Wagnerite Timur Praliev receiving an award from the Bashkortostan branch of the Defenders Of the Fatherland Foundation on 12 Dec 2024. (Photo: Social media)
US Border Patrol agents detained Timur Praliev (31) on 4 Jan near the border town of Roma, TX, after crossing the Rio Grande River into the US. He told agents he was a citizen of Kazakhstan. Praliev was charged with illegally entering the US, a federal misdemeanor.
Praliev was carrying two passports and $4,000 along with 60,000 Mexican pesos ($2,895.11) in cash and a drone in his backpack. His activities with the Wagner group are not known nor are his reasons for crossing into the US with a drone. Praliev pleaded guilty and the prosecuting attorney (AUSA) requested a 15-day sentence.
Drones are inexpensive sabotage weapons that can cause costly damage. One drone temporarily disabled an aircraft fighting the California wildfires.
A few years ago in Canada, a drone struck this Cessna airplane.
The State Dept designated the Wagner Group a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and their fighters have been accused of committing war crimes in Ukraine. The FBI will be de-briefing Timur Praliev to re-trace his steps, locate his contact in the US, and ascertain his mission. The USIC considers Mexico a “soft spot” as Russian operatives are not under strict surveillance like in the US or Canada. NATO and the US elevated their CI/OPSEC posture in 2024 because of the threat of Russian sabotage.
The late leader of the terrorist Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin with his murderous mercenaries in Bakhmut. (AFP)
In Jan 2023, Andrey Medvedev crossed into Norway from Russia’s far north and is believed to be the first member of the Wagner Group to defect to the West.
Andrey Medvedev in uniform before defecting from Wagner. (Photo: Gulagu)
Medvedev took a circuitous route to escape Russia, avoiding the 830-mile Finnish border. His attorney says he wants to testify against his former comrades who committed war crimes, including seeing “deserters being executed” by the Wagner Group’s internal security service while fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
As Andrey Medvedev dashed towards the remote Russia-Norway border, he claims he could hear the sound of attack dogs snarling behind him. The Norwegian police have detained him.
Sources:
https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-wagner-fighter-illegal-entry-us-mexico-timur-praliev/33271493.html
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1220
https://www.state.gov/countering-the-wagner-group-and-degrading-russias-war-efforts-in-ukraine/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64374948
Syrian Intelligence Agency Thwarted Planned Islamic State Attack on Shiite Shrine
Lebanon’s Najib Mikati (L) shaking hands with Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus. (Photo SANA via AFP)
Intelligence officials in Syria’s new de facto government thwarted a plan by the Islamic State group to set off a bomb at a Shiite shrine in the Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab.
The intelligence service is “putting all its capabilities to stand in the face of all attempts to target the Syrian people in all their spectrums.”
Sayyida Zeinab has been the site of past attacks on Shiite pilgrims by ISIS.
Per CIA, Syria has a population of nearly 24 million people: Arab ~50%, Alawite ~15%, Kurd ~10%, Levantine ~10%, other ~15% (includes Druze, Ismaili, Imami, Nusairi, Assyrian, Turkoman, Armenian)
The new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa seems pragmatic and if the governments of Turkiye, Lebanon, Israel, Iraq, and Jordan cooperate, Syria won’t become a failed state. Approximately 2,000 US soldiers are operating in Syria, even though US Central Command have consistently reported having only 900 troops there.
Islamic State (IS) terrorists grew out of the remnants of Al Qaida in Iraq (AI). These Salafists consider Shiites heretical.
Sources:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/11/lebanons-pm-meets-syrias-de-facto-leader-in-damascus
North Korea Includes Russian Language in Official Postal Stamp Description for First Time
North Korea has included Russian in the description of its new postal stamps set to be issued in the new year, reflecting the country’s growing alignment with Russia.
A stamp release notice uploaded on the Korea Stamp Corp.’s website included images and descriptions of four postal stamps scheduled for issuance on 20 Jan in four languages — Korean, English, Chinese, and Russian — along with an order form.
It is believed to be the first time that North Korea’s stamp release notice has included Russian.
The Russian language was not even included in the notice for the North’s stamp issuance celebrating the special year of friendship between Pyongyang and Moscow in 2015.
Vladimir Putin has been assisting Kim Jong-un with his WMD program, a troubling issue for Beijing, in return for the 12,000 North Korean soldiers sent to die fighting in Ukraine. Pyongyang is appearing to prioritize its ties to Moscow over Beijing. Similar stamps issued in 2023 placed China-related stamps ahead of Russia-related ones. Pyongyang is also opening a beach resort for use by Russian tourists in May 2025. An old expression is regaining currency on the Korean peninsula: “Japan was our enemy for 100 years, China has been our enemy for 1,000 years.”
North Korea recently test-fired a hypersonic missile as USSECSTATE Antony Blinken arrived in Seoul, South Korea. Thanks to the Kremlin, the new hypersonic missile supposedly flew 12 times the speed of sound for about 1,500 km. (Photo: Reuters)
Sources:
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2025/01/103_390102.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/north-korea-missile-test-1.7424588
European Space Agency (ESA) Releases Up-Close Photos of Mercury
Mercury’s dark craters may contain frozen water which BepiColombo will investigate once it is in orbit around the planet.
Source:
China Reports First Cases of Monkeypox (Clade 1b mpox)
The China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) announced the country’s first confirmed clade 1b mpox cases, which involve a foreigner who had lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and four close contacts.
China is the twelfth country outside of Africa to detect clade 1 mpox, which is different from the clade 2 mpox virus spreading globally. The novel clade 1b virus is thought to spread more easily among contacts, including in households. Most cases have been linked to travel to affected African countries.
Outside of Africa, limited secondary transmission has now been reported in the UK, Germany, and China.
China CDC quickly launched investigations in Zhejiang, Guangdong, Beijing, and Tianjin.
Beijing gained experience in dealing with infectious diseases thanks to the COVID pandemic, but they have yet to provide the World Health Organization (WHO) with full details about the 2019 outbreak. China’s population density makes it susceptible to fast-moving diseases like the coronavirus. Human rights groups may be concerned that Beijing could use mpox as an excuse to quarantining (detaining) Uighurs in Zhejiang province or other minorities such as Tibetans.
Sources:
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/mpox/china-reports-mpox-clade-1b-cluster
https://www.chinacdc.cn/jksj/jksj01/202501/t20250109_303772.html
Chinese Jet Maker Increases Efforts to Take Airbus and Boeing Share of Aviation Market
The COMAC C919 is a narrow-body single aisle passenger jet being used for key routes, but is awaiting certain certifications which will allow it to fly internationally.
China is the second largest civil aviation market in the world after the US and has embarked on a course of expansion aimed at rapidly increasing its aircraft market share, through Comac, the country’s first domestic state-owned aerospace manufacturer.
Some of China’s largest airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Air China and China Southern Airlines are already using Comac’s flagship aircraft, the C919, on domestic routes.
Beijing’s aim to be less reliant on foreign aircraft manufacturers. This is in line with China’s plans to advance its technological power over the next few years.
Both short-haul and long-haul air travel has surged post-pandemic, boosted by cheaper fares and more deals on popular destinations. Mordor Intelligence expects the aviation market to expand from $343.54bn to $395.76bn by the end of the decade.
Comac is manufacturing one C919 aircraft per month. IBA, an aviation consulting company, estimates that this figure can potentially go up to 11 monthly by 2040.
In contrast, Boeing currently produces 38 737 MAX aircraft monthly, with plans to triple this number by 2027. Airbus has also announced that it expects the A320 aircraft production to hit about 75 units per month in 2027.
Boeing is experiencing production and delivery issues, but their recent horrific crashes have also hit investor and consumer sentiment. Passengers now enquire whether their flight will be on a Boeing 737 MAX.
Airbus is facing production supply chain issues, but is manufacturing a new eco-friendly fuel-efficient aircraft, the A220-300, which is also one of the quietest civilian airplanes in the world.
Air Canada’s total firm orders for the A220-300 stands at 65 aircraft.
Last year US Senators grilled outgoing Boeing CEO David Calhoun on Capitol Hill: ‘Why haven’t you resigned?’ The disgraced oligarch began his testimony by standing and facing relatives of Boeing plane crash victims: “I apologize for the grief that we have caused.” Shareholders shamelessly approved an obscene $33m pay package for Calhoun. (Photo: Samuel Corum / Bloomberg / Getty Images: 17 May 2024)
Aerial view of Beijing’s Daxing International Airport, one of the largest and busiest of the world.
Sources:
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/18/boeing-calhoun-senate-hearing-00163929
USIC Finds No ‘Havana Syndrome’ Link to Foreign Powers, But Two Agencies Say It’s Possible
US intelligence has found no evidence linking a foreign power to the mysterious “Havana syndrome” injuries reported by some US diplomats and other government personnel, though two agencies now say it’s possible a foreign adversary may have developed or even deployed a weapon responsible for the injuries, called Anomalous Health Incidents (AHI).
In the new assessment released by US intelligence, five of the seven agencies concluded that it is very unlikely that a foreign adversary was behind the injuries.
Two of the agencies, however, reached a different conclusion, determining that there is a possibility that a foreign power may have developed or even used a weapon capable of causing the reported injuries. Such a device would presumably rely on acoustic energy, microwaves or anther kind of directed energy.
One of the most capable men in Joe Biden’s cabinet is D/CIA William Burns. During a mission to Moscow in 2021, Burns delivered a secret warning to Russian intelligence services that they will face “consequences” if they are responsible for the mysterious health incidents known as “Havana Syndrome.”
Director Burns told the Russian spies that harming US personnel and their families would break the unwritten rules of acceptable behavior for professional intelligence services. If it was determined that the Kremlin was responsible, there would be repercussions.
If no attacks occurred after this warning, perhaps the Russians were responsible and got the message. As an old Cold Warrior, Coriolanus remains suspicious and vigilant about Putin as the Russians spend time and resources on DEW.
Other theories about the causes of “Havana syndrome” offer plausible explanations.
1) Powerfully chirping crickets found in Cuba, like this one below. Since US personnel were away so long from Havana, perhaps the racket that these voluble crickets make were long forgotten or these crickets migrated to Cuba after the 1960s.
The Indies short-tailed cricket Anurogryllus celerinictus chirping mimics “in duration, pulse repetition rate, power spectrum, pulse rate stability, and oscillations per pulse” to the symptoms described by victims of the AHIs.
2) Overexposure to pesticides. Cuba uses Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHP). US facilities may have been over-fumigated before American personnel arrived, which eventually sickened them.
3) A researcher at realclearscience.com states that the symptoms of “Havana syndrome” are basically the “power of suggestion” and “self-validation.” A “psychogenic” mass psychology effect on US personnel may have played a role.
Without any smoking sun or access to the raw data, Coriolanus can only investigate and analyze the Havana syndrome puzzle from afar. But this detective below would have certainly solved the mystery for us once and for all.
“Ah, just one more thing, Ma’am!”
Sources:
https://ipen.org/sites/default/files/documents/hhps_cuba_executive_summary_cuba_april_2021.pdf
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/havana-syndrome-jason-crickets
Two Lynx Cats Spotted in Scotland After Two Others Captured
Eurasian lynx, the largest species of lynx, were once native to Scotland, but died out 500 to 1,000 years ago. They are still found elsewhere in Europe, Asia and Russia. Sadly, one of the four lynx died soon after capture from stress.
Sources:
Coriolanus 