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

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

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

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

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

But the ceasefire does not appear to be holding.

(Map courtesy of the jewishvirtuallibrary.org)

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

IDF Merkava Mk 4M battle tank.

Sources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All missiles or drones aimed at Kiev were downed.

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

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

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

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

Ukrainian civilians trying to stay warm (undated image).

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

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

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

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

Source:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

(Map courtesy of Mapcarta)

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

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

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

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

Source:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source:

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

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

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

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

From The Guardian:

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

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

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

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

Source:

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

Indian Airlines Suffer Through 1,000 Bomb Scare Hoaxes

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

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

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

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

Officials have made 12 arrests in connection to the threats.

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

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

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

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

(Photo: AFP)

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

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

Sources:

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

Air India Flight 182 – Wikipedia

Beautiful Orphaned Bird Emulates Human with Voice and Affection

Tulsi Gabbard’s Nomination as ODNI National Security Risk

(Photo: Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)

Tom Nichols at The Atlantic writes that Tulsi Gabbard is stunningly unqualified for almost any Cabinet post, especially for ODNI. She has no qualifications as an intelligence professional—literally none. (She is a reserve lieutenant colonel who previously served in the Hawaii Army National Guard, with assignments in medical, police, and civil-affairs-support positions. She has won some local elections and also represented Hawaii in Congress.) Gabbard has no significant experience directing or managing much of anything.

To make Tulsi Gabbard the DNI, however, is not merely handing a bouquet to a political gadfly. Her appointment would be a grave threat to US national security.

Gabbard ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, attempting to position herself as something like a peace candidate. But she’s no peacemaker: She’s been an apologist for both the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

In 2017 Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu lawmaker in the US Congress, said she was unsure whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was a war criminal.

In early 2017, while still a member of Congress, Gabbard met with Assad, saying that peace in Syria was only possible if the international community would have a conversation with him. “Let the Syrian people themselves determine their future, not the United States, not some foreign country,” Gabbard said, after chatting with a man who had stopped the Syrian people from determining their own future by reportedly using chemical weapons on them. Two years later, she added that Assad was “not the enemy of the US, because Syria does not pose a direct threat to the US,” and that her critics were merely “warmongers.”

Gabbard’s shilling for Assad is a mystery, but she’s even more dedicated to carrying Putin’s water. Tom Rogan, a conservative writer and hardly a liberal handwringer, summed up her record succinctly in the Washington Examiner:

Gabbard has blamed NATO and the US for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has repeated Russian propaganda claims that the US has set up secret bioweapons labs in that country, and has argued that the US not Russia is wholly responsible for Putin’s nuclear brinkmanship.

When she appeared on Sean Hannity’s show in 2022, even Hannity blanched at Gabbard floating off in a haze of Kremlin talking points and cheerleading for Russia.

A person with Gabbard’s views should not be allowed anywhere near the crown jewels of American intelligence. Gabbard hasn’t been central to Trump’s campaign and he owes her very little. For someone as grubbily transactional as Trump, it’s not an appointment that makes much sense. Perhaps Trump just likes the way she handles herself on television.

But Trump could also be engaging in a ploy to bring in someone else. He may suspect that Gabbard is unconfirmable by the US Senate. Once she’s turfed, he could then slide in an even more appalling nominee and claim that he has no choice but to use a recess appointment as a backstop. (Hard to imagine who might be worse as DNI than Gabbard, but remember that Trump has promised at various times to bring retired General Mike Flynn back into government. Flynn is a decorated veteran who was fired from Trump’s White House in a scandal about lying to the FBI; he is now a conspiracist who is fully on board with Trump’s desire for revenge on his enemies.

US-government employees with clearances are trained every year to spot “insider threats,” people who might for various reasons compromise classified information. Trump’s open and continuing affection for Putin and other dictators would be a matter of concern for any security organization. Gabbard’s behavior and her admiration for dictators are no less causes for worry—especially because she would be at the apex of the entire USIC.

This nomination should be one of the handful of Trump appointments where soon-to-be Majority Leader John Thune and his Republican colleagues draw a hard line and say no—at least if they still care at all about exercising the Senate’s constitutional duty of advice and consent.

Tulsi Gabbard (L), Cult leader Chris Butler (R)

Tulsi Gabbard’s erratic views may be the result of her membership in the Hawaii-based Science of Identity Foundation, founded by Chris Butler in the 1970s. Followers must practice vegetarianism and are not allowed to gamble, engage in any sexual contact outside marriage, or consume caffeine or intoxicants. Butler’s teachings included condemnation of homosexuality, hostility towards Islam, and skepticism of science. Both Tulsi Gabbard’s parents were associated with the Science of Identity Foundation which has been described as a “secretive Hindu cult.” Placing a cult member and Putin apologist to the acme of the USIC is tantamount to self-inflicted national sabotage of epic proportion.

Our gratitude to Tom Nichols at The Atlantic.

Sources:

Tulsi Gabbard’s Nomination Is a National-Security Risk – The Atlantic

Cult Education Institute :: Group Information Archives

Science of Identity Foundation – Wikipedia

Tulsi Gabbard’s ties to secretive cult may explain her perplexing political journey | The Independent

The FBI Needs Our Help Investigating Child Sex Exploitation Case

The FBI is searching for a white male known only as John Doe 49 for “critical information” in a child sexual exploitation investigation. The individual is described as 45 and 65 years old, bald, with a dark goatee.

John Doe 49 has at least at least five visual tattoos: the word “Dabby” on the right side of his chest, the numeral “197” followed by possible additional unknown text on his left bicep, and additional tattoos on his left and right forearms and right bicep.

Somebody, somewhere CONUS (or OCONUS) has seen John Doe 49 or his tattoos at work, in a supermarket, poolside, tattoo parlor, medical office, saloon, restaurant, park, train/subway, at the beach, massage parlor, or shopping mall.

Anyone with information about the man is urged to call the FBI’s toll-free tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), or to contact a Crimes Against Children Investigator at their local FBI office, or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.

Members of the public can also submit anonymous tips about John Doe 49 online here.

John Doe 49

Canada Leads Large NATO Exercise Near Russia’s Border as NATO Prepares for Donald J. Trump

Cpl. Guillaume Lavoie and Cpl. Matthew Bowler from Quebec in a defensive trench position. Canadian and NATO soldiers train re-taking territory from enemy forces in the Resolute Warrior military exercise near Riga, Latvia. The Canadian-led exercise involved 13 NATO countries and over 3,500 soldiers, of which 2,200 were Canadian. (Photo: Corrinne Seminoff/CBC)

At the sprawling forested Ādaži military base, north east of Riga, Latvia, Capt. Harrison Burrows is one of more than 3,000 troops who has spent the past two weeks participating in a Canadian-led NATO military exercise designed to simulate an attack on the Baltic nation coming from beyond its nearly 300 km-long border with Russia.

This is the first exercise held in Latvia since the military forces in the country were scaled up to a multinational brigade, also led by Canada, that is made up of soldiers and equipment from more than 13 nations.

The 5 Nov election of Donald Trump could potentially create friction in the 32 member alliance, given his past warnings that the US will leave NATO nations to their own defences if they don’t spend more on defence.

In Feb 2024 on the campaign trail Trump even said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever” it wants to allies that don’t pay up.

While at the time the White House called those comments “appalling and unhinged,” NATO’s Secretary General Mark Rutte, who previously served as the prime minister of the Netherlands and frequently met with Trump during his first term as president, describes Trump as someone who tries to invigorate the debate about defence spending.

In 2023, the US spent more than $900 billion US on defense, which accounts for more than 65 per cent of NATO’s overall military spending.

While NATO allies are expected to spend two per cent of their gross domestic product [GDP] on defence, a quarter of members don’t, including Canada, which is expected to spend under 1.4 per cent this year.

While Rutte says all NATO members need to spend “considerably more” than two per cent on defence, he pointed to Canada’s leadership of the multinational brigade as evidence of its commitment to supporting the security priorities of the alliance.

Most of the Canadian soldiers deployed to Latvia are on six-month rotations, and in January, for the first time, Sweden will be sending 600 troops as part of its first deployment as a new NATO member, having joined the alliance in March 2024.

NATO and the EU have been preparing for the possibility of a Trump presidency and this military exercise is one of the publicly seen results. The intelligence apparatus of NATO countries is also ready for the Trump presidency and will carefully screen information they provide to the USIC.

Sources:

As Canada leads a beefed-up NATO force near Russia’s border, the alliance prepares for Trump | CBC News

Analysis

NATO’s two per cent spending target — where it came from, what it means

NATO at 75: Is Canada losing its grip on the world’s greatest military alliance? | CBC News

Israel Continues Murdering Lebanese Medical Personnel (AKZ-L)

Lebanese first responder Hussein Fakih, who heads the Lebanese Civil Defense rescue team in the southern town of Nabatiyeh, is seen recovering from injuries sustained in an Israeli airstrike. The IDF murdered eight members of his team in just one month. (Photo: 22 Oct 2024; CBS News/Agnes Reausays)

The UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has deplored the Israeli strike on a Lebanese civil defense center where “at least 12 paramedics were killed”, saying such attacks “are becoming the new normal”. Attacking medical personnel or infrastructure is a war crime according to the Geneva Convention.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said that IDF attacks killed 59 people and wounded another 182 across the country over the previous 24-hour reporting period.

The UN reports:

At least 100,000 people have been forced to leave northern Gaza, with UN colleagues on the ground reporting worsening conditions and Israel’s continuous denial of aid delivery requests as displacement and the death toll rises there and in Lebanon amid constant airstrikes.

Al-Jazeera correspondents in the Gaza Strip (AKZ-G) provided the following update:

-Israeli forces are demolishing residential neighborhoods in southern Gaza’s Rafah city adjacent to the Philadelphi Corridor, an area bordering Egypt.

-Israeli ground forces have demolished many residential buildings in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp.

-The air force has attacked a group of Palestinians in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya town, killing three civilians.

-Israeli artillery has bombed the as-Saftawi neighborhood in northern Gaza, causing significant damage to civil infrastructure.

-Many Palestinians are injured following a strike on a residential building in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighborhood.

-Naval warships have opened fire at the coast of central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp.-

Displaced Palestinian children drawing artwork on their tents in Gaza. (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu)

The Immortal Bard would say to the craven PIFWC (Person Indicted for War Crimes) PM Benjamin Netanyahu, AKA the “curse of Israel”:

“Begone, thou wayward crook-pated horn-beast!”

Sources:

LIVE: WHO chief slams Israel’s killing of 12 paramedics in Lebanon strike | Israel attacks Lebanon News | Al Jazeera

Middle East crisis: Live updates for 15 November | UN News

American Warzone: Gunfire Strikes Southwest Plane on Tarmac of Dallas Airport

There were no injuries after a Southwest flight carrying passengers was struck by gunfire on the tarmac of Dallas Love Field Friday night.

Southwest Airlines Flight 2494 was preparing for departure to Indianapolis when “a bullet apparently struck the right side of the aircraft under the flight deck,” a Southwest spokesperson told CBS News in a statement.

The airline said no one was hurt. The aircraft returned to its gate after sustaining damage from a “security incident” and the passengers deplaned. The runway was also temporarily closed, but has since reopened.

Dallas police confirmed the incident, saying that officers responded to reports of gunfire at 9:48 PM local time, arriving to find that the aircraft had been struck.

No further details were provided on the circumstances of the incident or what was the potential source of the gunfire. It’s unclear how many people were aboard the jet at the time, or how much damage the aircraft sustained.

The Federal Aviation Administration said that the Boeing 737-800 “was reportedly struck by gunfire near the cockpit.”

Dallas police are leading the investigation. Luckily, no one was killed or wounded in this idiotic incident.

Earlier this week, gunfire amid ongoing gang violence struck three planes that were either landing or departing Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince. The shootings prompted the FAA to issue a 30-day ban on US airlines flying to Haiti.

In 2021, Texas reported 1,006,555 firearms licenses and 45.7% of adults say they live in homes with guns.

In an average year, 4,122 people die and 7,726 are wounded by guns in Texas.

This equates to 11 people killed and 21 wounded every day in the Lone Star State.

Source:

Gunfire strikes Southwest plane on tarmac of Dallas airport, officials say – CBS News

1. Texas – Gun map: Ownership by state – statistics and rates

Gun-Violence-in-Texas-2024-05.pdf

Chemist Identifies Mystery ‘Blobs’ Washing Up in Newfoundland

The blobs were photographed on the southern shores of Newfoundland in Sept 2024 by a local resident. (Photo: David McGrath)

A chemist in Canada has identified “with a high degree of confidence” the strange blobs that started washing up on Newfoundland’s shores months ago. Globs of the white sticky substance, which have a spongy interior and range in size from a coin to a dinner plate, have been found for miles along Placentia Bay since at least September. Canada’s environmental agency began an investigation, but it has not released any conclusions.

Dr. Chris Kozak informs:

“I’m quite confident that the sample that I handled was PVA butylene rubber,” describing a mix of synthetic rubber and polyvinyl acetate, known as PVA. That polymer is the active ingredient in white glue — the kind of white glue you have at home is a very dilute, kid-friendly version of this stuff.”

A synthetic rubber and PVA mixture would in theory be safe to handle, but as plastic pollution it should be cleaned up. If the material has been tainted by a toxic pollutant like crude oil, however, it should be handled with caution.

The greater threat may be toward marine life, especially if more of the material sank to the ocean floor as they could be perceived by marine life as food, looking like squid, octopus, or jellyfish.

The origin of the substance, and how it wound up in the ocean, remains a mystery. The bay has a long history as a center for both fishing and industry, and is home to a shipyard and oil facilities. But the substance may also have crossed vast distances before washing ashore.

Oceanography, shipping and industrial data, weather events, satellite images, and research on synthetic rubber and the environment could all help determine the origin.

Source:

Chemist Identifies Mystery ‘Blobs’ Washing Up in Newfoundland – The New York Times

Pentagon Reports Over 20 Unexplained UFO Sightings in One Year

The Pentagon’s department tasked with investigating unidentified flying objects, officially referred to as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), revealed that over 20 reported sightings in the past year remain unexplained. According to the annual report from the Defense Department’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), these incidents warrant further investigation due to their unusual characteristics. See link below for official report.

Between 1 May 2023 and 1 Jun 2023, AARO received 757 reports of UAP sightings, 485 of which were newly reported during this period, with the remainder stemming from 2021 and 2022. Most sightings occurred in the skies, although 49 were observed in space. AARO director Jon Kosloski noted that 21 cases remain unresolved and have been identified as “true anomalies,” requiring additional analysis.

The report emphasized AARO’s collaboration with the intelligence community and scientific partners to better understand and assess these cases, particularly those exhibiting anomalous behaviors or characteristics. AARO also pledged to promptly inform Congress if any evidence of advanced foreign aerospace technologies emerges.

Despite the unusual nature of some sightings, Kosloski confirmed that AARO has not uncovered any verifiable evidence of extraterrestrial life, activities, or technology. The cases reviewed so far show no signs of breakthrough aerospace technologies, and the office resolved 118 sightings, attributing them to causes such as balloons, birds, and drones.

The report also highlighted challenges that have hindered AARO’s ability to resolve more cases, citing the lack of timely and actionable sensor data as a significant constraint. To address this, the office is working with military and technical partners to improve sensor capabilities, streamline information-sharing processes, and enhance UAP reporting systems.

The governments of Russia and China are much more opaque in disclosing unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), although sightings occasionally appear on social media.

The undated photo below was taken over Buryatia, Russia.