Did Coriolanus Solve the Great Drone Mystery?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

American family listening to shortwave radio circa 1950s.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Examples of car-sized drones:

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

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

Sources:

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)

Countering Malicious Drones — FBI

AARO Home

Volocopter debuts giant drone powerful enough to lift 440 lb

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source:

The Merchant of Venice (Act V, Scene I)

High Ranking Russian General Assassinated in Moscow

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

Ukraine’s spies target Russian figures in increasingly audacious attacks

North Korean Soldiers Killed, Wounded in Russia’s Kursk

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

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

The remarks were partially backed up by the Pentagon on 16 Dec without speculating on numbers. North Korean soldiers were largely unprepared for modern drone warfare and were decimated by precision strikes. Unconfirmed field reporting claimed several North Korean soldiers were seen pleading with Ukrainian drone operators for their lives.

People’s Army troops training in North Korea. A North Korean defector said the soldiers won’t be ready for combat and will be killed immediately. He was right. (Photo: AFP)

Washington on 16 Dec also hit Russia and North Korea with new sanctions that the Treasury Department said targeted Pyongyang’s financial activities and military support for the Kremlin, echoing similar moves made by the EU earlier in the day.

The sanctions target North Korean banks, generals, and others, along with Russian oil shipping companies.

Ukrainian troops began their incursion into the Kursk region in August and still control some areas. Russia began deploying thousands of North Korean troops in the region in October.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on 14 Dec that Moscow had started involving more North Korean troops in an effort to push back Ukrainian forces in Kursk.

Russian casualties are estimated to exceed an appalling 600,000. President Vladimir Putin is looking to avoid a politically unpopular second mass mobilization. But he has 10,970 North Korean soldiers to conduct “meat attacks” until his protégé Donald Trump takes office on 20 Jan 2025.

Sources:

Ukraine, U.S. Say North Korean Soldiers Killed, Wounded In Russia’s Kursk

North Korea Designations; Non-Proliferation Designations; Russia-related Designations | Office of Foreign Assets Control

Dominican Republic: Malaria Increase

The culprit: Anopheles mosquito

Southern Dominican Republic has seen an increase in Malaria. 984 cases have been reported to date in 2024. Only 265 people were affected last year in the same reporting cycle.

Three provinces recorded the highest incidence of malaria: Azua (485), San Juan (453), and Bahoruco (six).

Malaria when not treated in time can have serious consequences, according to organizations such as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), a contagion can cause serious kidney and brain complications in a person, and even death.

Symptoms of the disease can include fever, vomiting and headache. But the classic form of manifestation in the body is with high temperatures, accompanied by sweating and chills, which appear 10 to 15 days after the mosquito bite.

Dengue is another vector-borne disease that is present in the Dominican Republic, where a tropical environment predominates, making it conducive to more than one person having to be assisted in a health center each year for becoming infected.

Mosquitos are man’s greatest acme predator. Mosquito-borne diseases kill more than one million people and infect up to 700 million each year – almost one in ten people. As the planet warms and climate change lengthens the mosquito season, the world’s deadliest creature will expand its geographical range to new regions and re-emerge in areas where mosquito numbers had subsided for decades.

Sources:

Malaria has an active presence in the south of the country

Explainer: How climate change is amplifying mosquito-borne diseases | World Mosquito Program

Malaria – PAHO/WHO | Pan American Health Organization

Canada: Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland Resigns from Trudeau’s Cabinet

Chrystia Freeland, who stepped down as finance minister and deputy prime minister on Monday, arrives for a national caucus meeting in Ottawa. (Photo: Spencer Colby / The Canadian Press)

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Monday she’s resigning from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, just hours before she was set to deliver the government’s fall economic statement.

This is a disastrous development that throws the government’s economic agenda into a tailspin and leaves a huge gap on Trudeau’s front bench at a time when Liberal Party support has collapsed in the polls.

Freeland’s move to leave just before tabling the economic statement — the government’s fiscal road map at a time of great uncertainty, as Canada stares down president-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threat — is unprecedented.

In a letter to Trudeau that was subsequently posted on her social media account, Freeland said she had no choice but to resign after the prime minister approached her on Friday about moving her to another cabinet role.

The competent ex-finance Minister Chrystia Freeland was also the Deputy Prime Minister with lots of experience dealing with President Trump the first time he blighted the White House from 2016 to 2020. This is another blow to PM Justin Trudeau who has already lost the support of the NDP. The Conservative Party has been tabling a series of non-confidence motions, which, if passed would topple the government, much like what happened in France. Similarly, Germany will also hold a snap election months ahead of the scheduled one this autumn.

For years the Liberal leader of Canada has also ignored the clarion calls of Canadians supporting the recognition of Palestine and stopping military aid to the murderous Likud regime in Israel. Democratic Party support for Israel cost Kamala Harris the election this past November when the enormous anti-war segment of the party stayed home just like in 1968.

Source:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-faces-frustrated-mps-after-chrystia-freeland-s-shock-resignation-1.7411380

Updates: Disgraced Prince Andrew’s Banned Spy Buddy Revealed; Russian Flight Stowaway in Stew Again

Chris Yang (50), the former chair of Hampton Group, had been in the UK for almost two decades.

British authorities exposed Yang Tengbo as the banned associate of Prince Andrew. AKA Chris Wang was first stopped by UK counter-terrorism services in 2021 and ordered to surrender his devices. Court documents said Yang had split his time between China and the UK and told officials he considered the UK his second home.

The alleged spy is considered to have engaged in “covert and deceptive activity” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As a spy, Yang Tengbo has been rendered ineffective and this episode is just another black eye for the disgraced Prince Andrew who cavorted with the thoroughly abhorrent sexual deviant the late Jeffrey Epstein.

Now an update on this unfortunate asylum seeker who almost made it to France and Canada.

Svetlana Dali, the Delta Airlines stowaway who flew from JFK in NY to CDG in Paris on 26 Nov 2024, was identified by her daughter and ex-husband in December. (Photo: FBI)

Svetlana Dali was arrested for the second time this month on Monday, after a first arrest by the FBI on 4 Dec for stowing away on a Delta Air Lines flight from the US to France.

Dali had cut off her ankle monitor and was trying to sneak into Canada. The person she was staying with in Philadelphia discovered the bracelet cut and alerted authorities. An arrest warrant was issued for bail jumping out of the Eastern District of New York.

The Russian national was apprehended in Buffalo, NY. She was on a Greyhound bus trying to cross into Canada and was unable to produce a passport.

Svetlana Dali was taken into custody, where it was determined that she was wanted on an open warrant.

Svetlana Dali is desperately trying to leave the US. Perhaps she is absolutely terrified of the incoming Trump administration. Many people are. Ms. Dali sat in the bathroom of the Delta Airlines flight and did not have an opportunity to eat any of the cheap airline food in economy class, nor did she steal a revenue generating seat from the airline. She basically didn’t cost Delta Airlines a dime. And Ms. Dali did teach the TSA a valuable lesson in airport security procedures.

Unless this modern-day Holly Golightly (with a little bit of Blanche DuBois in her) somehow poses a grave and serious threat to US national security, let her leave America fer Chrissake!

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/dec/16/alleged-chinese-spy-linked-to-prince-andrew-named-as-yang-tengbo

https://news.sky.com/story/who-is-h6-what-we-know-about-the-chinese-spy-with-links-to-prince-andrew-13274721

Svetlana Dali, the Delta Air Lines stowaway, arrested again trying to flee US – ABC News

When Not In Use, Your Cat Should be Stored in a Cool Dry Place and Out of Reach of Children

FBI Arrests Key Member of International Child Sexploitation and Mutilation Cult in Arizona

Warning: Some readers will find the text on the screen immediately below graphic and disturbing. This is one of the most heinous stories Coriolanus has ever come across.

This is an example of what these sadists request from underaged victims. Basically “kids are targeting kids” in the most despicable and nefarious manner. (Photo provided)

The FBI arrested Baron Martin (20) of Tucson, AZ for producing child sexual abuse material and cyberstalking offenses carried out as part of his participation in online violent terror networks known as “764” and “CVLT”. The 20-year-old defendant described himself as the “king of extortion” and claimed to be the “catalyst for thousands of extortions.”

Members of “764” systematically target underage females, groom them, extort them, and force them to mutilate themselves or others and either film or photograph such activity, at times while streaming it online for other members of the network.

Cult members find child victims on platforms such as Roblox. (Photo: Getty Images)

Previously captured and sentenced miscreants of this horrific international child sexploitation and mutilation cult include:

Baby-faced Bradley Cadenhead was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to nine counts of possessing and promoting child pornography. One video retrieved from Cadenhead’s computer showed one of his followers killing a victim’s hamster. (Supplied image)

In 2022, deranged-looking Kaleb Merritt (23) was sentenced to 350 years after he drove 20 hours to kidnap and rape a 12-year-old girl he had been abusing online. (Supplied image)

If convicted, Baron Martin faces 30 years in prison and up to ten additional years for cyberstalking. This deviant-sadist will be 60 years old when he is released from the tender mercies of Uncle Sam. Baron Martin will not have contributed one thin dime towards FICA and his Social Security retirement during his long federal incarceration.

Anyone with information regarding child sexual exploitation please call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit https://tips.fbi.gov/home.

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

This is one of the most horrendous criminal enterprises Coriolanus has ever come across. These are deranged youngsters predating upon vulnerable youngsters. You wonder what the mothers of these deviant torturers are thinking. Nefarious entities like 764 and CVLT make your humble author wish that he could unretire.

After conviction, throw away the key and weld the prison cell door shut forthwith.

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/arizona-man-associated-online-terror-network-arrested-production-child-sex-abuse-material

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/764

Archived link:

https://archive.is/PBslJ#selection-977.170-977.264

Israeli and Jordanian Intelligence Chiefs Coordinate on Syria

Major General Ahmad Husni, Director of the Jordanian General Intelligence Director (GID)

The director of the Israeli Shin Bet security agency and senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officers recently met with the director of the Jordanian general intelligence service, Ahmad Husni, and senior Jordanian military commanders.

On their agenda: A chemical weapons stockpile in Syria, the numerous different armed rebel groups, some of them once affiliated with Al-Qaeda, and the Golan Heights.

While the conference was going on, the IDF struck military sites across Syria and seized an area in the Golan Heights on the Syrian side of the border between the two countries. The Syrian mission to the UN says Israel’s capture of the territory is a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.

Jordanian intelligence (the GID) is one of the most important and professional intelligence agencies in the Middle East. GID has been instrumental in foiling several terrorist attacks both in Jordan and around the world.

Jerusalem is wise to heed any advice from the King of Jordan.

King Abdullah II of Jordan is a UK Sandhurst Military Academy graduate, pilot, and former Special Forces officer.

In 1997, so incensed was King Abdullah’s father, the late King Hussein, by a brazen Mossad poisoning assassination attempt on Palestinian resistance leader Khaled Mashaal in Amman, he called Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately demand the antidote. Hussein threatened that if Mashaal died, so would the identified Mossad agents who fled to the Israeli Embassy in Amman. After the admonishment, Netanyahu called a subordinate and uttered two words: “Do it.”

Israeli officials quickly provided the Jordanians with an antidote and medical advice as doctors in Amman fought to save Mashaal’s life.

Khaled Mashaal in Gaza City, 9 Dec 2012. He recovered from the amateurish fentanyl poisoning attack thanks to King Hussein. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

The smartest thing Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has done in decades was to consult with the Hashemite Kingdom over the future of Syria. Jordan is a key mediator between Israel and the Syrian rebel groups, including the Sunni Islamist opposition group Hayʼat Tahrir ash-Sham (HTS) that led the revolution that toppled the Assad regime. Moreover, the GID has a history of penetrating Sunni jihadist groups like the HTS.

Nota Bene: Jordan’s military (100,000 active-duty personnel) is considered to be among the most professional in the region, and is seen as particularly well-trained, organized, and equipped. According to the Global Firepower Index (GFI), Jordan is ranked 80 in military firepower out of 145 countries.

At least 3,000 US troops operate in Jordan, which has a defense agreement with Washington that allows them “unimpeded access” to many Jordanian military facilities.

Sources:

Israel and Jordan held secret talks on Syria

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

https://gid.gov.jo/

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-troop-numbers-jordan-surge-record-high-amid-gaza-war

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

Begging royal mercy: How Israel recovered from the botched Mashaal hit, 25 years ago | The Times of Israel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Intelligence_Department

Question: What Newspapers or Journals Do American CEOs and Oligarchs Read?

Answer: Barron’s, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Inc Magazine, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Platinum Business, Bloomberg Business Week, ad nauseum. Clever CEOs will read the Economist* and charge it to their company.

Do these above purveyors of news discuss human interest stories involving struggle, rent costs, suffering, illness, civil rights, health insurance costs, homelessness, or social justice?

For the most part, no.

The carefree 0.01% at the top of the American pyramid is divorced from the struggling 99.9% at the bottom of the pyramid. Oligarchs are coldly indifferent to the plight of the masses because they: a) have an innate sense of entitlement; b) are safely cocooned from the travails of the masses simply by what they read for news.

Then the insouciant and aloof elitists (top level) and their media proxies (second level) are shocked and outraged about the killing of one of their own and will deploy an army of centurions (third level) to find the perpetrator (bottom level) of such a dastardly deed. We are of course discussing the late CEO of United HealthCare Brian Thompson whose health insurance business policies callously placed profits over people. The mantra of “Deny, Defend, Depose” were allegedly found on the bullets that killed this 50-year old oligarch.

Such elitists live in palatial estates in Greenwich, CT, drive Lexus luxury cars, travel First Class to destinations like St. Tropez, and ensure their offspring receive the best private education possible, including legacy admissions to Yale or Harvard Universities.

Said a writer about American healthcare CEOs: “They Eat Off Your Family Member’s Grave.” Below CCTV captures such an image of a ghoul at a cemetery desecrating a grave.

(Undated screen capture: Fox 8 Cleveland)

Bon appetite, healthcare industry CEOs!

Said a writer pithily and accurately: “Only in America you can be driven into homelessness by someone like Brian Thompson, then legally murdered by someone like Daniel Penny (who recently strangled a man on the NYC subway), while the money that could have saved you is spent on murdering children in Gaza.”

Health Insurance CEO “Wanted” posters in NYC. Discourse and imagery like this has completely shocked these clueless and aloof elitists. (Screenshot: TikTok)

So CEOs, pray keep reading Barron’s, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Inc Magazine, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Platinum Business, or Bloomberg Business Week, and never mind learning about the lower levels of the pyramid that provide you and your families luxuriant lifestyles while sending your children to Princeton, Harvard, Yale, or Brown University.

*The Economist reports non-financial news (Bagehot, Lexington) as well as occasional human-interest stories and a dedicated weekly obituary.

Source:

Further | Deny, Defend, Depose: They Eat Off Your Family Member’s Grave | Opinion

Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K) Kills Afghan Minister in Kabul Suicide Blast

Khalil Haqqani, the uncle of the Taliban’s acting interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is the first senior cabinet member to be killed in an explosion since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021. (Photo: Social media)

Khalil Haqqani, the refugee minister in Afghanistan’s Taliban-led administration, was killed recently in an explosion in the capital, Kabul.

The blast occurred inside the ministry’s compound and killed two others. Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) claimed responsibility for the attack. ISIS-K has been active in Afghanistan and regularly targets both Taliban regime officials and civilians.

One possible reason behind the attack is the rivalry between ISIS-K and the Taliban connected to the takeover of Afghanistan. This was a substantial blow to the Taliban because Khalil Haqqani was a key figure in maintaining relationships with foreign donors and was responsible for fundraising activities on behalf of the Taliban and the HQN.

The Haqqani Network (HQN) is a formidable Pashtun network based in eastern Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan which originated during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan (1978–92). The HQN participated with the Taliban in an insurgency after the US invasion of late 2001/early 2002. In 2012, the US Government designated the Haqqani Network (HQN) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The HQN and Pakistan’s ISI have a close and nebulous cooperative relationship. The US designated Khalil Haqqani as a global terrorist on 9 Feb 2011 and had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Map: CIA

Although the ISIS-K suicide bomber was killed in the martyrdom attack, HQN will extract a steep price from other members of ISIS-K after locating them. Pakistan’s ISI will no doubt assist in locating ISIS-K cells on behalf of their ally. Beijing must also be concerned about the increasing instability in Afghanistan as they have just established a railway network into the impoverished but mineral-rich country. China’s firms are investing millions of dollars in the Afghan economy as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Note the tiny sliver that connects Afghanistan to China is the high altitude Wakhan Corridor. This is not where the railway connects the two countries. Years ago, there was one unimproved road connecting Afghanistan (Badakhshan Province) to China (Xinjiang Province) and this has probably not changed over the years. Below is what the border crossing looked like years ago.

Sources:

Afghan Taliban Minister Killed In Kabul Blast

CIA

China Deepens Its Engagement With Taliban-Ruled Afghanistan – The Diplomat

Influential Afghan Taliban Minister Khalil Haqqani, 2 Others Killed In ISIS-K Suicide Bombing – News18

Bashir al-Assad Exiled to Russia Against His Will

Two tyrants in happier times. (Undated photo: Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

On his Facebook account, ousted Syrian despot Bashar Assad claimed he had no plans to leave the country after the fall of Damascus a week ago but the Russian military evacuated him after their base in western Syria came under attack. He left Damascus on the morning of 8 Dec, hours after insurgents stormed the capital. Assad said he left Damascus in coordination with Russian allies to the naval base in Latakia where he planned to keep fighting.

Russian military vehicle in Syria. (Undated photo)

The former Syrian dictator alleged that after the Russian base came under attack by drones, the Kremlin decided to evacuate him to Moscow on the night of 8 Dec.

Sidenote: A Syrian friend of mine informed me that Bashir al-Assad “didn’t even tell his brother Maher and just abandoned him.”

But did Bashir al-Assad really intend to abandon his brother? Undated photo of Maher al-Assad.

Russian Ilyushin-76 military cargo plane.

“I did not leave the country as part of a plan as it was reported earlier,” Assad said. “At no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge nor was such proposal made by any individual or party,” Assad said in the English text of his statement. “The only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught.”

The London-trained oculist in mufti directing his generals. (Undated photo)

Russia had a sizeable military presence in Syria and their intelligence services were aware for months that Bashir al-Assad’s hold on power was untenable. Unsurprisingly, the Kremlin evacuated the Syrian despot. Putin’s envoys immediately began negotiating with the HTS rebels about the fate of the Russian naval and air bases in Tartus and Khmeimim.

According to the Financial Times, between 2018 and 2019, Assad sent about $250 million in cash to Russia, a period that coincided with when Syria became dependent on Moscow’s military support.

Nearly two tons of banknotes in $100 and €500 bills were flown from Syria into Moscow’s Vnukovo airport to be deposited at sanctioned Russian banks.

One wonders who the target audience of Bashir al-Assad’s English language Facebook post was intended for. Would it be the Alevi minority population that he once protected in Syria but has since abandoned? Possibly. Since the internet is choc-a-bloc with videos of Assad’s now exposed torture chambers, the London-trained ophthalmologist would be incredibly tone deaf if he was writing to the Syrian people or the West. With two tons of Bashir al-Assad’s US and British cash safely in the hands of the Putin-controlled Russian banking system, the former dictator of Syria and his usefulness to Vladimir Putin has now completely ended.

Asma al-Assad, the good-looking wife of the deposed dictator in an undated photo.

Since Bashir al-Assad and his communications are under complete surveillance by the GRU, his public Facebook post may have been an indirect signal to Tehran for intervention without angering Putin.

Sources:

Middle East latest: Assad says he had no plans to leave Syria but was evacuated by Russians | AP News

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/12/16/assad-regime-airlifted-250m-from-syria-to-russia-ft-a87348

https://i.insider.com/560173489dd7cc1b008bc45b?width=889

Japan: Highest Rate of Erythema Infectiosum (“Apple Disease”) Since 1999

Tokyo’s 2024 population is now estimated at 37,115,000 inhabitants.

A significant increase in cases of “apple disease,” or erythema infectiosum, has been reported in Tokyo, marking the highest number of infections since 1999. 796 cases were reported in the week leading up to 1 Dec based on data from 264 medical facilities. This translates to an average of 3.02 cases per facility, surpassing previous records.

Photo courtesy of the CDC.

Parvovirus B19 infection is usually mild in people who are otherwise healthy. Common symptoms include “slapped cheek” rash in children and joint pains in adults. Complications can occur among people with underlying blood disorders or weakened immune system. Infection early during pregnancy can cause a slight increase in the risk of a miscarriage.

Nearby Saitama has also reported cases of “apple disease.” The recent rise in cases has prompted health officials to issue warnings, especially to expectant mothers, advising caution during this outbreak. The number of infections has exceeded warning levels for the first time since 2018, signaling a need for increased awareness and preventive measures in the community.

Sources:

Tokyo reports highest cases of erythema infectiosum, or “apple disease”, since 1999

About Parvovirus B19 | Parvovirus B19 and Fifth Disease | CDC

Canadian Parliamentarian on Donald Trump: “Idiotic” and “Juvenile”

3 Dec 2024 Truth Social post by Trump after referring to Canada as America’s 51st State.

After idiotically and needlessly threatening America’s greatest friend and neighbor, a NATO ally and NORAD partner with tariffs, President-elect Donald Trump then boorishly claimed Canada was America’s 51st State in front of PM Justin Trudeau who tactfully ignored the slight. President-elect Donald Trump then posted the above image on Truth Social. But what he imbecilically posted was the Matterhorn Mountain in the Swiss Alps. You can easily see it.

Photo of the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps courtesy of photographylife.com.

Afterwards on Parliament Hill, a Canadian lawmaker referred to Trump as “idiotic” and “juvenile.” Canada which enjoys universal health care (which has been going through some problems recently) and suffered 289 firearms-related homicides in 2023 is doing fine without the US. In 2022 Americans suffered an appalling 48,000 gun-related deaths, like a warzone without the Taliban or al-Qaida. You wonder how Vladimir Putin, who wants to sow discord between the US and NATO, as well as the EU, transmitted his instructions to his protege to offend Ottawa.

Then-President Donald Trump idiotically points at a partial solar eclipse without eye protection from the balcony of the White House in 2017. Trump intends to permanently eliminate Daylight Savings Time (DST). (Photo: Nicholas Kamm / AFP / Getty Images)

America’s soon-to-be Chief Executive and Commander-in-Chief:

Sources:

‘He’s A Juvenile’: Canadian Lawmaker Slams Trump’s ‘Idiotic Behavior’ After Tariff Threats – Canada | Donald Trump News

Fast Facts: Firearm Injury and Death | Firearm Injury and Death Prevention | CDC

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510006901

Cat and Golden Retriever Insist on Sledding Together

Author’s Note: Followers of the Watch have asked that I analyze the spate of drone sightings over the US which Coriolanus will address imminently.

Gaza Strip: 96% of Palestinian Children Feel Imminent Death

The American taxpayer dollar hard at work: Palestinian children injured in IDF air raids treated at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, 24 Oct 2023. (Photo: Ahmad Hasaballah / Getty Images)

The estimated death toll in Gaza is more than 44,000 and over 100,000 maimed. A recent assessment by the UN Human Rights Office found that 44% of the fatalities it was able to verify were children.

A new study of children living through the war in Gaza has found that 96% of them feel that their death is imminent and almost half want to die as a result of the trauma they have been through.

A needs assessment, carried out by a Gaza-based NGO sponsored by the War Child Alliance charity, also found that 92% of the children in the survey were “not accepting of reality”, 79% suffer from nightmares and 73% exhibit symptoms of aggression.

“This report lays bare that Gaza is one of the most horrifying places in the world to be a child,” Helen Pattinson, chief executive of War Child UK, said. “Alongside the levelling of hospitals, schools, and homes, a trail of psychological destruction has caused wounds unseen but no less destructive on children who hold no responsibility for this war.”

Two centuries ago, the ‘enemy’ wasn’t called terrorist, jihadist, or Hamas operative, but a ‘savage’ or a ‘redskin.’

The American Indian Wars (1865-1898) resulted in 1,944 total US casualties, including the 1876 Battle of Little Big Horn (AKA “Custer’s Last Stand”). And how did the indigenous muqawama fare against the mighty US Cavalry and the rapid-fire Gatling gun?

“By the close of the Indian Wars in the late 19th century, fewer than 238,000 Indigenous people remained of the estimated five million-plus living in North America before European contact.”

I bet you the children of those Indigenous people in North America 150 years ago felt the same way as Palestinian children in Gaza feel today.

No wonder war crimes-indicted Benjamin Netanyahu shut down al-Jazeera and is kicking the UNRWA out of Gaza: Eliminate any witnesses as well as any humanitarian organizations that can help Palestinians with food or medical care.

Sources:

Gaza and the West Bank – Where we work – War Child

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

https://www.history.com/news/native-americans-genocide-united-states

Death feels imminent for 96% of children in Gaza, study finds | Gaza | The Guardian

Russian Missile Scientist Assassinated Near Moscow

Mikhail Shatsky was rendered ineffective by Ukrainian intelligence operatives. (Undated photo)

A senior Russian cruise missile engineer was shot dead near Moscow which Ukrainian media attributed to their country’s espionage services.

Mikhail Shatsky was deputy chief of design and head of software at the Moscow Experimental Design Bureau Mars, which develops automatic control and navigation systems for satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles. Mars is part of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

The Russian military uses Kh-59, Kh-69 and Kh-101 missiles against Ukraine. The Ukrainian Air Force recently intercepted two Kh-59/69 missiles over the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Shatsky was apparently gunned down as part of a “special operation” by the Ukrainian military’s HUR defense intelligence agency.

Said an anonymous security service source:

“Anyone in any way involved in developing Russia’s military-industrial complex and thus supporting Russian aggression against Ukraine is a legitimate target for the [Ukrainian] defense forces.”

Meanwhile, President Zelensky visited frontlines as Russia continued to pound Ukraine’s power infrastructure with a massive drone and rocket attack in an attempt to cripple the energy grid to freeze and demoralize the civilians with winter fast approaching.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visits soldiers of the 27th Rocket Artillery Brigade on 12 Dec.(Photo: AFP)

Ukraine’s sabotage apparatus continues to improve and Shatsky has been added to the list of other Russian High Value Targets (HVT) neutralized within Russia’s borders by car bomb, blunt trauma, or direct gunfire. This particular liquidation is reminiscent of Iranian nuclear scientists who have been reputedly killed over the years by Israeli intelligence.

Earlier this year Canada donated 10,500 9mm Browning Hi-Power automatic pistols to Kiev which are perfect for use by the Ukrainian police or their espionage network.

Canadian Forces soldiers firing reliable 9mm Browning Hi-Power pistols. (Photo: Able Seaman Camden Scott / DND)

Sources:

htps://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/12/12/top-russian-cruise-missile-engineer-gunned-down-near-moscow-reports-a87316

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/canadian-military-second-world-war-pistols-slated-for-destruction-will-instead-be-sent-to-ukraine

UN Warning: Increase in Permanently Dry Land is ‘Redefining Life on Earth’

Just over 75 percent of the world’s land has been left “permanently drier” over the previous three decades, with massive implications for agriculture, food production, the eco-system, and mass forced migration the UN warns.

Dry land now covers around 40% of the Earth’s land mass, excluding Antarctica, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) study found, cautioning the shift could affect up to five billion people by 2100.

“Some 77.6% of Earth’s land experienced drier conditions during the three decades leading up to 2020 compared to the previous 30-year period.”

This is an “existential threat” posed by seemingly irreversible trends. Dry land regions where agriculture is difficult increased by 4.3 million square kms between 1990 and 2020, an area a third the size of India.

At the same time that land is being depleted, global demand for resources is increasing. By 2030, food production is estimated to require an additional 300 million hectares of land.

The changes are largely attributed to global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions, which alter rainfall and increase water evaporation. The effects of the chronic water shortages include soil degradation, ecosystem collapse, food insecurity, and forced migration.

Already, 2.3 billion people live in expanding dry areas with projections showing a “worst-case scenario” of five billion people living in the conditions as the planet continues to warm.

This will add to the countless numbers of refugees trying to escape desertification, drought, poverty, famine, misery, and the attendant violence associated with desperate resource mongering, like we see in Haiti today.

North African migrants swimming from an overcrowded dinghy on 27 July 2015. Up to 30 refugees may have drowned that day according to the International Office of Migration (IOM). (Photo: Santi Palacios / AP)

Sources:

https://www.unccd.int/news-stories/press-releases/three-quarters-earths-land-became-permanently-drier-last-three-decades

Desertification and land degradation threaten global well-being

https://www.treehugger.com/what-is-desertification-5115926

US Charges Syrian National Living in South Carolina with Torturing Dissidents at Damascus Prison

Samir Ousman Alsheikh (L); then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (R) (2011 photo: SNHR)

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles, CA returned a superseding indictment charging Samir Ousman Alsheikh (72) of Lexington, SC with torture.

The defendant was the head of Damascus Central Prison (AKA the Adra Prison) from 2005 through 2008. In that role, Alsheikh allegedly ordered subordinates to inflict and was sometimes personally involved in inflicting severe physical and mental pain and suffering on political dissidents and other prisoners.

Samir Ousman Alsheikh was previously indicted for immigration fraud when he allegedly made similar false statements when applying for a visa that enabled him to enter the US in 2020, become a lawful permanent resident, and obtain a green card.

Recently an AMCIT named Travis Timmerman was freed from a Syrian prison who although himself was not tortured, heard the cries of the suffering from nearby cells.

Travis Timmerman in undated photo courtesy of http://www.indiatoday.in

Amnesty International debriefed former Syrian prisoners years ago and below are examples of how people were brutally tortured by the sadists in the ousted regime.

The “Tire” (Illustration: Mohamad Hamdoun)

The “Welcome Party” (Illustration: Mohamad Hamdoun)

The “Flying Carpet” (Illustration: Mohamad Hamdoun)

Members of the public who have information about human rights violators in the US or abroad are urged to contact US law enforcement through the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI or the HSI tip line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or visit https://tips.fbi.gov/home.

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.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-syrian-prison-official-charged-torture

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-syrian-prison-official-charged-immigration-fraud

https://snhr.org/

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2016/08/syria-torture-prisons/

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-citizen-freed-syrian-prison-identified-travis-timmerman-not-austin-tice

Jack and the Green Sprouts Listeria Outbreak Sickens Four

The sprouts were sold in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and recalled in early Oct 2024. At that time, the FDA says that there were no known illnesses associated with the sprouts.

Listeria monocytogenes infections can take up to 70 days to appear, although most people get sick within a month. The sprouts were recalled on 4 Oct 2024 and seventy days from that date is 16 Dec 2024. Some people may still get sick from eating tainted sprouts in October.

(Listeria bacteria image: CDC)

The classic early symptoms of listeriosis are nausea and diarrhea. If the illness progressed to a more serious form if the bacteria get into the bloodstream, patients experience a stiff neck, high fever, severe headache, muscle aches, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps.

About 1,600 people contract Listeria infections every year in the US and about 260 of those patients die.

Sources:

Jack and the Green Sprouts Alfalfa Sprouts Recalled For Listeria

CDC

Without Firing a Shot: This is How the Cold War Ends (for Now)

President-elect Donald Trump has picked the worst picks humanly possible to sit on his future cabinet: Unvetted, unqualified quacks, wonks, polemicists, misogynists, crackpots, racists, conspiracy theorists, oligarchs, TV personalities, kleptocrats, dipsomaniacs, and Islamophobes. One advisor wants to ban the polio vaccination. We need not go into their names again as they have been painfully burned into our braincells.

A Russian TV host gleefully claimed that “Trump’s Cabinet picks will dismantle America.”

Republican programs will intentionally weaken, sicken, pauperize, and demoralize the American people with their destructive health, social, and economic policies. This is called “social murder” when unnatural deaths occur due to social, political, or economic oppression, instead of from direct violence. Failing to provide reproductive rights to pregnant women fall into this category. The concept of “social murder” was originally coined in 1845 by German philosopher Friedrich Engels and this is what he saw two centuries ago:

Poorhouses and debtor’s prisons were designed to punish the penniless.

The American public is already suffering with 44,000 firearms murders a year. Countless numbers of people died during the COVID epidemic when GOP governors did not enforce health regulations, such as masking, vaccinating, or avoiding mass gatherings. Women unable to receive reproductive care have died. The number of US fatalities will increase in all categories of morbidity under the incoming Trump administration to the delight of the Kremlin.

Senior US intelligence officials have already signalled their departure when Trump assumes the Presidency and only a sober and sane US Senate confirmation process of these odious Cabinet picks might help mitigate the future catastrophes that await the American people. But hope is not a plan as the US Army taught your humble author decades ago.

The American people can thank Fifth Columnists like these two grinning Republicans below for helping to hand over America to the Kremlin without the Russians having to fire a single shot.

Examples of Lenin’s “useful idiots” You wonder how these two altacockers will feel when President Trump cuts their Social Security and Medicare benefits? (Photo: Jeremy Pelzer/Cleveland.com)

In October 1962, President John F. Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba to prevent Soviet nuclear missiles from reaching an island 90 miles from the American shore. The Cold War was inches or seconds from becoming atomic hot.

So terrified were people of a nuclear war with the USSR, Noël Regney (music) Gloria Shayne (lyrics) quickly wrote and produced this melodic song (in the key of C Major) as a plea for world peace which you will no doubt recognize:

The Kennedy Administration competently and coolly resolved the Cuban Missile Crisis when the Soviets withdrew their missiles from Cuba; the US in turn removed Jupiter nuclear IRBMs from Turkiye and atomic Armageddon was averted.

So, what would WWII veteran and Cold Warrior President John F. Kennedy say today about Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” walking with Russian President Vladimir Putin pictured below?

45th President Donald Trump being led by his KGB handler in Helsinki, Finland, in 2018. In President Putin’s right hand are the detailed instructions he readied for his American protege. Putin speaks German fluently and English competently so he transmits his orders directly to Trump without need of an interpreter.

Sources:

Russian TV host gleefully claims Trump’s Cabinet will ‘dismantle’ America, report says

Intelligence IGs head for the exits ahead of Trump’s return – Defense One

Cuban Missile Crisis

landscapecover.pdf

Alleged Chinese Spy with Links to Prince Andrew Banned from UK

Prince Andrew is pictured with the Chinese ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming. Photo: @AmbLiuXiaoMing circa 2020.

A Chinese businessman described as a “close confidant” of the Duke of York has lost an appeal against a decision to bar him from the UK on national security grounds. The man, known only as H6, brought the case after being banned from entering the country in March 2023. H6 had formed a close working relationship with Prince Andrew.

H6 brought his case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, a court set up to consider appeals against decisions to ban or remove someone from the country on national security or related grounds.

In the published ruling, the judge said that the then-home secretary, Suella Braverman, was “entitled to conclude that [H6] represented a risk to the national security of the United Kingdom, and that she was entitled to conclude that his exclusion was justified and proportionate”.

The court assessed that this meant H6 was in a position “to generate relationships between senior Chinese officials and prominent UK figures which could be leveraged for political interference purposes by the Chinese State”.

H6 was believed to be associated with the United Front Work Department (UFWD), an arm of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tasked with conducting influence operations.

MI5 had expressed concern about the threat posed to the UK by political interference by China and that bodies such as the UFWD were “mounting patient, well-funded, deceptive campaigns to buy and exert influence”.

The Home Office said they believed H6 had been engaged in covert and deceptive activity on behalf of the CCP and that his relationship with Prince Andrew could be used for political interference.

In November 2019, Prince Andrew stepped back from royal duties amid growing public anger about his friendship with the late US financier and thoroughly loathsome sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Questions were subsequently raised about his finances after he reached a settlement – believed to run into the millions – in a civil sexual assault case brought against him by Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s accusers. The disgraced prince has always denied assaulting Ms. Giuffre.

Prince Andrew (L) and the incredibly repulsive Jeffrey Epstein (R).

Last month, a royal biography claimed the prince’s brother, King Charles, had cut Prince Andrew off financially, ceasing to pay for security at his home or provide him with a personal allowance.

Lo, how the mighty have fallen. Far above the proletariat, rather than seeking gainful employment like the working class people in the UK or the US, Prince Andrew cultivated contacts with Chinese intelligence to enrich himself. MI5 and MI6 already have their hands full with Chinese and Russian espionage and here Prince Andrew further dishonors himself publicly by putting Beijing’s interests over London’s for a mere 30 pieces of silver. At least no one died by this nefarious relationship that the public is aware of.

Sources:

H6 v SSHD OPEN Judgment final for hand down FINAL

Alleged Chinese spy with links to Prince Andrew banned from UK

Prince Andrew’s funding cut off by King Charles, claims book

Senior Cat Caged Most of Her Life is Finally Free

Israel Destroys Syrian Naval Fleet

An IDF F-15 jet fighter takes off from the Negev desert (Photo: AFP)

Israel carried out attacks on Syria’s naval fleet, most likely destroying the majority of the ships.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says it has documented more than 310 strikes by the IDF since the fall of the Assad regime on Sunday. Israeli warplanes have also reportedly carried out hundreds of airstrikes across Syria, including on the capital, Damascus.

Destroyed Syrian ships in port. (Getty Images)

The BBC or the SOHR did not provide any Syrian military or civilian casualty numbers.

Benjamin Netanyahu finally appeared in court for the corruption trial that he has kept postponing and delaying because of his wartime duties as Prime Minister. But that did not stop him from unilaterally attacking Syrian targets or seizing the Golan Heights. Offensive operations against this new regime does not fall under Israel’s right to self-defense, even though the intentions were supposedly to destroy chemical weapons sites. The new Sunni masters of Syria are probably not pleased with this flagrant violation of their sovereignty. Abu Muhammad al-Jolani and his cadre are trying to create order and stability in the new Syria.

Jordan can serve as an interlocutor between Jerusalem and Damascus and perhaps the new Salafist regime won’t be hostile to their neighbor. Without dialogue though, covert or overt, both countries may be destined for resource and life-wasting eternal conflict.

Source:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqx808q7lrno

US Charges Two High-Ranking Syrian Officials with War Crimes

General Jamil Hassan (L), Abdul Salam Mahmoud ( R )

Former Syrian Air Force Intelligence officers Jamil Hassan (72) and Abdul Salam Mahmoud (65) were each charged in connection with a conspiracy to commit war crimes through the infliction of cruel and inhuman treatment on detainees under their control, including US citizens, in detention facilities at the Mezzeh Military Airport (Mezzeh Prison), near Damascus, Syria. Warrants for the defendants’ arrest have been issued and they remain at large.

Between January 2012 and July 2019, Hassan and Mahmoud conspired to identify, intimidate, threaten, punish, and kill people detained at Mezzeh Prison suspected of aiding or supporting opponents of the regime, such as those who protested, provided medical aid to opponents of the regime, or publicly criticized the regime. Detainees, including US citizens, were mercilessly beaten, electrocuted, and had their toenails removed. Detainees were also allegedly hung from the ceiling by their wrists and were burned with acid.

(Map courtesy of Alchetron)

Both military and political prisoners were held at Mezzeh prison. The prison was an infamous embodiment of Syrian government repression. Widespread human rights abuses and torture has been reported from the Mezzeh prison throughout its history but most notably during the rule of Hafez al-Assad (1970–2000).

Members of the public who have information about human rights violators in the US or the location of the defendants named in this indictment are urged to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov. Tips may be provided anonymously.

These timely indictments are more about seeking justice for American citizens tortured by these two psychopaths than an exercise of US foreign policy. An indicted war criminal is an indicted war criminal regardless of nationality, whether it is Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Russian President Vladimir Putin, or this infamous American officer below from over half a century ago.

1969 US Army CID mugshot of 1LT William Calley courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Criminal Charges Unsealed Against Two Former High-Ranking Syrian Government Intelligence Officials for War Crimes against Americans and Other Civilians | United States Department of Justice

Four Taiwan Soldiers Charged with Spying for China

Four Taiwanese soldiers, including three from a unit in charge of security for the president’s office, were charged with photographing and leaking confidential information to China.

China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since 1949, but Beijing insists the island is part of its territory and has vowed to seize it one day.

There has been a series of spying cases in Taiwan, as China maintains military and political pressure on Taipei to accept its claims of sovereignty.

In the latest case, the accused included three members of a military unit in charge of security for the Presidential Office.

Entrance to Presidential Palace in Taipei. (Photo: taipeitravelgeek.com)

A fourth person was a soldier in the defence ministry’s information and telecommunications command. They allegedly used their mobile phones to photograph military information, which was passed to “Chinese agents.”

The four received payments ranging from around NT$260,000 to NT$660,000 ($8,000-$20,000) “depending on the confidentiality level of the military information they provided.”

The incidents happened from 2022 to 2024.

Three of the soldiers were discharged before an investigation was launched in August this year following a tip-off to the defence ministry. The fourth was suspended in August.

All four have been detained and charged with corruption and violating national security law for “leaking and delivering confidential information or electromagnetic records for China”.

They face a maximum seven years in jail if convicted.

“The Chinese Communist Party’s infiltration campaign against us has never stopped,” the defence ministry said in a statement, describing the four accused as “treasonous and lawless.”

In Sep 2024, an ex-air force instructor was sentenced to 17 years in prison for “aiding the enemy” and delivering military secrets to China.

China’s massive intelligence apparatus poses a threat to the much smaller Taiwanese counterintelligence agencies. Beijing employs the ‘grains of sand’ principle of collection, where vast numbers of human and cyber networks vacuum up information ranging from personal data to intellectual property. The Ministry of State Security (MSS) has the time, patience, resources, and personnel to construct a mosaic from all of these thousands of particles of sand put together. Taiwanese and Western intelligence agencies do not have that luxury and must prioritize collection efforts to remain efficient with resources and personnel, a problem China doesn’t have.

Source:

Four Taiwan Soldiers Charged With Spying For China | Barron’s

Japan: 46 Students Stricken with Scombroid Fish Poisoning

Blue Marlin (Artwork: Les Hata © Secretariat of the Pacific Community)

46 children, students, and teachers who ate school lunches at three elementary and junior high schools in Hakuba Village in Nagano Prefecture, complained of symptoms such as fever and rash. The cause was later determined to be food poisoning by the growth of germs on a marlin thawing at room temperature for too long.

In order to prevent a recurrence, the prefecture suspended school lunch operations. The company says that it will review the cooking process and safety management and instruct people to thaw in the refrigerator or under running water instead of thawing at room temperature.

Scombroid poisoning, also called histamine poisoning, is a type of food intoxication caused by the consumption of scombroid and scombroid-like marine fish species that have begun to spoil with the growth of particular types of food bacteria. Fish most commonly involved are members of the Scombridae family (tuna and mackerel) and a few non-scombroid relatives (bluefish, dolphin or mahi-mahi, and amberjack).

Source:

Marlin, food poisoning thawed at room temperature for too long 46 students eat school lunch, Nagano|National news|Hokkoku Shimbun

Barbarism Continues in Haiti: Gang Slaughters 180 People, Mostly Elderly

The “Taliban Gang.” Sitting is the 20-year-old second-in-command, who swears that he does not practice kidnapping but “only” racketeering. Gang members will beg for one dollar, but wield weapons worth thousands. (Photo: © Corentin Fohlen / Divergence)

Approximately 180 people were killed recently in Haiti’s Cite Soleil area. The massacre was ordered by a gang leader who suspected his child had been made ill with witchcraft.

“A red line has been crossed,” the PM’s office said and would “mobilize all forces to track down and annihilate” those responsible, including Wharf Jeremie gang leader Monel “Mikano” Felix, whom it accused of planning the attack.

The victims were mostly elderly. The death toll could be higher and cited witnesses as saying that “mutilated bodies were burned in the streets, including several young individuals who were killed attempting to save residents.”

Felix had ordered the violence after his child became sick, and after seeking advice from a voodoo priest who accused elderly people in the area of harming the child through witchcraft.

Cite Soleil, a densely populated slum by the port of the capital Port-au-Prince, is among the poorest and most violent areas of Haiti. Tight gang control, including the restriction of mobile phone use, has limited residents’ ability to share information about the massacre.

(Map: PBS)

The government, riven with political infighting, has struggled to contain gangs’ growing power in and around the capital. The armed groups are accused of indiscriminate killings, gang rapes, ransom kidnappings, and fueling critical food shortages.

Haiti, the first “Black Republic,” both enriched her colonial masters, the French, and sent soldiers to help in the American Revolution. Now Haiti is a terrible combination of Gaza and Somalia. Not doubt that diarrheal illnesses, STDs, and TB are spreading throughout the slums.

In Oct 2024, the Gran Grif gang took responsibility for the killing of at least 115 people in Pont-Sonde, a town in Haiti’s breadbasket Artibonite region. They said it was retaliation for residents helping a self-defense group hinder their road toll operations.

Gran Grif gang-member (Undated photo: arise.tv)

A UN-backed security mission is partially deployed and remains deeply under-resourced. Haitian leaders have called for the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support mission to be converted into a UN peacekeeping force to ensure it is better supplied, but the plan stalled amid opposition from China and Russia in the Security Council.

A UN spokesperson said the weekend’s death count was at least 184, including 127 elderly people. The security situation continues to deteriorate and many countries have yet to deliver on pledges of support.

Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged countries to improve efforts to stop arms trafficking to Haiti. The UN estimates the gangs’ increasingly modern arsenals are largely trafficked from the US.

“These latest killings bring the death toll just this year in Haiti to a staggering 5,000 people,” he said.

Last month the FAA and the UN suspended all flights to Haiti after these runamoks fired upon at least three airplanes, wounding a flight attendant. Access to large caliber weapons abandoned or stolen from the defunct Haitian Army may be in the hands of some of these brigands.

Regrettably, Haiti is a low-priority for many countries, including the US. Hundreds of Haitians have drowned attempting to flee by water and those who make it to safety are not always given asylum or refuge. The neighboring Dominican Republic sealed off their borders and began deporting undocumented Haitians. Like the Mexican drug cartels, Haitian gangs receive their illegal weapons and ammunition from traffickers in the US. Haiti, a failed nation, is a disaster at America’s doorstep and a black eye for the “Monroe Doctrine.”

Firearms displayed at the Miami Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) on 17 Aug 2022. Increasingly sophisticated weapons are being trafficked into Haiti mainly from Florida amid worsening lawlessness in the impoverished Caribbean nation, according to a 4 March 2023 UN report. (Photo: Lynne Sladky / AP)

Sources:

Haiti gang massacres around 180 people, targeting elderly | Reuters

UN report: Modern weapons being smuggled to Haiti from US | AP News

US prohibits airlines from flying to Haiti and UN suspends flights after planes were shot by gangs | AP News

Pakistan: Military Charges Former ISI Director Over ‘Political Activities’ in Unprecedented Move

Pakistan’s former spy chief was arrested Aug 2024 in court martial proceedings (Photo: Anushree Fadnavis / Reuters)

In an unprecedented move, Pakistan’s powerful army charged the former head of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) with “engaging in political activities. Lt Gen Faiz Hamid (Retd) is accused of creating agitation and unrest, leading up to multiple incidents, including but not limited to the events of 9 May 2023, aimed at fomenting instability at the behest of and in collusion with vested political interests.”

No former ISI director has ever faced a court martial in Pakistan’s history.

Days after Lt Gen Hamid’s arrest, three other retired army officers were also detained for “actions prejudicial to military discipline.” Those arrests are widely believed to have been connected to the proceedings against Hamid.

Hamid’s two-year tenure at the ISI was marked by allegations that he politically targeted Khan’s rivals, many of whom were jailed; cracked down on media, violated human rights, and suppressed protest movements across the country.

Hamid gained further international attention in August 2021 when he was photographed at a Kabul hotel shortly after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan.

Gen. Hamid rushed to Kabul to broker a deal between Mullah Baradar and the Haqqani Network (HQN) when the Taliban seized control of the government. The ISI and the powerful HQN have a strong covert working relationship.

Pakistani PM Imran Khan was arrested for alleged corruption on 9 May 2023 which led to massive demonstrations targeting state buildings and military installations. Thousands of people were arrested, of whom about 100 faced military trials. Khan is also facing several cases related to 9 May.

Black smoke billows from a building in Peshawar set ablaze by supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan flowing his arrest. (Photo: AFP)

(Map: worldatlas.com / Data: CIA)

Pakistan has a population of 252,363,571 people comprised ethnically: Punjabi 44.7%, Pashtun (Pathan) 15.4%, Sindhi 14.1%, Saraiki 8.4%, Muhajirs 7.6%, Baloch 3.6%, other 6.3%. Muslim (official) 96.5% (Sunni 85-90%, Shia 10-15%). Real GDP per capita is $5,600 (2023 est.).

While most countries have armies, Pakistan is an “army with a country” with approximately 630,000 active-duty personnel (550,000 Army; 30,000 Navy; 50,000 Air Force); approximately 150,000 Frontier Corps and Pakistan Rangers. Islamabad has a growing nuclear arsenal of 170 nuclear warheads.

Terrorist groups operating in Pakistan: Haqqani Network (HQN); Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami; Harakat ul-Mujahidin; Hizbul Mujahideen; Indian Mujahedeen; Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham-Khorasan (ISIS-K); Islamic State of ash-Sham – India; Islamic State of ash-Sham – Pakistan; Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan; Jaish-e-Mohammed; Jaysh al Adl (Jundallah); Lashkar i Jhangvi; Lashkar-e Tayyiba; Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP); al-Qa’ida; al-Qa’ida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS)

The Pakistani military is the only homogenizing force in this cauldron of ethnic groups, languages, political parties, social movements, competing interests, drug trafficking/use, and extremist groups.

The popular former international cricket champion and imprisoned ex-PM Imran Khan with his loyal ex-ISI chief dared to defy the all-powerful Pakistani army now face “justice.”

“Every time our party announces a protest, I am charged with more fake cases while inside prison.

I have been informed that many of our people are still missing, and we have serious concerns about their lives and wellbeing. We demand that the government immediately publish data of arrested citizens and those brought to hospitals and morgues after being injured or martyred. Additionally, CCTV footage from the hospital and Safe City cameras must be preserved, so that the truth can be revealed to the nation.”

We have two demands:

1. A commission should be formed under the senior-most judges of the Supreme Court to independently investigate the events of 9 May 2023 and 26 Nov 2024.

2. Unjustly imprisoned political detainees should be released.

Sources:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/10/pakistans-military-charges-former-spy-chief-over-political-activities

https://insaf.pk/news/former-prime-minister-imran-khans-message-december-6-2024

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/who-is-isi-chief-faiz-hameed-whose-visit-to-kabul-has-sparked-controversy-101630843177941.html

https://www.dawn.com/news/1752254

CIA

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2493059/the-mosaic-of-drug-trafficking-and-its-consequences

https://thebulletin.org/premium/2023-09/pakistan-nuclear-weapons-2023/

Donald Trump is Human Wrecking Ball

President-elect Donald Trump has picked the worst picks humanly possible to sit on his future cabinet. Their policies will weaken, sicken, pauperize, and demoralize Americans with destructive health, economic, de-regulatory strategies. A Russian TV host gleefully claimed that “Trump’s Cabinet picks will dismantle America.”

US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC, 5 Dec 2017. (Photo: Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images)

But not only is Trump going to sabotage the US domestically on behalf of the Kremlin, he is going to demoralize US diplomats and damage our foreign policy.

Career diplomats at the US State Department work earnestly and diligently for decades to one day reach the pinnacle of being named Ambassador. President-elect Trump chose his daughter’s utterly sleazy, contemptible, convicted father-in-law to be the US Ambassador to France.

The former AUSA for New Jersey said of Charles Kushner: “This was one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted…and I was the US Attorney in New Jersey.”

This oligarchal miscreant previously served two years in prison before being released after pleading guilty in 2004 to charges of tax evasion, lying to the Federal Election Commission and retaliating against a federal witness. Trump pardoned Kushner during the last month of his presidency. If confirmed by the US Senate, Charles Kushner will be walking in the shoes of Benjamin Franklin, America’s first Ambassador to Paris.

Now the President-elect is nominating his son’s ex-fiancee Kim Guilfoyle to be US Ambassador to Greece, the world’s first democracy. This move is widely seen as an attempt to ensure Kim Guilfoyle (55) doesn’t spill the beans about the Trump Crime Family (TCF) after Donald Trump Jr. (46) dumped her for a younger woman, Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson (37).

To her credit, Kim Guilfoyle is an attorney and former prosecutor.

Below is what Kim Guilfoyle must have looked like when she learned that Don Trump Jr threw her overboard for a younger woman. She waited a long time to tie the knot with Don Jr. At least the TCF bought her silence with a well-paying, prestigious sinecure in Athens (for now).

America and the world can’t wait long enough until 21 Jan 2029, if we all survive this human wrecking ball and Putin’s plans for America.

Sources:

SEX GAL NOW HELPING FEDS – HOOKER TURNS ON KUSHNER

Resistance HQ Bulletin 23, 12/10/24 – by Ron Filipkowski

Russian TV host gleefully claims Trump’s Cabinet will ‘dismantle’ America, report says

Man Fleeing Ukraine War with Kitten Found Alive in Frigid Romania Mountains: “Peach Kept My Heart Warm”

Salvamont Maramures, a Romanian mountain rescue service, saved the two. Peach the cat peers from the jacket of its owner, Vladislav Duda (28). They were rescued from a deep mountain ravine in a state of severe hypothermia. (Photo: AP)

When the rescue team located and found the Ukrainian, they unzipped his jacket and discovered Peach snuggled up inside. Duda said: “I’m happy because my cat is alive. I got a chance from God for a new life. The happiest moment is because the cat is here with me.”

The auburn-colored kitten, a tomcat named “Peach” in Ukrainian, was experiencing the effects of malnutrition after they ran out of food four days earlier and melted snow helped to keep him alive.

“Peach kept my heart warm and he kept my faith alive,” the Ukrainian said.

“Peach” also means stove or oven.

During the complex ascent out of the ravine which took more than five hours, the Ukrainian would not let go of his kitten. He kept Peach clutched to his chest from the bottom to the top until he was put in the ambulance.

Duda requested the rescuers to ‘Please take care of the cat.'”

Peach at the Animal Med vet clinic after being rescued along with its owner after three days in a deep mountain ravine in Baia Mare, Romania. (Photo: 9 Dec 2024, AP)

Peach received veterinary treatment in Baia Mare and is expected to fully recover.

Source:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-kitten-fleeing-ukraine-war-found-alive-romania-mountains/

Donald Trump Hosted German Neo-Nazis Election Day at Mar-a-Lago

Phillipp-Anders Rau (41), an AfD candidate for the Bundestag and alleged porn star posted this photo of himself with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on 5 Nov. (Photo: parau_afd/Instagram)

Donald Trump gathered Elon Musk, his supporters, family and friends at Mar-a-Lago on US election day last month to wait for the results to trickle in. With him that day was a small group of neo-Nazi Germans.

Rightwing Beat Ulrich Zirpel posted this on social media:

“We just shouted ‘Kämpft, kämpft, kämpft’ (‘fight, fight, fight’) with president Trump at Mar-a-Lago Club right before election night!”

“Peace in Germany and Europe will be decided with the election in the USA, Rau wrote in an Instagram caption from Florida on 5 Nov. “Patriots have to work together internationally.”

Proud German rightwing Trump enthusiasts. (Photo: parau_afd/Instagram)

“In the three state elections in eastern Germany in Sep 2024, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won more votes than ever before, even though the party adopted particularly extreme positions in those states and has been classified as right-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency”.

According to the latest ARD Deutschlandtrend survey, 84% of AfD voters agree with the statement:

“I don’t care that the AfD has been labeled partly right-wing extremist, as long as it addresses the right issues.”

Citizens of the world and Americans must be wondering who won the US Civil War and the Second World War?

Christopher “Hammer” Pohlhaus (C) leads a rally with neo-Nazi groups Blood Tribe, and Goyim Defense League on 2 Sep 2023, in Orlando, Florida. (Photo: Stephanie Keith / Getty Images)

(6 Jan 2021 Photo/JTA-Saul Loeb-AFP via Getty Images)

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/07/far-right-activists-from-germany-spent-us-election-day-at-trumps-mar-a-lago

https://www.dw.com/en/germans-divided-over-far-right-afd-ban/a-70465031

US House Intelligence Committee Interim Report on “Havana Syndrome”

“AHI: A Real Existential Threat to the IC Workforce”

BLUF: The House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI) suspects a foreign adversary is behind the Havana Syndrome. How far any executive branch investigations go under the new administration remains to be seen, but unlikely if the clues point to the Kremlin. Recently investigative journalists linked the Anomalous Health Incidents (AHI) to a Russian Directed Energy Weapon (DEW) unit numbered “29155” which CBS aired earlier this year.

Finding 1: The ICA on AHIs lacked analytic integrity and was highly
irregular, hindering the Subcommittee’s trust in the IC’s process and
conclusions.

Finding 2: The IC’s response to AHIs has likely impeded collection.

Finding 3: Congress’s oversight and investigation must continue with support
from the Trump Administration.

Opinion: Russian intelligence (GRU) covertly directed ultrasonic pulses at US personnel to harass, sicken, and degrade their capabilities. The US Embassy in Havana, had recently re-opened and these AHIs may have been launched to disrupt relations between the US and Cuba. Some CIA and FBI personnel said the Kremlin “crossed a line” by these AHIs, but the USG was unable to provide a conclusive “smoking gun.” No official reprisals were made against Russian intelligence personnel that the public is aware of.

Some US DEWs:

Link:

Click to access unclassified_ahi_report.pdf

Previous reports:

Click to access Updated_Assessment_of_Anomalous_Health_Incidents.pdf

https://www.state.gov/anomalous-health-incidents-and-the-health-incident-response-task-force/

https://theins.ru/en/politics/270425

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/5-year-havana-syndrome-investigation-finds-new-evidence-of-who-might-be-responsible-60-minutes/

Click to access IC_Targeting_and_Collection_Efforts_Point_Away_From_Adversary_Involvement_in_Anomalous_Health_Incidents.pdf

California BOLO Alert: Dangerous Convicted Murderer on Loose

Mug shot of Cesar M. Hernandez. (Source: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)

Cesar M. Hernandez (34) is 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs approximately 161 pounds. He has brown eyes and black hair and was last seen wearing an orange top and orange pants. He was sentenced to 80 years to life.

Cesar M. Hernandez has been on the run since 10:45 on Monday morning (2 Dec) after escaping from a van that was taking him to the Kern County Courthouse. Authorities did not disclose whether Hernandez was handcuffed or manacled when he fled.

The fugitive has been described as “dangerous.” Members of the public are encouraged to send in any tips they have about his whereabouts but not to approach Hernandez.

Anyone who sees Hernandez or has knowledge of his whereabouts should immediately contact law enforcement, call 9-1-1, or contact Lt. Anthony Sotello, the Incident Commander at (661) 721-6300 extension 5506 or at OPEC@cdcr.ca.gov.

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

Cesar Hernandez may have an accomplice to take off his handcuffs or manacles, as well as provide him a change of clothes.

Source:

CDCR Seeking Incarcerated Person Who Escaped During Transport to Kern County Courthouse – News Releases

Whither Syria?

Abu Mohammed al-Golani (42) who deposed Bashar al-Assad (second from right). (Photo: circa 2016, AP)

Muhammad Al-Golani’s success on the battlefield follows years of maneuvering among extremist organizations while eliminating competitors and former allies.

Along the way he moved to distance himself from al-Qaida, polishing his image and his extremist group’s de-facto “salvation government” in an attempt to win over international governments and the country’s religious and ethnic minorities.

Rebel commander Anas Salkhadi later appeared on state TV and sought to reassure Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, saying: “Syria is for everyone, no exceptions. Syria is for Druze, Sunnis, Alawites, and all sects.”

Syrian President Bashar Assad has arrived in Moscow with his family and given asylum. Moscow had received guarantees from Syrian insurgents of the security of Russian military bases and diplomatic posts in Syria.

The US carried out a major round of airstrikes on Islamic State targets, warning the terror group against trying to regain strength in the country. The operation included dozens of airstrikes on over 75 targets involving ISIS operatives and camps using B-52 bombers, F-15 fighter jets and A-10 close-air support attack aircraft “to ensure that ISIS does not seek to take advantage of the current situation to reconstitute in central Syria”.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the IDF to seize the buffer zone that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria.

Just as the Taliban suddenly swept into power in Afghanistan, so did these Sunni insurgents. Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran were unable to help the Syrian Army. Demoralized and unmotivated, the army quickly dissolved, just like Kabul’s military causing both corrupt regimes to collapse with their leaders fleeing. Israel quickly offered the olive branch of peace by seizing strategic territory in the Golan Heights and striking suspected chemical weapons sites and long-range rockets. The US pounded Islamic State (IS) guerillas not affiliated with the al-Golani’s bloc.

The key influencers in the new Syria will be Turkiye and Saudi Arabia, both countries that support foreign Sunni Muslim movements. Ankara also supports Arab and Turkmen proxies that target Kurdish militias in northern Syria where 900 US servicemen have been deployed to conduct anti-ISIS operations.

Jordan will have a central role with the new Syria. Amman has an excellent intelligence service and as a moderate Sunni government can act as an interlocutor between Damascus and her neighbors. But the Hashemite Kingdom is also concerned about the instability that a militant Salafist regime brings to the region. Secular Lebanon, home to several faiths, has similar concerns.

Iran and Russia are the biggest international losers with the ousting of the Assad Regime, but Moscow seems to have been able to secure its naval base in Tartus. Tehran lost an ally from the Shia Crescent. The same can be said of Lebanese Hezbollah which relied on their Shia-led neighbor for support. The other losers in this regime change may be Syria’s non-Sunni minorities which the Assad regime tolerated, such as the Christians, Yezidis, and Druze. And Bashir al-Assad was seen as the protector of the Alevi Shias in Syria who may face retribution at the hands of their new Sunni overlords.

An opposition fighter steps on a broken bust of the late Syrian President Hafez Assad in Damascus, Syria, 8 Dec 2024. The family’s 50-year rule finally ended. (Photo: AP / Hussein Malla)

Israel may have gained from the fall of Assad. But the new Sunni regime in Damascus may be more sympathetic and supportive of their fellow co-religionists, the Palestinians, who undergoing a genocide at the hands of the brutal Likud regime.

Sources:

Who is Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of Syria’s shock insurgency? | AP News

U.S. Central Command conducts dozens of airstrikes to eliminate ISIS camps in central Syria > U.S. Central Command > Press Release View

Pet Food Safety Recall: Blue Ridge Beef Puppy Mix Due to Salmonella Contamination

Blue Ridge Beef in Statesville, NC, is voluntarily recalling 9,600 lbs. of their 2 lb Puppy Mix due to a contamination of Salmonella.

The products were distributed between 6 and 23 Aug 2024 and packaged in clear plastic and sold primarily in retail stores located in Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York.

Salmonella can affect animals eating the products and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products.

Healthy people infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. Rarely, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers.

Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever, and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.

The problem was discovered when a customer’s litter of puppies became ill and reported the issue to VDACS.

Consumers who have purchased this product are urged to return to place of purchase or destroy the food in a way that children, pets, and wildlife cannot access. Do not sell or donate the recalled products. Do not feed the recalled product to pets or any other animals. Wash and sanitize pet food bowls, cups, and storage containers. Always ensure you wash and sanitize your hands after handling recalled food or any utensils that come in contact with recalled food. For more information contact blueridgebeefnc@yahoo.com or 704-873-2072

This recall is being made with the knowledge of the Food and Drug Administration.

Source:

Blue Ridge Beef Issues Voluntary Recall Blue Ridge Beef Puppy Mix Due to Salmonella Contamination | FDA

Amnesty International: Israel Committing Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza

(Photo: ©Mahmoud Issa /Anadolu via Getty Images)

“Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. These acts include killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction. Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them. Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now.”

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recently released similar findings, linked below.

The IDF killed at least 44,612 Palestinians and wounded 105,834 since 7 Oct 2023. On 15 Aug 2024 the IDF claimed more than 17,000 militants have been killed. Who are the remaining 27,612 deaths?

At this rate, nearly 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza will have been killed by air and drone strokes by year’s end. These figures exclude West Bank casualties.

Nearly 100,000 homes in Gaza were destroyed last year; obviously more since the dated report linked below.

The massive pager and walkie-talkie sabotage attack Israel perpetrated on Lebanon in Sep 2024 was considered an egregious violation of international war by the OHCHR. The attacks reportedly killed at least 32 people and maimed or injured 3,250, including 200 critically. Among the dead are a boy and a girl, as well as medical personnel. Around 500 people suffered severe eye injuries, including a diplomat. Others suffered grave injuries to their faces, hands, and bodies. This incident and the the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank fell outside the scope of this Amnesty International report.

Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter (Likud): “We’re rolling out Nakba 2023.” (Photo: Noam Moskowitz / Knesset spokesperson)

Avi Dichter is one of heck of a nice guy, isn’t he? If Mr. Dichter has dual Israeli and US citizenship, Donald Trump might ask him to join his administration. Remarkably, there are defenders, deniers, and apologists of this abominable genocide being perpetrated on Palestinians within the Democratic Party base. You may read their weak arguments and drivel in several liberal or democratic websites. Some parsed the wording of the Amnesty report in a feeble attempt to discredit it. And then these same polemicists wonder why the Democratic Party lost the anti-war vote and the election this past November.

Sources:

Amnesty concludes Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/a79363-report-special-committee-investigate-israeli-practices-affecting

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/12/7/live-dozens-killed-as-israel-attacks-refugee-camp-nearby-hospital

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-11-12/ty-article/israeli-security-cabinet-member-calls-north-gaza-evacuation-nakba-2023/0000018b-c2be-dea2-a9bf-d2be7b670000

https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/a79363-report-special-committee-investigate-israeli-practices-affecting

Exploding pagers and radios: A terrifying violation of international law, say UN experts | OHCHR

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67565872

US/Canada Product Recall: Anker Soundcore Lithium-Ion Battery Powered Bluetooth Speakers

33 incidents have been reported to the CPSC involving the lithium-ion batteries in the speakers overheating, some causing smoking and small fires, including one minor burn injury. 69,000 units were sold in the US, about 9,764 in Canada.

This recall involves the lithium-ion battery packs in Anker Soundcore Bluetooth Speakers sold exclusively on Amazon in 2023. Only lithium-ion battery packs in Anker Soundcore Bluetooth Speakers with models A3102016, A3302011 and A3302031 are included in this recall.

The recalled speakers can be identified by the unit’s “SN Code” which is visible on the underside of the Bluetooth Speakers. Consumers can type in the “SN Code” on Anker’s websites for these recalls https://us.soundcore.com/pages/a3102-recall and https://us.ankerwork.com/pages/a3302-recall to see if their product is recalled. Anker and Amazon have contacted all known purchasers.

[b]Lithium-ion batteries can be dangerous. Watch below what happens to the poor dogs after chewing on a battery. Both dogs and a cat escaped the fire unharmed.[/b]

Source:

Anker Soundcore Lithium-Ion Battery Powered Bluetooth Speakers Recalled Due to Fire Hazard; Sold Exclusively on Amazon.com by Anker Innovations | CPSC.gov

Hawaii: Over 200 Cats Saved from Wildfire

Link: https://lanaicatsanctuary.org/

Post-Election Democratic Party Dismay and Discourse: “Ready! Aim! Fire!!!”

Democratic Party voters and strategists are still conducting their post-mortem analysis of the 2024 catastrophe. Kamala Harris energetically filled rallies, selected a sound, competent, popular running mate in Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, set records in fund-raising, and trounced Donald Trump in their one nationally televised debate.

Yet, Kamala Harris lost both the Electoral College and the popular vote. 2004 was the last time the Democrats lost the popular vote (former US Navy Seal John Kerry: 48.3%; George “Dubya” Bush: 50.7%).

Post-COVID inflation, Latino male support shifting to the GOP, Kamala Harris not appearing on a podcast (racist blue-collar Joe Rogan), insufficient campaign time, or America was not ready for a woman of color to be POTUS, were factors that contributed to the Kamala Harris defeat in one way or another.

Not all, but some Democrats have reached their own infallible, unshakeable conclusion as to why Kamala Harris lost in 2024. A small but vocal portion of the Democratic Party blame the 3,500,000 Arab-Americans that did not vote for Kamala Harris on Election Day, particularly the community in swing-state Michigan.

Kamala Harris won a miserable 20% of the vote in Michigan while Donald Trump barely eked out a 1% edge over her (21% supported the Republican). Green Party candidate Jill Stein won the lion’s share with 59% of their vote. Had Dr. Stein selected a Palestinian-American VPOTUS running mate, she might have won even more votes in the Wolverine State. Kamala’s dismal numbers shouldn’t have surprised political strategists. TV commentator Mehdi Hasan said not only did Harris not court the Muslim and Arab America vote, Harris “actively spurned it.” Worse, US arms shipments to Israel continued unabated throughout the campaign season.

In the blogosphere, some Democrats claim that thanks to these spurned Arab-American Michiganders, “things will get worse for Palestinians” in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under Donald Trump: “So there!”

One furious blogger sounded like a war-hawk Likudnik by suggesting the US “carpet-bomb Dearborn, MI,” like the USAF did over the skies of North Vietnam in the 1960s and early 1970s. These words came from a Democrat.

44,500 Palestinians have been killed, over 105,000 wounded or maimed, and 2.3 million Gazans have been displaced. The UN warns of an imminent famine this winter in Gaza. So, how much worse could it get for Palestinians who are being slaughtered at an average rate of 3,000 per month since 7 Oct 2023, with a sitting Democrat in the White House?

The ones who have been hurling venomous vituperation at Arab-Americans– “hijab-wearers”— sound like Donald Trump with his tropes about “the enemy within.” We can almost hear them think: “Wouldn’t it be better without all these goddamned Arabs?” Basically, these angry Democrats made Arab-Americans a convenient but illogical scapegoat responsible for Kamala Harris’ cataclysmic loss.

Wiser would be for Democrats to look at the enormous anti-war segment of the American population for why they lost in November 2024 and not blame the “hijab wearers” or “Hamas lovers.”

Demonstrators protest outside the UN during a resolution to demand the cease-fire in Gaza on 12 Dec 2023 in NYC. (Photo by Kena Betancur / VIEWpress)

In early 2024, 67% of Americans of all political affiliations wanted the Biden/Harris Administration to join the international call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. US vetoes at the UN Security Council frustrated peacemakers. After being sidelined at the 2024 DNC Convention in Chicago, anti-war Democrats and Americans simply did not turn out nationally on 5 Nov for Kamala Harris. This explains the huge difference in numbers between 2020 Biden/Harris and 2024 Harris/Walz presidential elections.

In 2024 to protest the brutality of the Likud regime, USAF Airman Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Wash DC. (Photo: Social media)

To protest the brutality of the Saigon regime in 1963, Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Duc set himself on fire. (Photo: Public domain)

As history taught us, after anti-war Democrats were sidelined in 1968, they too did not turn out nationally for Hubert Humphrey, ushering in the corrupt Richard Nixon era. You may read the exact numbers for both elections in my 20 Nov post about the striking parallels between 1968 and 2024.

Being anti-war in 1968 did not make one a “Viet Cong lover”; being anti-war in 2002 did not make one a “jihadi lover;” being anti-war in 2024 did not make one a “Hamas lover.”

Indicted war criminal Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s unrelentless Nakba against the Palestinians and his incalcitrant lack of cooperation with the Biden Administration in reaching a ceasefire to free the hostages sealed the fate for the Democrats in 2024. In the US, the number of anti-war Americans far, far outnumber 3,500,000 Arab-Americans (who are not all eligible to vote by age). VPOTUS Kamala Harris may have been better served paying attention to the powerful antiwar sentiment reverberating throughout the American people as evidenced by the thousands of protests on US college campuses in 2024.

Sources:

How Kamala Harris Thumbed Her Nose at Arab American and Muslim Voters – CounterPunch.org

3.5 Million Reported Middle Eastern and North African Descent in 2020

Most Michigan Muslims voted for Jill Stein, followed by Trump, exit poll suggests

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1035521/popular-votes-republican-democratic-parties-since-1828/

Thích Quảng Duc: The Burning Monk | Barbara O’Brien

Aaron Bushnell: Aaron Bushnell: Candlelight Vigil Planned Outside Israeli Embassy In Washington DC For US Airman Who Set Himself On Fire | US News News, Times Now

Campus protests over Gaza are spreading: See our map

Two-Thirds of US Voters Across Political Spectrum Support Permanent Gaza Cease-Fire | Common Dreams

FBI Arrests NYC Woman Over FSB Contacts

Nomma Zarubina (Social media)

The US charged a Russian woman who engaged with anti-war opposition activists over false statements about her ties with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

NYC resident Nomma Zarubina (34) was accused of concealing her 2020 recruitment by an FSB agent under the code name “Alyssa,” according to the Russian America for Democracy in Russia (RADR).

“[Zarubina] aimed to build a network of US contacts among journalists, military personnel, think tank researchers and Russia experts to influence their perspectives,” RADR said.

Zarubina faces up to five years in prison if found guilty of making false statements to law enforcement agencies. She was released on $25,000 bail and banned from traveling outside New York. A judge scheduled a preliminary hearing in her case 30 days from 21 Nov.

On 19 Nov, the defendant spoke in Canada’s Parliament Hill at a conference on Russia’s future where she mingled with MPs, academics, and policy makers.

Zarubina has engaged with its community organizers across various cities, attended discussion panels hosted by US think tanks and posed for photos with notable Russian opposition figures since 2023. Zarubina recently began appearing as an expert at conferences held by the Free Nations of PostRussia Forum, a Poland-based platform that advocates for Russia’s decolonization and fragmentation into 41 independent states.

Russia last year labeled the Free Nations of PostRussia Forum an “undesirable organization,” and on 22 Nov designated 172 of what it called its “subdivisions” as terrorist organizations.

Zarubina advocated for a “United States of Siberia” at the forum’s joint panel with the Jamestown Foundation in April, according to the Russian civil activist news outlet activatica.org. Zarubina actively supported President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea on social media, according to an analysis by the investigative news website Agentstvo.

Zarubina wrote on Facebook that media reports about her arrest amount to “rumors, opinions and blackmail.”

Zarubina told the Sibir.Realii news outlet that she had been summoned by the Russian special services in late 2020 but denied receiving any instructions from them. She then claimed to voluntarily report those and other contacts with Russians to the FBI in April 2021.

“I’ve since been in touch with the Americans around once every six months,” the US-funded outlet quoted Zarubina as saying.

“I’ve known the people who arrested me for four years. I thought we had a very good relationship, I was kind of helping them,” she added.

Zarubina voiced fears that she may now become the target of Russia’s security services, which she said were unaware of her contacts with the FBI despite claiming to have her under surveillance in NY.

“This is no longer the level of false statements, but of treason. And it’s not safe for me to be in New York either.”

There is more to this story than meets the eye. As a covert influencer for the Kremlin, through a penny-ante 18 USC 1001 violation, Nomma Zarubina has been rendered ineffective by the FBI Counterintelligence Division. But there may be an undisclosed reason for her arrest and public exposure. If Nomma Zarubina attempted to walk the tight-rope as a double agent, then she failed both the FBI and the FSB. We shall see what fate has in store for our modern day Mata Hari.

Sources:

U.S. Charges Russian Woman Over FSB Contacts – Reports – The Moscow Times

Russian Woman Arrested in U.S. For Alleged Ties To Russian Intelligence

Russian consultant accused of spying for Moscow spoke at Parliament Hill forum two days before arrest by FBI – The Globe and Mail

Russian America for Democracy in Russia Inc – GuideStar Profile

Israel: Nakba Remorselessly Continues as Gaza Pummeled Again

A rescuer sifts through charred debris after an Israeli strike hit a makeshift camp for displaced Palestinians, in Mawasi Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on 4 Dec 2024. (Photo: AFP)

Israel launched more attacks on targets in Gaza. One IDF strike that hit a tent camp housing displaced people killed at least 21 and wounded 28 in southern Gaza. The IDF said its aircraft struck senior Hamas militants “involved in terrorist activities” in the area.

At least 15 bodies were brought to the hospital, but reaching a precise number of dead was difficult because many were dismembered, some without heads or badly burned. The strike hit the Mawasi area, a sprawling coastal camp housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

Earlier strikes elsewhere in Gaza killed eight people, including four children.

A wounded Palestinian child is carried on a stretcher at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, following an Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, central Gaza, 4 Dec 2024. (Photo: AP)

UN officials say there are no safe areas left in Gaza and that most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times.

Displaced Palestinians make their way as they flee the northern part of Gaza, amid an IDF operation in the northern Gaza Strip, 4 Dec 2024. (Photo: Reuters)

Further north, another Israeli airstrike hit three houses in Gaza City, killing at least ten people and wounding many others. Many victims were still trapped under the rubble with rescue operations under way.

11 people were killed in three airstrikes on areas in central Gaza, including six children and a medic. Five of the dead had been lining up outside a bakery.

A further nine Palestinians were killed by tank fire in Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 44,500 Palestinians, more than half of the verified deaths women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry. Israel says that the death toll includes thousands of militants it has killed.

As you read in the previous post, at one point more IDF soldiers are going to have pangs of guilt over their conduct in this horrible Nakba. Leaked videos of IDF personnel abusing Palestinian prisoners were a sign of discontent within the ranks of the Israeli military. PTSD, depression, alcohol/drug addiction, and suicides will take their toll on Israeli society as it did on America following all of her wars. In the meantime, more Palestinians will be killed and wounded; they too will be suffering from irrevocable PTSD.

This US Vietnam War veteran is homeless like millions of Palestinians and may be suffering from PTSD like them and Israelis (Photo: Courtesy of endhomelessness.org)

Source:

Dozens killed in new Israeli attacks in Gaza, Palestinian officials say

Norway: Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Alfalfa Sprouts Stricken 23

Norwegian officials are investigating a national outbreak of Salmonella that may be linked to alfalfa sprouts. 23 people had fallen in nine regions.

Patients have been reported since mid-October. They range in age from 18 to 79 with a median of 48 years old and 16 of them are women. Eight people have been hospitalized. Bacteria with a similar genetic profile have been detected in all patients, which suggests a common source of infection.

“Several of the infected people in the outbreak reported eating sprouts. Earlier this year, FHI also saw an increase in cases of Salmonella infection where sprouts have been suspected as the cause of disease,” said Umaer Naseer from FHI.

Consumers are advised to throw away sprouts purchased in recent weeks. This also applies to products where alfalfa sprouts are an ingredient, such as sandwiches, baguettes, salads, and wraps.

The suspicion is based on patient interviews, epidemiological data, patients’ purchasing information and product distribution patterns.

Norske Spirer has recalled products containing organic alfalfa sprouts from the market.

Norway recorded 757 Salmonella cases in 2023, with 37 percent infected in the country and 63 percent infected abroad. Three Salmonella outbreaks affected 14 people.

Swedish update

Meanwhile, in Sweden there has been a recall as authorities continue to investigate a different Salmonella outbreak also linked to sprouts.

The Public Health Agency of Sweden said 92 people from 18 regions have been infected with one of 12 genetically closely related Salmonella Typhimurium sequence type (ST) 36 variants.

Authorities made a connection between illness and consumption of alfalfa sprouts germinated from a certain seed batch. SydGrönt and Munkagrodden issued a recall and stopped germination from the seed lot.

Source:

Norway links Salmonella outbreak to sprouts | Food Safety News

Update: FBI Arrests Alleged Sex Predator John Doe 49

Thanks to all of you who identified the distinctive tattoos from a previous post, the FBI arrested alleged child abuser John Doe 49 AKA Christopher Lynn Driskill (48) of Texas. We knew John Doe 49 would be found with maximum public exposure, and he was. If convicted, this sexual deviant faces up to 30 years in federal prison.

If you are experiencing or witness child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 911.

The National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline — 800.656.HOPE (4673) — provides free, 24/7 support for those in need.

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

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation of criminal conduct, not evidence. Mr. Driskill is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Source:

Northern District of Texas | Alleged Child Molester Identified by His Distinctive Tattoos | United States Department of Justice

American Warzone: Three Dead, Five Wounded in Chicago’s Gage Park Neighborhood

Eight people were shot, including three fatally, Monday afternoon at a social gathering in Chicago’s Gage Park neighborhood.

The shooting was reported to police around 2:10 p.m. CST in the 3500 block of West 59th Street, Chicago Police Chief of Patrol Jon Hein told reporters in a press conference.

Hein said investigators were still conducting interviews. He described the victims as being four men and four women between the ages of 20 and 35. All were Hispanic. Six of the victims were located at the scene and were transported by ambulance to the hospital. The other two victims self-transported.

Asked if any of the victims were migrants, Hein retorted that their immigration status “is irrelevant at this time.”

“We have eight victims, and we’re going to solve this crime and find the individuals responsible for this heinous, terrible incident,” he said, calling on members of the public with information about the shooting to contact the authorities.

He added that police have previously received calls at the residence where the shooting took place. The circumstances leading up to the shooting were unclear, but Hein said the victims had been attending an unspecified social gathering.

The Windy City has been re-dubbed “Chiraq” because of the endemic shootings plaguing the metropolis. According to The Gun Violence Archive, a non-advocacy group that tallies gun violence across the US, there have been at least 473 mass shootings with four or more victims so far this year.

Per the CDC, in 2022 there were more than 48,000 firearm-related deaths in the US. That’s approximately 132 people dying from a firearm-related injury each day. These are war-time casualty numbers without an enemy invasion.

US Army medics treating the wounded during a Field Training Exercise (FTX). (Photo: US Army)

Sources:

8 shot, 3 fatally, in Chicago’s Gage Park neighborhood – UPI.com

Fast Facts: Firearm Injury and Death | Firearm Injury and Death Prevention | CDC

The Arctic Could Be Ice-Free by Summer 2027: What it Means for Weather, Shipping and Polar Bears

While most projections of the Arctic’s sea ice have focused on month-by-month conditions, a new study has revealed possible predictions down to the day.

Previous expectations had the Arctic Sea loss predicted around 2030, but these results reveal that an ice-free day could occur as early as late summer 2027.

Nine other simulations, while less likely, predict that it could occur within the next three to six years.

Scientists, from the study published in Nature Communications, say the Arctic’s first ice-free day is now inevitable and irreversible, regardless of how humans alter greenhouse gas emissions.

Source: Mappery.com

The Arctic Ocean covers a vast area of more than 16 million square kilometres, and for thousands of years, it has witnessed a natural seasonal event: layers of frozen seawater dramatically build up over the winter months into a thick ice cap that peaks in March before it melts in September.

In recent decades, however, this dramatic event has been less prevalent.

Sea ice has declined by more than 12 per cent every decade since 1978, when satellite imagery – the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer or ‘SMMR’ – started recording Arctic sea ice growth and retreat.

That’s 80,000 square kilometers every year – roughly the same size as Austria or the Czech Republic.

Scientists define ‘ice-free’ as the sea ice area dropping to less than one million square kilometers in a short time, which is considered a climate tipping point.

A team of international researchers used over 300 computer models to predict the first ice-free day. These showed an accelerated timeline compared to what was previously projected.

Rapid ice loss events are typically associated with intense winters and spring warming.

Long-term, if the Arctic Ocean is regularly declared ice-free, this could significantly impact the fragile ecosystem of the northernmost sea, including everything from the ‘emblematic polar bear to the crucial zooplankton,’ the study reveals.

Polar bear Gerda (six) cuddles up with her cub at Novosibirsk Zoo in Russia. Zoos may be the safest places for these poor creatures. (Photo: Vera Salnitskaya)

The day the Arctic shows ice-free conditions is symbolically significant. It will visually highlight how humans have changed one of our planet’s defining natural features: from a white to a blue Arctic Ocean.

The sun never sets in the Arctic during summer, so without the reflective ice reflecting sunlight into space, the ocean will absorb and distribute a substantial amount of heat around the Earth.

International waters do not have any jurisdiction, so commercial industries could exploit opportunities found in the warmer Arctic waters. They could fish and deep-mine previously inaccessible marine and mineral populations, while freight companies could take a quicker shipping route across the Northwest Passage.

The warming could also lead to more erratic and extreme weather events through changing wind and ocean current patterns.

Warmer years have already occurred: in March 2022, some of the Arctic was 50F/10C warmer than the average, which caused areas around the North Pole to almost melt.

The study’s authors say there is still a chance to delay the timeline for the sea ice melt in the near future.

“Any reductions in emissions would help preserve sea ice,” added Jahn.

Arctic-oriented military installations; mostly Russian.

The Kremlin is ready to exploit the untold wealth under the Arctic Sea and have military plans and resources specifically for that purpose, so the Kremlin welcomes the melting sea ice. Earlier this year, NORAD intercepted the first Chinese bombers flying near the ADIZ, accompanied by Russian planes. Beijing has eyes on the untapped resources in the Arctic as well.

In 2007, a Russian deep-sea submersible planted a flag on the Arctic seabed claiming the continental shelf. The area is estimated to hold 258 billion tons of fuel equivalent.

Sources:

The Arctic could be ice-free by summer 2027: What it means for weather, shipping and polar bears | Euronews

Russia in the Arctic – Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik

Speculation Swirling about President Biden Pardoning President-elect Donald J. Trump

President Gerald R. Ford pardoning Richard M. Nixon on national TV, 8 Sep 1974.

Democratic Congressman James Clyburn supports President Joe Biden pardoning Donald Trump, agreeing with Senator Joe Manchin (I-WVA) after Special Counsel Jack Smith filed to dismiss the two federal cases against the president-elect.

Speculation is rife and causing dismay among Democrats that such a sacrilege could even be entertained. The judicial system, including the Supreme Court, has– and will– blatantly shield Donald Trump from any legal jeopardy. State prosecutors have been stymied as well.

Either way, Trump has made a mockery of justice and will continue to do so after he leaves office, clearly demonstrating that wealthy oligarchs are above the law in the US.

President Biden may as well as get the last word in before he retires. So, here is the pardon that Joe Biden should read live soberly and somberly on his teleprompter in the Oval Office to a rapt, international audience like Gerald Ford exactly 50 years ago:

“Now, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Donald J. Trump for all offenses against the United States such as inciting insurrection, vile treachery, business fraud, racial discrimination, cowardly draft evasion, being an unregistered agent of the Russian government, tax avoidance, Mammon-like graft, voter suppression, plundering classified information, slander, libel, sexual misconduct, and manifest deception against the American people, which he, Donald J. Trump, has heinously committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from June 14, 1946 through January 19, 2025.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this tenth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-four.”

JOSEPH R. BIDEN

This way, the message is heard far and wide and will last forever. Plus, Joe Biden gets in the last word about Donald J. Trump on international TV.

And kick for that matter. “Here’s a pardon for you, Donald!”

Source:

Donald Trump Pardon Supported by Top Democrat – Newsweek

Affectionate Cats

Emmanuel Macron and the Mass Murderer

Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (L) welcomes French President Emmanuel Macron (R) at the Royal Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo: Bandar Aljaloud / AP)

President Macron is meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) ostensibly to discuss peace in the Middle East during his three-day state visit just as a political crisis threatens to topple the French government. The agenda includes ways to strengthen Lebanon’s military and the so-called “Two-State Solution” for Israel and Palestine. The optics of such a conference looks benevolent. In 2021, Macron became one of the first Western leaders to meet Prince Mohammed in Saudi Arabia after the 2 Oct 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul.

But in reality, a President Macron is in Riyadh to drum up business for the French economy. A caravan of 50 senior officials from major French companies including TotalEnergies, EDF and Veolia, as well as start-ups in artificial intelligence and quantum physics accompanied him. Importantly, Paris wants Riyadh to acquire French-made Rafale fighter jets and all the incidental, technical, and training contracts worth billions that would come with it. This is directly meant to deal with oil-producing Shia-led Iran.

Rafale F3R Fighter Jet (Photo: Dassault Aviation / A. Pecchi)

Under the thin veil of finding peace in the Middle East, Emmanuel Macron is dealing with Muhammad bin Salman, the man behind the heinous torture, murder, and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi. On 2 Oct 2018, the sadistic MBS listened in gleefully to the transmitted sounds of the butchery sent by his clumsy assassins. Linked at bottom is the official ODNI redacted version of this atrocity. Caught but embarrassed, the Saudi government eventually ‘punished’ the hit team calling it a ‘rogue operation’, but MBS walked away unscathed, becoming an international pariah along the way.

Undated photo of the late Jamal Khashoggi, Time’s Person of the Year in 2018.

But worse than this grisly murder which President Biden said was “unacceptable and won’t be tolerated,” MBS is responsible for the man-made famine in Yemen which killed an estimated 130,000 innocent Yemeni Shiites.

The Houthis are a Shia minority in Yemen, seen as apostates by the majority Sunnis on the Saudi Peninsula. After the Yemen government collapsed earlier this century, Saudi Arabia, led by the king and Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MBS), supported the Yemeni Sunnis in the ensuing civil war. After the Yemeni Shias defeated and humiliated the Saudi Army in 2015, MBS instituted a Saudi air and naval blockade of Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen. This created a humanitarian disaster of starvation and disease. The UN estimates an estimated 130,000 deaths from lack of food, health services, and infrastructure as of December 2020.

Hashem Mahmoud Atin, a 10-month-old displaced child suffering from acute malnutrition and who is unable to reach a hospital for treatment, is held by his mother at a refugee camp in Yemen.

The famine and blockade propelled the beleaguered Shia Yemenis into the arms of Tehran and Lebanese Hezbollah, their fellow Shia co-religionists. This is why we see Houthi drone counter-strikes against Western maritime targets in the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden after Israel conducts an Extra-Judicial Killing (XJK) in Lebanon, Syria, or sovereign Iranian territory (via drone, missile, jet, or assassin). The Shia Houthis are simply supporting the two groups that are helping them to survive. This humanitarian catastrophe can be laid squarely at the feet of the notorious MBS.

Emmanuel Macron meeting up with the fabulously wealthy but odious Crown Prince for the sake of the stumbling French economy should come as no surprise. The President of the Fifth Republic recently stated that France won’t honor the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against PIFWC Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, unlike most of the EU. And France is the home of INTERPOL in Lyon. Jerusalem may have threatened to withhold the ceasefire with Lebanese Hezbollah (LH) to coerce that public comment from Macron, desperate to maintain influence in the Middle East.

While Macron (who heads La Francophonie and has a sizeable domestic Arab constituency) and MBS perform a kabuki dance about the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza or the West Bank and calling for elections in Lebanon, they are really making mega-business deals. Arguably, Beijing has done more for the Palestinians than Paris or Riyadh.

Mahmoud al-Aloul from Fatah (L), Chinese FM Wang Yi (C), and Mussa Abu Marzuk, from Hamas (R) in Beijing on 23 July 2024. China successfully reconciled their differences. For decades Beijing has pushed for international recognition of Palestine; France, the UK, and the US have not. (Photo: Pedro Pardo / AFP / Getty Images)

In all fairness to France, they are like the US in opposing Vladimir Putin’s Nakba against Ukraine and support his ICC arrest warrant. Both are sending Kiev military and economic assistance. France does not oppose Benjamin Netanyahu’s “special military operation” against the Palestinians and oppose his arrest warrant, like the US. If the French diplomatic corps can’t understand why their influence in the Arab world has waned considerably over the decades, their myopia is worse than I thought.

Sources:

Assessment-Saudi-Gov-Role-in-JK-Death-20210226v2.pdf

France, Saudi Arabia sign strategic partnership, call for fresh elections in Lebanon

Macron’s Saudi visit targets arms deals and economic diversification

Saudi crown prince approved murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi: U.S. intelligence report | CBC News

Hamas and Fatah sign agreement in Beijing ‘ending’ their division, China says | CNN

Saudi Court Sentence Five To Death For Journalist Khashoggi’s Murder – SKN News

Xi pledges more Gaza aid and talks trade at summit with Arab leaders | AP News

California Man Arrested for Allegedly Exporting Shipments of Firearms, Ammunition, and Other Military Items to North Korea

Kim Jong-un firing an automatic pistol. The photographer is ill-positioned as he is down-range of the weapon and no one seems to be wearing hearing or eye protection. (Undated image)

The FBI arrested Shenghua Wen (41) of Ontario, CA, for allegedly exporting shipments of firearms, ammunition, and other military items to North Korea that were concealed inside shipping containers bound from Long Beach through Hong Kong to North Korea.

The FBI seized two devices that he intended to send to North Korea for military use: a chemical threat identification device and a hand-held broadband receiver that detects eavesdropping devices. Law enforcement also seized approximately 50,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition that Wen allegedly obtained to send to North Korea.

(Photos: FBI)

(Photos: FBI)

Wen is a Chinese national who is illegally in the US after overstaying his student visa and is therefore prohibited from possessing any firearms or ammunition. Wen lacks the required licenses from the US government to export ammunition, firearms, and the other devices that law enforcement seized at his home to North Korea.

Wen is charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

The MSS is a vast apparatus and unknown is whether the Chinese government was aware of this conspiracy or whether they looked the other way. Espionage continues to be a less expensive way of acquiring sensitive technology from the West. The 50,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition would most likely be intended for North Korean espionage agents or their Special Forces, like the ones who deployed to Russia to fight against Ukraine.

The Browning Hi-Power 9mm pistol above is issued to North Korean spies and commandos.

North Korean supremo Kim Jong-un enjoying a cigarette and light refreshment while his people starve. Nine out of ten North Koreans suffer from food insecurity. (Photo: 13 Jun 2022, Reuters)

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

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | California Man Arrested for Allegedly Exporting Shipments of Firearms, Ammunition and Other Military Items to North Korea | United States Department of Justice

COVID Map Update Reveals New States With ‘Very High’ Wastewater Activity

More states are detecting “very high” levels of the COVID-10 virus in wastewater.

According to the US CDC, Idaho, New Mexico and South Dakota all had “very high” levels of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in their wastewater during the week between 17 and 23 Nov., Between 10 and 16 Nov, only New Mexico’s wastewater had this level of the virus present.

Arizona, Arkansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire currently have “high” levels of COVID-19, while “moderate” levels were detected in Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, and Wyoming.

Nineteen states had “low” levels, while 14 states and Wash DC had “minimal” levels of the SARS-CoV-2 virus present in wastewater.

The COVID-19 virus is spreading but cases of illness are not exploding because of the previous vaccination program. If Americans do not want to endure another nightmarish lockdown, they should take annual booster shots and maintain good hygiene habits. Covering the mouth when sneezing or coughing, as well as washing the hands constantly will help. The US Senate can assist by not confirming any of the frauds or quacks the President-elect seems to have in mind for his imminent administration.

Source:

https://www.newsweek.com/covid-wastewater-map-cdc-virus-levels-variants-very-high-levels-1994758

Why Israeli Men Volunteered to Fight, But Now Refuse to Return to Gaza

Excerpted from Fergal Keane’s excellent article. She is a Special Correspondent to the BBC.

Look at these heavily armed IDF soldiers warn this Palestinian child riding a bicycle. The troop on the left seems to be aiming his assault rifle at this waif. (Photo: circa 2012)

Yuval Green (26) is among those refusing to continue fighting in Gaza.

Yuval immediately answered his country’s call to arms after the 7 Oct 2023 surprise attack by armed Palestinian groups in southern Israel. It was a mission to defend Israelis. Then came the fighting in Gaza itself. Things seen that could not be unseen. Like the night he saw cats eating human remains in the roadway.

“Start to imagine, like an apocalypse. You look to your right, you look to your left, all you see is destroyed buildings, buildings that are damaged by fire, by missiles, everything. That’s Gaza right now.”

IDF soldiers pass by destroyed homes inside the Gaza Strip. (IDF Handout via REUTERS)

One year on, the young man who reported for duty on 7 Oct 2023 is refusing to fight. There have been social media posts from soldiers in Gaza abusing prisoners, destroying property, and mocking Palestinians, including numerous examples of soldiers posing with people’s possessions – including womans’ dresses and underwear.

“I was trying to fight that at the time as much as I could,” says Yuval. “There was a lot of dehumanizing, a vengeful atmosphere.”

His personal turning point came with an order he could not obey.

“They told us to burn down a house, and I went to my commander and asked him: ‘Why are we doing that?’ And the answers he gave me were just not good enough. I wasn’t willing to burn down a house without reasons that make sense, without knowing that this serves a certain military purpose, or any type of purpose. So, I said no and left.”

That was his last day in Gaza.

Yuval is the co-organizer of a public letter signed by more than 165 – at the latest count – IDF reservists, and a smaller number of permanent soldiers, refusing to serve, or threatening to refuse, unless the hostages are returned – something that would require a ceasefire deal with Hamas.

The UN has said reports of alleged torture and sexual violence by Israeli guards were “grossly illegal and revolting” and enabled by “absolute impunity.”

Ten years ago, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, warned about this phenomenon in what he called the ‘religification’ of the IDF.

“Within this context, messages about Jewish superiority and demonization of the enemy are fertile ground for fostering brutality and releasing soldiers from moral constraints.”

Michael Ofer-Ziv (29) was an operations officer in a brigade war room. (Photo: Getty Images)

The decisive moment for Michael Ofer-Ziv came when the IDF shot three Israeli hostages in Gaza in Dec 2023. The three men approached the army stripped to the waist, and one held a stick with a white cloth. A soldier had felt threatened and opened fire, killing two hostages. A third was wounded but then shot again and killed, when a soldier ignored his commander’s ceasefire order.

“I remember thinking to what level of moral corruption have we got… that this can happen. And I also remember thinking, there is just no way this is the first time [innocent people were shot]… It’s just the first time that we are hearing about it, because they are hostages. If the victims were Palestinians, we just would never hear about it.”

Coriolanus wishes these young fellow warriors well in a future of justice, peace, and tranquility in the Middle East.

The numbers of war-resisters in Israel will grow as war-related guilt, pangs of conscience, memories of horror, and PTSD spread throughout the ranks. This is an all too familiar pattern with war. As noted in a previous post, high school girls will be refusing induction into the IDF, as did a young man who will face judicial consequences for his moral stand.

Gil Zalsman, the Chair of the Israeli National Council for Suicide Prevention, had warned about the “tsunami of mental illnesses” among IDF personnel in the occupied territories and the potential increase in suicide cases after the end of the war. He stressed that referrals to crisis and mental health centers in the occupied territories increased by 40% last year.

On 22 Nov, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper wrote that at least six IDF soldiers who fought in Gaza and Lebanon, committed suicide in recent months. In the US, an average of 20 veterans dies from suicide every day.

Our special thanks to Fergal Keane at “the BeeB.” Her complete article may be read at the link below.

Source:

IDF refusers: The men who volunteered but now won’t fight in Gaza

Israeli official warns against increase in mental illnesses in occupied territories – IRNA English

United States military veteran suicide – Wikipedia

Food Recall in California: Raw Farm Milk and Cream

Raw Farm, LLC is voluntarily recalling its raw milk and cream products due to possible bird flu contamination. Californians are strongly encouraged not to consume any raw milk or cream products in their possession or still on store shelves. Pasteurized milk remains safe to drink.

Raw Farm milk products have tested positive for bird flu at both retail and dairy storage and bottling sites in recent days.

Customers should immediately return any remaining product to the retail point of purchase.

While this voluntary recall only applies to raw whole milk and cream, due to multiple bird flu detections in the company’s operation the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) urges consumers to avoid consuming any Raw Farm products for human consumption including raw milk, cream, cheese, and kefir, as well as raw milk pet food topper and pet food kefir marketed to pet owners.

In addition to the statewide voluntary recall, CDFA has placed the farm under quarantine, suspending any new distribution of its raw milk, cream, kefir, butter and cheese products produced on or after 27 Nov.

No human bird flu cases associated with the product have been confirmed to date, and the state is working closely with federal and local partners to investigate the situation and better understand how it might impact consumers. California continues to monitor and respond to bird flu outbreaks in dairy cows and poultry. Bird flu virus levels have been demonstrated to be high in raw milk from infected cows, and sporadic human cases identified in workers in close contact with infected dairy cows and their milk indicate that raw milk is infectious to humans.

Public health experts have long warned consumers against consuming raw milk or raw milk products due to elevated risks of foodborne illness. Outbreaks due to Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, toxin producing E. coli, Brucella, Campylobacter, and many other bacteria have all been reported related to consuming raw dairy products. Raw milk products are not pasteurized, a heating process that kills bacteria and viruses such as bird flu.

Pasteurized milk and pasteurized milk products are safe to consume because the heating process kills pathogens, including bird flu, that can cause illness.

Drinking or accidentally inhaling raw milk containing bird flu virus may lead to illness. In addition, touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands after touching raw milk with bird flu virus may also lead to infection. Symptoms of bird flu infection in humans include eye redness or discharge, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, diarrhea, vomiting, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue, trouble breathing and fever. Anyone who has consumed these specific products and is experiencing these symptoms, should immediately contact their health care provider or local health department.

Pet Safety and Raw Milk Pet Food Products

CDPH advises consumers to avoid raw milk “pet food topper” and “pet food kefir” products marketed to pet owners. They should neither eat this food themselves nor feed it to their pets. Cats, dogs, and other animals may become sick with bird flu after drinking raw milk. Cats on infected dairy farms in multiple states have died from bird flu, most likely from drinking raw milk from infected cows. CDPH encourages pet owners to avoid feeding their pets raw pet food products in general, including raw milk-based products. To further limit risk to pets, pet owners should also keep their pets away from sick or dead birds.

Pasteurized milk is safe to drink. Pasteurization, one of the most significant scientific food safety discoveries in human history, is the process of heating milk to specific temperatures for a certain length of time to kill many microorganisms and enzymes that lead to spoilage and illness. Pasteurization kills the bird flu virus and other harmful germs that can be found in raw milk. CDPH advises consumers not to drink raw milk or eat raw milk products due to the risk of foodborne illnesses.

Since early October, California has reported 31 confirmed human cases of bird flu, 30 of whom had direct contact with infected dairy cows. No person-to-person spread of bird flu has been detected in California or the US. 

Farmers should contact the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s bird flu hotline at 866-922-2473 if they suspect their animals are infected with bird flu.

Source:

State Secures Broad Voluntary Recall of Raw Milk and Cream to Protect Consumers

Stowaway On Delta Airlines NYC-Paris Flight Bypassed Security Checkpoints at JFK

Different flight paths between NYC and Paris.

A Russian woman who stowed away on a flight from New York to Paris last week was able to sneak through the security checkpoint by starting off in a lane reserved for airline flight crews. Ms. Svetlana Dali (57) was able to get through an advanced imaging technology body scanner at JFK and dodge document and ID checks during the security process.

Once the woman proceeded to the gate, she placed herself in the middle of what appeared to be a family traveling together.

Investigators believe a contributing factor may have been the massive holiday weekend crowds at the airport. The TSA said it screened nearly 2.7 million passengers at US airports on that Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

TSA checkpoints at JFK (Photo: TSA)

The woman is attempting to claim asylum in France. But French authorities are apparently denying Svetlana Dali entry to the country because she doesn’t meet the criteria for asylum nor did she have a visa, leaving her in limbo in the airport.

The Russian national remains in France after allegedly causing a disturbance and refusing to board a return flight to the US a couple of days ago.

While Ms. Dali hasn’t been arrested or detained in France, she could face charges such as criminal trespass and theft of services upon her return to the US.

But it remains unclear how she was able to board the plane.

Once on board, Ms Dali moved from one bathroom to another and never took a seat until flight attendants began to notice. Once confronted, The stowaway repeated: “I do not want to go back to the USA. Only a judge can make me go back to the USA.”

The woman was expected to be accompanied by six US marshals on her flight back to NY.

Inspectors from the TSA are preparing a civil case against the stowaway after reviewing airport security video from inside JFK. The TSA cannot bring criminal charges, though it can refer them to the Justice Department. It’s unclear whether any criminal charges will be filed.

Delta Airlines has not said how the woman was able to board the plane once she made it past the TSA checkpoint but “is conducting an exhaustive investigation of what may have occurred.”

This clever and determined woman was evidently hell-bent on departing the US. She may have been absconding justice or the prospects of living in the US under the incoming Trump administration may have been too much for her. Wealthy people have already begun their exodus, like actress Eva Longoria.

Investigators will soon determine Ms. Dali’s motive for fleeing the US and if she was genuinely seeking asylum in France. Instead of fining and punishing this woman, TSA, Delta Airlines, and the FAA should learn from her experience. Should federal charges be brought before Ms. Dali, they would be in the Eastern District of NY where some compassionate judges are sitting at the bench.

Sources:

Stowaway caught on Paris flight attempts to claim asylum

Woman who sneaked onto Paris flight bypassed checkpoints by jumping into different security lines, TSA says | CNN

Mystery Disease in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Kills 143 People

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

A flu-like disease that has killed dozens of people over two weeks is being investigated in southwestern DRC, not to be confused with neighboring Congo-Brazzaville to the west.

The deaths were recorded between 10 and 25 Nov in the Panzi health zone of Kwango province. Symptoms include fever, headache, coughing, and anemia.

The deputy provincial governor reported that between 67 and 143 people had died. He warned the population to exercise caution and refrain from contact with dead bodies to avoid contamination. WHO is aware of the unidentified disease and has a team on the ground working with local health services to collect samples.

Congo is already dealing with massive food insecurity as eight million internally displaced people (IDP) require daily humanitarian assistance.

Bulengo IDP Camp. (Photo: Concern Worldwide)

Moreover, Congo is also plagued with the mpox epidemic. More than 47,000 suspected cases and over 1,000 suspected deaths from the disease have been recorded in the Central African country. Readers may recall this terrifying, but controversial, bestseller below about the Ebola virus which became a TV series.

The DRC has one of the largest reserves of potential wealth, including 200 million acres of cultivable land and large reserves of gold, diamonds, copper, zinc, coltan, and cobalt. Yet, the DRC is the sixth-lowest country on the UN’s Human Development Index (HDI). 75% of the population live below the poverty line and GDP per capita is $1,500.

Since independence, the former personal territory of King Leopold II of Belgium has suffered from political instability, a lack of infrastructure, corruption, and centuries of both commercial and colonial extraction and exploitation. Just recently, Belgium has just been found guilty of crimes against humanity for the forced removal of five mixed-race children from their mothers in colonial Congo. Five plaintiffs were forcibly removed from their Congolese mothers between 1948 and 1953 as small children and sent to a Catholic mission far from their homes. The total number of such inhuman abductions by the Belgian colonial government has not yet been uncovered.

The above Tintin book written in 1931 was once banned in several countries for its naive and racist portrayal of the natives while highlighting “benevolent” Belgian rule. Herge was, of course, a Belgian and conservative Catholic who survived Nazi occupation.

Sources:

Health officials investigate mystery disease in southwest Congo after 143 deaths | AP News

World Health Organization

CIA

Democratic Republic of the Congo | World Food Program

The Democratic Republic of the Congo crisis, explained: Five things to know in 2024 | Concern Worldwide

Belgium found guilty of crimes against humanity in colonial Congo | Belgium | The Guardian

Why Humans are So Obsessed with Cats

Ukraine Russia Update: WMDs, Economics

Soldiers prepare to destroy a ballistic missile at the former Soviet military rocket base in Vakulenchuk, Ukraine, 24 Dec 1997.

The US is not considering returning to Ukraine the nuclear weapons it gave up after the Soviet Union collapsed, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

A New York Times article last month that said some unidentified Western officials had suggested US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine the arms before he leaves office.

“That is not under consideration, no. What we are doing is surging various conventional capacities to Ukraine so that they can effectively defend themselves and take the fight to the Russians, not [giving them] nuclear capability,” he told ABC.

Last week, Russia said the idea was “absolute insanity” and that preventing such a scenario was one of the reasons why Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.

Kiev inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after its 1991 collapse, as it inherited Crimea, but gave up its atomic arsenal under a 1994 agreement (the Budapest Memorandum), in return for security assurances from Russia, the US, and Britain.

Former US President Bill Clinton has expressed regret about his role in persuading Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons in 1994. Mr. Clinton suggested that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if Kiev still had its nuclear deterrent. These security commitments were broken in 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, and further shattered when it began a wider war against Ukraine in Feb 2022.

Russia’s 2025 Budget: 35% for National Defense

President Vladimir Putin has approved a new, multiyear budget that sets defense spending for next year at record-high levels, signaling no let-up in Russia’s determination to defeat Ukraine.

The approved budget, which was published on the government’s main website on December 1, calls for 35.5 percent of all spending to be allocated for national defense in 2025. That’s up from a reported 28.3 precent this year. The $145 billion defense-related spending is at a level not seen since the Cold War.

The flood of government spending has caused the economy to wobble in recent months. Officials have steadily ratcheted up already high wages and benefits for volunteer soldiers to fight in Ukraine, a sign that recruiting efforts are growing more difficult as the war stretches on more than 32 months.

But that has resulted in labor shortages in many industries, driving up wages and prices. Prices for basic staples like potatoes or butter have skyrocketed in recent month. The unemployment rate has dropped to 2.4 percent

The central bank, meanwhile, has hiked interest rates to levels not seen in years, in a bid to cool down the economy. But that in turn has dampened real estate transactions — as mortgages become unaffordable — and prompted business leaders to grouse about the potential for bankruptcies.

The “Guns versus Butter” argument faced by Western democracies is not an issue for authoritarian regimes like Russia or North Korea and the common man continues to suffer with food insecurity and malnourishment. Iran has been cutting back on social services to help fund its defense against Israel, evidenced by the poor quality of food being served in their national universities. You may remember my recent post about food poisoning in Iran and the complaints from the students and teachers.

Putin’s Hypersonic Missiles Not Invincible

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed in a video address the day after the Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile destroyed a target in Ukraine that his superweapon could not be intercepted:

There are “no means of countering such weapons today. Missiles attack targets at a speed of Mach 10, which is 2.5 to 3 kilometers per second. Air defense systems currently available in the world and missile defense systems being created by the Americans in Europe cannot intercept such missiles. It is impossible.”

The Oreshnik is a new, experimental intermediate-range missile derived from the RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile. This hypersonic missile reached Mach 11 during its flight.

While hypersonic weapons present unique challenges to missile defense, experts and available evidence suggest that Putin’s claim is an exaggeration of the current technological realities.

Hypersonic missiles travel “at speeds greater than Mach 5” while maneuvering unpredictably, making them far more difficult to track and intercept than conventional ballistic missiles. Their speed and agility significantly cut the time defense systems have to respond, posing a serious challenge to current radar and sensor technologies.

However, describing interception as “impossible” ignores ongoing advancements in missile-defense technology. Systems such as the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense are designed to counter fast-moving threats, including some hypersonic missiles. While not foolproof, these systems are continually being upgraded to address evolving threats.

According to Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at the Oslo Nuclear Project, the US and Israel possess anti-missile systems capable of shooting down an Oreshnik.

“Systems like SM-3 from Aegis or Aegis Ashore, as well as most likely Arrow 3 and THAAD, can absolutely deal with this type of threat,” Hoffmann told CNN on 22 Nov.

Several countries, including the US, are developing technologies specifically aimed at countering hypersonic threats. Key initiatives include:

a) The Glide Phase Interceptor being developed by Northrop Grumman in collaboration with Raytheon. These companies are working under contracts with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to create a system capable of intercepting hypersonic missiles during the glide phase of their trajectory, when they are most vulnerable.

b) Advanced radar systems such as the new generation Long-Range Discrimination Radar are designed to detect and track hypersonic weapons.

c) Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) are laser-based systems being explored as potential countermeasures for hypersonic threats.

DragonFire DEW fires during a trial by the UK MOD in Jan 2024. (Photo: UK MoD / Open Government License

Despite Putin’s claim, Russia has not provided conclusive evidence that the Oreshnik missile is operationally deployed or that it has been tested in conditions replicating modern Western missile defense environments. So far, Russia has used Oreshnik once and against a country that does not have Western air defense systems capable of shooting down hypersonic missiles.

According to Maxim Starchak, an expert on Russian nuclear policy and strategic weapons, Moscow tends to exaggerate its capabilities and “itself may not actually know if air defense systems can intercept this [Oreshnik] missile. These claims remain unsubstantiated without tests or real combat attempts to shoot it down.”

Previous tests of Russian hypersonic weapons, such as the Avangard glide vehicle, have demonstrated capabilities but also faced skepticism regarding their real-world applicability and effectiveness.

Furthermore, the US and its allies have conducted successful interceptions of fast-moving targets in controlled environments. For example, tests of THAAD and Aegis systems have demonstrated their ability to intercept medium-range ballistic missiles, albeit inconsistently against hypersonic targets.

Putin’s statement fits a pattern of emphasizing Russia’s advanced military capabilities to assert strategic dominance and influence international perception. Previously, he made similar claims about the impossibility of intercepting other weapons systems, including the Sarmat ICBM and the Zircon hypersonic missile.

Despite Russian claims that the missile is on “combat alert,” the Sarmat has faced significant setbacks since its 2022 flight test, with four failed launches, the latest occurring on 21 Sep 2024.

The Zircon missile, capable of reaching speeds up to Mach 9, is one the Kremlin’s fastest hypersonic weapons.

Courtesy of graphicnews.com and Getty Images

Nevertheless, when Russia launched two Zircon missiles at Kiev on 25 Mar, according to Ukrainian sources, both were intercepted by air defense systems.

Photographs of missile debris were later published. Systems like the Patriot and the SAMP/T can destroy the Zircon in its terminal phase, slowing to Mach 4.5, a view supported by Western analysts.

“The good news is that in missile warfare, especially dealing with Russian weapons, ‘claimed’ and ‘actual’ capabilities are often very different. … Is Zircon an undefeatable superweapon: NO. Is learning how to counter it difficult, YES,” Sharpe wrote 3 Apr 2024 in The Telegraph.

Sources:

US will not return nuclear weapons to Ukraine

Putin Approves New Budget With Record Defense Spending

Putin claims new Oreshnik missile is unstoppable, sparking doubts

Clinton regrets persuading Ukraine to give up nuclear weapons

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Urges ICC Member States to Address Threats to Tribunal

Chief prosecutor Karim Khan posing for a picture at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 27 May 2022. The Kremlin put Khan on a ‘wanted’ list after the Hague-based court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin in Mar 2022. (Photo: AFP)

HRW made the appeal in a statement issued before the annual session of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Assembly of States Parties in The Hague.

HRW said the court has been under “extreme pressure” since ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas’s Mohammed Deif. These include threats from US legislators who said they would impose sanctions on ICC officials and those cooperating with the court.

“ICC warrants, whether against Vladimir Putin or Benjamin Netanyahu, send a critical message that no one is above the law,” said Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch.

“ICC member countries should make a commitment during their annual meeting to take all necessary steps to ensure that the ICC’s crucial work for justice can continue without obstruction.”

Notably, Special Counsel Jack Smith (pictured below) completed an assignment successfully prosecuting war criminals at the ICC before returning to the US to deal with Donald J. Trump.

Rejecting the arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu would make the US a rogue superpower.

President Biden has already recklessly said Netanyahu’s arrest warrant is “outrageous.” I doubt that US-AG Merrick Garland would agree with his boss since he assigned the former ICC prosecutor to go after Donald Trump. If the US does not abide by the rule of law, why would Washington expect its citizens or other countries to respect domestic or international laws?

Moreover, the loathsome Benjamin Netanyahu– the “curse of Israel”– disgustingly went to a familiar tool in his bag by slandering those who say he is committing war crimes in Gaza as being antisemitic. Netanyahu uttered the same blasphemies earlier this year when hundreds of anti-war protests erupted on US campuses (and throughout the world) protesting the Nakba.

Well, that makes everybody pictured below, you, the loyal Followers of the Watch, as well as Coriolanus antisemites. How about them apples?

US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who ran for President in 2016.

(Undated image courtesy of Forward Magazine)

Holocaust survivor Rene Lichtman (R) at a vigil in Farmington Hills, MI protesting the ongoing Nakba on 30 Jun 2024. (Photo: WSWS)

Climate activist Greta Thunberg (R) with friends (social media)

Sources:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/12/2/live-israeli-forces-kill-10-palestinians-in-north-gaza-four-in-west-bank

Sanders: It Is Not Antisemitic to Oppose Israel’s Assault of Gaza | Truthout

‘Sophisticated’ Spy Ring Passed Secrets to Russia for Three Years

Bulgarian nationals Katrin Ivanova (L) and Vanya Gaberova (R) are on trial at the Old Bailey alongside Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev. (Imagery: Elizabeth Cook / PA)

A “sophisticated” UK-based spy ring passed secrets to Russia for nearly three years and gathered information on targets across Europe.

Three Bulgarian nationals – Katrin Ivanova (33), Vanya Gaberova (30), and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev (39) – allegedly carried out surveillance on individuals and places of interest to Russia.

Among those said to have been targeted were an award-winning Bulgarian journalist who worked with the late Russian opposition dissident Alexei Navalny. The journalist was allegedly the subject of discussions about killing or kidnapping him and taking him to Moscow. Other alleged discussions concerned the deployment of two female defendants in a “honey trap” ploy to capture more information.

Alison Morgan KC, opening the case for the prosecution on Thursday, said: “Over a period of nearly three years they sought to gather information for the benefit of Russia, an enemy of the UK, information about various targets, both people and physical locations. Information of particular interest to the Russian state. Their activity caused obvious and inevitable prejudice to the safety and interests of the United Kingdom.”

She said of the defendant’s alleged activities: “It was high risk and it was highly sophisticated. The defendants earned significant sums for what they were doing. None of them engaged in this activity blindly.”

The defendants allegedly worked with a number of other people who spied for Russia between 2020 and 2023 in London, Vienna, Valencia, Montenegro, and Stuttgart.

The spy ring included two more defendants, Orlin Roussev and Biser Dzhambazov, who have pleaded guilty to espionage charges. The defendants plotted with a Russian agent, Jan Marsalek, who was known as “Rupert Ticz” and was said to be an Austrian national, to obtain material useful to Russia.

Jurors were told that Dzhambazov (43) was in a relationship with both Ivanova and Gaberova, and the latter was formerly involved with Ivanchev.

Morgan said the defendants may try to “rely on the relationships” and suggest they were misled “or were simply following people around Europe out of love or dedication”.

The defendants were tasked to spy on prominent individuals of obvious interest to Russia, often because they were dissidents who had fled their homeland for their own safety. A range of activities were alleged including surveillance operations, following people around and finding out where they were and then reporting back to the Russian state.

Their nefarious activities allegedly included surveillance in 2022 at the Patch barracks, a US military base in Stuttgart, Germany, which the defendants believed to be a location where Ukrainian forces were being trained.

US Army Gen. Mark Milley, CJCS, meets with leaders responsible for the training of Ukrainians at Grafenwoehr, Germany, 16 Jan 2023. (Photo: Jordan Sivayavirojna / US Army)

Messages were exchanged between Marsalek and Roussev in which they discussed “options” relating to Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian journalist who has been the lead Russia investigator with Bellingcat, the award-winning investigative journalism group. These options were said to have included carrying out surveillance of him, kidnapping him and taking him to Moscow, killing him and infiltrating Bellingcat.

The defendants deny conspiring to collect information for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state between 30 Aug 2020 and 8 Feb 2023. Ivanova also denies possessing 18 false identity documents, including British and other passports and documents.

The trial is expected to go on until February next year.

Another Russian espionage ring has been rendered ineffective by the British security services. As non-diplomats, these spies will be incarcerated once convicted and no doubt they will be traded in a future prisoner swap with the Kremlin. The head of MI6 recently told a conference in Paris that Russian espionage and sabotage operations in Europe are at the highest in 40 years. British and friendly intelligence services have less than 50 days to work with the USIC before the pro-Kremlin Donald Trump assumes the Presidency. Rumors are already circulating that high-ranking CIA personnel are going to resign once Trump becomes POTUS next year.

Source:

‘Sophisticated’ spy ring passed secrets to Russia for three years, UK court told | UK news | The Guardian

Hawaii: Avian Influenza Confirmed in Backyard Flock of Birds

(Map: Courtesy of welt-atlas.de)

The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was detected in a backyard flock of various birds in Central O‘ahu. The property involved is within the area served by the Wahiawā Wastewater Treatment Plant, where a recent detection was reported through the National Wastewater Surveillance System.

This is the first confirmed detection of the virus in Hawai‘i. The virus detected here matches the strain that has infected domestic poultry on the US mainland.

HPAI causes severe illness with a high mortality rate among affected birds. With the confirmation of avian influenza, HDOA today issued a quarantine order on the site which requires that all birds on the property be depopulated and the premises cleaned and disinfected. While confirmatory tests were being conducted, HDOA had placed a hold order, which prevents movement of any animals from the property.

Human illness with H5N1 is uncommon and reported symptoms among humans infected in the US have been mild. People in Hawai‘i are unlikely to get sick from H5N1 influenza at this time. H5N1 infection in humans on the US mainland have been reported almost exclusively among workers who have close contact with infected animals. The most common symptoms of avian flu in humans are conjunctivitis and upper respiratory symptoms like sore throat and cough. Sustained human-to-human transmission has not been reported.

To report multiple or unusual illnesses in poultry, livestock, or other wild birds or animals, contact HDOA Animal Industry Division at 808-483-7102 or 808-837-8092.

Residents who believe they may have been exposed to sick birds or other wildlife should contact the Disease Outbreak Control Division Disease Reporting Line at 808-586-4586 for additional guidance.

Americans can sleep well knowing that their next Commander-in-Chief and his tentative picks to lead critical USG health agencies have been roundly denounced as crackpots, dunces, and quacks. Only during the confirmation hearings can the US Senate save Americans from potential epidemics at the hands of mountebanks like Mehmet Oz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Dr. Marty Makary, Janette Nesheiwat, or Paul Weldon.

Source:

Department of Agriculture | Avian Influenza Confirmed in Backyard Flock of Birds

China’s New Fighter Jet Compared to US F-35

Top, the US F-35; bottom Chinese J-35A Falcon Hawk. (Photo: AFP)

Produced by the Chinese aviation company, Shenyang, the new jet took more than a decade to build and strongly resembles the F-35 made by Lockheed Martin. USAF Chief of Staff David Allvin said “you could practically see where they got their blueprints.” In 2013, Defense Acquisitions Chief Frank Kendall told a Senate hearing that stolen F-35 data helped US rivals speed up their own fifth-generation fighter projects.

The J-31 is more svelte than the F-35, despite the fact that the Chinese model has two engines, while the US-made F-35 has one.

Chinese designers may have chosen to build their aircraft with two engines to give the jet more power, suggested one analyst.

But the design could have also been chosen for a more primitive reason: the second engine could serve as a backup in case of mission failure.

“Maybe they have less faith in the reliability of the aircraft,” says Greg Malandrino, a former US fighter pilot.

Chinese pilots will have to make do with a smaller workspace than American F-35 pilots. The US fighter jet’s cockpit is cushier, roomier, with a bigger canopy, while the Chinese plane’s cockpit reflects “a more utilitarian approach to pilot ergonomics.”

Chinese J-35A fighter (top) and American F-35 (bottom). (Photo: Chen Yang/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Malandrino, says he did not notice any significant differences in the design of the two cockpits. The cockpit of a fighter jet, whether Chinese or American, is not known for comfort. The seat is designed to provide the pilot with a way out of a tricky situation.

“You’re sitting on ejection seat,” he says. “It’s basically a rocket seat.”

All variants of the F-35 have a top speed of 1.6 Mach; the J-35 1.8 Mach. But in terms of stealth, the J-31 spits a lot of smoke from its exhaust pipe when it’s in the air, which could make it easier to detect the plane.

But experts agree that the real power of a fighter jet lies in the overall strength of the military they serve. Says Forecast International: “People are thinking about two jets operating in a dog fight. But in the real world, it depends on the entire combat system.”

“Until the two countries fight, it’s just guesswork. You really don’t know till the shooting starts.”

These two jets represent the cream of the crop in air superiority. Chinese espionage and copycatting US technology have evidently been successful. Decades ago, the USSR manufactured a space shuttle called the “Buran“ which looked like a twin of the US Space Shuttle, thanks to the KGB. See photo below. Air-to-air combat exercises will sharpen the skills of USAF and Chinese pilots, but as the analyst above wrote, no one knows the outcome until the battle joins.

Sources:

China debuted a new fighter plane. How does it compare to the F-35? – Radio Free Asia

The Reason Why This Soviet Space Shuttle Looks So Familiar | The National Interest

Morocco: One Dead, Twelve Stricken with Food Poisoning

(Map courtesy of worldeasyguides.com)

A 24-year-old man has died and 12 other people have contracted a foodborne illness caused by consumption of snacks from a fast-food restaurant in Agadir city. Some of the critically ill victims were admitted to emergency rooms. The authorities opened an investigation into the incident and the suspected restaurant has been temporarily closed.

This incident of food poisoning questions the monitoring services and their role in enforcing health codes and punishing violators.

The Al-Salam neighborhood and the Jet Residence area of Agadir have become a destination for professionals serving ready-made and fast food, due to its large population density and large variety of foods.

Westerners traveling to exotic destinations for vacation must exercise caution with the comestibles they enjoy. As we saw in Laos, alcohol poisoning killed several people at a resort. In this incident, locals were sickened and one killed. Tourists may want to inspect food inspection certificates at restaurants in foreign destinations, but that is not a guarantee of anything as these documents could easily be forged.

Source:

Agadir: Food poisoning epilepsy a young man in his twenties and sends 12 others to the emergency in critical condition.

Marmot’s First Bath with Electric Brush

This marmot is simply having the time of its life. Nice and clean! Imagine doing this to your cat or dog?

Footnote: Marmots are large ground squirrels with 15 species living in Asia, Europe, and North America. They are the heaviest members of the squirrel family. These herbivores are active during the summer, when they can often be found in groups, but are not seen during the winter, when they hibernate underground.

Will a domesticated marmot like the one above also need to hibernate during winter?

Source:

Marmot – Wikipedia

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 CNN, The Washington Post, Fox 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