Poor Countries Hiring Lobbyists to Bribe Donald Trump

Global Witness informs:

“Some of the world’s poorest countries have started paying millions to lobbyists linked to Donald Trump to try to offset US cuts to foreign aid. Somalia, Haiti, and Yemen are among 11 countries to sign significant lobbying deals with figures tied directly to the US president after he slashed US foreign humanitarian assistance.

Many states have already begun bartering crucial natural resources – including minerals – in exchange for humanitarian or military support. USAID officially closed its doors last week after Trump’s dismantling of the agency, a move experts warn could cause more than 14 million avoidable deaths over five years.

Deal making in Washington could become “more desperate and less favorable to low-income countries”, which had become increasingly vulnerable to brutal exploitation of their natural resources.

Contracts worth $17m were signed between Trump-linked lobbying firms and some of the world’s least-developed countries, which were among the highest recipients of USAID. The DRC is primed to sign a mineral deal with the US for support against Rwanda-backed rebels, providing American companies access to lithium, cobalt and coltan.

The DRC – a former top-10 USAID recipient – signed contracts worth $1.2m with the lobbyists Ballard Partners. The firm, owned by Brian Ballard, lobbied for Trump well before the 2016 US election and was a leading donor to the US president’s political campaign.

Somalia and Yemen signed contracts with BGR Government Affairs – $550,000 and $372,000 respectively. A former BGR partner, Sean Duffy, is now Trump’s transport secretary, one of myriad links between the US president and the lobbying firm.”

Donald Trumpf’s cronies are obscenely profiting from delivering humanitarian assistance to impoverished countries. Trumpf is also cruelly wasting precious American resources that can be immediately used to save lives in the Third World.

“From the American People”

The Trumpf junta ordered 500 metric tons of emergency food aid enough to feed 1.5 million malnourished children for a week to be incinerated rather than be distributed as part of its ongoing purge of USAID. The high-energy biscuits, intended for children under five living in war and disaster zones, are currently being stored in a warehouse in Dubai and were meant to be shipped out this year, but will instead go to waste due to cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effectively halting nearly all forms of foreign aid. Current and former aid workers, speaking anonymously for fear of retaliation, said that the sheer scale of waste is unprecedented.

US warehouses around the world currently house 60,000 tons of food, including peas and cereal originally bound for famine-stricken Sudan. The amount of food set to be incinerated  would be enough to feed every single child currently starving in Gaza.

As you could see in the image above, each USAID parcel of food has written on it “From the American People.’ President John F. Kennedy would be heartbroken today.

More Venality from the Petty Tyrant

FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Dotard Trumpf carry the Club World Cup trophy after Sunday’s finals between Chelsea FC and Paris Saint-Germain. (Photo: Jean Catuffe via Getty Images)

After Dotard Trumpf disrupted the air travel of thousands and thousands of passengers at Newark Int’l Airport just to make an appearance at the FIFA football finals, he revealed in an interview that he kept the original trophy for himself. So when English Premier League team Chelsea beat France’s Paris Saint-Germain to win the competition between soccer’s top club teams, they apparently ended up being given a replica of the original trophy, which reportedly cost $230,000. Dotard Trumpf was repeatedly booed at the stadium.

In true mafia style, Russian despot Vladimir Putin did something similar to oligarch Robert Kraft, owner of the NFL New England Patriots. When Kraft met Putin Russia year ago, he showed the tyrant his Superbowl ring and here’s how Kraft described the incident:

“I took out the ring and showed it to [Putin], and he put it on and he goes, ‘I can kill someone with this ring,'” Kraft said in 2013. “I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”

Sources:

https://globalwitness.org/en/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-admin-to-incinerate-500-tons-of-emergency-food-for-children/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-fifa-soccer-club-world-cup-trophy_n_68755c06e4b0b1c6f12569ae?utm_campaign=bluesky_feed

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/heres-how-vladimir-putin-stole-a-super-bowl-ring-from-the-patriots-robert-kraft/

Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu Supporting Anti-Hamas Criminal Gangs in Gaza

Despite reports and statements about the gang’s connection to Israel, Yasser Abu Shabaab claims that “our connection is with the Palestinian Authority” (X)

Palestinian resistance factions have jointly condemned the leader of an Israel-backed armed gang in Gaza, accusing him of collaboration with the enemy. Yasser Abu Shabab (35) has been described as a “traitor for hire.” This criminal gang operates under the protection and supervision of the IDF and these brigands have been looting humanitarian food convoys. The IDF recently intervened on behalf the Abu Shabab Militia with a drone strike. Hamas has eliminated at least 50 members of this Israeli-armed gang of cutthroat quislings.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu:

“On the advice of security officials, we activated clans in Gaza that oppose Hamas,” Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu recently admitted. “What’s wrong with this? This is only good and saves the lives of IDF soldiers.”

Israel Creating Haiti in the Gaza Strip

Armed and masked Palestinians secure trucks loaded with humanitarian aid entering Gaza through the Israeli Kerem Shalom Crossing, on Salah al-Din Road east of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, 19 Jan 2025. (Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90)

By empowering criminal gangs and weaponizing aid provision, Netanyahu seeks to fracture the Strip into rival fiefdoms — allowing only chaos to reign — like Haiti. Some of these anti-Hamas cells have been linked to ISIS.

Historic Israeli Support for Hamas

The late resistance leader Ismael Haniyeh and Israeli ‘Crime Minister’ Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The Israeli support for Hamas refers to direct involvement by Israeli authorities from different periods in the rise and empowerment of Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The PLO and Chairman Yasir Arafat long suspected that the notorious terrorist Abu Nidal was a Mossad asset hired by them to conduct spectacular global terrorist attacks to discredit the legitimate Palestinian liberation movement. Abu Nidal died under mysterious circumstances in 2002.

Israel Learned from Apartheid-Era Suid-Afrika

Zulus and Xhosas fought a low-grade civil war for years in apartheid-era Suid-Afrika. (Photo: Public domain)

Israel is using a similar “divide and conquer” tactic used by the former apartheid government of Suid-Afrika. The National Party covertly armed and directed the predominantly Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party to attack the predominantly Xhosa African National Congress (ANC) led by Nelson Mandela, taking advantage of their historic tribal rivalry. The low-grade civil war between the two tribes kept the anti-apartheid bloc fractured for years.

IDF Continues Murdering Palestinians

Palestinian mother Samah Al-Nouri, whose daughter Sama was killed in an Israeli strike near a medical center in Deir Al-Balah, comforts her son. (photo: Ramadan Abed / Reuters)

The death toll in the Gaza Strip has reached 58,479, the majority of whom were women and children. At least 139,355 others have also been wounded or maimed. Since Israel broke its ceasefire agreement after the GOP budget was passed in March 2025 thanks to US Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), at least 7,656 civilians have been killed and 27,314 others have been injured. During the past 24 hours alone, 93 bodies, including three that were recovered from under rubble, and 278 injured individuals were brought to hospitals in Gaza.

The IDF and their proxies will have easily killed 60,000 Palestinians by the end of this summer. Since 7 Oct 2023, the American taxpayer has sent a record $17.9 billion of military aid to Israel. Unqualified support for Israel already cost the Democratic Party critical 6,265,888 votes they once had in 2020, losing them the White House in 2024. Dummkopf Trumpf squeaked by with a slight plurality of the popular vote (49.8%). This is just like the Democratic Party supporting the brutal regime in Saigon during the costly and wasteful Vietnam War, costing Hubert Humphrey the White House in 1968.

Antiwar progressives will not vote for AIPAC-backed Democratic Party candidates in future elections nor will they vote for a Republican; they will stay home on Election Day. The number of these antiwar Samaritans will grow and their consciences will be clear.

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

Sources:

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestinian-factions-threaten-traitor-abu-shabab-over-collaboration-israel

https://www.972mag.com/gaza-social-collapse-criminal-gangs/

https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-years-netanyahu-propped-up-hamas-now-its-blown-up-in-our-faces/

www.independent.co.uk

en.wikipedia.org

https://ourconstitution.wethepeoplesa.org/south-african-constitution/negotiating-our-freedom/a-low-grade-civil-war-between-the-ifp-and-the-anc/


apnews.com

www.aljazeera.com

Ukraine Intelligence Update

The valiant President Volodomir Zelensky addressing intelligence personnel. (Photo: Office of the Presidency)

First Chinese Spies Caught in Ukraine

The father’s image has been pixilated. (Photo: SBU)

Ukraine’s counterintelligence service (SBU) arrested a Chinese father and son on suspicion of spying on its Neptune anti-ship missile program, a key part of Kiev’s growing domestic arms industry that is critical to its defense against Russia. Although Beijing tries to project an image of neutrality, they are helping the Kremlin’s war effort. SBU agents arrested a 24-year-old former student in Kiev after they provided him with “technical documentation” related to Neptune production. CI agents later detained his father, who had aimed to smuggle out the documents to the Chinese MSS. The father had been living in China but visited Ukraine to “personally coordinate” his son’s work.

The son’s image has been pixilated. (Photo: SBU)

Since Russia’s brutal full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukrainian forces have captured Chinese nationals fighting for Russia on the battlefield, but these two men were the first arrested in Ukraine on espionage charges.

Chinese intelligence (the MSS) uses the ‘thousand grains of sand’ approach to gather information, taking advantage of the large number of personnel available to them. Beijing has a special interest in maritime weaponry/technology because their ultimate plan to absorb Taiwan will require a powerful naval and amphibious strike force. Ukraine’s intelligence services are experienced, making espionage operations difficult for adversaries, as these two spies discovered. The SBU also receive intelligence from allies over the world. 

Russian Assassination Team Neutralized

The late SBU Colonel Voronych exiting his apartment building moments before he was assassinated. (Screenshot: SBU)

Two Russian FSB assassins were liquidated by Ukrainian special services agents. On 10 July this FSB combat cell murdered SBU Colonel Ivan Voronych outside his apartment in Kiev. An intense manhunt led SBU agents to the lair of the FSB assassins and in the ensuing firefight the pair were rendered ineffective. SBU Colonel Voronych had taken part in a number of special operations, including the killing of Russian militant Arsen Pavlov, alias ‘Motorola,’ and led a unit that advanced into Russia’s Kursk Oblast in 2024.

An intense espionage war between Russia and Ukraine is taking place alongside the brutal daily combat at the front. Both sides want to eliminate effective operatives behind enemy lines. In some case, these missions are acts of retribution or justice and they spread anxiety amongst the intelligence community. Any conclusive peace talks between Kiev and Moscow would include an understanding that this practice be eliminated or reduced. The ancient ‘eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth’ policy would go into effect should there ever be a peace treaty and subsequent assassination.

Over 12 million rounds of 152 mm artillery shells are estimated to have been sent to Russia by North Korea for use in Ukraine, South Korean military intelligence reported. North Korea could have provided around 28,000 containers containing weapons and artillery shells to date.

The report comes a day after the North Korean supremo Kim Jong Un pledged to “unconditionally” support Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine in a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on 12 July. President Dummkopf Trumpf in another bit of kabuki theater announced that he’s giving Vladimir Putin an additional 50 days to come to the table, meaning the Kremlin has 50 days to bring Ukraine to its knees, which is unlikely.

Appalling Russian Losses

The Russians have suffered approximately 1,037,460 casualties, with an additional 1,170 over the past 24 hours. The Kremlin also lost 421 aircraft, 340 helicopters, 11,028 tanks, and 22,977 armored personnel vehicles.

Many Russian families are using cardboard coffins because they are less costly than traditional wooden caskets. (Photo: Courtesy of the New York Times)

The architects and enablers of this war, Vladimir Putin, Sergey Lavrov, Kim Jong-un, Xi Jinping, and Dummkopf Trumpf do not care how many Russian or Ukrainian casualties they create. Putin’s goal is to absorb Ukraine into a Pan-Slavic federation, much like the glory days of the USSR, and headed by the Kremlin. China wants to continue making money and learning from the war. A future European war involving NATO and the EU versus Russia gives Beijing an opportunity to invade Taiwan. Kim Jong-un continues receiving Russian money and technical aid for his WMD program. Dotard Trumpf, a Kremlin asset, is stalling and delaying for Vladimir Putin.

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

Sources:

https://kyivindependent.com/north-korea-supplied-russia-with-12-million-rounds-of-152mm-shells-south-korean-intel-estimates/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/10/ukraine-arrests-chinese-father-and-son-suspicion-of-spying-neptune-missile-russia

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/07/13/7521508/

Inhumane ICE Raids Leaving Cats and Dogs Homeless and Detainees Starving

Santa Clara County plans modern no-kill animal shelter from http://www.mercurynews.com

“Pets are the collateral damage to the current political climate,” reported the Michelson Found Animals Foundation. In one example, ICE agents arrested a man who had his three-year-old pit bull, Chuco, with him. A friend managed to grab Chuco from the scene and bring him back to the garage where he lives. The dog’s owner was deported to Mexico the next day.

The SPAY(CE) Project, which spays and neuters dogs in underserved areas, put out a call on Instagram to help Chuco and an animal rescue group agreed to take him, but then went quiet. Meanwhile, the garage owner took Chuco to an undisclosed shelter.

After repeated attempts, a nonprofit organizaton gave up on finding the dog or a home for him, since “no one has space for an adult male Pittie these days.” So “the poor dog is left to die in the shelter.”

Since ICE raids, primarily targeting Latino communities, began roiling LA in early June, animal rescues and care providers across the county are hearing desperate pleas for help.

At least 15 dogs were surrendered at LA County animal shelters due to deportations between 10 June and 4 July.

Pets belonging to people who are deported or flee are being left in empty apartments, dumped into the laps of unprepared friends and dropped off at overcrowded shelters.

“Unless people do take the initiative [and get the pets out], those animals will starve to death in those backyards or those homes,” said Cats at the Studios, a rescue that serves LA.

Yet with many animal refuges operating at capacity, it can be difficult to find temporary homes where pets are not at risk of euthanasia.

Fearing arrest if they go outside, some people are also forgoing healthcare for their pets, with clinics reporting a surge in no-shows and missed appointments in communities affected by the raids.

ICE has now surpassed the FBI in terms of police powers, detaining people without warrant or probable cause, other than being suspected of being a migrant. ICE has become the closest thing to a secret police the US ever had and legislators are seeking to pass laws banning ICE personnel from using masks.

During a speech to rabid rightwing supporters, the braggadocio Director of ICE Tom Homan unprofessionally and crassly challenges a heckler to fisticuffs:

Inhumane Conditions in ICE Gulags

Detainees held in Donald Trumpf’s new jungle gulag in Florida are finding worms in their food. Toilets don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere. Prisoners began arriving at this torture chamber on 2 July. Inside the compound’s large white tents, rows of bunk beds are surrounded by chain-link cages. Detainees go days without showering or getting prescription medicine, and they are only able to speak by phone to lawyers and loved ones. At times the air conditioners abruptly shut off in the sweltering heat. Insider accounts paint a picture of the place as unsanitary and lacking in adequate medical care, pushing some into a state of extreme distress.

“The conditions in which we are living are inhuman,” a Venezuelan detainee said by phone from the facility. “My main concern is the psychological pressure they are putting on people to sign their self-deportation.”

The ACLU describes the facility as state-sponsored cruelty and an attack on indigenous people’s sovereignty. In a strongly worded statement posted to the Archdiocese of Miami’s website, Archbishop Thomas Wenski condemned the conditions at the remote detention site in the Everglades: “It is unbecoming of public officials and corrosive of the common good to speak of the deterrence value of alligators and pythons’ at the Collier-Dade facility.” Democratic lawmakers filed a lawsuit to gain access to this torture chamber. Conservation groups warned government agencies in a legal filing that they’re breaking the law by failing to protect the Big Cypress National Preserve from the increasingly destructive effects of this horrible Bastille in the swamp.

Immigrants being held in ICE torture chambers in at least seven states are complaining of hunger, food shortages and spoiled comestibles. Detainees have gotten sick; others say they have lost weight. In one facility, an incident involving detainees reportedly broke out in part because of food.

Immigration Judges Being Fired Despite Huge Backlog of Cases

The Trumpf junta will be firing fifteen more immigration judges on 22 July amid efforts to speed up deportations of vulnerable migrants without legal status. An email was sent to judges in Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, New York, and California. Like the 50 other judges fired within the last six months, the judges who received the most recent notices were not given a reason for the terminations.

Congress had allocated $3 billion to the Department of Justice in part to hire more immigration judges to alleviate a backlog of nearly four million cases. Hiring and training new judges can take more than a year. “It’s outrageous and against the public interest that at a time when the Congress has authorized 800 immigration judges, we are firing large numbers of immigration judges without cause,” said Matt Biggs, president of the IFPTE union. “This is hypocritical ” you can’t enforce immigration laws when you fire the enforcers.”

Dummkopf Trumpf is a 21st-century Andrew Jackson and Jefferson Davis all rolled up into one abomination creature. The Trumpf junta will continue enriching contractor cronies like Palantir and firms that construct the ramshackle ICE concentration camps like ‘Gator Gitmo’, all while brutally bleaching America of non-whites.

Sources:

https://www.npr.org/2025/07/14/nx-s1-5467343/immigration-judges-doj-trump-enforcement

Miami Archbishop

Worms and Sewage

Environmental Damage

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/immigrants-overcapacity-ice-detention-say-hungry-raise-food-quality-co-rcna214193

India: Puppy Named Rocky Saves Villagers from Landslide

Israel Resumes Genocide in Gaza and Destruction of Lebanon

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

IDF Destroys Another Palestinian Hospital

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

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

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

Israel Continues to Destroy Lebanon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Triumphalism of Faux Judeo-Christian Principles

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

www.washingtontimes.com

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

Russia-Ukraine Update

Russia Massacres Civilians in Sumy, Ukraine

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

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

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

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

Ukrainian Counterintelligence Arrests Russian Double Agent

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

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

Foreign Volunteers Dying for Ukraine

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

Trumpf Junta is Dangerous Clown Show

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

www.cia.gov

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

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

North Korea Building Massive Advanced Missile Warship

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

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

Satellite imagery: Maxar Technologies

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

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

Undernourished North Korean children. (Photo: BBC)

Source:

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

Trumpf Junta Targeting Cubans in US and Abroad

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

https://archive.ph/7etr0

USSECDEF Sacrificed Three Aides for His Epic OPSEC Failure

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

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

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

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

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

(Image: Fox News)

(Image: Fox News)

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

Sources:

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

NOAA: Drought Returning to California, Nevada

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

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

Sources:

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

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

Two Cats Playing With Their Tails

American Police State Terrorizing Citizens, Foreigners, Dissidents

For those Followers of the Watch residing outside the US, you would be wise to refrain from visiting the once “Land of the free, home of the brave.”

Watch the US police state in action as ICE detains Rumeysa Ozturk (30), a Turkish PhD student at Tufts University:

The ICE agents are using a standard FLETC academy arrest technique where one agent distracts the individual with a “PSST!” or “Pardon me” while another agent gets behind the poor girl.

Protesting the Israeli genocide in Gaza or Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine sent these poor young women to the American gulag. Ms. Petrova also faces other dangers should she be deported to Russia and the tender mercies of Vladimir Putin’s police state.

American citizens have been brutalized by the police for years. The advent of social media exposed the long-standing and pervasive practice which led to the Black Lives Matter movement and the meme ACAB (“All cops are bastards”). Watch three Arizona police officers pummel and tase Tyron McAlpin, a defenseless, deaf black man suffering from cerebral palsy for no reason.

Warning: Followers of the Watch may find this video disturbing.

The white officers received minimal disciplinary action from the Phoenix Police Department. Below is the how the Phoenix Police Department presents itself on its website, reminiscent of a Potemkin Village:

https://www.phoenix.gov/administration/departments/police.html

The reality is that unlike the police departments found all over the world, America inherited the brutal, racist legacy of the antebellum Slave Patrol, which has continued into the 21st century.

White Americans are not immune to police brutality. Grandfather Michael Burch (69) slowly suffocated to death in a rural Colorado jail after a Huerfano County deputy broke his ribs in an altercation and then allowed him to languish in a cell for one week without medical care.

Michael Burch with one of his daughters holding a grandchild. 
(Undated family photo / AP)

Michael Burch’s 2023 death was ruled a homicide. But prosecutors declined to bring criminal charges against the deputy who used a Taser on Burch and wrestled with him in a Huerfano County jail cell. An autopsy found six of Burch’s right ribs had broken and his right lung collapsed. He wasn’t taken to a hospital but instead was transferred to another cell where he was found dead seven days later. The lawsuit alleges Burch suffered excruciating pain and that he constructed a “death bed” for himself as his broken ribs caused him to slowly asphyxiate.

Warning: Followers of the Watch may find this video disturbing.

Here is another reason why American policing requires a complete overhaul.

North Bergen Police Chief Robert Farley.

A police chief in Hudson County, New Jersey, is being accused of assaulting and harassing his officers in a lengthy list of complaints that includes defecating on floors, exposing himself, attempting to drug coworkers, and sticking a hypodermic needle into an officer’s penis. Chief Robert Farley, who was appointed chief of the North Bergen Police Department in February 2024, is also accused of retaliating against an officer who attempted to report him to the New Jersey Attorney General. Five police officers in North Bergen said they plan to sue over Farley’s alleged behavior, which also includes claims of retaliation, discrimination, sexual misconduct, and harassment.

Ilya Kukhar (26) was arrested for impersonating an immigration agent, after allegedly stalking a Ukrainian market with fake “ICE” decals on his car in Fife, Washington. Kukhar, who is “not employed by any federal law enforcement agency,” has been charged with one count of Criminal Impersonation in the Second Degree. He is currently not in police custody and his initial arraignment is scheduled for 11 Apr.

Countries had previously issued travel advisories to their citizens because of US firearm violence and measles. Now nations are advising their citizens to take precautions when visiting America because of ICE. The Trumpf junta is crushing dissent and causing a brain drain from the US, as well as an economic boycott. Canadians didn’t require such an advisory as thousands and thousands of them have voluntarily cancelled their travel plans to the US. Many began selling their vacation homes in Florida and other areas. Trumpf has turned America’s already over-policed country into the Fourth Reich.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/27/russian-scientist-harvard-medical-school-ice-detention

https://newjersey.news12.com/lawsuit-claims-north-bergen-police-chief-defecated-on-floors-tried-to-drug-coworkers

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/27/us/colorado-jail-death-lawsuit-hnk/index.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/3-phoenix-officers-disciplined-violent-arrest-of-deaf-man-with-disabilities-tyron-mcalpin/

Israeli Settlers Attempt to Torture and Lynch Oscar-Winning Filmmaker

Hamdan Ballal receives treatment at a hospital in Hebron, in a photo shared on Instagram by Basel Adra. 
(Courtesy Nassr Nawaja)


The Palestinian co-director of Oscar-winning film “No Other Land” Hamdan Ballal was beaten up by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, taken away by IDF soldiers and detained overnight. Following his release from detention, Ballal had been “arbitrarily” held in police detention in Kiryat Arba’a and was beaten in custody by IDF soldiers. Following his release, he was moved to a hospital in Hebron, where he was treated for his injuries.

Despite suffering from dehydration and bruising, Ballal left the hospital returned home to his family in Susya in the occupied West Bank.  

These heinous attacks by the Settlers and the IDF should come as no surprise to the Followers of the Watch. Israel is an ethnic-cleansing police state, supported 100% by the US. Besides the ICC issuing an international arrest warrant for war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague condemned the State of Israel for committing genocide in Gaza and enforcing apartheid on Palestinians, all paid for by the hardworking American taxpayer. Accounting for inflation, US aid to Israel from 1951 to 2022 totaled $317.9 billion, making it the largest recipient of American foreign aid since World War II.

Israeli Settlers attacked IDF General Avi Bluth’s entourage in Nov 2024. The Rule of Law only exists for Israeli Jews in the apartheid state, as IDF and police officers are complicit in these crimes.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/24/middleeast/ballal-oscar-palestinian-beaten-israeli-settlers-intl-latam/index.html

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

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

https://www.icj-cij.org/case/192

https://www.icj-cij.org/case/186

Taliban Frees Fourth American Citizen Since Jan 2025

US citizen Faye Hall speaking on the phone after being released by the Taliban on 29 Mar 2025. (Photo: © Diplomatic source in Kabul, AFP)

US national Faye Hall was released by the Taliban after having been detained in Afghanistan in Feb 2025. Hall is the fourth American released from Afghanistan since Jan 2025. Hall, two Britons, and their Afghan translator were detained earlier this year. Hall may have been detained for using a drone without authorization. In Jan 2025 Ryan Corbett and William McKenty were freed in exchange for an Afghan fighter, Khan Mohammed, who was convicted of narco-terrorism in the US. George Glezmann was freed after more than two years of detention in a deal brokered by Qatar. The US had lifted bounties on three senior Taliban figures, including the interior minister, who also heads the powerful Haqqani Network (HQN) blamed for attacks against Afghanistan’s former Western-backed government.

Sources:

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250329-us-woman-released-by-taliban-in-afghanistan

Ukraine Update

Five Children Returned From Russian Occupied Areas

Ukrainian children return home after being abducted by Russian authorities. (Photo: Ombudsman of Ukraine)

Five children have been reunited with their families and returned from Russian occupied Ukrainian territories thanks to Qatari mediation, the head of the Ukrainian President’s office said. The children, aged between 11 and 16 years old, were returned from Russian-occupied Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia, under the Bring Kids Back UA initiative in coordination with the Ukrainian Ombudsman’s office.

The initial charges levied against Russian President Vladimir Putin by the ICC was for abducting Ukrainian children, a war crime.

First-Ever Military Mosque Opens in Ukraine

Director of Military Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov (L) and who appears to be Minister of Defense Rustem Enverovych Umyerov (R) (Photo: Government of Ukraine)

“On the initiative of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, in whose ranks many Muslim soldiers are fighting, the first military mosque As-Salam has appeared in our country,” said a spokesperson.

The solemn opening, as tradition dictates, began with the reading of the Quran, a holy book for Muslims, and a collective prayer. The event was attended by Muslim Defense Intelligence of Ukraine fighters, as well as the head of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov.

Budanov thanked the soldiers who profess Islam for their courage in battles with the Russian occupiers and presented the mosque with collections of prayers and commemorations of Allah for a Muslim warrior, arranged by the Military Chaplaincy Service of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine.

Intelligence Director Budanov is a sharp leader who knows that Muslims are fighting and dying for Ukraine. If these Muslims are in the intelligence services, many of them are undertaking risky espionage missions behind enemy lines or recruiting fellow Muslims to turn against Putin. Giving the Ukrainian Muslims a mosque is a gesture demonstrating that they aren’t second class citizens in a Christian-majority nation. Moreover, Ukraine Minister of Defense Rustem Enverovych Umyerov is a Crimean Tatar and therefore a Sunni Muslim who probably endorsed this idea.

Three Chechen soldiers fighting for Ukraine (Undated photo: Sky News)

Remarkable, while Trumpf and Netanyahu are making life absolutely miserable for Muslims, Ukraine President Volodomir Zelensky, who is Jewish, is doing the exact opposite.

New Powerful Re-Usable Ukrainian Drone Has 1,200 Mile Range

The Aeroprakt A-22 is a $90,000 sport plane (Photo: Leighnor Aircraft)

Ukraine’s latest unmanned aerial vehicle can fly 1,200 miles, drop a 550-pound bomb and return to base, making it potentially the most powerful reusable drone in the Russia-Ukraine war. In making its longest-range drones reusable, the drone branch could multiply the number and pace of deep strikes it conducts against targets inside Russia, which have lately included bomber bases and oil facilities. The strikes have raised the cost of Russian bomber sorties targeting Ukrainian cities, and depressed oil production in a country that utterly relies on energy exports for state revenue.

One of Vladimir Putin’s Limousines Explodes Near FSB HQ

A luxury limousine reportedly from Russian President Vladimir Putin's official fleet exploded in Moscow close to the FSB headquarters. The cause of the explosion remains under investigation, and it is unclear whether anyone was inside the vehicle at the time or if Putin was the intended target.

Olga Nesterova (@onestpress.bsky.social) 2025-03-29T22:32:29.302Z

Coriolanus is monitoring this incident and information is limited. Vladimir Putin is deeply paranoid about his personal security and employs layered security, so this is a curious affair. Below, loyal FSB officers ensure Putin’s Honor Guard are carrying unloaded weapons. In 1981, the late Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat was killed by his own soldiers while reviewing a parade.

Two Storks Finally Reunite After Winter Migration and War

One of the more unlikely celebrities in Ukraine is a stork named Hrytsko who returned to his home nest on 22 March in the village of Lelyaki, Poltava Oblast, to await the arrival of his girlfriend, Odarka. Ten minutes after his arrival, he started to clean up the place. Shortly after Hrystko arrived, he visited one of his neighbors, a beekeeper, to see how things were going.

Hrytsko has been nesting in Lelyaki since 2019. Villagers there are fond of him, coming to visit and feeding him from time to time. In Ukraine, a stork is considered to be a symbol of prosperity, family, happiness, well-being, and of the country itself. A livestream set up by a researcher in 2023 had made the couple a viral sensation in Ukraine.

Hrytsko spent 22 and 23 Mar alone in the nest but with hundreds of people watching him. One user even wrote that watching how Hrytsko is part of her “morning routine.”

For most of 24 Mar, Hrytsko was still solo, bracing himself against the wind and occasionally flying off to run errands. Finally, to the great relief of Ukrainians, Odarka finally showed up unharmed in the evening, re-uniting the happy couple.

Sources:

www.bringkidsback.org.ua

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2025/01/31/ukraines-new-drone-bomber-flies-1200-miles-with-a-550-pound-bomb-and-returns-to-base/

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/49845

https://kyivindependent.com/a-lonely-ukrainian-stork-is-waiting-for-his-girlfriend-and-1000s-of-people-are-watching-live/

Utah is First State in America to Ban Fluoride in Public Water

Idiotic Governor Spencer Cox happily signing this lunacy into law which will ruin the teeth of young Utahans. (Photo: Getty Images)

Madman RFK Jr during a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing in Jan 2025, where many of the questions focused on his controversial views on vaccines and Covid. (Photo: Allison Bailey /NurPhoto /Rex / Shutterstock)

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gmggp2y99o

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/03/health/rfk-jr-fluoride-science/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/29/top-us-vaccine-official-resigns-over-rfk-jrs-misinformation-and-lies-dr-peter-marks

Lead Poisoning Pervasive in Milwaukee, WI Schools

Nigerian infant suffering from the effects of lead poisoning. (Undated photo: BBC)

The Milwaukee Department of Health informs:

“At least one student has tested positive for lead poisoning after exposure at Golda Meir School Lower Campus. Lead hazards were widespread in the building, found on the ground in the boy’s bathroom, cafeteria, a hallway, the teacher’s lounge, kitchen areas and multiple rooms. Three other students at Trowbridge Street School of Great Lakes Studies, Maryland Avenue Montessori and Albert E. Kagel Dual Language School may have been lead-poisoned due to lead hazards from chipping lead-based paint and lead dust. Trowbridge Street School of Great Lakes Studies became the first MPS building to close due to its high lead levels, followed by Starms Early Childhood Center, Fernwood Montessori, and Lafollette School.”

The WHO reports that exposure to lead can affect multiple body systems. Lead exposure was attributed to more than 1.5 million deaths globally in 2021, primarily due to cardiovascular effects. The harmful impacts on health from lead exposure are entirely preventable. There is no level of exposure to lead that is known to be without harmful effects.

The people of Flint, Michigan underwent a public health crisis from 2014 to 2019 when their drinking water was found to contain lead and possibly Legionella bacteria. In April 2014, during a financial crisis, state-appointed emergency manager Darnell Earley changed Flint’s water source from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (sourced from Lake Huron and the Detroit River) to the Flint River. Residents complained about the taste, smell, and appearance of the water. Officials failed to apply corrosion inhibitors to the water, which resulted in lead from aging pipes leaching into the water supply, exposing around 100,000 residents to elevated lead levels. (Source: Wikipedia)

.

The people of Milwaukee should not expect sympathy or help from the callous Trumpf junta which lives to serve the interests of the oligarchs and not the masses. Some Followers of the Watch may recall that in the famous 1970s TV comedy show “Happy Days” the teenagers attended the fictional Jefferson High School in Milwaukee. But students in that city are not enjoying any happy days right now in this environmental calamity.

Sources:

https://city.milwaukee.gov/Health/Services-and-Programs/HomeEnvironmentalHealth/Ongoing-Lead-Hazard-Investigations-With-MPS

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

Brazil Supreme Court: Jair Bolsonaro to Stand Trial Over Alleged Coup Attempt

Two criminal oligarchs. One may face justice, the other may not. (Undated photo from social media)

Brazil’s Supreme Court has accepted charges against former President Jair Bolsonaro over an alleged attempted coup to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat. The 8 Jan 2023 coup attempt in Brasilia was similar to the Trumpf-led 6 Jan 2021 insurrectionist attack on the US Capitol.

The five justices voted unanimously in favor of putting Bolsonaro and seven other accomplices on trial on five counts, including involvement in an armed criminal organization and attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.

The populist Bolsonaro, who swept to power after a shock win at the 2018 election, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and says he’s being politically persecuted. Under Brazilian law, a coup conviction alone carries a sentence of up to 12 years. When combined with the other charges, it could potentially see enemy of the environment and the masses Jair Bolsonaro spend decades behind bars. Gut arbet.

Brazil, which is also standing up to Israel’s murderous campaign against the Palestinians, has demonstrated more respect for the Rule of Law than the US. Former President Joe Biden, VPOTUS Kamala Harris, and USAG Merrick Garland must be sitting around bewildered at this concept, when their administration had four years to deal with Trumpf one way or another.

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

Source:

https://www.euronews.com/2025/03/26/brazils-supreme-court-says-jair-bolsonaro-should-stand-trial-over-alleged-coup-attempt

China Unveils Powerful Diamond-Bladed Undersea Cable Cutter

Concept art of a severed undersea iInternet cable. (Image: X Screengrab)

China has developed a compact deep-sea device capable of cutting armored undersea cables at depths of 4,000 meters — twice the operational depth of existing subsea communication infrastructure. The tool, featuring a 150-mm diamond-coated grinding wheel spinning at 1,600 rpm, was designed for integration with China’s advanced submersibles. The development has raised concerns over the security of global undersea infrastructure, as such cables carry 95% of global data transmission and support critical military and civilian operations.

As you have read here on Coriolanus, Beijing has reportedly already cut cables to Taiwan and is constructing large ‘D-Day’ type amphibious landing craft for a potential invasion of the island republic.

There is no mystery that Beijing wishes to assimilate Taiwan one day. But China is keeping a wary eye on North Korea, who has been getting too cozy to Beijing’s dismay. The Kremlin as been increasing the number, power, and accuracy of North Korea’s WMDs. So, at one point, the Chinese CCP is going to tire of the lunatic Kim Jong-un dynasty at their border with an ever-increasing nuclear stockpile. China is much more interwoven into the capitalist global economy than unstable Russia and North Korea. Coriolanus would be surprised if Beijing did NOT have a contingency plan to one day overwhelm North Korea and defang the nefarious Kim Jong-un once and for all. The “Inchon-style” amphibious landing craft would come in handy for a three-pronged attack from north, east and west.

Sources:

https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/china-deep-sea-cable-cutter-threat-global-security-new-weapon-13874403.html

https://www.yahoo.com/news/five-signs-china-preparing-invade-200000510.html

Cat Keeps Jumping Onto Couple’s Boat For Playdates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Uh, just one more thing, Senator…”

Citations:

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://indivisibleeb.org/

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

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

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

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

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

Russia-Ukraine Update

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

Ukraine and Russia Exchange 175 POWs

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

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

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

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

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

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

Putin Increased Sabotage Attacks to Pressure Europe and US

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

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

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

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

Putin Puts Trumpf Call on Hold While Talking to Oligarchs

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

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

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

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

French Legislators Condemn Trumpf

The Statue of Liberty in Paris, France.

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

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

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

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

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

Citations:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

North Korean cigarette pack.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Citations:

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

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

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

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

US: Louisiana Prisoner Executed With Nitrogen Gas

The late Jessie Hoffman Jr was convicted of murder.

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

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

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

Sister Helen Prejean. (Undated photo)

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

Citation:

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

Ireland’s Little-Known Intelligence Agency: J2

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

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

FTA:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

G2/J2

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

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

Known Operations

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

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

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

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

Irish journalist Rory Carroll

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

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

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

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

Citations:

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

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

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

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

New Strain of Bird Flu Wipes Out Mississippi Poultry Farm

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

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

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

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

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

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

Citations:

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

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

UN: 151 Unprecedented Climate Disasters Struck World in 2024

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

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

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

The 2024 Los Angeles fires.

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

Citations:

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

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

Meet Dog That Behaves Like Cat

America’s Godzilla Betrays Ukraine, Threatens Canada, Targets US Law Firm Employing Democrats, Weakens FBI and CIA

Followers of the Watch, Coriolanus is doing his utmost best to keep up with the chaos caused by Vladimir Putin’s protege in the White House, Donald Trumpf (AKA America’s Godzilla).

France President Emmanuel Macron visited the White House and publicly corrected Donald Trumpf about who started the war and European economic support for Ukraine during the past three years of Russia’s brutal invasion. On camera America’s Godzilla lied twice and this meme below captured the exchange perfectly. The link at bottom will take you to the video.

Is there anybody on the planet does NOT know that Trumpf is a Kremlin puppet who threw Ukraine under the bus with this Neville Chamberlain “peace in our time” mineral extortion scheme/peace plan? See below for Ukraine update.

The Dotard-in-Chief reiterated his desire to annex Canada and has vowed to press ahead with 25% tariffs on imports from the country when a one-month reprieve elapses on 4 March. Peter Navarro, a top White House official and convicted felon, proposed expelling Canada from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network to increase pressure on the country.

In addition, Godzilla roared that he would strip security clearances from lawyers at a prominent Washington law firm aiding former Special Counsel Jack Smith, the man who investigated him. Trumpf demanded a review of any federal government work Covington & Burling may have, intensifying his bid to truculently punish his enemies.

The law offices of Covington & Burling in Washington, DC. (Photo: Andrew Kelly / Reuters)

Covington & Burling employs high-profile Democratic lawyers who worked in the Obama and Biden administrations. Signing executive orders before reporters in the Oval Office, the twice-impeached and convicted Dotard-in-Chef described the plan to reporters and offered to childishly send the pen he used to Jack Smith, who led two investigations against him as Special Counsel.

To the dismay and shock of thousands of FBI agents, Trumpf hired an unqualified rightwing former podcast propagandist to be Deputy Director. The former USSS agent, Dan Bongino, once called the FBI “irredeemably corrupt. Kash Patel then re-assigned hundreds of FBI agents from Washington, scattering them throughout the US. Across the Potomac River, CIA personnel are conducting damage assessment after a White House email about civil service layoffs appeared to compromise the names of certain undercover officers.

This damage control, reported CNN, is “just one of multiple aftershocks from President Donald Trump’s push to take a jackhammer to the federal government — including the CIA. The administration’s efforts to cut the workforce and audit spending at the CIA and elsewhere threaten to jeopardize some of the government’s most sensitive work, current and former US officials familiar with internal deliberations say.”

CIA honors its fallen officers at its memorial wall, which uses stars rather than names, in keeping with their clandestine calling. (Photo: CIA)

As Dame Agatha Christie once wrote: “Who benefits from this crime?” All of these moves by Donald Trumpf benefit Vladimir Putin. Godzilla is weakening America’s internal and external security apparatuses. By relocating FBI agents outside Washington, Trumpf reduces any resistance forces nearby while also making life easier for foreign espionage assets to operate in the National Capital Region (NCR). By alienating Canada and other allies, Putin is watching NATO beginning to fracture. Putin will continue to fund the rightwing in Europe who will parrot his lines about the evils of Ukraine and NATO. Trumpf’s audacious and offensive behavior towards Canada has galvanized their population on both sides of the aisle and their imminent elections will present an anti-Trumpfer from either the Conservative or Labor Party. The international intelligence-sharing architecture once headed by the US presents another separate dilemma. NATO, the remaining Five-Eyes partners, Japan, and South Korea will limit intelligence-sharing with the US. Israel’s Mossad may also be leery about sharing sensitive information with the US. Bilateral intelligence sharing programs exclusive of the US will probably be the way ahead for the Western powers.

What will Trumpf target next? Medicare? VA benefits? Social security? Mexico?

Sources:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/suspension-of-security-clearances-and-evaluation-of-government-contracts/

https://www.ft.com/content/2dfa3c11-64a7-49f6-83df-939b8d1cfb8e

https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-macron-canada-mexicoreciprocal-49caafc1240db7e17cfb45e71520dc98

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2025-02-24/trump-macron-discuss-ukraine-russia-full-remarks-video

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/fbi-agents-express-shock-dismay-naming-right-wing-podcaster-no-2-post-rcna193498

Israel Charges Two IDF Reservists with Espionage on Behalf of Iran

Yuri Eliasfov, Georgi Andreyev (Photo: Sharon Zur)

Two IDF reservists Yuri Eliasfov (22) and Georgi Andreyev (21) were charged with collaborating with an Iranian foreign agent known as “Boaz” and carrying out actions intended to harm Israel’s national security.

Eliasfov is accused of aiding an enemy in war, providing information that could benefit the enemy, contact with a foreign agent, aggravated forgery and other offenses. Andreyev is charged with contact with a foreign agent, vandalism and tampering with evidence. Neither has a previous criminal record.

According to the indictment filed in Haifa District Court, Eliasfov served as a technician in the Iron Dome air defense system and later during his reserve service, while Andreyev was a technician at the Israeli Air Force’s operations center and also served in reserves. The two have been friends for years.

The two spray-painted pro-Iranian graffiti in public places across Israel in exchange for $100 in cryptocurrency, photographed the creation and sent the images to “Boaz” before erasing part of the text.

Eliasfov allegedly sent “Boaz” blurred images of sites he claimed were military locations, receiving payment. He later offered to sell him weapons.

Between November 1-3 last year, while on reserve duty, Eliasfov recorded the Iron Dome radar screen, capturing classified data on the system’s location. He sent “Boaz” an edited clip containing highly classified information and offered the full video for $10,000, demanding an $800 advance payment.

Iron Dome battery (Photo: Israeli Security Ministry)

During his compulsory service, Eliasfov allegedly took eight photos of Iron Dome’s computer systems containing classified data and stored them on his phone, knowing they were highly confidential.

“Boaz” reportedly believed Eliasfov was a commander in the IDF’s elite Egoz unit with military connections. The Iranian agent expressed interest in Israeli Air Force bases, aircraft and specifically Nevatim Airbase, targeted in an Iranian attack last October.

The espionage war between Israel and Iran will continue along with their state of belligerency. Note that Iranian anti-Israeli attitudes intensified after Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon in the early 1980s which killed thousands of Shiites and led to the creation of Lebanese Hezbollah. When the Shah of Iran was in power, both CIA and Mossad worked and trained the Peacock Throne’s notorious security service, the SAVAK. As you previously read here on Coriolanus, in 2024 Israel’s security services previously rendered ineffective a few other Iranian spy rings. These two suspects are Ashkenazi Jews with Slavic names, like some of the other spies netted by the Shin Bet.

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

Source:

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/ryc11k4q00yg

Ukraine Update

Ukraine’s Schools Preparing Next Generation to Defend Itself from Russia

School children during a “Defense of Ukraine” lesson in Kyiv Oblast. (Photo: Lisa Bukreyeva / The Kyiv Independent)

In a small town in Kyiv Oblast, 10th grader Alina Marynenko just beat her entire class to be the most accurate shooter on an AK-47 simulator.

“Fourteen out of fifteen! I set a record! We beat the boys!” Marynenko yells out to her class.

Marynenko and her classmates fired the simulated weapon during a “Defense of Ukraine” lesson, an experimental course part of a wider educational reform passed after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The course has been part of the Ukrainian school curriculum since Soviet times, also known over the years as “Pre-Conscription Training” and “Defense of the Homeland.” If before 2022, the subject was seen as obsolete, hardly taken seriously by students who at times saw it more as an opportunity to goof off, Russia’s all-out aggression has given it a new life.  

Schoolchildren practice with firearms during a “Defense of Ukraine” lesson in Kyiv Oblast. (Photo: Lisa Bukreyeva / The Kyiv Independent)

The program’s backers maintain they are not aiming to train 16 and 17-year-olds to be soldiers, but preparing them for a reality where Russian aggression is ongoing, with no clear end in sight.

FPV drone flying simulator in a “Defense of Ukraine” classroom in Kyiv Oblast. Ukraine has become an expert at precision drone warfare. (Photo: Lisa Bukreyeva / The Kyiv Independent)

Similarly and sadly, the Kremlin is militarizing their youth as well. In 2024, the Russian state introduced a mandatory discipline for middle and high school called the “Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Motherland.” For about 60 years, Soviet schoolchildren assembled and disassembled assault rifles, learned how to put on gas masks, and provided first aid during the lessons of “Basic Military Training” (BMT). This subject was removed from the school curriculum in the late 1980s and replaced with FLS.

A Russian army officer wearing a “Z” symbol, associated with support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, demonstrates a Kalashnikov assault rifle to a boy during a pro-military event in Krasnogorsk, Russia, on 24 Feb 2024. The event, organized by local authorities, coincides with the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. (Contributor / Getty Images)

Russian teenagers take part in a ceremony to join the patriotic Youth Army cadet movement in the main hall of the Stalingrad Battle Museum in Volgograd, Russia, on 25 Jan 2023. (Photo: Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP via Getty Images)

Ukrainian Intelligence Chief: “Putin Wants All of Warsaw Pact Back”

Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. (Photo: Ukrainian Defense Ministry.)

Ukraine’s intelligence director Kyrylo Budanov warns Russia views itself as an empire seeking to reclaim former Soviet territories, with Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria as targets if Ukraine is defeated.

“Russia doesn’t see itself as a federation—it sees itself as an empire. The model its leadership envisions is a version of the Soviet Union that includes former Warsaw Pact countries. This won’t change if the worst-case scenario unfolds.” 

According to him, absorbing these nations is Russia’s “minimum objective” in its imperial ambitions.

“If we fall, Poland is next. I’m saying this outright—not to instill fear, but to make it clear. Then will come for the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria. A full rollback.” 

Despite Moscow’s claims of openness to negotiations, Russia continues its relentless aerial attacks on Ukraine.

Budanov added that Russia has received 120 long-range self-propelled artillery pieces and 120 multiple launch rocket systems from North Korea.

The DPRK has already supplied this equipment to the Russian troops and they have begun to use it. We are talking about 120 self-propelled artillery systems of 170 mm caliber and 120 MLRS of 240 mm caliber.

“These are quite impressive numbers,” the DIU chief emphasized.

He added that “it’s another question altogether” how much more North Korean weapons are being supplied to Russia. The intelligence chief noted that the DPRK provides the occupiers with 49% of 122-152 mm artillery ammunition and 122 mm MLRS rockets. 

Russian Military Losses

Russian military funeral.

ICC-indicted war criminal Vladimir Putin’s Nakba against Ukraine has cost his country dearly. According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, Russia has lost 870,700 troops since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on 24 Feb 2022.

This number includes 1,170 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past 36 hours.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,201 tanks, 21,183 armored fighting vehicles, 38,702 vehicles and fuel tanks, 23,686 artillery systems, 1,299 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,085 air defense systems, 370 airplanes, 331 helicopters, 26,961 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Donald Trumpf sanctioned the ICC in an effort to remove the international arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu.

If a ceasefire or peace is arranged, Ukraine will walk away from this conflict much like Japan and Finland did after their wars with the much larger Russia: combat-experienced and esteemed in the eyes of the international community. Russia and Ukraine might look like North and South Korea, two highly-militarized states at stone’s throw of each other. But genuine negotiations between Kiev and Moscow have not yet begun. US and Russian envoys discussing the future of Ukraine in Saudi Arabia without their presence was a poor sign of imperial arrogance. When someone asks what’s for dinner, this usually means it’s them. Either way, Putin’s goal of absorbing Ukraine into his fold have so far failed. And how much longer can Putin and Trumpf live? Will their successors want to maintain this ideal of a “Greater Russia”? As long as Europe can keep supporting Kiev without the US, Ukraine can outlast her enemies.

Sources:

https://euromaidanpress.com

https://kyivindependent.com/general-staff-russia-has-lost-870-700-troops-in-ukraine-since-feb-24-2022/

Dead Body Placed Beside Australian Couple on Qatar Airways Flight for Four Hours

An Australian couple have spoken of the “traumatic” moment the body of a dead passenger was placed next to them on a Qatar Airways flight. Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin, who were travelling to Venice for a dream holiday, said a woman died in the aisle beside them during the flight from Melbourne to Doha. The couple say cabin crew sat her corpse, which was covered in blankets, next to Mr Ring for the remaining four hours of the flight and did not offer to move him, despite there being empty seats. Qatar Airways said it apologized for “any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused,” adding that it was in the process of contacting passengers.

Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin. Inset: Mitchell Ring on the infamous flight. (Courtesy 9Now Australia)

Qatar Airways crew stated the deceased passenger was too large to move to the vacant seats in business class. But this large passenger was able to squeeze her way into economy class? Perhaps the crew didn’t want to upset the oligarchs enjoying Business Class. And in case you missed it, this week there was another aviation incident when a private jet entered the runway without authorization from air traffic control resulting in a near-miss in Chicago. Between President Planecrash in the US and this mortifying experience, who thinks the skies are friendly enough to fly?

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz03l18jv97o

https://abcnews.go.com/US/southwest-plane-lands-safely-chicago-after-close-call/story?id=119174069

North Korean Hackers Steal Record $1.5 Billion in Single Crypto Hack

North Korean hackers have stolen $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency in a single heist, making it the largest crypto hack on record..

The hackers struck Bybit, which describes itself as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, with over 40 million users.

In a matter of minutes on Friday, the hackers stole a significant portion of North Korea’s reported annual gross domestic product. And over the weekend, the hackers were already laundering about $160 million of the stolen loot through a series of accounts connected to North Korean operatives, according to crypto-tracing firm TRM Labs. In a single hack, the North Koreans have nearly doubled what they stole in crypto last year, the firm said.


An ethereum coin. Credit: CFOTO / Future Publishing via Getty Images

North Korea’s formidable hacking corps is an essential source of revenue for the nuclear-armed, sanctions-battered dictatorship.

Kim Jong-un enjoying a cigarette while his people starve. (Undated photo: KCNA)

In addition to hacking, North Korea makes money by producing and selling illegal drugs, counterfeit consumer goods and currency, and human/arms/wildlife trafficking. Pyongyang added to its coffers by keeping the salaries of the soldiers it sent to fight and die in Russia, as well as by selling weapons to Moscow. The fight to defeat North Korean crime must be through vigilance and intelligence-sharing, otherwise Kin Jong-un will continue developing his weapons of mass destruction (WMD) unabated. Lastly, Coriolanus has dealt with organized crime decades ago and he learned this philosophy years ago: “If you don’t understand it, get rid of it.” This axiom certainly applies to investing in crypto-currency. No Followers of the Watch should even be tempted to think about this unregulated demi-currency.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/24/politics/north-korean-hackers-crypto-hack/index.html

Health News: Four Things to Increase Your Lifespan

Stacy Andersen, a behavioral neuroscientist at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, is a codirector of the New England Centenarian Study, which examines the lives of people over 100 who are in good health. She has traveled the country visiting centenarians in their homes, meeting their families, and often sitting down with them for breakfast to try to pinpoint why they have lived so long.

Ms. Anderson, who studied centenarians for twenty years, contends doing these four things will add to your life expectancy. Of course this excludes genetic, financial, and environmental factors impacting us.

1) Eat foods from five different colors every day.

You can get a diverse range of nutrients by eating a variety of fruits and vegetables. (Istetiana/Getty Images)

2) Exercise daily and mix it up.

Yoga, tennis, swimming, jogging, martial arts, weight-lifting all help.

3) Get good-quality sleep.

4) Challenge yourself to learn a new skill.

Learn to play different games, a musical instrument, or another language.

Many researchers suggest that having a pet in your life may also increase your longevity. Reducing alcohol, coffee, soda, and tobacco consumption can’t hurt either. Coriolanus has some work to do himself.

Source:

https://www.businessinsider.com/things-longevity-scientist-centenarians-does-for-live-longer-2025-2

US Army Choir Sings Protest Song from Les Misérables at White House

At the Governor’s Ball in the White House earlier this week, the US Army Choir sang an arrangement from Les Misérables. The Victor Hugo novel (and musical) revolves around anti-monarchy and fighting tyranny, famous for its climactic scene from the Paris Uprising of 1832. The US Soldiers gleefully protested the sham Trumpf administration right under their very noses. Watch and listen:

Coriolanus is proud of his Soldiers.

Pocket-Sized Kitten Changes This Man Into Cat Lover Forever

America’s Disgrace

In this non-stop vortex of chaos caused by America’s Godzilla, here’s what we learned. USSECSTATE Marco Rubio, barely on the job a few days, flew down to Panama to demand they immediately take steps to end what President Trumpf sees as China’s influence and control over the Panama Canal. A Hong Kong-based company operates two ports near the canal’s entrances which Trumpf bloviated was a threat to the waterway and a violation of the US-Panama treaty. Rubio would claim they reached a deal that allowed US warships to transit the canal for free. Panama’s canal authority made it clear that it had not made any adjustments to tolls, directly contradicting Washington’s announcement that the policy change would save the U.S. “millions of dollars a year.” Since 1999, the US has paid a total of $25.4 million in transit fees—less than $1 million annually. While Panama’s President Raúl Mulino told Rubio that Panama’s sovereignty over the canal was non-negotiable, he also signaled a distancing from China by announcing that they will quit Beijing’s Belt and Road project. The canal, returned to Panama under a treaty signed in 1977, remains independently operated, despite conspiracy-laden rhetoric about China’s control over it. Panamanian President Mulino may take the matter of Trumpf’s bullying to the UN Security Council.

This episode was a “nothing burger” designed to give Trumpf an easy, public victory for his supporters, when in essence the American people got very little out it. Below, the Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum of US foreign policy.

America’s Godzilla issued an Executive Order (E.O.) condemning South Africa’s alleged discrimination against Afrikaaners and supposed land grabs. The E.O. authorized the US to facilitate the expedited re-settlement of these supposedly oppressed Afrikaaners to the US. This is the type of people Trumpf wants in America:

Pretoria responded:

“It is ironic that the executive order makes provision for refugee status in the US for a group in South Africa that remains amongst the most economically privileged, while vulnerable people in the US from other parts of the world are being deported and denied asylum despite real hardship.”

And so did two prominent Afrikaaner organizations:

“Our members work here, and want to stay here, and they are going to stay here,” said Dirk Hermann, chief executive of the Afrikaner trade union Solidarity, which says it represents around 2 million people. “We are committed to build a future here. We are not going anywhere.”

At the same press conference, Kallie Kriel, the CEO of the Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum, said: “We have to state categorically: We don’t want to move elsewhere.”

Trumpf announced plans to gut the Kennedy Center board and appoint himself chairman. Godzilla stripped Joe Biden’s Presidential Daily Brief (PDB), as well as the security clearances of non-federal government prosecutors such as Letitia James and Alvin Bragg. Trumpf will also be the first sitting POTUS to attend a Superbowl Game, where the “End Racism” signs and slogans have been removed. Elon Musk’s DOGE has been busy going through the records of millions of Americans. A US Treasury Threat Intelligence Analysis report designated DOGE staff as an ‘Insider Threat’ and these have posters have been cropping up in Washington DC.

Trumpf’s administration rehired a flagrantly racist DOGE employee. These are the miscreants working on behalf of Elon Musk to pilfer America’s wealth:

But Godzilla wasn’t done. The Crime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, flew to Washington. Trumpf floated the idea for the US to “take over” the Gaza Strip during a press conference with the ICC-indicted war criminal calling for Gaza’s entire population to be relocated to other countries and for the land to be redeveloped.

As previously reported here on Coriolanus, this was the “Repub-Likud” plan all the time. Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s former White House adviser and his son-in-law, praised the “very valuable” potential of Gaza’s “waterfront property,” suggesting that Israel should remove civilians while it “cleans up” the area. This is why no ceasefire was reached in 2024, despite the dozen trips that USSECSTATE Antony Blinken and D/CIA William Burns made to the Middle East. The incessant IDF bombing campaign against the Palestinians and Biden’s unqualified support for Israel kept antiwar voters home in Nov 2024. When Kamala Harris became the Democratic Presidential candidate, she immediately selected an outreach coordinator for Jewish-American voters, as if the Democratic Party needed such an envoy. She did not do the same for Arab-American voters. Kamala Harris’ inability to divorce her policy position from Biden cost her the Presidency; Trumpf and Bibi both knew it. The Democratic Party sacrificed the US for the sake of Israel. If you can stomach more of this, please see next story.

What’s next for America’s Godzilla? Despoiling the American Superbowl with his odious presence, slandering Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky, putting Elon Musk in charge of the FAA, confrontations with China and Iran, and scrubbing national health websites of information regarding avian flu.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to Trumpf: “You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House.”

Between these two Repub-Likuds are five indictments, two impeachments, and one conviction (but a sentence of ‘unconditional discharge.’) Both are trying to ethnically cleanse their countries,

The odious Benjamin Netanyahu said that in his second term, President Trumpf “picked up right where you left off” — bringing a hostage deal, revoking sanctions on settlers, pulling funding for UNRWA, and applying maximum pressure on Iran. “All this in just two weeks. Can you imagine where we’ll be in four years?” Meaning how many more Muslims and Arabs can we have kill while lining our pockets over the next four years?

You wonder what Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Democratic Party leadership are thinking right now?

The ICC-indicted war criminal gifted Godzilla with a “Golden Pager,” The gift was an allusion to a deadly Sep 2023 operation carried out by Israel in Lebanon, which targeted pagers used by members of Lebanese Hezbollah. On 17 Sep, thousands of explosions struck Hezbollah members, targeting their pagers and then walkie-talkies a day later. The blasts killed at least 37 people, including some children, and injured nearly 3,000, many of them civilian bystanders. The UN OHCHR regarded this massive sabotage as a war crime.

The Golden Pager gifted to Godzilla, a tribute to a war crime. In turn, Trumpf is sanctioning the ICC to get the arrest warrants off his partner-in-crime.

The Democratic Party was the best friend Israel ever had. And somehow 46% of NY Jews voted for Trumpf.

Ask Harry S Truman in 1948 who recognized Israel, Lyndon Baines Johnson who shielded Israel in 1967 after the USS Liberty incident, or the late Jimmy Carter who bent over backwards to secure peace for Israel. Adjusting for inflation, US aid to Israel from 1951 to 2022 totaled $317.9 billion, making it the largest recipient of American foreign aid since World War II. That’s billions of dollars that could have been used in the US for healthcare, education, affordable housing, meals-on-wheels, libraries, or parks. Americans go through medical bankruptcy, Israelis do not under their universal healthcare system.

Democratic President Harry S Truman (L) meets with Israeli PM David Ben-Gurion (R) and the Ambassador of Israel to the US, Abba Eban (standing) in a gift ceremony in the Oval Office on 8 May 1951. (Photo: Abbie Rowe/Harry S. Truman Library & Museum)

The USS Liberty after being repeatedly strafed by IDF jets on 8 Jun 1967 during the Six-Day War: 34 US KIA, 171 US WIA. The electronic spy ship may have intercepted IDF communications about potential war crimes in the Sinai. Abba Eban apologized for the attack and asked LBJ to not reveal anything as the incident might have become a propaganda boost for the USSR. Democrat LBJ obliged.

After signing the Camp David Accords in 1978. Begin and Sadat enjoyed playing chess with each other during the talks.

Now look where we are:

A Donald Trump yarmulke sold at the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem.

Thanks for screwing the Democratic Party in 2024 by keeping the Gaza bombing going and not helping Joe Biden out with a ceasefire, Bibi! Former USSECSTATE Antony Blinken and former D/CIA William Burns know exactly what you did. If the ICC doesn’t convict you, Coriolanus hopes Israel’s dynamic first female Attorney-General skewers you during your corruption trial.

Israel Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara.

Sources:

https://ussliberty.org/

https://www.jewishpress.com/news/elections-news/ny-jews-voted-trump-not-so-much-in-the-rest-of-the-country/2024/11/07/

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

Ukraine Update

North Korean soldiers receive uniforms and equipment at Russian training base. (Photo: Ukrainian Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security and CNN)

(A) North Korean Cannon Fodder Reported Back in the Fight

North Korean soldiers were “brought in again” by Russia to the embattled Kursk Oblast, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on 7 Feb.

Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi briefed Zelensky about new Russian attacks in Kursk Oblast, a day after Russian media claimed Ukraine had launched a new offensive in the Russian region.

“A significant number of occupiers have been eliminated, we are talking hundreds of Russian and North Korean servicemen,” the president said.

The New York Times reported on 30 Jan that North Korean troops had been pulled from the front, and a spokesperson confirmed that Ukraine’s special forces had not faced Pyongyang’s soldiers for three weeks.

Moreover, President Zelenskyy said that “Putin is not preparing for negotiations, not for peace, but for the continuation of the war, and not only against us, against Ukraine. They are now increasing their army by more than 100,000 more soldiers. All partners should know about this and should see it. We are ready to pass on the relevant information, and the relevant communication is already taking place through the intelligence line.”

(B) Impact of Drone Warfare on Russian Soldiers

Ukraine uses 10,000 surveillance and attack drones per month. (Photo: Elena Tita / Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

Near the village of Terny in Donetsk region, as soon as he heard the sound of a drone, a Russian infantryman decided not to wait and killed himself with a grenade. The suicide was filmed by soldiers of the 98th battalion of the 60th separate mechanized Ingulets brigade.

Please cut and paste link to watch:

In this video, a Ukrainian drone tries to kill Russian soldier, then returns to save his life.

(C) Russia Spreading Agitprop About NATO and Zelensky

The popular and competent President Zelenskyy is a jagged pebble in Putin’s shoe. (Photo: CNN)

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) is claiming NATO member states are plotting to oust Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from power by discrediting him, and then holding elections to switch up leadership in the war-torn country.

The SVR said NATO is guided by the uncertainty regarding the continuation of military aid to Kyiv from the new US administration led by President Donald Trump. NATO hopes to “freeze” the conflict, however Zelensky remains the main obstacle to the implementation of such a plan, it said. There is no indication that such a plot exists.

Russian soldiers continue getting slaughtered against Ukraine and their morale must be at an all time low thanks to drone warfare. Next week NATO will be convening the Ministers of Defense Summit where military assistance to Ukraine will be the main topic. The Kremlin is attempting to sow discord within NATO before the conference with the propaganda that President Zelensky is corrupt and an obstacle to peace. In Brussels expect sycophantic USSECDEF Pete Hegseth to parrot the same Kremlin lines by asking for elections in Ukraine.

Sources:

https://kyivindependent.com/north-korean-soldiers-brought-in-again-in-kursk-oblast-battles-zelensky-said/

https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/02/03/1023196.html

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-nato-plot-get-rid-zelensky-war-2025292

Ukrainian MOD

https://t.me/V_Zelenskiy_official/13270

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_232865.htm?selectedLocale=en&mode=pressrelease

Turkiye: 33 Dead in Ankara from Bootleg Alcohol Poisoning, 20 in Critical Condition

The provincial governor’s office reported that 33 persons died in Ankara following bootleg alcohol use while another 20 are in intensive care.

In Turkiye, where bootleg alcohol is frequently contaminated with methanol, a poisonous chemical that can cause blindness, liver damage and death, such poisonings are rather prevalent and result from covert manufacturing.

Police confiscated 102 tons of contaminated alcohol and arrested 13 individuals on suspicions of selling it.

Though the governor omitted a chronology, his office’s X account on Tuesday cited “an increase in counterfeit alcohol deaths in recent days”. A spokeswoman for the governor’s office informed AFP the statistic was “from the beginning of the year”.

Previous consumption of bootlegged alcohol had left 26 people in intensive care and 38 people died in Istanbul in Jan 2025.

Since then, no official comment on whether the number of victims rose or on the state of those in intensive care has been made.

Inquired by AFP for a Friday update, a spokeswoman from the Istanbul governor’s office responded: “We are not going to make a statement on that.”

Turkiye is an ostensibly secular nation, although alcohol tariffs have surged under pious President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Purchased from a supermarket, a liter bottle of raki, Turkey’s aniseed-flavored national spirit, currently costs over 1,300 lira ($37.20) in a nation where the minimum salary just recently exceeded $600.

Critics claim high prices and low salaries are driving the manufacture of moonshine alcohol.

The first female recruit in the Turkish Police Organization may have been in 1845. Women in Turkiye have come a long way since then.

The founder of modern Turkiye, Kemal Pasha Ataturk, holding a glass of what looks like raki cut with water.

Source:

https://www.samaa.tv/2087328618-33-dead-in-ankara-from-bootleg-alcohol-poisoning-20-critical?q=2087328618-33-dead-in-ankara-from-bootleg-alcohol-poisoning-20-critical

What Happened the Last Time a President Purged the Bureaucracy 

From Politico:

“While it is impossible to quantify a counterfactual, the cost of the anti-communist purges of the 1950s was clearly enormous and played out not just over the subsequent years but over decades. For instance, had expertise not been purged and dissent not been punished so severely across the government during the early 1950s, wiser heads might well have raised the right objections to America’s short-sighted anti-communism in East Asia, above all its rush to intervene in Vietnam. Does the Trump administration run the same risk of short-sightedness today?

Notorious anti-communist hunter Sen. Joseph McCarthy led a devastating purge of intellectuals from the US government.

American soldiers coming home from Vietnam in 1965.

The thoroughly despicable, Iran-hating Islamophobe Sebastian Gorka is back in the White House. Said his PhD adviser: ‘I would not call him an expert in terrorism.’ 

Approximately 40,000 US servicemembers are in the Middle East.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) began the drumbeat against Iran barely a day after the Gaza ceasefire took hold. Is this what to expect from Islamophobic Donald Trumpf and Benjamin Netanyahu in the future?

Photo courtesy of the US Army.

Source:

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/02/06/government-workers-purge-1950s-communism-00202336

Pam Bondi Weaponizes Justice Dept, Ends FBI Role to Combat Foreign Influence in US Politics

From Politico:

“Bondi directed the “weaponization” group to investigate former special counsel Jack Smith, who brought the two federal criminal cases against Trump: one over Trump’s role in the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol and another on Trump’s mishandling of classified documents.

And she directed the group to examine “federal cooperation with the weaponization” by the offices of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Bragg’s office brought the criminal hush money case against Trump that ended in his conviction on 34 felony counts of business fraud. James brought a civil fraud lawsuit against Trump and his family business that resulted in a judge ordering Trump to pay a massive civil judgment.

Trump has repeatedly vowed revenge on Bragg and James, both Democrats, saying Bragg should be prosecuted and that James is “grossly incompetent.” Trump and his supporters have also questioned the role of one of the prosecutors in Bragg’s office, Matthew Colangelo, who previously worked at the Justice Department. Trump has pointed to Colangelo’s resume to claim that former President Joe Biden’s administration played a role in bringing the criminal case.

Bondi said the Justice Department would end a moratorium on federal executions that was put in place during the Biden administration. She pledged that department lawyers will “evaluate all potential avenues to strengthen the federal death penalty as a valid means of punishment for the heinous crimes it is intended to punish. She also ended the FBI’s role in investigating foreign influence in US politics.”

Attorney-General A. Mitchell Palmer arrested and deported thousands of aliens from 1919-20 during the “Red Scare.”

If Americans feel less secure today they have a right to. Between the internal threat posed by DOGE to American’s privacy, the purging of the FBI, and now this weaponization of the Justice Dept by Trumpf, America’s enemies will have a field day in the US. Expect fewer prosecutions of police brutality cases, as well as less investigations of white supremacist groups and Russian oligarchs. This agenda will suit Vladimir Putin just fine.

Who’s in charge here?

Source:

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/05/pam-bondi-issued-a-flurry-of-orders-on-day-1-as-trumps-attorney-general-00202756

Polar Bear Makes Friend with Penguin

Penguins have colonies in the Antarctic, South Africa, Argentina, or Chile, and polar bears are found north in the Arctic Circle. This video may have been taken in a zoo or animal sanctuary. Nevertheless, everybody needs somebody and these animals found companionship with each other, across species.

Germany: Thousands Protest Rightwing AfD Congress

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

North Korea Intensifies Surveillance of Chinese Phone Users Along Border

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

(Photo: NBC News Miami)

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

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

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

(Photo: NBC News Miami)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

China Suddenly Building Fleet of Special Barges Suitable for Taiwan Landings

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

From navalnews.com:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

https://www.globalfirepower.com/

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

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

Farmer Uncovers Large Rare Ancient Hunt Mosaic in Turkiye

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

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

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

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

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

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

The mosaic survived empire changes and wars over the mileenia.

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

Underground city in Cappadocia, Turkiye.

Hotel carved from stone in Cappadocia, Turkiye.

Source:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

http://www.travelradar.aero

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

Gorilla Infant Rescued From Airplane Cargo Hold Recovers at Istanbul Zoo

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

Who Are The Terrorists: Israelis or Palestinians?

A mourner sits near the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes at al-Ahli Arab Hospital, known as the Baptist Hospital, in Gaza City on 8 Jan 2025 (Photo: Dawoud Abu Alkas / Reuters)

Since 1 Jan 2025, the IDF has killed at least 332 Palestinians in Gaza, including women and children, while continuing to impede the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.

None of these Palestinians in the Gaza Strip voted in the US election on 5 Nov 2024.

Israeli forces have killed at least 50 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, as authorities warned that the Al Aqsa, Nasser and European hospitals in the enclave face imminent closure over dire fuel shortages.

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) reiterated its call for global action, saying the continued violation of international law in the occupied Palestinian territory must not be allowed to continue for another year.

Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, 8 Jan 2025 (Photo: Mohammed Salem / Reuters)

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warns that the lives of 15 newborns on incubators are at risk because of fuel shortages. None of the infants in the incubators are holding any Israeli hostages.

A Palestinian nurse attends to a newborn in an incubator at a hospital in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, 10 Sep 2024 (Photo: Ramadan Abed / Reuters)

Mourners react as they carry the body of a Palestinian child killed in an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, 8 Jan 2025 (Photo: Mohammed Salem / Reuters)

The West Bank is not immune to the IDF or their proxies. Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians in their daily raids in the West Bank, including two boys, while Israeli settlers burned Palestinian several homes and vehicles.

The IDF have killed at least 45,936 Palestinian civilians and combatants while wounding or maiming 109,274 since 7 Oct 2023. The Israeli High Command asserts that 17,000 of the dead were militants. There are no judicial transcripts of the hearings for these accused militants. At least 1,139 Israelis were killed and more than 200 were taken captive on 7 Oct 2023 for a future prisoner swap.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, 11 Nov 2024. (Photo: Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)

Likud Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says half of Gazans can be ‘encouraged’ to leave within two years. By the Likud Party’s own admission, straight from the jackass’ mouth, we witness their strategy of Nakba 2023-2024, all paid for by the hardworking American taxpayer.

Israel will celebrate its 100th Centennial in 23 years. Does anybody on the planet think we’ll see a Two-State Solution in 2048?

Photographed below are Holocaust survivors and their descendants who in April 2024 recognized that the Nakba in Gaza was a genocide. Yet in 2025 there are people who claim that the wanton killing of Palestinians is Israel’s right to self-defense, denying IDF atrocities that are making the Gaza Strip completely inhospitable.

Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos (C) and descendants of Holocaust survivors take part in an 13 Apr 2024 London protest against the Nakba in Gaza. (Photo: @Aliwala786110/X)

The fires in southern California forced President Joe Biden to cancel his Jan 2025 trip to Rome where he was to meet the Italian Prime Minister, President, and Pope Francis, in what would have been his final official overseas trip as POTUS. President Biden’s Oct 2021 meeting with the first-ever Jesuit Pope was quite warm and they shared some laughs. Whether the Pope received Confession from Joe Biden is not known.

US President Joe Biden, left, meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday, 29 Oct 2021. (Photo:  Vatican Media / AP)

But this time Pope Francis might have had an earful for President Biden about the “serious and shameful” situation in the Gaza Strip, something the US allowed to happen by contiuning to arm and assist Israel. The Pontiff recently stated “We cannot in any way accept the bombing of civilians. We cannot accept that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed or a country’s energy network has been hit.”

This sounds like Pope Francis described terrorism.

The United Nations General Assembly defines terrorism in GA Resolution 49/60:

Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them.

According to the US (6 USCS § 101), the term terrorism is “any activity that–

(A) involves an act that–

(i) is dangerous to human life or potentially destructive of critical infrastructure or key resources; and

(ii) is a violation of the criminal laws of the US or of any State or other subdivision of the US; and

(B) appears to be intended–

(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping.”

So, who are the terrorists: Israelis or Palestinians?

Sources:

https://www.ohchr.org/en/countries/israel

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/1/9/live-israel-kills-50-people-in-gaza-recovers-body-of-captive-from-rafah

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


https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ramping-criticism-israel-pope-francis-calls-situation-gaza-shameful-rcna186939

Costly Russian Casualties in Ukraine Setting off Demographic Timebomb for Kremlin

December 2024 was likely the most costly month for Russia since President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of neighboring Ukraine almost three years ago.

At least 48,000 troops were killed or wounded last month, the sixth straight month that Russian forces suffered an increase in monthly losses on the battlefield, British defense intelligence officials reported. Russia sustained at least 2,200 casualties on 19 Dec, the highest record of combat losses on a single day.

Russian casualties offloaded from truck or train car. (Undated photo: AP)

Moscow sustained 429,660 casualties in its war in 2024, a dramatic increase from the 252,940 battlefield losses in 2023. Since the start of the war, more than 790,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded, British officials said.

For comparison, the UK suffered 750,000 military casualties during the six years it fought the Second World War in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repotted 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers KIA and 370,000 WIA since the start of Russia’s invasion.

Crosses marked only with numbers stand on the graves of unknown pro-Russian separatists at a cemetery in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk. (Photo: AFP)

Russian losses in Ukraine are helping fuel a demographic timebomb that could see the country’s population reduced by half by the end of the century.

“The impact on Russian society is devastating,” said Harley Balzer, emeritus professor of government and international affairs at Georgetown University.

“From Russia’s perspective, (winning the war in Ukraine) is the smaller problem. The bigger issue is, is it going to be a viable country afterward regardless?”

“Life expectancy for young men is on par with a fourth-world country. Life expectancy at age 15 for a Russian man right before the (COVID-19) pandemic was about the same as his counterpart in Haiti.”

A large study into why Russian males had such short life expectancies published in 2014 concluded one of the main factors in early deaths was excessive alcohol consumption.
Other factors cited in a more recent investigation last year by the independent Russian media outlet Cherta, included high rates of murder, suicide, car crashes, and other fatal accidents.

The appalling number of Russian casualties was the major reason the Kremlin press-ganged ethnic minorities and recruited North Korean soldiers for human wave attacks. Vladimir Putin’s anxiety of the billion plus Chinese population on his eastern border was part of his reasoning in re-establishing an All-Slavic Union with the Kremlin at the head, a neo-USSR with the power and glory it once held. But his brutal invasion backfired and he has cost Russia (and Ukraine) generations of Slavic people never to be born.

Sources:

https://kyivindependent.com/russian-losses-in-ukraine-fuelling-devastating-demographic-timebomb-experts-say/

Mexico’s New President Taking Charge

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum pointing at a map from 1607 showing an early portrayal of North America. (Photo: AFP)

Newly elected Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum has suggested North America including the United States could be renamed “Mexican America” – a historic name used on an early map of the region in response to US President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”

“Mexican America, that sounds nice,” Sheinbaum joked, pointing at the map from 1607 showing an early portrayal of North America.

The president, who has jousted with Trump in recent weeks, used her daily press conference to give a history lesson, flanked by old maps and former culture minister Jose Alfonso Suarez del Real. In another response to the blathering President-elect, President Sheinbaum is taking pro-active steps to stem the number of migrants appearing at the US-Mexican border.

So-called migrant caravan advances to the US through Huehuetan, southern Mexico (Getty Images).

Two weeks ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s second inauguration, Mexico continues dissolving attention-grabbing migrant caravans and dispersing migrants throughout the country to keep them far from the US border, while simultaneously limiting how many accumulate in any one place.

The policy of “dispersion and exhaustion” has become the center of the Mexican government’s immigration policy in recent years and last year succeeded in significantly reducing the number of migrants reaching the US border, said Tonatiuh Guillén, former chief of Mexico’s immigration agency.

Per CIA in 2022: Mexico’s export partners were the US at 77%, Canada 4%, China 2%, Taiwan 1%, South Korea 1%; import partners were the at US 56%, China 17%, Germany 3%, South Korea 3%, Japan 2%.

Mexico’s current administration hopes that the lower numbers will give them some defense after Trump threatened to impose tariffs over migration during his first presidency.

Acapulco would seem to be a strange destination for migrants. Once a crown jewel of Mexico’s tourism industry, the city now suffers under the thumb of organized crime and is still struggling to climb back after taking a direct hit from devastating Hurricane Otis in 2023.

Claudia Sheinbaum is Mexico’s first woman to be elected President and capable of standing up to Trump who has problems with charismatic women.

Just as Canada recently appropriated $1.3 bn in funds for their border ahead of Trumpf’s ascendancy, the new Mexican president is trying to soften any blows from the incoming administration by lowering the number of migrants at the US-Mexican border. Whether this plan works or not remains to be seen, especially if these migrants were trying to re-unite with family members already in the US. There is no information suggesting that Pres. Sheinbaum intends to visit Mar-a-Lago or Wash DC any time soon.

Sources:

https://www.trtworld.com/us-and-canada/mexican-america-mexico-rebukes-trump-suggests-renaming-north-america-18251753

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/mexico-drops-migrants-troubled-resort-disperses-us-border-117406521

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89v4w51dzyo

North Korea: Giant Tourist Beach Resort to Open June 2025

A photo of a general aerial view of the “Kalma Coast Tourism Area” in the North Korean city of Wonsan, released on 31 Dec 2024. (KCNA via AFP)

North Korea’s long-stalled Kalma beach resort will finally open in June 2025. North Korean supremo Kim Jong Un said the project is the “first big step” in advancing the country’s tourism. Media reports suggest that the tourist resort is aimed at Russian visitors.

Per CIA: population 26,298,666; GDP per capita: $1,700.

Launched in 2014, the project was scheduled to open by April 2019. However, it encountered numerous setbacks, including design modifications, material shortages caused by international sanctions, and disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un (L) and his daughter Ju Ae walking on the beach during a visit to the “Kalma Coast Tourism Area” in the North Korean city of Wonsan. (Photo: KCNA via AFP)

In July 2024, South Korea’s spy agency the NIS said that Kim was preparing Ju Ae to succeed him, though the selection was not final.

This is unimaginable that a country with endemic food insecurity would conceive of opening a tourist location. Giving the Russian oligarchs a safe haven to enjoy the beaches makes sense as their summer resort areas in Crimea are in flux because of the war. Manning this resort will be a security challenge for Pyongyang as food supplies will most likely be pilfered or siphoned off by hungry workers.

The children of North Korea are starving while Kim Jong-un test-fired a hypersonic missile just as USSECSTATE Antony Blinken arrived in Seoul, South Korea.

If the North Korean supremo isn’t seen in public pointing at something, he is seen enjoying his cigarettes. But smoking is not going to kill Kim Jong-un; he may end up hanging by his ankles like Benito Mussolini one day for starving his people and sending thousands to die in Russia while he takes each of his soldier’s $2,200 monthly stipend.

Source:

North Korea says giant tourist beach resort to open in June 2025 – Radio Free Asia

Health News: Noise Pollution More Than Nuisance, But Proven Health Risk

From Harvard Medical School:

“For half a century, US agencies such as the EPA have deemed noise pollution “a growing danger to the health and welfare of the Nation’s population.” The European Environmental Agency reports that noise ranks second only to air pollution as the environmental exposure most harmful to public health.

Recently, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that people exposed to high aircraft noise levels could be at greater risk of poor heart function, increasing their risk of heart attack, stroke, and irregular heartbeat.

Residents living near noisy airports had 10% to 20% worse heart structure and function, compared to people who moved to get away from the aircraft noise.

Cardiologists reported people’s heart muscles had grown stiffer and thicker over time, making the organ less efficient at pumping blood, quadrupling a person’s risk of heart attack or stroke.

Environmental factors such as air pollution or noise have already been linked to adverse health effects such as cardiovascular diseases and general well-being.

In 2023, the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) found that the risk to commit suicide increases for people exposed to high levels of transportation noise. Noise is a constant stressor affecting sleep, levels of stress hormones, changes in brain function, or a sense of loss of control.

The study found that exposure to transportation noise at home was linked to a higher risk of death by suicide. With every 10 dB increase of average road traffic noise at home, risk for suicides rises by 4%. An association with railway noise was also observed, although less pronounced.

Mental health disorders affect nearly one billion people worldwide and are a leading cause of suicide. Noise abatement programs, adding greenery to the urban sprawl, flying less noisier aircraft like the new Airbus A220, relocating away from airports, and reducing automobile traffic can lower people’s exposure to excess noise, lowering their health risks.

Sources:

https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2024.09.1217

https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/noise-and-health

https://www.swisstph.ch/en/news/news-detail/news/transportation-noise-increases-risk-for-suicides

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Nuclear Engineer, Humanitarian: President Jimmy Carter

(1 Oct 1924 – 29 Dec 2024)

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, US President Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, celebrate after signing the Camp David Peace Accords in 1978. (Photo: Universal History Archive / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

US President Jimmy Carter and Panama’s General Omar Torrijos shake hands after signing the Panama Canal Torrijos-Carter Treaties on 7 Sep 1977. 

President Jimmy Carter, in his first full day in office, fulfilled a campaign promise by granting unconditional pardons to hundreds of thousands of men who had evaded the draft during the Vietnam War by fleeing the country or by failing to register with their Selective Service boards. He also ordered a review of military desertion cases.

After retiring, President Carter established the Carter Center for Peace and volunteered to build homes with Habitats for Humanity.

Jimmy Carter’s wife, Rosalynn, and his mother, Lillian, pin ensign bars on his epaulets after his graduation from the US Naval Academy in 1946. He would learn to fly sea-planes and nuclear engineering for submarines. (Photo US Navy)

The US Navy’s work in developing the first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, meant that Admiral Hyman Rickover and Lieutenant James Carter had access to the latest and greatest in top-secret nuclear energy technology. So when Canada’s Chalk River nuclear research facility experienced a power surge that damaged its reactor, the US sent Carter and his team. He was one of a few people in the world who could do it and he averted a nuclear disaster.

The Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario, Canada, were opened in 1944. In Sep 1945, the facility put the first nuclear reactor outside of the US into operation.

President Jimmy Carter who brought peace to Israel and Egypt, returned the Panama Canal to its rightful owners, and gave amnesty to Vietnam War draft evaders, was most proud of the fact that not one bullet was fired under his administration. No other American President can say that.

At President Carter’s funeral, former President George W. Bush walked past a sitting Donald Trump who did not stand to greet him. Obama stood up and was greeted with a friendly poke in the stomach by “W.” Seeing that he might be miffed, the ever diplomatic Obama chatted a witticism to Trump that only a lip-reader would understand. With Donald Trump being sentenced the next day in New York for 34 felony counts of business fraud, someone did figure out what Obama joked about with Trump:

The Carter Center released this photograph of the funeral:

Notably absent from the photo because of the camera angle, are Russian President Vladimir Putin’s protege, Donald Trump and his tackily dressed wife Melania. They will all be re-uniting in ten days for Trump’s inauguration, keeping the USSS super busy.

Most Online Pharmacies Illegally Operated and Possibly Selling Dangerous or Ineffective Drugs

Most of the 35,000 online pharmacies around the world are operating illegally and could be selling dangerous or ineffective drugs, according to the US Trade Representative’s annual “notorious markets” report.

Ninety-six percent of online pharmacies were found to be in violation of the law, meaning they were operating without a license and selling medications without prescriptions. An estimated 20 new illegal pharmacy websites are created every day around the world.

“The health and safety concerns posed by counterfeit medicines are particularly troubling,” Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement.

Over 30 online retailers were identified in the report identified as engaged in selling counterfeit products. The websites often mimic legitimate e-commerce platforms, with false claims that they are approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The report compiled also singled out 19 countries over concerns about counterfeit or pirated products.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 1 in 10 medicines in low- and middle-income countries are substandard or falsified. Countries spend an estimated $30.5 billion per year on substandard and falsified medical products. You can find the suspected counterfeit drugs in the links below.

Sources:

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/substandard-and-falsified-medical-products

https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/anumed-international-llc-674310-08202024

https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2025/january/ustr-releases-2024-review-notorious-markets-counterfeiting-and-piracy

Dog With A Broken Jaw Found In The Road Finds Happiness

NASA Monitoring Solar Activity With Closest Probe to Sun Ever Launched

This NASA image shows an artist’s rendering of the Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. The probe made history on Tuesday, flying closer to the sun than any other spacecraft, with its heat shield exposed to scorching temperatures topping 930 degrees Celsius (1,700 degrees Fahrenheit).. (Credit: Johns Hopkins APL / NASA)

Christmas began with a bang. At 0449 UT on 25 Dec active sunspot 3932 produced a strong M4.9-class solar flare. NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash above.

Soon after the flare, the USAF reported a Type II solar radio burst. This is a natural type of radio emission caused by shock waves inside CMEs. The drift rate of the Type II radio burst suggests that a CME will soon emerge from the blast site traveling a little faster than 1,000 km/s.”

The sun’s 11-year cycle:

During the sun’s year of highest activity in its 11-year cycle, flares and coronal emissions bombard the earth with an electro-magnetic pulse (EMP). On 1-2 Sep 1859, a massive solar flare spewed electrified gas and subatomic particles toward Earth, wreaking havoc on telegraph networks which became known as the “Carrington Event” (and the most intense solar storm in recorded history).

During this 1859 geo-magnetic solar cyclone, people reported “the sky was on fire.”

A massive EMP from the sun– another “Carrington Event”– would have catastrophic effects on the world’s satellites, communications networks, and energy grids and hence NASA’s close monitoring of our life-giving sun.

Sources:

https://spaceweather.com/

https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/solar-cycles/en/

https://www.history.com/news/a-perfect-solar-superstorm-the-1859-carrington-event

“Gaza: Life in a Death Trap” (Doctors Without Borders Report)

Palestinian children wounded in Israeli strikes attend a hospital in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, on 12 Oct 2024. (Photo: Hatem Ali / AP)

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has joined Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) by publishing a 33-page report condemning the “apocalyptic” conditions in Gaza caused by the IDF (AKA the Nakba).

“Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has witnessed 14 months of repeated attacks on civilians, the dismantling of essential civilian infrastructure including healthcare facilities, and a systematic denial of humanitarian assistance, seemingly underpinning Israel’s campaign to unravel the very fabric of society in Gaza.”

Israel’s pogrom has killed at least 45,361 Palestinians and wounded 107,803 since 7 Oct 2023. At least 1,139 people were killed and 250 taken captive during the Palestinian armed group’s raid to seize hostages in order to effectuate a prisoner swap with the IDF. Thousands of Palestinians had been held in security detention without hearing or trial prior to the 7 Oct 2023 operation.

Below are locations where MSF has been trying to mitigate the effects of the Nakba on Palestinians.

Holocaust survivors and descendants of Holocaust survivors protesting against the Gaza genocide on 13 April 2024 in London. (Photo: Social media)

Full report linked here:

https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/sites/default/files/documents/MSF_REPORT_Gaza%20Life%20in%20a%20death%20trap%20Report_20241229.pdf

Russia Sentences US Citizen After Closed-Door Spy Trial

Accused espionage mastermind Eugene Spector trying to make heads or tails of a document in a Russian cell. The resemblance to 007 Agent James Bond is uncanny. (Photo: AFP)

A  Russian court has sentenced US citizen Eugene Spector to 15 years in a penal colony for “espionage” amid accusations by several Western governments that Moscow is convicting foreign nationals to use as bargaining chips in prisoner swaps.

Spector was sentenced on 24 Dec by the Moscow City Court after a trial that was held behind closed doors. Little is known about the charges the former pharmaceuticals executive faced as the court claimed classified materials during the trial warranted it being closed to the public.

Moscow has also been accused of targeting US citizens by detaining them on trumped-up charges to later use as bargaining chips in talks to bring back Russians convicted of crimes in the US and other Western nations.

At least ten AMCITs remain behind bars in Russia even after a prisoner swap on 1 Aug involving 16 people that Moscow agreed to free in exchange for eight Russians convicted of crimes and serving prison terms in the US and Europe.

(Clockwise from upper left) Ksenia Karelina, Michael Leake, Gordon Black, Eugene Spector, Marc Fogel, and Robert Woodland are living under “torturous conditions” in Russian prisons.

Meanwhile, Uzbeki citizen Ahmadjon Qurbonov (29) has been charged by a Moscow court with terrorism and other offenses in the 17 Dec killing of General Igor Kirillov, who headed Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Forces.

Uzbekistan citizen Ahmadjon Qurbonov languishing in a Russian jail. (Photo: AFP)

Russian investigators alleged Qurbonov was recruited and trained by Ukrainian intelligence services to carry out the attack.

There has been no official claim of responsibility, but Ukraine’s security service SBU has said it was behind the killing.

Kiev had accused Kirillov of being responsible for Russia’s use of banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops, a claim Moscow denies. Uzbekis residing in Russia now fear a backlash after General Kirilov’s assassination. These fears are well-founded as the Russian security services have been press-ganging darker-skinned migrants and Central Asian Muslims into the Russian Army to be used as cannon fodder.

Eugene Spector and the other imprisoned AMCITs, as well as Ahmadjon Qurbonov, must endure horrific conditions until another prisoner swap with the Kremlin can be effectuated. The Ukrainian intelligence services must demonstrate loyalty to their foreign operatives like this poor Uzbeki above lest they suffer recruitment problems in the future.

Maybe one day ICC-convicted war criminals Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu will share a prison cell in the Hague.

Sources:

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-sentences-us-citizen-spector-spy-trial/33251282.html

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-political-prisoners-remain-swap-putin/33061252.html

https://www.rferl.org/a/uzbekistan-police-monitor-family-of-suspect-in-kirillov-assassination/33250024.html

https://www.rferl.org/a/uzbeks-moscow-ukraine-assassination-general/33245647.html

North Korean Soldiers Getting Mulched for Vladimir Putin

The face of this North Korean soldier (Nork) killed in Russia’s Kursk region was blurred. Ukrainian special forces conducted BDA and recovered his diary. (Photo: East2West)

Ukrainian special forces recovered the diary of Jeong Kyung-hong (27), a fallen North Korean soldier. His last entry was to his comrade Song Ji Myung [or Yong] and reads:

“I, having left my homeland, on unfamiliar Russian land, send birthday congratulations to my friend Song Ji-myung (Yong).

I wish you health.

December 9, 2024 – Jeong Kyung-hong.”

The diary of Jeong Kyung-hong who died for Russia was recovered, with an entry wishing his friend a happy birthday. (Photo: East2West)

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said “the number of killed and wounded North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region already exceeds 3,000 people. Russia is simply disposing of them in assaults. Why the Koreans should fight for Putin is a question that no normal person on Earth can answer.”

POV footage showing kamikaze Ukrainian drones swooping down onto North Korean soldiers was recently released by the Ukrainian army. The Norks are seen scrambling and running for their lives as the drones methodically pick them off.

At least 77 North Koreans were killed and 40 wounded in the past three days.

In a potential sign of escalation, the Pukguksong-2 ballistic missile system may be on a weapons train sent from North Korea to Russia (Credit: NK News)

Two of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, enjoying their bromance and a laugh in Pyongyang, NK this past June 2024 while their people suffer incalculable grief, misery, starvation, oppression, and death. (Photo: KCNA/Reuters)

Source:

https://www.the-sun.com/news/13155797/last-diary-entry-north-korean-soldier-russia/

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/20/europe/putin-kim-north-korea-limousine-intl/index.html

GAO: Half of US Navy’s Amphibious Ships in Dire Condition

The LHD-class amphibious assault ship USS Bataan in a dry dock slip at Norfolk, Va., during a regularly scheduled maintenance period on 18 Nov. (USN photo by Mass Communication Spec. 2nd Class Bradley Rickard.)

The readiness of the USN fleet of 32 amphibious warfare ships, which are deemed crucial in quickly projecting US power around the world, is in dire shape, according to a scathing report issued this month by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The rapid deployment force used by the USMC to quickly reach and come ashore in global hot spots is so compromised by a backlog of maintenance that fully half of its ships were in poor operating condition as of March 2024.

The GAO reported that only two of the USN’s seven LHD amphibious assault vessels were in satisfactory material condition.

US Marines of the 15th MEU “bear crawl” during a USMC Black Bet Martial Arts course aboard the USS Pearl Harbor, an LSD-class “small deck” amphibious vessel, on 25 Dec 2017. (USMC Photo: CPL F. Cordoba).

Bunks for Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children (USMC) aboard USN ships.

No doubt Beijing has already digested this GAO report and will be monitoring USN readiness of its amphibious fleet with its “thousand grains of sand” approach to intelligence collection.

Besides an outright military invasion of Taiwan, Beijing can blockade the island republic with its much larger navy, cut its underseas cables, and quarantine Taipei into submission.

Sources:

https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-25-106728.pdf

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/12/23/navy-amphibious-ships-poor-condition-GAO/8871734631881/

Nigeria: Government Responds to Lassa Fever Outbreak

Nigeria has a population of 236,747,130 people; GDP per capita in 2023: $5,700. (Map: who.int; Data: CIA)

The Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has activated the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to coordinate multi-sectoral response to the ongoing outbreak of Lassa fever.

Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) caused by the Lassa virus. The natural reservoir for the virus is the multimammate rat also known as the African rat, even though other rodents can also act as carriers of the virus.

Nigerian health experts conferring in Abuja. (Photo: Fred Ezeh)

Lassa fever initially presents like other common illnesses accompanied by a fever, such as malaria. Other symptoms include headache, general body weakness, cough, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pains, chest pain, sore throat, and, in severe cases, bleeding from ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and other body openings.

The NCDC reported that Lassa fever has claimed 401 lives between 2023 and 2024 (13 Oct):

“In 2023, 28 states and 114 LGAs reported confirmed cases, with 9,155 suspected cases, 1,270 confirmed cases, and 227 deaths. As of 13 Oct 2024, 8,569 suspected cases, 1,035 confirmed cases, and 174 deaths have been reported across 28 states and 129 LGAs.

NCDC statement: “Sadly, we have continued to see a steady increase in the number of states reporting Lassa fever cases, attributing it to improved surveillance, better community awareness, environmental degradation from climate change, and other harmful human activities.”

The cute culprit: the Multimammate rat. (Credit: inaturalist.org)

The US CDC suspects that that a traveler returning from western Africa to Iowa succumbed from Lassa fever this year, but that the risk to the general American public is extremely low.

Sources:

NCDC activates emergency operation center for Lassa fever

Lassa Fever: 1,154 confirmed cases, 190 deaths, and 9,492 suspected nationwide recorded in 2024 – NCDC  – Nairametrics

CIA

Lassa Fever – Nigeria

Lassa Fever Suspected in Death of U.S. Traveler Returning from West Africa | CDC Newsroom

Pakistani Airstrikes on Afghanistan Kill 46 People

Bombardment by Pakistani military aircraft in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province killed at least 46 people, most of whom were children and women, the Afghan Taliban said, adding it would retaliate.

Six people were also injured in the bombing at four locations in Afghanistan, deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said.

Pakistani government and military officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Afghanistan’s foreign office said it had summoned Pakistan’s head of mission in Kabul to deliver a formal protest note to Islamabad on the bombing by Pakistani military aircraft, warning the diplomat of consequences of such actions.

“Afghanistan considers this brutal act a blatant violation of all international principles and an obvious act of aggression,” Enayatullah Khowrazmi, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, said in a statement. “The Islamic Emirate will not leave this cowardly act unanswered.”

A Pakistani official with knowledge of the matter said the airstrikes were against a camp of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) Islamist militant group.

TTP pledges allegiance to, and gets its name from the Afghan Taliban, but is not directly a part of the group that rules Afghanistan. Its stated aim is to impose Islamic religious law in Pakistan, as the Taliban has done in Afghanistan.

A major TTP attack in Pakistan’s South Waziristan area, which borders the location of the alleged camp targeted in Afghanistan, killed 16 Pakistani security personnel on Saturday.

The neighbors have a strained relationship, with Pakistan saying that several TTP attacks that have occurred in its country have been launched from Afghan soil – a charge the Afghan Taliban denies.

Their relationship was complicated in March when the Taliban accused Pakistan of carrying out two airstrikes on its territory, killing five women and children.

Pakistan said at the time it had conducted “intelligence-based anti-terrorist operations” in Afghanistan but did not specify the nature of the operations.

“Pakistan has repeatedly urged the Taliban government to take action against the TTP within Afghan territory, but significant cooperation has yet to materialize over the past three years. Pakistani authorities are deeply concerned about the TTP’s operations from Afghanistan, emphasizing the threat it poses to Pakistan’s national security. Most terrorist incidents in Pakistan are attributed to the TTP.”

Recently Taliban cabinet minister Khalil Haqqani was killed in Kabul by ISIS-K. He came from the powerful Haqqani Network (HQN) which is closely linked to Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI.  

Pakistan and Afghanistan will continue undermining each other with proxy fighters and terrorists as both countries have competing interests, all in a mosaic of different ethnic groups and tribes, degrees of religious extremism, and the highly lucrative opium trade.

Sources:

Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan kill 46 people, Taliban official says | CNN

Khalil Haqqani: Taliban minister killed in bombing in Kabul

TTP And ISKP: Unraveling The Complex Web Of Militancy In South Asia – OpEd – Eurasia Review

Mother Raccoon Is Hiding Surprise in This House

Human Rights Watch (HRW): Israel Using Water as Weapon of War Against Palestinians in Gaza Strip

Palestinians struggling to collect drinkable water in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. (Photo: Hatem Khaled / Reuters)

Calling it an “act of genocide,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports that since October 2023 Israeli authorities have deliberately obstructed Palestinians’ access to the adequate amount of clean water required for survival in the Gaza Strip. Full report with graphs and photos linked at bottom.

“If we can’t find drinkable water, we drink the sea water,” a displaced Palestinian father testified to HRW. “It happened to me many times when I had to drink the sea water. You don’t understand how much we are suffering.”

Moreover, for years ecologists have accused Israel of using sewage as a weapon against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to spread disease and misery. See report linked at bottom.

A Gaza residential street is inundated by sewage. (Photo: Rosa Schiano / International Solidarity Movement)

Meanwhile, over the past 24 hours the IDF killed 32 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including children, and at least four in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians mourn over the body of loved ones killed after an IDF strike at Al-Ahli Arab hospital (AKA the Baptist Hospital) in Gaza City. (Photo: Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP)

During this 14-month pogrom, the Gaza Health Ministry reports that a minimum of 45,129 Palestinians have been killed and 107,338 wounded or maimed, including non-combatant women and children. The number of deaths is likely to be far higher as many bodies are believed to remain buried underneath the rubble across the devastated Strip. The IDF claims that 17,000 of the deceased were militants. The retribution ratio for the 7 Oct 2023 raid that killed 1,200 Israelis is 40:1. The 250 innocent Israelis were seized to conduct a prisoner swap for any number of the thousands of Palestinians being held incommunicado without trial or hearing in security detention by the IDF. See full report linked at bottom.

This week Amnesty International projected “End Gaza Genocide” on the EU HQ building in 24 languages similar to this:

In a report released earlier this month, Amnesty International concluded that Israel’s devastating war on Gaza meets the legal threshold for genocide. Apologists for the brutal Likud regime have feebly attempted to parse the language of this damning report, but as the Immortal Bard wrote: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Amnesty has called on EU leaders meeting to halt all arms transfers to Israel, ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements, and ensure justice and accountability for Israeli crimes.

(The above photo courtesy of the Washington Post was verified as genuine by snopes.com)

The avuncular-looking Avi Dichter must have heard your plea, young lady.

Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter (Likud) said: “We’re rolling out Nakba 2023.” (Photo: Abir Sultan / Flash90)

The IDF certainly has, Sir.

Is Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague, Holocaust survivor Rene Lichtman, the government of Ireland, or US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) incapable of describing ethnic cleansing or genocide– or are they antisemitic for calling out the patently and blazingly obvious? Are people all over the world blind?

Fortunately, not everyone in the world is blind to suffering.

For years, the US Democratic Party position for peace in the Middle East was based on crafting a Two-State Solution. The Likud Party’s interests are antithetical to that of the US Democratic Party. Not paying attention to the American peace movement cost Kamala Harris the White House in 2024.

That any world leader takes Benjamin Netanyahu’s telephone call or wants to be photographed next to him absolutely staggers the imagination.

Sources:

https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/12/19/extermination-and-acts-genocide/israel-deliberately-depriving-palestinians-gaza

https://theecologist.org/2013/nov/02/gaza-sewage-weapon-war

https://archive.is/xnHsM

https://www.un.org/unispal/document/anatomy-of-a-genocide-report-of-the-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-palestinian-territory-occupied-since-1967-to-human-rights-council-advance-unedited-version-a-hrc-55/

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

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.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/12/19/live-israel-kills-14-in-northern-gaza-as-it-continues-to-deny-un-access

https://amnesty.ca/human-rights-news/israel-opt-horrifying-cases-of-torture-and-degrading-treatment-of-palestinian-detainees-amid-spike-in-arbitrary-arrests/

https://www.snopes.com/

Ukraine/Russia Update

Janis Timma in an undated photo (Credit: Getty)

The body of Latvian basketball star Janis Timma was found after he reportedly fell from a Moscow apartment complex.

The 32-year-old, who played for teams like Zenit Saint Petersburg and Orlando Magic, was discovered in the stairway of a high-rise building on his ex-wife Anna Sedokova’s birthday.

The NBA ace had recently faced backlash when he announced his intention to play professionally in Putin’s Russia despite his brutal invasion of Ukraine.

Janis Timma told Latvian outlet LSM in Oct 2024:

 “It’s something interesting to me. I thought why not give it a try?”

Popular Ukrainian singer and actress Anna Sedokova was pictured crying after learning of her ex-husband’s completely unexpected demise in Putin’s Russia. (Credit: Instagram)

The preliminary cause of the young athlete’s death with his whole life and career ahead of him was ruled as a suicide.

Most likely thanks to the UK, Ukraine will have a new weapon to fight Russia.

A Ukrainian commander revealed the existence of the weapon, called “Tryzub,” during a defence conference on Monday.

Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi, who commands Kiev’s unmanned forces, said Ukraine was only the fifth country to have an operational laser.

Ukrainian troops will use the laser to shoot drones and planes out of the sky (Photo: Reuters)

“As of now, we can use this laser to shoot down aircraft at altitudes of over two kms.”

Tryzub is the name of the golden trident on Ukraine’s coat of arms and is the symbol of the country. Ukraine developed the weapon most likely with help from the UK which designed the DragonFire DEW system.

Former UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps suggested in Apr 2024 the UK’s laser weapon DragonFire could be sent to Ukraine.

Finally and as expected, North Korean soldiers have become expendable “cannon fodder” for Vladimir Putin and the Russians are trying to cover it up.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says this blurred image from a video shows Russians burning the face of a dead North Korean soldier. (Volodymyr Zelensky’s official Telegram channel)

At least 100 North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia have been killed, with nearly 1,000 wounded in the Kursk region, according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS). The high casualties were attributed to the troops’ inexperience with drones and unfamiliar terrain.

A language barrier is hurting enemy efforts as well. North Korean soldiers opened fire on the vehicles of the so-called Akhmat battalion resulting in eight dead Kadyrovites (Chechens loyal to Ramzan Kadyrov). In military terms this is called “fratricide.”

North Korea has reportedly sent over 10,000 soldiers and significant artillery supplies to aid Russia’s war effort against Ukraine which neither Russia nor North Korea have officially confirmed.

Despite the reported losses, intelligence suggests North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is training additional troops for deployment. Experts say Kim is keen to acquire advanced technology from Russia and gain battle experience for his troops. Kim Jong-un will also neatly pocket the monthly $2,200 salary of each North Korean soldier sent to die for Russia.

A screenshot of an image released by the Ukrainian drone warfare unit Magyar’s Birds. The unit said it shows the bodies of North Korean soldiers killed in the Kursk region. Part of the image has been blurred by RFA. (Magyar’s Birds)

Sources:

https://www.the-sun.com/sport/13108326/basketball-star-janis-timma-dead/

https://www.the-sun.com/news/13119788/ukraine-laser-gun-drones-trident/

https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-updates-zelenskyy-wants-strong-trump-on-our-side/live-71103227

https://www.rfa.org/english/korea/2024/12/16/north-korea-ukraine-russia-casulaties/

https://www.rfa.org/english/korea/2024/12/17/north-korean-soldier-video-russia-12172024/

German Chancellor Scholz Loses No Confidence Vote Ahead of February Elections

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks on the day of a confidence vote called by him to pave way for snap election, at lower house of parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, 16 Dec 2024. Herr Scholz is no Frau Merkel. (Photo: © Liesa Johannssen / Reuters)

394 Bundestag deputies voted against Scholz while only 207 expressed confidence in the chancellor, with 116 abstentions.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier can now move to dissolve the legislature and formally declare the agreed 23 Feb 2025 election date.

Friedrich Merz – the top candidate of the conservative CDU-CSU opposition alliance of ex-chancellor Angela Merkel – is well ahead in opinion polls.

The political contest comes at a time when Europe’s top economy is struggling to revive its stuttering export-led industrial sector amid high energy prices and tough competition from China. Berlin also faces major geopolitical challenges as it confronts Russia over the Ukraine war and as Donald Trump’s looming return to the White House heightens uncertainty over NATO and trade ties.

Germany’s political turmoil comes as France has also been roiled by crisis and gridlock which saw President Emmanuel Macron asking centrist politician François Bayrou to try to form a new government.

German politics in the post-war era was long staid, stable and dominated by the two parties, the CDU-CSU and the SPD, with the small FDP often playing kingmaker.

The Greens emerged in the 1980s, but the political landscape has been further fragmented over the past decade by the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), a shock for a country whose dark World War II history had long made far-right parties taboo.

Formed as a Eurosceptic fringe party, the AfD grew into a major political force when it protested against Merkel’s open-door policy to migrants, and now has around 18 percent voter support.

(Map: Courtesy of BBC)

While other parties have committed to a “firewall” of non-cooperation with the AfD, some of them have borrowed from its anti-immigration and anti-Islam rhetoric. Following the fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, some CDU lawmakers were quick to demand that the around one million Syrian refugees in Germany return to their home country.

The winter election is all the more heated as it comes at a time “the German model is in crisis,” said Berlin-based political scientist Claire Demesmay of Sciences Po Paris.

According to Demesmay, Germany’s prosperity “was built on cheap energy imported from Russia, on a security policy outsourced to the USA, and on exports and subcontracting to China.”

NATO members Germany, France, and Canada are experiencing political unrest and doubts for the future which is music to the Kremlin’s ears as Vladimir Putin wants to undermine America, NATO, and the EU.  In no surprising move, Elon Musk posted the following message:

“Only the AfD can save Germany.” 

 AfD Neo-Nazis Spent Election Day at Mar a Lago. The tall man on the left is a reputed porn star. (Image: Social media)

Source:

German Chancellor Scholz loses no confidence vote ahead of February elections

Twelve People Found Dead Inside Restaurant at Popular Ski Resort

Twelve people were found dead inside an Indian restaurant at a popular ski resort in the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia, apparently all employees.

The Mtskheta-Mtianeti Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Georgia said that the bodies were discovered in Gudauri — a popular and well-known ski resort near the Russian border located approximately 75 miles north of the country’s capital city of Tbilisi.

Gudauri ski resort in Georgia on 17 May 2019. (Photo: Reinhard Kaufhold / Picture-Alliance /DPA /AP)

“In the resting area on the second floor of the Indian restaurant located in Gudauri, the bodies of 12 people employed in the same facility were found,” Georgian officials said in a statement. “At the initial inspection, no signs of body injuries or signs of violence were detected.”

However, according to a preliminary investigation, authorities discovered that a power generator had been placed in a closed space within an indoor area of the resort near some bedrooms. An investigation under Article 116 of the Criminal Code of Georgia has been launched, suggesting that the deaths were due to negligent manslaughter.

The investigation into the deaths is ongoing. But prima facie, this mass manslaughter seems to be unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning.

Source:

12 people found dead inside restaurant at popular ski resort – ABC News

Democratic Republic of Congo: Mystery Illness Could Be Severe Malaria

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

Health officials are narrowing in on the cause of dozens of unexplained deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that a severe form of malaria is likely responsible.

The illness was considered a mystery for weeks. It has killed at least 37 people and sickened 592. Local authorities previously told Reuters that the death toll exceeded 140.

Health officials in Africa have been referring to the illness as “Disease X” while awaiting test results.

Concurrent health issues among the population, such malnutrition and known viral infections, could exacerbate the illnesses.

Millions of displaced people live in places like Bulengo IDP Camp. (Photo: Concern Worldwide)

An Anopheles stephensi mosquito feeding on a human host. (Photo: alchetron)

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:

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/congo-disease-outbreak-severe-malaria-rcna183299

https://www.cdc.gov/global-health/impact/fighting-the-worlds-deadliest-animal.html

NYC Resident Pleads Guilty to Operating Secret Police Station of Chinese Government in Lower Manhattan

Chen Jinping is smiling now but five years in an FCI may slap that grin off his face. (Photo: FBI)

Chen Jinping (60) of New York, NY, pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an illegal agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), in connection with opening and operating an undeclared overseas police station, located in downtown Manhattan, for the PRC’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

Chen Jinping and co-defendant “Harry” Lu Jianwang conspired to act as illegal agents of the PRC government and also obstructed justice by destroying evidence of their communications with an MPS official. While acting under the direction and control of the MPS official, the defendants worked together to establish the first known overseas police station in the US on behalf of the Fuzhou branch of the MPS. The police station — which closed in the fall of 2022 — occupied an entire floor in an office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown.

The clandestine police station was situated on the third floor of the Changle Association of America on East Broadway in Chinatown.

Lu and Chen helped open and operate the clandestine police station. None of the participants in the scheme informed the US government that they were helping the PRC government surreptitiously open and operate an undeclared MPS police station on US soil.

China may have more illegal police stations operating in the US. (Map courtesy of the UK Daily Mail.)

The FBI has created a website for victims to report efforts by foreign governments to stalk, intimidate, or assault people in the US. If you believe that you are or have been a victim of transnational repression, please visit:

https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/counterintelligence/transnational-repression.

Chen faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Per Chen’s plea agreement, the government has agreed to dismiss the obstruction of justice charge against him. Lu has pleaded not guilty to both of the charges against him and is awaiting trial.

One Police Plaza and 26 Federal Plaza are sneezing distance away from this ex-Chinese spy post. This was both remarkable and brazen of China. Apparently Canada is also coming to grips with the same problem of clandestine illegal Chinese government police stations.

No doubt the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) will uncover these illegal and nefarious Chinese mouchards,

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/new-york-resident-pleads-guilty-operating-secret-police-station-chinese-government-lower

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11988889/China-six-illegal-police-stations-US.html

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca

https://www.cbc.ca/

China: Food Poisoning Afflicts 15 Tourists from Hong Kong

15 individuals from Hong Kong were affected by food poisoning after returning from a group tour in Guangdong, China. The incident has raised alarms about food safety and hygiene, prompting health officials to remind the public of the importance of maintaining personal and environmental hygiene, especially when travelling abroad.

The affected group, comprising five males and ten females aged between 57 and 94, began experiencing symptoms including abdominal pain, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, and fever after dining at two restaurants in Zhanjiang. Fourteen of the individuals sought medical treatment either while on the Mainland or after returning to Hong Kong. Among them, one person required hospitalization but has since been discharged following treatment.

The group consumed a variety of seafood dishes, including oysters, abalone, shrimp, sea cucumber, and fish. Preliminary assessments suggest that the food poisoning may have been caused by norovirus or Vibrio parahaemolyticus, both of which are known to be associated with seafood consumption and can lead to severe gastrointestinal symptoms.

In response to the outbreak, the CHP has reached out to Mainland health authorities, sharing the details of the cases to facilitate further investigations. They are also appealing to other participants from the three-day tour organized by E King Travel (International) Limited to come forward for follow-up and medical surveillance.

Health officials are urging anyone who experiences symptoms related to foodborne illness—such as fever, gastrointestinal distress, or general malaise—to seek immediate medical attention.

Source:

Fifteen tourists affected in Hong Kong food poisoning cluster linked to Guangdong trip

Tiger Has Been Chained Up Her Whole Life

Meet Susu from Thailand:

If Susu could purr, she would. Thank you kind tiger rescue folks in SE Asia.