Israel Resumes Genocide in Gaza and Destruction of Lebanon

The UN reports that women and children were the only fatalities in at least three dozen IDF air strikes on Gaza since mid-March, as it warned that the Nakba threatens Palestinians’ “continued existence as a group.” Israel also has imposed a total blockade on Gaza; food, water, medicine and other critical supplies are quickly running out. The IDF killed more than 1,100 Palestinians since resuming the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza.

IDF Destroys Another Palestinian Hospital

The IDF destroyed the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, the largest remaining functioning hospital in northern Gaza.

The Palestinian Health Ministry appealed to the international community for emergency medical aid after Israel destroyed the al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza. Israel’s systematic and deliberate targeting of hospitals and medical facilities in Gaza killed hundreds of Palestinian physicians, nurses, and humanitarian workers. The destruction of Palestine’s healthcare infrastructure is a flagrant violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the principles of the international humanitarian law, but also forms an integral part of a broader scheme of genocide and the erasure of Palestine. When casualties remain untreated and die, this is called “NHI,” or No Humans Involved. The IDF has killed 50,944 Palestinians and wounded or maimed 116,156 during Nakba 2024-25.

Children and women make up 70 per cent of those killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza. (Photo: © UNICEF/Eyad El Baba)

Israel Continues to Destroy Lebanon

People search through the rubble of a bombed building in southern Lebanon. (Photo: © UNICEF/ Fouad Choufany)

The UN reports that Israeli military operations in Lebanon have continued to claim civilian lives and destroy vital infrastructure, violating the ceasefire agreement that took effect Nov 2024.

At least 71 civilians have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon since the 27 Nov 2024 ceasefire, according to an initial review by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).  Among the dead are 14 women and nine children. More than 92,000 people remain displaced by the violence.

On Palm Sunday, IDF soldiers demolished this statue of St. George in southern Lebanon, happily recording it:

Israeli horrors are expanding in the US as ICE continues detaining Palestinian or pro-Palestinian scholars, such as Mohsen Mahwadi. A permanent resident in Vermont, Mr. Mahdawi, a practicing Buddhist, was getting ready to take his US citizenship test when he was arrested. Coriolanus was unable to find any traces of Mr. Mahwadi in publicly available USG databases. US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Governor Phil Scott (R-VT) both condemned the detention. Whether they have the ability to locate and free Mr. Mahdawi is another matter.

Adjusting for inflation, US aid to Israel from 1951 to 2022 totaled $317.9 billion, making it the largest recipient of American foreign aid since World War II. After Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) capitulated on the Republican budget this past March, he released billions of dollars in US military and economic aid to Israel, greenlighting both the Nakba and attacks in Lebanon. That very weekend that the horrendous Republican passed, Donald Trumpf ordered the bombing of the starving Shia Houthis in Yemen on behalf of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and (Sunni) Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS), both of whom share a common anti-Shia antipathy. The hardworking American taxpayer and military servicemember should never be perplexed why Muslims and Arabs in the Middle East have developed their antipathies toward the US.

An international arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes remains active for Benjamin Netanyahu. In addition, in 2024 the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also at the Hague, found the State of Israel responsible for instituting apartheid against the Palestinians.

The Triumphalism of Faux Judeo-Christian Principles

Two proud ethnic cleansers meet at the White House. (Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images)

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

Sources:

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/11/1156716

https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/04/1162266

https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/07/19/world-court-finds-israel-responsible-apartheid

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

www.washingtontimes.com

https://governor.vermont.gov/press-release/statement-governor-phil-scott-regarding-detention-mohsen-mahdawi

Russia-Ukraine Update

Russia Massacres Civilians in Sumy, Ukraine

The city center in the aftermath of Russia’s missile attack that killed at least 34 civilians in Sumy, Ukraine, Sunday, 13 Apr 2025. (Photo: AP)

On Palm Sunday, Russia launched two short-range ballistic missiles, including one equipped with cluster munitions, at Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy as Ukrainians attended church services. At least 35 people were killed and 119 injured in the attack, including children. Donald Trumpf told the Group of Seven (G-7) allies the US won’t endorse a statement condemning Russia’s deadliest attack on Ukraine this year because it wants to “keep negotiations with Moscow on track.” Moreover, Trumpf alluded to this horrendous massacre as a “mistake.”

How does Trumpf know this butchery was a mistake and why won’t he condemn it?

Two ethnic cleansers shaking at hands at Helsinki, Finland, 16 July 2018. (Photo: Reuters / Kevin Lamarque)

Ukrainian Counterintelligence Arrests Russian Double Agent

The SSU arrested a military instructor secretly working for Russia who was given carte blanche to kill as many Ukrainian military officers as possible at his training center. The traitor was supposed to plant an IED in HQ or trick someone into bringing the bomb to a meeting of officers. His other option was to provide Russia with coordinates for a precision missile strike on them. The saboteur was charged with high treason committed under martial law and he faces life imprisonment. 

Ukrainian intelligence services are first-rate, both defensively and offensively. This man will be traded for a captured high-value Ukrainian operative in the future.

Foreign Volunteers Dying for Ukraine

Foreign volunteers continue dying while fighting against the Russian army. The latest casualty is a 20-year-old Finnish soldier. The volunteer from Turku left Finland several months ago and was recently killed in eastern Ukraine, but the exact circumstances remain unclear. Numerous other Finnish volunteers have died in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, including former politician Ville Mykkanen, who was was killed in action in Aug 2024.

Other recent KIA include Kakha Tilidze (Georgia), Edgars Platonovs (Latvia), and Richard S. (Austria), Filip Antosiak (19) (Poland) and an unnamed Lithuanian soldier.

While the Kremlin attracts riffraff, convicts seeking parole, white supremacists, and international fugitives for its army, Ukraine attracts volunteers globally, much like the Scandinavians who fought for Finland against the USSR in 1939 or the International Brigade that fought against fascism in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39).

An international arrest warrant issued by the ICC against Vladimir Putin for war crimes remains active.

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

Sources:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-russia-ukraine-2671772626/?utm_source=push_notifications

https://ssu.gov.ua/novyny/sbu-zatrymala-podviinoho-ahenta-rf-yakyi-otrymav-zavdannia-likviduvaty-komandyriv-zsu-na-yavorivskomu-polihoni

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/04/15/7507688/

Trumpf Junta is Dangerous Clown Show

The amateurish and bizarre Trumpf junta has become a clown show for the world. After being thoroughly humiliated with his wife in Greenland, JD Vance attended a White House ceremony honoring the national college football champion team from Ohio State. Watch what happens:

After this embarrassment, JD Vance and his wife Usha were booed at the prestigious Kennedy Center before the concert began. Recall that JD Vance subjected his wife to a previous humiliation during their disastrous trip to Greenland.

Below, Donald Trumpf is being ridiculed on Russian TV. This same presenter has previously lampooned the 47th President to the joy of Russian oligarchs and Vladimir Putin.

The Dotard-in-Chief announced that he wouldn’t be attending the annual White House Correspondent’s Dinner on 26 Apr, a break in tradition. That may be the wisest decision Trumpf has made in his life as he and his coterie would be ridiculed mercilessly from pillar to post. Speculation is swirling that Trumpf may attend a special birthday celebration for his wife, Melania (AKA Melanoma). The genuine warmth, love, and affection the First Couple have for each other is the envy of the world, like JFK and Jacqueline from yesteryear:

The Trumpf clown show promised the full release of documents pertaining to the late sexual maniac Jeffrey Epstein.

The future POTUS with notorious sex predator and trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in 1992. Epstein committed suicide in a secure federal detention center in NYC in Aug 2019.

When the junta failed to that, the regime threw out a distraction on the internet about an alleged 1993 Russian encounter with a UFO which went viral, and discussion of the Epstein files faded away. The reality? CIA had released a 1993 Ukrainian newspaper report that a UFO supposedly attacked Russian soldiers with a directed energy weapon (DEW). The troops were reduced to a limestone composition and their remains were transferred to a scientific institute for study. A CIA officer in the cable referred to the incident (if true) as “menacing.” 

The CIA release was NOT an intelligence report, investigation, or analytical finding, but simply an excerpt from the Ukrainian newspaper Kiev Holos Ukrainy’ (27 March 1993), translated by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS). 

Podcasters and rightwing TV hosts like Joe Rogan (pictured below) wasted time on their shows over a “nothing-burger,” but the public was distracted. This is called the “shiny new object” technique. You will also see Joe Rogan at UFC spectacles, like an arena barker at the ancient Roman “bread and circuses.” Joe Rogan and his counterpart Ivy League alumnus Bill Maher make incredible fortunes for themselves distracting the hoi polloi while helping to maintain the status quo. Be wary of the intellect or intent of people that watch these two charlatans who do not hold the best interests for the masses.

Multi-millionaire racist Joe Rogan is a Trumpf acolyte with a podcast. (Photo: (Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)

Faux liberal multi-millionaire Bill Maher is the product of a privileged background.

Followers of the Watch, make no mistake. While the Trumpf junta is comprised of clowns, amateurs, and racists, they wield the machines of power. As you have seen, federal law-enforcement personnel are “disappearing” people and the Trumpf junta is defying the Supreme Court about returning a man wrongfully deported to El Salvador. They are dangerous clowns.

Sources:

www.cia.gov

https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/joe-rogan-net-worth/

https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-comedians/bill-maher-net-worth/

North Korea Building Massive Advanced Missile Warship

An image from Korean Central Television shows leader Kim Jong Un checking the work on a new warship late last year. 
Korean Central TV

While his people starve, Kim Jong-un is constructing a gigantic guided-missile frigate (FFG), approximately 140 meters (459 feet) long, making it the largest warship manufactured in North Korea. The Kim regime has been engaged in a rapid modernization of its military, developing a range of new weapons and testing ICBMs that can reach almost anywhere in the US.

Satellite imagery: Maxar Technologies

The Kremlin is most likely providing the technology for the frigate’s missile systems. In a conflict with North Korea, the US intelligence and the South Korean navy will track and destroy this behemoth with powerful precision munitions before it can do any harm.

The corpulent crapulent Kim Jong-un chain smokes, drinks to excess, overeats, while his people suffer food insecurity, officers scrounge for cigarette butts, people are executed for trying to escape, and his soldiers are needlessly getting killed in Russia. How much longer will the Dynasty of Death rule the Hermit Kingdom?

Undernourished North Korean children. (Photo: BBC)

Source:

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/13/asia/north-korea-largest-warship-satellite-photos-intl-hnk-ml/index.html

Trumpf Junta Targeting Cubans in US and Abroad

Cuban doctors arrive in South Africa in 2020 to support efforts to curb COVID-19. (Photo: Flickr / governmentza)

Hundreds of thousands Cubans risk deportation as Trumpf moves to end protections afforded them by previous administrations. Although temporarily stalled in court, Cuban migrants were advised their path to legal immigration is no longer valid. The Trumpf junta is also targeting Cuban physicians and their foreign medical missions overseas. The State Department has began to pull the US visas of foreign officials in countries that pay the Cuban government for doctors and nurses. The measure threatens one of Havana’s main sources of currency, just as the nation grapples with a huge wave of migration, widespread power outages, and food shortages.

The vastly underqualified Marco Rubio, who destroyed USAID, is also mulling slashing the size of the State Dept which will impact CIA operations. As a US Senator, Marco Rubio diluted the legislation in Obamacare. Now as an attack dog for Trumpf, he is targeting his fellow Cubans. Migrants sent back may be punished. The sanctions may cause Havana losses in potential revenue streams for its weakened economy. Cuban physicians have an excellent reputation and Havana offers free scholarships to their medical schools, including to American students.

Official photo of USSECSTATE Marco Rubio with rightwing President Nayib Armando Bukele of El Salvador who is proud of incarcerating thousands and thousands of his and American citizens without due process. Quite the bromance the two seem to be enjoying.

Sources:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ar-AA1CSquw

https://archive.ph/7etr0

USSECDEF Sacrificed Three Aides for His Epic OPSEC Failure

The most underqualified man to ever lead the Department of Defense is sacrificing aides because of his titanic operational security (OPSEC) failure when he discussed classified information on the commercially-available Signal app. Alcoholic Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired three Republican aides from their well-paying sinecures rather than take the blame himself. Secretary “Hogsbreath” had Dan Caldwell physically escorted out of the Pentagon for an “unauthorized disclosure.”

Hogsbreath also sacrificed the DoD Deputy Chief of Staff, Darin Selnick, and Colin Carroll, chief of staff to deputy secretary of Defense Steve A. Feinberg. All of the victims were placed under administrative leave pending an investigation. The witch hunt will most likely be conducted by the DODIG.

There is a reason why 50 US Senators voted against confirming the drunk misogynist as SECDEF and why multiple volunteers demonstrated against him on Capitol Hill. In his Minnesota Army National Guard career, Hogsbreath deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and attained the rank of Captain before leaving the service. This barely qualifies him to serve as an aide to the several Generals and Admirals he relieved from duty. Moreover, Hogsbreath admitted to indulging in several extra-marital affairs and was accused of sexual assault by a woman in California, all punishable offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).

Volunteers denouncing Pete Hogsbreath at his Senate confirmation hearings. Montage courtesy of Fox News and Getty Images.

Below is the drunkard when he was a host on a Fox TV show throwing an axe which struck and injured a musician.

(Image: Fox News)

(Image: Fox News)

Followers of the Watch, your humble author has more national security experience in his pinky finger than the entire corpus of Pete Hogsbreath, a monumental disgrace to the US Defense Department. And the Generals and Admirals around Hogsbreath know exactly who and what he is: A reckless Trumpf lickspittle sent to the Pentagon to purge it of it minorities, women, and LGBTQ servicemembers, while shifting America’s national security focus away from the Kremlin. No good will come of his appointment as SECDEF and Americans should expect more calamities emanating from Hogsbreath.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/21/politics/pete-hegseth-police-report-defense-secretary-trump/index.html

NOAA: Drought Returning to California, Nevada

NOAA informs that California and Nevada are once again drying out and fast. Large swaths of both California and Nevada will face a summer of extreme drought, particularly in the southeast corners of those states. Note the summer heatwaves haven’t even begun yet. The deeper the colors on the map below reflect where the drought will be more severe and intense for California and Nevada. Farmers, ranchers, flora, and fauna will be hard-pressed this summer.

Earlier this year America’s Godzilla wasted 2.2 billions of gallons of California’s water by opening dams against the wishes of the US Army Corps of Engineers and Sacramento. As you read here on Coriolanus, the Trumpf junta also refused to honor a treaty with Mexico over sharing water. Vladimir Putin’s plans to undermine and weaken America through Trumpf is working out splendidly.

Sources:

https://www.drought.gov/drought-status-updates/drought-status-update-california-nevada-2025-04-10

https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/sdo_summary.php

Two Cats Playing With Their Tails

Wagner Mercenary With Drone Arrested at US-Mexican Border

Wagnerite Timur Praliev receiving an award from the Bashkortostan branch of the Defenders Of the Fatherland Foundation on 12 Dec 2024. (Photo: Social media)

US Border Patrol agents detained Timur Praliev (31) on 4 Jan near the border town of Roma, TX, after crossing the Rio Grande River into the US. He told agents he was a citizen of Kazakhstan. Praliev was charged with illegally entering the US, a federal misdemeanor.

Praliev was carrying two passports and $4,000 along with 60,000 Mexican pesos ($2,895.11) in cash and a drone in his backpack. His activities with the Wagner group are not known nor are his reasons for crossing into the US with a drone. Praliev pleaded guilty and the prosecuting attorney (AUSA) requested a 15-day sentence.

Drones are inexpensive sabotage weapons that can cause costly damage. One drone temporarily disabled an aircraft fighting the California wildfires.

A few years ago in Canada, a drone struck this Cessna airplane.

The State Dept designated the Wagner Group a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and their fighters have been accused of committing war crimes in Ukraine. The FBI will be de-briefing Timur Praliev to re-trace his steps, locate his contact in the US, and ascertain his mission. The USIC considers Mexico a “soft spot” as Russian operatives are not under strict surveillance like in the US or Canada. NATO and the US elevated their CI/OPSEC posture in 2024 because of the threat of Russian sabotage.

The late leader of the terrorist Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin with his murderous mercenaries in Bakhmut. (AFP)

In Jan 2023, Andrey Medvedev crossed into Norway from Russia’s far north and is believed to be the first member of the Wagner Group to defect to the West.

Andrey Medvedev in uniform before defecting from Wagner. (Photo: Gulagu)

Medvedev took a circuitous route to escape Russia, avoiding the 830-mile Finnish border. His attorney says he wants to testify against his former comrades who committed war crimes, including seeing “deserters being executed” by the Wagner Group’s internal security service while fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

As Andrey Medvedev dashed towards the remote Russia-Norway border, he claims he could hear the sound of attack dogs snarling behind him. The Norwegian police have detained him.

Sources:

https://www.valleycentral.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2025/01/Timur-Praliev-Criminal-Complaint.pdf

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-wagner-fighter-illegal-entry-us-mexico-timur-praliev/33271493.html

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1220

https://www.state.gov/countering-the-wagner-group-and-degrading-russias-war-efforts-in-ukraine/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64374948

https://yle.fi/a/74-20043336

Syrian Intelligence Agency Thwarted Planned Islamic State Attack on Shiite Shrine

Lebanon’s Najib Mikati (L) shaking hands with Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus. (Photo SANA via AFP)

Intelligence officials in Syria’s new de facto government thwarted a plan by the Islamic State group to set off a bomb at a Shiite shrine in the Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab.

The intelligence service is “putting all its capabilities to stand in the face of all attempts to target the Syrian people in all their spectrums.”

Sayyida Zeinab has been the site of past attacks on Shiite pilgrims by ISIS.

Per CIA, Syria has a population of nearly 24 million people: Arab ~50%, Alawite ~15%, Kurd ~10%, Levantine ~10%, other ~15% (includes Druze, Ismaili, Imami, Nusairi, Assyrian, Turkoman, Armenian)

The new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa seems pragmatic and if the governments of Turkiye, Lebanon, Israel, Iraq, and Jordan cooperate, Syria won’t become a failed state. Approximately 2,000 US soldiers are operating in Syria, even though US Central Command have consistently reported having only 900 troops there.

Islamic State (IS) terrorists grew out of the remnants of Al Qaida in Iraq (AI). These Salafists consider Shiites heretical.

Sources:

https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5100156-syrian-intelligence-says-it-foiled-isis-attempt-target-damascus-shrine

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/11/lebanons-pm-meets-syrias-de-facto-leader-in-damascus

North Korea Includes Russian Language in Official Postal Stamp Description for First Time

North Korea has included Russian in the description of its new postal stamps set to be issued in the new year, reflecting the country’s growing alignment with Russia.

A stamp release notice uploaded on the Korea Stamp Corp.’s website included images and descriptions of four postal stamps scheduled for issuance on 20 Jan in four languages — Korean, English, Chinese, and Russian — along with an order form.

It is believed to be the first time that North Korea’s stamp release notice has included Russian.

The Russian language was not even included in the notice for the North’s stamp issuance celebrating the special year of friendship between Pyongyang and Moscow in 2015.

Vladimir Putin has been assisting Kim Jong-un with his WMD program, a troubling issue for Beijing, in return for the 12,000 North Korean soldiers sent to die fighting in Ukraine. Pyongyang is appearing to prioritize its ties to Moscow over Beijing. Similar stamps issued in 2023 placed China-related stamps ahead of Russia-related ones. Pyongyang is also opening a beach resort for use by Russian tourists in May 2025. An old expression is regaining currency on the Korean peninsula: “Japan was our enemy for 100 years, China has been our enemy for 1,000 years.”

North Korea recently test-fired a hypersonic missile as USSECSTATE Antony Blinken arrived in Seoul, South Korea. Thanks to the Kremlin, the new hypersonic missile supposedly flew 12 times the speed of sound for about 1,500 km. (Photo: Reuters)

Sources:

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2025/01/103_390102.html

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/north-korea-missile-test-1.7424588

https://www.upu.int/en/home

European Space Agency (ESA) Releases Up-Close Photos of Mercury

Mercury’s dark craters may contain frozen water which BepiColombo will investigate once it is in orbit around the planet.

Source:

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/BepiColombo/Top_three_images_from_BepiColombo_s_sixth_Mercury_flyby

China Reports First Cases of Monkeypox (Clade 1b mpox)

The China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) announced the country’s first confirmed clade 1b mpox cases, which involve a foreigner who had lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and four close contacts.

China is the twelfth country outside of Africa to detect clade 1 mpox, which is different from the clade 2 mpox virus spreading globally. The novel clade 1b virus is thought to spread more easily among contacts, including in households. Most cases have been linked to travel to affected African countries.

Outside of Africa, limited secondary transmission has now been reported in the UK, Germany, and China.

China CDC quickly launched investigations in Zhejiang, Guangdong, Beijing, and Tianjin.

Beijing gained experience in dealing with infectious diseases thanks to the COVID pandemic, but they have yet to provide the World Health Organization (WHO) with full details about the 2019 outbreak. China’s population density makes it susceptible to fast-moving diseases like the coronavirus. Human rights groups may be concerned that Beijing could use mpox as an excuse to quarantining (detaining) Uighurs in Zhejiang province or other minorities such as Tibetans.

Sources:

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/mpox/china-reports-mpox-clade-1b-cluster

https://www.chinacdc.cn/jksj/jksj01/202501/t20250109_303772.html

Chinese Jet Maker Increases Efforts to Take Airbus and Boeing Share of Aviation Market

The COMAC C919 is a narrow-body single aisle passenger jet being used for key routes, but is awaiting certain certifications which will allow it to fly internationally.

China is the second largest civil aviation market in the world after the US and has embarked on a course of expansion aimed at rapidly increasing its aircraft market share, through Comac, the country’s first domestic state-owned aerospace manufacturer.

Some of China’s largest airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Air China and China Southern Airlines are already using Comac’s flagship aircraft, the C919, on domestic routes.

Beijing’s aim to be less reliant on foreign aircraft manufacturers. This is in line with China’s plans to advance its technological power over the next few years.

Both short-haul and long-haul air travel has surged post-pandemic, boosted by cheaper fares and more deals on popular destinations. Mordor Intelligence expects the aviation market to expand from $343.54bn to $395.76bn by the end of the decade.

Comac is manufacturing one C919 aircraft per month. IBA, an aviation consulting company, estimates that this figure can potentially go up to 11 monthly by 2040.

In contrast, Boeing currently produces 38 737 MAX aircraft monthly, with plans to triple this number by 2027. Airbus has also announced that it expects the A320 aircraft production to hit about 75 units per month in 2027.

Boeing is experiencing production and delivery issues, but their recent horrific crashes have also hit investor and consumer sentiment. Passengers now enquire whether their flight will be on a Boeing 737 MAX.

Airbus is facing production supply chain issues, but is manufacturing a new eco-friendly fuel-efficient aircraft, the A220-300, which is also one of the quietest civilian airplanes in the world.

Air Canada’s total firm orders for the A220-300 stands at 65 aircraft.

Last year US Senators grilled outgoing Boeing CEO David Calhoun on Capitol Hill: ‘Why haven’t you resigned?’ The disgraced oligarch began his testimony by standing and facing relatives of Boeing plane crash victims: “I apologize for the grief that we have caused.” Shareholders shamelessly approved an obscene $33m pay package for Calhoun. (Photo: Samuel Corum / Bloomberg / Getty Images: 17 May 2024)

Aerial view of Beijing’s Daxing International Airport, one of the largest and busiest of the world.

Sources:

https://www.euronews.com/business/2025/01/03/chinese-jet-maker-ramps-up-efforts-to-push-airbus-and-boeing-out

https://www.btimesonline.com/articles/171983/20241231/how-many-boeing-plane-crashes-have-occurred-in-2024-and-what-we-know-about-the-737-800-model.htm

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/18/boeing-calhoun-senate-hearing-00163929

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/17/investing/boeing-shareholders-vote-to-approve-usd33-million-ceo-pay-package/index.html

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/boeing-charged-737-max-fraud-conspiracy-and-agrees-pay-over-25-billion

USIC Finds No ‘Havana Syndrome’ Link to Foreign Powers, But Two Agencies Say It’s Possible

US intelligence has found no evidence linking a foreign power to the mysterious “Havana syndrome” injuries reported by some US diplomats and other government personnel, though two agencies now say it’s possible a foreign adversary may have developed or even deployed a weapon responsible for the injuries, called Anomalous Health Incidents (AHI).

In the new assessment released by US intelligence, five of the seven agencies concluded that it is very unlikely that a foreign adversary was behind the injuries.

Two of the agencies, however, reached a different conclusion, determining that there is a possibility that a foreign power may have developed or even used a weapon capable of causing the reported injuries. Such a device would presumably rely on acoustic energy, microwaves or anther kind of directed energy.

One of the most capable men in Joe Biden’s cabinet is D/CIA William Burns. During a mission to Moscow in 2021, Burns delivered a secret warning to Russian intelligence services that they will face “consequences” if they are responsible for the mysterious health incidents known as “Havana Syndrome.”

Director Burns told the Russian spies that harming US personnel and their families would break the unwritten rules of acceptable behavior for professional intelligence services. If it was determined that the Kremlin was responsible, there would be repercussions.

If no attacks occurred after this warning, perhaps the Russians were responsible and got the message. As an old Cold Warrior, Coriolanus remains suspicious and vigilant about Putin as the Russians spend time and resources on DEW.

Other theories about the causes of “Havana syndrome” offer plausible explanations.

1) Powerfully chirping crickets found in Cuba, like this one below. Since US personnel were away so long from Havana, perhaps the racket that these voluble crickets make were long forgotten or these crickets migrated to Cuba after the 1960s.

The Indies short-tailed cricket Anurogryllus celerinictus chirping mimics “in duration, pulse repetition rate, power spectrum, pulse rate stability, and oscillations per pulse” to the symptoms described by victims of the AHIs.

2) Overexposure to pesticides. Cuba uses Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHP). US facilities may have been over-fumigated before American personnel arrived, which eventually sickened them.

3)  A researcher at realclearscience.com states that the symptoms of “Havana syndrome” are basically the “power of suggestion” and “self-validation.” A “psychogenic” mass psychology effect on US personnel may have played a role.

Without any smoking sun or access to the raw data, Coriolanus can only investigate and analyze the Havana syndrome puzzle from afar. But this detective below would have certainly solved the mystery for us once and for all.

“Ah, just one more thing, Ma’am!”

Sources:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/cia-director-warns-russians-consequences-source-havana-syndrome-rcna6684

https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2024/07/01/havana_syndrome_finally_putting_the_myth_to_rest_1040905.html

https://ipen.org/sites/default/files/documents/hhps_cuba_executive_summary_cuba_april_2021.pdf

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/havana-syndrome-jason-crickets

Two Lynx Cats Spotted in Scotland After Two Others Captured

Eurasian lynx, the largest species of lynx, were once native to Scotland, but died out 500 to 1,000 years ago. They are still found elsewhere in Europe, Asia and Russia. Sadly, one of the four lynx died soon after capture from stress.

Sources:

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2025/01/10/scotland-lynx-cats-loose-Cairgorms-National-Park/9881736531206/

Staggering Toll of US Failure in Afghanistan on Taxpayers is Laid Bare by Government Auditor

Map: USCENTCOM

Excerpt:

“The US failure in Afghanistan was caused by a system that rewarded generals, diplomats, contractors, and policymakers who reported successes on the ground, rather than the grim reality of a bloody insurgency.

The result, said one US military adviser, was that the system “became a self-licking ice cream” as more money was committed to justify the billions already spent.”

Soldiers bear the remains of US Army SPC Michael A. Dahl, Jr., of Moreno Valley, CA from a transport plane at Dover Air Base, DE, 19 Oct 2009. (Photo: Cliff Owen / AP)

The SIGAR report which will be released imminently will reveal that experts and government officials now believe decisions made as early as 2002 meant the war was doomed to failure.

The analysis will highlight how American ignorance of Afghan culture, the impact of local corruption, and weak cooperation among US agencies have all contributed to a war effort that has returned the country to the Taliban, at the cost of more than 2,400 American lives and two trillion dollars.

The 1971 Pentagon Papers (linked below) regarding US involvement in Vietnam is quite similar in analysis. US leadership realized the Vietnam War was unwinnable, no matter the number of Soldiers sent or bombs dropped, as the French realized in 1954.

US servicemembers coming home from Vietnam in 1965. (Photo: Harry Groom / Newsweek)

The beneficiaries of all these wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan were the military-industrial complex and reconstruction contractors which made Mammon-like fortunes, as well as generals getting opportunities to add stars, medals, and ribbons to their uniforms.

Below is the commander of an army that hasn’t been to war in centuries.

Head of Switzerland’s army: Corps Commander Thomas Süssli — © DDPS/DDPS

Sources:

https://www.sigar.mil/

https://www.archives.gov/research/pentagon-papers

https://www.archives.gov/research/pentagon-papers

Apple Computers Facing “Blood Minerals” Lawsuit in Africa So CEO Tim Cook Personally Donates One Million Dollars to Trump Inaugural Fund

The DRC has a population of 115,403,027; 75% of them live under the poverty line.

Global tech companies have been exploiting miners in Africa for decades. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), various armed groups – including both Congolese army and rival armed rebel groups, among them the M23 – occupy mines and trading routes, forcing miners to work for free. These resources have been called “conflict” or “blood minerals.”


Minerals from these mines, including tungsten, tin and tantalum (often referred to as the 3Ts), have been illegally smuggled through Rwanda for several years, and eventually exported to tech companies such as AppleTesla, and Samsung.

Slave labor miners being exploited by armed gangs in the DRC. (Photo: Mark Craemer)

The DRC filed criminal charges against Apple Computers over the use of conflict minerals. A criminal complaint was filed in Dec 2024 against Apple’s subsidiaries in France and Belgium, where the Congolese government alleges Apple uses conflict minerals laundered through international supply chains – which the American tech giant denies.

So, what does Apple CEO Tim Cook do? He “personally” makes a one million dollar donation to Trump’s inaugural committee. Cook recently visited Mar-a-Lago in Florida for a meeting with Trump. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was also spotted at the dinner table with Trump and Cook. Both Tesla and Apple require those “blood minerals” from Africa. There is no coincidence that Trump has designs on Greenland with its vast treasure of minerals and resources under the tundra ready for excavation.   

Two oligarchs sharing a laugh. According to Forbes, Tim Cook is worth $2.3B; $1M seems cheap for him. Photo: Reuters

Apple CEO Tim Cook has joined a chorus of Big Tech executives making sizeable donations to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump, as did Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Trump has also met with Jeff Bezos and many other high-profile executives in the Big Tech industry.

Meta, Amazon, and Uber have donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. OpenAI’s Sam Altman also made a $1 million donation. Outside of Silicon Valley, companies including Ford, Toyota, GM, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Coinbase, and more have donated millions to the Trump inauguration fund.

The era of oligarchal kakistocracy is settling in comfortably before the peaceful transition of power takes place on 20 Jan 2025. Expect the Trump administration to pay back all of these donors in the transactional manner he is known for. Worse, the wealth disparity between America’s oligarchs and the hoi polloi will be the greatest after the next four torturous years.

Sources:

https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20250103-drc-case-against-apple-brings-new-hope-in-conflict-minerals-crisis

https://www.globalwitness.org/en/reports/tackling-conflict-minerals/

Apple CEO Tim Cook donates $1M to Trump’s inauguration fund – 9to5Mac

The Dutch Set Up “Government-in-Exile” When Third Reich Invaded 10 May 1940. Too Bad US Won’t Do Same With Trump-Putin-Musk Cabal

The Netherlands hadn’t seen war in 125 years when the Third Reich brutally invaded and occupied the country on 10 May 1940. Queen Wilhelmina fled to the UK and established a “Government-in-Exile” until normalcy could be restored to her beleaguered nation.

Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy, Prime Minister of the exiled Dutch government about to speak on the BBC, 23 Sep 1941.

If a Vladimir Putin puppet made it back to the White House a second time, the Quisling known as Donald Trump, then the US truly lost the Cold War. And the American people are not used to losing wars.

A hand-colored woodcut illustration of British soldiers after setting fire to the White House during the War of 1812, the last time America lost a war on its homeland until Nov 2024. (Image: AP)

For half of America the next four years will feel like an occupation force under the Trump administration. Vulnerable darker-skinned migrants will be herded up for deportation and a brain drain will emaciate the resistance. After 20 Jan 2025, there may also be a mass exodus of national security veterans and Assistant US Attorneys (AUSAs) who opposed Trump, like Jack Smith, as well as progressive media luminaries. 

Former D/CIA Michael Hayden led the charge of 130 former Republican national security officials denouncing Donald Trump in 2020.

Too bad the US can’t set up a government-in-exile in Canada or the UK like the Dutch did in 1940, so our allies could continue dealing with trustworthy counterparts. Until these Quislings are defeated in the ballot box (mid-terms for Congress in 2026 and 2028 for President), Americans may feel like the Dutch or French did from 1940 to 1945 and our allies will be circumspect in sharing their intelligence with us.

Texas Encourages Monitoring and Reporting of Animals Affected by New World Screwworm

From the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife (TPWD):

TPWD is asking hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts in South Texas to be on the lookout for animals affected by the New World screwworm (NWS) after a recent detection in Mexico.

This detection, found in a cow at an inspection checkpoint in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas near the Guatemalan border, follows the progressive northward movement of the NWS through South and Central America.

New World screwworm favorability analysis. (image: casasglobal.org)

As a protective measure, animal health officials are asking those along the southern border of Texas to monitor wildlife, livestock and pets for clinical signs of NWS and immediately report possible cases.

New World screwworms are larvae or worms of the NWS fly (Cochliomyia hominivorax), which cause a painful condition known as NWS myiasis. NWS flies lay eggs in open wounds or living tissue holes such as nostrils, eyes, or mouth. These eggs hatch into dangerous parasitic larvae, and the worms burrow or curl into the flesh with sharp mouth hooks. Wounds can become enlarged, and an infestation can often cause serious and fatal damage or death to the infected animal.

Screwworms infestations have been confirmed in Florida. (Image: USDA APHIS)

NWS primarily infests livestock, but it can also affect humans and wildlife, including deer (deer) and birds.

The parasite was last eradicated from the US in 1966, with costly efforts by federal and state animal health officials, livestock producers, and veterinarians. Eradication efforts have continued in Central America, but the pest is considered widespread in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and countries in South America.

NWS infestations begin when a female NWS fly is attracted to the smell of a natural wound or opening on a live, warm-blooded animal, where she lays her eggs. These openings can include wounds as small as a tick bite, nasal or eye openings, a newborn’s belly button, or genitals.

A female NWS fly can lay up to 300 eggs at a time and can lay up to 3,000 eggs during her lifetime. The eggs hatch into larvae (worms) that burrow into an opening to feed. After feeding, the larvae fall to the ground, burrow into the ground, and emerge as adult NWS flies. Adult NWS flies can fly long distances, and the movement of infested cattle or wildlife can increase the rate of spread.

Sources:

https://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releases/?req=20241230a

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/cattle/ticks/screwworm

Montenegro Cracks Down On Firearms After New Year’s Massacre

The Montenegrin government has announced a raft of new gun-control measures, following a mass shooting that killed 12 people, including two children.

Relatives mourn during a commemoration service for victims of New Year’s Day mass shooting in Cetinje, Montenegro. (Photo: 4 Jan 2025, Reuters)

The proposed law will mandate the reverification of existing weapons licenses and impose severe penalties for those who fail to surrender illegal weapons within a two-month period. Hunting clubs would be verified and the authorities would establish an anonymous tip line where citizens can report illegal weapons possession for a reward.

Montenegro has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Europe. In the country of just over 620,000 people, there are about 245,000 firearms in use. Other estimates suggest the figure is lower. According to 2022 police data provided to RFE/RL’s Balkan Service, there are over 100,000 legally owned weapons in Montenegro, while illegal firearms are estimated to number between 40,000 and 80,000.

With one police officer per 141 inhabitants, Montenegro remarkably has the second highest number of police officers per capita in Europe (after Monaco) yet has a large organized crime presence.

Despite the large constabulary, Cetinje (the site of the massacre) had only a minimal police presence despite being home to 120 known organized crime members and having experienced a similar massacre in August 2022. Then, an attacker killed ten people and wounded six before being killed by a passerby.

Restricting firearms will not be an easy task for Podgorica with its long tradition of gun ownership. Moreover, Montenegro is ranked fifth in Europe for organized criminality by the Global Organized Crime Index.

Source:

https://www.rferl.org/a/montenegro-new-gun-control-measures-cetinje-shooting-response/33263200.html

Pennsylvania US Army Veteran Charged With Attempting to Join Lebanese Hezbollah

Undated photo of Jack Danaher Molloy courtesy of the FBI.

Jack Danaher Molloy (24) has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of attempting to support the foreign terrorist organization (FTO) Lebanese Hezbollah and making false statements to an agency of the US. As alleged, Molloy —a dual citizen of the US and Ireland, who previously served on active-duty status in the US Army—traveled to Lebanon in Aug 2024 and attempted to join Hezbollah, an organization formed in the wake of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and has conducted numerous terrorist attacks against Israeli and Western targets. While in Lebanon, Molloy was told by multiple individuals that the time was not right, and that he needed to take other steps before he could join LH. Molloy then traveled from Lebanon to Syria in Oct 2024 in an effort to fight for Hezbollah in Syria. When that failed, he returned home. Met by FBI agents at the airport, Molloy lied to them about his attempts to join an FTO (18 USC 1001 violations).

The maximum sentence for the material support offense is a term of imprisonment of 20 years, a fine of $250,000, or both. Each of the false statement charges carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.

Jack Molloy is missing some marbles if he thought he could walk into a Lebanese Hezbollah (LH) recruitment office in the middle of a war with Israel and just sign up. After LH dismissed this “mejnun,” they probably tipped off Lebanese Army G-2 who then tipped off the LEGATT, RSO, or CIA CoS in Beirut. His Irish passport probably saved him from an “OBE” award (one behind the ear) from suspicious actors in Lebanon or Syria. FBI intervention most likely prevented an attack against Jewish or Israeli targets in the US.

Instead of getting desperately needed psychiatric care, Molloy will languish in a BOP facility for 28 to 36 years. He will probably be close to 60 when he is finally released and will not have contributed towards his social security retirement during his lengthy incarceration. He would be better off making his way to Ireland after his release, as their social safety net is superior to America’s.

An indictment and a criminal complaint are accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdpa/pr/upper-st-clair-man-who-traveled-lebanon-and-syria-goal-joining-hizballah-indicted

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdpa/media/1379546/dl?inline

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdpa/media/1382696/dl?inline

Russia-Appointed Officials in Crimea Declare Emergency as Oil Spill Reaches Sevastopol

(Map courtesy of Global News)

More than 86,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil have been removed along the region’s shoreline since the original spill. Up to 200,000 tons in total may have been contaminated with mazut, a heavy, low-quality oil product.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the oil spill an “ecological disaster.”

Rescuers and volunteers work to clean up tons of fuel oil that spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers more than two weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. (Photo: Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)

Water pollution, the war, and fishing have been killing dolphins in the Black Sea for some time now and this spill won’t help these poor sea mammals that some ethicists correctly assert should be treated with the same rights as human beings.

Sources:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/multimedia/image/ap-russia-oil-spill-88871-jpg/

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221222-how-the-war-in-ukraine-is-killing-marine-mammals

https://inf.news/en/animal/6848e299d25bc0eedde64f94646465aa.html

Rescue Dog’s Heartwarming Response to Deaf Cat

Israeli Attacks Costs Lebanon $5 Billion in Losses; 100,000 Homes Damaged

A ten-year-old boy stands inside his house damaged in an IDF strike in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 29 Nov 2024. Thousands of Lebanese returned to their homes only to find rubble with winter approaching. (Photo: Reuters)

The World Bank reported that Lebanon suffered more than $5 billion in economic losses and damaged nearly 100,000 housing units. Nearly 1.2 million people have been displaced.

The World Bank report provided estimates for damage between 8 Oct 2023 and 27 Oct 2024, saying “the conflict has caused $5.1 billion in economic losses” and that it “damaged an estimated 99,209 housing units” — mainly in Lebanon’s war-torn south.

3,580 Lebanese were killed and over 15,000 wounded. And those seeking medical care faced challenges. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 226 Lebanese medical personnel were killed since 7 Oct 2023 and several clinics destroyed. Beirut long accused the IDF of targeting physicians and medical infrastructure.

But the ceasefire does not appear to be holding.

(Map courtesy of the jewishvirtuallibrary.org)

Israel carried out several attacks in southern Lebanon. Artillery bombardment struck the villages of Markaba, Talusa, and Khiyam while four IDF tanks moved into the western part of Khiyam, and an IDF tank fired at a house in Nabatiyeh province. The IDF stated they would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement” after detecting an alleged movement of a Hezbollah rocket launcher.

IDF Merkava Mk 4M battle tank.

Sources:

War costs Lebanon $5 billion in losses, damages 100,000 homes — Naharnet

226 health workers killed in Lebanon since Oct. 7: WHO

2 children and a woman crushed to death outside Gaza bakery amid food shortage

Two Palestinian Children and Woman Crushed to Death Outside Gaza Bakery Amid Food Shortage

Palestinians gather to receive bread from a bakery in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, 29 Nov 2024. Food insecurity is affecting nine out of ten Gazans and winter is fast approaching. (Photo: Reuters)

Two children and a woman were crushed to death as a crowd of Palestinians pushed to get bread at a bakery in the Gaza Strip amid a worsening food crisis in the war-ravaged territory.

The bodies of two girls aged 13 and 17 and the 50-year-old woman were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where a doctor confirmed that they died from suffocation due to crowding at the al-Banna bakery. Video from The Associated Press showed their bodies placed next to each other on the floor inside the hospital’s morgue.

The flow of food allowed into Gaza by Israel has fallen to nearly its lowest level of almost 14-month-old war for the past two months, according to Israeli official figures. UN and aid officials say hunger and desperation are growing among Gaza’s population, almost all of which relies on humanitarian aid to survive.

Osama Abu Laban, the father of one of the girls, wailed over the loss of her life outside the hospital.

“My wife fell when she heard that she [our daughter} was suffocating. She did not yet know that she was dead,” he told the AP.

Some bakeries in Gaza were closed for several days last week due to a shortage of flour. AP footage taken last week after they reopened showed large crowds of people cramming together, screaming and pushing, at one bakery in Deir al-Balah.

Palestinians across the Gaza Strip are heavily relying on bakeries and charitable kitchens, with many able to only secure one meal a day for their families.

More than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel has destroyed large parts of Gaza and displaced nearly all of its 2.3 million people. Just in the past 24 hours, the IDF killed 100 Palestinians, including 75 killed in air strikes on two homes in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.

In the West Bank, the IDF killed nine Palestinians, including one child, over the last week, seven of them during a 48-hour period in Jenin. In retaliation, a Palestinian man martyred himself in a counterattack against Israelis on a bus which Hamas took credit for.

IDF personnel surround a bullet-riddled bus close to the settlement of Ariel, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank. (Photo: AFP)

Samer Hussein (46), who spent several years in Israeli jails on suspicion of anti-Israeli activities, was killed by IDF troops shortly after opening fire toward the bus near the Israeli settlement of Ariel. Four soldiers were slightly wounded and three people were critically injured.

The IDF has killed 796 Palestinians since 7 Oct 2023, mostly in military raids on Palestinian cities and towns. Attacks by fanatical settlers on Palestinians and their property also have increased. Rabid settlers attempted to attack IDF MG Avi Bluth last week, but were fended off by the general’s PSD. So naturally counterattacks by armed Palestinians against Israelis in the West Bank would increase, like the incident above.

The terrors and hardships that Benjamin Netanyahu is inflicting on Palestinians is quite similar to what Russian President Vladimir Putin is inflicting on the Ukrainians this winter. Netanyahu’s “Nakba” = Putin’s “Special Military Operation.”

The major difference between these twin terror campaigns orchestrated by the two PIFWCs is that the US is massively funding Israel to conduct the ethnic cleansing, while massively funding Ukraine to prevent its ethnic cleansing.

Remarkably, upon hearing that the International Criminal Court at the Hague issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, President Biden said it was “outrageous.” He did not say the same when such a warrant was issued for Vladimir Putin. And French President Emmanuel Macron stated France would not honor the arrest warrant should Netanyahu despoil Paris with his odious presence.

Sources:

2 children and a woman crushed to death outside Gaza bakery amid food shortage

(5) Updates LIVE: Israeli attacks kill nearly 100 in Gaza as hunger grips enclave

More Than One Million Ukrainians Left Without Electricity After Latest Russian Attack on Energy Infrastructure

Russia unleashed a “massive” attack on Ukraine’s infrastructure on 28 Nov, leaving more than one million people without power in freezing temperatures across the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of a “despicable escalation,” as the Interior Ministry recorded damage to infrastructure in nine regions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that the latest attack was Moscow’s “response” to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with US medium-range ATACMS missiles.

Speaking during a trip to Kazakhstan, Putin warned that Russia’s future targets could include “decision-making centers” in Kiev.

Putin said Russia launched more than 90 missiles and 100 drones in the “comprehensive strike” on 28 Nov and that 17 targets had been hit — the type of detail that the president rarely gives.

Ukraine’s air force shot down 79 missiles and 35 drones, while 62 drones were “lost,” meaning they had likely been disrupted by electronic warfare.

All missiles or drones aimed at Kiev were downed.

A power plant in Ukraine severely damaged by a Russian airstrike. (Photo: AP)

The attack forced national power-grid operator Ukrenerho to urgently introduce emergency power cuts in Kiev, Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk.

Kiev had also reportedly disconnected several nuclear power units from the network during the attack. Ukraine gets more than half of its electricity from nuclear plants.

The inhumane attack comes as the temperatures across Ukraine dropped to around zero degrees Celsius.

Ukrainian civilians trying to stay warm (undated image).

Earlier this month, a senior UN official, Rosemary DiCarlo, warned that Moscow’s targeting of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure may make this winter the “harshest since the start of the war” nearly three years ago.

During America’s tortured involvement in Vietnam one-half century ago, a familiar meme evolved: “We have to burn down the village in order to save it.” If PIFWC Vladimir Putin had designs on re-absorbing Ukraine and her people into his Pan-Slavic Union, a neo-USSR like in his glory days, he has a strange way of showing his love for the people he wants to one day rule. He is burning down the village in order to save it.

Putin’s “Special Military Operation” = Netanyahu’s “Nakba”

The mutual animus between Ukrainians and Russians have been thoroughly baked into the DNA cake, much like the Israelis and the Palestinians. While the US sanctioned one aggressor baking this horrible cake of hatred (Russia), Washington did not sanction the other (Israel), which cost the Democrats the White House in 2024, just like in 1968. Remarkably, many American Democrats argue that US funding of Israel and the horrendous Nakba had nothing to do with Kamala Harris’ disastrous loss to a criminally convicted and twice impeached GOP candidate. Many are still wondering why millions of Democrats stayed home on Election Day.

Source:

More Than One Million Ukrainians Left Without Electricity After Latest Russian Attack

Putin’s Meat-Grinder War Chewing Up Russian Soldiers on Industrial Scale

Russia lost 2,030 soldiers in the past 24 hours, reports Ukraine’s military.  500 North Korean soldiers were reportedly KIA since their deployment to fight Ukraine.

Russia’s staggering death toll marks the Russian tyrants most damaging period of his over 1,000-day-old conflict so far.

The previous highest was 1,950 on 12 Nov. Putin’s meat grinder approach is still miserably failing with over 738,000 Russian casualties.

But despite the harrowing figures continuing to soar Russia has found success on the battlefield. UK Defence Secretary John Healey has warned the 600-mile frontline is now at the most unstable it has been since February 2022.

While Putin is losing soldiers at an abominable rate, the Russian economy is losing as well. The ruble tumbled to its lowest level in over two years, as a mix of low oil prices, new sanctions against Russian businesses and burgeoning government spending on its war effort put strains on the Russian economy.

The central bank reacted by suspending currency purchases for the rest of this year. That will restrict the supply of rubles and should support the exchange rate accordingly.

In response to the Ukrainian Storm Shadow attack last week, Putin authorized the use of a hypersonic missile called the “Oreshnik.”  This has been described as far superior to any other weapon in Russia’s arsenal. Putin claimed the Oreshnik can turn almost anything it hits into dust.

The Kremlin wisely notified Washington before launching the Oreshnik to prevent a nuclear misunderstanding.

Sources:

Putin’s deadliest day with 2,000 soldiers lost as troops wade through fallen comrades on fastest advance since invasion | The US Sun

Ruble tumbles as Russia’s war economy comes under increasing strain – POLITICO

Hepatitis A Infection Reported at Buffalo Wild Wings in Monterey Park, CA

Los Angeles County public health officials are investigating the possible spread of Hepatitis A after an employee at a well-known restaurant and bar in Monterey Park became sick with the virus. The infection was reported at Buffalo Wild Wings in the 4000 block of Market Place.

(Map courtesy of Mapcarta)

While there are no additional cases reported this week, officials urged anyone who ate or consumed drinks at the restaurant between 13 and 22 Nov to receive hepatitis A vaccine or monitor for the symptoms, which include fever, weakness, fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, and jaundice.

People who have not received the vaccine or never had hepatitis A infection may be more vulnerable. The public health department is also working with the restaurant to make sure all employees are vaccinated.

Computer illustration showing the liver and a close-up view of hepatitis A viruses. (Image courtesy of NBC News)

Hepatitis A can in some cases cause death as it spreads when a person unknowingly consumes contaminated food or drinks. There is no specific antiviral treatment for hepatitis A

Source:

Hepatitis A reported at Buffalo Wild Wings in Monterey Park – NBC Los Angeles

Director of British Intelligence: “The World is at its Most Dangerous Point in 40 Years.”

Sir Richard Moore, head of MI6, issues a warning to Ukraine’s allies in Paris after Donald Trump’s election. (Photo: AP)

The world is at its most dangerous point for 40 years, the head of MI6 has warned, accusing Russia of waging a “staggeringly reckless campaign” of sabotage in Europe to undermine support for Ukraine.

“In 37 years in the intelligence profession I’ve never seen the world in a more dangerous state. And the impact on Europe, our shared European home, could hardly be more serious,” Sir Richard said, adding that if “Putin is allowed to succeed in reducing Ukraine to a vassal state he will not stop there.”

Sir Richard said MI6 “cherishes our heritage of covert action, which we keep alive today” – with British spies working to stop the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He warned that a victory for Mr Putin in Ukraine would jeapordize both European and transatlantic security, in what appeared a message to president-elect Donald Trump, with the incoming US leader having repeatedly complained about the amount of money and military aid Washington is sending to help Kiev.

“We have recently uncovered a staggeringly reckless campaign of Russian sabotage in Europe, even as Putin and his acolytes resort to nuclear sabre-rattling to sow fear about the consequences of aiding Ukraine,” he said. “The cost of supporting Ukraine is well known but the cost of not doing so would be infinitely higher. If Putin succeeds China would weigh the implications, North Korea would be emboldened and Iran would become still more dangerous,” Sir Richard concluded.

Whenever the D/MI6 or D/CIA speak, we should pay attention. Coriolanus has previously written about Russian sabotage efforts against NATO, as well as the Kremlin’s insidious covert support for far-right wing parties in Europe. In 2016 retired MI6 operative Christopher Steele accumulated a dossier against Donald Trump which suggested that Vladimir Putin held compromising materials (‘kompramat’) on the President-Elect. Mr. Steele obtained “raw intelligence” from his Russian contacts which needed to be finely sifted. Raw data, rumors, hints, can lead to revelations, but they must not be taken as 100% accurate at face value. While the allegations have never been proven, nothing in the report was ever disproven.  

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: “With Trump, all roads lead to Putin. I don’t know what the Russians have on the president, politically, personally, or financially.”

President Trump with Russian FM Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergei Sislyak in the White House, May 2017. No doubt we will see something similar in 2025. (Photo: Alexander Shcherbak / TASS / Getty Images)

In 2025, NATO and the Western intelligence services will be ready to deal with a Moscow-friendly intelligence apparatus. The US will receive less critical information from its allies over concern the data will be leaked to Russia or Israel. Friendly intelligence services will increase their budgets and manpower to make up for less US support. Canada recently led a NATO exercise in the Balkans (as reported here on Coriolanus).

Source:

World at most dangerous point in 40 years, MI6 chief warns | The Independent

Trump Hosts Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov And Ambassador Kislyak At White House : The Two-Way : NPR

RFK Jr. Visited Samoa in 2019 and Spread Anti-VAX Disinformation Causing 83 Deaths and 1,867 Hospitalizations from Measles

Samoa’s then prime minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi (R), and RFK Jr (C) at 57th anniversary of independence celebrations in Mulinu’u, Samoa, on 1 June 2019. (Photo: Misiona Simo / AP)

From The Guardian:

“In the small island country of Samoa, lives have been forever altered by an outbreak of measles in 2019 that caused at least 83 deaths and 1,867 hospitalizations, mostly of babies and young children. Thousands more fell sick. The preventable illness was able to spread through the small, closely knit population of about 200,000 due to record low vaccination rates – stemming from a medical vaccination error, the Samoan government’s public health mismanagement, and fueled by anti-vaccination sentiment from Robert F Kennedy Jr.”

In developing countries, the suffering from measles is always worse. Many rural Samoans had no transport, feared going to hospital, or tried traditional healers first. By the time people did bring their babies in, they were extremely sick. More than 100 Australian medical personnel deployed to Samoa in the thick of the epidemic.

Siiae Olilefauaitu sits outside her house with her surviving children. She won’t move from her hovel because her dead unvaccinated daughter is buried on her property. (Nov 2024 Photo: Michelle Duff / The Guardian)

Reports that some Republican US Senators won’t confirm this idiot to head HHS is encouraging, nor will they allow a recess appointment allowing him to slip through. Does the President-elect have a “Death Wish” for the American people with his quack choices to lead the US government health agencies? We know Donald Trump accepts the abominable amount of gun deaths in the US as something “we must get over.”  How the GOP elite and wealthy benefit from wholesale needless American deaths is something Coriolanus has been investigating for some time.

Source:


https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/26/rfk-jr-samoa-visit-measles-outbreak-vaccines

Indian Airlines Suffer Through 1,000 Bomb Scare Hoaxes

India’s airlines and airports reportedly received nearly 1,000 fake bomb threats as of early November, disrupting flight schedules and wreaking havoc on services.

Murlidhar Mohol, the country’s deputy civil aviation minister, told parliament that 999 bogus threats had been received as of 14 Nov, with more than half of them coming in the last two weeks of October.

That was nearly ten times the number of threats made in 2023 and a sharp increase from years past. Authorities recorded 120 bomb hoaxes at airports between 2014 and 2017 with about half directed at Delhi and Mumbai.

There was “no actual threat detected at any of the airports/aircraft in India,” Mohol said.

Officials have made 12 arrests in connection to the threats.

The country’s civil aviation ministry said it was making “every possible effort” to protect flight operations, adding that airports have a Bomb Threat Assessment Committee that monitors threats and decides the appropriate course of action.

Threats can lead to the deployment of bomb disposal squads, sniffer dogs, ambulances, police, and doctors.

They also often require passengers to deboard the plane, along with baggage, who then have to go through security again.

Engineer and security teams must also search and clear the plane before it can take off.

(Photo: AFP)

In 1984, Air India 182 exploded over the Atlantic Ocean and the culprits were Sikh extremists, so this is quite a sensitive matter that the Indian authorities are taking seriously. That attack killed all 329 people on board, including 268 Canadian citizens, 27 British citizens, and 22 Indian citizens.[4] The bombing of Air India Flight 182 is the deadliest terrorist attack in Canadian history, the deadliest aviation incident in the history of Air India and was the world’s deadliest act of aviation terrorism until the 11 Sep 2001 against the US.

The idiots making these bomb threats are diverting police resources from genuine threats, as well as wasting time and fuel. India is already choking with smog and people are living under a dangerously poor Air Quality Index (AQI). The flight delays and scheduling problems cause secondary effects with other airports and carriers. Passenger jets have allocated times for arrivals and departure at airports because of the limited amount of airspace, tarmacs, and number of available gates. Delayed aircraft may spend time circling an airport if it misses its allotted landing time, burning unneccessary fuel.   

Sources:

Indian Airlines Suffer Through 1,000 Hoax Bomb Scares | IBTimes

Air India Flight 182 – Wikipedia

Beautiful Orphaned Bird Emulates Human with Voice and Affection

Nakba Update: IDF Upholds Ceasefire with Lebanon but Still Strangling Palestinians in Gaza

After decimating Lebanon’s infrastructure and killing enough Known or Suspected Terrorists (KSTs), as well as innocent bystanders and medical personnel (3,580 killed, over 15,000 wounded), the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) accepted a ceasefire. So they continued their Nakba in Gaza.  At least four people in the al-Tabin school shelter for displaced people in Gaza City were killed. And the IDF continues blockading humanitarian relief into Gaza.

Opposition leader Yair Golan questioned why Benjamin Netanyahu has not struck a deal to stop the bloodbath in Gaza.

“The most important test is to end the war in Gaza,” said Golan, who heads the opposition coalition the Democrats.

“If it is possible to reach an agreement with Hezbollah, why can’t we reach an agreement with Hamas and free the hostages? The fighting continues only because Netanyahu is politically dependent on a fanatical and messianic group that wants to win the war,” Golan concluded.

Women and children queue for bread at a bakery in Khan Younis. “NHI” is when people die of starvation, disease, exposure, or untreated wounds. Winter is fast approaching.  (25 Nov 2024 Photo: UNRWA)

The Gaza Health Ministry said 44,056 people have been killed and 104,268 wounded since 7 Oct 2023.  The real toll is probably higher because thousands of bodies are buried under rubble or in areas that medics cannot access.

The Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count and more than half of the fatalities are women and children. The IDF reported it has killed over 17,000 militants without providing evidence or proving their guilt in a court of law. That means 27,056 Palestinian deaths were innocent non-combatants. The Likud government will no doubt encourage an exodus of Palestinians from Gaza in the near future.

In the occupied West Bank, at least 760 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,769 injured by the IDF and lunatic Settlers. This is pure homicide and simply ethnic cleansing. Those maniacs recently attacked IDF Major General Avi Bluth (see previous post).

The incredibly unpopular Netanyahu faces a bribery and corruption trial which has dogged him for years, but the proceedings have been held in abeyance because of the war. The longer the conflict goes, the better it is for the “Crime Minister” and the 100 or so hostages be damned. Possibly a third of them are dead, some killed accidentally killed by the IDF.

This clever protestor above holds her version of the iconic poster below.

The Chief of Staff to Benjamin Netanyahu is being investigated over allegations of altering documents relating to the 7 Oct 2023 surprise attack to portray the Prime Minister in a more favorable light. The Israeli police Lahav 433 major crimes unit questioned Tzachi Braverman for over five hours. Inevitably the loathsome Netanyahu will have to face a 9/11 Commission-style inquiry into his handling of 7 Oct 2023.  Israel, now described as a Pariah State, is defending itself of genocide charges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague. Netanyahu and ex-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague and international arrest warrants have been issued for them.    

In a statement that should not surprise anyone, French President Emmanuel Macron breathtakingly said that Paris would not honor the ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu in a dazzling display of duplicitous dissembling. As previously posted, French diplomacy is chaotic. And do diplomats at the Quai d’Orsay wonder why France lost complete influence over Lebanon in a span of ten years? The leader of La Francophonie, consisting of Arab, Muslim, and African populations, just shot himself in the foot with both barrels. Curiously, no journalist asked President Macron if France, an EU and NATO member, as well as signatory to the Rome Statutes, would honor the similar ICC arrest warrant for indicted war criminal Russian President Vladimir Putin? And of all places, INTERPOL is based in Lyon, France.

An INTERPOL Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant, but an alert to governments that the individual is wanted for alleged crimes. While many Red Notices are publicly visible at www.interpol.int, many are not, as in the case of PIFWCs Netanyahu and Doav Gallant.   

To help Netanyahu control the narrative and crush any dissenting voices in Israel, the Likud cabinet has approved a proposal to cut all government links with Haaretz – a move that could cripple the 105-year-old newspaper financially and force it to shut down. The al-Jazeera News Bureau in Israel was previously banned.

The “Crime Minister” is counting the days until President-elect Donald Trump takes over. Once Trump is in, Netanyahu can proceed full steam ahead with ethnic cleansing Palestinians in the West Bank under the contented eye of US Ambassador Mike Huckabee who refers to the West Bank as Judea and Samaria. Moreover, knowing that he’ll be supported by the full might of USCENTCOM, Netanyahu can resume focusing his ire on Iran. Of course, the American taxpayer will continue funding this warmonger.

Sources:

Netanyahu aide investigated by police over 7 October timeline

Israeli forces kill Palestinian man in raid on occupied West Bank town | Occupied West Bank News | Al Jazeera

Netanyahu aide investigated by police over 7 October timeline

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/3c87/live/88e7f150-a35e-11ef-bc62-3d90412554cd.jpg.webp

Death toll in Gaza from Israel-Hamas war passes 44,000, Palestinian officials say | AP News

Russia-Ukraine Update

Kremlin Expels UK Diplomat; Ex-British Soldier POW; Russian Senior General Replaced; Confirmation of North Korean Casualties

Through South Korean intelligence channels, the US confirmed that 500 North Koreans had been killed in a Ukrainian attack with British Storm Shadow missiles last week. A high-ranking North Korean commander may have also been liquidated. Kiev struck “firstest with the mostest” and the North Koreans troops learned they were now in a real war– not in showcase parades– and they can be killed unexpectedly. This won’t demoralize Pyongyang, but will erode any fighting spirit in the young North Korean conscripts. Vladimir Putin warned South Korea they would be making a “big mistake” if Seoul provides Ukraine with its high-tech mass casualty producing weapons. South Korea is a top-ten weapons manufacturer in the world. But the South Korean military establishment is not easily intimidated having spent decades dealing with North Korea, as well as deploying their soldiers to foreign combat zones, like Vietnam or Iraq.

South Korean commandos about to demonstrate extraordinary martial arts feats during a rehearsal for welcoming ceremony of the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition (ADEX) at the Ministry of National Defense in South Korea, 29 Oct 2013. (Xinhua/Park Jin-hee)

Second Secretary Edward Pryor Wilkes (Undated photo / FSB)

Authorities in Moscow have ordered a British diplomat accused of espionage to leave the country. Edward Pryor Wilkes was allegedly sent to Moscow to replace one of six British diplomats accused of spying in August, according to the FSB.

The FSB claimed Wilkes “deliberately provided false information when obtaining a permit to enter our country, thus violating Russian law.” It also alleged that his activities showed “signs of intelligence and subversive work” threatening national security.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry revoked the diplomat’s accreditation and ordered him to leave the country within two weeks. State media reported that Britain’s ambassador to Moscow was summoned over the allegations.

The British Foreign Office said the expulsion order was “not the first time that Russia has made malicious and baseless accusations against our staff. We will respond in due course.”

The agency accused the directorate of being transformed into “an intelligence service tasked with inflicting strategic defeat on Russia” following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

James Scott Rhys Anderson (22), former UK Army Signalman

A Russian court ordered the arrest of James Scott Rhys Anderson, a British national, on charges of mercenary activity and participation in Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.

Anderson, as part of Ukraine’s International Legion, illegally crossed into Russian territory and took part in hostilities within the Kursk region, according to the Kursk Regional Court’s media service. He was captured by Russian forces in an unspecified manner.

A hearing was held behind closed doors because of the sensitive nature of the allegations, which include crimes considered particularly severe.

Lieutenant General Alexander Sanchik. (Undated photo: Gavriil Grigorov / POOL / TASS)

Russia’s military has replaced the commander of one of its six operational groups fighting in Ukraine.

Lieutenant General Alexander Sanchik was reportedly appointed acting commander of Russia’s “South” group of forces. Sanchik succeeds Colonel General Gennady Anashkin, who was removed as part of a “planned rotation,” according to the Defense Ministry.

Pro-war military bloggers reported over the weekend that Anashkin was removed after misleading his superiors about settlements he allegedly claimed were captured near the Ukrainian town of Siversk. Some bloggers claimed the alleged misinformation led to “unjustified losses” on the front lines.

The “South” group has been active in recent weeks near the towns of Kurakhove, Chasiv Yar and Siversk in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. It consists of units drawn from Russia’s Southern Military District.

Sanchik previously attended a 15 May meeting with President Vladimir Putin as acting commander of the Eastern Military District.

A career officer, Sanchik served as deputy commander of the Eastern Military District in 2023 and commanded the district’s 35th Combined Arms Army in 2020. Putin promoted Sanchik to Colonel-General in February 2022, shortly before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In retaliation for expelling the Second Secretary, Whitehall will select a suitable Russian diplomat to be dubiously named Persona Non Grata. As for the young British mercenary, he will no doubt be part of any future prisoner swap Kiev and Moscow conclude. The Zelensky government must demonstrate its loyalty to the International Legion by making James Anderson’s release a priority. Seoul must deliver any powerful weapons to Kiev before the Trump administration can interfere next year. Lastly, if Russian bloggers are correct that Colonel-General Gennady Anashkin caused useless Russian casualties in this horrible war of attrition, his fate is in the hands of a cold-blooded KGB veteran.

Sources:

Russia Expels British Diplomat Over Alleged Espionage Activities

Russia Opens Criminal Case Against Brit Accused Of Terrorism, Mercenary Activities

US official confirms North Korean casualties in Russia’s Kursk – Radio Free Asia

Russian Military Replaces Senior Commander in Eastern Ukraine – RBC – The Moscow Times

CDC Confirms H5N1 Bird Flu Infection in Child in California

Photo by Jonathan Cooper on Pexels.com

This is the first reported avian influenza H5 virus infection in a child in the US. Consistent with previously identified human cases in the US, the child reportedly experienced mild symptoms and received flu antivirals. The child, in Alameda County CA, is recovering and an investigation into the child’s possible H5N1 exposure source is ongoing.

California public health authorities also detected avian flu in raw milk from a produced in Fresno County. No illnesses have been reported and pasteurized milk is safe to drink.

Human infections with bird flu viruses are rare, and no person-to-person spread has been detected in California or the US. Including this most recent case, 55 human cases of H5 bird flu have now been reported in the US during 2024, with 29 in California.

CDC’s risk assessment for the general public is low. However, people with exposure to infected or potentially infected animals, such as birds, dairy cattle, or other animals (including livestock), or to environments contaminated by infected birds or other animals, are at higher risk of infection.

Americans could be in trouble over the next four years as President-elect Donald Trump’s selections to head the US health agencies have no experience in dealing with public health emergencies and have been pilloried as quacks. If anti-vaccination Robert F. Kennedy Jr is confirmed by the US Senate to become Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), expect American preventable mortality rates to increase.

Sources:

State Reports Single, Possible Case of Bird Flu Virus in Child with Mild Symptoms

CDC confirms H5N1 Bird Flu Infection in a Child in California | CDC Newsroom

California Acts to Protect Public Health: CDPH Warns Against Drinking Single Lot of Raw Milk Following Bird Flu Detection; Secures Voluntary Recall

Bird flu is getting worse. Disease experts worry Trump and RFK Jr. will mangle response like COVID | Salon.com

INTERPOL: Operation Serengeti Nets 1,006 Cyber-Crime Suspects in Africa

Authorities across 19 African countries have arrested 1,006 suspects and dismantled 134,089 malicious infrastructures and networks thanks to a joint operation by INTERPOL and AFRIPOL against cybercrime.

Operation Serengeti targeted criminals behind ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), digital extortion, and online scams.

More than 35,000 victims were identified with cases linked to nearly USD 193 million in financial losses worldwide.

Cyber-crime suspects detained in Angola. (Photo: INTERPOL)

In Kenya, officers cracked a case of online credit card fraud linked to losses of USD 8.6 million. The funds, stolen through fraudulent scripts run after altering the banking system’s security protocol, were promptly redistributed by the group via SWIFT to companies in the UAE, Nigeria, and China. Nearly two dozen arrests have been made so far.

Eight people, including five Chinese nationals, were arrested in Senegal for a USD 6 million online Ponzi scheme affecting 1,811 victims. A search of their apartment uncovered over 900 SIM cards, USD 11,000 in cash, phones, laptops, and copies of victims’ ID cards.

Nigerian authorities arrested a man accused of running online investment scams. He made over USD 300,000 by luring victims through messaging platforms with false promises of cryptocurrency returns.

In Cameroon, authorities arrested a group suspected of trafficking victims from seven different countries to run a multi-level marketing scam. After paying a “membership fee”, victims were promised employment opportunities or training but once in Cameroon, they were held captive and obliged to lure others into the scheme to gain their freedom. Initial estimates show that the group had already pocketed at least USD 150,000 in fees.

Angolan investigators dismantled an international criminal group running a virtual casino in Luanda. The group, which primarily targeted Brazilian and Nigerian gamblers, defrauded hundreds through its online platform, offering a percentage of winnings to members who recruited new subscribers. Some 150 arrests were made, with officers seizing 200 computers and more than 100 mobile phones.

Operation Serengeti was carried out with funding of the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the German Federal Foreign Office and the Council of Europe.

Participating countries:

Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Operational partners:

Cybercrime Atlas, Fortinet, Group-IB, Kaspersky, Team Cymru, Trend Micro, Uppsala Security

Source:

Major cybercrime operation nets 1,006 suspects

Democrats Ignored Gaza and Brought Down Their Party

By Peter Beinart for The New York Times.

Illustrations and captions added by Coriolanus. We are grateful to him and trust he will appreciate the accents to his finely crafted editorial.

During the presidential campaign, journalists trying to assess the electoral impact of Israel’s war in Gaza often focused on Arab and Muslim voters, particularly in Michigan. That’s understandable. In the heavily Arab-American city of Dearborn, MI, which supported Joe Biden in 2020, results show that Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris by about six percentage points.

But viewing Gaza’s political repercussions merely through the lens of identity misses something fundamental. Over the past year, Israel’s slaughter and starvation of Palestinians — funded by US taxpayers and live-streamed on social media — has triggered one of the greatest surges in progressive activism in a generation. Many Americans roused to action by their government’s complicity in Gaza’s destruction have no personal connection to Palestine or Israel. Like many Americans who protested South African apartheid or the Vietnam War, their motive is not ethnic or religious. It is moral.

Both the 1968 and 2024 Democratic candidates were loyal VPOTUS to their one term predecessors and wanted to continue their policies. And Just like in 1968, nationwide anti-war protests gripped the US in 2024. The 1968 protestors were not pro-South Vietnamese, just as the 2024 protestors were not pro-Hamas. They were both simply anti-war.

The outrage has been particularly intense among Black Americans and the young. This spring, encampments expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people rose on more than 100 college campuses. In February, the Council of Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the nation’s most prominent Black congregations, called the war in Gaza a “mass genocide” and demanded that the Biden-Harris administration stop funding it. In June, the NAACP urged an end to weapons shipments as well. A June CBS News poll found that while most voters over the age of 65 supported arms sales to Israel, voters under the age of 30 opposed them by a ratio of more than three to one. And while only 56 percent of white voters favored cutting off weapons, among Black voters the figure was 75 percent.

Those pre-election polling numbers may explain some of what we saw Tuesday night. Kamala Harris is far more youthful than Joe Biden. Yet, early exit polls — from CNNThe Washington PostFox News and The Associated Press — suggest she suffered a sharp decline among voters under the age of 29 compared with Mr. Biden’s result in 2020. Ms. Harris is Black, yet according to CNN and The Washington Post, she did slightly worse than Mr. Biden among Black voters. One exit poll, from Fox News and The Associated Press, suggests she did significantly worse.

Surely, many young and Black voters were dissatisfied with the economy. Some may have been attracted to Mr. Trump’s message on immigration. Others may have been reluctant to vote for a woman.

But these broader dynamics do not fully explain Ms. Harris’s underperformance, because she appears to have lost far less ground among voters who are older and white. Her share of white voters equaled Mr. Biden’s. Among voters over age 65, she actually gained ground.

Which brings us back to Ms. Harris’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

Despite overwhelming evidence that the Democratic Party’s most devoted constituents wanted to end sales of weapons to Israel, the Biden administration kept sending them, even after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel expanded the war into Lebanon. And not only did Ms. Harris not break with Mr. Biden’s policy, she went out of her way to make voters who care about Palestinian rights feel unwelcome. When antiwar activists interrupted a speech of hers in August, Ms. Harris snapped, “If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that.” At the Democratic National Convention, her campaign rebuffed a plea from activists to let a Palestinian-American speak from the main stage. And just days before the election, the Harris surrogate Bill Clinton told a Michigan crowd that Hamas had forced Israel to kill Palestinian civilians by using them as human shields.

All this provided Mr. Trump an opportunity. According to The Times, his campaign found that undecided voters in swing states were about six times as likely as other swing-state voters to be motivated by the war in Gaza. Mr. Trump wooed them. He pledged to help “the Middle East return to real peace” and lambasted former Representative Liz Cheney, a Republican with whom Ms. Harris had chosen to campaign, as a “radical war hawk.” Like Richard Nixon, who in 1968 appealed to antiwar voters by promising “an honorable end to the war in Vietnam,” Mr. Trump portrayed himself — however insincerely — as the candidate of peace.

The US has spent a record $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel since the war in Gaza began in Oct 2023. This is only a partial amount of the US financial support provided during this war. The Gaza Health Ministry said the IDF killed 44,056 people and wounded 104,268 since 7 Oct 2023. The IDF claims 17,000 of these deaths were militants.

For months now, commentators close to the Palestinian rights movement have feared exactly this scenario. In August, the Palestinian American analyst Yousef Munayyer warned that “unless Harris takes some steps to break from Biden’s Israel policy, the same issue that helped tank an already vulnerable Joe Biden with his base could put major obstacles in her path to victory.”

But people who are passionate about Palestinian rights rarely occupy influential positions in Democratic campaigns. For decades, the party’s politicians and operatives have treated the struggle for Palestinian freedom as a taboo. They’ve grown so accustomed to sequestering it from their stated commitment to human rights that, even amid what prominent scholars call a genocide, Ms. Harris thought it wiser to campaign with Ms. Cheney than, say, Representative Rashida Tlaib. Despite overwhelming evidence, her campaign could not see that among progressive voters, the Palestine exception no longer applies.

There is only one path forward. Although it will require a fierce intraparty brawl, Democrats — who claim to respect human equality and international law — must begin to align their policies on Israel and Palestine with these broader principles. In this new era, in which supporting Palestinian freedom has become central to what it means to be progressive, the Palestinian exception is not just immoral. It’s politically disastrous.

For a long time, Palestinians in Gaza and beyond have been paying for that exception with their lives. Now Americans are paying, too. It may cost us our freedom.

Palestinian children queue up for food in Gaza. 90% do not receive enough food daily. (Data and Photo: World Food Program)

2024 Election

Peter Beinart (@PeterBeinart) is a contributing Opinion writer at The Times. He’s also a professor at the Newmark School of Journalism at the City University of New York, an editor at large of Jewish Currents and writes The Beinart Notebook, a weekly newsletter. His book “Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza” is forthcoming.

Sources:

Opinion | Democrats Ignored Gaza and Brought Down Their Party – The New York Times

United States Spending on Israel’s Military Operations and Related U.S. Operations in the Region, October 7, 2023-September 30, 2024 | Costs of War

Japan: Police Finally Identify School Shoe Thief

Police set up security cameras at a Japanese school after students’ shoes started disappearing and the culprit was ultimately identified as a furry footwear fan — a weasel (itachi イタチ) .

The Gosho Kodomo-en kindergarten in Koga, Fukuoka Prefecture, contacted police for help after 15 shoes vanished from the school in early Nov 2024, and three more were taken the following day.

Police set up three security cameras in the school to catch the culprit in the act.

A single shoe vanished during the night of 11 Nov and police reviewed the captured footage to identify the perpetrator.

The video shows a weasel appearing from behind a wall and raiding the cubbyholes where the children store their indoor shoes. The animal spread shoes across the floor and made off with one item of footwear.

Animal experts said the weasel had likely given birth recently and was using the shoes to line its nest. The school said the cubbyholes are now being covered with netting at night to keep furry thieves at bay.

Japanese weasels were introduced to Sakhalin Island (and other areas of Japan) to help control rodents. Above, an itachi (イタチ) caught a frog for dinner.

Source:

Watch: Serial shoe thief at kindergarten identified as a weasel – UPI.com

‘Are We Not Humans?’ Fury in Beirut as Massive Israeli Strike Kills 20

Before impact. Beirut’s Shayah neighborhood (Photo: Fadel Itani / UPI)

After impact. (Photo: Fadel Itani / UPI)

Chiyah neighborhood of Beirut (Photo: Fadel Itani / UPI)

A massive Israeli air strike on central Beirut has killed at least 20 people, Lebanese officials say, in the latest attack on the capital amid an escalation of Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah.

The strike happened without warning at about 04:00 (02:00 GMT) on Saturday, and was an attempt to assassinate a senior Hezbollah official, Israeli media reported. The attack was heard and felt across the city, and destroyed at least one eight-story residential building in the densely populated Basta district.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said a so-called bunker buster bomb was used, a type of weapon previously used by Israel to kill senior Hezbollah figures, including former leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Emergency workers used heavy machinery to remove the rubble and retrieve bodies.

More than 60 people had been injured and the number of victims was expected to rise as DNA tests would be carried out on body parts that had been recovered.

“It was a very horrible explosion. All the windows and glasses were over me, my wife and my children. My home now is a battlefield,” said 55-year-old Ali Nassar, who lived in a nearby building.

“Even if one person is hiding here…Should you destroy buildings where people are sleeping inside? Is it necessary to kill all the people for one person? Are we not humans? That’s what I’m asking.”

According to the Israeli public broadcaster Kan, the attack was an attempt to kill Mohammed Haydar, a top Hezbollah official. Hezbollah MP Amin Sherri said none of the group’s leaders were in the building hit, and Haydar’s fate remained unclear.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has not commented.

Also on Saturday, the IDF carried out further air strikes on the Dahieh, the area in southern Beirut where Hezbollah is based, saying they were buildings linked to the group.

Israeli attacks have also hit the south, where an Israeli ground invasion is advancing, and the east, where air strikes in the city of Baalbek killed at least 15 people, including four children.

Lebanese officials say a ‘bunker buster’ bomb was used in the devastating strike.

In AKZ-L (Lebanon), more than 3,670 people have been killed and at least 15,400 injured since Oct 2023, with more than one million forced from their homes. With the onset of winter, more innocent and homeless Arabs will die of exposure. The IDF has killed scores of Lebanese medics while destroying the country’s medical infrastructure. PIFWC Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud Party have certainly incubated the next two generations of anti-Israelis and antisemites. Netanyahu can’t wait until Donald Trump becomes POTUS next year. But having a Democratic president in the White House these past four years haven’t really stalled or delayed the Likud Party’s plans to ethnically cleanse Israel of Palestinians anyway.

The imminent and unholy Repub-Likud alliance in 2025 will also bode poorly again for Iranians and chances of a lasting peace in the Middle East.

Sources:

Israel hits Lebanon with widespread bombing and shelling, killing at least 47 – UPI.com

‘Are we not humans?’: Anger in Beirut as massive Israeli strike kills 20

Israel: Fanatical Settlers Attack IDF Major-General Avi Bluth in West Bank

This past weekend, lunatic Settlers in the West Bank attacked IDF Central Command Major-General Avi Bluth, ludicrously calling him a “traitor” and “Israel hater.”

Head of IDF Central Command Major-General Avi Bluth. He escaped unharmed and must have been shocked to face an intifada from the very citizens he has sworn to protect and defend.

Since Oct 2023, Israeli security forces and fanatical Settlers have killed at least 763 Palestinians in Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) to facilitate the seizure of lands and homes by religious zealots. A few of these maniacs possibly like the Settler pictured below have been sanctioned by the Biden Administration.

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

The above pictured Israelis celebrate the death of Palestinian resistance leader Yahya Sinwar at a southern kibbutz, 17 Oct 2024. Note the elation on the faces of the celebrants as if this was V-E Day 1945. They are unaware of twice-GOP Presidential candidate NYS Governor Thomas E. Dewey’s famous words, “You can’t shoot an idea with a gun,” as if the IDF killing of one man erases Palestinian nationalism. Urbane Israelis in Ramat Aviv or Haifa wonder how much taxes these kibbutzers pay or whether they ever served in the IDF like them or MG Avi Bluth. (Photo: AP)

Above, Israeli Police officers arrest an ultra-Orthodox Jew as they block a main road during a protest against IDF conscription in Jerusalem, 19 Oct 2017. Israeli police arrested 40 people in protests by a fringe group within Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. (Photo: Ariel Schalit / AP)

Israeli border police stand guard near Orthodox Jews in the Old City’s Christian quarter, after an incident in which Haredi Orthodox Jews spat at a Christian procession carrying a cross through Jerusalem’s Old City in 2023. Israeli police arrested five suspects. (Photo: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Ultra-Orthodox Jews defied COVID regulations. Above, Israeli security forces arrest an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man as they close a synagogue in Jerusalem (Mar 2020). COVID infection rates in ultra-Orthodox communities were markedly higher than the rest of Israel. (Photo: Ahmad Gharabli / AFP / Getty Images)

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man (L) and a secular man (R) above argue during a protest against the strict religious codes favored by the ultra-Orthodox in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. (Photo: Reuters/Landov)

So, is it any wonder that an IDF Major-General may be attacked by his own people when you see the fanaticism emanating from the religious sectors of Israel? Many military veterans have favorite commanders or generals and Coriolanus is no exception. I can’t imagine being in a security detail or in the entourage of my favorite (unnamed) general under attack by maniacs. Luckily MG Avi Bluth and his staff escaped unharmed.

For years Israel has been undergoing a political civil war between secularists and fundamentalists, ultra-nationalists and peace activists, Sabras and newcomers, Ashkenazis and Sephardics, and Likudniks versus Laborites. So far, the religious right-wing and their coalition have been winning in the kaleidoscope of the Knesset, keeping Israeli Crime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in power (for now).

Besides facing an international arrest warrant for war crimes, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu will be facing a criminal or Knesset inquiry into his handling of the 7 Oct 2023 surprise attack which killed more than 1,200 citizens and the capture of over 200 hostages.

Sources:

Israel: Some ultra-Orthodox Jews are ignoring the coronavirus rules | CNN

Israelis Clash Over Strict Religious Codes |

Israeli police arrest 5 Jews for allegedly spitting on Christian pilgrims amid spate of attacks – Jewish Telegraphic Agency

US issues new batch of sanctions targeting West Bank settlers amid rampant violence | The Times of Israel

Passengers Stop Man from Opening American Airlines Plane Cabin Door Mid-Flight

Passengers on American Airlines Flight 1219 stopped a Canadian man who allegedly tried to open the airplane’s cabin door mid-flight by restraining him with duct tape and flex cuffs.

The suspect reportedly told a flight attendant he needed to exit the plane and began acting erratically when he was denied.

The man tried to open an emergency door while the jetliner was airborne.

“He was sitting at the emergency exit and he cracked open the window that was protecting the handle,” reported a passenger. “He ripped down the handle where it exposed some of the emergency exit and all the wind came rushing down.”

“The guy was screaming ‘I want to get out,’” reported a witness.

The unhinged man allegedly assaulted a flight attendant, injuring her wrist and neck.

A passenger sprung into action by restraining the man and securing him with duct tape and flex cuffs provided by the crew. The suspect remained restrained on the floor for the rest of the flight.

After landing, law enforcement and FBI agents boarded the plane to detain the man for a medical evaluation. The flight attendant was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, while the suspect was taken off the plane in a wheelchair.

The FAA and FBI are working together to investigate the incident further. No charges have been filed.

“The safety and security of our customers and team members is our top priority and we thank our team members and customers for managing a difficult situation,” American Airlines said.

Luckily enough passengers had the wherewithal to overcome and restrain the unhinged man before a catastrophe occurred. Air travel remains one of the safest methods of travel, but occasional incidents like this challenge aviation security experts to come up with non-lethal solutions to neutralize unruly or dangerous passengers without harming innocent people or endangering the flight.   

Source:

Passengers Stop Man from Opening Plane Door Mid-Flight By Duct Taping His Wrists And Ankles Together: Officials | IBTimes

Man subdued on an American Airlines flight after trying to open an emergency exit | CTV News

North Korean Defector: NK Soldiers Will Desert ASAP in Ukraine

North Korean supremo Kim Jong-un meets with his loyal and adoring troops in Mar 2024 (Photo: AP)

Entire units of North Korea’s troops fighting for Vladimir Putin will desert as soon as they get to the frontline, a defector has claimed.

Hyun-Seung Lee, spent 3 1/2 years with an artillery and reconnaissance battalion in the early 2000s. His time in the army included training for six months alongside the Storm Corps. Lee says the troops in Russia will be looking to escape the battle in Ukraine “from the beginning.” 

Leaked footage shows the North Koreans (AKA “Norks”) training in Russia (Credit: Telegram)

He believes the troops are not ready for the frontline and will be used as “human shields” by Russian soldiers in “meat attacks.”

Kim Jong-un has sent his Storm Corps, the country’s equivalent of special forces, to fight for the Kremlin as his war continues to stall. The 10,000-strong force is set to be used on the battlefield in the coming days as the Russian tyrant looks to claw back Kursk

Questions have been raised about how well the North Korean soldiers will fight having not seen combat since the Vietnam War and with the units armed, clothed, and led by the Russians.

In one clip the Norks appear to be practicing Russian (Credit: Telegram)

Lee said the young soldiers in North Korea will have been forced to go and they won’t be that committed to the fighting. 

He said: “It will be individuals at first, but more like as time passes, I think there’ll be like a larger number of group defections, including officers.”

That’s because, Lee says, the Russians will likely treat them as “expendable” and even more poorly than their own troops. 

He said: “Russian soldiers don’t respect them as their fellow warriors and the NORKs will die without any impact.”

North Korean soldiers could be thinking twice about defecting as it could see their families thrown in prison. Pyongyang has a guilty by association policy; if the North’s soldiers are seen defecting by colleagues their families could be put in jail.

Lee said: “They would be socially not respected, there’s criticism [they would face] from the community and organizations.”

High-ranking families would likely face a more severe punishment if authorities knew their relative had fled.

But Lee, whose family fled Pyongyang in 2014, said some families might not even know their brother, son or father are in Russia fighting as North Korea keeps all troop movements secret. The troops will be watched over by a Worker’s Party political officer who will administer two hours of ideological training a day.

Inside North Inside North Korea’s ‘Elite’ Storm Corp Special Forces

The Storm Corps is made of ten units, including a sniper’s unit, a light infantry unit, and a paratroopers unit, according to Lee Hyun Seung.

Lee emphasized they are not comparable to Western special forces. He said North Korea didn’t have the equipment to continually train troops for combat as ammunition and bombs would need replacing.

Instead, they trained “for show” so they could march in parades or for propaganda videos. Lee said those soldiers are drawn from North Korea’s working class and will be ambivalent about fighting for the regime. 

The defector added: “They are just seeking food and then they’re seeking career advancement. I’m sure nowadays, these, you know, young soldiers they don’t have like a real loyalty to the regime. They just got order command from the Supreme Commander, and then they have no choice but to, you know, [go] to Russia.” 

Ukrainian military intelligence had leaked to the press that a score of North Korean soldiers had already deserted but were soon recaptured by Russian security services. Another report suggested that up to 40 NK troops had been killed in recent fighting in Kursk. Coriolanus posted that the Ukrainian military targeted a Russian command and control center and possibly wounded a North Korean general and other HVTs.  The Ukrainians will continue using their PSYOP program to induce defections and undermine the morale of the NORKs while targeting their HVTs. Kiev has less than two months to catastrophically damage the Russian and North Korean armies before Trump takes over the White House and kowtows to Vladimir Putin.

Source:

I was a North Korean soldier – Kim’s terrified troops will FLEE Putin’s army when they reach Ukraine frontline – The US Sun | The US Sun

Cluster of Ventura County, CA Farmworkers Diagnosed with Rare Leptospirosis

Ventura County lies west of Los Angeles, CA.

Ventura County public health officials said they’re investigating a rare and potentially severe disease diagnosed in several workers in county berry fields.

The illness, leptospirosis, is caused by bacteria found in contaminated water or soil. The disease can be spread by urine from animals including rodents and livestock.

In severe cases, the condition can cause kidney damage, liver failure, or meningitis and can be fatal.

Public health officials report the local cases appeared to have emerged between Sep 2024 and Nov 2024. They do not know the exact cause but said farmworkers harvesting or handling berries grown under hoops may be at higher risk of infection.

There are 18 cases, but the numbers are fluctuating. Some of the cases have been confirmed and others are presumed to be leptospirosis.

Farm worker. (Photo: VCStar)

Public health officials said leptospirosis is not considered a risk to the general public as the illness is not spread from person to person and it’s safe to eat berries.

Some patients reported severe symptoms like meningitis, an infection that can cause inflammation of membrane around the brain and spinal cord. Other cases involved mild symptoms like headache and fever.

Public health strongly advised agricultural workers and employers to take precautions to reduce the risk of leptospirosis:

  • Wear waterproof protective clothing and equipment while working outdoors including gloves, long-sleeved shirts, pants and boots or shoes.
  • Cover cuts and scratches with waterproof bandaging.
  • Wash hands, arms and exposed skin thoroughly with soap and water after working in the fields, especially before eating or drinking.
  • Employers should take measures to keep pest populations under control.

Officials inform that rodents are the most common source of the disease but livestock, dogs and cats can also be infected. People should keep pets away from ponds, lakes and other natural bodies of water and prompt veterinary care for animals that become sick.

The CDC reports that some infected people may have no symptoms. Leptospirosis sometimes occurs in two phases with initial symptoms that improve but are followed by more severe conditions like kidney/liver failure or meningitis.

An estimated one million severe cases of leptospirosis in humans occur every year, causing about 58,900 deaths. The disease is most common in tropical areas of the world but may occur anywhere. Outbreaks may arise after heavy rainfall.

Sources:

Cluster of Locally Acquired Leptospirosis Infections – Ventura County Public Health

Public health investigates cluster of leptospirosis infections

About Leptospirosis | Leptospirosis | CDC

Leptospirosis – Wikipedia

First Freight Train from China Arrives in Afghanistan as Beijing Increases Ties

A direct freight train link between Afghanistan and China was inaugurated this month. (File photo)

The first train carrying goods from China to Afghanistan arrived in Mazar-e Sharif on 23 Nov after crossing through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Kabul reported. The Taliban said 55 containers arrived in Afghanistan after a 22-day journey, marking the inauguration of the first direct train link between China and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The train is expected to take Afghan goods back to China for sale there. Since the Taliban returned to power in Aug 2021, no country, including China, has formally recognized the extremist group — which has been accused of massive rights violations — but Beijing has attempted to increase ties as part of its economic push in the region, including its Belt and Road initiative.

Central Asia Rail Routes Map courtesy of Ansher Global

China, the world’s factory, is also building a massive railway system on the Dark Continent which will connect east and west Africa, a concept the previous European colonial powers never conceived.   

China has pledged $75 billion of funding to Africa and her projects have employed tens of thousands of Ethiopians and Djiboutians.

The West is involved in devastating and costly wars while Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative is quietly and peacefully securing China’s future economic hegemony. Beijing will soon have access to critical minerals in Afghanistan needed for the telecommunications and computer manufacturing industries.  

Ukrainians are fighting for their very survival from the Kremlin onslaught while the US wastes precious economic and military resources funding Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians while the IDF devastates Lebanon with US-provided weapons.  The US already wasted billions of dollars fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan while China invested her time and resources wisely to expand her influence globally while subtly beginning her conquest of space.

Sources:

Keynote Address by Helga Zepp-LaRouche to Conference: U.S.-China Cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative and Corresponding Ideas in Chinese and Western Philosophy 4/13-4/14/2017 NYC

Freight Train Arrives In Afghanistan From China As Beijing Looks To Increase Ties

Simultaneous Comeuppance for Two Right-Wing Doppelgangers

Brazilian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro (R) and his Floridian doppelganger ex-Congressman Matt Gaetz (L)

Last week Brazil’s federal police charged former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and 36 accomplices of being part of a criminal conspiracy designed to obliterate Brazil’s democratic system through a right-wing coup d’état attempt on 8 Jan 2023. Bolsonaro had proudly described himself as the “Trump of Brazil,” had accelerated the arboricide of the earth’s lings, the Amazon Rain Forest, for the sake of making money.  

Among the accused are Bolsonaro’s former spy chief, as well as a cadre of senior defense, foreign affairs, and justice ministers. Also charged are a far-right congressman and blogger.


In a scene quite similar to the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021, Jair Bolsonaro supporters generate chaos in Brasilia, Brazil, by invading the Supreme Court, National Congress, and the Planalto Palace on Sunday, 8 Jan 2023. Mounted police and helicopters helped safeguard democracy. (Photo: Mateus Bonomi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Meanwhile to the north, Bolsonaro’s American junior doppelganger received a concomitant bit of comeuppance. Reactionary Trump acolyte Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) rashly resigned his congressional seat after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him to be his Attorney-General. His annual salary was approximately $174,000. Matt Gaetz, previously arrested on DUI charges in 2008 which his father allegedly influenced the case in his favor, was embroiled in a congressional Ethics Committee investigation and was confident his sins would remain secret from the American public. Joel Greenberg, an accomplice of Matt Gaetz, was already and convicted and sentenced to 11 years for sex trafficking of a minor and a litany of other crimes.

Official Press Release from Ethics Committee (18 June 2024):

“On April 9, 2021, the Committee announced it had initiated a review into allegations that Representative Matt Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct”.

For years, Republicans successfully prevented the release of the damaging investigation findings of Congressman Gaetz’s alleged peccadillos and acts of moral turpitude. When a reporter from CNN asked Gaetz about reports of a second sexual encounter with a 17-year-old girl, six minutes later Gaetz withdrew his nomination to be President-elect Donald Trump’s next attorney general.

Both right-wing disgraced doppelgangers Jair Bolsonaro and MAGA militant Matt Gaetz are considered innocent of all charges and accusations until both defendants are proven guilty in their respective courts of law.  

“The moral arc of the university is long, but it bends towards justice.”

Sources:


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/jair-bolsonaro-charged-coup-plot

The rise and fall of Matt Gaetz in eight wild days

Friend of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz sentenced to 11 years in prison in sex trafficking case

Cat Rescued After Five Days Stuck Up Tree

International Arrest Warrants Finally Issued for Benjamin Netanyahu

The Israeli government did its utmost to fight the indictment and issuance of the arrest warrant but failed to stop justice at the Hague. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued the following statement:


“The Chamber issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr. Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest.”

“The arrest warrants are classified as ‘secret’, in order to protect witnesses and to safeguard the conduct of the investigations.”

Any nation that is a signatory to the ICC has an obligation to execute these arrest warrants.

The US, India, Indonesia, and China are not state parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court which founded the ICC in 2002. The US has observer status at the ICC where Special Counsel Jack Smith completed an assignment prosecuting PIFWCs (Persons Indicted For War Crimes) before investigating Donald Trump.


An arrest warrant was also issued for Palestinian resistance leader Mohammed Deif who the IDF killed without trial and Yoav Gallant, the ex-Defense Minister. The Israeli PIFWCs can therefore safely travel to those four countries without fear of being detained.


This was a long time coming and a national black eye for Israel. Moreover, at the nearby International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague, several countries have charged the State of Israel with committing genocide. See official charging document at link below. But none of these actions dissuaded Netanyahu from continuing his Murder-Death-Kill campaign against Arabs. At time of publication, the IDF killed 133 victims in AKZ-L, AKZ-G, and AKZ-S.

Palestinian residents and civil defence teams launch a search and rescue operation following an Israeli attack on the Remal Clinic on al-Wehda Street in Gaza City (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas / Anadolu Agency)

The Israeli Death Forces pounded northern Gaza, killing 88 Palestinians in two waves of attacks on Beit Lahiya and the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City (AKZ-G). The IDF also killed nine in Tyre (AKZ-L) and 36 in Palmyra (AKZ-S).

The Likud Party and the IDF have killed at least 43,985 Palestinians and wounded 104,092 since 7 Oct 2023. An estimated 1,139 Israelis were killed during the attack to seize hostages for a prisoner swap; more than 200 were taken alive.

In AKZ-W, the IDF continued ethnic cleansing operations, arresting four Palestinians arrested near West Bank’s Hebron, Nablus. Israeli forces stormed the nearby village of Qabalan and tore down a barracks.

In Lebanon (AKZ-L), at least 3,558 people have been killed and 15,123 wounded in IDF since Oct 2023. UNICEF stated that increased Israeli violence is the ‘horrific new normal’ for children in Lebanon.

The Likud Party and the IDF are robbing the happiness, health, and future of Arab children within arm’s length of their US-provided weapons.

Members of a family rest in a tent after fleeing their home in Lebanon. (Photo: UNICEF/Fouad Choufany)

Meanwhile the US Senate voted overwhelmingly against three resolutions sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that would have blocked the sale of certain US weapons to Israel. Even this token measure failed.

And, of course, the US cast the single veto against a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the UN Security Council supported by 14 of the 15 UNSC members. US representative Ambassador Robert Wood said that the US could not support an unconditional ceasefire unless it was tied to releasing the Israeli hostages being held in Gaza by resistance fighters. This statement mirrors Likud Party policies.

Tor Wennesland, the out-going Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General stated bluntly without naming the US: ‘We are at the point where diplomacy has failed.’

To no one’s surprise, US President Joe Biden called the ICC war crimes arrest warrant for Netanyahu “outrageous” and vetoed a ceasefire initiative at the UNSC. Biden and the Democrats will be out of office in two months, just like in 1968 when Hubert Humphrey and his coterie were ingloriously kicked out over the Democrat’s failed policies on Vietnam. “Crime Minister” Benjamin Netanyahu will maintain his firm grip on power while receiving enormous amounts of lethal aid from the hard-working American taxpayer. The IDF will continues its vindictive Nakba across several Arab Killing Zones (AKZ). Over 50,000 Arabs will be killed by 1 Jan 2025. While the Cold Warrior got it right dealing with the Kremlin these past three years, Joe Biden just didn’t get it at all dealing with Israel. We trust President Biden enjoys his retirement next year.   

Sources:

LIVE: Israel kills dozens in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria; US defends UNSC veto | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera

United States vetoes Gaza ceasefire resolution at Security Council | UN News

https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_the_International_Criminal_Court

Bolivia files a declaration of intervention in the proceedings under Article 63 of the Statute

Dozens of Palestinian detainees abused, Israeli rights groups say – Ya Libnan

The Ukrainian military destroyed a location where North Korean generals could have been present alongside senior Russian military leaders.

According to Ukrainian outlet Defense Express, the use of multiple Storm Shadow missiles indicates the likely presence of high-ranking military personnel in the area or High-Value Targets (HVTs).

Debris analysis confirmed the use of UK-provided Storm Shadow missiles rather than French SCALPs.

(Credit: Will Stewart)

Defence Express highlighted the use of these cruise missiles on similar high-value military targets in the past, including a reserve command post of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

The attack underscores the strategic importance of targeting such facilities, noting the implications of Ukraine’s authorization to use Storm Shadow missiles within Russian territory.

Hours later, the Defense Secretary announced the Armed Forces will be hit by £500 million worth of cuts, The Telegraph reports.

The announcement came after the US gave Kiev permission to use ATACMS long-range missiles against Russian targets. Britain initially allowed Storm Shadows to target Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine, but it now appears Kiev has permission to use them against targets inside Russia.

The £800,000 missiles are highly effective, designed to evade air defenses and hit targets with GPS-guided precision at speeds of up to 600mph. With a range of 180 miles, these weapons can strike deep into Russian territory.

As pointed out in a previous post, the Ukrainians must “strike firstest with the mostest” against North Korean military interlopers sent to help Russia. Eliminating the North Korean High Command in Russian territory will de-moralize the troops and ruin their command and control. Kiev and NATO have two months to maximize their offensive before the next US presidential administration takes over and cuts military, intelligence, and economic aid to Ukraine.

Source:

Fiery moment ‘British Storm Shadow missiles explode inside Russia targeting underground control room’ | The US Sun

Danish Military Keeps Watch on Chinese Ship Suspected of Baltic Undersea Cable Sabotage

(Photo of the Yi Peng 3 by Mikkel Berg Pedersen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images)

The Danish Defense Command is monitoring the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3, which is anchored off the coast of Denmark and suspected of being involved in recent damage to fiber-optic communications cables in the Baltic Sea.

Suspicions have been growing in Western capitals that damage to two key Baltic Sea cables was likely the result of deliberate actions.

The Chinese ship, reportedly captained by a Russian naval officer, was sailing from the Russian port of Ust-Luga. The Yi Peng 3 is suspected of having traveled over the area in the Baltic Sea where the cables connecting Sweden and Lithuania are located.


European governments and Washington have not tied Moscow directly to the damage, but they have accused Russia of orchestrating “hybrid attacks” on Western infrastructure to punish European countries for their assistance and support for Ukraine’s military as it tries to repel invading Russian forces.

Some analysts say the ship may have damaged the cables when dragging its anchor. Ukraine’s allies pointed to past incidents of alleged sabotage by Moscow, especially following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which recently hit the 1,000-day mark amid devastating losses on both sides.

Authorities in states bordering the Baltic Sea are investigating the cutting of the cables — the second connects Finland to Germany — following similar suspicious occurrences in the sea in recent years. Denmark and Germany are already NATO allies and share critical intelligence with Washington.

A year ago, Finland said it couldn’t exclude that a “state actor” was responsible for damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline and a telecommunications cable in the Baltic Sea. The pipeline was damaged by an anchor dropped from the deck of the Chinese container ship Newnew Polar Bear. The ship was not detained and sailed away. Neutral Finland joined NATO on 4 Apr 2023 out of concern of Russian aggression, as did Sweden on 7 Mar 2024.

Moscow has said such allegations are being fabricated by the West to discredit Russia. Chinese officials have not commented on the situation surrounding the Yi Peng 3.

This is a troubling sign that China seems to be working with Russia to conduct sabotage against NATO and the EU. Beijing and Moscow have been increasing their military cooperation. Chinese and Russian jets were intercepted near the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) this past 24 July 2024.

(24 Jul 2024 Photo: NORAD)

Any future Chinese military invasion against the island republic would involve severing such communications cables to isolate Taiwan. Taipei would then be forced to communicate in a less secure digital environment vulnerable to MSS interception and hacking. Two Taiwanese undersea cables were sabotaged in 2023.

(Illustration: The Yomiuri Shimbun)

The Chinese and Russians don’t have to rely on frog-men or spy subs to sabotage these cables. The Russians have a special naval sabotage unit called the GUGI. But why deploy them when Russia and China have access to hundreds of commercial ships?

Once vulnerable telecommunication or energy cables/pipes are located, the Russians or the Chinese can sever or break them cheaply with tremendous anchors like above from ships like the Yi Peng 3. The ship captain can claim ignorance if he is boarded by NATO naval personnel.

This recent maritime sabotage incident in the Baltic Sea may be a Chinese rehearsal on behalf of the Kremlin. Sabotage against gas/power lines during winter would bring hardship to energy-dependent European countries while punishing them for supporting Ukraine.


Sources:

https://www.rferl.org/a/danish-defense-chinese-ship-yi-peng-baltic-sea-cable-damage/33209361.html

https://www.norad.mil/Newsroom/Press-Releases/Article/3849184/norad-detects-tracks-and-intercepts-russian-and-prc-aircraft-operating-in-the-a/

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_213448.htm

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_223446.htm

The Future Will Look Like the Past: Texas Offers Trump 1,402 Acres for Mass Deportation Camps

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is offering the incoming Trump administration 1,402 acres the state purchased along the Texas-Mexico border to be used in a mass deportation operation. The Extermination Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau reportedly covered 500 acres and it was the largest camp in the Third Reich.

In a letter to President-elect Donald Trump, Buckingham said she’s offering the land “to be used to construct deportation facilities.”

So, Madame Commissioner, here is what America will look like thanks to Donald Trump and people just like you.


Jews in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland, in Jan 1945. (Photo: EPA)


Bosnian Muslims in Serbian concentration camp circa 1995. (Photo: ICTY)

DHS camp for Hispanic migrants of separated children during Trump’s first reign of terror.


Palestinian children crammed in Israeli prison cell circa 2016. (Photo: AP)


Sub-Saharan migrants in detention center in Zawiyah, Libya, in Jun 2017. (Photo: Taha Jawashi / AFP/ Getty Images)



Loyal Japanese-Americans dining in their mess facility in an internment camp (photo circa 1942).

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is a true humanitarian, isn’t she?

Source:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-land-commissioner-offers-acres-trump-deportation/story?id=116048937

Nationwide Food Recall: Wolverine Packing Co. Recalls 167,000 Pounds of Ground Beef Products Due to Possible E. Coli

Wolverine Packing Co. in Detroit, MI is recalling approximately 167,277 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the USDA Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The fresh products have a “use by” date of 11/14/2024 and the frozen products are labeled with production date 10/22/24.

Please check these links: View full product listView labels.

The products subject to recall bear establishment number “EST. 2574B” inside the USDA mark of inspection. These items were shipped to restaurant locations nationwide. 

The problem was discovered when FSIS was notified by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture of a group of 15 patients who had reported that they consumed ground beef prior to their illness.

Anyone concerned about an illness should contact a healthcare provider. E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause dehydration, bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps 2–8 days (3–4 days, on average) after exposure the organism. While most people recover within a week, some develop a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). This condition can occur among persons of any age but is most common in children under 5-years old and older adults. It is marked by easy bruising, pallor, and decreased urine output. Persons who experience these symptoms should seek emergency medical care immediately.

FSIS is concerned that some product may be in restaurant refrigerators or freezers. Restaurants are urged not to serve these products. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.

Consumers and members of the media with questions about the recall can contact Don Tanner, company representative at (248) 762-1533.

Consumers with food safety questions can call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-MPHotline (888-674-6854) or send a question via email to MPHotline@usda.gov.

For consumers that need to report a problem with a meat, poultry, or egg product, the online Electronic Consumer Complaint Monitoring System can be accessed 24 hours a day at https://foodcomplaint.fsis.usda.gov/eCCF/.

Sources:

Wolverine Packing Co. Recalls Ground Beef Products Due to Possible E. Coli O157:H7 Contamination | Food Safety and Inspection Service

Wolverine Packing Co. | Your Complete Protein Solution

French Defense Minister Calls on Arab Gulf States to Aid Lebanese Forces

Lebanese children wave French flags as they stand in front of a Lebanon’s national flag, at a ceremony to open a French-built bridge by the coastal town of Naameh, south of Beirut, on 18 Sep 2006. (Photo: Petros Karadjias / AP)

“I have reiterated to each counterpart that we need them to support the Lebanese armed forces,” French DM Sébastien Lecornu said after visits to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Lecornu’s appeal came following talks with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed of the UAE in Abu Dhabi.

“To secure the border between Israel and Lebanon, and to reinforce Lebanon’s sovereignty, the armed forces must be properly armed,” he added.

Israel expanded the focus of its lethal operations from Gaza to Lebanon in Sep 2024, making southern Lebanon inhospitable to Shias while devastating the country’s medical infrastructure. More than 3,510 people in Lebanon have been killed, with most fatalities recorded since late September.

Last month, a conference in Paris raised $200 million to support the Lebanese armed forces, on top of $800 million in humanitarian aid for the country.

The Lebanese military, which plays a crucial role in maintaining stability in the deeply divided country, struggles to meet the basic needs of its 80,000 soldiers. The Lebanese Army previously received financial assistance from Qatar and the US to pay salaries.

Lebanese Army Soldiers at double time. The IDF has killed at least 41 of them over the past few weeks. (Undated photo: Getty Images).

Next month French President Emmanuel Macron travels to Saudi Arabia. His visit is expected to focus on defense contracts and investment in new technologies. Perhaps he can persuade Crown Prince Muhammad Bin-Salman (MBS) to withdraw the hideous blockade on Shia Yemenis which has caused them a man-made famine. The Sunni Saudi alliance with Sunni Yemenis is what drove the Shia Houthis right into the Shia Crescent led by Tehran. This is why the Houthis fire drones at Western or Israeli shipping in the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden: Gratitude and loyalty to their Shia benefactors in Lebanon and Iran.

There was a time when France was seen as Lebanon’s big brother and protector. An estimated 23,000 French citizens live in Lebanon and more than 300,000 Lebanese reside in France.

But now Paris has become a schnorrer asking other countries to step in.

Quite simply, France has lost its political clout in Lebanon: “In 10 years French influence has collapsed,” said a political scientist. Another French diplomat noted the dramatic drop in the use of French.  

“Years ago, if you went to bars where middle-class youth gathered, you’d hear Arabic or French. If you go there now, you’ll hear Arabic and English – people under the age of 30 don’t speak French.”

Cuts in the French diplomatic corps did not help. A former senior French official describing Paris’ diplomacy as “disoriented.” Moreover, France miscalculated by supporting Sunni rebels against Syrian President Bashir al-Assad. Germany paid the price of absorbing thousands of Syrian refugees. Berlin then put a stop to France’s policy of using EU funds to favor its foreign policy, notably in Lebanon.

France “no longer has a say” in Beirut: the foreign powers that matter are Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the US.

David Schenker, once in charge of Near East affairs at the US State Department, told the Lebanese on a visit to Beirut: “‘Don’t forget! It’s the Americans and the Saudis who sign the cheques.'”

Sources:

France’s defence minister calls on Gulf states to aid Lebanese forces

Macron promises €100m for Lebanon at aid conference in Paris

From protector to onlooker: how France lost its influence in Lebanon

Laos: Methanol-Tainted Alcohol Kills Several Tourists; Dozen Stricken

Laos has a population of nearly eight million people. Real GDP per capita is $8,400 (2023 est.)

Several Western tourists died after drinking tainted alcohol in the tourist town of Vang Vieng in Laos. So far, two Danish, one unidentified American, and a British citizen have been reported dead and at least ten have been stricken. The numbers could be more.

The late lawyer Simone White (28) from the UK was travelling South East Asia. (Image: Facebook)

The parents of two 19-year-olds from Melbourne are at their bedsides in separate Thai hospitals — one in Bangkok and the other in Udon Than.

Bianca Jones (L, 19) and Holly Bowles (R, 19) below were staying at a backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng, a popular party town north of Vientiane. Their parents from Melbourne are at their bedsides in separate Thai hospitals — one in Bangkok and the other in Udon Than. Sadly, a late report indicated that Ms. Holly Bowles (R) succumbed to the poison.

(Undated images: Social media)

Vang Vieng is a popular destination for backpackers travelling in Laos. (Photo: Basile Morin via Wikimedia Commons)

Duong Duc Toan, the manager of Nana Backpack hostel displays a bottle of vodka, in the bar of the hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, 19 Nov 2024. (Photo: AP / Anupam Nath)

Methanol is a clear liquid chemical that is often illegally added to alcoholic beverages as a cheaper alternative to ethanol. Consuming even a small amount can be fatal.

Westerners seeking inexpensive vacations in exotic locations should take heed of this cautionary tale. Drink cocktails from a Western-owned hotel or stick to bottled or canned beer that should be opened in one’s presence (like bottled water).

Sources:


https://apnews.com/article/australian-laos-thailand-alcohol-poisoning-a5a4035fff9ac6e0960c0ffa4a2ef576

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2024/11/22/laos-methanol-poisoning/5591732171277/


https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/fifth-person-died-methanol-laos/

CIA

Canada Fears Trump’s Mass Deportations Will Push Migrants North

RCMP officers confront migrants arriving at the Roxham Road border crossing in Quebec from New York State in 2023. (Photo: Nasuna Stuart-Ulin for The New York Times)

Story written by Matina Stevis-Gridneff and Hamed Aleaziz and extracted from the New York Times.

Canadian authorities fear that Mr. Trump’s promised mass deportations will push migrants north, while Republicans have raised alarms over a recent spike in undocumented migrants crossing from Canada to the US.

Canadian officials are planning to add patrols, buy new vehicles and set up emergency reception facilities at the border between New York State and the province of Quebec in preparation for a surge of undocumented migrants following Donald Trump’s promised mass deportation program.

The new border czar, Tom Homan, who is a native of a NY town near the US-Canadian border, called the northern border a “huge national security issue.”

Mr. Homan said “special interest aliens” — a term used for migrants with possible criminal links, including to terrorism — might use the northern border because there are “a lot less, fewer officers here.”

Concerns over the northern border highlight a key shift in Canada’s view of migration between the first and second Trump administrations. During the first, PM Justin Trudeau made clear that asylum seekers were welcome in Canada just as Mr. Trump was tightening asylum rules and introducing policies like family separation at the US southern border.

Today, the mood in Canada is very different. Many Canadians believe the arrival of more legal migrants since the end of the COVID pandemic has strained resources such as affordable housing and access to medical care. Many blamed Mr. Trudeau’s government, which is now taking steps to significantly limit legal immigration.

The Canadian authorities also intend to wield a key agreement between the two countries to send back people crossing into Canada to seek asylum. The agreement designates Canada and the US as “safe third countries” in which to make asylum claims, so when asylum seekers travel from one country to the other, they can be sent back, with few exceptions.

Provincial leaders in Quebec are also anxious about the need to harden its border with New York and have already raised complaints about the growing number of legal immigrants and refugees who have settled there in recent years.

From Oct 2023 to Sep 2024, more than 19,300 undocumented migrants were apprehended by US authorities at the border between Quebec and Vermont, NYS, and New Hampshire, a 300-percent jump from the 6,925 apprehended during the same period the previous year. The figure for Oct 2020 to Sep 2021 was just 365 people.

More than 12,000 of the 19,300 people detained were Indian nationals, underscoring a booming migrant smuggling route from India to the US via Canada.

Some of this smuggling is encouraged online. Videos circulate on TikTok from “travel agencies’’ marketing smooth transport to the US in exchange for thousands of dollars.

One TikTok ad shows a group of men with US flag emojis hiding their faces advertising a “100% safe route.” The provider says it can take travelers from Brampton, a city outside Toronto with a large South Asian population, to New York, by taxi.

Six Indian nationals, aged 19-21 years, were arrested by the US border authorities after they were apprehended on a sinking boat during a failed attempt to be smuggled into America from Canada.  They were charged with “Improper Entry by Alien.” (Undated photo: Reuters)

Despite the immigration agreement between the US and Canada, the process to turn back people claiming asylum can take weeks at a time as migrants try to find a lawyer and gather evidence to try to make a case to avoid being sent back to Canada.

With minimal resources at the northern border, few people were being sent back to Canada earlier this year. Instead, migrants were being released from custody with notices to appear in US immigration courts, which face an enormous backlog.

But starting this summer, US officials deployed more federal officials to the northern border to help process people and transferred more people into detention.

They also made a key change to make the process to return migrants to Canada easier: Starting in Aug 2024, migrants who had been detained had only four hours to find a lawyer and collect evidence for their case. Before, migrants were given at least a day to do both.

Since then, the numbers of crossings have dropped dramatically — from roughly 3,600 crossings in June to around 1,800 in September — while the number of migrants returned to Canada has increased. More than 400 people were returned to Canada between Aug and Oct 2024.

Migrants who had crossed the border from Canada, many of them from India, talking to taxi drivers in Plattsburgh, NY, who were offering rides to NYC. (Credit: Anna Watts for The New York Times)

Elise Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from upstate NY who has been chosen by Mr. Trump to serve as UN Ambassador, called the increase in arrivals an “invasion” in a social media post.

Still, Canadian officials say they are fortifying the border and will deport migrants who attempt to enter Canada to escape Mr. Trump’s crackdown.

Xenophobia is tragically affecting both sides of the world’s largest undefended border, whose G-7 economies grew thanks to the blood, sweat, and tears of millions of immigrants toiling in the farms, factories, mines, fisheries, and slaughterhouses for two hundred years in the US and Canada. Every year thousands of migrants sacrifice their life savings or indeed their very lives trying to make their way to places such as the US, Canada, the EU, or Australia just to merely survive.

 

At least 8,565 people died on migration routes worldwide in 2023 according to the International Office of Migration (IOM). Undated photo above of migrants courtesy of the Vatican News Service.

Sources:

Canada Prepares for Immigration Surge After Trump Vows Mass Deportation – The New York Times

Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement – Canada.ca

Mysterious Chemical By-Product in US Tap Water Finally Identified

Scientists discover formula and structure of chlorine-related molecule and urge tests for possible toxicity.

A mysterious byproduct of a chemical used to disinfect the tap water of about one-third of Americans has finally been identified, and the international research team behind the discovery is advocating rapid assessment of its potential toxicity.

The research, reported in the journal Science, does not claim the byproduct is unsafe to drink or that the finding represents any kind of emergency. All water, including bottled water, contains contaminants.

But the discovery of a new and previously unknown chemical, called chloronitramide anion, could have implications for municipal water systems that use a class of chlorine-based disinfectants called chloramines. For decades these disinfectants, derived from the mixture of chlorine and ammonia, have been added to many municipal water supplies to kill bacteria and prevent waterborne illnesses.

“We need to investigate it. We don’t know the toxicity,” said environmental engineer Julian Fairey, an associate professor at the University of Arkansas and lead author of the paper. “This work was 40 years in the making in terms of trying to identify the compound, and now that we have identified it, we can delve into how toxic is this thing.”

Cigarettes like the ones advertised above were once touted as a cure for asthma, wheezing, or coughing. Medical quackery like the above example has killed countless victims over the centuries.

Now the US is on the verge of official government medical quackery with the potential Trump nominations of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to lead HHS and Dr. Mehmet Oz to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Therefore, the FDA, USDA, HHS, EPA, CDC, have two months to solve this issue before it’s swept under the carpet in 2025. Anti-Vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr can use a case like this to ban fluoride from American drinking water or come up with other wacky solutions.

Blue States will have to step up their Air Quality Index (AQI), food, health, workplace, and environmental inspections over the next four years to protect their citizens. Red State governors and their constituencies don’t seem to mind if they are killed by firearms violence, sickened by spoiled food, work in dangerous work sites, breathe polluted air, or drink unsafe water.

Sources:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk6749

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2024/11/21/tap-water-byproduct-chloronitramide-anion/

Minnesota Authorities Restore EagleCam to Delight of Viewers Worldwide

Watch eagle emerge from snow-covered nest after storm.

Likud Continues Murder-Death-Kill Pogrom Against Arabs

Lebanese soldiers stand guard as rescuers search for survivors in the rubble at the site of an IDF attack on the al-Shiyah neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Tuesday(Photo: [Anwar Amro / AFP)

In AKZ-L, the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) killed three Lebanese soldiers in an air strike on an army base in southern Lebanon’s town of Sarafand. The latest killings bring the overall death toll in the Lebanese army to 41.

The IDF has not yet commented on its latest killing of Lebanese soldiers who have for months provided security for Lebanese civilians and engaged in search and rescue efforts amid the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

Lebanon’s government plans to file a formal complaint with the UNSC over “repeated attacks” by Israel on its army, and accused Israeli forces of repeated violations of international law. The IDF has also been targeting Lebanese medical personnel and infrastructure.

In AKZ-G, IDF airstrikes killed 12 Palestinians and ten are missing under rubble in Jabalia. The IDF killed one and wounded several Palestinians in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City. The victims (below) were photographed at al-Ahli Arab Hospital.

A Palestinian woman mourns after an Israeli attack on the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City at al-Ahli Arab Hospital (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu)

Several young children were injured in this IDF attack (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas / Anadolu)

The IDF targeted members of the Gaza Civil Defense after they responded to the initial bombing (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas / Anadolu)

In AKZ-W, the IDF conducted ethnic cleansing raids at the following locations:

  • The city of Hebron
  • The city of Halhul, north of Hebron
  • The Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron
  • The cities of Ramallah and el-Bireh
  • The towns of al-Mughayyir and Silwan, north of Ramallah
  • The Jalazone refugee camp, north of Ramallah
  • The village of Osrin, south of Nablus.

The casualty list has not been tabulated at time of publication.

Coriolanus and media outlets have difficulty keeping up with Israeli atrocities. Remarkable how easily and callously IDF pilots and drone operators can launch their weapons without regard to collateral damage or nearby innocent parties.

When destroying medical personnel/infrastructure and housing, the IDF creates the “NHI” condition (“No Human Involved”). “NHI” allows wounds, disease, starvation, and exposure to freezing temperatures to attrit Arabs without killing them directly. This is why the IDF targets the medical personnel of Lebanon so they cannot treat wounded Shia Muslims resisting the Israeli offensive.   

By year’s end the IDF will probably have killed a total 50,000 Muslims in the three Arab Killing Zones (AKZ), while maiming close to 150,000. Coriolanus monitors the Murder-Death-Kill rate as best as possible from open source media. In just over one year, the IDF already surpassed 38,239, the number of Muslims liquidated by Bosnian Serb war criminals from 1992-1995. See previous post for sources.

According to worlddata.info, Israel ingloriously shares the stage with Afghanistan, Belarus, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia, Sudan, and Syria as a Pariah State. Congratulations to the State of Israel for the wonderful accomplishment.

With the exception of the US, which country would welcome the utterly loathsome Likudnik Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu other than the Hague for war crimes prosecution?

Source:

(1) Update LIVE: Israel shells Gaza’s Kamal Adwan, kills three soldiers in Lebanon

List of the 13 current Pariah States

Ukrainian Killing Zone (UKZ): Russia Murders 21, Wounds +100 in Odessa and Sumy with Missile Strikes

Russian missile strikes on 18 Nov left at least 21 people dead and more than 100 injured in Ukraine, as strikes targeted the cities of Odesa and Sumy.

In Odesa, a midday strike left ten people dead and 39 injured, including a child, with four in critical condition. The strike damaged residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, with the city’s center among the hardest-hit areas.

Hours earlier, a late-night missile strike devastated a residential building in Sumy, a city 40 kms from the Russian border, leaving 11 dead, including two children, and 89 wounded.

The Russian attack damaged 90 apartments, 28 cars, two educational institutions, and 13 buildings.

Rescuers evacuated over 400 residents and continue to search for survivors. The attack also left Sumy’s administrative center without power.

The late-night attack on Sumy followed what Kyiv said was a “massive” attack on Ukraine’s power grid with 120 missiles and 90 drones that killed at least seven people. Moscow routinely denies targeting civilian infrastructure. Such strikes are widely considered a war crime.

Russian strikes have hammered Ukraine’s power infrastructure since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, prompting repeated emergency power shutdowns and nationwide rolling blackouts.

The massive Russian attack also came as US President Joe Biden had reportedly authorized the use of US-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine to strike inside Russia, after lobbying by Ukrainian officials.

The weapons are likely to be used in response to North Korea’s decision to send thousands of troops to support Russia in the Kursk region where Ukraine mounted a military incursion over the summer.

In the overnight attack on Sumy, the Ukrainian Air Force said the Russian military used two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and a Kh-59 guided missile.

The US Embassy in Kiev closed on Wednesday after receiving “specific information of a potential significant air attack,” as the Kremlin warned it would retaliate after the Biden administration reportedly permitted Ukraine to strike deeper within Russia.

Ukraine and Russia will continue pounding each other with drones and missiles over the next two months until Donald Trump assumes the Presidency. Kiev must maximize what it can during this pre-Trump period because they should expect nothing from Washington DC afterwards.  

Sources:

At Least 21 Dead in Russian Missile Strikes In Ukraine’s Odesa, Sumy

US closes Kyiv embassy after reciving information on ‘potential significant air attack’ – UPI.com

The Striking US Parallels Between 1968 and 2024

2024 Democratic Party Candidate VPOTUS Kamala Harris (L); 1968 Democratic Party Candidate VPOTUS Hubert Humphrey (R)

Many parallels exist between the 1968 and 2024 US presidential elections. In both instances, the Democrats were the incumbent party that had won the preceding election with landslide numbers. Both re-elections were theirs to lose.

1964

In the 1964 Presidential election, the Democratic Party ticket of Lyndon B. Johnson/Hubert Humphrey won 43,129,040 votes (61.1% of the popular vote) compared to the GOP ticket of Barry Goldwater/William Miller which took 27,175,754 votes (38.5% of the popular vote).

The LBJ administration would pass the Civil Rights Act (1964), the Voting Righting Act (1965), and other progressive legislation under the Great Society program to eradicate poverty and racial injustice in the US. But LBJ increased America’s involvement in Vietnam, propping up a brutal and unpopular regime in Saigon by deploying more American Soldiers to the jungles of SE Asia.

The Vietnam War would wreck LBJ’s legacy, including the Great Society program.

Anti-war protestors in 1968 (Image: thenation.com)

1968

Fierce opposition to the Vietnam War on the nation’s college campuses and within the Democratic Party led LBJ to not seek re-election in 1968. LBJ’s approval rating in April 1968 was under 40%.

At the 1968 DNC Convention in Chicago, anti-war protestors were excluded from having a voice and the “enemy” were “g—ks” and “Communist guerillas.” VPOTUS Hubert Humphrey became the POTUS candidate to carry on LBJ’s policies. Before that fateful 1968 convention, a candidate named Robert F. Kennedy ran for President but was tragically assassinated months prior. A woman’s right to an abortion was illegal, Moscow had invaded Czechoslovakia, and white supremacists strutted openly in the Deep South.


In 1968 members of the KKK, a domestic terrorist organization, proudly walked the streets in “Old Dixie”. You wonder what that little girl (C) is thinking and what has happened to her since. The two young men on the left may have served their country in Vietnam.

In the Nov 1968 election, the Humphrey/Muskie ticket won 31,271,839 votes (42.7%) to Nixon/Agnew’s 31,783,783 votes (43.4%). Segregationist George Wallace siphoned away 9,901,118 votes from both the Democrats and the GOP (13.5% of the popular vote and carrying five southern states). Richard M. Nixon narrowly won the White House.

Critically, the Humphrey/Muskie ticket received 11,857,201 less votes than from four short years ago. Millions of Democrats did not support the pro-war 1968 Humphrey/Muskie ticket or the Great Society program.

2020

In the 2020 election, the Joe Biden/Kamala Harris ticket won 81,283,501 votes (51.3% of the popular vote) compared to 74,223,975 votes (48.6%) for the GOP Donald Trump/Mike Pence ticket. This was a sizeable victory for the Democrats. The post-COVID US economy grew and consumer prices began to drop. Russia would invade Ukraine in Feb 2022 and the Biden administration immediately began sending military and financial aid to Kiev. But Palestinian frustration at being unable to release thousands of prisoners being held in security detention by the Israelis led to a surprise attack to seize hostages in Oct 2023. Backed by US military and economic support, Israel conducted massive reprisals against the Palestinians at a 20:1 scale.

2024



Nationwide campus protests in 2024 against US support for Israel during its Nakba against Gaza looked eerily similar to college protests against US involvement in Vietnam in 1968. Americans disliked the unpopular leaders and policies of both 1968 Saigon and 2024 Jerusalem.

US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT):

“Continuing to provide Israel with the offensive weapons it uses on civilians is morally wrong.”

Anti-war protestors gather at Harvard University to show their support for Palestinians in Gaza at a rally in Cambridge, MA, on 14 Oct 2023. (Photo: AFP)

Pres. Joe Biden’s approval rating in June 2024 dropped to 43%. After a poor performance at one debate, Biden was persuaded to step aside for his much younger VPOTUS, Kamala Harris. The incumbent VPOTUS received 99% delegate votes at the DNC convention.

Like in 1968, in 2024 anti-war protestors were excluded from having a voice at the Chicago DNC Convention. The “enemy” in 2024 were not “g—ks” like in 1968 but “Islamic terrorists” in the Gaza Strip.  Moreover, a man named Robert F. Kennedy (Jr) ran for POTUS as an independent (yes, the son of slain Bobby Kennedy), Moscow had invaded Ukraine in Feb 2022, a woman’s right to an abortion was illegal, and white supremacists parade down Main Street, USA.  

In Nov 2024 Columbus, Ohio, neo-Nazis recently paraded down a street without fear. (Source: Social media)

In the recent 5 Nov 2024 election, Harris/Walz won 73,912,254 votes (48.3% of the popular vote) to Donald Trump/JD Vance’s 76,535,898 votes (50% of the popular vote).

The GOP won 2,311,923 more votes than in 2020. Green Party candidate Jill Stein insignificantly pickpocketed .5% of the popular vote, siphoning off nothing consequential like segregationist George Wallace in 1968.

Importantly, the Harris/Walz ticket received a whopping 7,371,247 less votes than in 2020, including Blue State strongholds. In 2024, Democrats simply stayed home (just like in 1968) or voted for Donald Trump.

Biden and LBJ, both former VPs, became one-term presidents (LBJ was a five-year POTUS because of the 1963 JFK assassination). Both passed the torch to their VPs. In 1968 and 2024 the incumbent Democratic candidates lost significant numbers of voters within a short span of four years, undoing their previous domestic achievements.

In 2024 the Biden administration through USSECSTATE Antony Blinken and D/CIA William J. Burns earnestly tried to achieve a ceasefire with the warring parties in the Middle East to release innocent Israeli and AMCIT hostages. The US ultimately failed because of Likudnik Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu who has turned Israel into a Pariah State. The USIC term for Netanyahu is PIFWC: Person Indicted For War Crimes.

Sources:

https://www.sanders.senate.gov/op-eds/bernie-sanders-no-more-arms-sales-to-netanyahu/

https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/12/opinion/zelizer-lbj-vietnam-disaster/index.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention_protests

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dnc-roll-call-of-states-2024/

LBJ’s Presidential Approval Ratings, 1963-1969

Biden approval polling tracker

NATO and EU Suspect Russia Sabotaged Two Baltic Undersea Cables

European governments and the US have accused Russia of intensifying “hybrid attacks” following reports that Baltic Sea fiber-optic communications cables were damaged by suspected sabotage, although they have not yet directly tied the incident to Moscow.

Moscow has long denied it is involved in sabotaging Western infrastructure to punish European countries for their assistance to Ukraine’s defense, but suspicions grew in Western capitals on 19 Nov that damage to two key Baltic Sea cables were likely the result of deliberate actions.

Ukraine’s allies pointed to past incidents of alleged sabotage by Moscow, especially following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has hit the 1,000-day mark amid devastating losses on both sides.

(Map courtesy: ontheworldmap.com)

Regional states are investigating the cutting of a cable connecting Finland to Germany and one linking Sweden and Lithuania following similar suspicious occurrences in the sea in recent years.

Swedish prosecutors and Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation separately said national authorities had launched investigations into the cut cables.

Moscow has said such allegations are being fabricated by the West to discredit Russia.

As reported here on Coriolanus, Moscow was likely to carry out sabotage operations and has been bolstering its secretive marine (GUGI) unit that deploys ships, submarines, and drones to survey the Baltic seabed.

NATO stepped up monitoring critical infrastructure in the Baltic following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the destruction of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline seven months later.

A ship lays the now-damaged telecommunications cable off the shore of Helsinki in Oct 2015. (Photo: AFP)

The West should expect increased sabotage and espionage from the Kremlin to maximize damage to NATO and the EU until Donald Trump assumes the presidency in January 2025. And even after then as Commander-in-Chief, Trump can order the USIC and DOD to ignore Russian espionage, leaving the onus of counterintelligence in the hands of NATO and EU partners.

Source:

Europeans Probe Baltic Cable Damage as Suspicions Turn Toward Russia

Canada Reportedly Foiled Iranian Plot to Assassinate Former Justice Minister

Liberal MP Irwin Cotler speaks in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, 15 Dec 2011. (Photo: Reuters)

Canadian authorities recently foiled an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister who has been a strong critic of Tehran.

The 84-year-old was justice minister and attorney general from 2003 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2015 but has remained active with many associations that campaign for human rights around the world.

Cotler was informed on 26 Oct that he faced an imminent threat — within 48 hours — of assassination from Iranian agents.

Cotler had already been receiving police protection for more than a year after the 7 Oct 2023 attack in Israel by armed Palestinian groups seizing hostages in order to trade them for any number of the 2,000 Palestinians being held in indefinite security detention.

Cotler, who is Jewish and a strong backer of Israel, has advocated globally to have Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps listed as a terrorist entity.

His name reportedly also came up in an FBI probe of a 2022 Iranian murder-for-hire operation in New York that targeted American human-rights activist Masih Alinejad.

Ottawa, which severed diplomatic ties with Iran more than a decade ago, listed the Revolutionary Guard as a banned terrorist group in June.

It said at the time that Iranian authorities displayed a consistent “disregard for human rights both inside and outside of Iran, as well as a willingness to destabilize the international rules-based order.”

As a lawyer, Cotler also represented Iranian political prisoners and dissidents.

Cotler’s daughter pictured above, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, is an Israeli politician and diplomat who previously served as a member of Israel’s parliament. (Photo: Marc Israel Sellem / The Jerusalem Post)

As reportedly here on Coriolanus, the nexus of organized crime and the intelligence world is deeply enmeshed. The IRGC-QF most likely contracted out the killing to local criminals but were foiled by Canadian security services. Analyzing available public documents, the author is surprised that the IRGC considers Irwin Cotler an HVT (high value target) who is worth the risk and money to assassinate.

RCMP Close Protection Team in the Diamond Formation escorting Canadian PM Justin Trudeau. Note the tell-tale lapels pins on the dark-suited centurions. (Undated photo by Chris Wattie / Reuters)

Sources:

Former Canadian minister Irwin Cotler says he was target of alleged Iran-backed assassination plot – ABC News

New York City Issues First Drought Warning in Two Decades

The sky is lit red, orange and blue behind One World Trade Center and the Manhattan Skyline just before sunrise in NYC. Mayor Eric Adams elevated the city’s drought watch to a warning. (Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo)

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has issued the city’s first drought warning in 22 years, as its reservoirs continue to drop below normal amid a near-record dry spell.

The warning was issued Monday as wildfires have threatened to spark across much of the Eastern US this fall, including in NYC, where a Brush Fire Task Force was launched as 271 brush fires ignited citywide in the last two weeks — a record over a 14-day period.

The fires are being exacerbated by dry weather. October and November saw the second-longest rainless streak in 155 years.

Officials said the city’s water reservoirs were at about 60% capacity, significantly lower than the 79% for this time of year.

“Over the last 10 weeks, we have had 8.23 inches less rain than in the average year,” Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala of the Department of Environmental Protection said. “So, this drought has come on fast, it has come on furious, and that’s why the last six weeks have been the driest on record.”

The warning follows a drought watch issued earlier this month. With the upgrade to the second of three levels of water conservation, city agencies were directed to immediately implement water-saving measures.

NYS Gov. Kathy Hochul also declared a drought watch because of “a historic shortage of rainfall” for the state, while elevating 15 counties in mid-Hudson and New York City to a drought warning. The governor has also declared a statewide burn ban.

The last time NYC was under a drought warning was in 2002.

As previously reported here, environmental degradation is affecting another megalopolis. The air pollution in Delhi, India, is now at ‘extreme’ and ‘toxic’ levels.

Air quality in India’s Delhi region reached “severe plus” with pollution at 1,500 on the Air Quality Index. (Photo by Rajat Gupta/EPA-EFE)

Source:

New York City issues first drought warning in two decades – UPI.com

Missouri: 90 E. coli Cases Tied to Rockwood Summit HS Events

More than 90 cases of E. coli have been linked to Rockwood Summit High School events in St Louis County, Missouri.

The St. Louis County Health Department said 94 cases have been identified. Some of those cases have been confirmed; others show compatible symptoms and links to confirmed cases.
Health authorities said the cases are allegedly connected to Andre’s Banquet and Catering which catered some events for Rockwood Summit High School.

The St. Louis County Health Department suggests that salad is the source of illness, but a specific ingredient has not been identified.

One lawsuit has been filed against the catering company on behalf of a cheerleader at Rockwood Summit High School.

The owner of Andre’s Banquets and Catering said the lawsuit has no merit. He said vendors spot-check produce loads daily, are USDA-inspected and follow strict food safety guidelines. He also claimed that the fact that three students who aren’t Rockwood Summit High School students were infected is proof his business is not the source of the outbreak.

State and local health department workers were at the catering business to take samples of food for testing. Health department officials will also use genetic testing on stool samples to get more certainty on the outbreak.

An E. coli outbreak in 18 states that involves organic carrots is not linked to this incident.

E. coli are germs called bacteria and are found in many places, including in the environment, foods, water, and the intestines of people and animals. Most E. coli are harmless and are part of a healthy intestinal tract. E. coli helps humans digest food, produce vitamins, and protect people from harmful germs.

But some E. coli can make people sick with diarrhea, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, sepsis, and other illnesses.

Sources:

https://www.firstalert4.com/2024/11/18/more-e-coli-cases-tied-rockwood-school-events/

https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/about/index.html

TSA Intercepts Loaded Firearm from Flight Crew Member at Reagan National Airport Security Checkpoint

A member of an airline flight crew was cited by police after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport intercepted a firearm among a flight crew member’s carry-on items at one of the checkpoints on Friday, 15 Nov. The 9mm handgun was loaded with nine bullets, including one in the chamber. See photo above.

When TSA officers intercepted the firearm, they notified the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Police who responded to the checkpoint, confiscated the gun and issued a citation to the woman. TSA also notified the airline of the serious violation.

Additionally, the woman faces a Federal civil penalty for bringing a loaded firearm to a TSA checkpoint. The Federal penalty for carrying weapons can reach a maximum of $15,000.

To transport a firearm for a flight, it must be unloaded, packed in a locked hard-sided case and declared at the airline counter so it can be placed in the belly of the aircraft with the checked baggage.

In 2024, TSA confiscated 36 firearms at Ronald Reagan Airport (DCA).

The scale of firearms ownership and custodianship in the US is simply breath-taking. As if Americans don’t have enough to worry about getting shot on the streets, now they have to worry about “flying the unfriendly skies.” Recently, an unknown assailant fired shots at an airplane at Dallas Airport; no injuries were reported and the aircraft sustained slight damage. According to CDC data, 48,830 people were killed with a firearm in the US in 2021. No doubt next year a freshman GOP lawmaker will be caught with a firearm at a TSA or US Capitol Hill security checkpoint and be outraged at the indignation.

Source:


https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2024/11/18/tsa-intercepts-firearm-flight-crew-member-reagan-national-airport

Egypt: Stray Dogs in Giza Become Tourist Draw After ‘Pyramid Puppy’ Sensation

A pack of about eight dogs has made its home among the ancient ruins of the Giza Pyramids. Look at the thick paws of this confident canine. (Photo AFP)

Beneath the blazing Egyptian sun, crowds at the Giza Pyramids gazed up at the ancient wonders, but some had their eyes peeled for a new attraction.

“There he is,” one Polish tourist told his wife as they spotted a scrappy dog perched on one of the stones.

They were talking about Apollo, a stray who became an overnight sensation last month after being filmed scaling the Great Pyramid of Khafre, one of the seven wonders of the world.

The viral footage, captured by American paragliding enthusiast Alex Lang and shared online by his friend Marshall Mosher, showed Apollo fearlessly climbing the 136-meter monument, barking at birds from the summit.

“He was acting like a king,” Lang said.

As news of Apollo’s daring climb spread worldwide, interest grew in the dogs who have long made their homes among the ancient stones.

A visitor from Argentina felt a special bond with the dogs saying it felt like connecting with the pharaohs while petting a member of Apollo’s pack.

Apollo’s newfound fame has even inspired local guides to include him and his pack in their stories for tourists.

“This is Anubis,” one tour guide told two American tourists, comparing Apollo, now known as the “pyramid puppy”, with the ancient Egyptian god of the dead, often depicted as a man with a jackal’s head.

“He and his pack are now part of our tour conversations,” said Sobhi Fakhry, another tour guide.

Businesses around the Giza plateau are also seeing a boost as tourists are eager to meet the so-called pyramid dogs.

One pyramid guard, who preferred to remain anonymous, also said that some celebrities had paid for permits to have their own dogs photographed with Apollo.

Apollo, a three-year-old Baladi dog, is part of a pack of about eight that has made their home among the ancient ruins. The dogs, a local breed, are known for their resilience, intelligence and ability to survive in Egypt’s harsh climate.

The American Cairo Animal Rescue Foundation monitors the pyramid dogs and described Apollo as the pack’s “alpha male”.

Apollo was born in a rocky crevice within the Khafre pyramid where his mother, Laika, found shelter. Sadly, some of Apollo’s siblings did not survive the site’s perilous heights. A sympathetic guard eventually relocated Laika to a safer spot where Apollo now stands out with his distinctive curled tail and confident nature.

The initial focus of Lang and Marshall was the daring canine climber, but their visit led to a deeper connection with Cairo’s stray dogs.

Intrigued by the challenges they face, Mosher decided to adopt a puppy from the pack: Anubi, who is Apollo’s daughter. Anubi will join Marshall in the US after she receives the dedicated care she needs in Egypt to grow up healthy.

At the pyramids, local animal care groups are now working with the government in order to set up food and water stations for the strays, as well as for other animals including camels and horses. A permanent veterinary center will be established at the pyramids with staff set to receive animal care training.

Source:

Stray Dogs In Giza Become Tourist Draw After ‘Pyramid Puppy’ Sensation | IBTimes

Pope Francis Urges Inquiry into Gaza Genocide Allegations; Eight More Paramedics KIA in Lebanon

Lebanese girls run for cover after Israel’s attack on Ras al-Nabaa, Beirut (Photo: Adnan Abidi / Reuters)

The Israeli Death Forces (IDF) continue murdering Lebanese medical personnel, a clear and blatant violation of the Geneva Convention and Laws of War. At least 3,481 people have been killed and 14,786 wounded in IDF attacks against AKZ-L.

In addition to destroying Lebanon’s medical infrastructure, the IDF is annihilating ancient sites and ruins. 300 prominent cultural and archaeological experts petitioned UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay to listing Lebanese cultural sites under “enhanced protection“.

They urge UNESCO to protect Baalbek and other heritage sites by establishing “no-target zones” around them, deploying international observers and enforcing measures from the 1954 Hague Convention on cultural heritage in conflict.

Above, Palestinian children line up for food in Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip, on 17 Oct 2024. The UN warns of an imminent famine in Gaza this winter. When civilians die of starvation, disease, or untreated wounds, this is “NHI”—No Humans Involved. (Photo: Abdel Kareem Hana / AP)

Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, tackling the issue for the first time in excerpts from an upcoming book.

“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” the pope said in excerpts published on Sunday by the Italian daily La Stampa.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), an Ashkenazi Jew, issued this statement:

Continuing to provide Israel with the offensive weapons it uses on civilians is morally wrong.

During the five-year long Bosnian Civil War (1991-95), with small arms fire and artillery, Bosnian Serbs exterminated 38,239 Muslim civilians, including killing 8,000 Bosniaks and raping scores of women in the infamous 1995 Srebrenica Massacre.

But the Bosnian Army, which lost 30,000 soldiers in combat, was able to effectively fight back with US aid and mujahadeen volunteers, unlike the Muslims being slaughtered in the AKZ by the Israelis today. Bosnian Serbs suffered counter-atrocities committed by outraged Bosnian Muslims. See figures below for military and civilian casualties from the 1991-1995 Bosnian Civil War.  

Above, a heavily armed Bosnian Serb soldier leads his comrades through a field during a combing operation to locate and kill Muslims near Srebrenica (31 May 1993 photo: Reuters)

Above, forensic experts from the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague work on a pile of partly-decomposed bodies found in a mass grave in the village of Pilica. Does the image look familiar? (24 July 1996 photo: AFP)

The Israeli Death Forces (IDF), with precision weapons, drones, SIGINT, satellites, and jets, easily surpassed the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) war crimes achievement of killing 38,239 Sunni Muslims which took the Serbs four years. Israel has liquidated at least 43,846 Sunni Muslims and wounded 103,740 in Gaza in just over one year. This figure does not include Western journalists, international volunteers, or UN personnel.  

Coriolanus initially estimated that the IDF will have liquidated approximately 50,000 Sunni Muslims in AKZ-G by 1 Jan 2025. But at the current IDF murder-death-kill rate, the number will be closer to 45,000 deaths in Gaza as the IDF is shifting its lethality to AKZ-L, exterminating Shias, Sunnis, and Maronite Christians while destroying the Lebanese medical infrastructure.  

Bosnian Serbs, convicted for committing war crimes by the ICTY, must be scratching their heads flabbergasted, wondering why they were punished for killing Muslims wholesale but the Israeli Death Forces have carte blanche to do the same with impunity in the Middle East.

Sources:

Pope Francis urges inquiry into Gaza genocide allegations | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera

Srebrenica massacre – Wikipedia

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia | United Nations<br /> International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

UNESCO petitioned to save Lebanon’s heritage sites from Israeli strikes

Bernie Sanders: No more arms sales to Netanyahu » Senator Bernie Sanders

US Reportedly Allows Ukraine to Strike Russia with Long-Range Weapons

A US Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) being launched. These weapon systems have a 300 km range. (AP file photo)

President Joe Biden’s administration has lifted restrictions that have prevented Ukraine from using American-provided weapons to strike deeper inside Russian territory.

It was not immediately clear how far-reaching such permission would be. This represents a major shift in US policy amid long-standing pleas by Kiev to allow such actions.

Ukraine would likely utilize ATACMS rockets (pictured above).

The US administration has been seeking ways to shore up support for Ukraine ahead of Biden’s departure on 20 Jan 2025 when President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House. This sends a message to the Kremlin that the US and Kiev are no going to sit around and wait for Trump.

Ukraine’s targeting priorities will likely be in Russia’s Kursk region, using them to strike command-and-control sites, arms depots, artillery batteries, and airfields.

The latest decision by Biden is likely in response to North Korea sending thousands of troops to Russia amid reports that some have already engaged in fighting in Russia’s Kursk region.

The Kremlin has warned that the allowance by the US or other Western allies to use long-range weapons targeting Russia would be seen as a major escalation.

Since its February 2022 full-scale invasion, Russia has used its long-range weapons and warplanes to attack deep inside Ukraine, hitting civilian and infrastructure sites along with military targets.

After Russia launched one of its largest air strikes on the country’s energy infrastructure on 17 Nov, all Ukrainian regions will experience temporary restrictions on power consumption as winter sets in.

The latest Russian attacks were condemned by the EU, NATO, and other Western allies. Germany announced they were sending more air defense systems to Ukraine following the massive Russian drone attack.

North Korean soldiers conducting military training in an undisclosed location. (Photo: KCNA/Reuters)

Knocking out the North Korean cannon-fodder at cantonment areas may be an option for the UAF to de-moralize them and cause mass desertions. Ukraine has approximately two months to make battlefield gains and punish Russia before Trump takes office and kowtows to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kiev will want to negotiate from a position of strength next year. From a personal/professional perspective, CIA and DIA personnel may warn their colleagues in Ukraine’s intelligence services of which USIC personnel harbor pro-Trump/pro-Kremlin sympathies.  The HUR will deal more with their NATO partners for intelligence-sharing and operations.

Sources:

U.S. Reportedly Allows Ukraine To Strike Russia With Long-Range Weapons

Germany to deliver additional air defence supplies to Ukraine | Euronews

US Confirms First Case of Aggressive Strain of Mpox

The US is the sixth country outside of Africa to confirm a case of the strain, called clade I, since Aug 2024. A California man recently returned from a trip to eastern Africa.

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral infection that causes painful lesions, often accompanied by flu-like symptoms. It is classified into two distinct groups: the more aggressive strain, clade I, and a somewhat milder strain, clade II.

Clade II was behind the global outbreak in 2022, which resulted in at least 32,000 infections and 58 deaths in the US.

The US has an adequate supply of the two-dose Jynneos vaccine, which is available to men who have sex with men and other high-risk groups. The Department of Health and Human Service informs that two doses of the vaccine or a previous infection should protect against severe illness from clade I.

The US administered approximately 1.2 million vaccine doses from May 2022 to Jan 2023. Health officials want to expand that coverage, since just 23% of the population at significant risk has been fully vaccinated.

Mpox typically starts with a rash that progresses to small bumps on the skin, followed by fluid-filled blisters that eventually scab over. People may also experience a fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy or swollen lymph nodes.

Some people infected by clade II in the US have described the lesions as exceedingly painful. They have historically appeared on the face, chest, palms of the hands and the soles of the feet, but during the 2022 outbreak, people developed lesions around the genital and anal region or inside the mouth and throat.

Sources:

California Reports First Known U.S. Case of Emerging Mpox Strain

Clade I Mpox Outbreak Originating in Central Africa | Mpox | CDC


https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/us-first-mpox-case-aggressive-strain-rcna167403

China: Student Kills Eight, Wounds 17 in Mass Stabbing After Failing Exams

The Wuxi stabbing incident comes days after a car drove into a group of people outside a sports centre in China’s southern city of Zhuhai, killing 35 people. (Photo: Ng Han Guan / AP)

Eight people were killed and 17 others injured when a 21-year-old former student went on a stabbing spree at a vocational college in China’s eastern city of Wuxi on Saturday evening.

The knife attack took place at the Wuxi Vocational College of Arts and Technology, in eastern Jiangsu province. The 21-year-old suspect, surnamed Xu, was apprehended at the scene and confessed to the attack.

Local police said Xu had failed his examinations and could not graduate, and that he was dissatisfied with his pay at an internship. According to preliminary investigations, he decided to vent his frustrations by attacking others.

Videos circulating on western social media platforms including X showed injured people lying on the street after the attack while others rushed to helpA keyword search on Chinese social media platform Weibo turned up no related videos or images of the attack.

The incident comes days after a driver rammed his car into groups of people outside a sports center in the southern city of Zhuhai, killing 35 people and injuring 43 others.

Two years ago, a 48-year-old man who unleashed a knife attack on a kindergarten. Three people were killed and six injured in the stabbing incident in China’s Jiangxi province.

The “world’s factory” is a pressure cooker. Psychological and mental health conditions are having an ever-growing impact on the Chinese society. Substantial changes to the country’s social fabric in the past decades, economic pressure, and inequality all increased the burdens on people’s mental well-being. Estimates show that the number of patients suffering from mental disorders in China surpassed 160 million in 2019, ranking the country as one of the most affected by mental health-related diseases. During the COVID-19 pandemic, China’s strict containment measures and their subsequent impacts on daily lives further escalated the risk of mental health problems among its citizens.  

Had this lunatic an assault weapon like in the US, there would have been much more deaths and injuries. Knives are the choice of weapon for lone actor maniacs in China because of the inaccessibility of firearms.  

Family members, co-workers, relatives or classmates may be reluctant to inform authorities of someone they suspect may become unhinged or they may not recognize the symptoms. China can expect more such horrific incidents as the number of mentally ill people rise and the government unable identify and treat all of the patients, even with their penetrating and enormous surveillance system. China has 1,418,100,510 people and 2,098 psychiatric hospitals to treat them.

Sources:

Student kills eight in mass stabbing in China after failing exams | China | The Guardian

China: 3 killed,6 hurt in kindergarten knife attack in Jiangxi; Suspect at large | Hindustan Times

Mental health in China – statistics & facts | Statista

American Warzone: Two KIA, Ten WIA in Shootings Near New Orleans Parade

Two people were killed and ten others were wounded in a pair of shootings on Sunday linked to a New Orleans second line parade, prompting police to shut down the event.

The shootings occurred within about a 45-minute span Sunday afternoon along the route of the second line parade organized by the Nine Times Social Aid & Pleasure Club.

The first shooting was reported at 3:38 PM and wounded nine people. The second occurred 45 minutes later, killing two people and wounding one.

No weapons from either shooting have been recovered, and it was unknown if the incidents were connected.

America is a warzone like pictured above and Louisiana leads the nation with gun violence with the third-highest rate in the US. In an average year, 1,153 people die and 3,345 are wounded by firearms. Louisiana has the 6th-highest societal cost of gun violence in the US at $3,085 per resident each year. Gun deaths and injuries cost Louisiana $14.3 billion each year, of which $457.6 million is paid by taxpayers.

Sources:

NOPD Investigating Homicide, Shooting Incidents in Fifth District – NOPD News

Pair of shootings near New Orleans parade leaves 2 dead, 10 wounded – UPI.com

Gun-Violence-in-Louisiana-2024-05.pdf

Shin Bet Allegedly Warned Benjamin Netanyahu of 10/7 Attack Hours Before It Began

Indicted war criminals Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (C) at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv receiving security assessment on 8 Oct 2023. (GPO)

At 2:58 AM on 7 Oct 2023, the Shin Bet allegedly forwarded a warning about unusual Hamas cellular phone activity, interpreted as preparations for a potential attack.  The information was passed to the national security council, which reports to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. Instead of arousing an alert and defensive measures, the warning was ignored. Egyptian intelligence (EGIS) had previously warned Israel about an imminent “terrible operation,” but had no granularity to provide specific details.

Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar, 6 Nov 2022. (Photo: Moshe Shai / Flash90)

Shin Bet agency chief Ronen Bar arrived at the Tel Aviv HQ early the morning of 7 Oct 2023, received updated information about a suspicious occurrence in the Gaza Strip area, and held security consultations. A dedicated team dubbed “Tequila” was then deployed to the Gaza area as an advance force to investigate the unusual information. Armed Palestinian groups soon began their offensive to seize Israeli hostages in order to trade them for Palestinians being held without trial or hearing in indefinite security detention. Amnesty International estimates that up to 2,000 Palestinians, like the young man below, were being held prisoner and being tortured or abused prior to 7 Oct 2023 with no hope of release.

IDF soldiers abusing Palestinian man in Hebron, the West Bank, who allegedly resisted arrest for the simple crime of being Palestinian. (Photo: 22 Sep 2016, Reuters)

Days after 7 Oct 2023, the Prime Minister’s Office stressed that PM Benjamin Netanyahu had not received an early warning regarding the surprise attack and only at 6:29 AM with the outbreak of fighting did he receive an initial update on the situation.

Palestinians ride on an IDF vehicle taken from an IDF base overrun by muqawama fighters near the Gaza Strip border, 7 Oct 2023. (Photo: Abed Abu Reash / AP)

The Shin Bet and IDF chiefs each publicly took responsibility for their failures after the surprise attack that killed approximately 1,200 Israelis and 250 hostages seized. But Netanyahu, as is characteristic of him, did everything he could to avoid responsibility. He used the 7 Oct attack to implement his plans to de-populate the Gaza Strip and destroy southern Lebanon and its medical infrastructure to make the area absolutely inhospitable to Lebanese Shias. While the world watched the horrors of the Gaza Nakba, Israeli settlers continued their pogrom against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Though it’s possible the warning was transmitted to a senior PMO official, rather than directly to Netanyahu, given the seriousness of the matter it seems inconceivable the PM wouldn’t have been immediately informed.

Netanyahu, already embroiled in a bribery and corruption case, has also been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague for war crimes (along with ex-DM Yoav Galland). He desperately does not want a commission of inquiry into the events of 7 Oct 2023, similar to the US 9/11 Commission Report. Netanyahu (and Russian President Vladimir Putin) are also licking their lips at the prospect of a right-wing Trump presidency only months away.

Sources:

Shin Bet Warned Netanyahu of 10/7 Attack Hours Before It Began – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم

Egypt intelligence official says Israel ignored repeated warnings of ‘something big’ | The Times of Israel

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

‘This is Life or Death’: Former HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius Says Trump’s RFK Jr. Nomination May ‘End Up Killing People’

Make America Healthy Again: Pictured above are the Judas Goats ready to lead their fellow Americans to the Promised Land of an abattoir. Notorious anti-vaccination proponent RFK Jr (R) is enjoying McDonald’s with America’s new rulers. Photo: Social media.

Republican, evangelical, and conservative opinion makers encouraged scoffing at COVID prevention measures. Some of those fanatics themselves perished of COVID, like Meat Loaf front-man and Trump acolyte Michael Lee Aday (pictured below).

The Republican Party seems to somehow benefit from useless American deaths from either non-vaxxing, business de-regulation, lack of medical insurance, military misadventures, or insane gun laws. An average 42,000 people die every year from gun violence. During the 2024 campaign, the Trump/Vance response to US school shootings was “get over it” or “it’s a fact of life.”

A significant number of preventable COVID deaths occurred under President Trump’s first administration because people refused to wear masks, get vaccinated, or avoid large crowds. People were identified as COVID “super-spreaders,” including then-President Trump who was called out as “America’s Dracula” on national TV.   

Are the majority of lawyers who handle the estates of deceased people in probate court Republicans? Are the majority of funeral parlor owners in the US Republicans? Are the majority of health insurance company CEOs Republicans? Are the majority of firearms company CEOs Republicans?

A select sector of the US economy simply benefits from useless American deaths which will continue unabated and no doubt increase under the Trump regime.

Moreover, an MIT study informed that a large portion of America’s older population has very little savings in bank accounts, stocks and bonds, and dies “with virtually no financial assets” to their names. Approximately 46% of senior citizens have less than $10,000 in financial assets when they die. Most of these people rely almost totally on Social Security payments as their only formal means of support.

Source:

2012-08-americans-die-virtually-financial-assets (1).pdf

Husband Really Didn’t Want His Wife to Get a Cat

Murder-Death-Kill: IDF Warpath Continues With US Elections Days Away

The IDF and the Likud Party are doing the best they can, young lady, so please be patient. (Undated image)

Israeli strikes killed at least eight people, including six health workers in south Lebanon. The killing of the six Lebanese health workers and the wounding of four others in three separate strikes across south Lebanon brought the death toll of health workers to 178 over the last year, while 279 health workers have been injured. Beirut long accused Jerusalem of targeting its medical personnel and infrastructure, a violation of the Geneva Convention. The IDF also struck reported Hezbollah weapons depots and bases in Syria. In Gaza, at least 46 Palestinians were killed in IDF strikes across the enclave, primarily in the north, where one attack hit a hospital. The Israeli military accuses Palestinians of using the hospital for military purposes and said “dozens of terrorists” have been hiding there, which health officials denied.

An Israeli attack in the occupied West Bank killed three Palestinians. Since Oct 2023, Israeli forces have killed at least 763 Palestinians in Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) to facilitate the seizure of lands and homes by fanatical Settlers. A few of these maniacs have been sanctioned by the Biden Administration as a token measure, as you read in previous posts.

Over the past 24 hours, Israel amassed at least 67 deaths in all three Arab Killing Zones (AKZ): AKZ-L, AKZ-G, AKZ-W. (Russian President Vladimir Putin has established a Ukrainian Killing Zone or UKZ, which is discussed later.)

Lebanese fighters counterattacked with projectiles, killing one Israeli farmer and four foreign workers. Their nationalities were not disclosed.

One of the IDF strikes in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza killed at least 16 Palestinians, including a paramedic and two local journalists.

In AKZ-L, Israel issued an evacuation warning to residents of Baalbek for a second consecutive day. The IDF conducted heavy airstrikes targeting Hezbollah in and around the city famed for its Roman temples.

Displaced children, who fled Baalbek city and the nearby towns of Douris and Ain Bourday with their families amid the Israeli onslaught, listen to a story at a school being used as a shelter in Deir Al-Ahmar, east Lebanon, 31 Oct 2024.

Dozens of cars could be seen speeding out of the area after Thursday’s warning, with wafts of black smoke still visible emanating from the town of Douris, where an Israeli strike the previous day destroyed Hezbollah fuel stocks.

Lebanese Shia fighters aim to keep Israeli forces out of Khiyam to prevent the IDF from detonating homes and buildings, as has happened on a large scale in other border towns.

Israeli bulldozers damaged the office of UN aid agency UNRWA in the West Bank’s Nur Shams camp, according to Philippe Lazzarini, the agency’s chief.

The office “can no longer be used,” Lazzarini grimly posted on social media platform X.

An IDF bulldozer operates at the parameter of the Nur Shams refugee camp during the ongoing army operation, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, 31 Oct 2024. This is what Lebanese Shias are trying to prevent the IDF from doing to their homes. An IDF bulldozer like this killed American peace activist Rachel Corrie in 2003.

The late Rachel Corrie (Undated photo: Wikipedia)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is demanding that Lebanese Hezbollah pull back to north of the Litani River, about 30 km from the Israeli frontier. In addition, Israel wants the Lebanese army to deploy along the border, an international intervention mechanism to enforce the truce, and the IDF to remain free to respond militarily in case of threats. And after abandoning their ancestral homes, where would these Lebanese Shias live?

(Map: worldatlas.com)

Lebanese Hezbollah did not exist before 1982. They organized as a resistance to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Everyone in Lebanon, regardless of their faith, remembers the horrific 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre. The aftermath led to the resignation of Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon (but he was kept in the cabinet as a “minister without portfolio”). As people in the Middle East did not forget 1982, neither will they forget 2023-24.

Israel’s offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza has killed more than 43,100 people, with Israel claiming the death toll includes thousands of militants. Nakba 2024 has devastated much of the Gaza Strip, while the fighting and Israeli evacuation orders have displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people. At this rate of homicide, by year’s end the IDF will have killed close to 50,000 Palestinians while maiming 150,000. Coriolanus has not yet calculated the predicted death toll for of Lebanon.  

The Vietnam War destroyed the legacy of President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ). How will history judge retiring, kind-hearted President Joe Biden? (Artwork: Mr. Dave Chappatte)

Sources:

Middle East fighting rages on several fronts, killing dozens (voanews.com)

Sabra and Shatila massacre – Wikipedia

Finnish Prosecutor Charges Russian Ultranationalist Leader with War Crimes

Russian radical nationalist and accused war criminal Voislav Torden AKA Yan Petrovsky. (Photo: Antifascist-europe,org)

The Finnish Prosecutor-General’s Office has charged Voislav Torden, AKA Yan Petrovsky, a Russian ultranationalist and former commander of the Rusich sabotage group, with war crimes committed in Ukraine in 2014.

Torden faces five counts stemming from his involvement with Rusich, which fought against Ukrainian forces in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Torden and his group are linked to the deaths of 22 Ukrainian soldiers and the injury of four others. He is accused of war crimes and committing acts of cruelty against both injured and deceased enemy combatants.

Born Yan Petrovsky in 1987 in St. Petersburg, Torden relocated to Oslo in 2004 with his mother. He then regularly visited Russia, where he met former paratrooper and nationalist Aleksandr Milchakov. In 2014, they traveled to Ukraine’s Donbas region to support Russia-backed separatists in their fight against Ukrainian forces.

In Sep 2014, Rusich ambushed a column of the Ukrainian battalion Aidar near Shchastya, with Milchakov later boasting about photographing himself with the bodies of slain Ukrainian soldiers, while members of Rusich reportedly mutilated some of the remains.

In 2016, Torden was deported from Norway to Russia, where he changed his name from Yan Petrovsky to Voislav Torden. He entered Finland in 2023 as a family member of his wife, who received a study permit. Torden was detained on 20 Jul 2023, at Helsinki Airport while attempting to board a flight to Nice, France.

Following his arrest, Ukrainian authorities sought his extradition, but Finland’s Supreme Court denied the request, citing concerns over conditions in Ukrainian prisons and the potential for Torden to face humiliation in custody. Ukraine has charged him with war crimes from the 2014-15 conflict, and he was sanctioned by the US in 2022 for extreme cruelty during combat in the Kharkiv region.

The specifics of his activities in Ukraine during that time remain unclear.

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

Meanwhile, USSECSTATE Antony Blinken said that Russia has been suffering some 1,200 casualties a day in eastern Ukraine, more than at any other time during the war. 8,000 North Korean troops are ready for combat in what will most likely be “meat attacks” against Ukrainian defenders. Blinken stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin turning to North Korean troops “is a clear sign of weakness.”

President Volodimir Zelensky again asked NATO for permission to attack deep targets in Russia following a lethal drone attack on a residential building in Kharkiv.

Police officers stand next to the bodies of people found under the debris of an apartment building that was hit by a Russian air strike in Kharkiv on 31 Oct. Three were killed and scores wounded. Two boys, aged 11 and 15, were among the dead. Putin has turned Ukraine into a killing zone (UKZ), like Netanyahu’s AKZ in the Middle East. (Photo: Reuters)

Sources:

Finnish Prosecutor Charges Russian Ultranationalist Leader With War Crimes (rferl.org)

The Prosecutor’s Office of Finland has charged the leader of the neo-Nazi group “Rusich” Petrovsky with committing war crimes in Ukraine (currenttime.tv)

U.S. Says 8,000 North Korean Troops Ready For Combat In Kursk Region (rferl.org)

Thousands of Passenger Flight Signals Jammed Over Warzones in Ukraine, Middle East

The navigation systems of thousands of passenger aircraft are being disrupted every day as they fly close to conflict zones who warn that the blocking or spoofing technology could one day put lives at risk.

Over the past two years, electronic warfare technology has been deployed to disrupt drones or missiles that use global positioning system or other satellite navigation technology to home in on their targets.

However, the blocking or spoofing of GPS signals also affects commercial aircraft, explained Raphael Monstein, a research associate at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland.

“Spoofing is when an actor sends out malicious signals to all the receivers that are in the coverage area. And it tricks the receiver into believing that it is in a different position than it actually is. And particularly in aviation, that has quite some consequences, which can be quite negative.”

“It has a lot of side effects in the cockpit, and they can range from spurious warnings — obviously the loss of situational awareness because you’re not quite sure when your GPS indicates you’re somewhere else. You can have very different reactions of the aircraft, depending a bit on the aircraft type.”

Monstein and his team in Zurich track GPS interference of civilian aircraft in real time and publish it on an online map.

They have detected an increase in such incidents since the beginning of 2024.

“And they are mainly around conflict zones. One of them would be the Middle East. One would be the Black Sea and around Russia,” he said. “We talk about on an average day about 1,000 aircraft at least being affected by that. And that is a very big scale. That is novel. We haven’t seen that kind of [interference] anywhere in the world so far.”

The disruption isn’t only happening above war zones. In April, Finnair, Finland’s national carrier, suspended flights to Tartu in eastern Estonia near Russia after GPS disruptions prevented two aircraft from landing at the airport. Finnair resumed the flights in June after the airport installed navigation systems that do not rely on GPS. Experts say most airports have such alternative equipment already installed.

Finnair previously reported similar problems when flying close to the Finland-Russia border and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. The interference began in 2022, the year Finland applied to join NATO, after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of that year.

At the time, Estonia’s defense minister said it was a deliberate Russian tactic.

“We all understand that these hybrid attacks are still very acute. We have to be ready also for these.”

Russia denies seeking to disrupt GPS signals of commercial aircraft.

The Swiss-based researcher contends that back-up systems will help prevent catastrophes, such as the ground proximity warning system. GPS blocking and spoofing also affects navigation systems on the ground. Residents of Moscow have recently complained of malfunctioning smartphone applications, such as map, taxi-hailing or food delivery apps. Experts have linked the disruption to Russian attempts to defend against Ukrainian drone attacks.

Sources:

Thousands of passenger flight signals jammed over war zones in Ukraine, Middle East (voanews.com)

France: Former Intelligence Chief Faces Trial for Attempted Extortion

Bernard Bajolet, former head of France’s foreign intelligence service, is due to face trial for attempted extortion of a businessman who the spy agency claims owes it millions of euros linked to murky investments. © AFP / BERTRAND LANGLOIS

Bernard Bajolet allegedly instructed DGSE agents, which he led from 2013 to 2017, to pressure entrepreneur Alain Duménil, with whom the agency was engaged in a lengthy dispute.

Duménil claims he was detained at a Paris airport as he prepared to board a flight and threatened with harm to himself and his family unless he handed over 15 million euros, an account the DGSE contests.

Now a judge has ruled there is sufficient evidence to try Bajolet for complicity in attempted extortion over the 2016 incident. Bajolet has been ordered to appear in criminal court outside Paris, where he will face the charge of “arbitrary infringement of individual liberty as a holder of public authority.”

The case has provided a rare glimpse into the financial interests of the DGSE, which is entrusted with managing a war chest designed to secure the state in the event of a national emergency. 

Seeded by the reparations damages paid to France after World War I, the capital was kept separate from the agency’s operational budget and placed in investments that helped it grow substantially over the decades. But by the turn of the 21st century, with little external oversight to monitor them, the DGSE’s investments had turned risky and were losing it considerable sums, according to an investigation by Le Monde

Seeking to extricate itself from loss-making companies and recover its funds, the service entered into a deal to exchange shares with Duménil in the early 2000s. But the French-Swiss businessman – who has since been sanctioned for tax fraud and other wrongdoing – promptly transferred the remaining assets and liquidated their holding companies, leaving the DGSE with now worthless shares.

The DGSE pursued the case in the courts for over a decade, but failed to recoup a loss it estimates at some 15 million euros.

In March 2016, Duménil alleges, the DGSE resorted to shadier means.

According to statements to investigators seen by Le Monde, he claims he was stopped by border police at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and handed over to two plain-clothes DGSE agents.

“‘You robbed the government of 13 million, which today makes 15 million with interest’,” Duménil said one of the agents told him. “‘You have to give it back to us’… He was very threatening, talking about me ending up in a wheelchair or worse.” 

The businessman says the agents also showed him pictures of his family and friends: “They wanted to make me understand that they could also go after any of these people.” 

Multimillionaire Alain Duménil (undated photo)

Duménil was allowed to leave and subsequently filed a complaint, which has been dismissed several times but allowed to stand on appeal. While the identity of the DGSE agents remains classified, director Bajolet was indicted in late 2022 for allegedly ordering their actions. 

A career diplomat, he acknowledges approving the plan to intercept Duménil at the airport, but told investigators he did not give detailed instructions and hoped only to revive discussions between each side’s lawyers. The DGSE denies Duménil was ever detained or threatened. It has not commented on the latest developments in the case.

Bajolet’s trial, for which a date has not yet been set, threatens to bring the agency further scrutiny.

After the judge’s ruling on 23 Oct, Duménil’s lawyers said in a statement: “Beyond the trial of Bernard Bajolet, this will be the trial of the DGSE and the twisting of its work to private ends.”

To raise funds to fight the Vietminh insurgency, the intelligence services traded in opium during the French colonial occupation of Vietnam, as did the Viet Minh. Both sent their agents to peddle the opium in Thailand. French intelligence agencies also raised funds in Southeast Asia by manipulating the overvalued Vietnamese currency, the Piaster, on the black market. The French intelligence services have a mixed bag reputation during their history. They were accurate about an eventual Taliban victory in Afghanistan, but dead wrong about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And as this incident exposes, there is little oversight of the DGSE.  

On 10 July 1985 in Auckland, NZ, the DGSE sank the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace ship protesting nuclear testing in the Pacific Ocean.  A Portuguese photographer was killed.  30 years later Jean-Luc Kister, the DGSE frogman responsible for the explosion, apologized on French national TV.

Sources:

France’s former intelligence chief faces trial for attempted extortion (rfi.fr)

French Indochina: Opium Espionage and “Operation X” (akha.org)

Dirty Wars: French and American Piaster Profiteering in Indochina, 1945-75 ダーティー・ウォーズ インドシナにおける仏米ピアストル暴利 1945-75年 – The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus (apjjf.org)

The French secret service and its ‘war chest’ caught in the nets of the justice system (lemonde.fr)

Italy: Botulism Sickens Eight; Kills One

Bar Necci, a typical bistro in Rome’s multicultural Pigneto neighborhood with working-class Roman roots.

After six patrons at an unspecified bar in the Pigneto district of Rome recently ate sandwiches contaminated with botulism, two other cases emerged. One woman died and her daughter has been hospitalized with serious symptoms after they had eaten frozen artichoke soup, purchased in a supermarket. The two women began to feel seriously unwell shortly after eating. For the older of the two, the poisoning would have been fulminant and she died shortly after admittance to the Sant’Eugenio hospital in Rome. Her daughter spent a week in intensive care. 

The public prosecutor’s office in Rome has opened an investigation. The prosecutor, Fabio Santoni, delegated the Nas carabinieri for the investigation. When the investigators went to the commercial establishment where the product was presumed to have been purchased, they realized that the batch had already been replaced. Investigators are trying to determine how the chain of preservation of the frozen foods led to the death of one person and the serious illness of the other. There is no information suggesting the six bar patrons who dined in the Pigneto bar died from the botulism.

According to the CDC, botulism is a rare but serious illness. It is caused by a toxin that attacks the body’s nerves and causes difficulty breathing, muscle paralysis, and even death. The toxin is made by Clostridium botulinum and related bacteria. There are five main kinds of botulism and all are medical emergencies. Improperly home-canned, preserved, or fermented foods can provide the right conditions for spores to grow and make botulinum toxin.

Sources:

Rome, botulinum in artichoke soup: a woman died – LaPresse

Colorado Animal Murderer Sentenced to Prison for Assaulting Law Enforcement During 6 Jan Attack on US Capitol

(Photo: FBI)

Patrick Montgomery (51) of Littleton, CO was sentenced to 37 months in prison and 36 months of supervised release by the Honorable US District Judge Randolph D. Moss for assaulting law enforcement personnel on 6 Jan 2021.

On the morning of 6 Jan 2021, Montgomery and co-defendants Brady Knowlton and Gary Wilson met at the Yours Truly hotel in Washington, DC and attended the “Stop the Steal” rally. After the protest, the three defendants made their way to the West Front of the US Capitol building, crossing over inside the restricted perimeter.

When they confronted a police line, Montgomery grabbed a law enforcement officer’s baton and attempted to wrestle it away from him. The officer held onto the baton and fell to the ground with Montgomery. The two then attempted to wrestle control of the baton from each other while Knowlton and Wilson watched nearby. During the scuffle, Montgomery kicked the police officer in the chest.

The three maniacs then made their way near the Senate Floor, where they confronted a USCP officer. Knowlton yelled at the officer: “This is not about us. This is bigger than me, it’s bigger than you. It’s about this – everyone’s right to self-government . . . We’re with you guys. You think these people in this building would fight for you?” Montgomery yelled: “You gotta stop doing your job sometime and start being American. You gotta quit doing your job and be an American!” Wilson yelled: “We came all the way from our job to do your job, and the freaking Senators’ job!”

After this confrontation, the defendants exited the Capitol building. The FBI arrested Montgomery on 17 Jan 2021 in Colorado.

Here Patrick Montgomery proudly poses with two other miscreants on 6 Jan 2021, presumably Brady Knowlton and Gary Wilson. Co-defendant Brady Knowlton is awaiting sentencing. Gary Wilson was previously sentenced to 30 days incarceration followed by 12 months supervised release for his heinous conduct on 6 Jan 2021.

In the nearly four years 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.

This abomination proudly murdered a defenseless mountain lion. Cretinous Patrick Montgomery told Colorado gaming officials that he had killed the animal during a March hunt, but a background check unearthed a 1996 conviction that barred the Capitol rioter from owning a firearm. (Undated photo: mediate.com; the-sun.com.)

Patrick Montgomery, Brady Knowlton, and Gary Wilson come from exactly what 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton hailed as a “basket of deplorables.” These “useful idiots,” white supremacist supporters of Donald Trump, heeded his imbecilic call and then threw away the shambles of their lives with these felony convictions.

For the odious animal-killing Patrick Montgomery, the state of Colorado hosts at least three federal prisons to house him for the next three years. The BOP guards should be issued clothespins for their nostrils.  

Sources:

District of Columbia | Colorado Man Sentenced to Prison for Assaulting Law Enforcement During the Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

Capitol riot suspect, 48, under house arrest after shooting mountain lion in breach of ex-con’s gun ban | The US Sun (the-sun.com)

Unheard Frédéric Chopin Work Discovered

Frédéric Chopin (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Last month, a German library unearthed a previously unknown Mozart composition. Now, a Manhattan museum curator has found what appears to be a long-lost composition by Frédéric Chopin, the first of its kind to be discovered in over half a century.

Curator Robinson McClellan, who is also a composer, found the piece while sorting through a collection of cultural memorabilia in the vault of the Morgan Library & Museum. It’s written on a scrap about the size of an index card, with Chopin’s name written. After a lot of testing and, presumably, many experts’ corroborations, they confirmed that it’s almost certainly a genuine Chopin composition. Before the Polish composer died in 1849 at age 39, he wrote only about 250 known works — much less than his more prolific contemporaries — so there’s some extra magic in coming across a previously unheard piece by him.

Curators are confident that the work is authentic. There are doodles on the page and an oddly-drawn bass clef, which correlate to other original Chopin findings, despite the music itself sounding a bit different than other works. Lang Lang recently recorded the waltz for the New York Times; he told the publication that while it’s “not the most complicated music by Chopin, it is one of the most authentic Chopin styles that you can imagine.”

You may listen to it here.

Sources:

A Previously Unheard Chopin Work Has Been Found (stereogum.co

A Post-Halloween Emeth