Haiti

Trumpf’s Reign of Terror Reaches New Horrific Lows

Followers of the Watch, there is much to cover and little time, so let’s get started right away. Simply put, within two short months Dotard Trumpf has turned America into a Rogue State and an International Pariah. So, which despicable act to begin with?

Trumpf Rejects Mexico’s Request for Water in Tijuana

The US has refused a request by Mexico for water, alleging shortfalls in sharing by its southern neighbor. This was the first time that the US had rejected a request by Mexico for special delivery of water, which would have gone to the border city of Tijuana.

“Mexico’s continued shortfalls in its water deliveries under the 1944 water-sharing treaty are decimating American agriculture – particularly farmers in the Rio Grande valley,” the State Department’s alleged.

The 1944 treaty, which governs water allocation from the Rio Grande and Colorado River, has come under growing strain in recent years due to the pressures of the climate crisis and the burgeoning populations and agriculture in parched areas.

In Jan 2025 Trumpf wasted 2.2bn gallons of precious water in northern California by releasing the dams against the wishes of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

Trumpf Expels South Africa’s Ambassador to US

South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool on left.

Describing him as a “race-baiting politician,” USSECSTATE Marco Rubio expelled South Africa’s ambassador to Washington. In a post on X, Rubio accused Ebrahim Rasool of hating the US and President Donald Trumpf, and said the ambassador was “no longer welcome in our great country.” The rare move by the US marks the latest development in rising tensions between the two countries. Pretoria may reciprocate. The manifestly underqualified Marco Rubio is America’s top diplomat.

DHS Revokes Legal Status of 532,000 Haitians and Latin Americans

The Department of Homeland Security said that it will revoke legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, setting them up for potential deportation in April. These refugees came to the US legally, playing by the rules, doing everything that was required of them by the Federal Government.

The order applies to about 532,000 people from the four countries who came to the US since Oct 2022. They arrived with financial sponsors and were given two-year permits to live and work in the US. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they will lose their legal status on 24 Apr, or 30 days after the publication of the notice in the Federal Register.

This is the same Kristi Noem who proudly admitted in her autobiography to killing an undisciplined puppy. This psychopath is prohibited from entering indigenous reservations in her home state of South Dakota.

Trumpf Planning Another Travel Ban

Trumpf is considering a new travel ban that could affect citizens from up to 43 countries, meant to address “national security and public safety threats.” Citizens from the 11 countries in the “red” category would be entirely barred from entering the US. These countries include Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. Countries in the “orange” category would affect immigrant, tourist and student visas, with some exception. The list consists of Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Turkmenistan.

ICE and DHS have been detaining pro-Palestinian college students on visas who demonstrated in 2024 or express anti-Israeli sentiments, in violation of the US Constitution guaranteeing free speech.

Trumpf needn’t be concerned about issuing a travel ban. An exodus of both people and capital from the US is taking place. Besides, refugees leaving these places to escape political violence can easily be killed in the firearm death epidemic plaguing the US, so why would they come to America?

Foreigners, Tourists Terrified of US Police State

Despite being lawful permanent residents of the US, legal immigrants with green cards are starting to panic about being kicked out of the country by the Trumpf administration. “If I were not a citizen, I would think long and hard before I traveled. And that includes green card holders,” said immigration attorney David Leopold. Germany issued a travel advisory to its citizens traveling to US to make sure their paperwork is in order. A handful of Germans have already been detained by ICE, in addition to some Canadians. International travel agents have been urging their clients to avoid the US. Canadians have begun their boycott of American products and travel to the US. Canadian tourist spending in the US totaled $20.5 billion in 2024; a 10% drop risks $2.1 billion and 140,000 jobs.

Grandparents and Orange County ex-residents Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez (Photo: Social media)

Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez came to the US from Colombia without authorization some 35 years ago, raised three daughters and now have a new grandson. The couple was deported to Colombia earlier this week after living in California and paying taxes for 35 years, living the so-called “American dream.” This punishment is the equivalent of firing a cannonball at a housefly.

Trumpf Rescinds Security Clearances of Prominent Democrats

Trumpf speaking to reporters at the White House in Washington, DC, on 21 Mar. (Photo: Bryan Dozier / /Middle East Images /AFP / Getty)

Trumpf rescinded the security clearances of Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, several members of the Biden administration, and other prominent Democrats. Trumpf had already revoked Joe Biden’s security clearance. Previous victims of Godzilla’s rampage: Antony Blinken, Adam Kinzinger, LTC Alexander Vindman (Ret), NYAG Letitia James, NY DA Alvin Bragg, Gen Mark Milley, Jake Sullivan, Elizabeth Cheney, Fiona Hill, Lisa Monaco, former US Ambassador to the Czech Republic Norman Eisen, and attorney Mark Zaid. Trumpf also revoked the USSS protective detail for Hunter and Ashley Biden, Joe’s surviving adult children.

Trumpf’s vindictiveness impairs these people to work again in the USG as contractors, employees, or political figures. Removing the USSS detail from Biden’s adult children may imperil them from lunatics because of all the hatred Republicans generated against the Bidens these past several years.

Trumpf, to please his white supremacist Republican followers and himself, is bleaching the US of people of color. At the same time, America’s Godzilla is recklessly damaging America’s economy and reputation, something that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to see. Trumpf is maliciously killing two birds with one stone.

Citations:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/20/tijuana-mexico-water-trump

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/california/2025/03/08/army-corps-knew-trumps-california-water-release-order-was-a-waste/82055516007/

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmj8ky3rvno

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-humanitarian-parole-china-haiti-nicaragua-venezuela-c10f422939934cf8d1cf8a6f4dfc4610

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/22/us/green-card-visa-holders-deportation-fears-cec

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/03/19/Germany-foreign-ministry-travel/9601742398245/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-revokes-security-clearances-of-kamala-harris-hillary-clinton-and-other-prominent-dems/

https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-trump-secret-service-ashley-50eba3fcd1ef9d2580fb4bc464d229f6

https://www.salon.com/2025/03/22/a-pivot-moment-some-travel-agents-are-now-urging-their-clients-to-avoid-the-united-states/

Trumpf Debases US With $5m “Gold” Immigration Cards for Oligarchs

Arch-goniff and billionaire Howard Lutnick, Trumpf’s Commerce Secretary, announced that he secured $5 billion in a single day by selling 1,000 immigration gold cards, each valued at $5 million. Lutnick said that with a market of 37 million potential buyers, Trumpf is confident they can generate at least $5 trillion by selling one million of these exclusive cards.

Billionaire Howard Lutnick claimed that “real Americans” like his 94-year-old mother-in-law won’t complain if they miss a social security check one month because of clerical error.

In a 2016 settlement with the Justice Department, Howard Lutnick’s “Cantor Gaming” admitted to committing a host of crimes, including money laundering and aiding and abetting the operation of an illegal gambling business.

Is there anyone in Trumpf’s cabinet without a nefarious, mendacious, or sordid past? And who knew there were that many Russian oligarchs ready to buy Trumpf condos?

Citations:

https://www.financialexpress.com/world-news/commerce-secretary-howard-lutnick-says-us-sells-1000-gold-cards-in-a-day-raising-5-billion/3784494/

 corporate-prosecution-registry.com

Jessica Aber (43) Who Investigated Russian Criminals Found Dead in Virginia

Former US Attorney Jessica Aber (43) was found dead at her Virginia residence Saturday morning. Police responded to a call about an “unresponsive woman” and have launched an investigation. Aber, who resigned in January after serving since 2021, was hailed as an “irreplaceable” leader and prosecutor. The cause of death is yet to be determined by the chief medical examiner. Authorities have not revealed any signs of foul play but continue to examine the circumstances surrounding her sudden passing.

Ms. Aber prosecuted Russian criminals, corporate thieves, and sex offenders, accumulating both enemies and information. FBI SAs that worked with the late Ms. Aber must be itching to investigate this matter, but this case falls under the jurisdiction of the Alexandria Police Department. Note that a few weeks ago D/FBI Kash Patel scattered Washington’s FBI SAs nationwide.

Citation:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/former-us-attorney-jessica-aber-found-dead-virginia/story?id=120064277

INTERPOL Solves Spanish Cold Case

INTERPOL informs:

“A woman who died in unexplained circumstances in Spain has been identified as 33-year-old Ainoha Izaga Ibieta Lima, from Paraguay. This was the first successful trans-continental identification made as part of INTERPOL’s Identify Me program.

The international cold case campaign, coordinated by INTERPOL with six European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain), aims to seek the public’s help in identifying 46 women whose bodies were found in Europe over recent decades.

One of those cases, submitted by Spanish authorities, related to an unidentified female discovered in the province of Girona, Spain, on 6 Aug 2018. The woman was found hanging in a poultry shed attached to a farmhouse. She was not carrying any identity papers and no one in the area knew who she was, or how she got there. The victim had a tattoo on her left forearm of the word ‘success’ in Hebrew. Despite extensive investigations by local police, the woman was never identified.

A breakthrough came in March 2025 when Paraguayan authorities matched fingerprints uploaded by Spain to INTERPOL’s Black Notice against their own national databases, as part of the Identify Me initiative.

The first round of Identify Me, launched in 2023, also yielded noteworthy results, with the identification of Rita Roberts, a British woman who was found murdered in Antwerp in 1992. The family of Rita Roberts contacted the appeal hotline after they recognized their relative’s tattoo from news coverage of the campaign.

Identify Me is the first time INTERPOL has released public extracts from Black Notices, which are used to seek information internationally on unidentified bodies and to determine the circumstances surrounding a death. Black Notices can include information on the location where the body was found, biometric information (DNA, fingerprints, facial images), dental charts, physical descriptions of the body or clothing and any other details relevant to identifying the deceased.”

Now that Spanish and Paraguayan police have brought closure to Ms. Lima’s family, they now have a better chance of discovering whether she committed suicide or was murdered.

Citation:

https://www.interpol.int/News-and-Events/News/2025/Spanish-cold-case-resolved-through-international-public-appeal

Russia Targets Odessa During Czech President’s Visit

Czech President Petr Pavel (L), Ukraine Deputy PM Okeksii Kuleba (R) (Photo: Social media)

Russia launched three waves of Shahed-type drones on Odessa during a visit to the city by Czech President Petr Pavel on 20 Mar. Three people were injured during the attack and civilian infrastructure was damaged. Last year Putin launched a missile strike on Odessa which landed danger-close to visiting Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

“The entire civilized world should see Russia’s crimes against Ukraine,” Ukraine Deputy PM Okeksii Kuleba said.

A UN report recently condemned Russian’s actions against the children of Ukraine:

“Between 24 Feb 2022 and 31 Dec 2024, 669 children were killed and 1,833 injured, many as a result of the extensive use of explosive weapons in populated areas. Of these, 521 were killed and 1,529 injured in territory controlled by Ukraine, and 148 were killed and 304 injured in currently occupied territory. The actual numbers are likely much higher. As of Dec 2024, an estimated 737,000 children had been internally displaced by the hostilities. A further 1.7 million were refugees, many of them separated from a parent, usually their father.” 

An international arrest warrant remains active for Russian President Vladimir Putin (and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu), despite Trumpf’s sanctions against the ICC.

Citations:

https://kyivindependent.com/russia-hits-odesa-with-drones-during-visit-of-czech-president-petr-pavel/

 www.dailymail.co.uk

https://www.unognewsroom.org/story/en/2591/un-report-details-devastating-impact-of-hostilities-on-children-in-ukraine

67,042 Afrikaners Interested in Trumpf Re-Settlement Plan

Afrikaners outside US Mission in South Africa. (Photo: Social media)

The US Embassy in South Africa received a list of 67,042 Afrikaners interested in refugee status under Trump’s plan to relocate them in the US. The list was given to the embassy by the South African Chamber of Commerce in the US, which said it became a point of contact for white South Africans asking about the program announced by the Trumpf administration last month. The chamber said the list does not constitute official applications.

2.7 million Afrikaners live in South Africa, which has a total population of 62 million. Afrikaners are deeply tied to their land and proud of their struggles against the Zulus, Xhosas, and the British. Below is their sacred Voortrekker Monument which was declared a National Heritage Site by the South African Heritage Resource Agency on 8 July 2011.

One must be appropriately attired when visiting the Voortrekker Monument which is outside Pretoria.

The majority of the Boers are staying in South Africa, per two of their associations (as you read previously here on Coriolanus) and 67,042 out of 2,700,000 is a minority of 4%. These Afrikaners are racist dead-enders. Note a white paramilitary supremacist group called the AWB still operates in South Africa. Here is a training poster: 

South Africa has the second highest rate of gun ownership in Africa, so these Afrikaners will fit in perfectly with America. Red States like Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, or Texas will be perfect for them.

Citations:

https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-refugee-afrikaner-south-africa-0fbca411470d3b439886cabc12c7600d

za.usembassy.gov

Senior FBI Agent Arrested for Disclosing Confidential Records

Senior FBI SA Jonathan Buma (Undated photo from public domain)

A senior FBI agent has been charged with unlawfully taking and disclosing classified FBI files. Johnathan Buma, who specialized in national security and terror cases, has been released on $100,000 bond, with orders to appear in court in Los Angeles. Buma was arrested as he boarded an international flight at JFK airport in NY. He allegedly printed of caches of FBI records from an internal agency network. Nearly 130 files might have been compromised. A Trumpf critic, Buma previously testified to Congress about the political investigations (witch hunts) against Hunter Biden, as well as Russian oligarchs (see bottom link).

This senior FBI agent was going to write a book, but exercised poor tradecraft when acquiring the documents. Now his future is pretty much ruined.

Citations:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/longtime-fbi-agent-charged-disclosing-classified-records/

www.documentcloud.org

US Warzone: Three Dead, 15 Wounded in New Mexico Mass Shooting

Three suspects, including two 17-year-old boys, have been arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder stemming from a mass shooting that left three teenagers dead and 15 other people injured at an unsanctioned car show at a park in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

In an average year, 507 people die and 821 are wounded by guns in New Mexico, which has the 9th-highest rate of gun violence in the US. The attack sounded like a warzone firefight:

America is a warzone and the annual casualty count will increase as more people acquire firearms with recently loosened regulations, the proliferation of ammunition vending machines, and rising economic inequalities. Governors may wish to pre-deploy life-saving Army National Guard medics throughout their states to triage gunshot victims within the initial “Golden Hour,” like seen below.

US Army medic readying life-saving plasma.

According to one AI calculation, between 1 Jan and 28 Feb 2025, the American population underwent 58 mass shootings, resulting in 87 fatalities and 191 injuries.

When Trumpf was first inaugurated in 2017, he vowed ‘this American carnage stops right here.” But on 7 Feb 2025, Trumpf signed an Executive Order loosening federal restrictions on firearms sales. Perhaps the US will reach the 50,000 firearm-related deaths per year under Trumpf’s Reign of Terror. So far, 48,000 deaths in 2022 is America’s highwater mark according to the CDC.

Citations:

 www.whitehouse.gov

https://abcnews.go.com/US/new-mexico-police-investigating-mass-shooting-las-cruces/story?id=120052341

Black Bear Gently Closes Door With Mouth

Apparently these two know each other pretty well. This took place on 7 Mar 2025 in Bergenfield, NJ.

Trump Directs Pentagon and DHS to Prepare Housing for 30,000 Migrants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

President Donald Trumpf signed a memo Wednesday that sets in motion preparations for a facility to house thousands of migrants at the US military camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which he said was an effort to “halt the border invasion.”

Trumpf said the US has

“30,000 beds in Guantánamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”

Trumpf previewed the directive at a signing ceremony for the Laken Riley Act, an immigration detention measure, saying he would “instruct the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantánamo Bay.”

No, those aren’t Russian soldiers abusing Ukrainian POWs. They’re Muslim detainees arriving at Camp X-Ray in Jan 2002. (Photo: Shane T. McCoy, US Navy)

The Guantánamo Bay announcement caught many officials at the Pentagon off-guard, according to five defense officials. One official said the Guantánamo mission will be a DHS mission. It is unclear whether the military will be involved, but the Pentagon has no orders or guidance from the White House beyond the memo.

Officials who were surprised by Trump’s announcement said they do not know how many beds for migrants are at Guantánamo or whether it would be a short- or a long-term mission. They said there are no plans to upgrade or change the military facilities there.

Camp X-Ray in Jan 2002 (Photo: Shane T. McCoy, US Navy)

Beginning in 1991, over 32,000 men, women and children fled Haiti in makeshift boats. Many were pro-democracy activists seeking refuge after a military dictatorship overthrew President Aristide. Intercepted by the US Coast Guard, they came to crowded camps surrounded by barbed wire at Guantánamo to pre-screen their asylum claims.

Somebody on Trumpf’s staff alerted him that Guantanamo Bay once held 32,000 Haitian migrants, which is where he got the number 30,000 for his directive.

There are only a handful of Muslim detainees left in Guantanamo. President Barack Obama made several efforts to close down this tropical torture chamber but was stymied by Republicans in the Congress. This inhumane ukase will be a costly one for the hardworking American taxpayer. The expense of operating a C-17 military transport aircraft is $28,500 per hour. A recent military deportation flight to Guatemala most likely cost at least $4,675 per migrant. Moreover, feeding 30,000 unfortunate souls will be expensive as well. One wonders which Trumpf crony will be awarded the lucrative contract to cater to these poor detainees. No doubt the oligarch will overcharge the US government while providing the refugees gruel.

Trumpf is a fount of human kindness like his role model. (Michelle Kondrich/The Washington Post; Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post; AP)

Sources:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-says-sign-order-housing-migrants-guantanamo-bay-rcna189884

 https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-military-deportation-flight-likely-cost-more-than-first-class-2025-01-30/

Trumpf Withdraws Security Details for Several Former VIPs

President Trumpf pulled security from John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and his assistant John Hook, despite an assassination contract put out by Iran. This is just another example of Trumpf’s vindictive nature to invite political violence against his enemies

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced he is “immediately pulling” retired Gen. Mark Milley’s personal security detail and security clearance. The sycophantic secretary is also directing the new acting Inspector General to conduct a review board to determine if enough evidence exists for Gen. Milley to be stripped of a star in retirement based on his actions to “undermine the chain of command” during President Donald Trump’s first term.

The DoD will also be removing a second portrait of Gen. Milley inside the Pentagon. This one is from the Army’s Marshall Corridor on the third floor honoring his service as chief-of-staff of the Army. This means there will be no more portraits of Gen. Milley inside the Pentagon.

Background Information

The US State Department announced a $20 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the alleged Iranian mastermind behind a plot to assassinate former White House official John Bolton.

The US designated the entire IRGC a “foreign terrorist organization” in 2019, after previously designating its external operation wing, the Quds Force.

In Aug 2022, US officials uncovered a plot by Shahram Poursafi, a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to kill John Bolton, who served as national security adviser to former President Donald Trump. The reward offer came when Trumpf who was running for a new White House term, claiming there were “big threats” on his life by Iran.

Bolton, an Islamophobe, is considered a foreign policy hawk and is a fierce critic of Iran. He advocated that Trump unilaterally and recklessly withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018.

President Donald Trump flanked by National Security Adviser John Bolton, right, speaks during a meeting with Senior Military Leadership in the Cabinet Room of the White House on 9 April 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Oliver Contreras /Sipa USA via AP)

Poursafi allegedly offered an unidentified person inside the US $300,000 to kill Bolton in the capital area. The plan was likely set in motion after the US killing of top IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq on 3 Jan 2020 by a drone strike outside Baghdad Int’l Airport (BIAP). But it never made headway because the ostensible assassin became an informant of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Iranian authorities have dismissed the allegations as “fiction.”

The late General Qasem Soleimani. (Photo: Public domain)

General Qasem Soleimani was a popular figure in Iran and an effective combat leader against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. When the US invaded Afghanistan in Oct 2001 after the 11 Sep 2001 attacks, General Soleimani collaborated with the US and led the 2001 uprising in Herat against the Taliban, which included ethnic Hazaras, the Northern Alliance, and the Quds Force which liberated the city before US forces entered. Years later, the QF supported the Shia resistance against US forces in Iraq, particularly with lethal EFPs (explosively formed penetrators,

As reported previously here on Coriolanus, the IRGC-QF have contracted out assassinations to organized crime groups such as the Hell’s Angels, as well as recruited spies and saboteurs within Israel.

“Crossing Lines”

On 4 Dec 1981, President Ronald Reagan signed Executive Order 12333. Part 2.11 of E.O. 12333 reiterates a proscription on US intelligence agencies sponsoring or carrying out an assassination. It reads:

No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.

Then-President Trumpf abused the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) to get around this proscription by deploying DOD assets to murder General Soleimani.

America’s beloved “Old Blood and Guts.” (Photo: Public domain)

During a state of war, enemy generals are high value targets (HVTs). The Ukrainian secret services killed a Russian CBRN general last year. In mob parlance, Trumpf killing Qasem Soleimani “crossed a line” with the Iranians as the US was not in a Congressionally-declared war with Tehran. Imagine how upset Americans would have been in 1945 if former members of the Third Reich assassinated General George Patton after the war ended. That’s how the Iranians feel today about Soleimani’s death.

Giuseppe “Pino” Greco killed up to 300 victims on behalf of the powerful Corleonesi clan during the Sicilian Mafia war of the late 1970s.

Like Giuseppe “Pino” Greco, when you live by the sword, expect to die by the sword. Perhaps this will be a lesson to national security functionaries to be a little more circumspect before ordering the taking of another man’s life. In sharp contrast to America’s dilemma of protecting homicidal bureaucrats, former President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador dismissed his military bodyguard detail when he assumed office. During his five year term, no one from the drug cartels, ISIS, the FSB, the IRGC-QF, or even a deranged lunatic made any attempts to harm President Obrador.

President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Photo: Government of Mexico)

Mexico’s President-Elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador shakes hands with a supporter while leaving the National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico 3 Jul 2018. (Photo: Reuters / Daniel Becerril)

Mexico President Obrador sat unprotected on a delayed commercial flight for three hours. He said he would be “embarrassed” to board “a luxurious plane in a country where there is so much poverty.” President Obrador intended to sell the specially made $218.7m presidential jet.

Sources:

Putting A Target On His Back – Digby’s Hullabaloo

https://www.state.gov/rewards-for-justice-reward-offer-for-information-on-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-member-shahram-poursafi/

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-offers-20m-for-details-about-iranian-allegedly-behind-plot-to-kill-official-/7800969.html

Iranian Special Forces Reportedly Fight Alongside US in Battle for Herat

https://www.federalregister.gov/executive-order/12333

https://www.newsweek.com/mexicos-obrador-says-he-doesnt-need-bodyguards-people-will-protect-him-1007985

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45596480

Ukraine-Russia Update

Distributing military recruitment leaflets in Moscow. (Photo: Pelagia Tikhonova / Moskva News Agency)

I Russian Recruitment

The number of Russians signing contracts at Moscow recruitment centers to fight in the war against Ukraine has fallen five-fold since its peak in late summer of last year. The daily number of volunteers signing-up reached a high following Ukraine’s Kursk offensive and the introduction of a one-time payment of 1.9 million rubles ($19,200) shortly before that.

Since then, daily applicants number around 40, a fivefold decrease, citing a source in the Moscow mayor’s office. The composition of applicants has changed, and half of those signing up currently are foreigners of African, Asian, or Chinese origin looking to make extra money, or Russians under investigation in criminal cases.


Russia is currently suffering around 1500-1750 casualties daily on the battlefield, including dead, wounded, and captured, as it continues to make grinding advances in eastern Ukraine in “meat attacks.”

Soviet Army human wave attack in WWII.

II Ukrainian Strategic Drone Offensive

Ukrainian drones continue destroying strategic targets inside Russia, including an oil refinery, pumping station, and a missile arsenal. Four drones struck the Lukoil oil depot in the city of Kstovo, causing “significant damage.”


All of these targets are hundreds of miles inside Russia, conducted by Ukrainian Special Operations or intelligence personnel (HUR). The Russians were forced to shut down the main pipeline that supplies oil to the Ust-Luga terminal in Leningrad Oblast.

Click here for video:

https://t.me/war_monitor/24687

https://x.com/i/status/1884475734309155281

III Australian POW Alive

Australian volunteer Oscar Jenkins. Credit: HANDOUT/’SLADKOV+’ TELEGRAM ACCOUNT/AAP

Oscar Jenkins is serving in the 402nd Separate Rifle Battalion, which is part of Ukraine’s 66th Separate Mechanized Brigade. He went missing on 16 Dec 2024 while on a combat mission near the village of Mykolaivka in Luhansk Oblast. Thought to be executed by the Russians, Australian FM Penny Wong received confirmation from the Kremlin that Jenkins is alive and in custody.

IV NATO Support for Ukraine

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan: “Ukraine deserves NATO membership.” (Photo: Tolga Bozoglu EPA / Shutterstock)

NATO is on course to fulfill its promise to send approximately $41.6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine by the end of the year, NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska said on 29 Jan. Member nations pledged to provide the funding to Ukraine during the NATO summit in Washington, DC in July 2024. The future of US military aid remains uncertain under President Donald Trump who has urged Europe to shoulder more of the financial burden.

Ukraine continues striking strategic targets inside Russia to damage its economy and undermine enemy morale. The word is out on the Russian street about the appalling number of deaths on the Ukrainian front, lowering the number of native Russians seeking military contracts. NATO and the EU are stepping up to fill the void of assistance caused by Vladimir Putin protégé Donald Trump and are executing their contingency plan across the financial, intelligence, and defense spectrum. For example, the US ceded Poland’s air defense command to NATO last year. The Russians would not execute a foreigner like Oscar Jenkins because he has value for any potential prisoner swaps. If a Russian spy is detained in Australia, Moscow and Canberra would conduct a trade.

“Uncle Vanya Wants You!”

Uh-huh.

A Russian Defender of the Fatherland Day poster, celebrated on 23 Feb.

Sources:

https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-war-latest-ukrainian-drones-hit-lukoil-oil-refinery-missile-arsenal-in-russia-sources-claim/

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/europe/2025-01-13/nato-air-defense-poland-patriots-16467545.html

Ebola Outbreak Strikes Uganda’s Capital

(Photo: CNN)

Uganda confirms an Ebola virus outbreak in its capital, Kampala, with the first patient, a nurse, succumbing to the disease. This highly infectious virus spreads through bodily fluids and has claimed 55 lives during a previous outbreak. The health ministry is handling the emerging situation cautiously.

Per CIA, Uganda has nearly 50m people; real GDP per capita is $2,800.

The highly contagious viral infection, which transmits through contact with infected bodily fluids and tissues, causes symptoms such as headaches, muscle pain, and bleeding. Uganda last battled an Ebola outbreak in late 2022, which officially ended on 11 Jan 2023, after claiming 55 lives, including six health workers.

The average Ebola case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 25–90% in past outbreaks, depending on circumstances and the response.

Sources:

https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/health/3245580-ebola-outbreak-strikes-ugandas-capital

https://www.who.int/health-topics/ebola/#tab=tab_1

Trumpf 6 Jan Pardons Backfire

Violent Lunatic Pardoned by Trumpf Sought on Charges of Child Sex Solicitation

Andrew Taake holding a metal whip during a confrontation at the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021 (via FBI court filing).

Andrew Taake (36) from Houston, TX was released from prison after being pardoned by Donad Trumpf is now wanted on separate charges of child sex solicitation. He had pleaded guilty in 2023 to beating officers with a metal whip and dousing them with bear spray while storming the Capitol grounds on 6 Jan 2021.

After being turned in by a woman he chatted with on the dating app Bumble, he was sentenced to six years in federal prison plus three years of post-released supervision. But now that he’s free again, Texas prosecutors are seeking him for trial on charges related to text messages he allegedly sent an undercover cop pretending to be a 15-year-old girl back in 2016.

This maniac was already awaiting trial for those messages when he journeyed to the Capitol “ready for violence” in January 2021. Nevertheless, Takke was freed from federal prison despite a formal request from Texas authorities to keep him in custody so that he could be tried for the 2016 charge.

Pardoned 6 Jan Offender Kills Mother of Two While DUI

Another one of Trumpf’s pardons backfired. Emily Hernandez was sentenced to ten years in prison for a deadly drunk driving crash days after being pardoned for her role in the 6 Jan Capitol attack.

Emily Hernandez holding a stolen, broken nameplate belonging to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Hernandez pleaded guilty for her involvement and served 30 days in federal prison. Look how happy she looks.

On 5 Jan 2022, Hernandez drove on I-44 in Missouri for several miles going the wrong way, with a blood and alcohol concentration of .125, before crashing into another car belonging to a Franklin County couple, Victoria and Ryan Wilson. The couple just left dinner celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary. Victoria (32) died and Ryan faced serious injuries. The couple has two children, now ages 18 and 13.

Credit: Family of Victoria Wilson

Emily Hernandez destroyed this once happy family in Missouri and a sexual predator is now on the loose in Texas. Expect more mayhem from the approximately 1,500 pardoned maniacs. When people contend that Donald Trumpf is trying to destroy the US from within, do not disbelieve them.

UK Shadow First Secretary of State Emily Thornberry in 2017: Trumpf Is a “dangerous asteroid of awfulness that has fallen on this world” and a “racist.” (Photo: Getty Images)

Sources:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/january-6-trump-pardons-andrew-taake-b2687340.html

https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/crime/emily-hernandez-sentenced-deadly-dui-crash/63-0d47bef0-2d31-4eb7-9aec-9a8e77a68b3c

UK: Alleged Russian Spy Believed She Was Working for Interpol

Court artist sketch of Vanya Gaberova, who said she never doubted the identity of the man who allegedly told her he was part of Interpol. (Photo: Elizabeth Cook / PA)

A woman accused of spying for Moscow told the Old Bailey she believed she was working for Interpol after a man showed her a fake ID and told her he could enrol her at “police school in Wembley.”

On her first day of giving evidence, London-based beautician Vanya Gaberova (30) said she did not question Bizer Dzhambazov (43) who also told her that untrained people such as her were better at surveillance because they did not stand out in a crowd.

Gaberova said she and Dzhambazov became close in Aug 2021 and gradually started a relationship as he began to give her surveillance tasks around Europe, which prosecutors say were for the benefit of Russia.

Dzhambazov, a medical courier, told her he was part of an Interpol economic crime unit and showed her credentials, which she did not question, and added that he could help her get a job in the police, which she said was an aspiration of hers.

Dzhambazov has already pleaded guilty to spying for Russia, carrying out surveillance tasks as part of a spy ring run by his friend Orlin Roussev, based in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Roussev, who has also admitted guilt, was accused of working for Jan Marsalek, an Austrian fugitive and Russian agent based in Moscow.

The NATO Counterintelligence/Operational Security (CI/OPSEC) posture remains high because of the threat of Russian sabotage and espionage. The war in Ukraine has forced the Kremlin to recruit amateurs and non-professional assets without diplomatic immunity such as Vanya Gaberova. Nevertheless, they pose a threat to Western interests. These Russian spies will no doubt be traded in a future prisoner swap.

Russian spy Maria Butina who infiltrated the GOP and the NRA.

Source:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/30/alleged-russian-spy-says-believed-working-interpol

Trumpf Golf Tracker

(Credit: PA:Press Association)

President Trumpf visited a Trump Organization property on 428 of the 1,461 days (30%) of his first presidential term and is estimated to have played 261 rounds of golf, one every 5.6 days.

One of Trumpf’s campaign pledges was to immediately lower the prices of eggs and gasoline for American consumers. Since being in office, both prices have increased while the Commander-in-Chief golfed. The ingenious Trumpf Golf Tracker is monitoring the time the President of the United States is on the links while “Rome burns down.”

https://trumpgolftrack.com/

Border Collie Has Perfect Pitch

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/

Terrorists Kill Five, Wound 22 at Turkish Aerospace Company Near Ankara

At least five people have been killed and 22 others wounded in an attack on the headquarters of Turkiye’s aerospace and defence company, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS), near the capital Ankara.

“Two terrorists were neutralised” in the incident at the headquarters of the state-run firm, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted on X.

“Sadly, we have 5 martyrs and 22 wounded in the attack. Three of the injured were already discharged from hospital, 19 of them under treatment,” he said.

In orderly fashion, ambulances line up at the entrance of the headquarters of Turkey’s aviation company, TUSAS [Photo: Reuters]

Footage from the scene broadcast by local media just after the attack, which took place at 3:30PM local time (12:30 GMT), showed huge clouds of smoke and a large fire raging at the site in Kahramankazan, a small town some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Ankara.

Security camera images from the attacks showed a man in plainclothes carrying a backpack and holding an assault rifle. The images also appeared to show a woman carrying a weapon.

15,000 people work at the TUSAS campus in Kahramankazan.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the justice minister said an investigation had been opened and said it was “probably linked” to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long rebellion against the government.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was holding talks in Russia with Vladimir Putin at the time of the attack, condemned what he said was a “heinous terrorist attack”. Putin offered Erdogan his “condolences in connection with the terror attack” at the start of their meeting in the Russian city of Kazan on the sidelines of the BRICS summit of major emerging market nations that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Earlier this week, the leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which belongs to Erdogan’s ruling coalition, invited jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to address parliament to announce his movement’s dissolution.

Turkish opposition leader Ozgur Ozel of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) released a statement condemning the attack and saying he “condemns terrorism, no matter who or where it comes from”.

The main pro-Kurdish DEM party also condemned the attack, saying it was “noteworthy that the attack took place just as Turkish society was talking about a solution and the possibility of dialogue” with the PKK.

The attack occurred as a major trade fair for the defence and aerospace industries was taking place in Istanbul, which was visited this week by Ukraine’s top diplomat.

Turkey’s defense sector, which is widely known for its Bayraktar drones, accounts for nearly 80 percent of the nation’s export revenues with revenues expected to top $10.2bn in 2023. Ukraine is a main recipient of these drones. TUSAS is one of those important defense and aviation companies, producing KAAN, the country’s first national combat aircraft, among other projects.

The TAI Kaan is a stealth, twin-engine, all-weather air superiority fighter, pictured here on its inaugural flight on 21 Feb 2014 (Photo: AA)

In response to this attack, Turkey’s Air Force struck Kurdish targets in Iraq and Syria in apparent retaliation. The Ministry of National Defence reported 47 targets were “destroyed” in the aerial offensive without providing details on the locations that were hit, adding that “all kinds of precautions” were taken to prevent civilian harm.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said that Turkish air attacks in northern and eastern Syria killed 12 civilians, including two children, and wounded 25 people.

There was no immediate statement from the PKK and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack on TUSAS.

Unclear is whether this was a suicide attack on TUSAS or if the terrorists had an escape plan. This murderous attack was well-prepared and timed to both embarrass Turkish President Erdogan while he is visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin and as PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was invited to address the Turkish Parliament to establish a dialogue between Ankara and the Kurdish minority. These homicidal maniacs accomplished little other than killing unarmed civilians and causing irreparable emotional harm to the families of the victims. But the attack may help maintain a wedge between Ankara and its Kurdish minority if these perpetrators were indeed linked with the PKK.

Sources:

At least five killed in attack on aerospace firm near Turkey’s Ankara | News | Al Jazeera

Turkey strikes Iraq, Syria after attack on defence company near Ankara | Military News | Al Jazeera

Ukraine’s Prosecutor-General Resigns Amid Draft-Dodging Scandal

Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Andriy Kostin (Undated image: RadioSvoboda.org / RFE/RL).

Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Andriy Kostin has resigned amid investigations that found dozens of government officials had dodged military service by claiming disability benefits.

Kostin announced his resignation on 22 Oct on Telegram after a meeting of Ukraine’s National Security Council attended by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said Kostin “should take political responsibility” for corruption and loopholes being used to get draft deferrals.

“The problem is not just that officials use their connections to get disabled status. It is also the fact that people who are really disabled, especially in combat, often do not get the appropriate status and fair payment,” Zelensky said.

Earlier this month, investigators found that a number of public prosecutors in the western Khmelnytskiy region had falsely obtained disability permits and were receiving special benefits. Investigations into the issue are ongoing in other parts of Ukraine.

Kostin’s resignation still needs parliamentary approval, but that is expected to move through the legislature with little resistance, as Zelensky’s party holds a majority of the seats.

“I consider the position of President Zelensky to be absolutely correct…. I [also] think it is correct to announce my resignation as prosecutor-general,” Kostin said.

Soon after Kostin’s resignation, Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal announced the dismissal of several other senior officials, the management of the central commission overseeing fitness for service, and officials in the Health Ministry who coordinate the activities of local commissions.

In a sign of the precarious situation Ukraine faces as it tries to hold off Russia’s massive troop advantage, military recruiters in recent weeks have shown up at conspicuous events like concerts and weddings looking for men who had not registered for service under a long-debated and highly controversial military mobilization law that was adopted last spring.

Mobilization is a sensitive issue in Ukraine, whose troop numbers have been depleted after more than 2 1/2 years of fighting Russia’s invasion. In this video, a military-age male in Ukraine is dragged off the street.

Zelensky has acknowledged several times the “very, very difficult” situation the military is facing, while he also tries to keep the country unified during the war, which has had drastically differing impacts on various population groups, with its burden falling most heavily on Ukrainians from the south and east of the country.

Highlighting the growing unrest over the issue of mobilization, protesters in August tried to force their way into a military recruitment center in Ukraine to demand the release of four young men who they claimed were illegally detained amid the country’s increased mobilization efforts. Days earlier, Zelensky endorsed bills extending martial law and a general military mobilization for 90 days, the 11th time he had done so since Russia invaded.

Press ganging is not a new phenomenon. 1780 caricature of a press gang by an unknown artist courtesy of Wikimedia.org.

President Zelensky is doing the best he can leading Ukraine in its defense against Russia, but he cannot magically increase his population pool to match Russia’s, which is also facing manpower shortages. Zelensky and Putin are not alone when it comes to conscription problems. 50,000 to 125,000 young Americans fled to Canada to avoid being drafted for Vietnam. During the First World War, while 24 million American men registered for the draft, as many as 3.5 million failed to do so, thereby successfully evading induction.

Notably, two American icons avoided getting killed in war. Heavyweight boxing contender Jack Dempsey was somehow exempt from fighting the Kaiser in the First World War. He would become heavyweight champion after the war ended. Physically fit 1-A John Wayne was somehow not mustered into service during the Second World War, although he reportedly tried to enlist at age 34. The “Duke” would win an Oscar in 1969 for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn in True Grit.

Heavyweight champion Jess Willard (L) suspected that draft-dodging Jack Dempsey (R) wore “loaded gloves” when he lost the title to him on 4 July 1919. Dempsey floored Willard seven times in the first round. Dempsey would go on win the bout to became heavyweight champion. Jack Dempsey and Babe Ruth became popular athletic celebrities in the “Roaring 20s.” (Image: boxrec.com)

Like a sky-pilot who never goes into battle himself, handsome rigged John Wayne inspired and motivated thousands of patriotic Americans to fight and die in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. John Wayne toured US military bases with the USO in the Pacific Theater of Operations, but he completely evaded military service. Above is a four-for-one sale of those inspirational movies.

Sources:

Ukraine’s Prosecutor-General Resigns Amid Draft-Dodging Scandal (rferl.org)

Amid Corruption Scandals And Mounting Problems, Ukraine Vows To Shake Up The Military Enlistment System. It’s A Tough Task. (rferl.org)

Men Dragged Off The Street As Ukraine Tries To Tackle Manpower Crisis At The Front (rferl.org)

Draft Resistance and Evasion | Encyclopedia.com

Why John Wayne Was Labeled a ‘Draft Dodger’ During World War II | Military.com

GLOVES LOADED? DEMPSEY SAYS NO; Willard Supports Charges Made by Kearns – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

America’s First Line of Defense, the FBI, has been busy with Donald Trump’s “useful idiots,” white supremacist nitwits. Two cases follow.

NY Proud Boy Found Guilty of Felony and Misdemeanor Charges for Actions During 6 Jan 2021 Attack on US Capitol

William Joseph Pepe is on the right. Note this maniac was carrying a walkie-talkie on 6 Jan. (Photo: FBI)

William Joseph Pepe (35), of White Plains, NY was found guilty of felony and misdemeanor charges related to his egregious conduct during the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

Aware that USDJ Timothy J. Kelly is a Republican and Donald Trump appointee, Pepe (probably upon advice of defense counsel) opted for a bench trial. He was convicted nevertheless and will be sentenced on 11 Mar 2025.

On 6 Jan 2021, Pepe met an army of approximately one hundred Proud Boys members in Washington, DC near the Washington Monument at approximately 10:00 AM. Shortly after, the rabble marched toward the US Capitol building with Pepe as vanguard against police lines. At the Peace Circle, the mob violently disassembled and trampled the metal bike rack barriers blocking entry into Capitol grounds.

After the police retreated and reformed, Pepe encouraged the rioters, yelling into a camera “Let’s go! This is what we came for, yeah!”

Officers deployed pepper spray and other crowd control measures. Pepe posted a selfie-style video in which he declared:

“Yo, the cops pepper sprayed me and Hooks. Me and Hooks got f—ing maced. Storming that Capitol, baby!”

Pepe made his way into the Capitol through the Senate Wing Door where he recorded and sent a video to fellow Proud Boys, stating “We did it.” (Photo: FBI)

The FBI arrested Pepe on 22 Jan 2021, in White Plains, NY.

With this felony conviction, this 35-year-old Proud Boy threw his life and career away with the MTA in NY.


Former NJ Governor Chris Christie doppleganger Republican USDJ Timothy J. Kelly will sentence his fellow Republican on 11 Mar 2025. (Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia.org)

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/new-york-proud-boy-found-guilty-felony-and-misdemeanor-charges-actions-during-jan-6

https://www.yahoo.com/news/did-ex-mta-worker-convicted-203836477.html

Texas Couple Sentenced to Prison for Assaulting Law Enforcement and Other Charges During 6 Jan 2021 Attack on US Capitol

Mark Middleton (55) and Jalise Middleton (54). Note how joyful they look on 6 Jan 2021. (Photo: FBI)

Mark Middleton (55) and Jalise Middleton (54) both of Forestburg, TX were sentenced to 30 and 20 months in prison, respectively, by the Honorable USDJ Randolph D. Moss for their heinous and violent conduct on 6 Jan 2021.

Mark Middleton was additionally sentenced to 36 months’ supervised release, and a $2,000 fine. Jalise Middleton was additionally sentenced to 30 months’ supervised release, and a $2,000 fine.

After the “Stop the Steal” rally, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers responded to the West Front of the US Capitol building to assist USCP officers against an army of amassed rioters.

Mark Middleton called the officers “traitors” and then pushed against the barricades and the police line. Officers are heard on body-worn camera footage repeatedly ordering Mark Middleton and others to “Get back!” In response, Mark Middleton is heard yelling “f— you!” as he continued to push against the police barricades. Mark Middleton resisted MPD officers, grabbed onto an MPD officer’s left arm, and pulled the officer forward over the barricades and towards the mob.

Jalise Middleton repeatedly grabbed and struck the same officer over the barricade with her hand, striking him in the face, chest, and arms. Another officer stepped in to assist, and Jalise Middleton struck that officer as well. Mark Middleton then used his flagpole to strike the second officer in the head. This lunatic couple continued to grapple with and strike at the officers. The Middletons attempted to pull the first officer into the mob, as rioters jabbed, slashed, and swung flag poles at officers. The injuries sustained by those police officers were not revealed in this press release.

(Photo: FBI)

The Middletons only broke off their vicious assault after they were sprayed in the face with chemical irritants, forcing them to retreat. Both miscreants later posted social media messages touting their key role in helping to breach the barricades by fighting officers and that they had only stopped because they were pepper sprayed.

Mark and Jalise Middleton were arrested on 21 Apr 2021 in Forestburg, TX.

Mark and Jalise Middleton. This middle-aged couple do not appear as happy in these mugshots from Collin County Texas Jail as they do in the photo of them on 6 Jan at the top.

In the 45 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,532 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including more than 571 seditionists charged with feloniously assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The FBI investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

Middle age is not a good time to get jammed up by the federal system. These two white supremacist imbeciles threw their lives away with these felony convictions and incarcerations, heeding the idiotic call of Donald Trump. The Lone Star State hosts 17 federal correctional facilities (FCIs) of varying security levels. Two of these prisons will be the Middleton home for the next few years.

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/texas-couple-sentenced-prison-assaulting-law-enforcement-and-other-charges-during-jan-6

First Presumed Human Infections of Avian Flu Under Investigation in Washington State

(Map: beautifulwashington.com)

Four agricultural workers tested presumptively positive for avian influenza after working with infected poultry at a commercial egg farm in Franklin County. The individuals experienced mild symptoms and have been provided with antiviral medication. Testing of additional individuals on the farm is currently pending and the number of cases under investigation may change.

(Image courtesy: hightoppoultry.com)

These are the first presumed human cases of H5 virus under investigation in Washington state. The cases took place at a farm that was the site of an avian influenza outbreak in chickens. About 800,000 birds were euthanized after test results by the Washington State Department of Agriculture on 15 Oct showed that they were infected with avian influenza.

Any employees or contractors who may have worked on a poultry farm in Benton or Franklin counties since 7 Oct should contact BFHD at 509-460-4550 if they have symptoms such as red eyes or respiratory infections.

Washington is the sixth state to identify a human infection of H5N1. H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has caused ongoing multistate outbreaks in poultry, dairy cattle, and wildlife.

Avian influenza is a disease caused by avian influenza Type A viruses that naturally occur in wild aquatic birds throughout the world. H5N1 viruses can also infect other species of birds, and occasionally mammals, and can cause significant mortality in poultry species, such as chickens, turkeys, pheasants, quail, ducks, geese, or guinea fowl.

On rare occasions, avian influenza viruses infect people and make them sick. Most instances of people becoming infected with avian influenza have happened after prolonged, close contact with animals infected with avian influenza or environments contaminated with avian influenza.

The CDC currently considers the risk to the general public from this H5N1 avian influenza to be low; however, people with job-related or recreational exposures to infected birds, cattle, or other potentially impacted domestic or wild animals are at higher risk and should take precautions, including wearing personal protective equipment.

DOH reminds the community to never handle or allow pets near dead birds. For more information on safety precautions, visit https://doh.wa.gov/avian-influenza.

Sources:

First presumed human infections of avian influenza under investigation in Washington state | Washington State Department of Health

Bird Flu | Bird Flu | CDC

Gang Members Drown Off Haitian Coast While Re-Supplying Ammunition for Attack

(Map courtesy of https://www.viamichelin.fr)

Approximately 50 suspected gang members have died this week after attacking a coastal town in Haiti, including at least a dozen who drowned after their boat capsized.

While the majority were killed by police, a group of gunmen drowned after their boat hit the reef as they ferried ammunition to gangs attacking the town of Arcahaie, reported Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency.

The attack began on Monday with gunmen burning homes and cars in the town located just northwest of the capital of Port-au-Prince. When the gangs ran out of ammunition, they hid in nearby areas and were ferreted out by residents and police.

The attack is still ongoing and the Civil Protection Agency warned that officers on the scene urgently need reinforcements from soldiers and special police units.

The attack is blamed on a gang coalition called Viv Ansanm, which also has targeted communities in Port-au-Prince recently.

Undated photo of Viv Ansanm gang members. Note the “leader” in the center is unmasked.

The spike in gang violence comes just months after a UN-backed mission led by Kenyan police began with the aim of quelling a surge in violence from gangs, who control more than 80% of Port-au-Prince. More than 700,000 people have been left homeless, thousands have been killed, and the country’s main airport was forced to close for nearly three months earlier this year because of the violence.

The US government and top Haitian officials have warned that the Kenyan-led mission lacks personnel and funding and have asked that it be replaced with a UN-peacekeeping mission.

Haiti, a failed state, is the Somalia of the Caribbean. Violence, rape, murder, and chaos have been plaguing the Haitian people for years now. Malnutrition and cholera are also spreading amongst the population. If Haitians aren’t being murdered by gang members, they are drowning in boats trying to escape. Haiti’s neighbor, the Dominican Republic, has been cracking down on Haitian refugees who made it to safety across the border. This failed state needs a massive military intervention and financial assistance beyond a small but robust police contingency. But with US attention and resources focused on helping Ukraine and Israel, other nations must fill the void.

Haitians wait to cross the border into the Dominican Republic in Dajabon, Dominican Republic, Friday, 19 Nov 2021. Santo Domingo “profusely rejected” the denunciation of its migratory crackdowns on Haitian migrants by a growing number of countries and human rights agencies. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

Sources:

At least a dozen gang members drown near Haiti while ferrying ammunition: Official – ABC News (go.com)

“VIV ANSANM” amplifies the misery of the poorest in Haiti (vantbefinfo.com)

Deadly Violence in Haiti at Record High, Some Worst Scenarios Now Realities, Special Representative Tells Security Council, Urging Deployment of Support Mission | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases

Haiti’s health system pushed to breaking point: UNICEF | UN News

Dominican Republic rejects criticism of Haitian deportations | AP News

Five countries pledge personnel for Haiti security mission, UN says | Reuters

Australia: Pet Owners Warned About Tick Boom on East Coast After Last Year’s Hot, Wet Summer

Note the red area on the east coast is where lies the threat of the paralysis tick. (Illustration courtesy of the Karl McManus Foundation.)

Global warming has not only been a boon to mosquitos, but also to disease vector ticks. Pet owners in Australia have been warned about a tick boom unfolding along their east coast, with some experts predicting an unusually bad season for our furry friends.

Veterinary scientist and parasitologist Peter Irwin, an emeritus professor at Murdoch University, said the severity of a tick season was largely determined by the preceding weather, and last summer had been very hot and wet along the east coast”.

“That implies the tick season this year will be bad, and indeed it seems to be panning out that way,” he said.

Paralysis ticks – found along a narrow strip of coastline stretching from north Queensland to Lakes Entrance in Victoria – were responsible for 95% of tick bites in humans, and were potentially lethal to cats, dogs, and other animals.

Factors influencing tick seasons were complex. Temperature and humidity played a key role, as well as the abundance of host animals like kangaroos and bandicoots. “You also have human factors as well – how often are people moving in and out of tick habitat?” he said.

If people or their pets were bitten, it was important to remain calm and not to try to pull the tick off. “You should always freeze it, not squeeze it” using tick-freezing spray from a pharmacist.

On a recent trip to Culburra Beach on the south coast of NSW, Eleanor removed 39 live ticks from her four-year-old Finnish lapphund, Beans.

Beans, a Finnish lapphund, had no fewer than 39 ticks removed while on a holiday at Culburra Beach on the New South Wales coast, her owner said. (Photo: The Guardian)

She was aware it was tick season but “had no idea it would be like this”, she said. Beans was “crawling with parasites”.

“The number of ticks we found on her was nightmarish,” she said. “We spent every evening when the kids went to bed pulling ticks out of her fur.”

Irwin said adult paralysis ticks, mainly active between August and December, were a serious concern for pet owners and veterinarians.

Australian paralysis tick (Ixodes holocyclus). Photo: Peter Rowland

“Cats and dogs, untreated, will die of tick paralysis. Even treating them is not always successful,” he said. Luckily the disease was largely preventable, with effective collars, tablets, and treatments.

Prof Ala Tabor, an animal health specialist with the Queensland alliance for agriculture and food innovation at the University of Queensland, said the larger an animal was the more likely it would be able to survive paralysis tick toxins.

This season the university lost a cow to paralysis ticks, Tabor said.

Tabor was developing a paralysis tick vaccine for cats and dogs that was being licensed to an Australian company.

Once a vaccine was available, an annual dose would probably be cheaper and easier for pet owners and could provide a solution for animals that had adverse reactions to chemicals in common treatments.

Sources:

Dog owners warned about boom in ticks on Australia’s east coast after last year’s hot, wet summer | Environment | The Guardian

Fact File: Australian paralysis tick (Ixodes holocyclus) – Australian Geographic

Who We Are – Karl McManus Foundation

Tick Check | NexGard® Range

Japan Scrambles Jets to Intercept Chinese Bomber and Spy Plane

ADIZ over Japan (blue), South Korea (green), China (pink), and Taiwan/ROC (Orange). (Map: Wikimedia)

Japan recently scrambled fighter jets as China sent a bomber and a spy plane over waters near the Japanese southwestern islands for a long-distance mission from the Chinese mainland.

The Joint Staff Office (JSO) under the Defense Ministry of Japan reported the Chinese military aircraft’s movement within its air defense identification zone. The H-6 bomber and the Y-9 spy plane were spotted flying from mainland China and heading into the Miyako Strait. 

Japan, the US, Taiwan, and South Korea have set up air defense identification zones (ADIZ) around the countries in the interest of national security. The zone begins where sovereign airspace ends and is within the international airspace.

The Miyako Strait lies between the Japanese islands of Miyako and Okinawa, part of the so-called first island chain. This US defense concept extends from Japan to Taiwan and the Philippines to the south, attempting to contain China in the Western Pacific Ocean.

According to a Chinese military observer, the bomber was a H-6J, which the Pentagon described as a maritime strike bomber and a naval variant of the H-6K operated by the Chinese air force.

In this photo provided by the Defense Ministry of Japan, a Chinese H-6 bomber transits the Miyako Strait on 20 Oct inside the Japanese ADIZ.

The new and larger advanced H-6J has six pylons for carrying weapons instead of four, capable of firing supersonic antiship cruise missiles. The bomber is equipped with advanced avionics and upgraded engines, the Pentagon said in a report released in October last year.

Long-range bombers are part of the Chinese military’s anti-access/area denial capabilities. These aim to prevent the American military forces—especially the navy and its aircraft carriers—from approaching the first island chain during a potential conflict with Taiwan.

China held a large-scale military exercise around Taiwan last week, a self-ruled island that has been viewed by Beijing as part of its territory. During the exercise, Chinese warships and combat aircraft have engaged in drills focusing on blockades on key ports and areas.

This was not the first time the Chinese sent the same types of bombers and spy planes over waters near the southwestern islands of Japan, where they had conducted a similar mission on 12 Mar.

Chinese Y-9 spy plane transits the Miyako Strait on 20 Oct. (Photo: JSO)

Japan’s Joint Staff Office on Thursday reported that from 1 Apr to 30 Sep, its air force scrambled fighter jets 358 times in response to foreign military aircraft approaching the country, showing a decrease from the same period last year, which occurred 424 times.

Among the Japanese scrambles, 241 of them were against the Chinese military aircraft, which is fewer than last year’s 304 times. However, the number of scrambles against the Russian military aircraft was 115 times, which is an increase from last year’s 110 times.

On 12 Sep, a pair of Russian Tu-142 maritime reconnaissance and antisubmarine warfare aircraft flew on an anticlockwise flight around Japan.

This week the World Uyghur Congress is taking place in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and the BRICS summit convened in Kazan, Russia. China is flexing its growing muscles while probing and testing the new Japanese Prime Minister. Japan should expect more of these near-intrusions from China as Beijing has eyes on maritime waters, economic fisheries, that they claim is theirs.  Last year, Chinese and Russian aircraft violated the South Korean ADIZ, forcing the ROK AF to scramble. Seoul could expect more near-intrusions now that they have warned Moscow that using North Korean troops might lead to massive weapons transfers to Ukraine.

Source:

US Ally Scrambles Jets To Intercept Chinese Bomber and Spy Plane – Newsweek

Chinese, Russian military aircraft enter KADIZ, South Korea scrambles fighter jets (joins.com)

Family on Road Trip Hear Cry for Help — Then Realize it’s Coming from Engine

The “cat distribution system” works in mysterious ways. On a road trip, the Wolford family reached its destination and heard a strange cry coming from within the car. They quickly exited the vehicle and popped the hood. To their sheer astonishment, a pair of wide, innocent eyes and a tiny, fluffy face met their gaze from underneath the engine.

Wedged snugly in the engine of their car was a tiny kitten. It appeared as though this little feline friend had been their silent passenger for the entire duration of their journey. The Wolford family couldn’t believe their eyes.

Mary Wolford recounted the moment, saying, “Everyone was shocked that he was alive. He rode probably 20 or 30 miles in there.”

With great care and gentleness, they managed to free the kitten from their car, yet their relief was short-lived. As soon as he was in their arms, he executed a daring escape, leaping out and darting away.

The kitten, who they named Racoon, hid another car, but was safely extracted and cleaned up.

Eventually, the family dogs, including a large Great Dane, welcomed Racoon into their midst.

Raccoon’s journey had taken a remarkable turn. When he had initially climbed into this caring family’s car engine, he was in search of a temporary refuge. Little did he know that he was about to find a loving forever home.

Source:

Family on a Road Trip Hear Cry For Help — Then Realize it’s Coming From the Engine – We Love Cats and Kittens

Global Outrage at Israel: Photo Essay

IDF Kills 24, Wounds 93 Palestinians in Gaza

Gaza’s Government Media Office accused Israeli forces of committing “two brutal massacres” overnight by bombing a mosque and a school-turned-shelter and killing at least 24 Palestinians. Some 93 others were wounded in the attacks in central Gaza.

The targeted buildings were identified as the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Ibn Rushd School. Both were housing hundreds of displaced people.

The bombings followed 27 Israeli attacks on 27 homes and displacement centres across the Gaza Strip in the past 48 hours.

Almost 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the war. Half of the dead are women and children. Almost 90% of Gaza’s residents are now displaced, amid widespread destruction.

This weekend tens of thousands of people all over the world protested against the Likud-run government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a man indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague for war crimes. Time and space permits only a sampling of the outrage. The Israeli government and its supporters will disparage these thousands and thousands of demonstrators as “Hamas lovers,” “antisemites,” “useful idiots of Iran,” “terrorism supporters,” et cetera et cetera, but rational people know the reality, despite the unfounded accusations, aspersions, rhetoric, and hate speech emanating from Jerusalem and the repetitive, nauseating, droning talking points we’re forced to hear or read in the West.

Police put out a fire after a self-proclaimed journalist self immolated during a pro-Palestinian rally outside the White House in Washington on 5 Oct [Seth Herald / Reuters]

Protesters march during a pro-Palestine rally in Melbourne, Australia on Sunday 6 Oct. (Photo: AAP)

Berlin, Germany [Christian Mang/ Reuters]

Madrid, Spain [Ana Beltran / Reuters]

Copenhagen, Denmark [Ritzau Scanpix / Thomas Traasdahl via Reuters]

Jakarta, Indonesia [Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/ Reuters]

Copyright Michel Euler/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.

A protester waves a flag reading ‘Death to NATO fascists!’ during a pro-Palestinian gathering in Belgrade, 5 Oct 2024 Darko Vojinovic/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.

President Biden has only a few months left in the White House while his legacy is being effectively corroded by war-monger Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, despite President Biden’s brilliant handling of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Biden Administration deployed a stellar cast in Secretary of State Antony Blinken and CIA Director William Burns to negotiate for a ceasefire and release the hostages, but they were thwarted by Netanyahu. Many Democrats openly suspect that Netanyahu is interfering with the US election by refusing to “seal a deal” or reach a ceasefire to make President Biden look ineffective and thereby help Donald Trump against Kamala Harris this November. Many Arab-Americans have already decided to support Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, which could siphon off Democratic votes in Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Sources:


(1) Update Live: Israel bombs Beirut, kills 21 Palestinians in attack on Gaza mosque (aljazeera.com)


Thousands join pro-Palestine rallies across Europe as anniversary of Gaza war nears | Euronews

President Biden ‘doesn’t know’ if Netanyahu is trying to influence US election | Euronews

Israeli Settlers Seizing Occupied West Bank Land Under Cover of War; 623 Palestinians Killed Over Past Two Years

Palestinian Alice Kisiya (R), whose family land was taken over by armed Israeli settlers, confronts a settler in the area of al-Makhrour in the occupied West Bank, near Beit Jala, on 22 Aug 2024 (AFP/Hazem Bader)

Over the past year, while much of the world’s attention has been focused on the war on Gaza, several residents of Umm Safa – a picturesque village just 12km north of Ramallah – have been driven from their homes by armed settlers, often aided by the Israeli army.

Settler violence is not a new phenomenon in the occupied West Bank, where large swathes of territory are under Israeli civil and military control. But since the war on Gaza erupted, land seizures and violent attacks aimed at forcing Palestinians to abandon their homes have spiked. The attacks have coincided with sweeping movement restrictions that have seen Palestinians denied access to cities, towns, and villages.

Omar Hamed (17, L) and Jihad Abu Alia (25, R) were killed by Israeli settlers. (Source: BBC News)

In recent months, the settlers – emboldened by the election of far-right leaders of the settlement movement – began levelling the al-Shami and Ras mountains near Umm Safa, with the aim of turning the area into a settlement outpost.

Residents said that when they approached Israeli authorities for help, they were rebuffed and told to return with documents proving their legal ownership of the lands.

After an extensive search, they presented documents dating back hundreds of years to the Ottoman era, showing that they were, in fact, the legal owners.

Hussein Khasib lives in constant fear, knowing he and his family could be next.

“We went to the Israeli civil administration, hoping it would prevent the settlers from seizing our lands. In the end, they [the Israeli officials] told us that the lands were state property and we couldn’t use them,” Khasib reported.

‘The terrorism carried out by settler militias is why many Bedouin communities left,’ said Hassan Malihat, Director of the al-Baidar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights 

You can easily see the difference from this dated map comparing the West Bank population in 1967 to 2017. The situation for Palestinians have since worsened.

In 1995, the Oslo Agreement divided the West Bank into three zones known as Areas A, B, and C. 

Area C, which comprises around 60 percent of the West Bank, was meant to be “gradually transferred to Palestinian jurisdiction”. But after a failed peace process in which Israel refused to end its occupation and withdraw militarily, the area remains under full Israeli military and civil control.

Khasib said that the lands currently being levelled were just 15m away from his home. Since the settlers started their construction works, he and his brothers received notices ordering them to demolish their homes.

“Every day, we live in hell,” a distraught Khasib said.

“We don’t sleep at night because they aren’t content with just bulldozing [the land] but also attacking our homes. They want us to leave so they can take over the entire mountain.”

According to the village council in Umm Safa, Israeli settlers have sought to connect the settlements of Halamish (Neve Tzuf) and Ateret, which were established after hundreds of Palestinians were evicted from their ancestral lands. Around 600 dunams (60 hectares) of village land were also confiscated in the 1990s to build the main road leading to the settlements.

There are only 720 Palestinians left in Umm Safa, many of whom lack the land to build new homes. Meanwhile, Israel has closed the village’s eastern and western entrances, severely restricting civilian and commercial movement. The situation in Umm Safa is not new and is part of a broader push by settlers and the Israeli government to take advantage of the war in Gaza to increase pressure on Palestinian communities to flee.

Earlier this year, Israeli authorities approved the seizure of 12.7 sq km of land in the Jordan Valley, indicating it was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Israeli settlers gather in the West Bank village of Umm Safa on 26 Sep 2024, as construction begins to level Palestinian land (Fayha Shalash / MEE)

As reported here on Coriolanus, the Biden Administration sanctioned a handful of these extremist terrorist Settlers, but clearly this minor gesture has been ineffective.
 
Sources:


Israeli settlers are seizing occupied West Bank land under the cover of war | Middle East Eye
Deadly West Bank settler attacks on Palestinians follow Israeli boy’s killing (bbc.com)

Israel Expands Bombardment of Lebanon; Thousands Flee Widening War

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched what the IDF called a “limited ground operation” into southern Lebanon. Russian President Vladimir Putin called his invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation.”

88 Countries of La Francophonie called for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon.  

People inspect the rubble of buildings levelled by Israeli strikes, which killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut’s southern suburbs, on 29 Sep 2024 (AFP). Who is going to pay to reconstruct Lebanon and its infrastructure after this carnage?

Powerful new explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs late Saturday as Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon, striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both alleged Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.

Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the widening conflict in the region, while rallies were held around the world marking the approaching anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza.

At least 1,400 Lebanese, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes in less than two weeks. Israel says it aims to drive the militant group away from shared borders so displaced Israelis can return to their homes.

The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a brief war in 2006. Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in the ground clashes that Israel says have killed 440 Hezbollah fighters.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told reporters in Damascus that “we are trying to reach a cease-fire in Gaza and in Lebanon.” The minister did not name the countries putting forward initiatives, saying they include regional states and some outside the Middle East.

At least six people in Lebanon were killed in more than a dozen Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday. Nearly 375,000 people have fled from Lebanon into Syria in less than two weeks.

People carry luggage as they cross into Syria by foot through a crater caused by Israeli airstrikes aiming to block Beirut-Damascus highway at the Masnaa Border Crossing, in the eastern Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, 5 Oct 2024. Hundreds continued to cross the border on foot.

“We were on the road for two days,” said Issa Hilal, one of many Syrian refugees in Lebanon who are now heading back. “The roads were very crowded … it was very difficult. We almost died getting here.”

Other displaced families now shelter alongside Beirut’s famous seaside Corniche, their wind-flapped tents just steps from luxury homes. “We don’t care if we die, but we don’t want to die at the hands of Netanyahu,” said Om Ali Mcheik.

Three hospitals in south Lebanon were forced to close after Israeli bombings struck two and the other ran out of supplies, displacing a number of doctors from the area and creating concerns around the state of the Lebanese health sector.

Marjayoun governmental hospital and the Salah Ghandour hospital in Bint Jbeil, large healthcare centres along the eastern and western sections of the Lebanese borders, announced their closure after their premises were struck, killing seven and wounding 14 healthcare workers.

“The main hospital of the entrance was targeted as paramedics were approaching. Seven were killed, five were wounded. We considered this a message, so we decided to close,” said Dr Mones Kalakish, the director of Marjayoun governmental hospital. He added that because of the frequent targeting of paramedics in south Lebanon, wounded people had not been able to reach the hospital for the past three days.

“There was no warning to the hospital before they struck. The warning didn’t come over the telephone, it came via bombing,” Kalakish said.

Mays al-Jabal governmental hospital, 700 meters from the Israel-Lebanon border, said hospital staff could no longer perform their role due to a cutoff of supplies.

“Medical supplies, diesel, electricity, none of it was available. Unifil was bringing us water, and now they are unable to move. How can a hospital operate without water?” said Dr Halim Saad, the director of Mays al-Jabal hospital’s medical services.

More than 50 healthcare workers have been killed since 23 Sep, when Israel started an intense aerial campaign in south Lebanon and the Bekaa valley. Paramedics all over the country have been killed and injured by Israeli airstrikes, including in a medical centre in central Beirut, where nine were killed in a strike on Thursday.

97 paramedics had been killed since fighting between Hezbollah and Israel started last year – a number which has grown over the past two days.

The displacement of medical workers due to Israeli bombing has created problems across the country at a time when the number of people wounded by Israeli strikes regularly exceeds 100 a day. The health system in Lebanon, and particularly in the south, is fragile after five years of economic crisis and almost a year of war.

At Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut, the largest public hospital in Lebanon, officials said Israeli bombing of nearby Dahiyeh, a southern suburb, had displaced some of its staff, leaving some unable to come to work. The hospital has opened a dorm on its campus to accommodate some of its more vital staff and tried to find housing in safe areas for others.

There is a concern among hospital staff that work conditions in the Beirut hospital could become dangerous, as news of hospitals and paramedics being bombed spreads.

“A person who does not have big responsibilities, they might think to leave. I can’t blame them, they have their own security, own family, own life,” Dr Jihad Saade, the chief executive of Rafik Hariri University Hospital, said. Until now, the hospital has been operating normally.

Displacement of medical staff has primarily affected south Lebanon, where Israeli bombing is more frequent. It is unclear how many people still remain in the south, after Israel ordered people in about 70 villages to evacuate.

More than 2,000 people have been killed and more than 9,535 wounded since fighting started in Lebanon, most of them since 23 Sep.

Sources:

Israel expands its bombardment in Lebanon; thousands flee widening war (voanews.com)

Beirut’s Dahiyeh left deserted and destroyed after brutal Israeli bombardment | Middle East Eye

Three hospitals in Lebanon forced to close amid Israeli bombing | Lebanon | The Guardian

Macron says 88 French-speaking countries have called for ceasefire in Lebanon | Euronews

Kiev: Russia Has Executed 93 Ukrainian POWs Since Start of Invasion

A Russia-backed rebel sniper wears a mask in Debaltseve, Ukraine. Photo: Vadim Ghirda / AP

Ukraine has documented evidence related to the execution of 93 Ukrainian prisoners of war related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

80 percent of the executions occurred this year.

On 1 Oct, the Prosecutor-General’s Office announced it had opened an investigation into what it described as the “largest mass execution” of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian troops since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in Feb 2022.

According to an official statement published on the office’s Telegram channel, Russian forces recently killed 16 Ukrainian “prisoners of war” near the villages of Mykolayivka and Sukhiy Yar in the Pokrovsk district of the Donetsk region.

Videos circulated on various Telegram channels appear to show Ukrainian soldiers, freshly captured by Russian troops, emerging from a forested area.

After the prisoners were lined up, Russian soldiers appear to open fire. The videos then appear to show Russian soldiers approaching those who were only wounded and shooting them again at close range with machine guns.

Under international humanitarian law, executing soldiers who have surrendered is considered a war crime.


Kiev alerted the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross over the deaths, citing violations of the Geneva Conventions, which govern the treatment of prisoners of war.


In March, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine published a report that recorded the execution of at least 32 Ukrainian prisoners of war in 12 separate cases from Dec 2023 to Feb 2024.
 
 
Sources:


Kyiv Says Russia Has Executed 93 Ukrainian POWs Since Start Of War (rferl.org)

Ukraine-OHCHR-40th-periodic-report.pdf
 

Vietnam-era Veterans Exposed to Nerve Agents and Hallucinogens in Secret Military Tests Seek Years of Back Benefits

Test subjects in an undated photo enter a chamber where they were exposed to chemical agents as part of military experiments at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland. (US Army photo)

Vietnam-era veterans exposed to nerve agents and hallucinogenic drugs in a classified military research program more than 50 years ago are appealing for retroactive disability benefits after a federal court ruling found their constitutional rights were violated.

Now in their 70s and early 80s, the veterans were sworn to silence and restricted from reporting the debilitating health effects from the program, which included paralysis, cancer, depression, and psychosis. They were also restricted from obtaining disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“I never knew what I was given in those tests,” said Frank Rochelle (76) of North Carolina, a former Army corporal whose service from 1968-1970 included a tour in Vietnam. “When I went to file a VA claim, I was told that the tests I took part in had never happened. The records were sealed. I had no way to prove my case.”

But a 2023 court ruling is enabling Rochelle and other service members for the first time to obtain VA disability compensation retroactive to their date of discharge. An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 veterans who participated as human test subjects in classified studies that the US Army Chemical Corps conducted at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland are believed to be alive today.

The facility was established in 1948 primarily as a center for researching chemical warfare agents, but military equipment, protective clothing and pharmaceuticals also were tested at the facility. The Vietnam-era veterans were considered volunteers in classified studies that began in 1956. They signed consent agreements prior to participating in experiments but said later they were not informed of the risks.

About 7,000 military personnel participated in the tests until the Army disbanded the program in 1975, according to the DoD. Edgewood Arsenal now functions as the Army’s center for research, tests and development in chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense.

The court found the secrecy agreements that the participants signed, which carried the threat of criminal penalty if violated, effectively denied them due process and disability compensation to which they were entitled.

“This decision importantly opens a pathway for all veterans who are under a secrecy agreement to pursue their claims, whether they are Edgewood Arsenal vets or not,” he said.

Rochelle’s case is pending a higher review in the U.S. Veterans Court of Appeals, which has already ordered retroactive compensation this year in three other cases involving Edgewood veterans.

Jones said though the VA states it now has a process in place for Edgewood Arsenal veterans to file to receive benefits, the agency continues to delay decisions and deny their claims.

The VA does not have figures on how many Vietnam-era veterans have submitted claims for retroactive payments related to illnesses and injuries from serving as test subjects at the Edgewood Arsenal.

In 2023, Army veteran Bob Taylor of Idaho was the first veteran to receive disability compensation retroactive to his military discharge for illnesses and injuries that he suffered after participating in the classified research project.

Taylor’s attorneys first argued in US Court of Appeals for Veterans that he was entitled to compensation back to his discharge date of 1971. Taylor, who served from 1969-1971, has been diagnosed with multiple cancers, depression, insomnia, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

He and other Edgewood veterans said they thought they had volunteered to test military equipment in the 1960s and 1970s but were directed instead to military research labs for human trials using chemical substances they received in gas chambers, by injection and other means.

Taylor was exposed to at least three highly poisonous chemical agents during the Edgewood experiments. Some of the agents were known only by numbered references with the prefix “EA” for Edgewood Arsenal.

They were EA-3580, a form of sarin gas; EA-3547, a derivative of tear gas, and scopolamine, a highly toxic chemical test as a “truth serum” but that can cause psychosis.

The service-connected illnesses and injuries of Taylor and other veterans from the experiments were not recognized by the VA until the secrecy agreements were partially lifted by the DoD in 2006.

“We were lied to about our reasons for going to Edgewood. We thought that the Army was testing equipment to better the forces,” said Rochelle, whose medical problems from his experiences at Edgewood made him “unemployable,” according to VA records. “This has been ignored for 30 to 50 years.”

Source:

Vietnam-era veterans exposed to nerve agents and hallucinogens in secret military tests seek years of back benefits | Stars and Stripes

Gang Kills 70 People in Haiti’s Pont Sondé

Google Maps.

An attack by the notorious Gran Grif gang in the town of Pont Sondé, Haiti, left at least 70 people dead on Thursday, after gunmen armed with automatic rifles opened fire. Among the victims were ten women and three infants.

“As the attacks unfolded, gang members reportedly set fire to at least 45 houses and 34 vehicles, forcing a number of residents to flee,” said a UN official.

The attack comes in the wider context of indiscriminate gang violence across Haiti, leading to an alarming escalation of human rights violations and large-scale internal displacement.

Over 700,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, making Haiti the country with the largest number of displacements globally due to crime-related violence. Mass displacement has led to widespread insecurity in the nation, with almost half of Haiti’s 11.9 million civilians in dire need of humanitarian assistance. The gang violence against the Haitian population has spread from the capital, Port-au-Prince, to isolated rural areas. The pervasive assaults include sexual violence, kidnapping, looting, roadblocks to intimidate and rob civilians and forced recruitment by armed gangs.

Jimmy “Barbeque” Cherizier (C) is a powerful criminal leader who leads an alliance of gangs in Port-au-Prince. A former police officer, he is openly defiant and does not wear a mask like thousands of gang members in Haiti.

Despite the growing urgency of the crisis, funding for Haiti’s humanitarian response remains critically low and the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan asking for $674 million is currently only 39 per cent funded.

Kenyan police officer who is part of a UN-backed multinational force takes a selfie after landing in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 16 July 2024. Another 200 police officers from Kenya arrived for a UN-backed mission led by the East African country to battle violent gangs that have taken over parts of the Caribbean country. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Sources:

Gang attack in Haiti’s Pont Sondé leaves 70 dead | UN News

Haiti: Horrifying gang attacks leave at least 70 dead | OHCHR

Donald Trump Says He’d Change Name of Fort Liberty, NC Back to Fort Bragg if Elected

Fort Liberty, NC sign greets visitors to the base. This is the home of the 82nd Airborne Division (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

Former President Donald Trump said he would change the name of Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg if he’s elected. Trump made the remarks on Friday night during a town hall in Fayetteville, NC, which is near the military installation.

“I walked in — the first question that I asked — should we change the name from Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg? First question,” he said as the crowd cheered. “Right, so here’s what we do — we get elected, I’m doing it. I’m doing it.”

The renaming of Fort Bragg was part of a controversial three-year process to strip the names of Confederate leaders who took up arms against the US in the Civil War from Army installations. It was part of an effort initiated by top Pentagon officials in 2020.

Congress mandated the Naming Commission in a 2021 annual Pentagon policy bill, giving it the task of identifying items in the Defense Department inventory associated with the Confederacy. Among the items that the commission studied were the names of nine Army installations honoring Confederate generals, including Fort Bragg.

Then-President Trump vetoed the bill, disapproving of the effort to remove Confederate names from the military. Congress overrode the veto, making the changes law. Fort Bragg was renamed Fort Liberty in 2023. Changing the name of Fort Liberty would require congressional approval.

Instead of providing his supporters with a plan or policy on how to deal with global climate change and the hurricanes that have damaged the Carolinas, the ex-President is concerned about changing the name of a US Army base back to honor a traitorous Confederate Army General. You wonder if this brontosaurus knows the Civil War ended in 1865, the racist, slave-owning Confederacy lost, and that Americans have more pressing needs like universal health insurance, flood re-insurance programs, or logical gun control measures?

Cartoon courtesy of theweek.com.

Previous reporting:

Source:

Trump says he’d change name of Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg if elected | Stars and Stripes

This is not a mirage.

Sendai Daikannon (仙台大観音)  is the eighth-tallest statue in the world at 100m (330 ft). She is the tallest statue of a goddess in Japan.

This incredible statue in Sendai, Japan, represents a bodhisattva, a person who is on the path towards bodhi (‘awakening’) or Buddhahood. At the time of its completion in 1991, it was the tallest statue in the world.

With all of the war criminals running amok creating death, destruction, and misery, some world leaders could use a bit of enlightenment or a “bodhi”.

Sendai, Japan.

Sources:

Daikanmiji Temple, Sendai Daikannon | Daikanmitsuji-Sendai-Daikannon | Sendai-DaikannonSendai Daikannon – Wikipedia

CIA Director Makes Stop in Kosovo as Part of Unannounced Visit to Balkan Region

CIA Director William Burns enters the building of the Kosovar presidency on 22 August.

CIA Director William Burns arrived in Kosovo after stops earlier this week in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia on an unannounced trip amid concerns about US relations with Kosovo and Russian influence in the Balkans.

Burns traveled from Sarajevo to Belgrade, Bulgaria, and North Macedonia before arriving in Kosovo. According to the flight-tracking website Flightradar24, a US military plane believed to be used to fly the CIA chief made stops in those countries. On 22 August, the aircraft was seen parked at the VIP gate at Pristina’s international airport.

D/CIA Burns’ visit to Kosovo follows concerns about the partnership between the US and Kosovo, especially regarding the government’s handling of issues related to the country’s Serb minority.

Since 2001, the US has provided Kosovo with $97,830,378 in foreign assistance.

Sources:

CIA Chief Makes Stop In Kosovo As Part Of Unannounced Visit To Balkan Region (rferl.org)

U.S. Foreign Assistance by Country

Mass Bomb Threat E-Mailed to Dozens of Jewish Institutions Across Canada

Canada’s oldest synagogue Temple Emmanu-el, c1900 (Photo: Courtesy of Congregation Emanu-El, Victoria, BC)

Multiple synagogues, Jewish community centers, and hospitals in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa were targeted with an emailed bomb threat early Wednesday morning. In response to the threat, Toronto Police evacuated buildings near an intersection in a heavily Jewish neighborhood.

A Jewish organization reported the threat was not credible, though it is still being investigated by Toronto, Montreal, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). This incident comes just a few months after shots were fired at a Chabad-Lubavitch girls’ school in Toronto. Soon afterward, a synagogue in Vancouver was attacked. In November, shots were fired at two Orthodox Jewish day schools in Montreal. No injuries were reported in any of the attacks.

A representative from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs stated “all indications point to these threats being nuisance emails designed to disrupt lives. There is no imminent threat.”

Likud Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, a man indicted as a war criminal by the International Criminal Court (ICC), and his policies towards the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is stoking antisemitism worldwide. Nearly 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since October 2023. The US Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported that 190 of the 312 antisemitic incidents from 7 Oct 2023 to 23 Oct 2023 were directly linked to the war in Israel and Gaza.

Sources:

Mass bomb threat sent to dozens of Jewish institutions across Canada – Jewish Telegraphic Agency (jta.org)

How the Gaza crisis is stoking antisemitism across the U.S. (nbcnews.com)

ICC statement on arrest warrants of Israeli and Hamas leaders (bbc.com)

Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential – The Lancet

More Americans Unwilling to Die for Other Countries

“It is time to end the forever war,” President Biden said in 2021, when he ordered the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.

A July poll shows that a majority of the American public does not support sending US soldiers to defend Taiwan or Ukraine, suggesting that Americans appear to be warming to restraint and non-interventionism in international affairs.

Another poll found that a majority of Americans (56%) do not believe that the US should pick a side in Israel’s war on Gaza. Another recent survey found that just 4 in 10 support the US sending soldiers to defend Israel if attacked by its neighbors.

Notably, the US recently deployed two aircraft carrier groups and a nuclear-powered submarine armed with 154 Tomahawk missiles to the Middle East. Israel is expecting an Iranian counterattack for its continuous airstrikes on Shia targets in Lebanon and Syria, as well as the 31 July assassination of Palestinian resistance leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

After the 11 Sep attacks against the US in 2001, the media helped to normalize the idea of deposing Saddam Hussein. By January 2002, 73% of the American public supported the use of force in Iraq, believing the Bush administration falsehoods about WMDs in Saddam’s hands. After years of hindsight, only 32% of Americans considered the Iraq War the right thing to do according to a 2024 survey.

Sources:

More Americans Unwilling to Die for Other Countries – Truthdig

https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/2-us-carrier-strike-groups-in-middle-east-send-very-powerful-deterrence-message-to-iran-pentagon-3689711

American Drug Firms Accused of Unethical Clinical Trials in Uyghur Region of China

Since 2017, the Chinese government has been operating a vast detention and “sinicization” program, focused on eliminating Uyghur life and culture.

American pharmaceutical companies are carrying out drug trials in China’s far-western Xinjiang region, where the US says a genocide of the Uyghur population is taking place. In a letter to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), the two top lawmakers on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party requested an explanation of the practice, which they said is recorded in “hundreds” of entries on the FDA website “clinicaltrials.gov.”

In the letter, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) questioned “the ethics of conducting these trials in Xinjiang,” where they said Chinese officials “force ethnic minorities … to participate in gruesome medical procedures, which likely overlap with FDA-approved research.”

Given that China does not allow independent evaluators to examine facilities in Xinjiang for rights violations, there was reason to query if Uyghurs were being forced to undergo medical testing. The involvement of China’s People’s Liberation Army, they added, also raised “serious concerns” that the intellectual property of U.S.-based companies had been compromised and “co-opted” by Chinese firms.

Even precious metals have not been untouched, with a report last year accusing US brands of links to gold being mined through slavery.

In 2021, the US government declared that a genocide was taking place against the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority in China, after years of mounting evidence about mass internment camps, torture, forced labor and forced sterilization taking place in Xinjiang.

Sources:

American drug firms accused of clinical trials in Uyghur region — Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)

Home | ClinicalTrials.gov

https://www.glanlaw.org/copy-of-uyghur-forced-labour

INTERVIEW: ‘There’s exposure across Wall Street’

Report: US brands linked to Uyghur-mined gold

US imported cars tied to Uyghur slave labor, Senate report says

Vladimir Putin Humiliated as Hackers Take Over Russian State TV

Getty/X

Hackers from Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) broke into servers of several Russian television channels and broadcasted “objective videos about the war in Ukraine.” HUR‘s footage was displayed three times on prime-time TV channels: Pervouralsk TV, Eurasia 360, Eurasia Pervyi Kanal, and others.

The targeted channels further reportedly included Lugansk 24, Pervyi Respublikanskyi, SpB, Oplot, TV-3, and Pervyi Rosiyskyi. Some of the channels belong to Russian oligarch Andrey Komarov. The nine channels had to suspend their broadcasting as a result of the hack.

The TV company Pervouralsk issued an apology on the VKontakte social network, saying that unspecified “attackers gained access to the live broadcast and launched unauthorized video materials that contradict the TV channel’s policy.”

This comes on the heels of Ukraine’s successful offensive into Russia and the largest drone attack against Moscow to date.

Source:

Ukrainian hackers show war footage on Russian TV, source says (kyivindependent.com)

Haiti: Suspect in Killings of US Missionary Couple and Nonprofit Director Arrested

A funeral procession for mission director Judes Montis, killed by gangs alongside two of his US missionary members, makes its way to the cemetery in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 28 May 2024. (Imagery: Odelyn Joseph / AP)

Police in Haiti have arrested a suspect in the fatal shooting of a US missionary couple and a Haitian man who headed a nonprofit organization in May. The 23 May murders of missionaries Davy Lloyd and his wife, Natalie Lloyd, and Jude Montis, the country’s director for Missions in Haiti Inc., was blamed on gangs rampaging across Haiti’s capital and beyond.

A video posted on social media late Wednesday by Haiti’s National Police shows a 52-year-old man in handcuffs, accused of being involved in the killings of the Lloyds and Montis. Police allege the suspect’s phone was used to make calls after the killings, but the man rejected that accusation.

The young couple — Davy was 23 and Natalie just 21 — were supposed to celebrate their two-year wedding anniversary in June.

From January to May, more than 3,200 killings were reported across Haiti, with gang violence leaving more than half a million people homeless. In February, gangs launched coordinated attacks on key government infrastructure, raided police stations and opened fire at the main international airport, forcing it to shut down for nearly three months. Gunmen also stormed into Haiti’s two biggest prisons, freeing thousands of inmates.

A U.N.-backed police force from Kenya arrived in June to lead a multinational mission, nearly two years after Haiti’s government requested urgent deployment of a foreign force.

Source:

Suspect in killings of U.S. missionary couple and nonprofit chief arrested in Haiti – CBS News

Deadly Floods Leave Millions Stranded in Bangladesh

The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) reports with the rains continuing, water levels could rise further, raising concerns about additional flooding and displacement. [Munir Uz Zaman/AFP]

At least 13 people have been killed and 4.5 million affected by floods triggered by heavy rains in eastern Bangladesh. Water-borne diseases such as diarrhea, dysentery, fever, skin infections, and other waterborne diseases are increasing amongst the displaced. An estimated 100,000 Bangladeshis already suffer from cholera which will no doubt increase with these floods.

Floods triggered by torrential rains have swamped swaths of low-lying Bangladesh and rescuers are scrambling to evacuate flooded communities. Nearly 190,000 people were taken to emergency relief shelters and 11 of the country’s 64 districts were affected by the flooding.

The South Asian nation of 170 million people, crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, has seen frequent floods in recent decades and is among the countries most vulnerable to disasters and climate change.

Sources:

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/8/23/deadly-floods-leave-millions-stranded-in-bangladesh

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/health-concerns-emerge-bangladesh-flood-waters-recede-2022-06-23/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-33576-3