Israel: Soldiers Ordered to Shoot at Unarmed Palestinians at Gaza Food Sites

A major Haaretz investigation confirms Israeli soldiers in Gaza were ordered to shoot at unarmed Palestinians gathering near food distribution sites — even when they posed no threat. Soldiers described the areas as a “killing field,” noting: “There’s no enemy, no weapons. IDF officers say the killings aren’t isolated mistakes but part of a pattern dubbed “Operation Salted Fish” — the Israeli version of Red Light, Green Light. “We shoot, they run, we shoot again,” one soldier said. “This is our communication.”  At least 549 Palestinians have been killed and over 4,000 wounded near these aid centers since 27 May. Many were waiting for UN food trucks.  Testimonies reveal Israeli commanders instructed troops to open fire on civilians approaching aid sites before they opened or after they closed — using machine guns, mortars, and grenades. Soldiers described systematic live fire, including from tanks.

Another Palestinian parent mourning just another death. (Photo: WAFA News)

The ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has claimed the lives of 57,012 Palestinians, with nearly 134,592 wounded, injured, or maimed since 7 Oct 2023,

Among the casualties are 6,454 deaths and 22,551 injuries reported since 18 March, when US Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) capitulated on the Republican budget, releasing billions of dollars of American taxpayer funds to Israel which then resumed its military campaign after a short-lived ceasefire.

In the past 24 hours alone, 142 Palestinians were killed—including three whose bodies were retrieved from the rubble—and 487 others were injured, as the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) intensified its attacks across the besieged enclave.

Meanwhile, the G7 and NATO Summits recently concluded. None of the G-7 nations have recognized the State of Palestine and some leaders in Germany want to let ICC-indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu visit without arresting him.

If any of the G-7 or NATO allies are ever invaded by China, Russia, or other superpower, I hope their people will fight back just as hard as the Palestinians. The Ukrainians are fighting back hard against the Russians, but unlike the Palestinians, receive weapons and financial assistance from the West.

The IDF has created an army of amputees and orphans in Gaza.

The hardworking American taxpayer is tired of funding Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The Democratic Party already lost 6,265,888 votes on 5 Nov 2024 and will lose more supporters in future national elections as they have become a platform for the Likud Party in the US. In razor-thin elections, every vote counts and the consciences of these antiwar Samaritans and progressives will be clear.

Sources:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/idf-gaza-aid-killings

https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-frank-walter-steinmeier-avoid-testing-international-law-benjamin-netanyahu-gaza/

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

Why Many Democrats and Donald Trump Are Attacking NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani

President Trump threatened NYC Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani with arrest, should he be elected and follow through with a campaign promise to “stop masked ICE agents from deporting our neighbors.” Trump said the DOJ would react swiftly to any such obstruction to ICE’s operations. “Well then, we’ll have to arrest him. Look, we don’t need a communist in this country, but if we have one, I’m going to be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation,” Trump warned. The comments are Trump’s latest attack on Mamdani, who he called a “total nut job.” “A lot of people are saying he’s here illegally,” Trump smearing him without evidence. Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from New York if, should Mamdani be elected mayor, he didn’t “behave himself.” “If he does get in, I’m going to be president, and he’s going to have to do the right thing, or they’re not getting any money. He’s got to do the right thing or they’re not getting any money.”

The Desperate and Feckless Democrats

In 2024, disgraced ex-New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo had joined the odious Benjamin Netanyahu’s legal defense team at the International Criminal Court (ICC) where the Israeli PM has been indicted for crimes against humanity. AIPAC supported Andrew Cuomo for Mayor of NYC, a man who had resigned the governorship of New York State in utter ignominy over sexual misconduct and misrepresentations during the COVID-19 pandemic, and who had his Emmy Award revoked, because of name recognition. His father was a popular governor of the Empire State. But Andrew Cuomo lost the Democratic Party primary, clearing the way for Zohran Mamdani to face corruption-prone incumbent Eric Adams and GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa, a former McDonald’s night manager who formed the Guardian Angels vigilante group last century to patrol NYC’s subway system. After Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary, several business executives reportedly began meeting with Eric Adams as they considered backing him in the general election to be held on 4 Nov 2025.

Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate for NYC Mayor.

New York State Democrats, an extension of the Likud Party in the US, are also reeling from revelations of Chinese government influence in their operations. An aide to Mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo has resigned over high-level ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).  On 14 June 2025, Dr. Lining “Larry” stepped down as Andrew Cuomo’s Asian outreach director after investigations revealed his extensive business ties to Chinese state-owned enterprises with embedded CCP cells and his associations with Beijing-linked political operatives in New York.

Dr. Lining “Larry” denied any ties to the Chinese Communist Party. “I’ve never been an asset beholden to the Chinese government.” (Photo: Kings County Democratic County Committee)

  • As director of asset management of the state-owned Guangxi Beibu Gulf Investment, He pushed both California and Australia for deeper economic ties with China.
  • He served from 2013 through 2015 as the former board chairman of Guangxi Beitou Petrochemical Company, a joint venture with state-owned Chinese oil giant Sinopec, according to a bio on the website of a commodity trading firm where He was a managing partner. The company’s current corporate organization chart shows it has an official Chinese Communist Party cell embedded in its leadership.
  • A regulatory consulting firm called Penshare-Banyu Technology, based in Chongqing, listed He as a partner. After The Post reached out to He, Penshare-Banyu deleted his picture and profile from its webpage, though it remains visible on Google.
  • He owns import business InterStellar Enterprise, which ships plastic bottles into the US from a manufacturer based in Shenzhen. His wife, Jing Lei, formed a new company weeks after the couple moved to Brooklyn that import manifests show brought in roughly 8.5 tons of plastic bottles from China in May alone.

Link: https://www.global-influence-ops.com/aide-resigns-ccp-ties-ny-candidate-cuomo/

Zohran Mamdani Terrifies AIPAC and the Status Quo in NYC

AIPAC Democrats and the Republicans are terrified of Zohran Mamdani for manifest reasons. His socialist platform to help poor New Yorkers, one of the most expensive places in the world to live in, will be used as a cudgel against him, but this is a chimera. Wall Street executives, bankers, and the oligarchs can easily pay for the modest tax increases he would enact. Zohran Mamdani has been endorsed by anti-oligarch US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

Link: https://www.zohranfornyc.com/

The Real Reasons Why AIPAC Democrats Won’t Endorse Him

The ‘Bully Pulpit’ can be used daily to identify international injustices and economic inequality.

As Mayor of the Big Apple Zohran Mamdani can have a press conference every day from City Hall where the word ‘Hamas’ isn’t used, but the word ‘Palestinian’ is used. That disrupts the AIPAC Islamophobic messaging which has invalidated Palestinians as a people in the West for decades. Mamdani can declare Gaza City a ‘Sister City’ to NYC. The NYC Mayor has a liaison team for the UN. Under Mamdani, the Israeli UN delegation would no longer receive the carte blanche treatment they have enjoyed for decades. If elected Mayor, Mamdani will have a say in the CUNY system, one of the largest public universities in the US. Pro-Palestinian academics can be appointed under his term. AIPAC groups recently demanded the resignation of CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez for calling out the Israeli genocide of Palestinians as “hate speech.”

Link: https://nypost.com/2023/06/06/jewish-group-demands-cuny-chancellor-felix-matos-rodriguez-resign-over-law-school-hate-speech/

Lucrative Contracts and Wasteful Programs

If elected Mayor, Zohran Mamdani selects the NYPD Commissioner. For decades the NYC taxpayer has been funding the NYPD to host liaison teams in over a dozen countries (and in the US) as part of its plan to combat ‘global jihad.” These US Embassies already have DOS RSOs, CIA and DIA officers, as well as DEA SAs and FBI Legal Attaches (SAs).

These NYPD detectives enjoy wonderful tours in these cities, but bring nothing to the table other than bonhomie and NYPD chackas, according to State Dept and USIC personnel.

This wasteful program would most likely be scrapped under Mamdani to save NYC taxpayers millions of dollars, but would anger the NYPD detectives looking forward to a pleasant tour in Tel Aviv, Canberra, or Madrid. (Full disclosure: Years ago Coriolanus knew a few NYPD Intelligence Division detectives– they were congenial family guys with funny stories.)

The NYPD recently signed a contract with an Israeli security firm. That contract, and other NYC contracts with Israeli firms, will most likely be scrutinized and scrapped.

Link: https://nypost.com/2025/06/14/us-news/nypd-hires-help-to-look-for-explosive-tradecraft-on-web/

Fruit of Islam acolytes do not drink, smoke, and practice karate.

Link: https://archive.ph/Ii9cs

NYC Marshals are appointed by the Mayor for five year terms. By law, no more than 83 City Marshals shall be appointed by a mayor. Marshals primarily enforce orders from Civil Court cases, including collecting on judgments, towing, seizing utility meters, and carrying out evictions. In 2023, Marshals collectively performed approximately 13,520 evictions. Marshals are regulated by DOI but, unlike the City Sheriff, they are not City employees. Marshals collect fees, which are set by statute, from the private litigants whose judgments they enforce, and they also retain five percent of any money they collect on judgments. Marshals must pay an annual assessment to the City consisting of $1,500 plus 4.5% of their gross income.

For decades and decades, political insiders have received these few lucrative positions which gives City Marshals peace officer status and a percentage of judgments they collect. When you look at the list of City Marshals, present or past, you will not see a Muslim or Arab name. Coriolanus has never seen such a name over the past several decades. Under Zohran Mamdani, this will most likely change.

Link: https://www.nyc.gov/site/doi/offices/marshals-list.page

Just a Few of Zohran Mamdani’s Democratic Party Enemies

Zohran Mamdani has rightfully gotten under the skin of Dummkopf Trumpf, AIPAC, and the sentinels of the status quo which led to the calamity Americans are in today. Watch and listen for comments from media Judas Goats Joe Rogan (AKA ‘Joe Rogaine’) or Bill Maher who will either mock or criticize Mamdani ad hominem or smear him as a “global jihadist.” Very few AIPAC-funded Democrats will defend Zohran Mamdani, but one or two may circle the wagons around him. Dishonorable Andrew Cuomo can act the part of spoiler to help prevent a Muslim from becoming NYC Mayor in November. Followers of the Watch can easily identify an AIPAC recipient by the manner in which they will smear Zohran Mamdani or not endorse him. Then you can corroborate your assessment at these links:

https://www.boughtbyzionism.org/

https://www.trackaipac.com/

https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus?ind=Q05

Mr. Mamdani, who receives regular death threats from Islamophobes, now has 24/7 NYPD protection, like you see below:

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio insisted that the political environment has become so “violent” that he needs to be protected by publicly funded NYPD detectives even when outside the five boroughs. (Photo: Erik Thomas)

Mexico: Drug Cartel Hacked FBI Agent Smartphone 

Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin Guzman Loera aka “el Chapo Guzman” is escorted by Mexican marines as he is presented to the press in 2014 in Mexico City.  In 2018, “El Chapo” was sentenced to life plus 30 years.

A hacker working on behalf of the Sinaloa drug cartel infiltrated cameras and phones to track an FBI official in Mexico investigating the drug lord El Chapo, then used data from that surveillance to kill and intimidate potential sources and witnesses the agent was meeting with. The hacker had observed people going in and out of the US Embassy in Mexico City and identified “people of interest” for the cartel, including the FBI Assistant Legal Attache (ALAT), and then was able to use the ALAT’s mobile phone number to obtain calls made and received, as well as geolocation data, associated with the ALAT’s phone.

According to the case agent, the cartel used that information to intimidate and, in some instances, kill potential sources or cooperating witnesses.

This is extraordinarily poor tradecraft on the part of the FBI agent in Mexico City, but can happen to the best of investigators. Coriolanus knew an FBI Special Agent and a US Postal Inspector who were both hacked years ago by different nefarious actors.  Until the insatiable American demand for drugs dries up, as well as the illegal supply of weapons to Mexico via the “Iron River,” the drug cartels will continue their lucrative and violent operations. As you read here, experienced Colombian military veterans have been recruited by the drug cartels, posing a serious threat to Mexican security services.   

Links:

https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/joaquin-el-chapo-guzman-sinaloa-cartel-leader-sentenced-life-prison-plus-30-years

International Arms Dealer Guilty of Exporting Weapons to Russia

Sergei Zharnovnikov (46) of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit export violations. The defendant exported firearms and ammunition worth $1,582,836.52 from the US to Russia without the required licenses from the Department of Commerce. The defendant, together with others, entered into the conspiracy since at least March 2020, before Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine in Feb 2022.  When sentenced, Zharnovnikov faces up to 20 years in prison.

Link:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/international-arms-dealer-pleads-guilty-conspiring-export-firearms-russia

Mystery Object Recorded in Sky Over Massachusetts

Colleen McCormack  of Pembroke, MA, was relaxing in her outdoor hot tub when she captured on video a mystery object floating in the sky.

Colleen McCormack said she was in the hot tub outside her Pembroke home about 9PM Wednesday when she spotted the object.

“I was chilling in my hot tub, I look up in the sky to see something tiny, floating. I’m like, ‘What is that?'” she told WHDH-TV.

McCormack got her phone out and recorded video of the unusual scene.

“It looked like it was on fire or something and it was just coming down really fast,” McCormack told WFXT-TV. “I have no idea what it could have been.”

The FAA said there were no reports of debris in the area. Officials declined to comment on the video.

“My heart was pounding because I just looked up,” McCormack said. “I’m like oh god what is about to happen right now?”

The witness said she expected to her a loud sound when the object hit the earth, but there was no noise after it disappeared from view.

“It was really quiet. You couldn’t like really hear anything. That’s why I was just like more confused. When stuff flies over all the time, you hear it,” she said.

The DoD and the FAA monitor unidentified aerial phenomenon and the National Archives recently released their records of UFO sightings.

Australia has reportedly been experiencing a plague of unidentified flying object sightings. Coriolanus cannot confirm the provenance of this video:

Links:

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2025/06/27/mystery-object-Pembroke-Massachusetts/4441751046912/

archives.gov

https://www.aaro.mil/

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2475-1.html

US Marshals Rescue 60 Exploited Children in Florida

Billboards like this have been appearing in Florida for some time.

US Marshals in Florida, in conjunction with a vast array of partners, led a missing child operation that resulted in the recovery or safe location of 60 critically missing children from across Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco counties.

Operation DRAGON EYE, the product of a multidisciplinary task force of federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as social service entities, the medical community, and non-governmental organizations planning and executing a two-week initiative geared to recover or safely locate the most critically missing youth, has been deemed the most successful missing child operation in USMS history. The USMS defines “critically missing” children as those at risk of crimes of violence or those with other elevated risk factors such as substance abuse, sexual exploitation, crime exposure, or domestic violence.

This operation had three primary objectives: recover critically missing youth, provide them with essential services including appropriate placement, and to deter bad actors exploiting missing child vulnerabilities.

Recovered children were provided with medical resources, nourishment, social services, and child advocates. Operation DRAGON EYE child welfare and social service partners said they are proud of this operation’s achievements.

INTERPOL recently led a worldwide operation against miscreants that distributed child sexploitation material and last May the FBI arrested several child abuse suspects in Florida.

Links: 

INTERPOL.int

https://www.usmarshals.gov/news/press-release/us-marshals-led-missing-child-operation-middle-florida-results-recovery-of-60

Ex-US Army NCO Pleads Guilty for Selling Secrets to China

Joseph Daniel Schmidt (Photo: US Army)

Former US Army NCO Joseph Daniel Schmidt (31) pleaded guilty to attempt to deliver national defense information and retention of national defense information. He faces up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine when sentenced by USDJ John C. Coughenour on 9 Sep 2025. Schmidt was an active-duty soldier from Jan 2015 to Jan 2020. In his primary assignment in the 109th MI BN, Schmidt had access to SECRET and TOP SECRET information. After his separation from the military, Schmidt reached out to the Chinese Consulate in Turkiye and later, the Chinese security services via email offering national defense information (NDI).

In March 2020, Schmidt traveled to Hong Kong and continued his efforts to provide Chinese intelligence with classified information he obtained from his military service. He created multiple lengthy documents describing various “high level secrets” he was offering to the Chinese government. He retained a device that allows for access to secure military computer networks and offered the device to Chinese authorities to assist them in efforts to gain access to such networks.

Schmidt remained in China, primarily Hong Kong, until Oct 2023, when he flew to San Francisco and was then arrested by the FBI at the airport.

The Chinese MSS use the “thousand grains of sand” approach to collecting intelligence. The volume of small bits or large chunks of NDI the MSS receives results in a rich mosaic of information for analysts in Beijing. The MSS creates dossiers linking images, personnel, email addresses, phone numbers, weapons systems, schedules, test launches, etc. The amount of compensation Schmidt received is not reported, but whatever it is, this young man threw away his life with his awful decision and amateurish tradecraft. US Army Counterintelligence has a rich tradition dating back to the First World War. During the Second World War, CIC was invaluable in capturing Third Reich rocket scientists and art looted by stolen by the Nazis.  Their only black eye was joining the FBI’s COINTELPRO which monitored Vietnam antiwar protestors and draft evaders, which was exposed by a US Army Counterintelligence Agent who testified to the US Congress.

Link:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-jblm-soldier-pleads-guilty-attempting-share-military-secrets-china

Measles Spreading in Mexico Because of RFK Jr.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr secretly vaccinated his own children, according to hos first cousin, Caroline (the daughter of JFK).

Mexico has reported a surge in measles cases in the border state of Chihuahua following an outbreak of the highly contagious, vaccine-preventable disease in unvaccinated communities in Texas. Dr. Paul Offit, a Philadelphia pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases, says RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine misinformation is to blame.

The measles outbreak, Mexico’s largest in decades, has spread beyond the Mennonite settlements, impacting neighboring Indigenous populations and raising concerns about international transmission, particularly given Chihuahua’s location on the US border. While officials acknowledge the progress made through collaboration with Mennonite leaders and report tens of thousands of new vaccinations, the infection rate continues to rise. There may be as many as 2,000 cases of measles in northern Mexico.

Not only is RFK Jr’s homicidal antivax misinformation campaign killing Americans, but its also harming religious or uneducated simpletons in Mexico. Worse, this mountebank and hypocrite made a tidy fortune for himself as an antivax campaigner.

Links:

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/4/30/headlines/mexico_reports_surge_in_measles_cases_as_texas_outbreak_spills_across_border

https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2025-DON565

France: Lunatics Attacked 145 People With Syringes at Music Festival

French police arrested 12 suspects after 145 people reported being pricked with syringes during the country’s annual street music festival. Millions of people took to the streets across France on the evening of 21 Jun for the Fete de la Musique, with the authorities reporting “unprecedented crowds” in Paris.

Before the party, posts on social media had called for women to be targeted during the festivities. 145 victims across the country had reported being stabbed with needles, 13 in Paris. Some victims felt unwell after the stabbings.

Officials did not say if these were cases of so-called needle spiking with date-rape drugs such as Rohypnol or GHB, used by attackers to render victims confused or unconscious and vulnerable to sexual assault. Some victims were taken to hospital for toxicological tests.

Pricking innocent people with syringes is unspeakably horrible. Those needles could be rusty or contaminated with bacteria, in addition to rape drugs or any other toxins. This appears to be a misogynist and/or xenophobic attack against women and minorities.  If a Russian connection is detected, this would be part of the Kremlin’s “hybrid warfare” campaign to cause havoc in the West by sowing unrest and depleting its resources with inexpensive terrorist or sabotage attacks. Tourism generates revenue for Europe, even though some locals in Spain and Italy have begun protesting tourists because of the erosion of their quality-of-life. Attacks like this will discourage travel to France. Sidenote: The heat wave in Paris forced the temporary closure of the Eiffel Tower this week and Bastille Day (14 July) is fast approaching.

Links:

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/police-arrest-12-as-wave-of-syringe-attacks-mar-france-street-music-festival

https://www.nato.int/docu/review/articles/2024/04/26/russias-hybrid-war-against-the-west/

California: Mother Bear and Cub Raid Refrigerator in Upscale Tahoe Keys

Great Britain Deployed 518 Spy Flights Over Gaza Strip

The UK government confirmed the ISR flights took place.

Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), a UK-based volunteer group, reports:

“Between 3 December 2023 and 27 March 2025, the UK’s Royal Air Force (RAF) has conducted at least 518 publicly available Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) flights to the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) using the Shadow R1 aircraft. Operated almost daily out of RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus, there remain grave concerns as to the purpose of these sorties and the UK’s continued sharing of intelligence with Israel within the context of its destruction of occupied Gaza, the ICJ’s investigation of Israel for genocide and the ICC’s issuing of arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people.”

The full and comprehensive report is linked at the bottom.

Shadow R1 ISR aircraft (Photo: UKMOD)

As you read previously on Coriolanus, British police officers nefariously shared information about pro-Palestinian protestors with Israeli officials in 2024, raising concerns about foreign interference.

Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s Nakba against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since Oct 2023, has exterminated 53,977 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded or maimed 122,966 others.

Moreover, at least 10,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip. We in the West are all witnesses.

Western complicity, support, and funding of this ethnic purging of Palestinians and the stealing of their lands is unforgiveable, much like turning a blind eye from Nazi atrocities against Jews in the 1930s.

Moreover, Western hypocrisy is exposed when NATO and the EU arm and support Ukraine against Russian aggression, but simultaneously support Israeli aggression against Palestinians. The AIPAC and rightwing talking point that the Palestinians are responsible for their own destruction because resistance fighters attacked Israel on 7 Oct 2023 is poppycock. Those Palestinian armed groups had no other option but to take Israeli hostages as the only way to free any of the thousands of their fathers, sons, brothers, cousins, or nephews being held in Israeli military detention for months or years without trial or hearing. See Human Rights Watch report linked below.

In the map below showing the 7 Oct 2023 raid, rightwing Fox News described the resistance fighters who attacked Israel as “militants.” Anybody stuck in the brutal impoverished ghetto known as the Gaza Strip would be a “militant,” including Coriolanus.

Fox News and other rightwing outlets would have described the below Warsaw Uprising resistance as “militants” or “terrorists.” How dare the Palestinians fight back with the only tools they have available to them: guerilla tactics, abductions, or martyrdom operations? What chutzpah!

Polish soldiers fighting the Nazis during the Warsaw Uprising. (Photo: Business Insider.)

According to the World Bank, GDP per capita in the UK is $49,463.90; for Israel the figure is $52,642.40. The average Israeli citizen earns more than his British counterpart whose country is a G-7 member. So, what did the hardworking British taxpayer get out of either their police sharing information with Israel or the RAF flying spy missions on behalf of them? The Pariah state is a rich country that boasts of having nearly 40 billionaires, so besides helping to kill and displace thousands of impoverished people like blinded Areej Asaliya pictured below, what did the British taxpayer gain by helping the Rogue state?

Palestinian Areej Asaliya (10) lost her right eye in an IDF airstrike during the Nakba. (Source: ‘X’)

What Criticism of the Genocidal Pariah State Will Get You

An international arrest warrant issued by the ICC for crimes against humanity remains active for Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu. An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Sources:

https://www.raf.mod.uk/aircraft/shadow-r1/

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=il

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/29/why-does-israel-have-so-many-palestinians-detention-and-available-swap

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/29/police-and-prosecutors-details-shared-with-israel-during-uk-protests-inquiry-papers-suggest

https://www.goodreturns.in/billionaires-in-israel.html

Canada Update

UK Monarch Opens Parliament for Only Third Time in History

Prime Minister Mark Carney sat to Charles’s right as the King delivered the speech from the throne. (Photo: Victoria Jones /Pool / Reuters)

FTA:

“King Charles delivered a historic speech from the throne Tuesday and he used that platform to praise Canada as a force for good that will remain “strong and free” as its relationships with longtime partners are “changing.”

Charles, who delivered the speech while seated next to Queen Camilla in the Senate, the royal chamber, laid out the new Liberal government’s agenda for the parliamentary session ahead but also subtly addressed the issue that’s on the minds of many Canadians in the portion of the speech that he himself crafted: US President Dotard Trumpf, his tariffs and the 51st state taunts. In the portion of the speech written by PM Mark Carney and his team, Charles said Canada’s relationship with the US is changing and the country is facing unprecedented challenges.”

One of the reasons for this rare event is because of US President Dotard Trumpf’s idiotic and disrespectful calls to annex Canada. Trumpf posted on Social Media that the Golden Dome air defense project would cost Canada $61bn, but if they joined the US as the 51st state, it would be “free.” King Charles did not mention the Dotard’s name once during the speech.

The Dotard’s imperialistic blathering and new border restrictions on Canadians are meant to sow discord between the two neighbors and allies, a central goal of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Should Russia ever make moves into the Arctic for the mineral wealth underneath, the American public may be reluctant to deploy the US military because of the antipathy Trumpf has caused between the two neighbors and NATO/NORAD allies.

PM Mark Carney Appoints First Ever Minister for Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Canada has its first-ever minister of artificial intelligence (AI) in veteran broadcaster and newly elected Toronto Centre MP Evan Solomon. The new minister will have a massive undertaking that will touch nearly every aspect of the economy, government functions, and national security. Mark Carney has called for sweeping use of AI to create the “economy of the future,” incentivize businesses to adopt AI and build the infrastructure needed to support all that work. 

When it comes to the federal government, the platform calls for AI to slash repetitive tasks and reduce costs in the public service. And it calls to set up an office of digital transformation, something Solomon — whose full title is minister of artificial intelligence and digital innovation — will likely oversee.

While the Trumpf junta brought in the worst person in the world, “Felon Musk,” to oversee the notorious Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), PM Carney selects a non-oligarch member of Parliament to oversee Canada’s efficiency and innovation. What a difference between the US and Canada.

Sidenote: AI is both the future of warfare and possibly the harbinger of man’s downfall:

https://www.sciencenewstoday.org/ai-in-warfare-the-future-of-combat

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/12/business/artificial-intelligence-ai-report-extinction

Canada Looking to Join Major European Military Buildup by 1 July

(Photo: Canadian Military Family Magazine)

Prime Minister Mark Carney signaled he hopes Canada will be able to sign on to a major European defense rearmament plan by 1 July, a step toward reducing the country’s dependency on the US for weapons and munitions. He made the remarks on following the speech from the throne, which committed his government to joining ReArm Europe.

“Seventy-five cents of every dollar of capital spending for defense goes to the US. That’s not smart,”

Canada has been engaged in talks with the EU since Carney took office — before the spring federal election — about joining the plan which foresees the nations on the continent spending $1.25 trillion on defense over the next five years.

“We’re making great progress on that, and by Canada Day we’d like to see something concrete there,” Carney said.

ReArm Europe: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_25_673

National Ballet of Canada Sheds The White Tights

Class portrait: The barelegged swans of the National Ballet of Canada’s production. (Photo: Karolina Kuras / The National Ballet of Canada)

FTA: “As ballet grapples with its history of racial homogeneity, many of its longest-standing conventions are coming under the microscope. Some of this involves reconsidering hiring practices, casting choices, and access to training. But it also means taking a hard look at aesthetic practices that can make nonwhite dancers feel excluded. Pale pink tights were introduced to match the skin tone of 19th-century European ballerinas, a tradition that has reinforced whiteness as an industry norm. For dark-skinned dancers, wearing blush-colored hosiery can be a daily, tangible reminder that they don’t satisfy an ideal.”

Tights don’t have the same racial connotations for male dancers because they are rarely intended to suggest nude skin. In this production, all the Prince Siegfrieds wear opaque white tights that match their shirts.”

For some female dancers, the white tights felt oppressive, but for others they covered up blemishes on their legs. Moreover, tights absorb perspiration, and legs that are sweaty and slippery become unpleasant for the partner. Tights also keep the pointe shoes from becoming soggy while keeping the muscles of the legs warm which prevents cramps.

Tamara Rojo in the traditional tutu and white tights dancing with Matthew Golding in the English National Ballet’s production of ‘Swan Lake.’ (Photo: David Jensen)

Two ballerinas from the Dance Theater of Harlem in NYC in white tights without the traditional tutus. (Photo: Social media)

Canada Experiencing Air Traffic Control (ATC) Problems

An Air Canada pilot vented his frustrations over air traffic controller shortages on a recent flight, telling passengers to write their MPs to address ongoing delays at the country’s airports.

In the message, he says that the air traffic controller sector — which is operated by private company Nav Canada — was understaffed, and sick calls had meant there was a holdup at the airport that day.

“It’s very annoying,” the pilot told the passengers. “It’s cost the company a lot of money. It costs business people a lot of money, and it would be great to have this addressed.”

The pilot goes on to accuse Nav Canada of keeping the number of new trainees low in order to keep overtime numbers high and asks passengers to tell their representatives about it.

“Please write your MP and let them know what’s going on and how it’s affecting your business or your leisure plans,” he urged.

The longer an airplane stays in the sky unnecessarily, then more costly aviation fuel is wasted, ultimately raising the price of airline travel. Moreover, the chances of mishaps increase such as bird strikes, increased collision opportunities with other planes, sick or distressed passengers could be on board the delayed flight, and air and noise pollution increase. This is a multi-dimensional problem that should be a priority for the Canadian government to resolve.

University of British Columbia (UBC) Invents Spiked Drink Detector

FTA: UBC researchers have developed Spikeless, a seemingly ordinary stir stick capable of detecting common drink-spiking drugs like GHB and ketamine within 30 seconds, potentially preventing assaults.

Drink spiking involves covertly adding drugs to a drink, often with the intent to cause harm or commit assault. Since gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and ketamine are tasteless and odorless, detecting them is nearly impossible without special tools. A recent study found about 10 per cent of women and sexual minorities, and about four per cent of heterosexual men have experienced drink spiking. 

“Anywhere there’s a bar—clubs, parties, festivals—there’s a risk,” said Samin Yousefi, a UBC master’s student in chemical and biological engineering and the device’s co-inventor. “People have tried cups, coasters, straws, even nail polish to detect these drugs. Our device is more discreet than existing alternatives and doesn’t contaminate the drink.”

Why This Invention is An Excellent Idea

Disgraced ex-CIA officer Brian Jeffrey Raymond. (Photo: FBI)

Last year former CIA officer Brian Jeffrey Raymond (49) was sentenced to 30 years in prison for drugging and sexually assaulting more than two dozen women while working for the agency in South America. Law enforcement found hundreds of images of the disgraced spy groping and abusing his unconscious victims on his computer. Raymond admitted to raping an additional four women, sexually abusing six, and taking obscene photographs of 28 female victims. This maniac’s crime spree lasted nearly two decades and how Brian Jeffrey Raymond was able to get away with it for so long is a mystery to Coriolanus who underwent periodic polygraphs during his career.

Brian Jeffrey Raymond (USMS# 96169-298) is incarcerated at Marianna FCI, FL, a medium security prison, and is scheduled to be released on 2 May 2046.

Loblaw’s to Pay $500 Million for Price Fixing Bread

A $500-million settlement in the long-running Loblaw bread-fixing case was approved by Ontario Superior Court Judge Ed Morgan on 7 May, saying the money put forward by the grocery companies was “an excellent and fair result for all concerned.”

The class-action lawsuit accused Loblaw Companies Limited and its parent company, George Weston, of engaging in an industry-wide scheme to fix the price of bread. The plaintiffs alleged companies participated in a 14-year industry-wide price-fixing conspiracy between 2001 and 2015, leading to an artificial increase in packaged bread prices.

How Canadians can collect: https://www.canadianbreadsettlement.ca/

Sources:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/king-charles-delivers-throne-speech-1.7544242

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rearm-europe-deal-canada-carney-interview-1.7545303

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114581970051938528

https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2025/05/13/prime-minister-carney-announces-new-ministry

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/artificial-intelligence-evan-solomon-1.7536218

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/air-canada-pilot-air-traffic-controller-shortage-1.7544484

https://archive.ph/L6fUX

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01639625.2023.2260924

https://www.mexiconews.net/news/274611702/cia-officer-jailed-for-sexually-abusing-dozens-of-women

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/loblaw-bread-fixing-payout-1.7544627

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/golden-dome-61-billion-1.7545414

Arrested FBI Agent May Have Damaging Information on Mega Oligarchs Elon Musk and Peter Thiel

A Ukrainian news outlet alleges that a former FBI Special Agent (SA) was arrested for attempting to expose a covert Russian intelligence campaign to gain influence over billionaires Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. The unnamed agent is out on $100,000 bond. The decorated counterintelligence agent has nearly two decades of service, specializing in Russian espionage operations. The SA had previously been commended for his work uncovering sleeper cells and disinformation networks operating inside the US. The SA became alarmed after obtaining intelligence suggesting that Russian military intelligence (GRU) had successfully cultivated relationships with high-profile Silicon Valley billionaires, using a combination of flattery, backchannel political access, and subtle kompromat. When his superiors allegedly refused to escalate the matter, he attempted to alert the public through unofficial channels, an act the Department of Justice quickly branded as an unlawful release of classified material.

Followers of the Watch, this Ukrainian news outlet seems to anonymously refer to FBI SA Jonathan Buna who illegally downloaded 130 files of data for the purpose of writing an expose. (see Coriolanus, 23 March 2025):

Former FBI SA Jonathan Buna (Image: Public Domain)

Sources:

https://kyivinsider.com/fbi-agent-goes-public-with-russian-intelligence-operation-that-hooked-musk-and-theil/

https://oig.justice.gov/news/press-release/former-fbi-special-agent-arrested-disclosure-confidential-information

Dotard Trumpf Update

Pure Baboonery: Trumpf Admits Helping Vladimir Putin; Doubletalks About Receiving Gifts; Rambles Idiotic Speech at West Point; Ignores Soldiers in Memorial Day Post

Trumpf admitted that he has been helping Putin, something everyone on the planet already knew.

And when you read Trumpf’s Truth Social message, you could easily substitute the name “Vladimir Putin” with “Benjamin Netanyahu” and “Russia” with “Israel.”

The two criminal leaders of their respective Pariah states appear to have had a falling out over Iran and Gaza. Putin does not want Iran attacked as Russia has invested billions of dollars in their ally and Trumpf’s team is negotiating with Tehran, to the chagrin of Netanyahu who wants to destroy Iran’s nuclear industry. During Trumpf’s luxurious vacation in the Middle East, the wealthy Gulf States may have pressured Trumpf to help the people of Gaza.

Then listen to the Dotard’s doubletalk about receiving gifts, such as the Qatari jet recently given him.

The Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Forces, a man whose father arranged a draft deferment for him during the Vietnam War, issued an imbecilic commencement speech to the newly commissioned Second Lieutenants of the US Army where Trumpf talked about gangster Al Capone and “trophy wives.”

Followers of the Watch, do not lose too many brain cells over this inanity. Fast forward or skip this entirely.

Finally, here is Dotard Trumpf’s social post on Memorial Day. He deleted it, then re-posted it anyway. The first blasphemy in the post is that there is nothing ‘happy’ about commemorating America’s fallen warriors– this is not a celebratory holiday, but a somber occasion. Second, the venomous screed does not mention America’s soldiers who paid the ultimate price, but rather he attacks liberals, progressives, and Democrats. The Dotard ends the sacrilege with “God Bless America.”

Who’s Responsible for America Having This Baboon as President?

The tragedy in this comedy is that 49.8% of eligible American voters elected this clown to be President on 5 Nov 2024, preferring the completely corrupted and venal Dotard Trumpf over a competent woman of color because of racism. But Democrats must shoulder the greater burden of fault in this tragi-comedy. In 2024 they allowed themselves to lose 6,265,888 critical supporters they had in 2020– the antiwar progressives– by not withholding lethal military aid to Israel which was used to butcher the Palestinians daily. This resulted in Kamala Harris winning only 48.3% of the popular vote and losing most of the Electoral College. The unfortunate sobriquet “Genocide Joe” Biden stuck to the Democrats as the imagery of misery kept piling in day in and day out during the entire 2024 political season. Benjamin Netanyahu, the MIT graduate, knew exactly what he was doing by alienating the progressives from the Democratic Party.

Palestinians carrying their dead. (Photo: Courtesy of the NY Times)

The Democratic Party has no one else to blame for this hideous conundrum America is now in, having a baboon in the White House doing untold damage to the US economy and national security while he enriches himself and his fellow oligarchs, making imbecilic statements 24/7. AIPAC-supported Democrats will deflect and blame Felon Musk’s nefarious machinations, the tiny 1.1% Arab-American population, the archaic Electoral College system, or Joe Biden’s age. But it was the platform of Islamophobia that sunk them. Moreover, the Democratic Party is going to need every single vote it can get in the 2026 midterm and 2028 presidential elections, especially the 6,265,888 non-Islamophobic antiwar voters they lost in 2024. These Americans won’t vote for the Republicans, but neither will they vote for a Democrat that supports genocide, so they will stay home in Nov 2026 and 2028, just like they did in 1968 and 2024. Good luck, Democratic Party.

The Republican Party’s best friend.

Kangaroo Tries to Drown Man in Australian Floodwaters

Kangaroo attacks are rare in Australia. (Photo: Getty Images)

A large, muscular kangaroo tried to drown a man in Australia, after the two got into a punch-up. Don James is said to have found himself fighting for his life as the marsupial held him down in floodwaters which had pooled on the side of the road near Port Macquarie – only escaping after the marsupial appeared to become spooked.

Kristy Lees, who watched the battle unfold in her rear-view mirror said: “It’s not every day a big, male kangaroo decides to take you on… Even in Australia, you do not expect to see it.” She suspects the “very distressed” kangaroo had become trapped in the area following the record flooding that hit New South Wales this week, leaving five people dead.

“The kangaroo was trying to drown me,” Don James said.

“I just remember being under water and kicking and screaming and carrying on. It was pretty traumatic for a while there.”

Kangaroos have been known to appear to attempt to drown their foes – although these are usually animals the size of dogs.

Kangaroos have a lot of weapons such as sharp teeth, claws, and powerful legs. Like any animal that’s cornered or distressed, they can be quite dangerous. Reported one biologist:

“The problem with kangaroos and people is we’re both upright animals, we stand on our two feet, and an upright stance like that is a challenge to the male kangaroo.”

This man risked his life punching a kangaroo that threatened his dog. (Photo: National Geographic)

In 2022, a 77-year-old man south of Perth was killed by a kangaroo that he kept as a pet. When the ambulance crew arrived at the rural property, the kangaroo prevented them from treating the man. Police say they were forced to shoot the marsupial dead so paramedics could reach him. The man died at the scene.

Australia is home to about 50 million kangaroos, which can weigh up to 90kg and grow to 2m tall. But fatal attacks are rare; the last reported attack in Australia was 1936.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg71gqe068o

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-62884861

US Warzone: Ten Wounded in South Carolina Firefight

US Army medic hard at work saving a life. (Photo: US Army)

Ten people were shot and at least one other person was injured when a holiday weekend gathering at a charter boat in a South Carolina coastal community turned violent. Some of the casualties are in critical condition. The shooting stemmed from an altercation during a private Memorial Day weekend gathering on a charter boat in Little River, a community of about 11,000 people situated along the Intracoastal Waterway near the North Carolina state line. A North Myrtle Beach Police officer suffered a self-inflicted leg injury while responding to the Little River shooting after accidentally discharging his service weapon.

In an average year, 1,044 people die and 2,358 are wounded by firearms in South Carolina, which has the 6th-highest rate of gun violence in the US. South Carolina Firearm Licenses in 2021: 119,205. 49.4% of adults say they share their homes with at least one gun. In 2022, 48,000 Americans were killed by a firearm. Every eleven minutes someone is murdered with a gun.

In essence, the US is a warzone, but without a foreign military invasion. US governors should consider deploying medics from their respective Air and Army National Guard units throughout their states under Title 32 to save lives within the “golden hour.” These medics would support local ambulance services and save someone’s life without an ensuing catastrophic medical bill. Note that the horrendous Republican budget to pay for the tax cuts for the oligarchs will strip Medicaid and Medicare of critical funding. Rural hospitals will be hit the hardest and be forced to close. This will affect gun-loving Republicans in the Red States.

Idiotically, Dotard Trumpf signed Executive Orders loosening federal regulations on firearms and legalizing machine guns. The GOP also passed the legalization of pistol silencers, a favored tool of assassins. Under the Trumpf junta, the possibility exists that the US can reach 50,000 gun deaths. By contrast, Canada to the north suffers less than 300 gun deaths a year with 1/9th the US population.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/26/us/south-carolina-shooting-boat-gathering?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/gun-ownership-rates-by-state/26/

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

American Police State in Action

Watch an innocent US citizen get tackled by ICE agents:

ALABAMA: Leonardo Garcia Venegas is an American Citizen. He had a “Real ID”. It didn’t matter — because to Trump’s American Gestapo, brown is brown. More: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/…

The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) 2025-05-24T14:21:51.966Z

Do People Find France President Emmanuel Macron Annoying in Person?

At a recent summit in Tirana, Albania, Turkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seemed to have been annoyed by France President Emmanuel Macron, so he let him have it by clamping down on Macron’s finger and not letting go of it for several seconds:

President Erdogan may have been annoyed that President Macron placed his hand over the Turkish supremo’s during their handshake. Erdogan, the elder of the two statesmen did not rise for the younger Macron. Note that Turkish security agencies have been supplying Paris with intelligence on terrorism threats, including information that prevented an attack at the 2024 Olympics in France. In return, French police rounded up Kurdish dissidents and deported them to Turkiye (as you read previously here on Coriolanus). Critically, Erdogan is awaiting Macron to fulfill his pledge of recognizing the State of Palestine this summer.

Turkish strongman Erdogan doesn’t suffer fools; watch if he is less respectful with other global leaders.

Below, Brigitte Macron slaps her husband’s face as the doors of their plane opened, captured on video which went viral:

Thirsty Lion Advises Curious Turtle to Go Away

Israeli Defense Forces Have Their Own Dr. Josef Mengele: A Physician Compares Killing Palestinians in Gaza to Exterminating Cockroaches

Israeli army doctor Sabo Amos, pictured at what he says is an Israeli army outpost in Lebanon in February 2025 (X)

An Israeli doctor serving as an army reservist gleefully compared killing Palestinians in Gaza to “eliminating cockroaches.” Writing on X, surgeon Sabo Amos, said he had volunteered to take part in “eliminations” after his battalion had killed “dozens of terrorists” the previous day. “After all, we’re talking about eliminating cockroaches and other loathsome insects,” Amos wrote in the now deleted post. This loathsome man considers murdering Palestinians as a “public health matter.” Dr. Amos also posted an image which he said showed IDF soldiers participating in an afternoon Jewish prayer service in a mosque in northern Gaza. Why would Dr. Sabo Amos delete his own post? This diabolical man is another Dr. Josef Mengele.

Future Auschwitz doctor Josef Mengele, here in Frankfurt circa 1935, trained with Germany’s top eugenicists. He also didn’t consider his enemies human beings. (The Archives of the Max Planck Society, Berlin-Dahlem PHOTOS: Holocaust Encyclopedia)

In the past 24 hours of this post, the IDF murdered more than 50 Palestinians in Gaza, bringing the total to 53,272 dead and 120,673 wounded or maimed since 7 Oct 2023. The UN reports that two million Gazans are on the brink of starvation; 300 of their staff have been killed during the Nakba

One of the “cockroaches” that Dr. Sabo Amos is “eliminating.”

The leaders of the UK, France, and Canada condemned Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to take control of the entire Gaza Strip, accusing him of “egregious actions.” UK PM Keir Starmer, France President Emmanuel Macron, and Canada PM Mark Carney also warned of joint action if Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu did not halt the vicious military offensive in Gaza. As of March 2025, the State of Palestine is recognized as a sovereign state by 147 of the 193 member states of the UN.

One immediate thing these three global leaders can do is recognize the State of Palestine, like 75% of the world already has. How much longer could this Pariah state and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) continue to influence the remaining 46 countries of the UN?

Don’t believe Coriolanus?

Some Followers of the Watch are medical professionals and Coriolanus entreats all of you to circulate the name and face of the barbaric and smiling Dr. Sabo Amosa modern day Dr. Josef Mengele — so that he is permanently disinvited from medical conventions or conferences in your country.

As you previously read on Coriolanus, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) recently heard testimony from member states that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

One of Dr. Sabo Amos’ “loathsome insects.”

An international arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity issued by the ICC remains active for Benjamin Netanyahu. An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of a law.

Sources:

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-doctor-compared-killing-palestinians-gaza-eliminating-cockroaches

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-israel-starmer-france-canada-palestine-b2754209.html

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

https://usafacts.org/articles/how-much-military-aid-does-the-us-give-to-israel/

France to Build Supermax Prison Near Devil’s Island

France plans to build a brand new high-security prison in the Amazon rainforest near the site of the notorious Devil’s Island penal colony in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, French Guiana. Bordering Suriname, the new Bastille will cost French taxpayers a total 400 million euros ($451 million) and will also house a court. This jungle dungeon would incarcerate drug kingpins and radical Islamists, including 60 maximum-security prisoners. How much de-forestation to build this 500-inmate gulag in not clear.

Man’s inhumanity to man is on full display again. As the Trumpf junta is exporting undesirables to faraway and brutal destinations, now France President Emmanuel Macron will be returning to this archaic, cruel, and expensive punishment. How will families in France be able afford to visit their transatlantic imprisoned relations? Decades ago, Josef Stalin callously said: “No person, no problem.”

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/19/europe/france-prison-french-guyana-scli-intl

Americans Race for Europe to Flee Trumpf Junta

More Americans are exploring emigration to escape the draconian Trumpf regime, but those looking to Europe are seeing their options narrow by the day. Restrictions on skilled worker visas, tougher rules on citizenship-by-ancestry programs, and pressure on the once widespread Golden Visa program are all eroding the legal avenues Americans, and other migrants, can take to live in Europe. Popular nations such as Italy, which once offered flexible rights to those who could show ties to the country, are making the move more difficult.

One American said: “We want to exit. I’m at my maximum capacity of witnessing this.”

And who can blame these Americans? The Trumpf junta’s increased the powers of the police state and loosened more firearms regulations, while catastrophically mismanaging the economy. America’s cherished AAA credit rating was downgraded for the first time in a century, people’s retirement accounts are being eroded, and cuts to Medicaid and Medicare will kill thousands of people in the future. Weather and disease-related casualties will increase after Trumpf cut the budgets for NHS, CDC, NWS, NOAA, USPS, and NFS. The FDA will limit access to Covid-19 vaccines going forward to people 65 years of age and older and others who are at high risk.

And as you previously read here, aviation safety has indeed decreased under the Trumpf Reign of Terror, thanks to cuts at the FAA. The FAA is investigating another near-miss at LaGuardia Airport in NYC in early May. Dotard Trumpf certainly earned the distasteful but amusing sobriquet “President Plane Crash.”

Academics, scientists, physicians, researchers, intelligence professionals will have less problems finding ways to the EU or Canada as some governments have already expressed interest in accepting them, resulting in a brain drain for the US. Jan to Apr 2024 saw a 16% increase in the number of Americans hired by European companies.

In the span of a few months, Dotard Trumpf has turned America into a Pariah AND Rogue state like Israel and Russia, and soon to be a Failed State.

Sources:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-19/americans-escaping-trump-race-to-secure-european-citizenship

Archived link: https://archive.is/Lyl0B

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/strengthening-and-unleashing-americas-law-enforcement-to-pursue-criminals-and-protect-innocent-citizens/

Elon Musk To Fleece American Taxpayer Again While Enriching Himself

The worst person in the world will be enriching himself again at the detriment of the American taxpayer and the US national security establishment when Felon Musk’s SpaceX and Starlink companies receive the lion’s share of contracts for the multi-billion dollar Golden Dome missile defense system. This is Dotard Trumpf’s vison of President Ronald Reagan’s SDI or Star Wars defense project from the 1980s. To this end and sell the idea to the American citizen, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) posted this infographic below promoting the need for the Golden Dome aerospace defense system.

The graphic displays the primary ICBM threats to the US: China with 400, rising to 700 by 2035 and Russia with 350, rising to 400 by 2035. North Korea possesses ten ICBMs, but will have 50 by 2035 while Iran has none today but could have up to 60 ICBMs in ten years. See article below on China’s growth.

Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), but Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, and India are not.

The Golden Dome missile shield is set to receive $24.7 billion to kick off the initiative to tie together existing programs with newly developed technology. NORAD advises that Canada’s participation in the missile defense system is limited to research involving the detection of incoming threats. Elon Musk’s SpaceX company appears to be the front-runner to win a major contract in building the multi-billion dollar Golden Dome system.

Sidenote on Felon Musk’s Super AI Computer Colossus in Memphis, TN

Followers of the Watch are already aware that the world’s wealthiest man selected Memphis to host his super AI computer Colossus to take advantage of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) immense power grid.

An aerial image of xAI’s data center in southwest Memphis. Local residents are protesting against the facility’s use of gas-powered turbines. (Photo: Steve Jones Flight by Southwings for the Southern Environmental Law Center)

Felon Musk’s xAI facility is choking the residents of Shelby County with toxic air pollution and they are angry. The cancer risk from industrial sources in southwest Memphis is 4.1 times higher than the EPA’s acceptable risk, according to a ProPublica analysis.

Shelby County has an F in air quality for ozone levels from the American Lung Association and the highest rates of children hospitalized for asthma in Tennessee.”

What does the world’s richest man, a white racist from South Africa, care about the health and welfare of poor black people in Shelby County, Tennessee?

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_the_Treaty_on_the_Non-Proliferation_of_Nuclear_Weapons

https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-brought-world-biggest-123050175.html

Mexico Update

A Mexican security consultant who worked for the US State Department was ambushed at a restaurant in Guadalajara, Mexico. The former minister of security for Hidalgo state was also killed and another instructor was wounded. 

Mexico has a high homicide rate, mostly related to the drug cartels. In 2020, 35,644 murders took place and 70% of the recovered weapons originated in the US. 

Federal magistrates and judges in New Mexico are dismissing national security charges against immigrants who crossed through Trumpf’s newly designated military zone, finding little evidence that the immigrants knew about the zones. Federal prosecutors had charged 400 immigrants with misdemeanor trespassing. Misdemeanor illegal entry into the US charges remained.

In NYC, a Mexican Navy training ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge, killing two sailors and injuring 19 others on board as the tops of its masts were sheared off. The Cuauhtemoc, used for sail training and international goodwill tours, lost power just before crashing into the bridge at about 8PM.

Sources:

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/mexican-security-consultant-worked-us-state-department-killed-121915953

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2025-05-16/judges-dismiss-national-security-charges-against-immigrants-who-enter-new-militarized-zone-at-border

https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/nation/2025/05/17/mexican-navy-sailing-ship-hits-brooklyn-bridge/83704506007/

The Rise of Chinese Hegemony

A significant portion of the West spent the first quarter of the 21st century fighting wars of imperialism in Iraq and Afghanistan, costing trillions of dollars and thousands and thousands of lives. Russia invaded Ukraine and now Israel has invaded the Gaza Strip. These brutal wars serve only to benefit the leadership of these regimes, and not the common man. During all of these imperial adventures, China has been slowly and steadily marching towards global hegemony. China became the “factory of the world” and the second largest economy in the world, behind the US. China participates in UN peacekeeping missions and offers free medical care to poor patients via its military hospital ship. International polling indicates China is now more popular than the US. Followers of the Watch will recall that Beijing has a hypersonic space plane and they pose a direct threat to US space dominance. While the West wasted trillions of dollars on military misadventures, China stole or developed technologies over the past several decades to catch up and surpass her rivals.

Coriolanus is neither an alarmist nor a xenophobe. In fact, your humble author once lived in a metropolitan Chinatown and enjoys Szechuan cuisine. He has friends who are both Mandarin and Cantonese speakers. Your author is merely a cultural historian showing why China will one day establish its Celestial Mandate over the world.

Drone Mothership Coming to a War Near You

Jiu Tian can release vast swarms of drones to overwhelm enemy defenses. (Photo:: X /CG Meifang Zhang)

The Jiu Tian is an unmanned “drone mother ship” and is expected to take off for its first mission as part of a drive to boost the Chinese air force’s combat capabilities. Jiu Tian means “nine heavens”  and can carry six tons of ammunition and small-sized drones. The UAV has a maximum range of 4,350 miles and altitude of 50,000 feet. Swarms of drones, including kamikaze UAVs, can be released from both sides of the aircraft’s belly. The Jiu Tian is reportedly able to fly above many medium-range defense systems currently deployed around the world.

Watch below how this “drone mother ship” operates:

China’s J10 Fighters Shoot Down Six Russian and French-Made Indian Jets in Recent Mini-War

Pakistan flew China’s J-10 in recent aerial dogfights with India. (Image: X Screengrab)

Since the mid-20th century, China has been arming, investing in, and helping to construct Pakistan, which is a crucial nation in Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and a non-NATO ally of the US. Pakistan is China’s only overland access to the Arabian Sea that opens onto the Indian Ocean and the Middle East’s vital petroleum shipping lanes.

Pakistan claimed the six downed Indian aircraft with PL-15 missiles included three Rafales armed with European-built air-to-air Meteor missiles, a French Mirage 2000 jet, one Russian-supplied SU-30MKI and one Russian MiG-29, plus a “loitering” Israeli-supplied Heron surveillance drone and dozens of “killer drones” built by Israel.

This aviation loss was costly for India and their war planners must re-assess if the jet fighters they purchased from France and Russia are capable of beating the Chinese-made J10s. For Pakistan this was a boost to their morale and a lesson that their much larger foe is beatable. China is the biggest winner of this mini-war as international demand for the J10 fighter and the PL-15 missile will increase. Beijing also sees the fruits of their efforts to become a global superpower.

China Builds First Thorium-Fueled Nuclear Reactor

China just pulled off a feat no nation has managed before: it kept a nuclear reactor running while swapping out its radioactive fuel. That reactor, quietly humming away in the Gobi Desert, isn’t powered by uranium. It runs on thorium — a silvery metal that offers safer, cleaner, and more abundant nuclear energy with far less waste and no bomb-making potential. The two-megawatt research reactor is cooled and fueled by molten salt. There is little to no chance of a Chernobyl-like disaster with this process.

The US Invented It, But China Made It Work

This marks the first time anyone has successfully reloaded fuel in an operational thorium molten salt reactor (MSR) without shutting it down. And it puts China ahead in a race that, until recently, most countries didn’t even know had restarted. The concept of molten salt thorium reactors (MSRs) was pioneered by the US during the 1960s at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Despite their potential, the US abandoned the research in favor of uranium-based designs better suited for nuclear submarines and weapons development.

The Takeaways

  • Increased Safety: Thorium reactors operate at atmospheric pressure and use molten salts, which are far less likely to cause meltdowns compared to pressurized water reactors.
  • Reduced Nuclear Waste: They generate significantly less long-lived radioactive waste, and the waste produced is dangerous for hundreds of years — not thousands.
  • Proliferation Resistance: Thorium cycles make it harder to produce weapons-grade materials.
  • Fuel Abundance: Thorium is about four times more abundant than uranium in Earth’s crust.

China’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Capabilities

Chinese tech pioneer DeepSeek is disrupting global AI markets with open-source models priced 7 percent below Western counterparts, showcasing China’s ascent through cost-innovation synergies.

Here is a link if you wish to test China’s AI and compare it with Western AI platforms: https://www.deepseek.com/en

Deepseek is a glimpse of China’s commercially-available AI systems. No doubt Beijing has superior AI computers behind the Bamboo Curtain.

Potential for Chinese Digital Mischief in London

(Photo: Getty Images)

The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, has warned Parliament that Chinese-made microchips in UK infrastructure could be exploited to cause blackouts and ‘immobilize London.’

Chinese-made cellular IoT modules (CIMs) are embedded in a wide range of everyday objects and infrastructure. These devices are reportedly also present in critical infrastructure including traffic light systems and electric cars. CIMs are also in systems including routers and financial terminals.  These devices could potentially be accessed by their manufacturers at any time and a simultaneous kill-switch operation would paralyze a city.

The US FCC banned several Chinese-made telecommunications devices and video surveillance equipment from sales in America because of the threat to national security.

Chinese Maritime Mischief

Coast Guard patrol boat intercepts Chinese man on styrofoam float off Erdan Island on Tuesday. (CGA photo)

That includes at least one case posted to Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, in which a man speaking with a strong mainland Chinese accent is seen planting a Chinese flag on what he says is a Taiwanese beach. Scenes in the background appear to show a stretch of coastline south of the capital Taipei. The man has not been found or publicly identified, and Taiwanese authorities are seeking to ascertain whether he received help from anyone on the island.

Another case involved a father and son who were apprehended shortly after reaching land, along with a man who came ashore at a fishing port in a popular tourist area north of Taipei.

The small size of the boats, some just inflatables for having fun at the beach, makes it difficult for Taiwan’s radar to pick them up. Taiwanese authorities assess that one of these landings was to coincide with the one year anniversary of President Lai Ching-te’s administration.

According to the Global Firepower Index, China is ranked third out of 145 countries, behind the US and Russia. Although China has a while to go to catch up with the US and Russia, as you could see they are making great strides. China has 1,416,096,094 people, ten times the population of Russia. Moreover, Beijing is both patient and economical, not wasting resources like the US or Russia. While Beijing is making money manufacturing weapons for Russia, the Chinese military is also observing which tactics, techniques, and procedures are working in the war against Ukraine, all without suffering any casualties. In the meantime, China will proceed calmly along towards fulfilling her Celestial Mandate.

Sources:

https://futurism.com/china-thorium-nuclear-power

https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/china-just-powered-up-the-worlds-first-thorium-reactor-and-reloaded-it-mid-run/

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/05/20/forget-chinas-navy-chinese-small-boats-landings-taiwan-are-new-source-of-concern.html

https://thediplomat.com/2025/02/the-rise-of-deepseek-chinas-answer-to-silicon-valleys-ai-dominance/

https://www.gbnews.com/lifestyle/cars/china-turn-off-britains-traffic-lights-cars-mi6

https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-bans-authorizations-devices-pose-national-security-threat

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

Mysterious White Streak Flew Over US Skies During Surprise Aurora Storm

Mike Lewinski photographed the white streak above Crestone, Colorado.

A moderate (G2 class) geomagnetic storm arrived early 16 May after Earth caught the glancing blow of a coronal mass ejection (CME). But that wasn’t the cause of this atmospheric phenomenon, which to some observers may have looked similar to the aurora borealis (AKA the “Northern Lights.”)

FTA:

The culprit? A recent rocket launch. Roughly an hour earlier, Chinese company Landscape had launched its ZhuQue-2E methane-fueled rocket from Site 96 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC), in China. It carried six satellites into orbit, including a radar spacecraft and space science payload. The streak was likely from a de-orbit or circularization burn, possibly related to satellite deployment.

Astronomer Jonathan McDowell confirmed that the white streak of light was the result of the ZhuQue-2E upper stage passing over the US Four Corners area. The white streak was caused by the fuel dump from the upper stage at about 155 miles (250 kilometers) altitude.

ZhuQue-2E rocket launch (Photo courtesy of http://www.nasaspaceflight.com)

Source:

https://www.space.com/stargazing/mysterious-white-streak-spotted-over-us-skies-during-surprise-aurora-storm-what-was-it-photos

White Lioness Safe from Poachers

After US Republican Budget Passes, Israel Renews Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza, Killing 400 on First Day

Followers of the Watch, keeping up with the nefarious Donald Trumpf junta is challenging, but Coriolanus will do his utmost to capture the most salient issues, beginning with the renewed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and how we got here.

Schumer’s security concerns: “Jewish Voice for Peace” volunteers. Above is a sit-in at Trumpf Tower, NY.

So, why did Senator Schumer cave in to the Republicans and the oligarchs without a fight?

“Chuck Schumer: The Man Who Let American Fascism Rise Without a Fight” (Photo: Kent Nishimura for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Connecting the dots for a retired US Army intelligence officer can be tricky at times, but not on this occasion. Across the Atlantic Ocean, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is facing more domestic challenges to his iron-fisted rule. He announced that he is trying to fire his Director of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, who knows all the secrets of Netanyahu’s mishandling and cover-up of the 7 Oct 2023 surprise attacks. Netanyahu’s corruption trial is also hobbling him.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s greatest threats aren’t Iran, the Palestinians, or the Houthis. His most dangerous enemies are D/Mossad David Barnea, D/Shin Bet Ronen Bar, D/Mossad David Barnea, and Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara.

So, what happens next? The US budget is passed, freeing billions of dollars of aid to Israel. Over the weekend, Donald Trumpf orders the bombing of the Houthis in south Yemen, a Shia tribe aligned with Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah (LH). The Houthis are undergoing a man-made famine thanks to Sunni Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS), whose ground forces were unable to defeat the Shias. The Houthis counter-attack against Israeli shipping in the Gulf of Aden or the Red Sea on behalf of Iran and LH, since they and the UN are the only entities helping them.

By conducting this military strike, Trumpf is killing two birds with one stone, doing a favor to both Benjamin Netanyahu and Muhammad Bin Salman. Below is the Dotard fascinated by the video feed of brown-skinned people being nebulized by powerful precision rocket strikes from USCENTCOM forces:

Before golfing in West palm Beach, Trumpf called the Houthis “barbarians.”

Given the financial green light from the US budget thanks to Chuck Schumer, and the political green light from Trumpf, Netanyahu announces that Hamas has reneged on the ceasefire and begins a brutal attack on the people in Gaza. On the first day of the renewed Nakba, the IDF killed 400 Palestinians. As a wartime Prime Minister, Netanyahu again delays his corruption trial and drowns out talks of inquiries. This was all done in one week.

An international arrest warrant issued by the ICC for Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes remain active.

Adjusting for inflation, US aid to Israel from 1951 to 2022 totaled $317.9 billion, making it the largest recipient of American foreign aid since World War II.

Regardless if a Labor or Likud Prime Minister was leading Israel, Senator Chuck Schumer’s voting patterns in the US Congress reflect that he wants to ensure the uninterrupted flow of American taxpayer funds to Israel. This is why his critics refer to him as the “Senior Senator from Israel.” Unlike US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) who called for stopping US military aid to Israel during the Nakba, Senator Schumer timidly called for Israel to hold elections against Netanyahu. The most powerful lobbying group in the US is AIPAC. Bernie Sanders and AOC do not receive a dime from AIPAC.

Simply put, US Senator Chuck Schumer put the interests of the State of Israel ahead of the interests of the American people, and everybody knows it. Hence, the chorus of calls for him to step down as Senate Minority Leader. Serious discussions have arisen about challenging him in a primary. And who cares if hundreds of Arabs are needlessly killed or American servicemembers in the Middle East are put in harm’s way?

Two indicted criminals awaiting justice. (Photo:  Carlos Barria / Reuters)

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

“Uh, just one more thing, Senator…”

Citations:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-says-it-is-striking-hamas-targets-in-gaza-and-will-intensify-military-force/ar-AA1B7jjz

https://www.thefiscaltimes.com/newsletter/20231102-House-Passes-143B-Israel-Aid-Bill-Setting-Clash-Senate

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/senate-leader-schumer-says-chamber-will-rush-through-military-aid-israel-2023-10-15/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/chuck-schumer-push-stripped-israel-ukraine-aid-package-gop-blocks-sena-rcna137661

https://www.commondreams.org/news/government-shutdown-2025

https://www.businessinsider.com/netanyahu-white-house-trump-recognizes-golan-heights-israel-2019-3

https://indivisibleeb.org/

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/schumer-not-leader-need

https://www.trackaipac.com/states/newyork

https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-says-hell-fire-shin-bet-chief-bar-ag-says-he-cant-before-legal-review/

https://www.timesofisrael.com/arrogance-and-inherent-blindness-civil-probe-slams-netanyahu-for-oct-7-failures/

How much aid does the US give to Israel? (usafacts.org)

Russia-Ukraine Update

The most important fact to remember is Vladimir Putin and Donald Trumpf are not good faith actors, like Benjamin Netanyahu and Elon Musk.

Ukraine and Russia Exchange 175 POWs

Ukraine secures return of 175 defenders from Russian captivity on 19 Mar (Photo: Zelensky / Telegram)

175 Ukrainian soldiers were released after a one-for-one prisoner trade with Russia. Another 22 Ukrainian service members returned through negotiations outside of the one-for-one swap. “This is one of the largest exchanges. Our soldiers, sergeants and officers are returning. The soldiers who fought for our freedom in the Armed Forces, Navy, National Guard, Territorial Defense Forces and Border Guard,” President Volodomir Zelensky stated. These 175 Ukrainian POWs are lucky to be alive because elements of the Russian forces have been torturing and executing prisoners since Putin launched his invasion in Feb 2022, as you have read here on Coriolanus.

Look how happy this poor guy is to be free from the clutches of the Russians. (Photo: Zelensky / Telegram)

Russia has lost 897,010 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on 24 Feb 2022. The number includes 1,560 casualties suffered just over the past day according to the General Staff of Ukraine Armed Forces.

Russia has also lost 10,352 tanks, 21,509 armored fighting vehicles, 40,892 vehicles and fuel tanks, 24,640 artillery systems, 1,319 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,107 air defense systems, 370 airplanes, 331 helicopters, 29,616 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

This has been quite an expensive war for the Pariah State in terms of population, materiel, morale, and international reputation. No doubt Vladimir Putin enjoyed reading about US military casualties and costs in Iraq and Afghanistan, only to find he vastly surpassed US losses in only three years.

Putin Increased Sabotage Attacks to Pressure Europe and US

Over the past two years, Russia has significantly increased sabotage against European countries that support Ukraine. The number of attacks on critical infrastructure quadrupled in 2023 and tripled in 2024. Moscow is waging a covert campaign against submarine cables, warehouses, and rail networks in Europe in an attempt to put pressure on the West. Poland blamed Russia for the fire at this Warsaw shopping center pictured above.

Lithuanian authorities assess that Russian military intelligence organized and funded the Ikea store arson attack in Vilnius in 2024. The main suspect in the incident engaged with “Russian military and security services” and accepted payment as part of a terrorist organization plotting attacks in both Lithuania and Latvia. The suspect is said to have planted a timed fuse in the store on 9 May 2024, which was activated overnight.

After filming the fire and sending the footage, the suspect in the case attempted to cover up their tracks and fled to Warsaw — where they picked up a BMW as a reward for completing the task.

Saboteur activity has decreased in recent weeks against the backdrop of US diplomatic efforts to end the war. Experts predict that attacks may resume after the adoption of new European decisions on assistance to Ukraine.

Putin Puts Trumpf Call on Hold While Talking to Oligarchs

Trumpf reacts in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, 6 Mar 2025 (Photo: Reuters / Evelyn Hockstein)

Russian President Vladimir Putin waved off concerns that he was making US President Donald Trumpf wait for a planned phone call on the Ukraine war as he was speaking to Russian oligarchs instead. Financial Times Moscow Bureau Chief Max Seddon noted Tuesday morning that Putin was speaking to the group even though the call with Trump was due on his schedule.

“Putin is meant to be speaking to Trumpf around now, but he is talking to a room full of oligarchs instead,” Seddon wrote on X. “Asked if he’s going to be late, Putin waves off the question and says not to listen to his spokesman.”

This is what happens when the court jester is crowned as king. Republicans voted for this and own it.

French Legislators Condemn Trumpf

The Statue of Liberty in Paris, France.

Paris should take back the Statue of Liberty because the US no longer represents the values that led France to offer the statue, French Euro-Deputy Raphael Glucksmann demanded. “Give us back the Statue of Liberty. We’re going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom: ‘Give us back the Statue of Liberty,'” he told cheering supporters. “‘We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home,'” he added.

French Senator Claude Malhuret castigated Trumpf and compared the White House to the court of insane Roman Emperor Nero: “Never in history has a President of the United States capitulated to the enemy. Never has anyone supported an aggressor against an ally.”

Malhuret continued: “We were at war with a dictator, now we are fighting a dictator backed by a traitor.”

Meanwhile, the outgoing German government agreed to release an additional three billion euros ($3.3 billion) in military assistance for Ukraine. They also warned their citizens about traveling to the US because of the recent detention of their citizens by ICE.

As you read here on Coriolanus, the European powers and Canada are organizing a defense of Ukraine without the US. France announced that it will provide intelligence, most likely satellite imagery and SIGINT, to Kiev as well as extend its independent nuclear arsenal to “allies.” This is what happens when the President of the United States is a Russian asset.

Citations:

https://www.euronews.com/2025/03/17/lithuania-says-russian-military-intelligence-behind-ikea-arson-attack-in-vilnius

https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-returns-175-ukrainian-service-members-from-russian-captivity/

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1148026

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-putin-ukraine-phone-call/

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-monitoring-us-detentions-of-its-citizens/a-71952116

North Korea Publicly Executes Three Men for Trying to Escape by Boat

A North Korean navy ship, top right, patrols near fishing boats at South Korea-controlled Yeonpyeong island, 31 May 2009. (Photo: Byun Yeong Wook / AFP)

North Korea publicly executed three men — shooting each with 90 machine gun rounds — for attempting to flee to democratic South Korea by boat. Authorities then burned their corpses in front of horrified residents of the town, who were forced to watch. The three victims, all in their 30s, had been caught in January. In Dec 2023, hundreds of residents were forced to gather at an airfield in frigid weather to watch authorities execute a 23-year-old man by firing squad. His alleged crime was murdering a woman while trying to steal about $6 worth of beans from her. Public executions are a common occurrence in North Korea, for crimes like murder or human trafficking, or even distribution South Korean videos.

A North Korean defector reacts next to a drawing depicting a public execution of a North Korean soldier, at a human rights rally in Seoul, South Korea, 14 Apr 2011. (Photo: AP)

Sadistic North Korean supremo Kim Jong-un fattens himself and his treasury by sending cannon fodder to Russia and keeping their salaries. Pyongyang is also making money through criminal enterprises, like the recent massive crypto-heist which you read about here on Coriolanus. While his people are starving, North Korean soldiers are selling their equipment for money and scrounging for cigarette butts on sidewalks.

North Korean cigarette pack.

The North Korean army is ordering soldiers to stop scrounging the streets for cigarette butts to smoke even as commanders keep some of the soldiers’ monthly cigarette rations for themselves. In the past, it was just the lower-ranked soldiers who looked for butts, but now even the higher-ranked soldiers are doing it too. Each soldier is supposed to get 15 packs per month in rations, but the higher ranks skim off the top. In the case of the border guards, each soldier used to be supplied with 15 packs of Baekseung-brand cigarettes per month, but since last fall, they have only been supplied with 10 packs. Female soldiers are forbidden from smoking, so they trade their ration of cigarettes for other things.

North Korean soldiers smoke cigarettes as they stand on the banks of the Yalu River near Sinuiju, 4 May 2014. (Photo:  Jacky Chen / Reuters)

Hungry North Korean soldiers are selling some of their military equipment to buy food, prompting officials to conduct inspections that have caught some soldiers without all their issued gear. Though the country’s military is often said to be under-supplied, military-grade items tend to be of better quality than products civilians can obtain, so are viewed as desirable. Weapons are used often during training, but personal gear like tents, lunch boxes, canteens and waterproof rice containers are not used as often, so some soldiers figure they won’t be missed.

In North Korea, able-bodied men are required to serve ten years in the 1.2 million-strong military after high school, from around age 18, while able-bodied women must serve seven years. But rations can be small and new recruits plead with their parents for food after enlisting.

Kim Jong-un enjoying his cigarettes and light refreshment while his people starve and his soldiers scrounge the streets for butts.

Victor Hugo wrote in Les Miserables: “There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher.” 

US President Donald Trump (R) and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un shake hands following a signing ceremony during their historic US-North Korea summit. (Photo: Saul Loeb/ / AFP / Getty Images)

In 2018, President Trumpf took his enthusiasm for his detente with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to new heights, declaring at a rally with supporters that “we fell in love” after exchanging letters.

Citations:

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/public-execution-12222023162046.html

https://www.rfa.org/english/korea/2025/03/19/north-korea-soldiers-cigarette-butts/

https://www.rfa.org/english/korea/2025/03/15/north-korea-soldiers-sell-gear/

https://www.reuters.com/article/world/we-fell-in-love-trump-swoons-over-letters-from-north-koreas-kim-idUSKCN1MA03L/

US: Louisiana Prisoner Executed With Nitrogen Gas

The late Jessie Hoffman Jr was convicted of murder.

Louisiana executed a man convicted of murder with nitrogen gas on Tuesday evening, the state’s first execution in 15 years and its first using the largely-untested method. A raging legal battle ended with a gas mask strapped over his face in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola death chamber. State officials pronounced Jessie Hoffman Jr. dead at 6:50 p.m. Tuesday at Angola. He inhaled pure nitrogen gas through a mask strapped to his face for 19 minutes while pinned to a gurney, until oxygen deprivation caused him to die. Officials acknowledged that Hoffman showed “convulsive activity” as he died and that he moved and shook.

An appeal stated that since Hoffman is a Buddhist, his breathing and meditation practices would be disrupted by the execution process. “Kill me with a firing squad, at least then, I’ll be able to breathe air at the time of my death,’ Hoffman requested. The state said no.

Dead Man Walking (1995) with global activist nonpareil Sean Penn took place in a Louisiana death row. Susan Sarandon portrayed Sister Helen Prejean who continues advocating against the death penalty.

Sister Helen Prejean. (Undated photo)

When Trumpf bombed the starving Houthis, he called them “barbarians.” Republican-controlled red states are using firing squads and now nitrogen gas to execute prisoners, as if the death penalty will deter violent crime or bring back the victims. Perhaps these faux Christians in the Republican Party will bring back lapidation as a punishment.

Citation:

https://www.nola.com/news/courts/jessie-hoffman-nitrogen-gas-louisiana-execution-death-penalty/article_be325356-03bb-11f0-8525-a3855f3523b9.html

Ireland’s Little-Known Intelligence Agency: J2

EU member Ireland has a population of approximately 5,233,461 people who enjoy a $114,900 GDP per capita. 7,500 active-duty personnel make up the Irish armed forces, which is not part of NATO. In terms of military strength, Ireland is ranked 97 out of 145 countries by the Global Firepower Index (GFI), yet her military successfully participates in UN peacekeeping missions worldwide. In fact, Ireland “punches above her weight” on the geo-political stage.

Besides the armed forces and the Garda (the national constabulary), protecting Ireland is a small, but effective secretive agency called “J2”. Excerpted from Spyscape with gratitude, let’s see one of the reasons why welterweight Ireland effectively punches as a heavyweight in international affairs.

FTA:

“Ireland’s Directorate of Military Intelligence, AKA J2, is one of the most secretive units in Europe and the main intelligence branch of the Defense Forces.

J2 has been monitoring suspected Russian spies at Moscow’s embassy in Dublin since the compound opened in 1973 and deploys alongside Irish forces on international duties.

J2 is the national intelligence service of the Irish Armed Forces operating domestically and internationally. Traditionally, J2’s work in Ireland has focused on suspected terrorists and terrorist sympathizers but J2 also gathers intelligence from UN mission reports and other sources that would be helpful to Irish peacekeeping forces abroad. Ireland’s secret service retained its €2m ($2.18m) annual funding as part of the 2024 Budget, reportedly up from €750,000 in 2019.

Irish peacekeepers in the Golan Heights (Undated photo: Defense Forces)

Staff are drawn from the Army, Naval Service, and Air Corps. The service is under the command of a Colonel, known as the Director of Military Intelligence, who provides a monthly intelligence briefing to Ireland’s Minister for Defense. J2’s current director is not named

J2’s HQ is believed to be at McKee Barracks in Dublin.

Internally, J2 works with Ireland’s national police counterterrorism and counter-espionage unit known as the Garda Síochána (Guardian of the Peace) Special Detective Unit. Externally, J2 liaises with foreign intelligence agencies like CIA, as well as government and non-governmental agencies.

G2/J2

G2 – The Office of the Directorate of Intelligence began in the 1920s as the intelligence arm of the Irish Army following the Anglo-Irish Treaty, a designation used to refer to an Army intelligence, security, and information branch.

J2 – The Directorate later became the intelligence service for the entire Irish Armed Forces, and J2 now refers to joint services for the Army, Naval Service, and Air Corps, as well as its national security roles.

Known Operations

While Ireland was militarily ‘neutral’ in WWII, G2 had secret agreements with Britain’s MI5 and the US Office of Strategic Services (the predecessor to the CIA). G2 intercepted German naval and aerial communications through Irish listening stations and apprehended more than a dozen Nazi spies including notorious spy Hermann Görtz. Ireland also broke German codes during the war, under the supervision of cryptologist Richard J. Hayes.

Army officers reportedly headed to Portugal in 1943 posing as Red Cross officials delivering supplies (including 52 tons of potatoes) to neutral Portugal for refugees in Spain. Their real mission – dubbed Spuds for Secrets by the Irish media – was to gather intel on Irish minister Leopold H. Kerney in Madrid. Kerney had met with Edmund Veesenmayer, one of the Nazis involved in plotting secret German operations in Ireland. G2 contacted British spies in Lisbon and Madrid and had a good look around but eventually concluded Kerney was neutral.

From the late 1960s to 1998, G2 was said to be involved in intelligence-gathering operation during ‘The Troubles’, the decades-long conflict drawn largely along religious lines between Catholics and Protestants. G2 officers crossed the border into Northern Ireland on intelligence-gathering missions from 1969.

J2 military intelligence had their hands full monitoring the comings and goings at the Russian Embassy in Dublin, established in 1973. Within a decade, Ireland expelled three suspected KGB spies. Five decades later, J2 is still at it, The Irish Times reports. J2 conducts limited work in the embassy area, sometimes using the Army Ranger Wing to carry out surveillance.

Irish journalist Rory Carroll

In 2005, Arabic-speaking J2 officers were reportedly deployed in Iraq following the kidnapping of Irish journalist Rory Carroll in Baghdad by militants. With J2 working alongside the British and American governments, Carroll was released unharmed and returned safely to Dublin.

Lisa Smith. As a soldier, she had worked on the PM’s private plane.

In 2019, J2 reportedly drew up a plan with US military intelligence to extract Lisa Smith, a former Irish Army soldier who converted to Islam and allegedly joined ISIS militants. According to some reports, J2’s extraction plan was rejected by the Irish government but Ms. Smith was brought back to Ireland in 2019 and charged with terror offenses. Ms. Smith denies the charges.

In 2023, the Irish military launched a recruiting campaign to hire Russian language and cultural analysts to work with intelligence officers – Arabic and Chinese specialists have already been hired. The Journal reported that the job would feed into data gathered by J2.”

Citations:

https://spyscape.com/article/j2-spies-who-are-irelands-equivalent-to-the-cia

https://www.thejournal.ie/russian-irish-defence-forces-linguist-6066714-May2023/

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

https://www.ireland.ie/en/un/newyork/

New Strain of Bird Flu Wipes Out Mississippi Poultry Farm

A new strain of a highly pathogenic bird flu known as H7N9 has surfaced at a poultry farm in Mississippi where chickens are raised for breeding.

The finding of the new strain came as researchers separately reported a potentially positive development: Exposure to human seasonal flu may confer some immunity to H5N1 bird flu.

The new strain found in Noxubee County, Miss., was confirmed 12 Mar and all of the roughly 46,000 birds either died or were euthanized after the infection spread, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service and Mississippi’s Board of Animal Health. None of the birds entered the food supply.

Authorities didn’t say how the birds were infected, although federal wildlife agents had been identifying low-pathogenic versions of the H7N9 virus for several years in wild birds. It is possible that the version found in the chickens is circulating in wild birds, but most researchers think it probably acquired its deadly attributes once it got into the Noxubee chicken operation.

These chickens were grown and maintained for breeding purposes, not for their meat. This is significant because breeders live for months, if not years. If a low-pathogenic virus “happens to get into a broiler meat flock, the birds don’t get sick and they go on to slaughter,” an analyst said. But when a breeder flock picks up that virus, “the virus can replicate for weeks … this may well be what happened in Mississippi.”

Is the Trumpf junta, headed by quacks, fraudsters, and mountebanks capable of dealing with the economy-crushing avian flu, whooping cough, or spreading measles which has reached a five-year high with 15 states reporting cases?

Citations:

https://phys.org/news/2025-03-strain-bird-flu-mississippi-poultry.html

https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/03/us-measles-cases-reach-5-year-high-15-states-report-cases-texas-outbreak-grows/

UN: 151 Unprecedented Climate Disasters Struck World in 2024

Floods, heatwaves, and supercharged hurricanes occurred in the hottest climate human society has ever experienced.  The devastating impacts of the climate crisis reached new heights in 2024, with scores of unprecedented heatwaves, floods and storms across the globe, according to the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The WMO’s report on 2024, the hottest year on record, sets out a trail of destruction from extreme weather that took lives, demolished buildings and ravaged vital crops. More than 800,000 people were displaced and made homeless, the highest yearly number since records began in 2008.

The report lists 151 unprecedented extreme weather events in 2024, meaning they were worse than any ever recorded in the region. Heatwaves in Japan left hundreds of thousands of people struck down by heatstroke. Soaring temperatures during heatwaves peaked at 49.9C at Carnarvon in Western Australia, 49.7C in the city of Tabas in Iran, and 48.5C in a nationwide heatwave in Mali.

The 2024 Los Angeles fires.

Sadly, the earth is most likely passed the tipping scale for recovery. Greenhouse gas emissions (methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) have been steadily growing in the atmosphere and ocean water temperatures are rising. Deforestation and desertification are taking away nature’s ability to convert CO2 to oxygen. With the polar caps melting, sea levels of warmer water will rise. The earth will have less ability to cool itself off. In the future we will see more flooding and wildfires, more toxic algae blooms in the oceans, more powerful hurricanes, and tornadoes raging in the strangest places. Idiotically, Trumpf has reduced the budgets for NOAA and other agencies that could monitor weather threats and analyze trends to find solutions.

Citations:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/19/unprecedented-climate-disasters-extreme-weather-un-report

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-team-looks-to-drastically-cut-noaa-staff-and-budget/

Meet Dog That Behaves Like Cat

Europe Step Ups for Ukraine

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

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

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

Trumpf’s Underhandedness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ukrainian Army sniper “Lektor” in an undated photo.

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

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

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

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

France Responds

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

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

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

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

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

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

The EU Responds with ReArm Europe

Excerpt from EU President Ursula von der Leyen statement:

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

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

Sources:

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

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

Press statement by the President on the defense package

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

www.globalfirepower.com

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

www.bbc.com

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

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

Canada Punches Back Against Trumpf

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

British Columbia Premier David Eby

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

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

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

Total Estimated Cost to the US Economy

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

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

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

Tax Revenue Loss: ~$30 million

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

Ultra Low Noise Miniature Triaxial Accelerometers

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

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

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

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

Source:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Palestinian children in IDF detention. (Undated photo)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

US Stops Sharing Air Quality Data From Embassies Worldwide

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

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

Sources:

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

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

Unvaccinated Americans Dying or Sickening from Preventable Illnesses

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

Second measles death reported in ongoing outbreak

Minnesota officials report tetanus case in unvaccinated child in 2024

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

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

Helpful Cats

Donald Trumpf is America’s Godzilla

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Western intelligence agency cooperation saved Armin Papperger’s life.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

Former Federal Reserve Senior Adviser Indicted For Economic Espionage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

US mercenaries in Iraq.

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

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

Sources:

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

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

Western France Battles Worst Floods in Decades Following Storm Ivo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

US Urges Ukraine to Hold Elections After Ceasefire

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

FTA:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source:

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

Sudan: Dengue Outbreak Amid Worsening Health Crisis and Conflict

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

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

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

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

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

Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Sources:

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

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

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

Bengal Cat and Mini Dachshund Having Fun

Germany: Thousands Protest Rightwing AfD Congress

Police officers clash with protesters during a demonstration near the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party congress in Riesa, Germany, on 11 Jan 2025. Note that polizei officers can be identified with their numbers if they are abusive. Anyone arrested in Germany must be seen by a judge within 24 hours or they must be released. (Photo: Thilo Schmuelgen / Reuters)

Thousands of protesters shouting “No to Nazis” gathered in the German town of Riesa, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party held a key convention approving co-leader Alice Weidel as candidate for chancellor in next month’s snap election.

The meeting, which brought 600-odd delegates together on Saturday, eventually got under way two hours behind schedule after police cleared thousands of protesters mounting blockades in the AfD stronghold town, located in the eastern state of Saxony.

Saxon left-wing politician Nam Duy Nguyen was beaten by a police officer during the protests and was temporarily unconscious. A companion of the state parliament member was also hit in the face and injured. The police seemed to efficiently clear the path of protestors for the AfD.

Neo-Nazi Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD party, gestures after she was elected as top candidate for chancellor in the upcoming general elections at the party congress in Riesa, Germany, on 11 Jan 2025. Ms.Weidel apparently has an unpleasant voice, reminding listeners of nails scratching against a blackboard. (Photo: Thilo Schmuelgen / Reuters)

Alice Weidel’s grandfather, Hans Weidel, was a prominent Nazi judge. Appointed directly by Adolf Hitler, he was responsible for sentencing opponents of the Third Reich.

So much for the American taxpayer-funded De-Nazification and Marshall Programs following the Second World War.

Sources:

https://www.politico.eu/article/hidden-nazi-heritage-germany-far-right-leader-afd-alice-weidel-hans-weidel-warsaw/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/11/german-protesters-attempt-to-block-far-right-afd-congress

France Hands Over Last Army Base in Chad Ahead of 31 Jan Deadline

French soldiers in the Sahel. The last of them left the Abéché military base in Chad on 11 Jan 2025 as part of a withdrawal agreement.

In late Nov 2024, Chad abruptly ended military cooperation with its former colonial ruler, and French troops began leaving the country in late Dec 2024. Chad was the last Sahel country hosting French soldiers with approximately 1,000 personnel. French soldiers and fighter aircraft have been stationed in Chad almost continuously since the country’s independence in 1960, helping to train the Chadian military.

Per CIA, the Chad population is approximately 19,000,000 and GDP per capita is $1,800.

Anti-French sentiments have swept Chad, with thousands of people protesting for French military departure after Boko Haram insurgents killed 40 Chadian soldiers in the Lake Chad region in Oct 2024. The Chadian government accused France of failing to provide support or intelligence, leading to demands for French troops to withdraw and the termination of the defense pact.

Chadians waving Russian flags. (Photo: Denis Sassou Gueipeur / AFP)

Chad is rich in natural resources: petroleum, uranium, natron, kaolin, fish (Lake Chad), gold, limestone, sand and gravel, and salt. The Russian Wagner Group has been increasing its presence in other Sahel countries protecting mining operations that funnel resources back to Moscow to finance Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the Central African Republic (CAR), where Wagner is ubiquitous, mercenaries have killed or driven out artisanal miners and taken over processing operations across the northern and eastern regions. In Sudan, Wagner has smuggled millions of dollars in gold from the country.

Undated photo of Wagner mercenaries, a new “Afrika Korps” for the Kremlin. Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses Wagnerites of committing war crimes in Africa and the US designated them a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).


The French geo-political and military footprint in Africa continues to shrink while the Kremlin (and Beijing) increase their influence operations on the Dark Continent.

Sources:

https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20250111-france-hands-over-second-army-base-in-chad-ahead-of-31-january-deadline

https://www.dw.com/en/why-chad-ended-its-military-deal-with-france/a-71173204

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdx6462wl07o

https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/12/12/mali-atrocities-army-and-wagner-group

https://adf-magazine.com/2023/03/wagner-group-targets-chad-for-sahel-expansion/

https://ascir.org/2021/11/18/why-china-is-building-africas-railways/

North Korea Intensifies Surveillance of Chinese Phone Users Along Border

North Korea has intensified its crackdown on Chinese mobile phones along its 840-mile border with China as part of efforts to tighten internal controls by limiting communication with the outside world. The border has been previously described as “porous” and there are 25 official border crossings between North Korea and China.

Authorities recently caught a Musan resident attempting to make a call to China. “The state security department’s radar bureau detected and arrested them within one minute of placing the call. They remain in state security detention,” a source reported.

Along the border, Ministry of State Security radar units use specialized equipment to track specific frequencies and signals, enabling real-time detection of calls to China. When agents detect Chinese telecommunications frequencies in residential areas, they immediately raid the suspected location.

The bridge over Tumen River in Yanbian, Jilin Province, connects China to North Korea. (Photo: IC)

In Yanbian, China, an ethnically Korean region on the border with North Korea, many people have relatives on the other side of the river. But these relationships are frequently kept secret. Ethnic North Koreans on the Chinese side of the border have difficulties finding spouses.

A view from the Chinese side of the bridge. A portrait of Kim Il-sung hangs on the North Korean side. (Photo taken in 2014: IC)

The Friendship Bridge over the Tumen River is for railway use only and connects North Korea to Russia. They share a ten-mile terrestrial border and a 12-mile maritime border.

Kim Jong-un wants to limit outside information from entering North Korea, a practice that has gone on for decades. There is nothing to suggest that this is affecting smuggling across the border. Moreover, there is no information that North Koreans calling migrants and relatives in the Russia Far East Oblast have been geo-located and arrested like the poor victims cited in the article. So this crackdown may also be tied with Pyongyang’s recent tilt towards Moscow, away from Beijing.

The North Korean supremo enjoying a cigarette with light refreshment while his people starve and his soldiers get slaughtered in Russia. (Photo: Reuters)

Sources:

https://www.dailynk.com/english/n-korea-intensifies-surveillance-of-chinese-phone-users-along-border/

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/887269.shtml

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/north-korean-migrants-vladivostok-12172018161113.html

Flight Crew ‘Astonished’ to See Glowing Objects ‘Zig-Zagging’ at 45,000 Feet Over the Bahamas

(Photo: NBC News Miami)

A Florida-bound flight crew witnessed strange orbs glowing and darting around in the night sky while flying over the Bahamas at high altitude.

“All of a sudden I heard traffic control say, we have a foreign object, can you please identify,” Flight Attendant Cassandra Martin recounted.

The flight attendant with Surjet, a private carrier, claimed that she and two pilots saw objects that left them awestruck and searching for answers as they returned to Fort Lauderdale in an empty plane. Good thing her Smartphone was handy.

(Photo: NBC News Miami)

“It started as white and then it just got green and almost like an electric some type of energy around it.”

Cassandra Martin described the objects as changing in color and exhibiting “daunting” flying capabilities while returning on a flight from the Bahamas. (Photo: NBC News Miami)

One explanation rendered for the Bahamian incident is a phenomenon called “ball lightning.” Below are some photographs for comparison.

Former NASA astronaut Dr. Leroy Chiao nearly collided with a pair of metallic orbs while flying his Grumman AA5BTiger in Texas last summer. He said the orbs showed “no visible means of propulsion” when they whizzed by within 20 feet of his plane.

Astronaut Dr. Leroy Chiao gives a thumb up shortly after landing aboard the Soyuz-TMA-5 spacecraft in Kazakhstan in April 2005. (Photo: AFP via Getty Images)

“They came right at me,” said Dr. Leroy Chiao, who was the commander of Expedition 10. He said the spheres were “perfectly smooth” and emphasized he witnessed the orbs on a sunny, cloudless day with good visibility.

The DOD investigates sightings and imagery of unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) and you can read about their findings here: https://www.aaro.mil/

Sources:

https://nypost.com/2025/01/04/us-news/ex-nasa-astronaut-dr-leroy-chiao-says-metallic-orbs-he-saw-had-no-visible-means-of-propulsion/

https://nypost.com/2025/01/11/us-news/florida-flight-crew-astonished-to-see-glowing-objects-zig-zagging-at-45k-feet-over-the-bahamas/

China Suddenly Building Fleet of Special Barges Suitable for Taiwan Landings

Artist’s impression of the special barge being used as a pier to land tanks and troops across an otherwise unsuitable beach. The tanks are transported by civilian roll-on roll-off (RORO) ferries. (Image: navalnews.com)

From navalnews.com:

“China is building at least five new special purpose barges which appear tailor made for amphibious assault. The barges may provide the PRC (People’s Republic of China) with a unique way to offload large numbers of tanks directly onto Taiwanese roads.

A number of special and unusual barges, at least three but likely five or more, have been observed in Guangzhou Shipyard in southern China. These have unusually long road bridges extending from their bows. This configuration makes them particularly relevant to any future landing of PRC forces on Taiwanese islands.

Each barge has a very long road span which is extended out from the front. At over 120 meters (393 ft) this can be used to reach a coastal road or hard surface beyond a beach. The barges are reminiscent of the Mulberry Harbors built for the allied invasion of Normandy during World War Two.”

The Global Firepower Index (GFI) ranks China’s military third out of 145 countries; Taiwan is ranked 22nd. Besides an outright D-Day style invasion of Taiwan, Beijing can blockade the island republic with its much larger navy, cut its underseas cables with anchors as the Russians have been doing in the Baltic Sea, and quarantine Taipei into eventual submission.

As previously reported here on Coriolanus, half of the US Navy’s amphibious ships are in dire condition. The USN 7th Fleet is headquartered at Yokosuka, Japan.

“Zero Day” is an upcoming Taiwanese TV series about a fictional invasion of their island which may be a way to psychologically ready their population for the realities of a potential war with Beijing. In 2022, there were at least ten Taiwanese soldiers serving in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion. Said one of the soldiers: ‘There’s a big chance that this will happen to Taiwan.’

Sources:

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2025/01/china-suddenly-building-fleet-of-special-barges-suitable-for-taiwan-landings/

https://www.globalfirepower.com/

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/4563961

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Day_(Taiwanese_TV_series)

Farmer Uncovers Large Rare Ancient Hunt Mosaic in Turkiye

This mosaic spans 84 square meters (Image Copyright Elazığ Museum)

A farmer planting an orchard in eastern Türkiye has uncovered a rare, largely intact mosaic dating back to the late Roman period, offering a glimpse into ancient hunting practices.

The mosaic includes dramatic depictions of animals such as a rare Anatolian leopard, may be the largest of its kind ever discovered in the country.

A team of conservators has been working to protect the mosaic. (Photo: Elazığ Museum)

The mosaic “is the first of its kind to have survived to the present day as a whole and in its portrayal of animals, all of which were once found here. There may be larger mosaics elsewhere in Türkiye, but those consist of geometric patterns or mythological subjects.”

One researcher speculated that the mosaic may have been part of a Roman official’s residence: “an expression of power.”

The mosaic survived empire changes and wars over the mileenia.

Turkiye is choc-a-bloc with antiquities and historical relics. Below is the fabled city of Cappadocia:

Underground city in Cappadocia, Turkiye.

Hotel carved from stone in Cappadocia, Turkiye.

Source:

https://www.euronews.com/culture/2025/01/07/turkish-farmer-uncovers-rare-ancient-hunt-mosaic-likely-the-largest-of-its-kind-in-turkiye

Food Poisoning Cluster on Cathay Pacific Flights Inbound From Nepal to Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Center of Health Protection (CHP) announced a food poisoning cluster of passenger groups on Cathay Pacific flight CX640 from Nepal to Hong Kong. This is the second cluster discovered in two days with the same airline flying from the same region. The cause of the food poisoning cluster is still under investigation.

The first cluster involves 16 individuals from an inbound flight from Kathmandu to Hong Kong. The second cluster on flight CX640 involves 20 individuals from distinct family groups.

All involved passengers reported symptoms like vomiting, nausea, and fever shortly after their arrival in Hong Kong.

Per CIA, Nepal has a population of 31,122,387 and per capita GDP is $4,000.

After monsoon season in 2023, Nepal recorded several cases of water- and food-borne illnesses, including a massive cholera outbreak.

Sources:

http://www.travelradar.aero

https://kathmandupost.com/health/2023/07/26/food-poisoning-water-and-vector-borne-diseases-on-the-rise

Gorilla Infant Rescued From Airplane Cargo Hold Recovers at Istanbul Zoo

Zeytin, a 5-month-old male gorilla infant who was rescued at Istanbul Airport, drinks milk in a specially created section of a zoo, in Istanbul, Turkiye, 12 Jan 2025. (Photo: Khalil Hamra / AP)

The 5-month-old endangered gorilla was discovered in a box on a Turkish Airlines flight from Nigeria to Thailand and named Zeytin, which means olive.

Shy, Zeytin plays in a specially created section of a zoo, in Istanbul, Turkey, 12 Jan 2025. (Photo: Khalil Hamra / AP)

As a major international hub, Turkish customs officers have intercepted other illegally traded wildlife, including Nile crocodiles and monitor lizards. Wildlife officials are considering returning the endangered primate back to his original habitat.

Poor Zeytin was separated from his mother and should be fostered within a troop of gorillas so he could be properly socialized. (Photo: Khalil Hamra / AP)

Sources:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gorilla-airplane-cargo-istanbul-zoo-turkish-airlines/

https://www.iucnredlist.org/search?query=gorilla&searchType=species

Desertions Spark Panic, and Pardons, in Ukraine’s Army

Oleksandr left his unit without permission after six months of hard fighting, but later returned to the army (Photo: AFP)

Oleksandr LNU (photo in link) deserted from the front line in eastern Ukraine after watching his fellow servicemen being pulverized by Russian bombardments for six months. Then, those remaining were ordered to counterattack.

It was the final straw for Oleksandr (45) who had been holding the line in the embattled Lugansk region in the early months of the war. Even his commanding officer was reluctant to send his men back toward what looked like certain death. So when Oleksandr saw an opening to save his life, he did.

“We wanted to live. We had no combat experience. We were just ordinary working people from villages,” the soft-spoken serviceman.

Family, friends, and army comrades gather to mourn Ukrainian army paramedic Nazarii Lavrovskyi (31) at his funeral at Lisove cemetery in Kiev, 24 April 2024 (Photo: Francisco Seco / AP)

Oleksandr’s is just one of many cases plaguing the Ukrainian military, which has already suffered at least 43,000 losses in nearly three years of fighting, President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed this month. The government is also struggling to recruit new troops.

Figures published by the Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office show that more than 90,000 cases have been opened into instances of soldiers going absent without leave or deserting since Russia invaded in 2022, with a sharp increase over the past year.

Members of Ukraine’s ‘Da Vinci’ Assault Battalion without masks or blurred faces. Kiev now offers amnesty for first-time deserters if they return to their units. (Photo: AFP)

Shell shock and PTSD have devastating effects on soldiers, on top of them dealing with plain innate fear and miserable living conditions in the front lines. This is not a new phenomenon. Drone operators or logistical personnel in the rear are most likely not deserting, but frontline soldiers are. During the Second World War, 50,000 American soldiers of the “Greatest Generation” deserted in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) from 1942 to 1945; there were no desertions reported in the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO).

Kiev offering amnesty or pardons is a positive step in improving morale, as well as maintaining their exhausted manpower levels. The Ukrainian Army may also consider extended Rest and Recreation (R & R) leaves, like US servicemen enjoyed in Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Hawaii, Taiwan, and Singapore, during the long and tortured Vietnam War.

Sources:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/21/why-is-ukraines-army-facing-a-desertion-crisis

https://www.ibtimes.com/desertions-spark-panic-pardons-ukraines-army-3757026

https://www.npr.org/2013/06/17/189275754/wwii-deserters-stories-of-men-who-left-the-front-lines

Russian Arrested For Running Gay Travel Agency Found Dead in Cell

The late Andrei Kotov in court (Photo: SOTA)

Authorities claim Kotov organized a New Year holiday trip to Egypt and a Volga River cruise centered around LGBTI+ themes.

Denying the charges, Kotov defended himself in court, stating that the tours were purely of a tourist nature and did not involve any ideological propaganda.

“The LGBTQ+ community in Russia has been under legal and public pressure for over a decade but especially since the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine in 2022. Russian leader Vladimir Putin has argued that the war is a proxy battle with the West, which he says aims to destroy Russia and its “traditional family values” by pushing for LGBTQ+ rights.”

Helmeted riot police detain clearly dangerous looking LGBTQ+ rights activists during a St Petersburg march. (Photo: Getty Images)

One of Russia’s most famous sons, the man who composed “Swan Lake” and “The Nutcracker,” was LGBTQ+.

You wonder what music Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to?

“The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.”

― Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

Sources:

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-lgbt-gay-travel-arrest-death/33257088.html

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/russian-man-arrested-for-allegedly-running-gay-travel-agency-dies-in-custody

What Will the Incoming Trump Regime Prosecute and What Will the FBI Investigate?

The President-elect already announced he will vindictively go after his enemies once he assumes power.

The Trump/Putin/Musk cabal, with advice from the rightwing Federalist Society (AKA the) “Feudalist Society”) will appoint Assistant US Attorneys (AUSAs), as well as the US District Marshals which are basically well-paying sinecures, in the below 94 federal districts.

Under the new regime, will these AUSAs defend anti-trust measures against oligarchs or prosecute violators of the Clean Water Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act?

The President-elect intends to nominate the reactionary and unpopular Kash Patel to be Director of the FBI.

If confirmed by the US Senate, this unqualified and incompetent Trump loyalist will be D/FBI. (Undated photo)

While the FBI will continue to investigate nefarious Iranian and Chinese operations in the US, as well as ISIS plots, will the FBI continue to investigate Russian espionage or white supremacist organizations?

Notorious convicted Russian spy Maria Butina infliltrated the GOP and the NRA.

Flesh-Eating Bacteria Cases in Florida Prompt Warnings for Disney World Guests

(Image credit: Inside The Magic)

In 2024, Florida reported 83 confirmed cases of Vibrio vulnificus, almost doubling the 46 cases seen in 2023. 17 deaths have been attributed to the bacterium this year compared to 11 in 2023.

The recent spike in cases is linked to two powerful hurricanes—Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton—which battered Florida with heavy rainfall and flooding. These conditions create ideal environments for Vibrio vulnificus to thrive in warm, brackish, and saltwater areas.

The Florida Department of Health has identified counties with elevated cases, including Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota. Fortunately, Disney World is located in Orange and Osceola Counties, where Vibrio vulnificus cases remain rare.

According to the CDC, this bacteria can enter a human through an open wound or by consuming seafood contaminated with Vibrio vulnificus.

Necrotizing fasciitis can result in life-long complications from loss of limbs or severe scarring due to surgically removing infected tissue. Even with treatment, up to 1 in 5 people died from the infection.

Global warming has been linked to the increase in flesh-eating bacteria in several states.

In 2016, Aimee Copeland went ziplining in Georgia and fell into shallow dirty water. She became infected with Vibrio vulnificus and lost all of her limbs.

Aimee Copeland was 24 at the time and pursuing an MA degree in psychology. (Photo: John Loomis)

Florida suffers red tide and blue-green algae blooms, which hurt people, animals, pets, and marine life. Emergency declarations have shut down beaches and fishing along large parts of both coasts. Nitrogen and phosphorus entered the watershed harming agriculture. There is a fresh water shortage in southern Florida because the salinity of Florida Bay has changed.

Remarkably, Floridians have no right to bodies of water ‘free of pollution.’ For the second time this year, a Florida appellate court has ruled against environmentalists fighting to enact a widely supported local clean water measure.

Sources:

https://insidethemagic.net/2024/12/disney-world-flesh-eating-bacteria-emd1/

https://www.cdc.gov/group-a-strep/about/necrotizing-fasciitis.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/02/02/flesh-eating-infections-rising-on-the-east-coast-scientists-warn—global-warming-is-making-it-worse/

https://people.com/human-interest/aimee-copeland-flesh-eating-bacteria-survivor/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/floridians-no-bodies-water-free-204050826.html

Retired US Army General: Elon Musk is National Security Risk

US Army Lieutenant-General Russel Honore in Cameron Prairie, LA on 25 Sep 2005. (Photo: Carlos Barria / Reuters)

Retired US Army Lieutenant General Russel L. Honoré branded Elon Musk a “national security risk,” citing Musk’s history of appeasing and praising the Chinese Communist Party and his multiple business deals with them, particularly in the space race.

In a scathing op-ed published in The New York Times (NYT), Honoré noted that Musk and his company SpaceX already face federal reviews for failing to provide details of meetings with foreign leaders, but said that such infractions were “just the beginning of my worries.”

Musk has previously borrowed at least $1.4 billion from banks controlled by the Chinese government to help build a “gigafactory” in Shanghai for Tesla. The factory was responsible for more than half of Tesla’s global deliveries in the third quarter of 2024.

“China does not tend to give things away,” Honoré wrote. “The country’s laws stipulate that the Communist Party can demand intelligence from any company doing business in China, in exchange for participating in the country’s markets. “This means Mr. Musk’s business dealings in China could require him to hand over sensitive classified information, learned either through his business interests or his proximity to President-elect Donald Trump.”

The NYT reports that the egomaniacal oligarch is being investigated by the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General, the USAF, and the Pentagon’s Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security. Musk had not disclosed frequent meetings with foreign leaders, most notably Russian president Vladimir Putin. Musk has been violating the rules set out by his “top secret” security clearance for years and Israeli officials have expressed concerns that he could leak sensitive state secrets.

Elon Musk’s murky background of how he obtained his fabulous wealth and the circumstances surrounding his immigration to the US remain unclear. There have been calls to investigate and deport the racist Elon Musk back to South Africa for obtaining his US citizenship under false pretenses. Linked at bottom are the specific USCIS regulations on US naturalization which Musk may have violated.

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

Sources:

Opinion | Elon Musk Is a National Security Risk – The New York Times

Retired Army general declares Musk a ‘national security risk’ in brutal NYT op-ed | The Independent

https://futurism.com/elon-musk-investigated-violating-terms-top-secret-clearance

https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-l-chapter-2

American Police Brutality: NYS Prison Guards Beat Inmate to Death

Warning: Some Followers of the Watch may find the following images graphic and disturbing. This is one of the most cruelest stories that ever beset the author’s eyes.

NYS prison inmate Robert L. Brooks bleeding and disoriented. (Photo: AFP)

This brutal racist attack on inmate Robert L. Brooks (43) happened at Marcy Correctional Facility in upstate NY on 9 Dec in an examination room. Brooks was serving a twelve-year sentence for assault. Other officers stood by and watched as the handcuffed and helpless Brooks was abused and beaten by several correctional officers while blood poured from his face during the 30-minute episode.

After the beat down, Brooks was taken to Wynn Hospital in Utica and declared dead from “asphyxia due to compression of the neck,” in the early morning of 10 Dec.

One guard is holding Brooks in a chokehold as officers try to move him. (Photo: AFP)

One prison guard kicks and stomps on Brooks’ chest. (Image: Office of the New York State Attorney General)

NYS Governor Kathy Hochul began the process of firing the guards and had already suspended 13 without pay. One guard has already resigned.

Marcy Correctional Facility received a scathing evaluation by an oversight agency following a two-day monitoring visit from 11-12 Oct 2022.

Key Highlights: Observations of a Retaliatory Environment, Racial Disparities in Disciplinary Process Affecting Access to Food for Incarcerated Individuals

Marcy Operating Outside HALT Guidelines by Incarcerating Individuals with Mental Health Conditions in SHU Units

The Empire State incarcerates approximately 32,600 convicts which provide white, rural non-college graduates with pensioned careers and peace officer status. There are over 15,000 sworn members in the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (NYSDOCCS). This nationwide pattern of hiring rural whites to guard minority convicts is called the “prison-industrial complex.”

Note the correlation between the prisons above and this 2020 election map below:

The competent NYS Attorney-General Letitia James will most likely be leading the prosecution.

Compare America with Scandinavia.

Norwegian prison guard playing volleyball with inmates. (Photo: NY Times)

Sources:

https://nypost.com/2024/12/27/us-news/ny-prison-guards-beat-handcuffed-inmate-robert-brooks-video/

https://www.correctionalassociation.org/press-releases-archive/2023-marcy-pvb-release

https://doccs.ny.gov/

https://www.syracuse.com/news/2024/12/body-cam-shows-ny-prison-guards-pummeled-handcuffed-inmate-during-fatal-assault-investigator-says.html

France: In 2023, 62% of Criminal Convictions Were for Sexual Offenses

This woman is protesting domestic violence, an issue that continues to plague France. A 2018 report said one out of ten women were raped at least once in their lifetimes. (Photo: The Globe Post and AFP)

Rape was the most frequently convicted crime in French courts in 2023, with 1,800 cases resulting in convictions.

Sexual crimes accounted for 62% of the 2,900 criminal convictions handed down by French courts in 2023.

Aggravating circumstances were considered in more than 70% of these cases, and 10% involved perpetrators who were the victim’s spouse or partner.

In total, nearly 550,000 people were convicted of all crimes in 2023, while some 900,000 offences were recorded in criminal records.

However, serious crimes such as murder, rape, armed robbery and violent crimes, accounted for only 0.3% of these infractions.

The average length of French prison sentences in 2023 was 9.7 months.

This outrageous case in 2024 blackened both of France’s eyes.

The hideous Dominique Pelicot, who drugged and raped his wife Gisele Pelicot, appears during his trial with 50 co-accused at the courthouse in Avignon, France, 17 Sep 2024, in this courtroom sketch. (ZZIIGG / Reuters)

Below are what French prisons look like. All photos courtesy of acidcow.com:

Endnote: France, an EU and NATO member which hosts INTERPOL headquarters in Lyon, is unhappily and ironically a top ten member of the Global Organized Crime Index.

Sources:

https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20241228-rape-tops-criminal-convictions-in-france-justice-report-shows

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2024/09/19/french-mass-rape-trial-something-was-wrong-suspect-tells-court_6726653_7.html

Cat Simply in Love With Woman That Saved Him

Did Coriolanus Solve the Great Drone Mystery?

Followers of the Watch asked me to analyze the drone phenomenon gripping the US and Europe.

This drone was photographed in the Bay Shore section of Toms River, NJ with a Sony A7 IV equipped with a 600mm lens. The drone seemed to be well above the 400 feet height FAA regulations allow. (8 Dec 2024 photo: Doug Hood / Asbury Park Press)

If these mysterious drones were a threat to US national security, they would have been immediately destroyed. These were some of the lessons learned following the 11 Sep 2001 al-Qaida aviation attacks on the US.

Air defense personnel were temporarily deployed in Washington DC after 9/11. (Photo: US Army)

NORAD “detected, tracked, and intercepted two Russian TU-95 and two PRC (Peoples Republic of China) H-6 military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on 24 July 2024.”

Having said that, by way of history let us delve in to the mystery.

Years ago, millions of Americans used to communicate through shortwave (SW) radio. Today SW radio enthusiasts continue bouncing signals to each other worldwide, but the numbers have decreased significantly with the advent of the Internet.

American family listening to shortwave radio circa 1950s.  

But short wave (SW) radio communications are unregulated, so Federal Communications Commission (FCC) vehicles used to patrol the US to monitor SW communications as a form of surveillance to ensure national security.

Cropped out of the photo is the antenna array atop this FCC vehicle. (Photo circa 1930s).

During the Vietnam War, US Army Security Agency (ASA) units monitored both friendly and enemy short wave radio communications. One of Coriolanus’ instructors and mentors hailed from the legendary ASA.

Spec. 4 James T. Davis was the first US Army Soldier killed in ground combat in Vietnam tracking enemy signals on 22 Dec 1961.

Conducting surveillance of unregulated activity is both time consuming (and dangerous in wartime), but a necessary evil.

Let us fast-forward a few years to 1974 when the film Phase IV portrayed super-intelligent ants creating complex designs, structures, pyramids, and mathematically perfect geometric shapes.

Coriolanus highly recommends Phase IV to cinephiles, the only Hollywood movie directed by Saul Bass and inspired by H.G. Wells 1905 short story Empire of the Ants.

Following release of this fascinating movie which would go on to become a cult-classic, an epidemic of crop circles emerged worldwide.

Crop circles created a new mysterious worldwide phenomenon and a bonanza for conspiracy theorists. Network TV capitalized on this and UFOs, as well as other ancient and occult mysteries. In 1976 this popular show began which some of you may remember:

But in reality, crop circle enthusiasts in the 1970s read the newspapers, magazines, and watched TV to copy-cat and out-do each other. There were no laws nor regulations preventing creating crop circles on one’s farmland.

Let us fast forward again to today where people are confronted by another mystery: Fleets of unidentified drones flying overhead. Many, not all, of these flying platforms are government drones legitimately conducting security missions using infrared sensors, radiation detectors, and UV cameras in the vicinity of sensitive areas, such as the home of the President-elect in NJ or military installations. But at the same time, drone enthusiasts are mischievously launching their first-person-view (FPV) devices into the sky. The reality is that poorly regulated drones have turned the skies over the US into a “Wild West free-for-all.”

Using this image above as an analogy, how can a civilian on the ground distinguish which balloon is friendly or hostile?

Taking advantage of this congested air traffic might be hostile espionage drones collecting information on behalf of nefarious actors. Several drones were spotted over USAF and RAF bases recently and NATO upgraded its CI/OPSEC posture because of the very real threat of Russian sabotage. But government efforts to disable the offending drones with electronic warfare weapons might damage friendly collection platforms flying in the same vicinity.

Aviation enthusiasts track airplane numbers worldwide via the internet. One hobbyist may log the sighting of “G-BNKH” in Reno, Nevada, and another may log the tail number in Detroit, Michigan two weeks later. This is an amusing, harmless hobby for people on the internet.

But the internet also harbors nefarious actors as well. As posted previously on Coriolanus, sexual deviants troll the internet in communication with each other in search of victims. In similar regard, drone enthusiasts are also communicating with each other, using a tactic called “swarming.” This was a technique perfected by combat-jihadists in Iraq. The enemy forces marshal to one location and then scatter after the operation. In the US, these drones scatter with their beacons disabled and under FAA radar.  

Simply put, technology and easy access to drones have surpassed federal and state regulatory laws, as well as their ethical use. Much was said about creating the atomic bombs during the Manhattan Project: technology exceeded mankind’s ethical and moral foundation.

As the laws stand, Americans can fly drones just about anywhere, anytime, except directly over FAA-restricted airspace such as the White House. Directly from the FBI: “Potential conflicts in federal criminal law and absent legislative action, the FBI is unable to effectively protect the US from this growing threat [of unregulated drones].” FBI agents are wasting precious resources and time knocking on doors trying to locate these domestic on-the-ground mischief makers.

The US Congress is finally pushing legislation for stricter regulation of these flying nuisances who have caused a 1938 “War of the Worlds” hysteria in the US.  

Examples of car-sized drones:

The Volodrone has a 400-pound capacity. Note the size ratio to a person below. (Photo: Volodrone)

Unspecified military drone. (Photo: Paolo Longo / EyeEm via Getty Images)

Sources:

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)

Countering Malicious Drones — FBI

AARO Home

Volocopter debuts giant drone powerful enough to lift 440 lb

He Was The First U.S. Soldier Killed in Ground Combat in Vietnam

When the Martian invasion of ‘War of the Worlds’ was broadcast in 1938, it freaked everyone out – Click Americana

Ludwig van Beethoven (Baptized 17 Dec 1770 – Eternalized 26 Mar 1827)

Above is reported to be the only portrait the Immortal Maestro ever posed for. Completed between Feb and Apr 1820 by Joseph Karl Stiele.

Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in D minor (“Ode to Joy”, Opus 125) is the anthem of the EU. Since 1940, the “Ode to Joy” has been a staple in Japan at Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

The personal words and thoughts of the greatest composer of all time may be analyzed in a collection of his translated correspondence: Beethoven’s Letters. This is where Coriolanus learned of his tinnitus.

Beethoven’s letters became the synthesis for the 1994 film Immortal Beloved where Gary Oldman portrays the tortured genius. Although the film received mixed reviews, Coriolanus recommends its viewing.

The Grand Maestro’s homage to my namesake was the Coriolan Overture (Opus 62). Below Benjamin Zander conducts the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra:

In 1969, Spanish pop star Miguel Rios released his tribute to the Grand Maestro with “Song of Joy.” This single became enormously popular in 1970, reaching Number One on music charts in Australia, Canada, West Germany, Switzerland, and the US.

Embedded below is the favorite of your humble author: Beethoven’s 7th Symphony in A major (Opus 92). Maestro Bernard Haitink conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (2009).

As Shakespeare knew centuries ago: “The man that hath no music in himself…is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils….”

Source:

The Merchant of Venice (Act V, Scene I)

High Ranking Russian General Assassinated in Moscow

Unindicted war criminal Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov was the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces.

Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov was kinetically euthanized by a bomb hidden in a scooter as he left his apartment building on the way to his office. Kirillov’s assistant also died in the Moscow operation.

Lt Gen Igor Kirillov is believed be the highest-ranking military official killed beyond the combat zone since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.

Kirillov (54) was under sanctions from several countries, including the UK and Canada, for his actions in Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) opened a criminal investigation against him, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons.

An official with the SBU said the agency was behind liquidating Kirillov who was described as a “war criminal and an entirely legitimate target.”

The senior general’s assassination has shocked Russia’s military and political establishment. There have been numerous Ukrainian operations targeting Russia’s forces on Ukrainian territory. As posted on Coriolanus, a senior rocket scientist was recently rendered ineffective near Moscow by the ever-improving Ukrainian espionage network.  

Sources:

Russia: Ukraine official says it killed Russian general by a bomb in Moscow | AP News

Ukraine’s spies target Russian figures in increasingly audacious attacks

North Korean Soldiers Killed, Wounded in Russia’s Kursk

Schemes, an investigative unit of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, received photos from Ukrainian military sources purportedly showing the bodies of dead soldiers in Kursk, allegedly including North Korean fighters.

Ukrainian intelligence said at least 30 North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia have been killed or wounded in the western Russian region of Kursk, the first time Kiev has given such a detailed report on North Korean losses since Pyongyang sent troops to help Moscow.

The remarks were partially backed up by the Pentagon on 16 Dec without speculating on numbers. North Korean soldiers were largely unprepared for modern drone warfare and were decimated by precision strikes. Unconfirmed field reporting claimed several North Korean soldiers were seen pleading with Ukrainian drone operators for their lives.

People’s Army troops training in North Korea. A North Korean defector said the soldiers won’t be ready for combat and will be killed immediately. He was right. (Photo: AFP)

Washington on 16 Dec also hit Russia and North Korea with new sanctions that the Treasury Department said targeted Pyongyang’s financial activities and military support for the Kremlin, echoing similar moves made by the EU earlier in the day.

The sanctions target North Korean banks, generals, and others, along with Russian oil shipping companies.

Ukrainian troops began their incursion into the Kursk region in August and still control some areas. Russia began deploying thousands of North Korean troops in the region in October.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on 14 Dec that Moscow had started involving more North Korean troops in an effort to push back Ukrainian forces in Kursk.

Russian casualties are estimated to exceed an appalling 600,000. President Vladimir Putin is looking to avoid a politically unpopular second mass mobilization. But he has 10,970 North Korean soldiers to conduct “meat attacks” until his protégé Donald Trump takes office on 20 Jan 2025.

Sources:

Ukraine, U.S. Say North Korean Soldiers Killed, Wounded In Russia’s Kursk

North Korea Designations; Non-Proliferation Designations; Russia-related Designations | Office of Foreign Assets Control

Dominican Republic: Malaria Increase

The culprit: Anopheles mosquito

Southern Dominican Republic has seen an increase in Malaria. 984 cases have been reported to date in 2024. Only 265 people were affected last year in the same reporting cycle.

Three provinces recorded the highest incidence of malaria: Azua (485), San Juan (453), and Bahoruco (six).

Malaria when not treated in time can have serious consequences, according to organizations such as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), a contagion can cause serious kidney and brain complications in a person, and even death.

Symptoms of the disease can include fever, vomiting and headache. But the classic form of manifestation in the body is with high temperatures, accompanied by sweating and chills, which appear 10 to 15 days after the mosquito bite.

Dengue is another vector-borne disease that is present in the Dominican Republic, where a tropical environment predominates, making it conducive to more than one person having to be assisted in a health center each year for becoming infected.

Mosquitos are man’s greatest acme predator. Mosquito-borne diseases kill more than one million people and infect up to 700 million each year – almost one in ten people. As the planet warms and climate change lengthens the mosquito season, the world’s deadliest creature will expand its geographical range to new regions and re-emerge in areas where mosquito numbers had subsided for decades.

Sources:

Malaria has an active presence in the south of the country

Explainer: How climate change is amplifying mosquito-borne diseases | World Mosquito Program

Malaria – PAHO/WHO | Pan American Health Organization

Canada: Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland Resigns from Trudeau’s Cabinet

Chrystia Freeland, who stepped down as finance minister and deputy prime minister on Monday, arrives for a national caucus meeting in Ottawa. (Photo: Spencer Colby / The Canadian Press)

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Monday she’s resigning from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, just hours before she was set to deliver the government’s fall economic statement.

This is a disastrous development that throws the government’s economic agenda into a tailspin and leaves a huge gap on Trudeau’s front bench at a time when Liberal Party support has collapsed in the polls.

Freeland’s move to leave just before tabling the economic statement — the government’s fiscal road map at a time of great uncertainty, as Canada stares down president-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threat — is unprecedented.

In a letter to Trudeau that was subsequently posted on her social media account, Freeland said she had no choice but to resign after the prime minister approached her on Friday about moving her to another cabinet role.

The competent ex-finance Minister Chrystia Freeland was also the Deputy Prime Minister with lots of experience dealing with President Trump the first time he blighted the White House from 2016 to 2020. This is another blow to PM Justin Trudeau who has already lost the support of the NDP. The Conservative Party has been tabling a series of non-confidence motions, which, if passed would topple the government, much like what happened in France. Similarly, Germany will also hold a snap election months ahead of the scheduled one this autumn.

For years the Liberal leader of Canada has also ignored the clarion calls of Canadians supporting the recognition of Palestine and stopping military aid to the murderous Likud regime in Israel. Democratic Party support for Israel cost Kamala Harris the election this past November when the enormous anti-war segment of the party stayed home just like in 1968.

Source:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-faces-frustrated-mps-after-chrystia-freeland-s-shock-resignation-1.7411380

Updates: Disgraced Prince Andrew’s Banned Spy Buddy Revealed; Russian Flight Stowaway in Stew Again

Chris Yang (50), the former chair of Hampton Group, had been in the UK for almost two decades.

British authorities exposed Yang Tengbo as the banned associate of Prince Andrew. AKA Chris Wang was first stopped by UK counter-terrorism services in 2021 and ordered to surrender his devices. Court documents said Yang had split his time between China and the UK and told officials he considered the UK his second home.

The alleged spy is considered to have engaged in “covert and deceptive activity” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As a spy, Yang Tengbo has been rendered ineffective and this episode is just another black eye for the disgraced Prince Andrew who cavorted with the thoroughly abhorrent sexual deviant the late Jeffrey Epstein.

Now an update on this unfortunate asylum seeker who almost made it to France and Canada.

Svetlana Dali, the Delta Airlines stowaway who flew from JFK in NY to CDG in Paris on 26 Nov 2024, was identified by her daughter and ex-husband in December. (Photo: FBI)

Svetlana Dali was arrested for the second time this month on Monday, after a first arrest by the FBI on 4 Dec for stowing away on a Delta Air Lines flight from the US to France.

Dali had cut off her ankle monitor and was trying to sneak into Canada. The person she was staying with in Philadelphia discovered the bracelet cut and alerted authorities. An arrest warrant was issued for bail jumping out of the Eastern District of New York.

The Russian national was apprehended in Buffalo, NY. She was on a Greyhound bus trying to cross into Canada and was unable to produce a passport.

Svetlana Dali was taken into custody, where it was determined that she was wanted on an open warrant.

Svetlana Dali is desperately trying to leave the US. Perhaps she is absolutely terrified of the incoming Trump administration. Many people are. Ms. Dali sat in the bathroom of the Delta Airlines flight and did not have an opportunity to eat any of the cheap airline food in economy class, nor did she steal a revenue generating seat from the airline. She basically didn’t cost Delta Airlines a dime. And Ms. Dali did teach the TSA a valuable lesson in airport security procedures.

Unless this modern-day Holly Golightly (with a little bit of Blanche DuBois in her) somehow poses a grave and serious threat to US national security, let her leave America fer Chrissake!

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/dec/16/alleged-chinese-spy-linked-to-prince-andrew-named-as-yang-tengbo

https://news.sky.com/story/who-is-h6-what-we-know-about-the-chinese-spy-with-links-to-prince-andrew-13274721

Svetlana Dali, the Delta Air Lines stowaway, arrested again trying to flee US – ABC News

When Not In Use, Your Cat Should be Stored in a Cool Dry Place and Out of Reach of Children

Israel Destroys Syrian Naval Fleet

An IDF F-15 jet fighter takes off from the Negev desert (Photo: AFP)

Israel carried out attacks on Syria’s naval fleet, most likely destroying the majority of the ships.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says it has documented more than 310 strikes by the IDF since the fall of the Assad regime on Sunday. Israeli warplanes have also reportedly carried out hundreds of airstrikes across Syria, including on the capital, Damascus.

Destroyed Syrian ships in port. (Getty Images)

The BBC or the SOHR did not provide any Syrian military or civilian casualty numbers.

Benjamin Netanyahu finally appeared in court for the corruption trial that he has kept postponing and delaying because of his wartime duties as Prime Minister. But that did not stop him from unilaterally attacking Syrian targets or seizing the Golan Heights. Offensive operations against this new regime does not fall under Israel’s right to self-defense, even though the intentions were supposedly to destroy chemical weapons sites. The new Sunni masters of Syria are probably not pleased with this flagrant violation of their sovereignty. Abu Muhammad al-Jolani and his cadre are trying to create order and stability in the new Syria.

Jordan can serve as an interlocutor between Jerusalem and Damascus and perhaps the new Salafist regime won’t be hostile to their neighbor. Without dialogue though, covert or overt, both countries may be destined for resource and life-wasting eternal conflict.

Source:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqx808q7lrno

US Charges Two High-Ranking Syrian Officials with War Crimes

General Jamil Hassan (L), Abdul Salam Mahmoud ( R )

Former Syrian Air Force Intelligence officers Jamil Hassan (72) and Abdul Salam Mahmoud (65) were each charged in connection with a conspiracy to commit war crimes through the infliction of cruel and inhuman treatment on detainees under their control, including US citizens, in detention facilities at the Mezzeh Military Airport (Mezzeh Prison), near Damascus, Syria. Warrants for the defendants’ arrest have been issued and they remain at large.

Between January 2012 and July 2019, Hassan and Mahmoud conspired to identify, intimidate, threaten, punish, and kill people detained at Mezzeh Prison suspected of aiding or supporting opponents of the regime, such as those who protested, provided medical aid to opponents of the regime, or publicly criticized the regime. Detainees, including US citizens, were mercilessly beaten, electrocuted, and had their toenails removed. Detainees were also allegedly hung from the ceiling by their wrists and were burned with acid.

(Map courtesy of Alchetron)

Both military and political prisoners were held at Mezzeh prison. The prison was an infamous embodiment of Syrian government repression. Widespread human rights abuses and torture has been reported from the Mezzeh prison throughout its history but most notably during the rule of Hafez al-Assad (1970–2000).

Members of the public who have information about human rights violators in the US or the location of the defendants named in this indictment are urged to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov. Tips may be provided anonymously.

These timely indictments are more about seeking justice for American citizens tortured by these two psychopaths than an exercise of US foreign policy. An indicted war criminal is an indicted war criminal regardless of nationality, whether it is Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Russian President Vladimir Putin, or this infamous American officer below from over half a century ago.

1969 US Army CID mugshot of 1LT William Calley courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Criminal Charges Unsealed Against Two Former High-Ranking Syrian Government Intelligence Officials for War Crimes against Americans and Other Civilians | United States Department of Justice

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Four Taiwan Soldiers Charged with Spying for China

Four Taiwanese soldiers, including three from a unit in charge of security for the president’s office, were charged with photographing and leaking confidential information to China.

China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since 1949, but Beijing insists the island is part of its territory and has vowed to seize it one day.

There has been a series of spying cases in Taiwan, as China maintains military and political pressure on Taipei to accept its claims of sovereignty.

In the latest case, the accused included three members of a military unit in charge of security for the Presidential Office.

Entrance to Presidential Palace in Taipei. (Photo: taipeitravelgeek.com)

A fourth person was a soldier in the defence ministry’s information and telecommunications command. They allegedly used their mobile phones to photograph military information, which was passed to “Chinese agents.”

The four received payments ranging from around NT$260,000 to NT$660,000 ($8,000-$20,000) “depending on the confidentiality level of the military information they provided.”

The incidents happened from 2022 to 2024.

Three of the soldiers were discharged before an investigation was launched in August this year following a tip-off to the defence ministry. The fourth was suspended in August.

All four have been detained and charged with corruption and violating national security law for “leaking and delivering confidential information or electromagnetic records for China”.

They face a maximum seven years in jail if convicted.

“The Chinese Communist Party’s infiltration campaign against us has never stopped,” the defence ministry said in a statement, describing the four accused as “treasonous and lawless.”

In Sep 2024, an ex-air force instructor was sentenced to 17 years in prison for “aiding the enemy” and delivering military secrets to China.

China’s massive intelligence apparatus poses a threat to the much smaller Taiwanese counterintelligence agencies. Beijing employs the ‘grains of sand’ principle of collection, where vast numbers of human and cyber networks vacuum up information ranging from personal data to intellectual property. The Ministry of State Security (MSS) has the time, patience, resources, and personnel to construct a mosaic from all of these thousands of particles of sand put together. Taiwanese and Western intelligence agencies do not have that luxury and must prioritize collection efforts to remain efficient with resources and personnel, a problem China doesn’t have.

Source:

Four Taiwan Soldiers Charged With Spying For China | Barron’s

Japan: 46 Students Stricken with Scombroid Fish Poisoning

Blue Marlin (Artwork: Les Hata © Secretariat of the Pacific Community)

46 children, students, and teachers who ate school lunches at three elementary and junior high schools in Hakuba Village in Nagano Prefecture, complained of symptoms such as fever and rash. The cause was later determined to be food poisoning by the growth of germs on a marlin thawing at room temperature for too long.

In order to prevent a recurrence, the prefecture suspended school lunch operations. The company says that it will review the cooking process and safety management and instruct people to thaw in the refrigerator or under running water instead of thawing at room temperature.

Scombroid poisoning, also called histamine poisoning, is a type of food intoxication caused by the consumption of scombroid and scombroid-like marine fish species that have begun to spoil with the growth of particular types of food bacteria. Fish most commonly involved are members of the Scombridae family (tuna and mackerel) and a few non-scombroid relatives (bluefish, dolphin or mahi-mahi, and amberjack).

Source:

Marlin, food poisoning thawed at room temperature for too long 46 students eat school lunch, Nagano|National news|Hokkoku Shimbun

Barbarism Continues in Haiti: Gang Slaughters 180 People, Mostly Elderly

The “Taliban Gang.” Sitting is the 20-year-old second-in-command, who swears that he does not practice kidnapping but “only” racketeering. Gang members will beg for one dollar, but wield weapons worth thousands. (Photo: © Corentin Fohlen / Divergence)

Approximately 180 people were killed recently in Haiti’s Cite Soleil area. The massacre was ordered by a gang leader who suspected his child had been made ill with witchcraft.

“A red line has been crossed,” the PM’s office said and would “mobilize all forces to track down and annihilate” those responsible, including Wharf Jeremie gang leader Monel “Mikano” Felix, whom it accused of planning the attack.

The victims were mostly elderly. The death toll could be higher and cited witnesses as saying that “mutilated bodies were burned in the streets, including several young individuals who were killed attempting to save residents.”

Felix had ordered the violence after his child became sick, and after seeking advice from a voodoo priest who accused elderly people in the area of harming the child through witchcraft.

Cite Soleil, a densely populated slum by the port of the capital Port-au-Prince, is among the poorest and most violent areas of Haiti. Tight gang control, including the restriction of mobile phone use, has limited residents’ ability to share information about the massacre.

(Map: PBS)

The government, riven with political infighting, has struggled to contain gangs’ growing power in and around the capital. The armed groups are accused of indiscriminate killings, gang rapes, ransom kidnappings, and fueling critical food shortages.

Haiti, the first “Black Republic,” both enriched her colonial masters, the French, and sent soldiers to help in the American Revolution. Now Haiti is a terrible combination of Gaza and Somalia. Not doubt that diarrheal illnesses, STDs, and TB are spreading throughout the slums.   

In Oct 2024, the Gran Grif gang took responsibility for the killing of at least 115 people in Pont-Sonde, a town in Haiti’s breadbasket Artibonite region. They said it was retaliation for residents helping a self-defense group hinder their road toll operations.

Gran Grif gang-member (Undated photo: arise.tv)

A UN-backed security mission is partially deployed and remains deeply under-resourced. Haitian leaders have called for the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support mission to be converted into a UN peacekeeping force to ensure it is better supplied, but the plan stalled amid opposition from China and Russia in the Security Council.

A UN spokesperson said the weekend’s death count was at least 184, including 127 elderly people. The security situation continues to deteriorate and many countries have yet to deliver on pledges of support.

Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged countries to improve efforts to stop arms trafficking to Haiti. The UN estimates the gangs’ increasingly modern arsenals are largely trafficked from the US.

“These latest killings bring the death toll just this year in Haiti to a staggering 5,000 people,” he said.

Last month the FAA and the UN suspended all flights to Haiti after these runamoks fired upon at least three airplanes, wounding a flight attendant. Access to large caliber weapons abandoned or stolen from the defunct Haitian Army may be in the hands of some of these brigands.

Regrettably, Haiti is a low-priority for many countries, including the US. Hundreds of Haitians have drowned attempting to flee by water and those who make it to safety are not always given asylum or refuge. The neighboring Dominican Republic sealed off their borders and began deporting undocumented Haitians. Like the Mexican drug cartels, Haitian gangs receive their illegal weapons and ammunition from traffickers in the US. Haiti, a failed nation, is a disaster at America’s doorstep and a black eye for the “Monroe Doctrine.”  

Firearms displayed at the Miami Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) on 17 Aug 2022. Increasingly sophisticated weapons are being trafficked into Haiti mainly from Florida amid worsening lawlessness in the impoverished Caribbean nation, according to a 4 March 2023 UN report. (Photo: Lynne Sladky / AP)

Sources:

Haiti gang massacres around 180 people, targeting elderly | Reuters

UN report: Modern weapons being smuggled to Haiti from US | AP News

US prohibits airlines from flying to Haiti and UN suspends flights after planes were shot by gangs | AP News

Pakistan: Military Charges Former ISI Director Over ‘Political Activities’ in Unprecedented Move

Pakistan’s former spy chief was arrested Aug 2024 in court martial proceedings (Photo: Anushree Fadnavis / Reuters)

In an unprecedented move, Pakistan’s powerful army charged the former head of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) with “engaging in political activities. Lt Gen Faiz Hamid (Retd) is accused of creating agitation and unrest, leading up to multiple incidents, including but not limited to the events of 9 May 2023, aimed at fomenting instability at the behest of and in collusion with vested political interests.”

No former ISI director has ever faced a court martial in Pakistan’s history.

Days after Lt Gen Hamid’s arrest, three other retired army officers were also detained for “actions prejudicial to military discipline.” Those arrests are widely believed to have been connected to the proceedings against Hamid.

Hamid’s two-year tenure at the ISI was marked by allegations that he politically targeted Khan’s rivals, many of whom were jailed; cracked down on media, violated human rights, and suppressed protest movements across the country.

Hamid gained further international attention in August 2021 when he was photographed at a Kabul hotel shortly after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan.

Gen. Hamid rushed to Kabul to broker a deal between Mullah Baradar and the Haqqani Network (HQN) when the Taliban seized control of the government. The ISI and the powerful HQN have a strong covert working relationship.

Pakistani PM Imran Khan was arrested for alleged corruption on 9 May 2023 which led to massive demonstrations targeting state buildings and military installations. Thousands of people were arrested, of whom about 100 faced military trials. Khan is also facing several cases related to 9 May.

Black smoke billows from a building in Peshawar set ablaze by supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan flowing his arrest. (Photo: AFP)

(Map: worldatlas.com / Data: CIA)

Pakistan has a population of 252,363,571 people comprised ethnically: Punjabi 44.7%, Pashtun (Pathan) 15.4%, Sindhi 14.1%, Saraiki 8.4%, Muhajirs 7.6%, Baloch 3.6%, other 6.3%. Muslim (official) 96.5% (Sunni 85-90%, Shia 10-15%). Real GDP per capita is $5,600 (2023 est.).

While most countries have armies, Pakistan is an “army with a country” with approximately 630,000 active-duty personnel (550,000 Army; 30,000 Navy; 50,000 Air Force); approximately 150,000 Frontier Corps and Pakistan Rangers. Islamabad has a growing nuclear arsenal of 170 nuclear warheads.

Terrorist groups operating in Pakistan: Haqqani Network (HQN); Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami; Harakat ul-Mujahidin; Hizbul Mujahideen; Indian Mujahedeen; Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham-Khorasan (ISIS-K); Islamic State of ash-Sham – India; Islamic State of ash-Sham – Pakistan; Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan; Jaish-e-Mohammed; Jaysh al Adl (Jundallah); Lashkar i Jhangvi; Lashkar-e Tayyiba; Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP); al-Qa’ida; al-Qa’ida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS)

The Pakistani military is the only homogenizing force in this cauldron of ethnic groups, languages, political parties, social movements, competing interests, drug trafficking/use, and extremist groups.

The popular former international cricket champion and imprisoned ex-PM Imran Khan with his loyal ex-ISI chief dared to defy the all-powerful Pakistani army now face “justice.”

“Every time our party announces a protest, I am charged with more fake cases while inside prison.

I have been informed that many of our people are still missing, and we have serious concerns about their lives and wellbeing. We demand that the government immediately publish data of arrested citizens and those brought to hospitals and morgues after being injured or martyred. Additionally, CCTV footage from the hospital and Safe City cameras must be preserved, so that the truth can be revealed to the nation.”

We have two demands:

1. A commission should be formed under the senior-most judges of the Supreme Court to independently investigate the events of 9 May 2023 and 26 Nov 2024.

2. Unjustly imprisoned political detainees should be released.

Sources:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/10/pakistans-military-charges-former-spy-chief-over-political-activities

https://insaf.pk/news/former-prime-minister-imran-khans-message-december-6-2024

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/who-is-isi-chief-faiz-hameed-whose-visit-to-kabul-has-sparked-controversy-101630843177941.html

https://www.dawn.com/news/1752254

CIA

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2493059/the-mosaic-of-drug-trafficking-and-its-consequences

https://thebulletin.org/premium/2023-09/pakistan-nuclear-weapons-2023/

Donald Trump is Human Wrecking Ball

President-elect Donald Trump has picked the worst picks humanly possible to sit on his future cabinet. Their policies will weaken, sicken, pauperize, and demoralize Americans with destructive health, economic, de-regulatory strategies. A Russian TV host gleefully claimed that “Trump’s Cabinet picks will dismantle America.”

US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC, 5 Dec 2017. (Photo: Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images)

But not only is Trump going to sabotage the US domestically on behalf of the Kremlin, he is going to demoralize US diplomats and damage our foreign policy.  

Career diplomats at the US State Department work earnestly and diligently for decades to one day reach the pinnacle of being named Ambassador. President-elect Trump chose his daughter’s utterly sleazy, contemptible, convicted father-in-law to be the US Ambassador to France.

The former AUSA for New Jersey said of Charles Kushner: “This was one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted…and I was the US Attorney in New Jersey.”

This oligarchal miscreant previously served two years in prison before being released after pleading guilty in 2004 to charges of tax evasion, lying to the Federal Election Commission and retaliating against a federal witness. Trump pardoned Kushner during the last month of his presidency. If confirmed by the US Senate, Charles Kushner will be walking in the shoes of Benjamin Franklin, America’s first Ambassador to Paris.

Now the President-elect is nominating his son’s ex-fiancee Kim Guilfoyle to be US Ambassador to Greece, the world’s first democracy. This move is widely seen as an attempt to ensure Kim Guilfoyle (55) doesn’t spill the beans about the Trump Crime Family (TCF) after Donald Trump Jr. (46) dumped her for a younger woman, Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson (37).  

To her credit, Kim Guilfoyle is an attorney and former prosecutor.

Below is what Kim Guilfoyle must have looked like when she learned that Don Trump Jr threw her overboard for a younger woman. She waited a long time to tie the knot with Don Jr. At least the TCF bought her silence with a well-paying, prestigious sinecure in Athens (for now).

America and the world can’t wait long enough until 21 Jan 2029, if we all survive this human wrecking ball and Putin’s plans for America.

Sources:

SEX GAL NOW HELPING FEDS – HOOKER TURNS ON KUSHNER

Resistance HQ Bulletin 23, 12/10/24 – by Ron Filipkowski

Russian TV host gleefully claims Trump’s Cabinet will ‘dismantle’ America, report says

Man Fleeing Ukraine War with Kitten Found Alive in Frigid Romania Mountains: “Peach Kept My Heart Warm”

Salvamont Maramures, a Romanian mountain rescue service, saved the two. Peach the cat peers from the jacket of its owner, Vladislav Duda (28). They were rescued from a deep mountain ravine in a state of severe hypothermia. (Photo: AP)

When the rescue team located and found the Ukrainian, they unzipped his jacket and discovered Peach snuggled up inside. Duda said: “I’m happy because my cat is alive. I got a chance from God for a new life. The happiest moment is because the cat is here with me.”

The auburn-colored kitten, a tomcat named “Peach” in Ukrainian, was experiencing the effects of malnutrition after they ran out of food four days earlier and melted snow helped to keep him alive.

“Peach kept my heart warm and he kept my faith alive,” the Ukrainian said.

“Peach” also means stove or oven.

During the complex ascent out of the ravine which took more than five hours, the Ukrainian would not let go of his kitten. He kept Peach clutched to his chest from the bottom to the top until he was put in the ambulance.

Duda requested the rescuers to ‘Please take care of the cat.'”

Peach at the Animal Med vet clinic after being rescued along with its owner after three days in a deep mountain ravine in Baia Mare, Romania. (Photo: 9 Dec 2024, AP)

Peach received veterinary treatment in Baia Mare and is expected to fully recover.

Source:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-kitten-fleeing-ukraine-war-found-alive-romania-mountains/