The 19th-century nativist “Know Nothing Party” members were rabid anti-Catholic Protestant whites and would greet each other touching their eye, nose, and then making a zero with their fingers (“Eye Nose Nothing”).
Convicted scapegrace Republican George Santos and US Senator Marco Rubio doppelganger secretly rendering the “I Know Nothing” shibboleth during his short, foul tenure in the revered chambers of the US Congress. (Photo: Public domain).
For a decade, Donald Trumpf has been subtly (and brazenly) flashing these ancient shibboleths for a decade, letting his white supremacist followers know that he is “one of them.” This coded greeting evolved to three fingers representing “W” for white and the thumb and index finger making a “P” for power. Rightwing white Catholics were no longer excluded from the club.
Trumpf’s calls for invading Panama and Greenland is a resurrection of another 19th-century white supremacist ideology that incubated with the Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC). This occult movement of Southerners (Northerners were called “Copperheads” during the Civil War) wanted to expand American hegemony and slavery into Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America.
The Knights of the Golden Circle was reportedly organized in Lexington, KY, on 4 Jul 1854, by Virginia-born Gen. George W. L. Bickley (1819–1867).
Sketch of a Knights of a Golden Circle meeting. One KGC leader claimed they had 65,000 oath-bound members.
In “The Idea of a Southern Nation” (1979), historian John McCardell called the Knights of the Golden Circle “that most bizarre offshoot of Southern expansionism.“
With Cuba and Mexico now off limits, vulnerable Panama because of its economic and national security relevancy is now an expansionist target, as well as mineral-rich Greenland. Global warming is making Greenland’s under-tundra resources more accessible, something that Tesla, Apple, and other hi-tech companies would like easy, inexpensive access to. Knowingly or unknowingly, Trumpf is tapping into a 19th-century expansionist cult whose ideas somehow still resonates with some white Republicans.
Had the Confederacy won the American Civil War. (Map courtesy of imaginarymaps.com)
In response to Trumpf’s idiotic blathering, the King of Denmark, Head-of-State of a loyal NATO ally and important intelligence partner, changed the 500-year-old royal Court of Arms to prominently include Greenland and the Faroe Islands:
Whether this helps the situation for Greenland and Denmark remains to be seen. Donald Trumpf Jr. just visited Greenland on Tuesday in what he called a “personal day trip.” He then posted a photo with a group of locals in a bar wearing pro-Trump caps, delivering them a message on behalf of the paterfamilias: ‘We’re going to treat you well.’
(Photo: Reuters)
Nota Bene: Danes are the only other people in the world that celebrates America’s Independence Day:
Rebild National Park Society is the first Danish-American friendship association and has existed for more than 100 years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is savoring every second of this.
Ukraine: Two Russian High Value Targets (HVTs) Eliminated in Storm Shadow Missile Attack
The moment two Russian HVTs joined the Choir Invisible from their command post in Lgov, Kursk (Credit: East2West)
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is reaching its third terrible year, the Ukrainian military is stubbornly and successfully fighting off Vladimir Putin’s hegemonic designs on its Slavic neighbor. Kiev recently unleashed a (UK-manufactured) Storm Shadow missile attack targeting Russian HVTs hiding in a bunker in Kursk on 30 Dec 2024. At least 30 Russians were WIA.
Among those rendered ineffective were Russian Lieutenant Colonel Valery Tereshchenko, chief of communications of the 76th Pskov Airborne Division, and Colonel Pavel Maletsky, commander of 656th separate engineer-sapper battalion.
The late Russian Colonel Pavel Maletsky. (Credit: East2West)
The late Lt-Col Valery Tereshchenko. (Credit: East2West)
The UK, like the US, has done yeoman’s work helping the Ukrainians against Russia. But only the UK and NATO will continue assisting Kiev after the Trumpf/Putin/Musk cabal assumes power in two weeks. Expect the Ukrainian military to exert maximum force against the Russian invaders until the last possible minute. Because of the quickly compressing timetable, the Ukrainian sabotage network inside Russia may accelerate plans to assassinate HVTs before any ceasefire. Last year, the Ukrainian GUR may have done the US a tremendous service by neutralizing Lt-General Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s CBRN defense unit who was also under investigation for alleged war crimes by the Kiev government.
IDF Soldier Flees Brazil Amid Gaza War Crimes Investigation
An Israeli soldier accused of committing war crimes in Gaza has fled Brazil where he was vacationing when the case was brought against him in the South American country.
The unidentified soldier is accused of participating in the mass demolition of civilian homes in Gaza amid Israel’s war against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave.
An Israeli border police officer stands guard as municipality workers demolish a Palestinian house. (Image by Sebastian Scheiner / AP Photo.)
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid lambasted the need for a soldier to flee a country where they were vacationing in the dark of night to evade investigation as “a huge political failure.”
“How did we get to the point where the Palestinians are better than the Israeli government in the international arena?” Yair Lapid asked on X.
Palestinians mourning over the body of a relative killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza, 6 Jan 2025. (Photo: Dawoud Abu Alkas / Reuters)
Gaza’s Health Ministry reports that a total of 45,854 combatants and civilians have been killed and 109,139 wounded, injured, or maimed in Israel’s Nakba against the Palestinians following the 7 Oct 2023 surprise attack which resulted in 1,269 Israelis deaths and 250 captives taken for a prisoner swap.
On 21 Nov 2024, the ICC at the Hague issued an international arrest warrant for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes. Similarly, on 17 Mar 2023 the ICC had issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
These indictments are merely allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The US Treasury Dept sanctioned the leader of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Gen. Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousafor for committing genocide in the Northeast African nation’s nearly two-year-old civil war.
USSECSTATE Antony Blinken announced the largely symbolic genocide determination. The US has repeatedly declared that war crimes have been committed by both warring parties in Sudan’s civil war, but Blinken alleged that the RSF’s systematic murder and sexual violence targeting individuals based on their ethnicity now meets the high threshold of genocide.
US Treasury sanction targets include the paramilitary weapons supplier Abu Dharr Abdul Nabi Habiballa Ahmmed and seven related companies.
Alleged war criminal RSF commander Gen. Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa.
This is an ethnic civil 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. An estimated 61,000-150,000 have been killed, creating 2,170,592 refugees, while internally displacing 7,720,119 people. Russia is duplicitously supplying both sides of the conflict.
Filipino Fishermen Capture Suspected Chinese Underwater Spy Drone
Soldiers gather around the Chinese-made submersible drone recovered near San Pascual, Masbate on 30 Dec 2024. (Photo: PNP-Bicol)
Local fishermen hauled in a six-foot-long yellow underwater drone off the coast in the Philippines that police believe may have come from a Chinese submarine.
Three fishermen found the bright yellow drone about six miles off the coast of San Pascual in Masbate province, police said in a release posted on Facebook.
The sea drone carried the markings – “HY-119” – referring to “underwater navigation and communication system,” police said.
According to manufacturer sources, the Sea Wing can carry Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) sensors, as well as turbulence meter, Turbidimeter, chlorophyll sensor, dissolved oxygen sensor, nitrate and other biochemical sensors. It can also carry Acoustic sensors such as ADCP (acoustic Doppler current profile), underwater acoustic communication and hydrophones, as well as naval and military relevance.
USIC and naval personnel will have an opportunity to exploit this drone. Besides the Defense Attache office in Manila, US experts are in nearby Japan and South Korea.
Canada: The CBSA Announces First-Ever Canadian Land Pre-Clearance Operation in US
From the Government of Canada:
“The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced its intention to launch its first preclearance operation in 2025. Preclearance supports the national security and economic prosperity of both Canada and the US by facilitating the secure and efficient movement of people and goods across the border.
The initiative will have Canadian border services officers working at a shared facility at the Cannon Corners port of entry in New York (adjacent to the Covey Hill, QC port of entry). For the two-year duration of the operation, travelers entering Canada will go through Cannon Corners instead of the Covey Hill port of entry, which will be closed to travelers during that time.”
“At the preclearance site, Canadian officers will examine travelers and goods to decide whether they are admissible into Canada, as they currently do at ports of entry in Canada. This includes screening for dangerous goods, such as firearms and drugs, before they leave the US. While officers will be able to conduct most types of immigration processing at this site, claims for refugee protection cannot be processed at preclearance. Travelers seeking refugee protection in Canada will need to use a Canadian port of entry.”
Cannon Corners, NY is west of the major Champlain POE (US I-87/ Canada I-15).
“Updates on the initiative and launch date will be shared on the CBSA’s website and social media platforms.
Quote from The Honorable David J. McGuinty, Minister of Public Safety:
“Today’s announcement demonstrates our shared commitment with the United States to bolster border security and streamline the flow of legitimate trade and travel between our two countries. Preclearance is yet another example of how Canada and the United States work together every day to intercept security threats early, while delivering large-scale economic benefits for Canadians and Americans.”
Quick facts:
The Preclearance in the US Regulations provide CBSA officers with the necessary authorities to carry out immigration services at preclearance sites in the US.
The US currently has preclearance operations at eight Canadian airports.
Canada is investing $1.3 billion to bolster security at the border and strengthen the immigration system, all while keeping Canadians safe.
Remarkable that the Canadian government is spending so many resources to placate the childish and boorish Donald Trumpf. Creating discord within NATO allies and Western countries is exactly what Russian President Vladimir Putin wants and Trumpf is following his instructions perfectly. The present discourse in some American circles that somehow Trumpf is responsible for PM Justin Trudeau’s resignation as head of the Liberal Party are inaccurate. The PM was dealing with domestic issues such as housing, immigration, and strengthening Canada’s national healthcare system long before Trumpf’s horrific electoral win this past Nov 2024.
Masked people walk through a station in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo: 3 February 3, 2020, with an image of a virus inset by LewisTse Pui Lung / Rost-9D/iStock / Getty Images Plus / Canva)
News reports and social media posts are warning of a new outbreak of a little-known virus called human metapneumovirus (HMPV) in China, but officials are yet to confirm this.
Instead, official reports from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that rates of multiple flu-like illnesses are on the rise in China.
Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a virus that can cause flu-like illness in people of all ages, although some people are more at risk, including young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems.
The virus was only discovered as recently as 2001, but it is in the same family as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV): another flu-like virus.
There is not enough information from reliable sources on the extent and severity of a possible HMPV outbreak in China to accurately predict the risk of a pandemic.
However, this is a virus that already circulates among populations in China, the US and elsewhere, so there is more herd immunity against it than there would be against a novel virus, such as COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic.
(Photo: Getty Images)
The World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly called on Beijing to share more information on the 2019 COVID outbreak which they have yet to do. Worldwide, there have been 777,074,803 confirmed cases of the disease, which is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and more than seven million deaths. Information sharing and cooperation will save lives for any epidemic, but Beijing is not known for its transparency so rumors will continue to circulate that SARS-CoV-2 was a leaked Chinese biological weapon.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar (42) from Texas, drove a pickup truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. After hitting the crowd, Jabbar exited the vehicle and fired upon local law enforcement. Police officers returned fire, and the subject was pronounced deceased at the scene. Two law enforcement officers were injured and transported to a local hospital.
At least 16 people, including the suspect, were killed according to the New Orleans coroner. At least 35 others were injured, some critically.
An ISIS flag was located in the rented Ford pickup truck, as well as weapons and a potential IED. Other potential IEDs were also located and rendered inert in the French Quarter. A fire broke out the same day of the attack at an Airbnb in the St. Roch neighborhood, which investigators believe the suspect rented. A man from Jabbar’s house in North Houston surrendered after law enforcement entered.
The FBI reported that Jabbar was born and raised in Texas and served in the US Army for ten years. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 and was honorably discharged at the rank of Staff Sergeant.
Suspect Had Troubled Background: Perfect for Recruitment
Jabbar’s past criminal history included a 2002 arrest for misdemeanor theft and a 2005 arrest for driving with an invalid license. Jabbar was twice divorced, resulting in financial problems.
A Texas judge issued a temporary restraining order against Jabbar in 2020 after his second wife asked for one during their divorce case. The order mandated that Jabbar refrain from threats, physical harm or other stipulated behavior against his ex-wife and either of their children, and required her to avoid the same activity. In a court filing, Jabbar’s ex-wife stated the marriage had become “insupportable because of discord or a conflict of personalities.”
Like the similar Christmas attack in Magdeburg Germany in Dec 2024, the suspects were mentally defective with suicidal ideations. This made them perfect for ISIS recruitment online. The attackers are convinced that the West is at fault for their unhappy and miserable lives, so if they’re going to kill themselves, take as many infidels as possible and be rewarded with a first-class ticket to Paradise. Lenin called them “useful idiots.” There will be more copycat attacks in the future using this successful tactic by disgruntled miscreants who are cynically radicalized and recruited online by ISIS. Compare the eyes of the perpetrators in the above and below photos.
The ‘unstable’ 50-year-old Saudi doctor, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, calmly ate shrimp and drank beer before he allegedly rammed his SUV into a crowded market in the city of Magdeburgthat killed five and injured scores of revelers.
The FBI has set up a digital tip line asking the public with information or video of the incident to submit them to www.fbi.gov/bourbonstreetattack or call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Montenegro: Twelve Killed in Mass Shooting, Suspect Kills Himself
Two children were among twelve people killed in a mass shooting that started at a restaurant in the small town of Cetinje in Montenegro and continued at three different locations.
Per CIA: Montenegro has a population of ~620,000 people and GDP per capita is $27,800. Montenegro became an official EU candidate in 2010 and joined NATO in 2017.
A local man is suspected of carrying out the shootings, identified by the police as Aleksandar Martinovic (45). He “killed members of his own family”, a government minister said, adding that the suspect was thought to have been drinking heavily before the rampage. The suspect died of a self-inflicted wound to the head.
Police stand at a checkpoint near where a gunman opened fire at a restaurant and killed several people in Cetinje, Montenegro, on 1 Jan 2025 (Photo: Stevo Vasiljevic / Reuters)
The mass shooting was the second gun rampage over the past three years in Cetinje, Montenegro’s historic capital. In Aug 2022 an attacker also killed ten people, including two children, before he was shot and killed by a passerby.
Montenegro is known for its gun culture and many people traditionally have weapons. The national security council will now consider “all options” in the aftermath of the attack, including a complete ban on the possession of weapons.
In any country, alcohol and easy access to firearms is a lethal combination as these poor victims discovered.The takeaway here is the Montenegrin government is considering a nationwide ban on firearms. But this is unlikely for several reasons. The history of ethnic violence in the Balkans (e.g. the Second World War, the Bosnia Civil War, and Kosovar Albanian independence) may make gunowners reluctant to surrender their weapons. Moreover, little Montenegro ranks fifth in Europe on the Global Organized Crime Index. These powerful gangs may surrender their legally registered weapons but will no doubt keep their unregistered firearms.
Ukraine: Russian Helicopter Downed by Sea Drone for First Time
A Ukrainian Magura V5 drone boat armed with R-73 missiles. (Image credit: Russian Telegram channels) Inset: the Russian Mi-8 as seen by the targeting system. (Image credit: Ukrainian Military Intelligence)
Ukraine claims that for the first time one of its sea drones has downed a Russian military target in the air during a day of intense attacks by both sides as the war edges closer to its three-year anniversary.
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (GUR) claimed on 31 Dec that a Magura V5 sea drone equipped with missiles shot down an Mi-8 helicopter in a battle near Cape Tarkhankut on Crimea’s west coast.
Another Russian helicopter, the GUR said, was hit by fire but managed to return to a Russian airfield.
“GUR soldiers destroyed an air target for the first time in the world using a Magura V5 naval drone,” the intelligence agency said in the post, which had grainy video of what it said was evidence of the attack.
The video has not been independently verified.
In the video, you saw the Mi-8 release chaff to divert missiles. This downing of a helicopter by a maritime drone is another historic first in this nearly three year long war. The face of war is changing exponentially and at this conflict’s end, the Ukrainian military and intelligence services will be one of the most experienced and capable forces in the West. Indubitably, Chinese military observers are making note of these developments for any future conflict with India, Taiwan, or the USin terms of producing weapons, as well as deploying them.
The Mi-8 is the world’s most-produced helicopter, with over 17,000 units used by over 50 countries. In addition to its most common role as a transport helicopter, the Mi-8 is also used as an airborne command post, armed gunship, and reconnaissance platform.The Mi-8 is “the AK-47 of the skies.”
The Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) has issued an alert for tourists who plan to visit the island due to the increase in cases of hepatitis A, a highly contagious virus that can seriously affect health.
Hepatitis A is mainly transmitted through contaminated food and water, as well as by close contact with an infected person. This viral disease affects the liver and can be especially dangerous if not treated properly. The increase in cases in Cuba is due to the consumption of raw or undercooked food and the use of non-potable water, which favors the spread of the virus.
The hepatitis A virus can remain on surfaces for several months and is not spread through casual contact, such as sneezing or coughing. However, people can become infected if they eat food handled by someone with the virus who did not wash their hands well after using the bathroom, if they ingest contaminated water or food, or if they have sexual contact with an infected person.
Symptoms usually appear within a week of infection and include unusual tiredness and weakness, nausea, abdominal pain, clay-colored stools, loss of appetite, low-grade fever, dark urine, joint pain, and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes).
To prevent infection, hepatitis A vaccination, which consists of two injections separated by six months, is recommended. In addition, tourists traveling to countries with active outbreaks, such as Cuba, should follow some key precautions:
• Wash all fruits and vegetables with bottled water and peel them before eating. • Avoid eating raw or undercooked meat and fish. • Drink only bottled water and use it to brush your teeth. • Do not consume drinks or ice of dubious origin. • If bottled water is not available, boil tap water before consuming it or use it to make ice. • Wash your hands frequently, especially after using the bathroom or before preparing food.
In the event of any symptoms of hepatitis A, travelers are urged to see a doctor as soon as possible for treatment and to avoid serious long-term complications.
Tourism in Cuba is an industry that generated over 4.7 million visitors in 2018 and is one of the main sources of revenue for the island. 1,109,339 Canadians vacationed in Cuba that year.
The hepatitis A alert may be the result of vexing potable water problems in Cuba. Water shortages are increasingly flaring tempers, including in capital Havana, as problems mount for hundreds of thousands of residents already ragged from shortfalls in food, fuel, and electricity.Upwards of 600,000 people – more than 1 in 20 on the Caribbean island of ten million citizens – are suffering from water supply issues.
US Treasury Sanctions GRU-Affiliated Entity That Used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Interfere in US 2024 Election
Excerpt from the US Dept of the Treasury press release linked at bottom:
“At the direction of, and with financial support from, the GRU (Russian military intelligence), the Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE) and its personnel used generative AI tools to quickly create disinformation that would be distributed across a massive network of websites designed to imitate legitimate news outlets to create false corroboration between the stories, as well as to obfuscate their Russian origin. CGE built a server that hosts the generative AI tools and associated AI-created content, in order to avoid foreign web-hosting services that would block their activity.”
GRU insignia.
“The GRU provided CGE and a network of US-based facilitators with financial support to: build and maintain its AI-support server; maintain a network of at least 100 websites used in its disinformation operations; and contribute to the rent cost of the apartment where the server is housed. Valery Mikhaylovich Korovin played a key role in coordinating financial support from the GRU to his employees and US-based facilitators.”
The USG sanctioned Valery Mikhaylovich Korovin (undated photo from public domain)
This is indeed another “smoking gun found at the crime scene” and Russian interference was just another factor in the Democratic Party’s catastrophic loss last year.
But regardless of Russian interference, Americans have proven they can elect a person of color twice to the White House, as well as a woman. In 2016, Hilary Clinton won the popular vote over Donald Trump by 2,864,974 votes, but lost the medieval and anachronistic Electoral College vote with help from the Kremlin.Ultimately, anti-war Democrats and Independents disgusted by US support for Israel in the Gaza war simply stayed home on 5 Nov 2024, like their disgusted predecessors did in 1968 over VPOTUS Hubert Humphrey’s support for the wholly unpopular Vietnam War.
American Vietnam War protestors in 1968
American Gaza war protestors in 2024
For the sake of the Democratic Party and future elections, instead of blaming Russian interference or scapegoating the tiny Arab-American community for the 2024 catastrophe, they should re-examine their foreign policy and not ignore the tremendous anti-war segment of the American population.
VPOTUS Kamala Harris meets with indicted war criminal Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on 25 Jul 2024. This loathsome man, the :curse of Israel,” is responsible for over 45,000 deaths and 100,000 injuries in what scholars denounced as a genocide of the Palestinian people. (Photo: Nathan Howard / Reuters)
UK: Woman Who Vanished 52 Years Ago In Coventry Reappears Safe And Well
(Sheila Fox, missing since 1972, in an undated photo courtesy of the West Midlands Police)
Sheila Fox, who vanished from Coventry in 1972 at just 16 years old, has been found alive after over five decades. The breakthrough came after West Midlands Police launched a fresh appeal for information, releasing a photo from around the time of her disappearance. Within hours of the appeal, the public provided valuable leads that ultimately helped officers track down Fox, who is now 68 years old and living in another part of the country.
In 1972, when Fox disappeared, authorities believed she may have been in a relationship with a man and could have left Coventry to start a new life elsewhere. Despite numerous investigations over the years, she was never found. However, with the help of a photo from the time, officers from the cold case investigation team revisited the case, determined to give her family the closure they had longed for.
Detective Sergeant Jenna Shaw praised the team’s hard work and the public’s assistance in solving the case. The investigation was complex, involving the examination of old evidence, but the breakthrough was a reminder of how new perspectives and public involvement can lead to resolutions.
While the details of Fox’s life over the past 52 years remain private, authorities are relieved to have located her and ensured she is safe and well. Her family, too, now has the long-awaited answers they needed. The case highlights the importance of not giving up on cold cases, as even the oldest investigations can sometimes have happy conclusions.
Sources:
The BBC
Newsx.com
Under the Trumpf Junta, How Soon Before America Joins the List of Pariah States?
After Trumpf’s stunning 2024 electoral win, Russian despot Vladimir Putin gleefully declared that the “New World Order” is dead. According to former National Security Advisor John Bolton, Trumpf mulls about withdrawing the US from NATO. Under Project 2025, America’s Richard III will attempt to deport massive numbers of vulnerable migrants while further eroding the country’s social safety nets and civil liberties. The maps below from worlddata.info represent current and former Pariah and Rogue states:
“Pariah states are those states that are considered outcasts because of their government. Anyone who does not abide by international rules or refuses to cooperate with the international community in wide areas must expect sanctions. Many of the former and current pariah states owe their classification to their autocratic rule, under which their own people suffer.”
“The term ‘rogue state’ goes back to the US government under George W. Bush, which used it to describe aggressive states that threaten either the USA itself or its allies. Although the term was new, the concept of the exclusion of dangerous nations was introduced in 1994. The first countries to be considered ‘Rogue States’ were North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, and Libya.”
Salon magazine wrote this heinous hobglobin that offended the people of Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Denmark, and Panama the “21st century Jefferson Davis.” (Photo illustration by Salon / Getty Images.)
The Israeli government did its utmost to fight the indictment and issuance of the arrest warrant but failed to stop justice at the Hague. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued the following statement:
“The Chamber issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr. Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest.”
“The arrest warrants are classified as ‘secret’, in order to protect witnesses and to safeguard the conduct of the investigations.”
Any nation that is a signatory to the ICC has an obligation to execute these arrest warrants.
The US, India, Indonesia, and China are not state parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court which founded the ICC in 2002. The US has observer status at the ICC where Special Counsel Jack Smith completed an assignment prosecuting PIFWCs (Persons Indicted For War Crimes) before investigating Donald Trump.
An arrest warrant was also issued for Palestinian resistance leader Mohammed Deif who the IDF killed without trial and Yoav Gallant, the ex-Defense Minister. The Israeli PIFWCs can therefore safely travel to those four countries without fear of being detained.
This was a long time coming and a national black eye for Israel. Moreover, at the nearby International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague, several countries have charged the State of Israel with committing genocide. See official charging document at link below. But none of these actions dissuaded Netanyahu from continuing his Murder-Death-Kill campaign against Arabs. At time of publication, the IDF killed 133 victims in AKZ-L, AKZ-G, and AKZ-S.
Palestinian residents and civil defence teams launch a search and rescue operation following an Israeli attack on the Remal Clinic on al-Wehda Street in Gaza City (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas / Anadolu Agency)
The Israeli Death Forces pounded northern Gaza, killing 88 Palestinians in two waves of attacks on Beit Lahiya and the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City (AKZ-G). The IDF also killed nine in Tyre (AKZ-L) and 36 in Palmyra (AKZ-S).
The Likud Party and the IDF have killed at least 43,985 Palestinians and wounded 104,092 since 7 Oct 2023. An estimated 1,139 Israelis were killed during the attack to seize hostages for a prisoner swap; more than 200 were taken alive.
In AKZ-W, the IDF continued ethnic cleansing operations, arresting four Palestinians arrested near West Bank’s Hebron, Nablus. Israeli forces stormed the nearby village of Qabalan and tore down a barracks.
In Lebanon (AKZ-L), at least 3,558 people have been killed and 15,123 wounded in IDF since Oct 2023. UNICEF stated that increased Israeli violence is the ‘horrific new normal’ for children in Lebanon.
The Likud Party and the IDF are robbing the happiness, health, and future of Arab children within arm’s length of their US-provided weapons.
Members of a family rest in a tent after fleeing their home in Lebanon. (Photo: UNICEF/Fouad Choufany)
Meanwhile the US Senate voted overwhelmingly against three resolutions sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that would have blocked the sale of certain US weapons to Israel. Even this token measure failed.
And, of course, the US cast the single veto against a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the UN Security Council supported by 14 of the 15 UNSC members. US representative Ambassador Robert Wood said that the US could not support an unconditional ceasefire unless it was tied to releasing the Israeli hostages being held in Gaza by resistance fighters. This statement mirrors Likud Party policies.
Tor Wennesland, the out-going Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General stated bluntly without naming the US:‘We are at the point where diplomacy has failed.’
To no one’s surprise, US President Joe Biden called the ICC war crimes arrest warrant for Netanyahu “outrageous” and vetoed a ceasefire initiative at the UNSC. Biden and the Democrats will be out of office in two months, just like in 1968 when Hubert Humphrey and his coterie were ingloriously kicked out over the Democrat’s failed policies on Vietnam. “Crime Minister” Benjamin Netanyahu will maintain his firm grip on power while receiving enormous amounts of lethal aid from the hard-working American taxpayer. The IDF will continues its vindictive Nakba across several Arab Killing Zones (AKZ). Over 50,000 Arabs will be killed by 1 Jan 2025. While the Cold Warrior got it right dealing with the Kremlin these past three years, Joe Biden just didn’t get it at all dealing with Israel. We trust President Biden enjoys his retirement next year.
According to Ukrainian outlet Defense Express, the use of multiple Storm Shadow missiles indicates the likely presence of high-ranking military personnel in the area or High-Value Targets (HVTs).
Debris analysis confirmed the use of UK-provided Storm Shadow missiles rather than French SCALPs.
(Credit: Will Stewart)
Defence Express highlighted the use of these cruise missiles on similar high-value military targets in the past, including a reserve command post of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
The attack underscores the strategic importance of targeting such facilities, noting the implications of Ukraine’s authorization to use Storm Shadow missiles within Russian territory.
Hours later, the Defense Secretary announced the Armed Forces will be hit by £500 million worth of cuts, The Telegraph reports.
The announcement came after the US gave Kiev permission to use ATACMS long-range missiles against Russian targets. Britain initially allowed Storm Shadows to target Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine, but it now appears Kiev has permission to use them against targets inside Russia.
The £800,000 missiles are highly effective, designed to evade air defenses and hit targets with GPS-guided precision at speeds of up to 600mph. With a range of 180 miles, these weapons can strike deep into Russian territory.
As pointed out in a previous post, the Ukrainians must “strike firstest with the mostest” against North Korean military interlopers sent to help Russia. Eliminating the North Korean High Command in Russian territory will de-moralize the troops and ruin their command and control. Kiev and NATO have two months to maximize their offensive before the next US presidential administration takes over and cuts military, intelligence, and economic aid to Ukraine.
Danish Military Keeps Watch on Chinese Ship Suspected of Baltic Undersea Cable Sabotage
(Photo of the Yi Peng 3 by Mikkel Berg Pedersen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images)
The Danish Defense Command is monitoring the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3, which is anchored off the coast of Denmark and suspected of being involved in recent damage to fiber-optic communications cables in the Baltic Sea.
Suspicions have been growing in Western capitals that damage to two key Baltic Sea cables was likely the result of deliberate actions.
The Chinese ship, reportedly captained by a Russian naval officer, was sailing from the Russian port of Ust-Luga. The Yi Peng 3 is suspected of having traveled over the area in the Baltic Sea where the cables connecting Sweden and Lithuania are located.
European governments and Washington have not tied Moscow directly to the damage, but they have accused Russia of orchestrating “hybrid attacks” on Western infrastructure to punish European countries for their assistance and support for Ukraine’s military as it tries to repel invading Russian forces.
Some analysts say the ship may have damaged the cables when dragging its anchor. Ukraine’s allies pointed to past incidents of alleged sabotage by Moscow, especially following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which recently hit the 1,000-day mark amid devastating losses on both sides.
Authorities in states bordering the Baltic Sea are investigating the cutting of the cables — the second connects Finland to Germany — following similar suspicious occurrences in the sea in recent years. Denmark and Germany are already NATO allies and share critical intelligence with Washington.
A year ago, Finland said it couldn’t exclude that a “state actor” was responsible for damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline and a telecommunications cable in the Baltic Sea. The pipeline was damaged by an anchor dropped from the deck of the Chinese container ship Newnew Polar Bear. The ship was not detained and sailed away. Neutral Finland joined NATO on 4 Apr 2023 out of concern of Russian aggression, as did Sweden on 7 Mar 2024.
Moscow has said such allegations are being fabricated by the West to discredit Russia. Chinese officials have not commented on the situation surrounding the Yi Peng 3.
This is a troubling sign that China seems to be working with Russia to conduct sabotage against NATO and the EU. Beijing and Moscow have been increasing their military cooperation. Chinese and Russian jets were intercepted near the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) this past 24 July 2024.
(24 Jul 2024 Photo: NORAD)
Any future Chinese military invasion against the island republic would involve severing such communications cables to isolate Taiwan. Taipei would then be forced to communicate in a less secure digital environment vulnerable to MSS interception and hacking. Two Taiwanese undersea cables were sabotaged in 2023.
(Illustration: The Yomiuri Shimbun)
The Chinese and Russians don’t have to rely on frog-men or spy subs to sabotage these cables. The Russians have a special naval sabotage unit called the GUGI. But why deploy them when Russia and China have access to hundreds of commercial ships?
Once vulnerable telecommunication or energy cables/pipes are located, the Russians or the Chinese can sever or break them cheaply with tremendous anchors like above from ships like the Yi Peng 3. The ship captain can claim ignorance if he is boarded by NATO naval personnel.
This recent maritime sabotage incident in the Baltic Sea may be a Chinese rehearsal on behalf of the Kremlin. Sabotage against gas/power lines during winter would bring hardship to energy-dependent European countries while punishing them for supporting Ukraine.
The Future Will Look Like the Past: Texas Offers Trump 1,402 Acres for Mass Deportation Camps
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is offering the incoming Trump administration 1,402 acres the state purchased along the Texas-Mexico border to be used in a mass deportation operation. The Extermination Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau reportedly covered 500 acres and it was the largest camp in the Third Reich.
In a letter to President-elect Donald Trump, Buckingham said she’s offering the land “to be used to construct deportation facilities.”
So, Madame Commissioner, here is what America will look like thanks to Donald Trump and people just like you.
Jews in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland, in Jan 1945. (Photo: EPA)
Bosnian Muslims in Serbian concentration camp circa 1995. (Photo: ICTY)
DHS camp for Hispanic migrants of separated children during Trump’s first reign of terror.
Palestinian children crammed in Israeli prison cell circa 2016. (Photo: AP)
Sub-Saharan migrants in detention center in Zawiyah, Libya, in Jun 2017. (Photo: Taha Jawashi / AFP/ Getty Images)
Loyal Japanese-Americans dining in their mess facility in an internment camp (photo circa 1942).
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckinghamis a true humanitarian, isn’t she?
Nationwide Food Recall:Wolverine Packing Co. Recalls 167,000 Pounds of Ground Beef Products Due to Possible E. Coli
Wolverine Packing Co. in Detroit, MI is recalling approximately 167,277 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the USDA Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.
The fresh products have a “use by” date of 11/14/2024 and the frozen products are labeled with production date 10/22/24.
The products subject to recall bear establishment number “EST. 2574B” inside the USDA mark of inspection. These items were shipped to restaurant locations nationwide.
The problem was discovered when FSIS was notified by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture of a group of 15 patients who had reported that they consumed ground beef prior to their illness.
Anyone concerned about an illness should contact a healthcare provider. E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause dehydration, bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps 2–8 days (3–4 days, on average) after exposure the organism. While most people recover within a week, some develop a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). This condition can occur among persons of any age but is most common in children under 5-years old and older adults. It is marked by easy bruising, pallor, and decreased urine output. Persons who experience these symptoms should seek emergency medical care immediately.
FSIS is concerned that some product may be in restaurant refrigerators or freezers. Restaurants are urged not to serve these products. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.
Consumers and members of the media with questions about the recall can contact Don Tanner, company representative at (248) 762-1533.
Consumers with food safety questions can call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-MPHotline (888-674-6854) or send a question via email to MPHotline@usda.gov.
For consumers that need to report a problem with a meat, poultry, or egg product, the online Electronic Consumer Complaint Monitoring System can be accessed 24 hours a day at https://foodcomplaint.fsis.usda.gov/eCCF/.
French Defense Minister Calls on Arab Gulf States to Aid Lebanese Forces
Lebanese children wave French flags as they stand in front of a Lebanon’s national flag, at a ceremony to open a French-built bridge by the coastal town of Naameh, south of Beirut, on 18 Sep 2006. (Photo: Petros Karadjias / AP)
“I have reiterated to each counterpart that we need them to support the Lebanese armed forces,” French DM Sébastien Lecornu said after visits to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Lecornu’s appeal came following talks with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed of the UAE in Abu Dhabi.
“To secure the border between Israel and Lebanon, and to reinforce Lebanon’s sovereignty, the armed forces must be properly armed,” he added.
Israel expanded the focus of its lethal operations from Gaza to Lebanon in Sep 2024, making southern Lebanon inhospitable to Shias while devastating the country’s medical infrastructure. More than 3,510 people in Lebanon have been killed, with most fatalities recorded since late September.
Last month, a conference in Paris raised$200 million to support the Lebanese armed forces, on top of $800 million in humanitarian aid for the country.
The Lebanese military, which plays a crucial role in maintaining stability in the deeply divided country, struggles to meet the basic needs of its 80,000 soldiers. The Lebanese Army previously received financial assistance from Qatar and the US to pay salaries.
Lebanese Army Soldiers at double time. The IDF has killed at least 41 of them over the past few weeks. (Undated photo: Getty Images).
Next month French President Emmanuel Macron travels to Saudi Arabia. His visit is expected to focus on defense contracts and investment in new technologies. Perhaps he can persuade Crown Prince Muhammad Bin-Salman (MBS) to withdraw the hideous blockade on Shia Yemenis which has caused them a man-made famine. The Sunni Saudi alliance with Sunni Yemenis is what drove the Shia Houthis right into the Shia Crescent led by Tehran. This is why the Houthis fire drones at Western or Israeli shipping in the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden: Gratitude and loyalty to their Shia benefactors in Lebanon and Iran.
There was a time when France was seen as Lebanon’s big brother and protector. An estimated 23,000 French citizens live in Lebanon and more than 300,000 Lebanese reside in France.
But now Paris has become a schnorrer asking other countries to step in.
Quite simply, France has lost its political clout in Lebanon: “In 10 years French influence has collapsed,” said a political scientist. Another French diplomat noted the dramatic drop in the use of French.
“Years ago, if you went to bars where middle-class youth gathered, you’d hear Arabic or French. If you go there now, you’ll hear Arabic and English – people under the age of 30 don’t speak French.”
Cuts in the French diplomatic corps did not help. A former senior French official describing Paris’ diplomacy as “disoriented.” Moreover, France miscalculated by supporting Sunni rebels against Syrian President Bashir al-Assad. Germany paid the price of absorbing thousands of Syrian refugees. Berlin then put a stop to France’s policy of using EU funds to favor its foreign policy, notably in Lebanon.
France “no longer has a say” in Beirut: the foreign powers that matter are Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the US.
David Schenker, once in charge of Near East affairs at the US State Department, told the Lebanese on a visit to Beirut: “‘Don’t forget! It’s the Americans and the Saudis who sign the cheques.'”
Laos: Methanol-Tainted Alcohol Kills Several Tourists; Dozen Stricken
Laos has a population of nearly eight million people. Real GDP per capita is $8,400 (2023 est.)
Several Western tourists died after drinking tainted alcohol in the tourist town of Vang Vieng in Laos. So far, two Danish, one unidentified American, and a British citizen have been reported dead and at least ten have been stricken. The numbers could be more.
The late lawyer Simone White (28) from the UK was travelling South East Asia. (Image: Facebook)
The parents of two 19-year-olds from Melbourne are at their bedsides in separate Thai hospitals — one in Bangkok and the other in Udon Than.
Bianca Jones (L, 19) and Holly Bowles (R, 19) below were staying at a backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng, a popular party town north of Vientiane. Their parents from Melbourne are at their bedsides in separate Thai hospitals — one in Bangkok and the other in Udon Than. Sadly, a late report indicated that Ms. Holly Bowles (R) succumbed to the poison.
(Undated images: Social media)
Vang Vieng is a popular destination for backpackers travelling in Laos. (Photo: Basile Morin via Wikimedia Commons)
Duong Duc Toan, the manager of Nana Backpack hostel displays a bottle of vodka, in the bar of the hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, 19 Nov 2024. (Photo: AP / Anupam Nath)
Methanol is a clear liquid chemical that is often illegally added to alcoholic beverages as a cheaper alternative to ethanol. Consuming even a small amount can be fatal.
Westerners seeking inexpensive vacations in exotic locations should take heed of this cautionary tale. Drink cocktails from a Western-owned hotel or stick to bottled or canned beer that should be opened in one’s presence (like bottled water).
Canada Fears Trump’s Mass Deportations Will Push Migrants North
RCMP officers confront migrants arriving at the Roxham Road border crossing in Quebec from New York State in 2023. (Photo: Nasuna Stuart-Ulin for The New York Times)
Canadian authorities fear that Mr. Trump’s promised mass deportations will push migrants north, while Republicans have raised alarms over a recent spike in undocumented migrants crossing from Canada to the US.
Canadian officials are planning to add patrols, buy new vehicles and set up emergency reception facilities at the border between New York State and the province of Quebec in preparation for a surge of undocumented migrants following Donald Trump’s promised mass deportation program.
The new border czar, Tom Homan, who is a native of a NY town near the US-Canadian border, called the northern border a “huge national security issue.”
Mr. Homan said “special interest aliens” — a term used for migrants with possible criminal links, including to terrorism — might use the northern border because there are “a lot less, fewer officers here.”
Concerns over the northern border highlight a key shift in Canada’s view of migration between the first and second Trump administrations. During the first, PM Justin Trudeau made clear that asylum seekers were welcome in Canada just as Mr. Trump was tightening asylum rules and introducing policies like family separation at the US southern border.
Today, the mood in Canada is very different. Many Canadians believe the arrival of more legal migrants since the end of the COVID pandemic has strained resources such as affordable housing and access to medical care. Many blamed Mr. Trudeau’s government, which is now taking steps to significantly limit legal immigration.
The Canadian authorities also intend to wield a key agreement between the two countries to send back people crossing into Canada to seek asylum. The agreement designates Canada and the US as “safe third countries” in which to make asylum claims, so when asylum seekers travel from one country to the other, they can be sent back, with few exceptions.
Provincial leaders in Quebec are also anxious about the need to harden its border with New York and have already raised complaints about the growing number of legal immigrants and refugees who have settled there in recent years.
From Oct 2023 to Sep 2024, more than 19,300 undocumented migrants were apprehended by US authorities at the border between Quebec and Vermont, NYS, and New Hampshire, a 300-percent jump from the 6,925 apprehended during the same period the previous year. The figure for Oct 2020 to Sep 2021 was just 365 people.
More than 12,000 of the 19,300 people detained were Indian nationals, underscoring a booming migrant smuggling route from India to the US via Canada.
Some of this smuggling is encouraged online. Videos circulate on TikTok from “travel agencies’’ marketing smooth transport to the US in exchange for thousands of dollars.
One TikTok ad shows a group of men with US flag emojis hiding their faces advertising a “100% safe route.” The provider says it can take travelers from Brampton, a city outside Toronto with a large South Asian population, to New York, by taxi.
Six Indian nationals, aged 19-21 years, were arrested by the US border authorities after they were apprehended on a sinking boat during a failed attempt to be smuggled into America from Canada. They were charged with “Improper Entry by Alien.” (Undated photo: Reuters)
Despite the immigration agreement between the US and Canada, the process to turn back people claiming asylum can take weeks at a time as migrants try to find a lawyer and gather evidence to try to make a case to avoid being sent back to Canada.
With minimal resources at the northern border, few people were being sent back to Canada earlier this year. Instead, migrants were being released from custody with notices to appear in US immigration courts, which face an enormous backlog.
But starting this summer, US officials deployed more federal officials to the northern border to help process people and transferred more people into detention.
They also made a key change to make the process to return migrants to Canada easier: Starting in Aug 2024, migrants who had been detained had only four hours to find a lawyer and collect evidence for their case. Before, migrants were given at least a day to do both.
Since then, the numbers of crossings have dropped dramatically — from roughly 3,600 crossings in June to around 1,800 in September — while the number of migrants returned to Canada has increased. More than 400 people were returned to Canada between Aug and Oct 2024.
Migrants who had crossed the border from Canada, many of them from India, talking to taxi drivers in Plattsburgh, NY, who were offering rides to NYC. (Credit: Anna Watts for The New York Times)
Elise Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from upstate NY who has been chosen by Mr. Trump to serve as UN Ambassador, called the increase in arrivals an “invasion” in a social media post.
Still, Canadian officials say they are fortifying the border and will deport migrants who attempt to enter Canada to escape Mr. Trump’s crackdown.
Xenophobia is tragically affecting both sides of the world’s largest undefended border, whose G-7 economies grew thanks to the blood, sweat, and tears of millions of immigrants toiling in the farms, factories, mines, fisheries, and slaughterhouses for two hundred years in the US and Canada. Every year thousands of migrants sacrifice their life savings or indeed their very lives trying to make their way to places such as the US, Canada, the EU, or Australia just to merely survive.
At least 8,565 people died on migration routes worldwide in 2023 according to the International Office of Migration (IOM). Undated photo above of migrants courtesy of the Vatican News Service.
Mysterious Chemical By-Product in US Tap Water Finally Identified
Scientists discover formula and structure of chlorine-related molecule and urge tests for possible toxicity.
A mysterious byproduct of a chemical used to disinfect the tap water of about one-third of Americans has finally been identified, and the international research team behind the discovery is advocating rapid assessment of its potential toxicity.
The research, reported in the journal Science, does not claim the byproduct is unsafe to drink or that the finding represents any kind of emergency. All water, including bottled water, contains contaminants.
But the discovery of a new and previously unknown chemical, called chloronitramide anion, could have implications for municipal water systems that use a class of chlorine-based disinfectants called chloramines. For decades these disinfectants, derived from the mixture of chlorine and ammonia, have been added to many municipal water supplies to kill bacteria and prevent waterborne illnesses.
“We need to investigate it. We don’t know the toxicity,” said environmental engineer Julian Fairey, an associate professor at the University of Arkansas and lead author of the paper. “This work was 40 years in the making in terms of trying to identify the compound, and now that we have identified it, we can delve into how toxic is this thing.”
Cigarettes like the ones advertised above were once touted as a cure for asthma, wheezing, or coughing. Medical quackery like the above example has killed countless victims over the centuries.
Now the US is on the verge of official government medical quackery with the potential Trump nominations of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to lead HHS and Dr. Mehmet Oz to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Therefore, the FDA, USDA, HHS, EPA, CDC, have two months to solve this issue before it’s swept under the carpet in 2025. Anti-Vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr can use a case like this to ban fluoride from American drinking water or come up with other wacky solutions.
Blue States will have to step up their Air Quality Index (AQI), food, health, workplace, and environmental inspections over the next four years to protect their citizens. Red State governors and their constituencies don’t seem to mind if they are killed by firearms violence, sickened by spoiled food, work in dangerous work sites, breathe polluted air, or drink unsafe water.
The Ukrainian military has confirmed that it is pulling out of the strategic city of Vuhledar as Moscow continues its grinding offensive. Vuhledar, a deserted former mining town with a prewar population of some 14,000, has been at the center of ferocious battles since the start of Russia’s unprovoked invasion in Feb 2022. Russian Telegram channels posted videos of troops waving the Russian flag over shattered buildings.
Russian forces used repeated attacks on the flanks of Vuhledar to exhaust the Ukrainian defenses, threatening to surround the hilltop city. Although razed, this location is strategically important for Russia to protect its supply routes. Vuhledar could also act as a springboard toward Pokrovsk, a communications hub some 80 km to the north that Moscow has been eying for months.
Moscow’s troops, overwhelmingly superior in numbers and equipment, have been slowly advancing in eastern Ukraine despite huge losses, as Ukraine has been desperately appealing to its Western allies to provide it with more advanced weapons and give it permission to strike military objectives deeper inside Russia.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s critically important Danube port of Izmayil was again targeted by waves of Russian drone strikes that raised the alarm in neighboring NATO member Romania. Izmayil, on the border with Romania, is Kiev’s only gateway to exporting its grain and other produce. Two people, including a Turkish citizen, were wounded in the attack.
Vladimir Putin is waging war against grain and global food security to disrupt the Western and Ukrainian economies. As previously reported on Coriolanus, the Kremlin recently ordered jets to attack a cargo ship carrying Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea to Egypt.
Azerbaijani Opposition Figure Brutally Murdered in France
Vidadi Isgandarli (undated web screenshot).
Vidadi Isgandarli, an Azerbaijani opposition figure in exile well-known for his fierce criticism of the government, has died in France after being brutally beaten and stabbed in an attack at his apartment that his family says was politically motivated.
The deadly attack on Isgandarli follows a similar pattern of violence against Azerbaijani opposition figures in exile; in 2021, another politician in exile, Mohammad Mirzali, survived being stabbed.
“My brother had no idea who the attackers were or what motivated the assault…. They did not speak, and they wore masks, making it impossible to identify them,” said Oktay Isgandarl.
“I have no doubt this is a politically motivated assassination. My brother survived a previous attack by approximately 15 assailants in 2022 here in France.”
Oktay Isgandarli said he received a desperate video call from his brother early on 29 Sep as he clutched a pillow to his abdomen to try and staunch the bleeding after being attacked by three masked men who had broken into his apartment in Mulhouse in eastern France.
Vidadi Isgandarli was stabbed at least 21 times in the abdomen as well as blows to the body and head.
Medics managed to resuscitate him, but he never regained consciousness and succumbed to his injuries on 1 Oct.
Vidadi Isgandarli was known as a vocal critic of the Azerbaijani government and President Ilham Aliyev, who has maintained a tight grip on power since 2003. Azerbaijani Supremo Ilham Aliyev gestures as he addresses the nation in Baku, Azerbaijan, 20 Oct 2020. Israel supplied Azerbaijan with nearly 70% of its arsenal between 2016 and 2020 — giving Azerbaijan an edge against Armenia and boosting Israel’s large defense industry.Aliev has also been deepening ties with Vladimir Putin.(AP Photo)
In 2010, Vidadi Isgandarli participated in parliamentary elections, which he denounced as fraudulent after opposition candidates failed to get elected. He then helped organize protests against the official election results.
Arrested in 2011 and charged with various offenses, including assault and interference with election officials, Vidadi denied the allegations, claiming they were politically motivated.
He was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison but was released early in Dec 2012 in a presidential amnesty. Fearing further persecution, Vidadi, his brother, and their families emigrated to France in 2015.
With Azerbaijan set to host the climate conference COP29 in November, right groups have said it is imperative that the event is used also to shine a spotlight on the country and the deteriorating human rights situation there.
Amnesty International and other human rights groups had documented the “widespread abuse” by the Azerbaijani authorities of the criminal justice system to crack down on human rights including the right to freedom of expression, often “detaining and falsely charging their critics with economic crimes.”
Editorial cartoon on the 2015 Baku European Games from Meydan TV (Image: Meydan TV)
These cowardly murderers took advantage of world attention being focused on the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and Russia’s campaign against Ukraine to eliminate this political opponent of the Aliev regime which has been in power for 21 years. The Amnesty International report contains several instances of political opponents being bullied or imprisoned on fabricated charges. The Aliev regime has the wealth and security apparatus, the DTX, to maintain power and target opponents at home and abroad. The petroleum industry in Azerbaijan produces about 873,260 barrels (138,837 m3) of oil per day and 29 billion cubic meters of gas per year as of 2013.[1]Azerbaijan is one of the birthplaces of the oil industry. This attack is reminiscent of the brutal 2018 murder and butchery of political dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, which was directly linked to Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman.
CIA Makes It Easier for Potential Informants to Share Tips
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) wants to make it easier — and safer — for people in Iran, China, and North Korea to share information with America’s premier spy agency.
CIA posted online instructions in Korean, Mandarin, and Farsi detailing steps that potential informants can take to contact US intelligence officials without putting themselves in danger.
The instructions include ways to reach the CIA on its public website or on the darknet, a part of the internet that can only be accessed using special tools designed to hide the user’s identity. The CIA posted similar instructions in Russian two years ago following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“People are trying to reach out to us from around the world and we are offering them instructions for how to do that safely,” the agency said in a statement. “Our efforts on this front have been successful in Russia, and we want to make sure individuals in other authoritarian regimes know that we’re open for business.”
The tips, presented in text-only videos and infographics, include using a virtual private network, or VPN, to circumvent internet restrictions and surveillance, and the use of a device that can’t easily be traced back to the user. The CIA also urged any potential informants to use private web browsers and to delete their internet history to cover their tracks.
The messages in the three languages were posted on Telegram, YouTube, X, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Several of those platforms are blocked in China, Iran, and Russia but can still be accessed using a VPN.
Authoritarian leaders around the world have used the internet as a tool of mass surveillance and as a way to deliver propaganda and disinformation while blocking sites and views deemed unfavorable to the government.
China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran all block access to American platforms like Facebook, for example, and use web access to control which sources of information users can access.
VPNs and other tools offer ways around this censorship and surveillance, but that ability has made them a target. In its instructions to potential sources, the CIA warned its audience to be selective, as their well-being could depend on choosing the right program.
“Use a VPN provider not headquartered in Russia, Iran, or China, or any other country that is considered unfriendly to the US,” CIA wrote in its instructions for Mandarin users.
This system apparently worked with informants operating in Russia. For the technologically savvy who are confident of remaining undetected, this method may provide the USIC with useful information from Iran, China, and North Korea. Of course, the information would be evaluated for quality and access. For years Wikileaks has used a system to allow people to anonymously download information without detection.
Denmark: Three Arrested Following Explosions Near Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen
Security personnel inspect the site of two explosions near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Wednesday. Police are conducting initial investigations at the scene of two blasts for a possible connection to the Israeli embassy located in the area, Copenhagen police said on social media platform. No injuries were reported in the incident, the police added. Photo by Emil Helms/EPA-EFE.
Police in Denmark arrested three people Wednesday following a pair of explosions overnight near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen, probably two hand grenades. There were no injuries or damage to the Israeli facility.
The first suspect was arrested within the Danish capital before two others were taken into police custody on a train at Copenhagen Central Station. The three suspects are Swedish males between the ages of 15 and 20 years old. The pair of explosions occurred at around 3:20 AM at the intersection of Strandagervej and Lundevangsvej near the Israeli embassy in Hellerup, north of Copenhagen. Police said they had launched an investigation to see if the explosions were in relation to the Israeli embassy.
Israel’s offensive against the Palestinians and Lebanon with the increasing death toll has resulted in growing criticism and anger directed toward the Middle Eastern country. Last month, German police shot and killed an armed man near Munich’s Israeli embassy after he opened fire on security forces. In June, a man with a crossbow attacked police outside the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, Serbia.
Meanwhile, Israel continues pounding Lebanon. At least six people have been killed and eight wounded in Israeli air strikes targeting central Beirut overnight. A further 46 people were killed and 85 injured in IDF attacks across Lebanon in the previous 24 hours. More than 1,900 people have been killed and about 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in almost a year of cross-border fighting, with most of the deaths occurring in the past two weeks.
Destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli air raid on the Bir el-Abed neighbourhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs on 1 Oct 2024 [Anwar Amro/AFP]
As written here on Coriolanus, Israel and the West will be dealing with asymmetric reprisals, ranging from rank amateurish like this hand grenade episode to highly professional attacks, because of the Likud government’s brutal campaign against the Palestinians and its offensive against Lebanon. Innocent Jews and Israelis, who may be Labor Party members or peace activists like the young woman on the left seated next to Greta Thunberg below, are vulnerable worldwide thanks to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. The right-wing in Israel and the West will denounce attacks like this hand grenade folly with the standard lines that it’s “antisemitism,” when it’s really an anti-Likud gesture and an expression of anger and frustration that people of a darker color and a different religion should be killed so easily in the name of “self-defense.”
Israel Bars UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from Country
Israel Wednesday banned UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country because in Israel’s opinion he was not sufficiently unequivocal about condemning Iran’s missile attack on Israel. After Iran’s attack Tuesday Guterres condemned the escalation of violence in the Middle East and called for it to stop. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Israel Wednesday banned UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country, citing his comments immediately following Iran’s attack on Tel Aviv..
“I decided today to declare UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres an undesirable personality in Israel and to ban his entry into Israel,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X. “Anyone who is unable to unequivocally condemn Iran’s criminal attack on Israel, as almost all the countries of the world have done, does not deserve to set foot on Israel’s soil.”
Tuesday Guterres said in a statement after Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel, “I condemn the broadening of the Middle East conflict, with escalation after escalation. This must stop. We absolutely need a cease-fire.”
Guterres added, “An all-out war must be avoided in Lebanon at all costs, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon must be respected.”
Katz alleged that Guterres “has not yet denounced the massacre and sexual crimes committed by the murderers of Hamas on 7 Oct, and has not led to decisions to declare them a terrorist organization.”
In Oct 2023 in remarks at the UN Security Council, Guterres said, “I have condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented 7 Oct acts of terror by Hamas in Israel.”
“Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets,” he said at the time.
In his Oct 2023 remarks, Guterres cited Israeli occupation in the West Bank:
“It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum,” he said. “The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”
In remarks before the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Guterres said the “deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence must stop.”
“The events of the past week, the past month and indeed nearly the past year make it clear: It is high time for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, with the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, the effective delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza and irreversible progress to a two-state solution,” Guterres said. “It is high time for a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon, real action towards full implementation of Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701, paving the way for diplomatic efforts for sustainable peace.”
“It is high time to stop the sickening cycle of escalation after escalation that is leading the people of the Middle East straight over the cliff. Each escalation has served as a pretext for the next.”
Guterres told Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati that the entire UN system in Lebanon is mobilized to assist all those in need in the country as Israel continued it military attacks on Hezbollah.
As it attacked Hezbollah, Israel has also killed civilians with its attacks and has forced dislocation of civilian residents in the country. Guterres said the UN will continue efforts to de-escalate the situation.
Katz said in his statement Wednesday that the global terrorism of Iran will be remembered as a “forever blot in the history of the UN.”
Guterres maintains that the UN must demand that all parties uphold and respect obligations under international law, including how warfare and occupation are conducted.
Katz’ X statement Wednesday said, “Israel will continue to protect its citizens and maintain its position and national honor with or without Antonio Guterres.”
Israel and the UN have clashed over the role of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian humanitarian relief. Israel accused several of the agency’s staff of being involved in the 7 Oct 2023 attack on Israel.
That surprise attack killed hundreds of Israelis, including civilians as well as military personnel, when armed Palestinians gunmen crossed into Israel from Gaza. These gunmen kidnapped hostages in order to conduct a prisoner swap with Israel as over 7,000 Palestinians have been held in military detention without trial or hearing. Israel massively attacked Gaza in response to the 7 Oct attacks.
Guterres has not yet publicly responded to being banned from Israel nor should he dignify this childish edict.
The Israeli government has a long, rich tradition of ignoring UNSC Resolutions. Former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon is depicted above bullying UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. This cartoonist caricaturized Ariel Sharon as a pig with hooves and a tail.Note the bottom of Ariel Sharon’s hoof is (regrettably) an American flag. Since 2023, over 300 aid workers have been killed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
This diplomatic blunder by Israel should not surprise anyone. Bullies and authoritarian regimes exercise censorship tactics to prevent a counter-narrative inimical to their position. Mr. Guterres will probably not personally respond to this idiotic measure taken by the Israeli Foreign Minister. A member of the Likud Cabinet had previously called for another “nakba” against the Palestinians and another lunatic minister advocated the use of a nuclear device against the Gazans. The Likud government was more upset of a leaked video showing IDF soldiers gang-raping a Palestinian man, not at the unforgivable crime of rape perpetrated by those Israeli miscreants. That grim episode was posted here on Coriolanus. Both the Israeli Prime and Defense Ministers have been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague for war crimes.
68 Dangerous California White Supremacists from “SFV Peckerwoods” Gang Indicted
The letters SFV for the Peckerwoods gang signify “San Fernando Valley” and the acronym of “Searching for Victims.”
A massive law enforcement sweep targeting the SFV Peckerwoods, what federal prosecutors call a San Fernando Valley based white supremacist street gang has led to the arrests of 42 members of the racist criminal organization.
A total of 68 alleged members of the SFV Peckerwoods were named in a 76-count federal grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday that details a litany of crimes related to what prosecutors call a “years-long pattern of racketeering activity that included trafficking of drugs — including fentanyl — illegal firearms possession, and COVID-19 benefits and loan fraud.”
A massive cache of guns and drugs was seized by the Joint Terrorist Task Force in sweeps targeting the SFV Peckerwoods, a violent white supremacist street gang. Photo: Department of Justice
Of those caught up in a series of federal and local law enforcement sweeps, twelve alleged Peckerwood members were hit with federal racketeering charges, while another 56 defendants were charged with conspiring to distribute drugs. Another 13 defendants were already behind bars.
The Peckerwoods use Nazi tattoos, graffiti, and iconography to indicate their violent white supremacy extremist ideology. Among the monikers its members use include nicknames like “Bezerker,” “Rascal,” “Monster,” and “Meat,” while inked with “tattoos and iconography” that “include swastikas, the symbol “88”, used by violent white supremacy extremists as code for “Heil Hitler”, and images of Nazi aircraft.”
The gang has a large number of females, who call themselves “Featherwoods,” including “SFV Mama,” whose real name is Claire Patricia Haviland, who was among those arrested Wednesday.
During the investigation, law enforcement seized large quantities of illegal firearms, and dozens of pounds of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin, according to the indictment. The AUSA aid “the Peckerwoods’ violent white-supremacist ideology and wide-ranging criminal activity pose a grave menace to our community. By allegedly engaging in everything from drug-trafficking to firearms offenses to identity theft to COVID fraud, and through their alliance with a neo-Nazi prison gang, the Peckerwoods are a destructive force. In prosecuting the members of the Peckerwoods criminal organization, our office is carrying out its mission to protect the public from the most dangerous threats.”
When these dangerous maniacs are convicted, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) will no doubt incarcerate them at separate maximum security facilities throughout the US to prevent them from re-organizing behind prison walls. But these miscreants will join the Aryan Brotherhood, Proud Boys, or other neo-Nazi white supremacist gangs in federal prison.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
A salmonella outbreak linked to reptiles has left one person dead and three others hospitalized in Canada. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said at least 25 people have been infected across seven provinces in this outbreak, which is the second one linked to geckos in 2024.
Cases have been reported in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
“Many of the individuals who became sick reported having direct or indirect contact with geckos, or the environments where these pets are kept, before their illnesses occurred,” the PHAC announced.
“Some people who became sick did not touch or handle the geckos themselves, but lived in the same house where they were kept.”
The illnesses occurred between Aug 2020 and Sep 2024. Most of the people infected were females (64 per cent) and in the age range 1 to 103.An investigation into the outbreak is ongoing and PHAC said that the number of cases is likely higher than what has been reported so far.
Salmonella is a bacterial infection commonly transmitted through contaminated food and water and it poses a significant health threat, especially to children and older adults, as it can lead to severe gastrointestinal symptoms, dehydration, and, in extreme cases, death.
People can also get sick with salmonella infection by directly touching reptiles or their environments, as well as through indirect contact by touching contaminated surfaces where these animals are kept.
always wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water immediately after touching a reptile or rodent, and anything they eat, or after being in the area where they live, play or touch
if visiting an exhibit or event with reptiles, wash your hands when you leave animal areas, even if you do not touch the animals directly
clean any surfaces or objects your reptile or rodent touches with soapy water followed by a household sanitizer
never kiss a pet reptile
always supervise children when they touch or play with reptiles
keep reptiles and rodents and all their food, containers, enclosures, and any objects that have been in their enclosures, such as plants or enrichment items, away from the kitchen and other places where food is made or eaten
clean or bathe reptiles in a dedicated plastic bin, not in the kitchen or bathroom sink
Symptoms of salmonella infection typically start between six and 72 hours after exposure and can last anywhere from four to seven days. They may include fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, or abdominal cramps.
If you suspect you have salmonella, PHAC recommends seeing a health-care provider. Most people recover on their own after a few days without any medical treatment.
At least 36 people got sick with salmonella infection between March 2020 and March 2024 in a separate outbreak linked to geckos. The salmonella strain of that outbreak was traced back to a gecko habitat at a home of a person who was infected.
Politico legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney shared his immediate takeaways on the 165-page document Smith filed in a Washington DC federal court.
In the filing, Smith asserts his case against the former president within the context of the Supreme Court ruling that Trump enjoyed partialpresidential immunity in the lead-up to the US Capitol riots on 6 Jan 2021.
Smith argues Trump can still be tried on election interference charges as he acted as a private citizen seeking personal gain and not a US official seeking to protect the integrity of national elections.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to those charges and contended Wednesday, as he has in the past, that Smith is mounting a political witch hunt.
1) A Trump campaign employee sought to foment chaos at the TCF Center in Detroit where ballots were being processed.
“When a colleague at the TFC Center told [redacted] ‘We think [a batch of votes heavily in Biden’s favor is right, [redacted] responded, “find a reason it isn’t,” “give me options to file litigation,” and “even if itbis [sic],” the filing reads.
“When the colleague suggested that there was about to be unrest reminiscent of the Brooks Brothers Riot, a violent effort to stop the vote count in Florida after the 2000 presidential election, [redacted] responded, ‘Make them riot’ and ‘Do it!!!'”
2) Trump sidelined his campaign legal team on 13 Nov and put Rudy Giuliani in charge because he was willing to lie about the election results.
“As the defendant placed alternating phone calls to [redacted] and [redacted] throughout 13 Nov [redacted] informed [redacted] , another private Campaign advisor, of the change,” the filing states, “writing, “Close hold don’t tell anyone Trump just fired [redacted] and put [redacted] in charge.”
3) Vice President Mike Pence told Trump he saw no evidence of fraud over the course of many conversations detailed in his book and cited by prosecutors.
“In the post-election time period, Pence, the defendant’s own running mate, who he had directed to assess fraud allegations told the defendant that he had seen no evidence of outcome-determinative fraud in the election.”
“The defendant disregarded [redacted] and Pence in the same way that he disregarded dozens of court decisions that unanimously rejected his and his allies’ legal claims, and that he disregarded officials in the targeted states including those in his own party–who stated publicly that he had lost and that his specific fraud allegations were false.”
4) Trump repeatedly promised to provide election fraud evidence to Govs. Doug Ducey (R-AZ) and Brian Kemp (R-GA) but never did.
“The defendant was on notice that there was no evidence of widespread election fraud in Arizona within a week of the election.”
“The defendant also raised claims of election fraud, and [redacted] asked the defendant to send him supporting evidence. Although the defendant said he would, stating ‘we’re packaging it up,’ he never did.”
5) Mark Meadows and a White House attorney exchanged messages on 3 Dec 2020 confirming that dead voters statistics were false.
“During the hearing, Chief of Staff [redacted] and [redacted] exchanged text messages on their personal phones confirming that a Campaign attorney, [redacted] had verified that [redacted] claim of more than 10,000 dead voters was false and that the actual number was around 12 and could not be outcome-determinative.”
6) A US senator helped facilitate a 8 Dec call between Trump and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr.
“US Senator [redacted] told [redacted] that the defendant had heard that [redacted] was ‘whipping,’ or lobbying, other state attorneys general against filing amicus briefs in support of Texas.”
“[Redacted] asked [redacted] if he would speak with the defendant about it, and [redacted] agreed.”
Trump supporters heeded his call and stormed the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021. Many of them have now been convicted and incarcerated. VPOTUS Mike Pence did not abandon his duty as Trump wanted; instead, he stayed to certify the election. Photo: Roberto Schmidt AFP via Getty Images
Special Counsel Jack Smith is competent and experienced, having convicted war criminals at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague. Nevertheless, the American electorate should not rely on Mr. Smith, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, NYSAG Letitia James, or any part of the US legal system to stop Donald Trump and Project 2025. The Democratic strategy should be to register voters as many voters as possible and overwhelm Republican ballots so that even GOP voter suppression tactics will be ineffective.
Since 2016, poaching of one-horned rhinoceroses in India’s Assam state has fallen 86% after the government took decisive steps to protect them
By expanding protected areas and bolstering ranger patrols, 3,000 rhinos grace the Assam savannah.
“Rhinos are synonymous with the identity of Assam. They are our pride and the crown jewel of our biodiversity. Ever since we assumed office, we have taken various initiatives to protect the prized species, expand its habitat and ensure its safety,” Assam state’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote on X.
In India, the Chief Minister, often abbreviated CM, is the equivalent on an American governor, and the state of Assam which Sarma governs is India’s rhino stronghold, with 88% of all the rhinos in the country located in Kaziranga, Manas, and Orang national parks, and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary.
The remaining 12% is spread widely across the country. CM Sarma’s tenure which began in 2021 oversaw the addition of nearly 50,000 acres of habitat in Orang National Park, and another 50,000 to two other protected areas.
Last year, GNN reported that for the first time since 1977, zero rhinos were poached in India.
Sarma ordered the rhinos to be treated like “presidents”, with sophisticated police commando teams patrolling the parks with night vision equipment and drones during moonlit nights.
Since then, the population of Assam’s rhinos has grown by 105 to 3,000; up from a low of 600 during the 1960s. The government released these figures on World Rhino Day (22 Sep) to show that “if the will to protect these animals is there, the most poached megafauna species on Earth can thrive.”
The US government has charged a Russian-born US citizen and former adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign with working for a sanctioned Russian state television network and laundering the proceeds. Dimitri Simes (76) and his wife allegedly received over $1 million dollars and a personal car and driver in exchange for work they did for Russia’s Channel One. The state television network was sanctioned by the US in 2022 over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Simes and his wife, Anastasia (55), have a home in Virginia and are believed to be in Russia. Simes ran a think tank based in Washington that advised Trump’s campaign.
A second indictment alleges that Anastasia Simes (55) received funds from sanctioned Russian oligarch Alexander Udodov. If convicted of the charges, the two face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
US Indicts Six Russian Hackers for Attacking Ukrainian and US Computer Systems
This image released by the US State Department shows Russian military officers charged for allegedly conducting cyberattacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine ahead of the Russian invasion.
A grand jury in Maryland has charged six Russians, including five who are officers in Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU), with conspiracy to hack into computer systems and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The indictment, unsealed on 5 Sep, alleges that the Russians conspired to hack into computer systems associated with the Ukrainian government in advance of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Their original targets included Ukrainian government systems and data with no military or defense-related roles and later included computer systems in countries around the world that were providing support to Ukraine, including in the US. The whereabouts of the men are unknown, and the State Department has issued a reward for information leading to their arrest.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
China’s Consul General in NY Departs After Aide Charged with Acting as Agent for Chinese Government
The State Dept reported that Huang Ping was not expelled, but had rather reached the end of a regularly scheduled rotation and departed his post at the end of August.
China’s consul general in New York departed after a former aide for New York governors Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo was charged with acting as an agent for the Chinese government.
“I have conveyed my desire to have the counsel general from the People’s Republic of China and the New York mission expelled, and I’ve been informed that the counsel general is no longer in the New York mission,” Hochul said during an off-topic portion of an unrelated press conference. The governor was on the phone with a high-ranking State Department official at the request of Antony Blinken. He was later identified as Kurt Campbell, the deputy secretary of State.
Hochul’s announcement comes after Linda Sun, a former deputy chief of staff to Hochul and Cuomo aide, was charged with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registrations Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering conspiracy.
If Huang Ping was not expelled, Beijing won’t reciprocate by expelling a US diplomat from China.
Beijing has presented the USIC and federal law-enforcement with a complex and challenging counterintelligence threat that will not go away any time soon. The USIC has also been dealing with nefarious Russian espionage and election interference attempts and the FBI must spend precious resources investigating dead-ender 6 Jan insurrectionists that were allegedly inspired by then-President Donald Trump.
German Police Kill Gunman in Shootout Near Israeli Consulate in Munich
(Image Credit: X/Hans92183466101)
German police shot dead an Austrian gunman in Munich close to the Israeli consulate. The 18-year-old man fired shots from an old carbine rifle with a bayonet in Munich’s Maxvorstadt district, near both the consulate and a Nazi history museum, before being killed in a shootout with five officers.
The incident occurred on the 52nd anniversary of the 1972 attack at the Munich Olympics in which Palestinian militants killed 11 Israeli athletes. “There may be a connection between the two,” Bavarian state Premier Markus Soeder told reporters, adding that this was being investigated.
The teenage gunman was already known to Austrian authorities for alleged membership in an extremist group.
The use of lethal force in Germany is rare. Since 1952, German law-enforcement personnel have killed a total of 529 people; between 1961 and 1989, perhaps 140 people were killed by East German security services at the infamous Berlin Wall.
German police will be unable to interrogate the corpse of this 18-year-old suspect and will have to speculate as to his motivation for the attack. As long as injustices and brutality continue against Palestinians or Arabs, Western intelligence services should expect more lone actor attacks or IS-inspired plots against soft civilian targets like the Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna or the recent stabbing spree in Solingen, Germany. That attack left three people dead and eight injured. The suspect, a young Syrian asylum seeker, was taken alive and will be thoroughly interrogated and prosecuted.
Greta Thunberg Detained by Danish Police at pro-Palestinian Demonstration: “Protests Should Be Everywhere.”
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg (C) participates in a march from the University of Copenhagen to Vor Frue Square in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 4 Sep 2024. (EMIL HELMS via Getty Images)
Danish police detained activist Greta Thunberg (21) at a Copenhagen University protest against the war in Gaza and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. The activist was part of a group occupying a University of Copenhagen building to call for an academic boycott of Israeli universities. Thunberg was later released from detention and the daily Ekstra Bladet showed video footage of her walking out of a police station.
Students Against the Occupation posted on Instagram that “while the situation in Palestine only gets worse, the University of Copenhagen continues cooperation with academic institutions in Israel.”
Widely known for her campaign to end man-made climate change, Swedish-born Greta Thunberg has increasingly taken up the Palestinian cause and in May said such protests “should be everywhere”.
Since last spring, pro-Palestinian protesters have set up encampments at universities around the US and Europe to demonstrate against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and the occupation of Palestinian territories. The IDF have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and injured at least 94,398 others, according to Al Jazeera’s tracker of the conflict.
A UN special rapporteur on human rights said earlier this year that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israel’s military offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide. The International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes, but his arrest warrant has inexplicably not been issued yet.
Insensitive bloggers, on supposedly liberal websites in the US, have already began robotically demonizing defenseless Greta Thunberg for daring to protest Western complicity in what US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) described in April 2024 as “ethnic cleansing.”
“It is not antisemitic to oppose Israel’s US-backed massacre of over 33,000 Palestinians. I don’t think there’s any doubt that what Netanyahu is doing now, displacing 80 percent of the population in Gaza, is ethnic cleansing.”
Greta Thunberg and those Danish students agree with you, Senator.
New Hampshire Man Tests Positive for EEE and Two Other Mosquito Viruses Fighting for His Life
Joe Casey. (Family photo)
A New Hampshire man is fighting for his life because of a mosquito bite. Fifty-four-year-old Joe Casey of Kensington has tested positive for three mosquito-borne viruses, including eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), West Nile Virus, and St. Louis Encephalitis
Casey started to feel sick back in early August. He now has swelling in the brain and is barely able to communicate at Exeter Hospital.
The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services said Kensington has had at least one mosquito pool test positive for EEE. The town has sent out postcards notifying residents and the threat level has been raised to high.
This is another danger that global climate change is causing. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports current and future climate will affect mosquito and parasite biology, but that “temperature is not the only driver of change.” Other environmental factors include rainfall, humidity, land use, and human population density.
To avoid mosquito bites, people must cover up their skin, use mosquito repellant, and avoid being out from dusk to dawn. Leave dragonflies and spiders alone, as they help catch virus-spreading mosquitoes.
North Korea Launches More Trash-filled Balloons Across Border
North Korea resumed launching hundreds of trash-filled balloons into the South. 20 balloons carrying paper and plastic bottles fell in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province, with no hazardous substances detected. (File Photo by Yonhap)
The South Korean High Command confirmed that North Korea had launched more than 420 garbage balloons across the border with South Korea, continuing its latest nuisance campaign for the second day in a row. While Beijing launches sophisticated spy balloons against the West, Pyongyang launches petty balloons filled with garbage and manure against her southern neighbor.
This marked the first time in 25 days that North Korea has launched the balloons, ramping up the back-and-forth Cold War-style psychological warfare that has emerged along border areas in recent months. North Korea has conducted 13 rounds of launches since early June, sending thousands of balloons carrying scrap paper, shredded clothing, and manure into the South — including one that spilled trash on South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s compound.
In response, South Korea started propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts near the DMZ in mid-July, blasting K-pop songs and South Korean news and information. The broadcasts reportedly call for soldiers working in border areas to escape and include news of the defection of a North Korean diplomat from Cuba last year. South Korea’s military claims the speakers can be heard as far as 15 miles away.
A pair of North Koreans, including one soldier, defected across the inter-Korean border on two separate occasions last month, prompting speculation that the broadcasts may be having an impact. The balloon launches come as US and South Korean officials held high-level talks in Washington. The US and South Korea are also currently staging a 13-day military amphibious landing exercise and the allies concluded their annual summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield joint exercise last week.
Pyongyang frequently condemns the joint drills as preparation for an invasion and maintains that its own nuclear and weapons programs are a necessary form of deterrence.
Dangerous Pennsylvania Man Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Law Enforcement During 6 Jan 2021 Capitol Attack
Joshua Lee Atwood (31) of Burgettstown, PA, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon during the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
Atwood traveled from his home in Burgettstown to Washington, D.C., to attend the 6 Jan 2021 “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall. After the rally, Atwood made his way toward the US Capitol building and arrived at the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement that day. Atwood observed law enforcement officers actively attempting to prevent members of the crowd from entering the building.
Atwood climbed into the Capitol building through a broken window next to the Tunnel and entered into a Senate room near the Lower West Terrace exterior doors. Atwood exited the building and joined the mob gathered around the Tunnel entrance, which law enforcement officers were actively defending. Atwood started throwing several objects at officers in the Tunnel, including a plastic bottle and a metal pole, both of which struck police officers.
The defendant then picked up a wooden pole and used it to forcibly strike at the riot shields of officers, struck an officer’s helmet, then threw the pole at the USCP. Next, Atwood drew a canister of pepper spray and continuously sprayed the police until the canister was depleted, which he then threw at police. This maniac then hurled additional items at the police, including a baseball bat and a plastic bottle.
Atwood then used a police riot shield to strike at officers guarding the Tunnel. When striking police with the riot shield, Atwood yelled, “F— off, you guys are all pieces of s—”, and “Everyone of you should be ashamed of yourself. Everyone of you m—f—are pieces of s—. Betraying your country like this, why would you betray your country. Do you love your country, or do you want civil…communist f—.”
Shortly after, the defendant picked up a metal scaffolding pipe and threw it at police which bounced off a riot shield and struck another officer in the head and neck. Moments later, Atwood picked up a heavy black speaker and threw it toward the USCP. The FBI arrested Atwood on 17 April 2024, in Pennsylvania.
This dangerous member of America’s “Fedayeen Saddam” (FS), dead-ender white supremacists, has been in custody since his arrest and will be sentenced on 20 Dec 2024. Remarkably, this miscreant is reportedly the owner of an HVAC company and the father of two children, with a third on the way.
In the 43 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,488 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including nearly 550 seditionists charged with feloniously assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The FBI investigation remains ongoing.
Ukraine Names Career Diplomat Andrii Sybiha as New Foreign Minister in Government Shake-Up
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on 5 Sep 2024. Photo: Ukrainian Parliament Press Office.
Ukrainian lawmakers appointed Andrii Sybiha (49) as the country’s new foreign minister in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s reshuffling of his top advisers. He replaces Dmytro Kuleba, who had been instrumental in lobbying Ukraine’s Western allies for military assistance for Ukraine’s 30-month fight against Russia’s invasion.
Sybiha, who speaks English and Polish, has been the deputy foreign minister and had also served as ambassador to Turkey. He is considered to be closer to Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, than Kuleba, who is the most prominent departure from Zelenskyy’s list of top officials.
While Kuleba’s diplomatic skills were acknowledged, his removal was part of a bid by Zelenskyy to exert a tighter grip on foreign policy, Ukrainian sources suggested. A source in Zelenskyy’s party said the presidency had been growing frustrated with Kuleba:
“He was giving interviews, speaking beautifully, going on trips, this handkerchief in his jacket. … He was engaged in self-promotion, instead of improving the work of embassies, working systematically on countries and getting their support.”
Zelenskyy, when asked about the rationale for his government shake-up, told reporters, “We need new energy. And these steps are related to strengthening our state in various areas.”
Ukraine’s parliament also approved new nominations for several other posts, naming two new vice prime ministers and six other new ministers.
On the battle front, Ukraine’s military shot down 60 of 78 Russian drones that targeted regions across the country. In Kherson, officials reported Russian strikes that hit two medical facilities and injured two people. Russian forces struck an educational institution in Poltava, but there was no information about casualties. Russia’s defense ministry said it destroyed a rocket and two Ukrainian aerial drones over the Belgorod region, injuring one person and damaging a home. Russian air defenses also shot down three drones over the Kursk region and two drones over Bryansk.
The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance announced the birth of a baby Sumatran tiger cub at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
The alliance said first-time mother Jillian gave birth to a cub 23 Aug in the park’s Tull Family Tiger Trail habitat. Care specialists said Jillian quickly bonded with the newborn and has been displaying the expected maternal behaviors.
“We are thrilled at the birth of this very special tiger cub at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park,” said Lisa Peterson, senior vice president and executive director of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. “This birth adds Jillian’s incredibly important genes into the pool of the population, furthering the genetic diversity and health of the Sumatran tiger species.”
Sumatran tigers are considered critically endangered, with only 400-600 of the big cats believed to live in the wild. Officials said the mother and cub will remain in their den for the next few weeks while specialists continue to monitor the duo and their milestones.
Animal lovers can “adopt” a tiger at the International Tiger Project, linked below.
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Coriolanus 