number of US adults who will develop dementia each year was projected to increase from approximately 514,000 in 2020 to approximately one million in 2060. The relative growth in new dementia cases was especially pronounced for Black adults. These results highlight the urgent need for policies that enhance healthy aging, with a focus on health equity.”

Canada Analysis:

As of 1 Jan 2025, an estimated 771,939 people are living with dementia.
Every day, more than 414 people develop dementia, which is more than 17 every hour.

By 2030, researchers project that nearly one million people will be living with dementia. And they forecast that more than 1.7 million people in Canada will have dementia by 2050.

Genetics, alcohol/drug use, the environment, poverty, and malnutrition are probably all contributing factors. Canada, with a growing elderly population, will probably weather this future storm better than the US with her superior social safety nets. For Americans, these numbers may grow because of the incoming Trumpf Administration which will extract more wealth out of the system, cutting back on Medicare, food assistance, and medical research.

Sources:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03340-9

https://alzheimer.ca/en/about-dementia/what-dementia/dementia-numbers-canada

64 Years Ago, Americans Celebrated President John F. Kennedy with Stellar Pre-Inaugural Gala in Washington, DC

Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack was a political tour-de-force which helped JFK win the White House in 1960. They organized a pre-inaugural gala/fundraiser on 19 Jan 1961. Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford convinced several Broadway producers to shut down for one night so actors such as Anthony Quinn, Ethel Merman, and Laurence Olivier could attend.

The National Guard Armory in DC hosted two inaugural events: the Pre-Inaugural Gala (19 Jan 1961) and the Post-Inaugural Ball (20 Jan 1961).

President-elect John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy arrive at the pre-inaugural ball.

Frank Sinatra escorts Jacqueline Kennedy up the stairs during the pre-inaugural gala at the National Guard Armory in Washington, DC on 19 Jan 1961 (Photo: GAB Archive / Redferns)

The Chairman of the Board lighting up the incoming Commander-in-Chief.

Gene Kelly performing at the JFK gala, 19 Jan 1961.

Fellow Rat Packer Peter Lawford was the tightest with Frank Sinatra at that moment in history.

Regrettably, Rat Packer Sammy Davis Jr was excluded from the 19 Jan gala because of his recent mixed-race marriage to May Britt and Southern Democrats needed to be appeased. Crushed, Sammy Davis Jr would switch his support to the GOP and in 1972 he became the first man of color to stay overnight at the White House (in the Lincoln Bedroom).