Venezuelan forces captured several mercenaries after the failed 2020 coup [Getty Images]
Jordan Goudreau, a decorated former US Green Beret, is being prosecuted for allegedly smuggling automatic weapons from Florida to South America as part of a failed 2020 coup attempt against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. His DNA was found on some of 60 recovered weapons, linking him to illegal arms trafficking that facilitated an amphibious raid against the Maduro government in Venezuela.
Several fighters were killed and two of Goudreau’s former US Special Forces colleagues were imprisoned in Venezuela. Goudreau allegedly spent $90,000 on a yacht he used to transport ammunition, body armor plates and magazines for AR-15 rifles. Some of the weapons never made it because the yacht sank in the middle of the Caribbean. Goudreau and an unnamed associate had to be rescued by a passing natural gas tanker.
The 2020 anti-Maduro incursion was carried out by a ragtag group of Venezuelan army deserters whom Goudreau allegedly helped arm and train in neighboring Colombia. Goudreau later claimed responsibility for the putsch, but said he was acting in concert with the Venezuelan opposition to protect democracy. The defendant stated he was in touch with then-President Donald Trump’s administration, which made no secret of its desire to see Maduro gone, even though there’s no evidence US officials approved the invasion.
The 48-year-old has no criminal record and was a three-time Bronze Star recipient in Iraq and Afghanistan, but prosecutors argued he was both a danger to the public and a flight risk because of his firearms expertise, access to a sailboat at a USAF base in Tampa and an astonishing $10,000-a-month in military retirement disability income. If convicted, Goudreau faces between 10 and 20 years in prison.
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US arrests a former Green Beret over the failed 2020 raid into Venezuela to remove Maduro | AP News
FBI Arrests DoD Contractor with Scores of Classified Documents
Gokhan Gun, an electrical engineer and DoD contractor, was arrested by the FBI following a court-ordered search warrant of his home in Falls Church, VA. Investigators became aware that while working for the USAF in Washington, Mr. Gun had printed thousands of documents since starting his job in mid-2023. Many documents were unclassified, but some were marked Top Secret. Mr. Gun printed 256 documents, totaling approximately 3,400 pages. He then printed more than 406 pages of documents, which included 82 with Top Secret headings. Mr. Gun is charged with illegally obtaining and retaining national defense secrets.
Investigators are still trying to determine why Mr. Gun, who became an American citizen in 2021, hoarded so many documents. He nonchalantly carried them out of his office in rolled-up wads in plastic shopping bags. Mr. Gun frequently travels overseas and owns homes in Virginia, Texas and Florida. The FBI arrested the suspect early in the morning at his house while Mr. Gun was preparing to leave for what he described as a “fishing trip” with friends in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The counterintelligence investigation is continuing.
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Fire at Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant in Occupied Ukraine, but Officials Say Safety Not Compromised
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said radiation indicators appeared normal for the plant.
The brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine established a new precedent. For the first time in history, a nuclear power plant has been occupied by a hostile foreign power. Russian forces took over the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant early during Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” against Ukraine. Worldwide concerns skyrocketed about potential radiation leaks or fallout from any mishap at the atomic plant.
A fire broke out on 11 August at a cooling tower at this nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine following what Russian officials allege was Ukrainian shelling, which Kiev denied. Plant management reported the fire was still blazing but that it was not endangering the safe operation of the facility. Ukrainian officials disclosed there was unofficial information or rumors that Russian forces had set fire to a large number of automobile tires in the cooling towers.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has access to the site and reported no impact on nuclear safety. Along with the EU Joint Research Center, they are monitoring radiation levels in a potentially catastrophic situation for Europe, Ukraine, and Russia.
Sources:
Zelenskiy / Official – Telegram
Update 241 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine | IAEA
Radiological Maps – European Commission (europa.eu)Fire Hits Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant, But Officials Say Safety Not Compromised (rferl.org)
Ex-POTUS Donald J. Trump Losing Support from Within: ‘You’re gonna lose this!’
Mr. David McAfee at Raw Story reports that Donald Trump is getting pushback on his latest conspiracy theory from his own MAGA supporters. The former president claimed that VPOTUS Kamala Harris was faking her huge crowd sizes by using AI. The claim was ranked as “just false” by CNN, and one lawmaker said this comment made Trump unfit to be president. When Trump posted this absurd claim on Truth Social, some of his own supporters encouraged the GOP presidential nominee to back off.
Raw Story catalogued the following MAGA criticisms:
@Trumpbobo: “You realized that there is a video right that so otherwise shows.”
@Gobbyrocks: “It’s not fake, Trump. Please fire your disastrous advisors immediately before we lose this election!”
@Magahlahgo: “Are you ever going to talk about what you plan on doing if you win? Nobody cares about her crowds.”
@Cordlopez: “Please shut the f— up and get focused.”
@Witness023: “No. Consult with a good expert on this. They are going to make us look dumb.”
@Deplorable59: “STFU about the crowd size. She’s getting bigger crowds now face that fact. You’re gonna lose this! Stop with this bulls— – get out on the road. Talk to the people-don’t talk about her personally. Talk about the issues and what you will do to change things. You’re our only hope – you gotta stop screwing it up!”
Karlyn Borysenko: “I want you to win but you have got to start hinging back into reality and stop listening to anyone who lies to you about Kamala’s campaign. This is a video that aired live of the event. It is real. The photos are being generated from a parody account.”
Conservative influencer Ian Miles Cheong: “Kamala’s crowd at the airport was in fact real,” he wrote. “You can claim they’re paid actors or that they were just there for a concert but they are definitely not AI.”
Our deepest appreciation to Mr. David McAfee at Raw Story for monitoring Truth Social and presenting his findings.
Source:
‘You’re gonna lose this!’ Trump fans rebel against him over ‘A.I.’ Harris rally claim – Raw Story
Five Suspects Arrested for Rocket Attack on al-Asad Air Base in Iraq
Iraqi security personnel detained five individuals in connection with a rocket attack on al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq that wounded four US servicemembers and a defense contractor. Three rockets were launched by an Iranian-backed militia, two of which impacted the base, while the third rocket was intercepted. US CENTCOM is investigating how the rockets penetrated defense measures. See map at bottom.
The attack is the latest targeting al-Asad Air Base in recent weeks. On 25 July, two rockets were launched but did not strike the base. On 16 July, the base came under attack by two drones, one of which struck the base but caused minimal damage. The second drone launched in the same attack was shot down. No casualties were reported following either attack.
US bases in the region are prone to retaliatory strikes by pro-Iranian Shia militias whenever Israel attacks Iranian sovereign territory with rockets or drones or conducts extra-judicial killings (XJK) in Iran, Syria, or Lebanon. Shia Houthis on the Arabian Peninsula in support of their co-religionists in Iran similarly retaliate against maritime Western targets that may be allied or associated with Israel.
This last rocket attack followed an order by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to move additional warships and a fighter squadron to the Middle East to bolster Israel’s defense. The decision to move US forces came ahead of an anticipated Iranian counterattack in response to the Israeli assassination of Palestinian resistance leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
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“Absolute loyalty’: Xi Jinping Focuses Anti-Corruption Campaign on China’s Military
Xi Jinping has unleashed a new campaign to enforce party discipline and root out corruption in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), in a sign that the Chinese leader’s decade-long push to exert tight personal control over the armed forces has fallen short.
The Central Military Commission, China’s top military leadership organ which Xi chairs, called for the establishment of an “early warning mechanism for integrity risks in the military” and announced a probe into corruption in equipment procurement going back almost six years.
The renewed campaign to root out corruption comes as several top officers of the PLA’s Rocket Force, which oversees the country’s nuclear and conventional missile arsenals, have disappeared from public view — often a signal of an investigation. China’s former foreign minister Qin Gang was absent from public commitments for a month before he was replaced by his predecessor.
According to Cercius, a Canada-based consultancy tracking elite Chinese politics, the status of about 10 current and former Rocket Force officials is unclear. Rod Lee, a leading expert on the PLA Rocket Force at the USAF Academy suggested the possibility that some, if not all, of these individuals were “rolled up for discipline or corruption.”
In an unprecedented move in 2022, China extradited Yanjun Xu, a senior operative in the Ministry of State Security (MSS) to the US. He is the first Chinese intelligence officer ever to be extradited to America to stand trial. Xu targeted US aviation companies, recruited employees to travel to China, and solicited their proprietary information, stealing advanced technology on behalf of Beijing.
The 42-year-old veteran spy was eventually convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Yanjun Xu (USM #77877-061) is incarcerated at Otisville FCI New York, and scheduled to be released 16 April 2035.
Sources:
‘Absolute loyalty’: Xi Jinping turns anti-corruption focus to China’s military (ft.com)
Approximately 320 US military personnel are assigned to al-Asad Airbase alongside 9,000 or so Iraqi airmen and soldiers. Denmark and Norway maintain a combined contingency of 190 personnel.
Coriolanus 