[IsraelTimes] France and Britain are proposing a one-month truce in Ukraine “in the air, at sea,” after crisis talks in London, French President Emmanuel Macron says.
In an interview with France’s Le Figaro newspaper, Macron says that such a truce would not, initially at least, cover ground fighting.
The problem there is it would be very difficult to check that it is being respected given the size of the front line, he says.
Peacekeepers would be deployed at a later date, he says, adding: “There won’t be European troops on Ukrainian soil in the coming weeks.”
Macron also suggests that European countries should raise their defense spending to between 3.0 and 3.5 percent of GDP to respond to Washington’s shifting priorities and Russia’s militarization.
“For three years, the Russians have spent 10% of their GDP on defense,” he tells the paper. “So we have to prepare for what’s next.”
[IsraelTimes] US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a halt to offensive cyber operations against Russia in an effort to renew relations and achieve talks with Moscow on Ukraine, The New York Times reports.
The report, which cites a current official and two former officials familiar with the instruction, says this is “part of a larger re-evaluation of all operations against Russia.”
The order was given before the extraordinary public shouting match in the Oval Office between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the report adds.
#4
Having worked on web servers and having monitored the server logs as part of my job, I've known for decades that certain countries engage in vulnerability probes of servers all over the internet. The worst offenders appeared to me to be 1) China, 2) Russia, 3) Ukraine. Other top offenders were Turkey, Romania, Iran and Malaysia. There were others. I think it was generally assumed at the time that China in particular was engaged in state sponsored cyber warfare. How much of this bullshit from other countries was state sponsored and how much was just individual knuckleheads I do not know.
I advocated with all the influence I had in my company that we should block all of the IP addresses from all of those countries from access to any of our servers. I was overruled for reasons I cannot fathom so, on my own, I blocked all of the individual IP address of offenders I found in the logs to the servers I administered.
All that time I wondered if American spooks conducting vulnerability probes and hacking servers in other countries. Well, of course they were.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/03/2025 12:33
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If America gets to rein in their NGOs, maybe Germany should look into theirs, eh? Good for the CDU/CSU!
[DW] Germany's conservative CDU/CSU bloc is questioning the political neutrality of some NGOs. That could weigh on relations with its potential Social Democrat coalition partners.
Over the past few weeks, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators erupted into the streets to protest against the conservative Christian Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... (CDU) after they voted through proposals for stricter migration policies together with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
By so doing, the demonstrators said, the CDU had torn down the "firewall" between traditional parties and the far right that has long prevailed in Germany.
The protests were organized by a range of NGOs such as "Omas gegen Rechts" (Grannies against the Right), the environmental group NABU or "Munchen ist bunt" (Munich is Diverse).
Many of the associations and initiatives involved in the protests are financed not only by donations and member fees but also by state subsidies. Charitable organizations are also eligible for tax breaks.
But legally, their situation is a tightrope walk because they are permitted to be involved in social issues but not to take sides in party politics.
CONSERVATIVES QUESTION STATE SUPPORT
Now, if the CDU and CSU are to be believed, some NGOs have violated this principle with their protests. For this reason, the CDU/CSU finance expert, Mathias Middelberg, announced in a newspaper interview in mid-February that he would be "very critically" scrutinizing federal support programs about who was benefiting from them, and looking at potentially cutting them altogether.
The conservative bloc is following through on his words. It has put in a parliamentary request for information to the federal government.
It said the request was made because of the protests against the CDU, "which were partly organized or supported by charitable associations or state-financed organizations." The 32-page inquiry contains 551 questions about altogether 17 NGOs.
”Gotcha!”
POLITICAL NEUTRALITY: A QUESTION OF INTERPRETATION
In its inquiry, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group refers to an article in the conservative-leaning German daily Welt in which several experts on constitutional law expressed very critical views about the demonstrations.
"Associations that helped organize 'firewall' demonstrations did not act on a charitable basis," argued Volker Boehme-Nessler from Oldenburg University. "The demonstrations were one-sidedly political. They were directed concretely against one party, the CDU."
Indeed.
Dietrich Murswieck, a legal expert who taught at Freiburg University until 2016, is of a similar view.
"If a nature conservation group protests that a parliamentary resolution ignored the 'firewall,' it has nothing to do with its charitable purpose of protecting the environment," he said.
But Maximilian Schiffers, a political scientist from the Duisburg-Essen University, has a very different take on the precept of political neutrality, which is also a subject of debate in expert circles.
"It doesn't mean that organizations have to be neutral on political issues. They are just not allowed to campaign for a particular party," he told DW.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND CONSERVATION: POLITICALLY NEUTRAL ISSUES?
According to Schiffers, even the German constitution is not neutral, "particularly when human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... , civil liberties, environmental and climate protection and the participation in democratic decision-making processes are concerned." In view of this, civil society organizations did not have to be neutral either, Schiffers said.
The Society for Civil Rights (GFF), which is financed by donations and member fees, is also on the side of those criticizing the way the conservatives and the AfD closed ranks for the vote in parliament.
"It is always possible to support democratic principles and objectively examine positions taken by a party that are problematic from the point of view of constitutional law," it said in a blurb.
The GFF stressed that such actions were even desirable to enable the open democratic discourse reflected in the German constitution, or Basic Law.
ATTEMPT AT INTIMIDATION?
The organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which fights for press freedom across the world, has been even more explicit in its criticism of the action taken by the CDU/CSU bloc. The director of its German branch, Anja Osterhaus, accused the conservatives of trying to intimidate critical voices from civil society.
Although she conceded that parliamentary inquiries by parties were an important monitoring mechanism, she said it was "worrying that the CDU/CSU parliamentary group used this means to demand information on media organizations that are known for their investigative journalism."
The CDU/CSU inquiries include questions about German media organizations Correctiv and Netzwerk Recherche.
In early 2024 Correctiv, which also receives money from the state, reported on a meeting in Potsdam attended by right-wing holy warrior and conservative figures. The gathering was allegedly held to discuss plans to carry out mass deportations of people with an immigration background from Germany. The revelations triggered mass demonstrations nationwide against right-wing extremism and the AfD.
SPD PARLIAMENTARY LEADER CALLS 'FOUL'
The debate on state support for charity organizations is also damaging relations between the CDU/CSU bloc and its potential partners in a coalition government, the Social Democrats (SPD). On Friday, the first exploratory talks between the parties were held in Berlin following the February 23 elections.
Lars Klingbeil, who co-leads the SPD and heads its parliamentary party, accused the CDU and CSU of "foul play."
"The Union [CDU/CSU bloc] should do some soul-searching very quickly about whether it will stick with that," he said.
But the words of the conservatives' parliamentary leader, Thorsten Frei, give no reason to believe that it will.
Frei told public-service broadcaster ARD that no one wanted to intimidate anyone but that it was "normal" to watch where and to whom public monies and tax cuts were going.
[Guardian] One dead and several injured with suspect arrested after car driven into crowd in Mannheim, Germany. Local police investigating whether other suspects involved after residents warned to keep away from city centre.
German police remained on high alert for this year’s carnival parades after social media accounts connected to the Islamic State militant group called for attacks on the events in Cologne and Nuremberg.
While there has been no confirmation that the incident was a deliberate attack, these early reports will cause alarm after recent attacks involving driving cars into crowds in recent months.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/03/2025
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#1
2 dead, 25 injured, 3 in critical condition (including a child).
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/03/2025 9:31
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#2
25 injured is not a few as first reported.
Dammit! Please stay safe, European Conservative, you and yours.
#6
Munich canceled all official carneval events after the attack in Munich. Today is Rosenmontag event in Cologne, the biggest event. Let's hope for the best.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/03/2025 10:14
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#7
Walking Unvaxed, thank you for the Breitbart link. In my rush to post, I didn’t mention it.
40-year-old German citizen identified as Mannheim suspect
The interior minister of the state of Baden-Württemberg, Thomas Strobl, has told the German press agency dpa that the suspect was a 40-year-old German citizen from the neighbouring state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
No further details have been released at this stage.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/03/2025 11:52
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#12
They have a photo of the black SUV with the license plate pixillated.
"Car driven into crowd" - at least they admit someone drove it. Usually it's "Car drives into crowd" as if there's no perp
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2025 12:18
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#13
From the Guardian:
The man drove his car at about 12.15pm through Mannheim’s pedestrian zone from Friedrichsring into the several hundred metre Planken, Mannheim’s main shopping street, and hit or drove around several passersby at the parade square, witnesses said.
According to the SZ, the suspect was arrested half an hour later – at 12.45pm. As the newspaper reported, citing investigators, the man is said to have driven a car with a Ludwigshafen license plate and to have been armed.
The police have not yet provided any information about the background or a possible motive. The police were also initially unable to say whether it was
From Breitbart:
Update 1630 — Death toll rises
German media now states that two people are known to have been killed, a man and a woman, in the apparent attack against pedestrians in Mannheim on Monday. Newspaper Die Welt reveals new details on the attacker, that is is a 40-year-old German citizen and that he attempted to shoot himself in the mouth with what is described as a blank firing pistol as police attempted to arrest him. The paper further says the owner of the Ford car used in the rampage had previously been known to the authorities for involvement in ‘right wing extremism’, although it also emphasises there is no information on whether it was he behind the wheel or someone else.
The question always is nuts, evil, or jihadi? Or accident, of course, but in these troubled times there aren’t nearly enough of those on a percentage basis.
#14
I hear the Germans are itching to get involved in Ukraine. Maybe they need to start getting used to body counts.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
03/03/2025 15:20
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The Guardian reports it was a Ford Fiesta, whatever that is.
From Deutsche Welle:
The motorist who drove his car into a crowd of people in the southwestern German city of Mannheim, killing at least two, intended to do so, police and public prosecutors said at a joint press conference on Monday evening.
The suspect, who is 40 years old, was detained following the incident, the interior minister of the state, Baden-Württemberg, where Mannheim is based, told reporters earlier in the day.
Police and prosecutors later added at the news conference that the suspect, a German man, is being investigated for murder and attempted murder in the attack that injured at least 11 others.
They said the driver shot himself in the mouth when he was arrested and had to undergo medical treatment at a hospital. He could not yet be questioned.
A senior public prosecutor said the man was suffering from psychological problems and that investigators were looking into that aspect more closely.
Moving this to Page 3: Non-War on Terror. But Page 1 was the correct first assumption, given the timing and the details.
[FoxNews] Sanctuary cities limit local cooperation with federal immigration authorities
The mayors of Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York City are prepping for a high-stakes hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government.
"Sanctuary mayors owe the American people an explanation for city policies that jeopardize public safety and violate federal immigration law by releasing dangerous criminal illegal aliens back onto the streets," House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said in a press release announcing the hearings, which are set to take place Wednesday.
The hearing, which will take place in front of a full committee, comes as so-called sanctuary cities, jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, have come under increasing scrutiny since President Donald Trump regained control of the White House in January.
While Trump has seemingly made quick work of the situation at the southern border, attention has turned to his promised mass deportation efforts, a process that can be helped along if state and local agencies work hand-in-hand with federal authorities.
Now the mayors of four of the biggest sanctuary cities will attempt to justify their policies in front of what could be a hostile Congress, with one report from Politico noting that the mayors will be seeking to sidestep the kind of "embarrassing" episode that plagued several Ivy League presidents who were testifying about antisemitism on their campuses in 2023.
The report notes that all four mayors have been working with advisers and lawyers and prepping to redact documents ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, with the thought of University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill being ousted in the aftermath of her appearance at the 2023 hearing fresh in mind as they seek to avoid similar missteps.
The hearing could sway the political futures of Chicago’s Brandon Johnson, New York’s Eric Adams, Boston’s Michelle Wu, and Denver’s Mike Johnston.
[FoxNews] Ric Grenell, the Trump administration's special presidential envoy for special missions, slammed Obama and Biden-era diplomat Susan Rice for the Democratic Party's years of foreign policies that he said landed the U.S. in two different wars under the Biden administration alone.
"Your guy couldn’t even talk to Putin. For 3.5 years! Your policies helped usher in a war in Ukraine, Gaza…and Rwanda if you remember," Grenell posted to X on Saturday afternoon.
"And then you lied about Libya - it wasn’t caused by a video," he continued, referring to claims in 2012 that an anti-Islam video
…the poorly made film was Innocence of Muslims, produced by Coptic Egyptian-American Sam Bacile (among over a dozen aliases — his real name apparently is Nakoula Basseley Nakoula). The Obama administration jailed him for almost a year on trumped up charges in an attempt to divert protestors around the ummah…
led to the Benghazi terror attack on U.S. government facilities in the Libyan city. "You made that up…. Donald Trump handed you peace in the Middle East and Europe - you handed us two wars. We see you," he added.
Grenell was responding to a post from Susan Rice, who served as an Obama administration national security advisor and U.N. ambassador, that claimed conservatives "are up to the same old tired crap" following President Donald Trump's tense meeting with Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelenskyy on Friday.
#1
When they trot out Rice, Bolton, Brennan and Clapper it reminds me of people who never remove their Halloween 🎃 and just leave them melting on their doorstep passed Thanksgiving. Theese disfigured and discredited decorations are now devoid of any legitimate role in our discourse. Yet there they remain.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/03/2025 4:36
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Take Away: According to locals, the Obamas are never seen at the town's modest array of shops such as grocery store Bobby's and are yet to enjoy lunch at popular dining spot Keneke's...
'[Obama] is retired, he never comes in here,' sniffed one local store owner who asked not to be named.
'He probably would have when he was campaigning but not now. Their staff go out and collect their food.'
[Breitbart] Mexican drug cartels are reportedly in fear and going into hiding as Mexican law enforcement officials have ramped up arrests and drug busts in response to the Trump administration threatening to hit the country with tariffs.
Several cartel members told the New York Times they had either “gone into hiding” or were in the process of “trying to figure out how to protect” their families “in case the American military” launched strikes in Mexico.
One “high-ranking member” in the Sinaloa Cartel told the outlet that “you can’t be calm” or sleep “because you don’t know when they’ll catch you,” and other cartel members explained that they were faced with “selling off property and firing unessential personnel.”
The New York Times reported that in response to President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada until the mass inflows of illegal aliens and fentanyl across the borders into the United States were stopped, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has sent her government “on the offensive” and has “dispatched 10,00 national guard troops to the border”:
President Trump began floating the possibility of tariffs soon after his election in November, and soon after taking office announced 25 percent levies on Mexican goods if the country didn’t act on border security and drug trafficking. The president gave Mexico a month to deliver results, threatening to enact the tariffs on March 4 if he wasn’t satisfied.
Facing economic chaos, the Mexican government went on the offensive. President Claudia Sheinbaum dispatched 10,000 national guard troops to the border and hundreds more soldiers to Sinaloa state, a major hub of fentanyl trafficking where a cartel war has caused turmoil for months.
Breitbart News’s John Carney reported in November 2024 that Trump had threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all goods coming into the U.S. from Mexico and Canada until they reigned in the illegal aliens and drugs such as fentanyl flowing across the border.
The Mexican Attorney General’s Office recently confirmed that 29 criminals, including as “a top drug boss behind the 1985 murder of DEA Agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena,” who were wanted by the Department of Justice, would be extradited to the U.S.
“Trump established a deadline, and we are seeing the results of everything we could have seen in years being done in a month,” Jaime López, a security analyst in Mexico City told the outlet. “The government is sending a message that when it really wants to, it can exert that kind of pressure.”
In a recent post on Truth Social, Trump stated that “drugs are still pouring” into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico, adding that “until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effected on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled.”
While the threat of tariffs from Trump was credited as being behind the increase in the crackdown on drug cartels in Mexico, the outlet reported that Sheinbaum “had showed her willingness to take on the cartels” after taking office in October 2024.
#2
Yeah. Otherwise, it seems...odd. If they can do this when it's a good idea, then it would seem they could always have done it if they'd gotten the right phone call from the president.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
03/03/2025 7:21
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if they'd gotten the right phone call from the president
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2025
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#1
Or a puppet with instructions not to sign under any circumstances.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/03/2025 5:21
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Zelensky - AKA "the Court Jester" - believed the weasel Democrats. All he had to do was read "The Art of the Deal" by Trump. Plenty of time on the plane ride over to do that.
He will come back to Trump and offer to sign the deal that is no longer on the table. Trump will then offer him a much less favorable deal.
Kass is right and it will cost his country lives and property. The Demoncrats are responsible for this along with Zelensky's over-sized ego. Lives will be lost and they will have more blood on their hands.
#4
Warthog solidly nails it at #2. Ending wars produces huge international, political and domestic rewards. Dems don't want any credit be given the Orange Man under any circumstances. It's all politics.
A Finnish-Russo pre-WWII treaty will likely be the outcome in the Ukraine.
U.S. Army Lt. Col (Ret.) Tony Shaffer talks how the UK played the United States when it comes to the minerals deal. Keir Starmer already locked in the “Minerals Deal” with Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of their “100-year agreement.” pic.twitter.com/nd3c5iOOba
[Epoch Times] British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on March 2 that Europe must continue to provide funding for Ukraine to sustain its position during peace negotiations, while also committing to roughly $2 billion in export financing to supply Ukraine with 5,000 air defense missiles.
Starmer said he is working on a Ukraine peace plan intended to receive U.S. backing and warned that Europe must do the heavy work of defending itself.
Starmer said he’s working on restoring discussions of peace and is using the breakdown on Feb. 28 as an opportunity to reengage with Trump, Zelenskyy, and French President Emmanuel Macron rather than "ramp up the rhetoric."
"We’ve now agreed that the United Kingdom, along with France and possibly one or two others, will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting, and then we’ll discuss that plan with the United States," Starmer told the BBC, adding that he and Macron have both spoken to Trump since the latter’s meeting with Zelenskyy.
At the summit, European leaders discussed shoring up the continent’s defenses in defending Ukraine, including discussions to create a European military force to send to the war-torn country to cap a cease-fire. Starmer suggested the military force would include a "coalition of the willing."
While he does not trust Russian President Vladimir Putin, Starmer said he trusts Trump.
"Do I believe Donald Trump when he says he wants lasting peace? The answer to that is yes," he said.
Someone is getting wiser …
Starmer added that "intense discussions" to obtain a security guarantee from the United States are one of the three components of lasting peace.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] How a Ukrainian Refugee Scared the US with Soviet Atomic Bombing
We found an interesting document from the CIA archives, dated November 28, 1951. It is a confidential letter from J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, to General Walter Bedell Smith, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
The letter states that a Hungarian refugee, while in the Munich Funk Kaserne immigrant camp in Germany, received information from a Ukrainian refugee about a possible Soviet atomic attack on the United States planned for Christmas 1951.
According to the Ukrainian's account, Soviet factories were operating in "total war production" mode and planned to manufacture at least 50 atomic bombs during 1951 - "one for each capital city of the 48 states." The supposed attack was to take place on Christmas Day, since, according to the Ukrainian, the Russians traditionally launch military operations on Christian holidays.
He also said that local communists and Soviet "troops" were supposed to seize the production and storage sites of atomic bombs in the United States during the chaos caused by the bombing. The Ukrainian also claimed that the Soviet Union knew that the production of atomic bombs was in the hands of American civilians, and that Soviet agents had infiltrated all the relevant facilities.
The document indicates that the Ukrainian belonged to a partisan formation that requested weapons from the United States and was refused. He probably decided to take revenge on the Americans with this information and at the same time push them to more active actions against the USSR.
It so happened that the USSR was already conducting its third nuclear test at that time, and this seriously unnerved the United States, which is why they took any such information from the USSR extremely seriously. And this case also had a Ukrainian trace.
Actually, we see attempts to unleash a nuclear war by modern Banderites even now.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The US plan is that it is the EU countries, not NATO, that should be responsible for future security guarantees for Ukraine. This was stated by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in an interview with CBS News.
"The plan is for the European Union to provide these (security guarantees), not NATO," Bessent said.
The leaders of the Kiev regime have been told more than once that peace must first be established in Ukraine and only then “security guarantees” must be discussed, noted US State Department Secretary Marco Rubio.
Earlier, Rubio said that Washington views the actions of the head of the Kiev regime, Volodymyr Zelensky, at a meeting with US President Donald Trump as an attempt to hinder the White House's efforts to resolve the conflict.
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, in turn, noted that Washington doubts Zelensky's desire to negotiate and his readiness to end the conflict. Answering the question of whether Trump wants Zelensky to resign, Waltz said: The US needs a Ukrainian leader with whom it can do business.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, the conversation between Trump and Zelensky, which turned into a squabble, took place on February 28 in the presence of journalists. The US President demanded that the head of the Kiev regime agree to peace talks, stating that otherwise the US would "wash its hands of it". Zelensky spoke out against a ceasefire and truce. Earlier, he repeatedly said that the Kiev regime needed security guarantees, primarily from the US, to begin negotiations.
Trump emphasized that Zelensky, by arguing with the head of state that provides Ukraine with resources without which the military conflict would end "in three days", showed disrespect for the United States. After the meeting, the American president published a message in which he noted that the head of the Kiev regime is not ready for peace. As a result, the Ukrainian delegation was asked to leave the White House early.
American universities are part of the fashionable Jew-hate trend.
[DW] A new report demands more preventative policy measures to protect Jewish students from rising antisemitism at universities since the Israel-Hamas war began.
Lahav Shapira
…30, vocal supporter of Israel and grandson of the Israeli team coach murdered by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Munich Olympics…
was beaten on a Berlin street in early February 2024 in what is thought to have been an antisemitic attack.
The police report said the two had argued, then the younger student slapped him repeatedly until he fell to the ground. Mr. Shapira claims the student recognized him in a bar, followed him and his girlfriend and without a word or provocation punched him in the face, a very different scenario.
The Jewish student had expressed his opinion at his university on the Middle East conflict. The trial of the alleged perpetrator, a 23-year-old former fellow student of the victim,
… more specifically, a pro-Palestinian Arab etc…
is due to begin at Tiergarten District Court on April 8.
It took a full year to get started. Given the police found him at home shortly after the attack, what took so long?
It was among the most dramatic antisemitic incidents Germany has seen since the October 7, 2023 Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... attack on Israel, after which the country invaded the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip. Since the Israel-Hamas war began, Jewish students have reported a climate of fear at German universities, where they worry about intimidation and attacks.
On Thursday, the German Union of Jewish Students (JSUD) and the American Jewish Committee Berlin (AJC) presented a "Situation Report on Antisemitism at German Universities." Outgoing JSUD president Hanna Veiler, 27, spoke of a "tsunami of antisemitism" in the university environment, outlining a chronology of incidents including the brutal attack on Shapira, along with numerous university occupations and "so-called pro-Paleostinian protest camps" where people have called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
LITTLE RESEARCH ON THE ISSUE
The new report is important because a "really central challenge" for the JSUD has been that there is little research on antisemitism at universities, she said. As Osuch, the 26-page report does not contain any newly collected figures. The authors used statistics from the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS). According to the report, the number of antisemitic incidents involving universities rose from 16 in 2021 and 23 in 2022, to 151 in 2023.
Veiler said that the report is an important resource for Jewish students, who must deal with the issue whether they want to or not. "Jewish students have had to become experts on antisemitism at universities over the past 17 months," she said. For some, the fear of entering university buildings and feeling abandoned has impacted the course of their studies, and possibly their financial support as students.
AJC Berlin director Remko Leemhuis spoke of an "explosion" of antisemitic incidents at German universities since October 7, 2023, saying that many Jewish students had been avoiding campuses altogether for some time now.
The report makes clear that while there have been incidents, antisemitic statements or intimidation at universities nationwide, Berlin is a hotspot. The German capital has seen several university buildings occupied by protesters, often with anti-Israeli graffiti found inside afterwards.
The report called for a number of preventative policy changes in response, including the consistent prosecution of antisemitic crimes, compulsory training on modern forms of antisemitism at universities, and clearly named points of contact for Jewish students. In addition, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's controversial working definition of antisemitism should be included in university constitutions, it said.
UNIVERSITY NEGLIGENCE?
According to Veiler, there is still a lack of backbone and support from university management. Taking action is "not a foregone conclusion," she said.
The attack on Lahav Shapira sparked another legal proceeding: A lawsuit by a student at the Free University of Berlin that has been pending at the Administrative Court since June 2024. Last summer, German broadcaster ZDF's investigative show "frontal" quoted from the indictment. It states that the university had "not taken adequate measures" to prevent or structurally eliminate the antisemitic discrimination against the plaintiff and other Jewish students, and that the FU had allowed "antisemitic language to materialize into actions." This would violate the requirements of Berlin's Higher Education Act.
Oral proceedings are expected to take place this summer and could attract great interest, a court spokeswoman confirmed to DW on Thursday. It is hoped the case will bring more clarity on the question of what university representatives have done in the fight against antisemitism.
This Sunday, the JSUD will elect its next president. Veiler will not be running again and plans to travel abroad for a while. "The main thing is that I need distance from Germany," she told German Jewish daily Judische Allgemeine, adding that over the past two years, she has become estranged from this country.
[DW] Germany has taken in more people from Afghanistan who were persecuted by the Taliban. However, their arrival was greeted with speculation and accusations online. A DW fact check.
Only a few days after the German parliamentary election a charter plane from Islamabad, Pakistain landed in Berlin with 155 Afghans on board. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, more than half of these people came via the federal admission program for particularly vulnerable people. Many local media outlets reported about the event.
However,
the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... many social media users saw a reason to claim that the new German government allowed them to enter the country, thereby breaking its promise of strict border control. But this is not true. DW Fact check has the details.
Claim: In a viral post on X, a user claimed, "In Germany, the borders were opened 24 hours after the elections. 48 hours later, the Afghan migrant plane arrived in Berlin. Germany is being invaded in a planned manner." The post already has more than 20 million views.
In another post, a user claimed, "Plane with 155 Afghans landed in Berlin. 12,000 more to come. Germany voted for the so-called 'center-right' CDU after they promised to stop Afghan immigration. They broke their promise just 48 hours after the election!"
DW Fact check: False
First, there is no new government in Germany yet following the elections on February 23. The country is still run by the outgoing government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. While the conservative bloc CDU/CSU, led by Friedrich Merz, won the election, a new government has yet to be formed. Coalition negotiations with potential partners are about to start soon.
So the arrival of these Afghan migrants colonists was already planned by the outgoing government. According to the German news agency dpa, citing the Interior Ministry, more than half of the Afghans came to Germany from Afghanistan via the German Federal admission program for Afghanistan, which was set up on October 17, 2022. It was set up by the German government after the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... took power in Afghanistan in August 2021, to get particularly vulnerable people out of the country.
The remaining passengers came to Germany through other admission programs: the local forces procedure, the human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... list, and a bridging program, which were also established after the fall of the Taliban.
These programs focus in particular on local forces who have supported the German and international troops, democracy activists and people who are threatened by the Taliban because of their sexual or gender identity.
According to the German Interior Ministry, the German government had committed to admitting around 45,000 at-risk Afghans and their families. As of April 2024, more than 33,200 Afghans have already entered Germany under the Federal admission program for Afghanistan. Germany has also facilitated the entry of Afghans who previously worked for German authorities and organizations before the fall of Kabul according to the German Foreign Office.
Two flights from Islamabad were canceled at short notice just before the general elections in Germany, as per media reports. Since there is no functioning German embassy in Kabul, these individuals must travel to Islamabad on their own. After undergoing a long wait, security clearance, and visa issuance in Pakistain, they are then allowed to enter Germany.
The German Foreign Office has raised concerns as Afghan nationals have been instructed to leave Islamabad and the neighboring city of Rawalpindi by the end of March, according to the German news agency dpa. And with Pakistain reviving its effort to deport Afghans, many opponents of the Taliban are in danger of returning to a country ruled by the Islamist regime, DW's Haroon Janjua reports from Islamabad.
IMMIGRATION KEY ISSUE FOR DISINFORMATION IN GERMAN ELECTIONS
Immigration and deportation were among the key issues during Germany's recently concluded parliamentary elections. It has sparked a lot of mis- and disinformation online about the deportation of foreign nationals living in Germany.
Calls for increased deportations to Afghanistan have intensified following deadly attacks in the country involving immigrants colonists, including Afghan nationals.
#4
DW is an agency of the German government, not an arbiter of truth.
Yes, I know. But it’s an easy site to get English-language, German-centered reports and perspective of events. Once there is a starting point, for me it’s easier to search more broadly for information.
Likewise, the Times of Israel is definitely imperfect, but it’s reasonably centrist, doesn’t make my iPad crash like the Jerusalem Post, and is fairly informative about events in Israel, the region, and beyond.
All our sources are starting points. All are understood to be imperfect.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 19:00 Governor of the Kherson region Volodymyr Gladovreportedthat three settlements in the region were attacked by the Ukrainian Armed Forces
"The village of Tishanka in the Volokonovsky district was shelled. As a result of the shelling, windows were broken in one private home, the facade and outbuildings were damaged. The glazing of the entrance group of a social facility was damaged. A passenger car was also damaged by shrapnel. In addition, a power line was damaged - there is temporarily no power supply in 8 settlements: the village of Tishanka, the hamlets of Zayarovka, Volchiy-Perviy, Grigoryevka, Bochanka, Shakhovka, Zeleny Klin and Verny," Vladimir Gladkov wrote.
18:35 Anti-submarine Boeing P-8A Poseidon for several hours intensively works over the western part of the Black Sea.
16:50 Drone operator of the North Forces Group destroyed satellite communication terminal "Starlink" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Khar'kov region.
16:10 The Russian Armed Forces tracked and destroyed the enemy's "Baba Yaga" in the Khar'kov direction, –video.
14:50 Units of the Russian Armed Forces continue active offensive operations in the areas of Tarasovka, Berezovka - Novaya Poltavka, Elizavetovka - Malinovka.
The enemy counterattacks in the area of Tarasovka – Zelenoye Pole, Malinovka – Novaya Poltavka.
14:01 Calculation of the Pantsir-S air defense missile and gun system struck unmanned aerial vehicle in the border area of Kursk region.
13:10 Rubicon» continues to massively destroy NATO equipment on the Kursk front
Fighters from the Rubicon special center are destroying armored vehicles, cars, and personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk border area.
12:22 Operational-tactical aviation, strike unmanned aerial vehicles, missile forces and artillery of the groups of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation inflicted damage to the infrastructure of military airfields, gas processing facilities that support the operation of enterprises in the military-industrial sector of Ukraine, workshops for the production of unmanned aerial vehicles and their storage sites.
11:00 Around 9.30 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over the territory of the Belgorod region.
10:10 Frontline summary for the morning of 03/02/2025, – MAP.
Zaporizhzhya Front. There is active military action herecontinuesremain above average, but no significant advances are known at this time. Fighting continues in the Pyatikhatki area, and Russian troops continue to put pressure on the Ukrainian Armed Forces' defenses.
Donetsk Front. Here, active offensive actions by Russian troops continue in several areas. It is reported that Burlatskoye has been cleared and that the Russian Armed Forces are advancing in the direction of Veseloye. Fierce fighting continues in the Constantinopol area. Russian troops are actively inflicting losses on the enemy, using long-range weapons and improving their positions on the flanks. Fierce fighting continues in the Pokrovsky sector of the front, which in some areas is of a counter-insurgency nature.
Chasovoyarsk direction. No significant changes in LBS. Russian troops continue to put pressure on the defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the city and on the flanks.
Kursk region. Here the Russian Armed Forces continue to put pressure on the defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, primarily focusing on cutting off Ukrainian logistics. There are tactical successes of the Russian Armed Forces.
9:35 Operators of the 1st Tank Army struck a Ukrainian BMP-2 in the Kupyansk direction, –video.
8:10 For servicemen of the "West" group of troops, carrying out combat missions of the special operation, with a concert program performed artists of the military orchestra of the Moscow Military District.
7:05 Destruction of a 122mm 2S1 self-propelled gun of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Ivano-Polish region, –video.
Reconnaissance of the 132nd Motorized Rifle Brigade discovered a working 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled gun of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of the settlement of Ivanopolye.
The 130mm M-46 crew of the 238th Artillery Brigade of the 8th Guards Army of the Russian Armed Forces, led by the gun commander with the call sign "Svet", skillfully fired as part of a counterbattery fight, inflicted a direct hit, successfully destroying the enemy self-propelled gun. The Russian M-46 field gun is a converted naval cannon. 6:30 A crew of Russian paratroopers using unmanned aerial vehicles identified and destroyed an enemy command and observation post in the Kherson region, –video.
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 22.03 Canada announced the introduction of sanctions against 31 individuals and legal entities from Russia, including paramilitary groups that support aggression against Ukraine. This was reported by the office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau following the leaders' summit in London, dedicated to supporting Ukraine.
21.19 German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed hope following the summit in London that the end of hostilities could be a starting point for potential peace talks on Ukraine, Reuters reported on Sunday, March 2.
20.23 British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a new agreement that will allow Ukraine to purchase 5,000 air defense missiles, significantly strengthening Kiev's position. This was reported by Sky News and the press service of the Ministry of Defense.
LMMs are precision-guided interceptor missiles that are effective in destroying Shahed drones. They have already proven their effectiveness in battles in 2022-2024.
The project is being implemented jointly with ThalesUK, Ukrainian enterprises and the UK government.
This agreement is one of the largest in the history of Ukraine in the field of security and defense. The project of about $2 billion is aimed at strengthening Ukrainian air defense by 2030.
19:59 British Prime Minister Keir Starmer made a statement after the end of the summit in London , announcing a new meeting with US President Donald Trump regarding the peace agreement on Ukraine, SkyNews reports.
18.54 A heated argument between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House has sparked a wave of discussions among diplomats. Some believe it was a deliberate attack meant to weaken Zelensky and remove him as an obstacle to improving relations between Washington and Moscow. CNN reported this on Sunday, March 2.
16.49 Since the beginning of the day, 72 combat clashes have occurred on the front. Our defenders are stopping the enemy, holding the lines and destroying the plans of the Russians. At the same time, the Russians continue to concentrate their efforts on the Pokrovsky, Toretsky and Kursk directions. This was noted in the report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Sunday, March 2.
14:10 Russian troops attacked a bus in Kherson with a drone. As a result of the attack, one person was killed and six others were injured.
12.33 Czech citizens, as part of the volunteer initiative Darek pro Putina (Gift for Putin), raised 2.8 million euros for a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
10:50 Lithuania invests in Ukraine's defense industry and will purchase weapons from Kiev for 20 million euros. The purchased weapons are planned to be transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The list of weapons is not disclosed for security reasons.
"Lithuania will continue to invest in Ukraine's defense industry, purchasing weapons for the Ukrainian military in Ukraine. The amount of 20 million euros has been allocated for these purposes, which will continue to grow," the statement says.
The Defense Ministry noted that it seeks even closer cooperation with Ukraine in the military sphere.
10.17 Russian troops attacked Khmelnytskyi region with drones. In the village of Pirogovtsy, nine residential buildings were damaged by the blast wave. A woman born in 1949 was injured.
09.15 At night, Russian troops attacked Ukraine with 79 Shahed-type attack drones and various types of drone imitators. Air defense forces destroyed 63 UAVs. The Russian attack affected Kharkiv, Sumy, Khmelnytskyi and Zaporizhia.
08.32 Over the past 24 hours, 97 combat clashes have been recorded at the front. In particular, in the Pokrovsk direction, Ukrainian defenders stopped 27 assault actions by Russians. In the Kharkov, Seversk and Kramatorsk directions, the occupiers did not conduct any offensive actions over the past 24 hours.
07.16 As of March 2, 2025, the total combat losses of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine amounted to approximately 876,720 people (+1110 per day).
01.15 Polish President Andrzej Duda called on Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to return to the negotiating table with the United States, because he believes that there is no other force in the world other than this country that is capable of stopping Russian aggression.
00:38 NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to find a way to improve relations with the US administration. Rutte said that he had spoken to the Ukrainian president twice after his meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House. According to Rutte, in a conversation with Zelensky, he stressed that "we must respect what Trump has done for Ukraine." The NATO chief recalled that during Trump's first presidential term - from 2017 to 2020 - the US approved the sale of the Javelin anti-tank missile system, which allowed Ukraine to "fight back" when Russia invaded in 2022.
[ShabelleMedia] In a collaborative mission involving the Somali National Army and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), a strategic airstrike operation was successfully executed in the vicinity of Ceel Baraf, situated in the Middle Shabelle region of Hirshabelle State.
Preliminary evaluations of the operation reveal significant outcomes, including the destruction of several vehicles transporting Al-Shabaab militants and the seizure of explosives intended for future attacks.
Importantly, there have been no reported civilian casualties associated with this operation.
[TheBlaze] The socialist managers invited the refugees as a sign of support and solidarity in January.
The socialist managers of a theater in Gay Paree, La Belle France, are being forced to abandon it after welcoming in refugees who have refused to leave and are allegedly committing acts of violence involving sex and drugs.
The managers of the historic Gaîté Lyrique theater said that the crisis had grown to such levels that they would have to shut down and stop sending "support providers" to the theater over "untenable promiscuity."
The occupation grew from 200 to over 400 people, while there were only four toilets and no showers.
The theater made headlines when managers invited the refugees in to a free conference entitled "Reinventing the Reception of Refugees in La Belle France" at the theater, but when the conference ended, the refugees decided to stay at the theater. The problem was exacerbated by homeless people who also were inhabiting the 19th-century building.
Management said in January that the building was not "designed or equipped for accommodation on such a scale" but that they would "maintain its activity to allow the venue to remain open to its various audiences." Performances were canceled, and the building was closed to the public while services were continued for the migrants colonists.
A La Belle France 24 report said that the unsanitary conditions were worsening as the occupation grew from 200 to over 400 people, while there were only four toilets and no showers.
On Thursday a statement from management said they were pulling out.
"Without intervention by the authorities by Friday, the Gaîté Lyrique company and its teams will be forced to leave the building," the statement read, according to the Daily Mail.
The migrants colonists have claimed to be unaccompanied minors, but some have accused authorities of racism when the authorities tried to verify their ages.
The management said the "increasingly severe and frequent violence" was leaving them no choice but to pull out their staff for their own safety.
"La Gaîté Lyrique and its entire staff will be willing and able to resume management, upkeep, and operation of the building as soon as the competent authorities provide shelter to the occupants and meet the security, safety, and hygiene conditions required for employees and residents to return," they added.
Protests have erupted outside the theater in support of the refugees.
The socialist-left city council of Gay Paree, which owns the building, says it is unable to find accommodation for the migrants colonists and called for the French government to come to its aid.
[IsraelTimes] In further remarks by IDF chief Herzi Halevi on the IDF’s October 7 failures, broadcast tonight on Channel 12, he addresses the fact that the first IDF troops did not reach Kibbutz Nir Oz, where a quarter of residents were killed or kidnapped, until the last terrorists had gone.
Speaking to local council chiefs in southern Israel, Halevi says a lot has been said in the media about too many troops going to Sderot, the Gaza border town that was among the many communities attacked. Two sets of forces were dispatched to Nir Oz, he says, but they got caught up in other battles en route and did not reach the kibbutz. “The results were terrible. As someone from Nir Oz told me, the first soldier arrived after the last terrorist had left. That’s the worst thing that we could hear.”
Halevi says that the absent intelligence material “in this war was a big part of the failure. We would have wanted advance warning, we would have wanted to know [what was about to happen]. That could have changed the reality. We didn’t get it…”
He then discusses the indications of Hamas planning something that were received in the hours before the invasion. “The central question here is: could we have understood what was received that night differently, and obviously then to have made different decisions.”
He notes the fact that Hamas terrorists turned on Israeli SIM cards on Friday evening, October 6, and that this was reported by IDF intelligence. But, he says, this had happened “in the previous year… 10-12 times.” It was checked, he says.
He says the movements of senior Hamas figures were also checked.
The checks indicated that what was going on was “routine” and that there were “good alternative explanations” for what was happening in Gaza.
For instance, he says, Hamas, in the weeks ahead of its invasion and massacre, “was mainly discussing directing attacks from Gaza to be carried out in the West Bank.”
This had been raised with the political leadership, he says, and had prompted talk about carrying out “targeted strikes [on key Hamas figures] in Gaza.”
“A lot of what we saw [in the hours before the invasion], we attributed to their knowledge that the cabinet on Sunday might approve a further targeted strike,” Halevi says.
Halevi says the IDF’s top brass were updated on the worrying indications from Gaza at about 3 a.m. on October 7 and that this was unduly late: “The General Staff, me included, entered the picture at about 3 a.m. I think that was too late. The first signs came at 9 to 9:30 on the [previous] evening… But they were insufficient…”
He says it is not the case that officers were wary of waking up the chief of staff. Rather, “everyone who was looking [at the information] believed [what they were seeing in Gaza] was not about to happen now or tomorrow. [They thought]: There is something. It’s not clear. It’s not [something to justify an urgent] alert.”
Summing up the “main failures,” Halevi says: “The level of alert was not raised.” And that, despite the fact that “too many things [that were unfolding in Gaza] were unclear…” The IDF needed to be “sharper, and we erred.”
During the IDF’s subsequent probe of that night, he said, a chart had been drawn up that shows, “This is what we knew that night, and this is what we should have known that night.”
When you look at those two sets of data, says Halevi, “and especially at the differences between them, you say, If [only] there had been a single person who had seen that whole chart on that night.”
[IsraelTimes] Incoming IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir is planning a major overhaul of the top command of the military, believing it necessary to restore public trust in the army, after the failures of October 7, 2023, Channel 12 reports.
According to the network, Zamir plans to remove many top generals who were in key posts during the October 7 attacks. The report says among those Zamir is considering removing are Head of the Operations Directorate Maj. Gen. Oded Basyuk, Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, Home Front Command Head Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, and Intelligence Directorate Head Maj. Gen Shlomi Binder (Binder assumed the role in mid-2024, having served as head of the Operations Division on October 7. The head of intelligence during the attack, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, has already stepped down).
#2
The Israeli establishment has loathed Bibi for years as a traitor to his class. He is no labour socialist, having picked up the American diseases of capitalism and a preference for an open economy that rewards entrepreneurs when he grew up and went to university over here. It’s very frustrating for them that every time they finally succeed in driving him out of office, he ends up putting together a governing coalition in the next election.
#3
^ Interesting, tw. I had assumed the hatred was the usual lefty Daddy issues thing combined with the fact he cares more about Israel than globalist concerns.
[PUBLISH.TWITTER] Responding to this story from yesterday. Nobody seems to be commenting publicly about Hama’s threat to harm more hostages, for some reason.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "decision to suspend humanitarian aid is cheap blackmail, a war crime and a blatant coup against the (ceasefire) agreement", the group said in a statement.
One wonders if these and similar NGOs were clients of USAID or similar. Something for the Netanyahu government to look into…
The Gisha human rights organization and four other NGOs file a motion to the High Court of Justice calling for an interim order banning the government from cutting of the supply of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, saying the step endangers the lives of Palestinian civilians in the territory and therefore violates Israel’s obligations under international law.
Gisha argues that halting the provision of aid is illegal “even if [Israel] claims that the existing aid is sufficient,” and says that recent media reports that six babies in Gaza died of hypothermia in February proved the claim to be false anyway.
No. That proves that the Hamas government has no problem with its Gaza subjects suffering when they have the means to alleviate it stuffed into bursting warehouses.
“According to humanitarian law, there is an obligation to protect the civilian population and allow the free passage of humanitarian aid to such a population,” writes Gisha in its petition.
The way to do that is for the IDF to break into the warehouses and pass out the contents to the residents, preferably in front of cameras. Why don’t they?
“These obligations cannot be made conditional on political considerations, and humanitarian aid cannot be used as a tool of war or a way of exerting pressure,” the human rights groups contends.
Israel cut off the aid supply to Gaza this morning, with the Prime Minister’s Office stating that “Israel will not allow a ceasefire without the release of our hostages.” Hebrew media reported that Israel currently believes enough aid has entered the enclave in recent weeks to last Gaza for several months.
Report: Next potential steps to pressure Hamas include cutting electricity to Gaza, resuming war
[IsraelTimes] Israel is planning to incrementally pile on pressure on Hamas to accept a new proposal extending the ceasefire deal’s first phase and securing the release of all the hostages the terror group is holding, in addition to Sunday’s halt to aid entering the Gaza Strip, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
The report says the next stages of Israel’s “maximum pressure” plan, said to have been drafted over the past few weeks, is to again move the Gazan population from northern Gaza to the territory’s south — as had been the case for most of the war — and later, if needed, cutting all electricity to the Strip.
The final planned measure is reportedly a full return to the war, this time with the heavy bombs withheld by the previous US administration as well as the billions worth of arms and military equipment the new administration is sending Israel.
Possibly, yes, though Israel has a few more things to try first.
[GEO.TV] A Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... front man said that there were currently no negotiations regarding the second phase of the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ceasefire, Al Jazeera reported.
''He blamed Israel for failing to start those talks, adding that the Israeli military is trying to recover its captives without agreeing to the end of the war to retain the possibility of resuming the aggression on the Gaza Strip,'' it added.
The spokesperson concluded by stating that the current position of Israel to extend the first phase of the truce is not acceptable at all for Hamas.
"Potentially, we might see a surge in military activity starting tomorrow as there are no obligations any more to sustain the ceasefire,'' the publication said.
''That's been left up in the air as the mediators try to contain this crisis and prevent a return to fighting that will bring nothing but further devastation to the people of Gaza,'' it added.
#3
Given the simple fact, Hamas STILL holds hostages in Palestine and is STILL launching attacks from there, on Israel. Indicates that they should remember their own teachings before opening their pie holes.
In case they need reminding.
What they call Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful own teachings are clearly being applied.
Because as good little Islamics, surely they were taught "Al-Jazā min Jins al-ʿAmal" ("You reap what you sow.") and that is what they are experiencing.
Only total imbeciles would think, allowing an Iranian funded Terrorist group to govern setup bases for terrorist attacks and operations, would end well.
As of yesterday evening I could not find any other sources for this story. Kusel is a town in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, not in the least isolated, so someone should be interested in it.
UPDATE at 1:20 p.m. ET: according to European Conservative in comments, the report greatly exaggerated a minor accident — no migrants, no throwing. Moved to Page 3: Non-WoT, where we will enjoy as a happy example of the 48 Hour Rule.
[UKNIP.CO.UK] German police are investigating a violent attack at Kusel train station, where a mother and her eight-month-old baby were reportedly forcibly thrown out of a train carriage by a group of migrants.
According to initial reports, the baby fell out of the stroller face down onto the ground after being ejected from the train. Eyewitnesses described the scene as chaotic, with passengers reacting in shock.
Authorities have confirmed that the mother and child received medical attention following the incident, though the extent of their injuries remains unclear.
POLICE INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY
German federal police have launched an urgent manhunt for the suspects responsible. A spokesperson for the police confirmed that officers are reviewing CCTV footage and speaking to witnesses who were present at the station.
''We take this incident extremely seriously and are working to identify and locate the perpetrators as quickly as possible,'' the police spokesperson stated.
SECURITY CONCERNS ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT
This latest incident has reignited concerns over safety on Germany's public transport system, particularly amid ongoing debates about migration policy and crime.
Officials have urged anyone with information to contact authorities as the investigation continues.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2025
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#3
Kusel. (dpa/lrs) An eight-month-old baby was injured at Kusel station because he fell out of his baby carriage, which had tipped over. The baby suffered abrasions to his face as a result of the fall, according to the police.
An unknown man is said to have bumped into the child's 30-year-old mother on Friday, causing her to lose her balance and bump into the baby carriage, which ultimately caused it to tip over.
The police became aware of the incident through social media and launched an investigation into the unidentified man. It is still unclear whether he bumped into the mother intentionally or negligently, they said. The mother remained unharmed, a police spokesperson said.
Not thrown from a "train carriage", no "group of migrants".
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/03/2025 5:34
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#4
Just posted about the terror attack in Mannheim. Mods please take note.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/03/2025 8:29
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#5
Noted with thanks, European Conservative, published, and now looking for more information. Your Guardian article is liveblogging, so we’ll check it again in a bit, but so far they haven’t got anything more than the first post.
May your government quickly take control over the situation now that the election is over — you shouldn’t have to live under this ongoing threat.
[FoxNews] Boston Mayor Michelle Wu raised eyebrows over the weekend after she expressed condolences to the family of a knife-wielding suspect who was shot and killed by an off-duty officer after he allegedly tried to stab two people on Saturday night.
The suspect, whose identity was not released by police, brandished a knife near a Chick-fil-A on Boylston Street, a busy part of the Massachusetts capital. He was fatally shot by an off-duty police officer who saw him targeting the two victims, police said.
During a Saturday night press conference, Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said that the officer identified himself to the suspect and asked him to drop his weapon.
"The individual was trying to stab the two individuals in the store, and the off-duty officer identified himself as a police officer, instructing them to drop the weapon, at which point the individual did not comply," Cox explained. "The officer discharged his weapon to stop the threat, and the individual was struck. The armed individual was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead."
Cox added that he was "proud of police officers who activate themselves, whether it's on duty or off duty, to try to save lives."
After Cox and Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden both expressed some sadness over the loss of life during the incident, Wu notably did not express sympathy for the two people who were nearly stabbed by the suspect, just those "impacted" by the incident, which happened in "one of the busier parts" of Beantown.
"My condolences, and all of our thoughts, are with the family of the individual whose life has been lost," Wu said. "And I'm also thinking of all the people who were impacted here today in one of the busier parts of the city with this tragedy."
"I'm glad that the officer is safe and very grateful for a quick response from all of our first responders here again," she said.
Wu's remarks were called out by critics across the country on social media.
It seems the #AltGov movement has been a thing — an internet search of that reveals lots of stories on the subject.
[TheMostImportantNews] We have a government that is literally fighting against itself. The federal workforce has always been more liberal than the population as a whole, but in recent years things have gotten really bad. Prior to this year, Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... had been in control of the White House for 12 of the past 16 years. Over time, leftists that were hired for key positions just kept hiring more leftists underneath them. In fact, it got to a point where DEI policies at various agencies essentially institutionalized the systematic hiring of leftists. By the end of the Biden administration, leftist domination of most of our federal agencies was virtually complete. But now we have a new administration that most of our leftist federal workers absolutely detest. Many of them have absolutely no intention of cooperating with the new administration, and some of them have started to openly rebel against it.
A secretive movement known as “#AltGov” has become the epicenter of that rebellion. Those that are involved primarily communicate through anonymous social media accounts and an encrypted messaging app…
Calling itself #AltGov, the network has developed a visible, public-facing presence in recent weeks through Bluesky accounts, most of which bear the names or initials of federal agencies, aimed at getting information out to the public – and correcting disinformation – about the chaos being unleashed by the Trump administration.
With 40 accounts to date, their collective megaphone is getting louder, as most of the accounts have tens of thousands of followers, with “Alt CDC (they/them)” being the largest, at nearly 95,000 followers.
The network has also formed a group and a series of sub-groups on Wire, the encrypted messaging app, to share information and develop strategies – as played out on Saturday.
Most people don’t realize this, but the “#AltGov” movement was very active during the first Trump administration.
Of course during the Biden administration it went away, because the leftists inside our federal agencies saw no need to rebel against Joe Biden.
But now it is back with a vengeance…
“#AltGov dates from the first Trump administration, but it’s even more needed now,” said an employee at Fema, the disaster response agency, who requested anonymity to avoid being targeted at work. She recently launched an #AltGov Fema account on Bluesky. With nearly 13,000 followers, the account says it’s dedicated to “helping people before, during, and after (this democratic) disaster”.
One member of the group that has dared to go public with her identity has explained what the purpose of “#AltGov” actually is…
The network is aiming to “expose harmful policies, defend public institutions and equip citizens with tools to push back against authoritarianism,” Lynn Stahl, a contractor for the Department of Veterans Affairs and member of the group, told the Guardian.
In other words, they want to use their positions inside the federal government to oppose the Trump administration any way that they can.
If it sounds like this is gross insubordination to you, that is because it is gross insubordination.
And we are already seeing the results.
Attorney General Pam Bondi instructed the FBI to deliver all documents related to Jeffrey Epstein to her office, and they told her that they had done so.
But now it turns out that they had secretly held back thousands of documents,
Unfortunately, many of the documents that Bondi wants may no longer exist.
FBI whistleblower Garret O’Boyle has revealed that operatives inside the FBI have been working feverishly to destroy sensitive files…
“There are FBI servers,” said ex-agent-turned-whistleblower Garret O’Boyle, “and people inside the FBI have been working night and day to destroy files on these servers.”
“No idea on what it is — I can only speculate — but you mentioned the Epstein list,” he added. “I’d imagine it’s cases like that.”
Now that Kash Patel has finally been confirmed, he is moving quickly to try to get control of the agency, but it appears that many FBI agents have no intention of obeying his lawful orders…
“Last week, right out of the gate, Kash Patel said 500 people were going to Alabama,” O’Boyle said, explaining that they would still be “headquarters personnel, but in Alabama.”
The other 1,000 agents, he said, were sent out to the field nationwide.
“Already, people are saying, we are not going to comply with that,” O’Boyle told Johnson. “We are going to make it seem as if we transferred—we’re going to do what they call ‘paper transfers’—and we’re not going to obey these lawful orders.”
If this sort of insubordination persists, more agencies may have to be almost entirely dismantled just like USAID was.
The cuts are only going to get deeper in the weeks ahead.
For example, the Trump administration has announced that 120 IRS offices will be permanently shut down…
The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to shut down more than 120 IRS offices that provide taxpayer assistance as part of a broader effort to reduce the federal government’s footprint and cut costs.
The decision, outlined in a letter from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) obtained by The Washington Post, comes at a crucial time—right in the middle of the federal tax filing season, which ends on April 15.
On top of everything else that is going on, a potential government shutdown is looming in the middle of next month…
Congress is barreling toward a deadline to avert a government shutdown in just over two weeks, with Democrats and Republicans at odds over whether there should be guardrails on President Trump’s ability to withhold funding approved by Congress.
Democrats want to insert language in the funding bill to ensure that the administration implements the spending directed by Congress, a reaction to Mr. Trump and top adviser Elon Musk’s work to downsize large swaths of the executive branch. But Republicans have made it clear that they won’t accept those terms.
Government funding expires on March 14, and keeping the government open past the deadline will likely require bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. Republicans control 53 seats in the Senate, but a funding measure requires 60 votes for passage. In the House, Republicans are operating with a razor-thin majority and a divided conference in which conservatives regularly vote against government spending bills.
In my entire lifetime, we have never seen this much chaos in Washington.
#1
DOGE has demonstrated the ability to slice and dice electronic files at a high level. Participating in an insurrection that leaves an electronic record of its organization and activities does not seem smart all things considered.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/03/2025 5:30
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#2
Sedition against a constitutionally elected government.
#5
In the movie The Untouchables(1987) the detective went directly to the police academy for team members because of the pervasive corruption in the established police. The same applies here: Where do you find enough outsiders to eradicate #AltGov?
#7
Ref #3: Intelligence community at work. Going to take some time to dismantle the Obama/Brennan' Klingon shadow government and military industrial complex.
Linked to this not so "secret AltGov" effort was the recently revealed Dem meetings with Zelinski urging him to NOT sign a peace deal.
DOGE or DOJ must investigate any Ukie kickbacks to US Dem pols. If there is anything to the rumors, a bunch of these SOB's need to be jailed.
#14
@EricLDaugh
·
42s
🚨 Pam Bondi just announced a “TRUCKLOAD” of documents were received and the FBI is reviewing them ahead of future Epstein releases.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2025 22:11
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[FoxNews] Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth directed the Department of Defense (DOD)'s civilian workforce to comply with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) productivity email, listing five things they accomplished after initially telling them not to reply.
On Sunday, Hegseth released a video message explaining the shift.
"Our civilian patriots who dedicate themselves to defending this nation working for the Department of Defense are critical to our national security," Hegseth said. "As we work to restore focus on DOD's core warfighting mission under President Trump's leadership, we recognize that we cannot accomplish that mission without the strong and important contributions of our civilian workforce."
Musk, who's heading up DOGE, shared Hegseth's video on X, writing, "Much appreciated @SecDef Hegseth!" He also included a saluting emoji and an American flag emoji.
Hegseth signed a memorandum on Friday to all DOD civilian employees, ahead of an anticipated email expected to be sent from the DOD on Monday requesting the five bullet points of accomplishments.
Hegseth told employees to reply to the email within 48 hours and include their accomplishments and add their supervisors as recipients.
He said in the video that the responses would be collected within the department to satisfy the requirement sent out by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
OPM sent an email last weekend, seeking the same five bullets, though the DOD’s Office of Personnel and Readiness told its civilian workforce to ignore the request.
[GEO.TV] UN chief Antonio Guterres called on Sunday for Israel to end its suspension of humanitarian aid to Gaza "immediately." "NO"
"The Secretary-General urges all parties to make every effort to prevent a return to hostilities in Gaza. He calls for humanitarian aid to flow back into Gaza immediately and for the release of all hostages," said a statement from the UN posted on X.
#2
A sensible plan and easy to implement. The only obstacles I see are that one side is determined to exterminate the other no matter the cost, and that the Hamasses need the bargaining power hostages provide. Other than that...
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] Russian troops continue to concentrate their efforts on the Pokrovsky, Toretsky and Kursk directions.
Since the beginning of the day, 72 combat clashes have occurred on the front. Our defenders are stopping the enemy, holding the lines and destroying the plans of the Russians. At the same time, the Russians continue to concentrate their efforts on the Pokrovsky, Toretsky and Kursk directions. This was noted in the report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Sunday, March 2.
Border towns and villages of our country continue to be subjected to Russian artillery shelling. Today, the settlements of Timonovichi in the Chernihiv region; Gorki, Korenok, Petrushevka in the Sumy region were damaged. Lyutovka in the Kharkiv region was hit by air strikes.
In the Kupyansk direction, the enemy made one attempt to advance towards our positions in the area of the settlement of Zagryzovo from the beginning of the day, which was successfully repelled by the Ukrainian defenders.
The aggressor attacked the positions of our troops in the Liman direction near the villages of Novoye and Novomikhaylovka seven times.
In the Kramatorsk direction, our defenders successfully repelled three enemy attacks in the areas of Chasovy Yar, Grigoryevka and Aleksandro-Shultinoye.
In the Toretsk direction, the enemy attacked the defensive positions of our troops in the Toretsk and Shcherbinovka areas 12 times. Six combat clashes are still ongoing.
The enemy remains highly active in the Pokrovsk direction. Clashes of varying intensity have broken out here 13 times today. Ukrainian soldiers repelled enemy attacks in the areas of the settlements of Tarasovka, Luch, Pokrovsk, Kotlino, Udachnoye, Kotlyarovka, Andreyevka and Ulakly. The settlements of Pokrovsk, Grishino and Leontovichi were subjected to air strikes.
The occupiers tried to break through four times in the direction of Constantinople and Skudnoye in the Novopavlovskoye direction, but were stopped by our defenders. The enemy launched air strikes on the areas of the settlements of Voskresenka and Yanvarskoye.
In the Gulyai-Polye direction, the aggressor carried out airstrikes in the areas of Gulyai-Polye, Zheleznodorozhny and Priyutny. In addition, in the area of the settlement of Privolnaya, the Defense Forces successfully repelled one enemy attack.
The battle continues in the area of the settlement of Nesteryanka in the Orekhov direction.
In the Dnieper direction, the enemy twice stormed the positions of our defenders; one combat clash is currently underway.
Since the beginning of the day, the enemy has not carried out any active operations in the Kharkov and Seversk directions.
In Kursk region, Ukrainian defenders repelled 14 attacks by the invaders, and eight more clashes are ongoing. In addition, the enemy launched 10 air strikes using 17 guided bombs.
Ukrainian paratroopers from the air defense unit of the 80th Galician Brigade destroyed Russian reconnaissance drones in the skies over Kursk region.
[ShabelleMedia] To enforce the arms embargo on Somalia, the Security Council decided today to reauthorize maritime interdiction of illicit weapons imports and charcoal exports, reiterating its determination that al-Shabaab ... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all ofwhich have enough problems without them... ’s attempts to undermine peace and security in the region — including through acts of terrorism — constitute a threat to international peace and security.
Unanimously adopting resolution 2775 (2025) (to be issued as document S/RES/2775(2025)), the 15-member Council — acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter — decided to renew the provisions set out in paragraphs 15 and 17 of resolution 2182 (2014), and expanded by paragraph 5 of resolution 2607 (2021), as most recently renewed by paragraph 1 of resolution 2762 (2024), until 3 March 2025.
It authorized Member States to inspect vessels in Somali territorial waters and on the high seas extending to and including the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf, which they had "reasonable grounds" to believe were carrying charcoal or weapons or military equipment, including improvised bombs components.
Further, it authorized Member States to seize and dispose of any items identified in inspections pursuant to paragraph 15 of resolution 2182 (2014), the delivery, import or export of which is prohibited by the arms embargo on Somalia or the charcoal ban.
It decided that charcoal seized in accordance with this paragraph may be disposed of through resale, which shall be monitored by the Somalia and Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... Monitoring Group.
[GatewayPundit] Courageous servant of God, Archbishop Vigano shared this exclusive message concerning recent events surrounding "Jorge Mario Bergoglio".
The contradictory updates being given about Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s medical condition casts a disturbing light on the way Vatican communications are being managed. There are those who believe that "the Pope is already deceased" and that this fact is being kept hidden from the public. It is clear that the Vatican and the Bergoglian deep church are in a panic and will do everything to gather the consensus of the Cardinals together around the name of someone who will continue the Bergoglian revolution. There are those who have every interest in burying their own crimes — along with those of Bergoglio — while in the United States there is a head-on clash of the US Bishops’ Conference against the Trump Administration, after the scandal regarding the funds of the Agency for International Development (USAID) has brought to light the complicity of the Catholic Church in the lucrative business of immigration.
It is necessary to prevent the progressive hierarchy from ensuring that one of their own is Bergoglio’s successor, that is, another usurper on the Throne of Peter who will be the heir and continuator of the previous one. Before hammering the final nail into Bergoglio’s coffin, it is therefore essential and urgent that light be shed on the usurpation he perpetrated and on the occupation of the Catholic Church by a corrupt and treacherous hierarchy, whose sole aim is to destroy Her from within.
The maneuvers of the Saint Gallen Mafia in tandem with the ultra-progressive Left; the unpunished crimes of Theodore McCarrick; McCarrick’s role within the Democrat Administrations; the influence McCarrick has exercised in obtaining episcopal appointments for his "heirs"— who are all homosexual and corrupt — designated to fill key positions in the US and in the Vatican; McCarrick’s work as Bergoglio’s liaison to the Chinese Communist regime in order to obtain the signing of the Secret Agreement with the Holy See; the role of the Jesuits in promoting the globalist agenda; Bergoglio’s scandalous ongoing cover-ups of notorious abusers and perverts; the cover-up of the dossier about the Vatican corruption network, delivered by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to Bergoglio in April 2013 and about which there has still never been any follow-up; Bergoglio’s role in the crime perpetrated against humanity with the "Covid pandemic" and the imposition of vaccines; the cynical exploitation of illegal immigrants in order to destroy the social fabric of the West: all this and more confirms that the Bergoglian church is not only an accomplice in the subversive plan of the World Economic Forum but a leading protagonist. The faithful have the right to know the full truth about all of these events.
After years of lies, dissimulations, and silence, it is necessary to acknowledge Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s fraud and put him on trial, restoring that truth and justice demanded by the victims of his reprisals, his intimidating acts, and his connivance in the crimes of his instigators and his protégés. Investigations are needed into his past life, into the crimes he committed in Argentina (which is why he never returned as "pope" to his native country) and into the murky events that allege Jorge Mario Bergoglio was personally responsible for the sexual abuse of young Jesuits when he was Novice Master in Argentina. It must be clarified whether Tomas Ricardo Arizaga (known as Tomasito), who died on 20 July 2014 at the age of 11, and who was then cremated and buried in 2019 in the Teutonic Cemetery in the Vatican after having had his teeth removed, is really Bergoglio’s son, as has been rumored for too long and as multiple elements lead us to believe.
An international criminal alliance united subversive forces to eliminate Benedict XVI, forcing him to resign and replacing him with an emissary of globalism. Cardinal Godfried Danneels himself admitted it, referring to the Mafia of Saint Gallen; McCarrick reiterated it when speaking at Villanova University on October 11, 2013; the president and founder of Voices of Progress — a pressure group that deals with climate change, migration, and other woke issues — planned it, discussing it with John Podesta (Hillary Clinton campaign chairman), in emails released by Wikileaks (here).
The "Catholic Spring" has made use of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a corrupt and maneuverable character, fraudulently imposed upon the Catholic Church as "pope". We ask the Authorities of the United States of America and Argentina to provide documents and evidence of these facts. This will prove that Jorge Mario Bergoglio has never been pope of the Catholic Church: all his acts of government and teaching are null and void, and all his appointments are null and void, including those of the Cardinals who will elect his successor.
It is now time to face the truth with courage, so that the liberation of the Catholic Church from the subversives who have occupied Her for too long in order to destroy Her may be a radical and authentic liberation, and so that the accomplices of the fraud — who are still in the Vatican and will survive Bergoglio — may be discovered and put on trial, before their criminal action destroys the evidence of the crimes they have committed.
[FoxNews] More contractors died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars than U.S. military troops
Contractors who take jobs in combat zones don't have nearly as many resources as soldiers who come home, but the Association of War Zone Contractors (AOWC) aims to change that.
Soldiers who return home from combat zones have veterans' support groups, a plethora of charities and an entire government agency intended to see to their needs for illness and injuries. But contractors who take jobs in those same areas have had no such institutional support – until now.
These workers face the same mental traumas associated with combat deployment, and thousands who have been exposed to burn pits face the same cancers that have claimed the lives of American service members. But before the Association of War Zone Contractors (AOWC) formed this week, they did not have any of the same support groups that take care of veterans, according to the group's organizers.
"We’re looking to make sure contractors are seen, heard and counted, because those things haven’t been happening for a long time," Scott Dillard, co-founder of the new nonprofit, told Fox News Digital.
The American public often forgets that contractors make up much of the workforce on overseas bases. An estimated half of those employed in U.S. positions during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were civilian contractors, not military members.
"Some contractors go outside the wire, but many of them are just changing light bulbs, slinging mashed potatoes, cleaning toilets, whatever the case may be. But they’re on these bases, they’re in a hostile environment that gets attacked," Dillard said.
Known as "hidden casualties" during the Iraq War, many were convoy drivers who carted supplies across dangerous terrain. More than 8,000 contractors died over two decades in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as did an additional 7,000 U.S. service members, according to a Brown University count. The U.S. government does not thoroughly report contractor deaths, and their families often struggle to receive any compensation.
"A contractor's function is kind of an invisible army, and we don't want that," said Cory Archibald, another co-founder and former contractor. "The public deserves to know, policymakers need to know in order to make the right decisions, how integrated contractors are in everything that the military does, fully integrated in military operations, and that needs to be understood and acted on."
Like the veterans’ groups that for decades have advocated for better post-mission care for U.S. troops, AOWC hopes to educate contractors who return home with mental and physical injuries and illnesses associated with their work on the resources currently available to them, and to advocate for U.S. policymakers to streamline the arduous process that comes with filing a claim.
Thanks to the PACT Act, the VA recognizes an automatic link between 23 different conditions and burn pits. But civilians, whose claims are managed by the U.S. Department of Labor, have to prove a connection between the same medical conditions and deployment.
Through the Defense Base Act, contracting companies’ insurers are required to cover care for work-related injuries, like the cancers arising in many of those who served on bases in Iraq and Afghanistan in close proximity to burn pits.
"It’s an adversarial process for contractors," said Dillard. "The insurer is almost certainly going to deny the claim."
For claims that are successful, contractors wait years to see any form of payment.
For unsuccessful claims, contractors have to retain a lawyer and wait for the litigation process to play out in court.
The research behind the PACT Act, which found a direct link to certain medical conditions and the pits used to burn medical waste, arms materials and other things near military bases, focused on service members whose deployments last between a few months and a year and a half. Little research has been done on the effects those pits had on contractors, who in many cases took work on overseas bases for years at a time.
The prospect does not actually loom, but only in European imagination about OrangeManBad: The Return.
[FoxNews] US military footprint in Europe has been declining for decades
European leaders are grappling with how to handle icier relations with the U.S. since President Donald Trump regained control of the White House this year.
"The Europeans have a serious problem of readiness … that they’re trying to fix, but it takes time," Camille Grand, a former NATO official who is now with the European Council on Foreign Relations, said in a Washington Post report Sunday. "If Trump decides ‘I’m going to pull out U.S. troops from Germany because I’m upset with the trade imbalance,’ that’s much more complicated to manage than to say we have a plan to do this within X years."
The comments come as European leaders have become increasingly anxious about the future of the security of the continent in the second era of Trump, with the Washington Post reporting that leaders are wary that the American president is too friendly with Moscow and that they widely expect him to pull back roughly 20,000 U.S. troops that were deployed to the continent by former President Joe Biden in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"I would not be surprised if at some point [those troops] go back to their home base in America," a NATO diplomat told the outlet while noting that those troops were sent to Europe at the height of an emergency and that their exit "would be, so to speak, a return to normalcy."
#2
When the Wall came down, our job was done and we should have left leaving only military assistance teams to assist with American gear we sold or passed to the Euros.
[FoxNews] Alligator taken to Dallas Zoo with help from US Fish and Wildlife Service
A multi-agency operation in Dallas resulted in the arrest of eight alleged gang members in possession of guns, drugs, money and a reptilian accomplice.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) led the investigation resulting in the execution of "Operation Blue Laces" in South Dallas on Monday.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad Meacham said the operation resulted in the arrest of eight members of the 42 Oakland Crips street gang.
During the operation, agents reportedly seized 14 firearms, over a kilogram of methamphetamine pills, oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, alprazolam, marijuana, hash and over $47,000 in cash. Investigators also seized six vehicles, multiple pieces of Crips-themed jewelry and a caiman alligator.
Suppose a cylindrical gator.
It ain't quite the perfect predator,
But stick to dry ground
Should you see one around,
And be glad you're not near the Equator.
Still can't bite for shit but they rolls like crazy.
[GEO.TV] Iran's parliament sacked the country's finance minister on Sunday after impeaching him over soaring inflation and a plunging currency, state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported.
Economy and Finance Minister Abdolnaser Hemmati lost a vote of confidence, with 182 of 273 parliamentarians present backing his removal.
On the black market on Sunday, the Iranian rial was trading at more than 920,000 to the US dollar, compared with less than 600,000 in mid-2024.
Earlier, President Masoud Pezeshkian defended Hemmati, a former central bank governor, telling politicians: "We are in a full-scale (economic) war with the enemy... we must take a war formation".
"The economic problems of today's society are not related to one person and we cannot blame it all on one person."
Lawmakers took turns angrily censuring Hemmati, blaming him for Iran's economic woes.
"People cannot tolerate the new wave of inflation; the rise in the price of foreign currency and other goods must be controlled," said one parliamentarian, Ruhollah Motefakker-Azad.
"People cannot afford to buy medicine and medical equipment," said another, Fatemeh Mohammadbeigi.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2025
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#1
Maybe, if you haven't spent so much money on Hamas, Hezbollah, Asad ...
[IsraelTimes] Sharon Sharabi says US president decided to invite former hostages after being sent interview in which bereaved Be’eri father describes torture in captivity.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The court has arrested in absentia three residents of Stavropol, whom investigators believe are involved with the Islamic State* militants in Syria.
The Neftekumsk District Court has arrested in absentia three residents of Stavropol who, according to the investigation, went to Syria to help militants of the Islamic State terrorist organization, which is banned in Russia, Kommersant reports today.
All three women are residents of the Neftekumsk municipal district, they are charged under Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation in the activities of a terrorist organization). According to the investigation, they flew from Russia to Turkey and Egypt at different times to cross the border of Syria and join the militants of a terrorist organization, according to a publication on the court's website.
Two of the three women arrived in the Syrian city of Raqqa and took part in the activities of the terrorist organization there, providing medical assistance to wounded militants. They also sewed clothes and bought food and essential goods for the militants, investigators believe.
The third woman, according to investigators, conducted talks promoting the Islamic State* and also taught Arabic to the wives and children of militants “to support the activities of the terrorist organization.”
"All three women are hiding from preliminary investigation bodies outside the territory of the Russian Federation, and therefore have been placed on the international wanted list," the court's press service reported.
The court arrested each of the accused in absentia for two months; the term of their arrest will be counted from the moment they cross the Russian border in the event of extradition or from the moment they are detained on Russian territory, the publication notes.
Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for 10 to 20 years of imprisonment.
[IsraelTimes] The Israel Defense Forces says a drone strike targeted a number of suspects who were operating near troops in the northern Gaza Strip and planting an explosive device nearby.
“The IDF will continue to act to eliminate any threat to the citizens of the State of Israel and IDF forces,” the military says.
Earlier today, Palestinian media reported several dead and injured in an Israeli drone strike in the Beit Hanoun area.
Israeli forces are still deployed to a buffer zone along the Gaza border amid the ceasefire, and the IDF has repeatedly warned Palestinians against approaching the area.
[GEO.TV] The ministry of health in Hamas-run Gaza said four people were killed and six others wounded in Israeli attacks Sunday after the first phase of a fragile truce in the territory drew to a close.
"Since this morning, four dead and six wounded" have been brought to "hospitals in the Gaza Strip following Israeli attacks in various parts of the territory", the ministry said in a statement.
[GEO.TV] In a tragic incident, at least six people were killed after unidentified assailants on a motorcycle opened fire at a vehicle in Punjab's Gujrat city on Sunday.
Police said that the incident took place in Miana Chak Dinga — a town in the city — where attackers fled after killing six people travelling on the vehicle. They added that the incident was the result of personal enmity.
Rescue teams rushed to the scene and shifted bodies to the hospital.
The slain persons were aged between 26 to 35 years. The deceased were identified as Zahid Nazim, 30, Mubashir, 26, Zunair, 30, Javed Iqbal, 33, Rukhsar, 35, and a 26-year-old unidentified man.
Contingents of the police force cordoned off the whole area and commenced a search operation to arrest the culprits.
A Punjab Police spokesperson said that the inspector general took notice of the firing incident and sought a report from the regional police officer (RPO). The Punjab IG ordered the immediate arrest of the responsible.
Casualties in firing incidents due to personal enmity and tribal violence are not uncommon in Pakistan, given the authorities' failure to maintain law and order, as well as flawed prosecution resulting in the release of culprits in such cases.
In January, a municipal department employee was shot dead at the Kahkashan Building on one of the busiest streets in Karachi, Tariq Road.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] The Ukrainian Defense Forces continue to conduct an operation in the Kursk direction. Today, Ukrainian soldiers repelled 30 attacks by the invading army in this direction.
The defense forces are focusing their efforts on disrupting the Russian invaders' offensive plans and exhausting their combat potential. Since the beginning of the day, 97 combat clashes have occurred. This was noted in the General Staff's report on Sunday, March 2.
The enemy launched one missile and 62 air strikes, using four missiles and 62 guided bombs, 869 kamikaze drone strikes, and carried out more than four thousand shelling attacks on the positions of our troops.
In the Kharkov direction, the Defense Forces successfully repelled an enemy assault near the settlement of Volchansk. At the same time, the enemy dropped four guided air bombs near the settlement of Dovzhik.
The enemy attacked our fortifications three times in the Kupyansk direction in the areas of the settlements of Zagryzovo, Petrovpavlovka and Lozovaya, one combat contact is still ongoing.
In the Liman direction, Russian troops stormed the positions of Ukrainian defenders 15 times near Novoye, Yampolovka and Novomykhaylovka.
Today our troops repelled four enemy attacks in the areas of Chasovy Yar, Grigoryevka and Aleksandro-Shultinoye in the Kramatorsk direction.
In the Toretsk direction, the occupiers stormed our defenders' positions near Toretskaya and Shcherbinovka 14 times today. One combat clash is still ongoing.
In the Pokrovsk direction, the enemy carried out 18 assault and offensive actions during the day. The greatest activity of the Russian occupiers continued in the areas of the settlements of Tarasovka, Luch, Pokrovsk, Kotlino, Udachnoye, Kotlyarovka, Andreyevka, Vodyanoye Vtoroy and Ulakly, two combat contacts are still ongoing. The enemy carried out air strikes with guided bombs on the settlements of Pokrovsk, Grishino, Leontovichi, Udachnoye, Alekseyevka, Novopavlovka and Orekhovo.
According to preliminary estimates, today our soldiers eliminated 100 and wounded 83 occupiers in this direction; destroyed an armored combat vehicle, an armored personnel carrier, seven vehicles, a motorcycle, three mortars and a cannon, and also significantly damaged a car, a portable electronic warfare station and three enemy weapons.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, the invaders carried out four attacks on Ukrainian troops, the enemy tried to advance in the directions of the settlements of Konstantinopol, Privolnoye and Skudnoye. At the same time, the enemy carried out air strikes on the areas of the settlements of Voskresenka and Yanvarskoye.
In the Gulyai-Polye direction, the aggressor carried out airstrikes in the areas of Gulyai-Polye, Varvarovka and Zheleznodorozhny.
In the Orekhovo direction, two armed clashes occurred in the areas of the settlements of Nesteryanka and Novodanilovka.
In the Dnieper direction, the enemy stormed the positions of our defenders three times.
In the Seversky direction, the enemy has not carried out any active actions since the beginning of the day.
The Ukrainian Defense Forces continue to conduct an operation in the Kursk direction. Today, Ukrainian soldiers repelled 30 attacks by the invading army in this direction, in addition, the enemy's aviation carried out 14 airstrikes, overthrowing 23 KAB, the enemy also carried out 398 shellings of populated areas and positions of our troops, including 11 from multiple launch rocket systems.
While in other areas there were no significant changes in the situation.
The General Staff recognized the Ukrainian soldiers of the 44th separate artillery brigade named after Hetman Danylo Apostol and the 79th border detachment, who steadfastly held back the invasion of superior enemy forces.
Let us recall that earlier the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed a set of thermobaric munitions belonging to the Russians in the temporarily occupied territory of the Donetsk region in the Selidovoe area.
Air forces hit an enemy command and observation post in Zaporozhye. A residential building near the village of Kopani, which was used by the 1429th motorized rifle regiment of the occupiers, came under attack.
[PJMedia] In a sane political environment, this would have passed as a decidedly unremarkable, albeit not quite one-hundred-percent accurate, observation. The U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, recently warned that “radical Islamist terrorism” is the biggest national security threat the nation faces today.
Then the drugs and violence brought in by narco gangs aided and abetted by Communist China must be the second biggest.
Well, of course. The top terror groups worldwide are all Islamic. On Sept. 11, 2001, Islamic jihadis carried out the largest-ever terror attack on American soil. Numerous other Islamic jihad attacks have taken place in the U.S., at Fort Hood, the Boston Marathon, San Bernardino, New Orleans, and numerous other places. The Biden regime caught numerous people on the terror watch list crossing into the U.S. from Mexico and released at least 99 of them into the country. Gabbard was therefore making an entirely reasonable assessment.
Gabbard said: “We look at the past four years of open borders, where we had tens of millions of people coming across our borders, many of whom we don’t know who they are or what their intentions are, very specifically the threat of radical Islamist terrorism here within our country is higher than it’s ever been before, not only because of Biden’s open borders, but because of his and his administration’s fear of being called Islamophobes.”
For Gabbard to speak of “radical Islamist terrorism” was not quite accurate, as there is nothing “radical” about Islamic jihad violence. It is mainstream and deeply rooted in the Qur’an and Sunnah. And “Islamist” is a phony word that corresponds to nothing in Islamic theology. It is just an attempt to distance Islam from the crimes done in its name and in accord with its teachings.
Nevertheless, her statement was a tremendous improvement over the Biden regime. FBI director Christopher Wray testified before members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in March 2021, saying: “The top threat we face from [domestic violent extremists] continues to be those we identify as Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists (RMVEs), specifically those who advocate for the superiority of the white race.”
Old Joe Biden then said it during his speech to a Joint Session of Congress in April 2021: “We won’t ignore what our own intelligence agencies have determined – the most lethal terrorist threat to the homeland today is from white supremacist terrorism.”
The following month, a revealing piece in Yahoo News by “journalist” Alexander Nazaryan stated that Biden’s desperately corrupt and partisan Attorney General Merrick Garland “told Congress on Wednesday that violence incited by white supremacists poses ‘the most dangerous threat to our democracy.’ That assertion reflects near-universal consensus among national security experts, including those who worked for the Trump administration.”
In June 2021, Biden doubled down: “As I said in my address to the joint session of Congress: According to the intelligence community, terrorism from white supremacy is the most lethal threat to the homeland today. Not ISIS, not al Qaeda — white supremacists. That’s not me; that’s the intelligence community under both Trump and under my administration.”
#3
A fair written read on the Steps from:
initial migration,
to setting up communities,
Growth in Numbers,
Political Power,
demands for their OWN LAWS,
Ruling/controls,
Rebellious acts,
to cleaning out non-Islamics.
#6
the Cologne mass rape and abuse of 15/16 for days
We watched that from here, Elmerert Hupens2660 — very upsetting, and such an obvious lie.
Do you think that the 40 year old German citizen really is a mentally ill Moslem colonist who filed (or whose parents filed) the paperwork? I just moved the article to Page 3, but I can move it back if you think it right.
#7
@6 I have seen a picture purportedly showing the perp, he has a beard but it isn't cut in one of the typical Islamic styles. Also there are reports he attempted to shoot himself, which would be atypical for jihadists.
My point is that the authorities can't be trusted.
If he wasn't motivated by Islam, which is possible, they will report the truth, if he was motivated by Islam they will at least attempt a cover up.
Kindly note that the Russian MoD has lifted the requirement for a VPN to access their sites; This change went into effect, presumably, on March 1st.
[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
In Kharkov direction, the Sever Group of Forces launched strikes at formations of one motorised infantry brigade and one territorial defence brigade of the AFU close to Metallovka, Granov, and Volchansk (Kharkov region).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 25 troops, one infantry fighting vehicle, one armoured fighting vehicle, four motor vehicles, and three artillery guns.
Units of the Zapad Group of Forces improved the tactical situation. Manpower and hardware of four mechanised brigades, one airborne brigade of the AFU, and one territorial defence brigade were hit near Stepovaya Novoselovka, Zagoruykovka, Lozovaya, Kamenka (Kharkova region), Drobyshevo, Katerinovka, Kirovsk (Donetsk People's Republic), Nadiya (Lugansk People's Republic), and Serebryansky forestry.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 240 troops, six motor vehicles, two Western-made field artillery guns, and one depot of materiel.
Units of the Yug Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and positions. Formations of four mechanised brigades, one airmobile brigade, and two motorised infantry brigades of the AFU suffered losses near Predtechino, Shevchenko, Seversk, Markovo, Chasov Yar, Konstantinovka, Serebryanka, and Kramatorsk (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 320 troops, four motor vehicles, and five field artillery guns, to include one UK-made 155mm FH-70 howitzer. Two ammunition depots were destroyed.
The Tsentr Group of Forces' units improved the situation along the front line. Formations of six mechanised brigades, three jaeger brigades, two assault brigades, one airborne brigade, one unmanned aerial vehicles brigade, one assault regiment of the AFU, one naval infantry brigade, and two national guard brigades were hit close to Novopavlovka, Udachnoye, Krasnoarmeysk, Zverevo, Nadezhdinka, Grodovka, Dimitrov, Yelizavetovka, Andreyevka, Kotlino, Ivanopolye, Muravka, and Uspenovka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 475 troops, one M113 armoured personnel carrier, one U.S.-made HMMWV armoured fighting vehicle, and five motor vehicles.
Five artillery guns were eliminated, to include one German-made 155mm RCH 155 self-propelled artillery system and one U.S.-made ANT/PQ-36 counter-battery radar station.
Units of the Vostok Group of Forces continued advancing into the depth of enemy defences. Strikes were delivered at formations of four mechanised brigades, one jaeger brigade, one assault regiment of the AFU, one naval infantry brigade, and three territorial defence brigades near Otradnoye, Bogatyr, Voskresenka, Komar, Dneproenergiya, Novopol, Shevchenko, Burlatskoye, Privolnoye (Donetsk People's Republic), Chervonoye, Zeleny Gai, and Gulyaipole (Zaporozhye region).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 190 troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, five motor vehicles, and four field artillery guns.
The Dnepr Group of Forces inflicted fire on manpower and hardware of one mechanised brigade, one mountain assault brigade, one infantry brigade, two coastal defence brigades of the AFU, and two territorial defence brigades close to Pyatikhatki, Novodanilovka, Stepovoye, Kamenskoye, Lobkovoye (Zaporozhye region), Antonovka and Veletenskoye (Kherson region).
The AFU losses amounted to more than 115 troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, one electronic warfare station, and one ammunition depot.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, strike drones, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces engaged infrastructure of military airfields, gas-recycling facilities that support the work of the Ukrainian military-industrial sector, production workshops and depots for the storage of strike UAVs as well as clusters of manpower and hardware of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 147 areas.
Air defence units shot down 62 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 656 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 45,086 unmanned aerial vehicles, 600 anti-aircraft missile systems, 21,954 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,523 MLRS combat vehicles, 22,200 field artillery guns and mortars, and 32,377 units of support military vehicles have been neutralised.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise AFU formations on the territory of Kursk region.
In the course of offensive actions, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted fire damage on formations of one heavy mechanised brigade, five mechanised brigades, one motorised infantry brigade, one assault brigade, two air assault brigades, two territorial defence brigades, and two assault regiments of the AFU close to Gogolevka, Goncharovka, Guyevo, Kurilovka, Lebedevka, Malaya Loknya, Makhnovka, Melovoy, Rubanshchina, Sudzha, and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye.
Operational-tactical, Army Aviation, and artillery engaged AFU manpower and hardware near Agronom, Bondarevka, Viktorovka, Zazulevka, Zaoleshenka, Kazachya Loknya, Kositsa, Kurilovka, Loknya, Martynovka, Nikolayevka, Staraya Sorochina, Cherkasskaya Konopelka, Yuzhny as well as Basovka, Belovody, Zhuravka, Miropolye, Obody, and Yunakovka (Sumy region).
Over the past 24 hours, the AFU losses amounted to more than 240 troops, two armoured personnel carriers, 15 armoured fighting vehicles, 17 motor vehicles, two U.S.-made Paladin self-propelled artillery systems, one artillery gun, one mortar, four UAV command posts, and one ammunition depot. Six AFU servicemen surrendered.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk direction, the AFU losses amounted to more than 64,535 troops, 382 tanks, 291 infantry fighting vehicles, 251 armoured personnel carriers, 2,110 armoured fighting vehicles, 2,281 motor vehicles, 505 artillery guns, 52 MLRS launchers, including 13 of HIMARS and seven of MLRS made by the USA, 25 anti-aircraft missile launchers, one self-propelled anti-aircraft system, ten transport-loading vehicles, 118 EW stations, 15 counter-battery warfare radars, nine air defence radars, 51 units of engineering and other materiel, including 19 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, five bridge launchers, one engineering reconnaissance vehicle as well as 14 armoured recovery vehicles, and one command post vehicle.
The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.
[DW] AfD leader Alice Weidel accuses Germany's likely future chancellor Friedrich Merz of "election fraud." She says Merz promised to "close the borders" but did the opposite. Is that true?
Migration policy was one of the biggest issues of the German 2025 election. It continues to spark controversy after the ballot. The far-right AfD accused Friedrich Merz, leader of the winning center-right CDU-CSU alliance, of breaking a key election promise even before coalition talks had started.
Claim: The leading candidate of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, accused likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz of "election fraud" on X. The post, which had 1.9 million views as of February 28, said: "Merz is already throwing all election promises overboard on day 1, [he] no longer wants to close the borders."
Has Merz broken an election promise already? DW Fact check probed the details.
DW Fact check: False.
During the election campaign, Merz triggered heated debates with his plans to change migration policy and his repeated promises to "secure the German border." However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... he did not mention "closing the border."
Weidel's claim that Merz was breaking election pledges was posted alongside a video where he spoke of a plan to tighten border controls. Merz concluded his answer by saying: "I also want to make it very clear once again: none of us are talking about border closures. Nobody is. Although that was claimed at times during the election campaign, none of us want to close the borders."
The video was originally shared by former Bild tabloid head Julian Reichelt. In his post on X, Reichelt suggests Merz was contradicting an earlier statement following a knife attack in Aschaffenburg in January 2025 in which an Afghan deportee killed two people. Following that attack, Merz said: "There will be a de facto ban on entry into Germany for anyone who does not have valid entry documents. This also expressly applies to persons entitled to protection."
In a live statement on 23 January 2025, Merz had also outlined his plans to take a tough stance on immigration. "On my first day in office, I would instruct the Federal Ministry of the Interior to permanently control Germany's national borders with all of our neighbors and reject all attempts at illegal entry without exception."
The so-called "Five Point Plan" of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group ("Five points for secure borders and the end of illegal migration"), the motion for a resolution that was passed in the Bundestag at the end of January with votes from the AfD, also talks about "securing Germany's borders" and "permanent border controls." However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... the word "border closure" was not mentioned in the document.
ARE TIGHT BORDER CONTROLS THE SAME AS BORDER CLOSURES?
Nevertheless, some media have interpreted Merz's statement as a promise to "close the border": The Austrian medium Der Standard ran the headline: "CDU leader Merz meets resistance in Germany with plans to close the border." And the German daily TAZ wrote: "Immediate program of the Union foresees border closure."
"I understand a 'border closure' to mean an almost comprehensive travel ban, as was the case during the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... pandemic," commented European law expert Daniel Thym from the University of Konstanz when asked by DW. "Friedrich Merz never promised that. It was 'only' about the permanent extension of border controls, which have been in place at most German borders for a year now, without these borders being 'closed.' Merz also wants to turn back asylum seekers. This is tantamount to a de facto entry ban for this group."
Germany's Interior Ministry ordered internal border controlsat all German land borders in mid-September 2024. The controls were brought in as a temporary measure against irregular migration and people smuggling and have since been extended until September 15, 2025.
According to the Interior Ministry, this order is based on the provisions of Art. 25 et seq. of the Schengen Borders Code and is only possible as a last resort under strict conditions. Germany justified the border controls to the EU Commission with "serious threats to public safety and order due to persistently high levels of irregular migration and migrant smuggling as well as the strain on the asylum reception system."
This makes Germany one of the countries in the Schengen area that currently carry out border controls, along with the Netherlands, La Belle France, Austria, Italia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. In exceptional circumstances, countries may only extend the reintroduction of internal border controls three times in six months, so that a maximum duration of two years is not exceeded. By updating the Schengen Borders Code, it is also possible to extend controls by a further year in serious exceptional situations. Germany would therefore have to lift internal border controls at its land borders by fall 2027 at the latest.
CAN MIGRANTS BE TURNED AWAY AT BORDERS?
Third-country nationals seeking protection, for example, people seeking asylum from outside the EU, will continue to be forwarded to the responsible reception facility in Germany. They are responsible for examining their asylum status and transferring people to other EU member states. Merz's approach of rejecting asylum seekers without any checks contravenes the EU's Dublin III Regulation. Article 3 of this regulation states: "Member States shall examine any application for international protection lodged by a third-country national or a stateless person on the territory of a Member State, including at the border or in transit zones."
European law expert Daniel Thym says it is still too early to assess whether Friedrich Merz can implement all of his election promises. Only once the new government has been formed will it be clear what concrete steps it intends to take. Thym points out that in their election manifesto, the CDU/CSU wants to make internal border controls superfluous through a functioning EU external border control system.
Effective border protection at the EU's external borders with uniform standards for registration and responsibilities, as well as a mandatory solidarity mechanism, are part of the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), adopted in May 2024. This means that in the future, people will be checked and registered at the EU's outer borders. Anyone with little prospect of protection in the EU will have an asylum procedure at the borders within a maximum of seven days, and will have to leave if their application is rejected. These new regulations are due to come into force in June 2026 at the latest.
[FoxNews] 'Be strong, be brave, be fearless,' the repeat posts read. Hive Mind and rote talking points are noticed
A handful of European leaders are coming under the microscope of critics on social media for issuing pro-Ukraine messages with the exact same wording following Ukraine President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy's fiery meeting with President Donald Trump on Friday.
"Your dignity honours the bravery of the Ukrainian people. Be strong, be brave, be fearless. You are never alone, dear President @ZelenskyyUa. We will continue working with you for a just and lasting peace," read verbatim social media posts from at least five different European leaders since Friday.
The president of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis, European Parliament member Manfred Weber, and European Council President António Costa all posted the same exact social media message on Friday, a review of X shows.
#1
Shades of the JournoList scandal! While it would be unsurprising to learn they get their talking points from the same mailing list, I'm betting this is an oopsie by the intern that runs their social media channels.
"Your dignity honours the bravery of the Ukrainian people.
Dignity? We are talking Zelenskyy here, a man who to whom dressing up means a track suit instead of cammies.
[FoxNews] Norway's defense minister said the boycott of the US Navy is 'not in line' with the country's policies
Norway made clear that it will continue supplying fuel for U.S. Navy ships after a private marine fuel supplier threatened to boycott the U.S. in response to deteriorating U.S.-Ukraine relations.
"We have seen reports raising concerns about support for U.S. Navy vessels in Norway. This is not in line with the Norwegian government's policy," Norway's Defense Minister Tore Sandvik said in a statement Sunday, according to a report from Reuters.
The statement comes after privately held Norwegian fuel supplier Haltbakk Bunkers took to social media Friday and threatened a boycott of the U.S. Navy in response to President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s heated Oval Office exchange.
"Huge credit to the president of Ukraine restraining himself and for keeping calm even though USA put on a backstabbing TV show. It made us sick... No Fuel to Americans!," the company said in a Facebook post that has since been deleted.
The company’s CEO, Gunnar Gran, confirmed to the Norwegian newspaper VG that he had decided not to supply the U.S. military, according to the Reuters report, though the company also acknowledged that the move would only have a "symbolic" impact, since Haltbakk Bunkers does not have a fixed contract with the U.S. government.
The company’s threat comes after a heated exchange in the Oval Office among Trump, Zelenskyy and Vice President JD Vance on Friday, when Vance accused the Ukrainian leader of being "disrespectful" to Trump in the White House.
"Mr. President, with respect, I think it's disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media," Vance told Zelenskyy. "Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines, because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president for bringing it, to bring it into this country."
Trump then joined the fray after Zelenskyy claimed that the U.S. would feel the war "in the future," an argument the American leader did not appreciate.
"You don't know that," Trump responded. "Don't tell us what we're going to feel. We're trying to solve a problem. Don't tell us what we're going to feel."
The exchange caused some to express concerns about not only the U.S.'s commitment to Ukraine’s continued war effort but also Trump’s apparent strained relationship with European allies overall.
But Norway, a NATO ally, made clear that the country has no plans to join the threats to cut off the U.S. military.
"American forces will continue to receive the supply and support they require from Norway," Sandvik said.
[PUBLISH.TWITTER] Still continuing this story from yesterday, I guess.
Clashes erupt in Syria's Damascus countryside, between security forces and armed groups, leaving one dead and several injured. Tensions remain high following the abduction of a security officer. #Syria#Damascus#Securityhttps://t.co/hfXRN8BrPW
— NORTH PRESS AGENCY - ENGLISH (@NPA_English) March 1, 2025
A #Druze leader says recent clashes in Jaramana, south of #Syria's capital #Damascus, were not with the General Security forces but rather erupted due to a personal dispute. https://t.co/XIz09i8pcK
— NORTH PRESS AGENCY - ENGLISH (@NPA_English) March 2, 2025
[IsraelTimes] A US judge declares President Donald Trump’s firing of the head of a federal watchdog agency illegal, in an early test of the scope of presidential power likely to be decided at the US Supreme Court.
US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington has previously ruled Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel who is responsible for protecting whistleblowers, can remain in his post pending a ruling.
Berman says in her ruling that upholding Trump’s ability to fire Dellinger would give him “a constitutional license to bully officials in the executive branch into doing his will.”
#2
They are supposed to do Trump’s will or our electing him is thwarted. She’s a moron.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/03/2025 4:18
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#3
Moron is too kind; she strives to rise to the level of moron. Something is seriously wrong with the US District Courts.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
03/03/2025 6:08
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#4
The Judiciary is an unelected branch of the government not subject to the consent of the governed. It can not be a republic if they believe they rule rather than the elected representatives of the people.
#5
Congress has powers (under the Constitution) over the US District Courts, which include abolition and drastic reversion of their structure & operations. This somehow has been getting zero consideration in all the voluminous commentary about the continuing lawfare of the Deep State. Since Congress has essentially abdicated its responsibilities in our system of government, this may not matter one bit. The Supreme Court may be an unelected branch of our government, but Congress is up for complete revision / relection of the House along with 1/3 of the US Senate as soon as November 2026.
#6
“a constitutional license to bully officials in the executive branch into doing his will.”
I am not a lawyer, but I actually laughed out loud reading that. Trump is the duly elected President which, if I remember my 9th grade civics, makes him the head of the Executive Branch. The Supreme Court has already ruled that the President can do president stuff. Will Roberts and the gang toss Judge Ninny's ruling immediately or will they let it fester for a while?
#7
“The twelfth: the enemy acts like a woman in being weak when faced with strength and strong when faced with weakness. For as it is proper to a woman, when she is fighting with some man, to lose heart and to flee when the man confronts her firmly, and, on the contrary, if the man begins to flee, losing heart, the anger vengeance and ferocity of the woman grow greatly and know no bounds. In the same way, it is proper to the enemy to weaken and lose heart, fleeing and ceasing his temptations when the person who is exercising himself in spiritual things confronts the temptations of the enemy firmly, doing what is diametrically opposed to them; and, on the contrary, if the person who is exercising himself begins to be afraid and lose heart in suffering the temptations, there is no beast so fierce on the face of the earth as the enemy of human nature in following out his damnable intention with such growing malice” (St. Ignatius).
[GEO.TV] Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said on Sunday that Egypt's Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... reconstruction plan, which ensures Paleostinians remain in their land, is ready and will be presented at an emergency Arab summit in Cairo on Tuesday.
Arab states, which were swift to reject President Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... 's plan for the US to take control of Gaza and resettle Paleostinians, are scrambling to agree on a diplomatic offensive to counter the idea.
Abdelatty said Egypt would seek international backing and funding for the plan and emphasised Europe's crucial role, particularly in the financing of Gaza's reconstruction.
"We will hold intensive talks with major donor countries once the plan is adopted at the upcoming Arab Summit," he said in a presser with the EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Suica.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2025
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#1
"...Egypt would seek international backing and funding for the plan and emphasised Europe's crucial role, particularly in the financing of Gaza's reconstruction."
Europe to finance the graft, Egypt to take it.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/03/2025 8:51
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#2
Even in the ME, the Middleman has to wet his beak
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2025 10:01
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#3
Why does Europe have to pay for it? Why don't all the oil rich Muslim countries pay? They should think of it payment for keeping Palestinians out of their countries.
#7
Come, come. Europe will write the checks as long as they are spent on European products (money laundering government support of pet industries) AND somebody else actually PAYS for it ...like American taxpayers.
[IsraelTimes] A Beersheba resident accused of transferring information about Israel’s nuclear program to Iranian agents is indicted by the Southern District Attorney’s office.
Police and Shin Bet agents conducted a months-long investigation into the suspect, Doron Bokovza, who allegedly initiated contact with Iranian agents and offered to sell them information.
The suspect feigned having access to Israel’s nuclear research center in the Negev, but in fact provided his handlers with public information about the facility, the agencies say in a joint statement.
The problem with involving amateurs is that they don’t know what they’re doing… or that they do too well. On the other hand, what we do here involves public information as well, though none of us would ever spy for the enemy.
Police add that Bokovza carried out several tasks for the agents including “photographing facilities and transferring information.”
Bokovza was indicted in the Beersheba District Court on charges of contacting a foreign agent and passing information to the enemy.
Southern Israel’s Dimona nuclear research facility, officially called the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, is the home of Israel’s alleged nuclear weapons program, according to foreign reports.
[Garowe] The final deployment of soldiers to serve in the AU Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) shall be concluded in due course, defense ministers from the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... said, noting the essence of maintaining peace in the Horn of Africa nation.
The new peacekeeping mission — AUSSOM started its work in January 2025 but the final number of soldiers, police, and civilians expected to engage directly in the mission was determined this week. A total of 11,900 personnel shall serve in the new mission.
The ministerial-level conference of the Somalia Operations Coordination Committee (SOCC), which ended on Wednesday, resolved to convene a technical experts’ meeting to finalize the deployment plan for troops joining the new African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM).
"Guided by the decisions of the troop- and police-contributing countries, the SOCC endorsed Somalia’s force deployment plan as the primary framework for AUSSOM’s deployment, recognizing it as key to the mission’s operational success," the ministers of defense said in a statement issued on Wednesday evening.
Kenya, Uganda, Æthiopia, Djibouti, and Egypt have settled with Somalia on the exact number of troops to be involved in the mission but Burundi is yet to strike a deal with authorities in Mogadishu. The Central African nation wants its numbers to be doubled.
Also in the meeting this week were chiefs of defense and police who focused on the liquidation and closure of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), AUSSOM’s predecessor, and the operationalization of AUSSOM.
AU commissioner for political affairs, peace and security Bankole Adeoye, lauded the troop- and police-contributing countries for their steadfast dedication to Somalia’s stability through their service under ATMIS.
Abdulkadir Mohammed Nur, Somali minister of defense, highlighted the country’s progress and ongoing challenges while reaffirming Somalia’s commitment to regional cooperation for lasting peace and stability, state media reports.
The Somali National Army is expected to assume full security responsibilities once the foreign troops withdraw from the country but their mission readiness has always been questioned. The country is actively involved in the fight against al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... and ISIS holy warriors.
[NYPOST] Texas middle schoolers passed around a shared needle and participated in mass tattooing sessions in classrooms while their oblivious teachers carried on with their lessons, leaving parents outraged — and worried this week.
The youngsters reportedly used temporary ink to carve one another's bodies with the shared needle Tuesday, officials said, igniting concerns that they may have also injected themselves with disease.
Ashley Armstrong's son Jordan was one of the students who participated in the classroom tattooing sessions at Travis Intermediate in Greenville, Texas. FOX4
Armstrong's 11-year-old son, Jordan, used the dirty needle to scrape ''I heart my lord'' across his entire forearm and ''JC'' on his hands on Tuesday while he was inside his classroom at Travis Intermediate in Greenville, roughly 50 miles northeast of Dallas.
Jordan claimed one boy approached him and offered to tattoo him. That needle was then ''shared several times from one class to another class to another class,'' Armstrong told the outlet.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2025
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Eighth graders tattooing each other for Jesus is not what I expected.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/03/2025 5:35
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#4
I have some relations who are teachers. I do some metnoring in an intermediate school. What teachers and admin are allowed to do, or say, is...limited. Knew of one school where, if kindergartner Freddie got loose in the halls again, the school locked down.
Kid goes nuts in the cafeteria, maybe second grade. Among other things, dumps a janitor's bucket on the floor. So, Aubrey inquires, what if somebody leaned on the bucket so it couldn't be moved? "Iii...don't know...." says an administrator.
Maybe the teacher didn't want to get into Big Trouble.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
03/03/2025 7:30
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Eighth graders tattooing each other for Jesus is not what I expected
[GEO.TV] Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Sunday met Afghan Consul General Hafiz Mohibullah Shakir with both sides stressing the need for reopening of the Torkham border, which has been closed for the past eight days, in view of Ramadan and upcoming Eid ul Fitr.
"The border needs to be opened soon...Afghan embassy should play its role in reopening the border," the provincial chief executive said during his meeting with the Afghan diplomat in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire... The closure, triggered by tensions over the construction of a bunker by Afghan forces near Zero-Point, has severely impacted cross-border movement, suspending all trade and travel between Pakistain and Afghanistan.
According to security sources, Afghan forces attempted to build a bunker in a disputed area near the border, prompting Pakistain's Frontier Corps ...a provincial paramilitary force. Total manpower is about 80,000. They are tasked to help local law enforcement in the maintenance of law and order, and to carry out border patrol and a..the Antwerp-based Salafist organization that had campaigned to introduce Sharia law to Belgium before single-handedly making Belgium the highest per capita supplier of jihadis to Syria in Europe. There was a big trial in Antwerp in 2015, but most of those convicted were in absentia...anti-smuggling operations.... (FC) to respond, according to The News.
Both sides have reinforced their positions and Pak authorities relocated customs, immigration and police officials from Torkham Bazaar to Landikotal as a precautionary measure. Both sides have taken defensive positions, heightening fears of armed clash.
On February 25, Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry Senior Vice President Zia ul Haq
Sarhadi stated that the shutdown had not only halted trade between the two neighbouring countries but has also left thousands of people in distress on both sides of the border.
He pointed out that approximately 2,500 goods-laden trucks were stranded on the Pak side, waiting for clearance, with a similar number of vehicles stuck across the border. Local traders and daily wage earners have been particularly affected.
During the meeting today, matters related to bilateral trade and issues faced by Afghan citizens living in the province came under consideration.
Speaking on the occasion, CM Gandapur stressed that regional peace was in the interest of both Pakistain and Afghanistan.
[AmericanThinker] European leaders in Brussels declare themselves the "leaders of the free world" while arresting citizens for memes. Likewise, they claim Putin woke up one morning, had a cup of coffee, and attacked the beautiful democracy of Ukraine..."unprovoked."
Who do they think they’re trying to fool?
Americans ought to know that the war started in 2014 when Yanukovych
…Viktor Yanukovych, 74, the Russian-Ukrainian fourth president of post-Soviet Ukraine (before that thrice prime minister) who was driven out in the 2014 revolution. He has since then lived in exile in Russia…
was forcibly removed from office. Some Ukrainians call it a coup, others a glorious revolution—the only difference being political affiliation.
Supporters of Yanukovych, mostly in Donbas, chose to secede and, like most secessions, it led to a civil war. Much later, the Minsk agreement was brokered to give Donbas some degree of autonomy.
Despite this agreement, Kyiv intermittently shelled the folks in Donbas, most of whom have Russian ethnicity, over a period of six years. In 2022, after years of failed negotiations, Russia decided, rightly or wrongly, to take matters into its own hands, vowing to end the conflict.
Kiev blamed Russia for the shelling. Residents in Donbas blamed Kiev. Who was at fault? Who knows?
Either way, none of that matters now. It’s 2025, a million people have died, maybe more, and there is no end in sight.
Indeed, despite spending hundreds of billions on a foreign conflict that doesn’t directly affect the American people, our establishment media advocates spending more tax dollars to save a "fellow democracy," while omitting the fact that Zelenskyy arrests dissenters and political opponents, while using the war as an excuse not to hold elections. (Many nations, including our own, have managed elections during a war.)
I wonder if perhaps it’s time for those who display their Ukrainian flags to rethink what it means: Specifically, does it mean supporting Brussels, a large, inefficient, bureaucratic machine that blames Russia for all of Europe’s economic woes and whose war mongers thump their chest like foot-dragging, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals? Or does it mean supporting the Ukrainian military, which goes door-to-door, dragging men to war, forcing conscription?
How many of us would volunteer to travel to Ukraine to fight on the front-line?
Regarding peace, Zelensky and Brussels incessantly use two phrases: "lasting peace" and "security guarantees," but their proposals are vague and unrealistic. In the real world, a security guarantee would mean American boots on the ground in Ukraine.
I would argue that Trump made the right decision. The jingoism in Europe may expand the war, but we should not get involved.
#2
The one possibility that comes to mind is that they try to distract their subject population from ongoing Muslim conquest by "Russia, Russia, Russia!".
He’s a technician, not a politician or statesman. Both or either may be the right answer, but this is not his area of expertise, and we’ve seen him draw the wrong conclusions based on faulty assumptions and shallow thinking before.
[NYPOST] Tech baron Elon Musk backed calls for the US to withdraw from NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... and the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... after months of badmouthing the two international organizations.
''I agree,'' Musk, 53, wrote on X in reply late Saturday to MAGA influencer Gunther Eagleman's suggestion that ''It's time to leave NATO and the UN.''
Musk did not elaborate on the specifics of why he wants the US to pull out of NATO and the UN, but the suggestion came after several social media users pointed to Sen. Mike Lee's (R-Utah) call to pull out of both.
Last month, Lee, 53, who has drawn frequent reposts and interactions from Musk on X, introduced legislation alongside other politicians to pull out of the UN and decried it as ''a platform for tyrants and a venue to attack America and her allies.''
On Saturday, Lee publicly suggested that the US pull out of NATO, pointing to Norwegian fuel supplier Haltbakk Bunkers' announcement that it would stop helping the US Navy refuel in protest of President Trump's confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.
Fortunately, the Norwegian government today overruled the Norwegian fuel supplier, so that won’t be an issue after all.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2025
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#1
That's, IMO, something that should be on the table. Maybe, the threat will get to the (totally insane, IMO) Globalists ruling EUrope/Britain.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Olga Kuznetsova
[REGNUM] The crime chronicles of Mexico, and along with it the American borderland, sometimes resemble an action movie - and the figures of the Western film industry, not being fools, take advantage of this, dissecting local plots in every possible way.
It turns out so-so. Sure, there are hits like "Queen of the South," "El Chapo," or "Narcos" plus "Narcos: Mexico," but they all focus more on the biography of some legendary person (usually a criminal one) and explain with varying degrees of obsession that drug trafficking does not lead to anything good.
Sometimes the authors have an attempt to tell a story about how a criminal path is not chosen without reason and that there are many more people in the chain of drug trafficking interests than it seems from the outside. But nothing more.
There are exceptions, such as Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, which showcases a whole series of very human stories, as well as connections to big politics, social problems and eternal philosophical questions.
It is "Traffic" that can be considered one of the first attempts to seriously talk about the problem of drug crime, to analyze the fight against it and not slide into the framework of a cheap action movie.
And thanks to this attempt, fifteen years later, the film Sicario was born, directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Taylor Sheridan - a film that does not impress the viewer with its knowledge of technical details or facts about the cartels, but rather reliably reflects the picture of the balance of power and the eternal violence in this sphere.
TEN YEARS LATER
Now we have to rewatch Sicario in a new reality: US President Donald Trump has opened a “new era” in the fight against cartels. At least in words.
The number of special operations in the border area has increased. The hum of patrol helicopters over the Mexican state of Sinaloa is heard more often, drones buzz like flies over a corpse. Machine gun fire still often enlivens the outskirts of southern cities. And mass graves in the walls of houses or in the desert are replenished with new plastic bags with sinister contents.
Open threats are being made: Trump's team is promising economic sanctions against neighboring countries, demanding that they stop the flow of drugs and stop "poisoning Americans."
The Mexican president has responded by loudly demanding that American weapons be stopped from being sold to the cartels, and by recommending that the US public be curbed from consuming the same weapons that created demand for the cartels in Sicario.
Several major cartels and a couple of gangs have been declared terrorist organizations by the US government (and Canada and Argentina). The National Intelligence Service, the CIA and the FBI are predicting purges of both those who once ruined the lives of members of Trump's team and those who were involved in some unpleasant machinations. To demonstrate, so to speak, the healing of the ranks.
And it seems that the world that Sheridan and Villeneuve portray is no longer relevant – that is, the world where the American government and the cartels work together to prevent a hypothetical “greater evil.” The bright side, represented by Emily Blunt’s heroine, an honest FBI agent, has in reality won.
But is this really true?
NOT JUST A 'CARTEL STORY'
In one of his interviews, Taylor Sheridan admitted that he wanted to create not just a “story about cartels.” The goal was to show the American frontier and all its nightmares, and at the same time to show that “cartel” is just a name behind which stands an ineradicable and beneficial phenomenon.
As the Sinaloa cartel drug lord Ismail Zambada, who is in American custody, said : My arrest will not change anything. The cartel is a many-headed hydra that exists only because it benefits those in power.
They chop off the heads of some, and others take their place. The flow of drugs continues to reach the consumers, and the money for this activity continues to fall into the right pockets.
And so it is now: while verbally threatening Mexico, Trump’s team is simultaneously holding regular meetings dedicated to joint operations between the American and Mexican authorities.
At the latter, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with members of the security cabinet sent by President Claudia Sheinbaum to improve "cross-border coordination."
They plan to share intelligence and conduct joint investigations, allowing the United States to quickly apprehend criminals on its territory and Mexico to do the same on its own.
Mexico, meanwhile, while promising to amend its constitution to prevent the United States from arresting Mexican citizens on their home soil and conducting secret investigations, has allowed a delegation of military advisers into its territory to train individual units of the local army for a month.
Along the way, literally “without declaring war,” on February 27, despite the requests of all lawyers, almost all the prototypes of the main characters of “Narcos: Mexico” were extradited to the United States.
Among them are one of the leaders of the long-defunct Guadalajara cartel, Rafael Caro Quintero ; the Treviño brothers from Los Zetas, leaders famous for their brutality ; the middle ranks of the now-defunct Juarez cartel; members of the Golfo, Northeast, La Familia Michoacana and other cartels captured several years ago. In total, they say, 29 people.
They have been left in detention centers in different parts of the United States and have already given regional authorities reason to discuss the possibility of applying the death penalty to them.
Some call this extradition the loudest in modern history, others shout about a sensitive blow to drug trafficking. And somehow they overlook the fact that the transferred persons are only second-tier leaders or drug world pensioners who have long since retired from real affairs. Their heirs are left free.
GOALS AND MOTIVES
One of the main characters of "Sicario", the mysterious Alejandro with a tragic past played by Benicio del Toro, works for the American government mostly with one goal: to get the opportunity to take revenge on the one who killed his family. And, naturally, to avoid punishment. In exchange, he is ready to provide all his "skills and abilities", which were clearly not acquired during his work in the prosecutor's office.
As it turns out, in Sheridan's original version of the script, the story began with Alejandro giving a heartfelt speech about the nature of violence. The hero then proceeded to explain his motives to Blunt's character, and in the end, having found the hated drug lord, he does not kill his children, but allows his enemy to make a sinister choice (the outcome of which turns out to be unimportant).
Later, director Villeneuve and Benicio del Toro himself made changes to the script, making Alejandro mysterious, silent and brutally dealing with the entire family of his enemy in the finale. In essence, having passed his point of no return and accepted the laws of the harsh world of drug dealers and fighters against them.
It is Alejandro who gently, almost mercifully, breaks Blunt's heroine, forcing her to accept a new paradigm and stop fighting. Or maybe he doesn't break her? He compares her to his little daughter, drowned in acid by a drug lord, and explains to her - albeit at gunpoint - the rules of the game.
In fact, the first person for the film who explains something to her about what is happening. And the special services employee, like a little girl, swallows her tears and refuses to continue the suicidal struggle.
She, an FBI agent from the kidnapping unit, is not needed here, because in this story no one is going to save anyone. She herself was invited to legalize some operations and, in fact, was used for "state" purposes, including sometimes as bait.
Interestingly, the actress was invited to the project after Denis Villeneuve saw her in the role of Queen Victoria, an example of the conservative values of the 19th century and the “moral standard of the era.”
As for the reality and extradition of 29 people, at least one of them already gives an idea of the approximate benefit to the American government.
Rafael Caro Quintero is set to handcuff DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, who he tortured and killed in 1985, during a new trial. The move is cinematic, but it also hints at other aspects of the story.
Trump's potential purges of the FBI and CIA need at least a few triggers. The extradition of Agent Camarena's killer has revived the conversation that the cartel was merely the perpetrator in this case, and that the CIA was the main beneficiary of the murder. Camarena learned something - something about the drug world and the US government. Something that doesn't last long.
And Rafael Caro Quintero's testimony could be extremely inconvenient for a number of representatives of American law enforcement agencies. Who, if we are to be honest, in 1985 lived by the same laws as those shown in the film "Sicario". And now, for the sake of the cause, they may well pay for it, as Camarena did.
THE CAUSE OF THE TROUBLES HAS NOT BEEN ELIMINATED
When Villeneuve's film hit the big screen, the then mayor of Ciudad Juarez criticized how creepy it made the Mexican border town look. And he invited everyone to visit to prove that things had changed.
Much has changed since 2015, of course. But before former US President Joe Biden's visit last year, US troops were sent to the border to conduct a clean-up. Well, just to be on the safe side.
In addition, international organizations are loudly trumpeting the growth in the amount of psychoactive drugs consumed due to high demand among the planet's population, which, in the series of wars and cataclysms of recent years, is ready to accept a lot in attempts at escapism.
That is, the demand for drugs - the main cause of troubles in "Sicario" - has not gone away. And that means that those who control the saturation of American citizens with drug poison have not gone away and are unlikely to go away in the near future.
In this regard, anything can be said on either side of the border now - threats, tariffs, announcements about sending troops. The frontier as a grey zone, where official restrictions have always been very conditional, will continue to live by its own laws.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] After the invasion of the Kursk region, the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) destroyed more than 20 cultural heritage sites. This was reported by the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin.
“There is evidence of the destruction of more than 20 cultural heritage sites,” he noted in a conversation with TASS.
Bastrykin also added that municipal facilities, large agricultural enterprises, other organizations and individual entrepreneurs of the Kursk region suffered a total damage of more than 26 billion rubles.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, in September 2024, the acting Minister of Culture of the Kursk Region Robert Grigoryan reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed the Glushkov Museum of Local History with a missile strike. The museum is effectively lost, confirmed the director of the Kursk Regional Museum of Local History Oleg Pushkarev. According to him, only the frame of the building remains, everything that was inside perished.
In October 2024, the then governor of the Kursk region, Alexey Smirnov, reported shelling of the estate of the princes Baryatinsky in the village of Maryino by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. As a result, the administrative building on the estate's territory was damaged.
Ukrainian armed forces in the territories of Donbass controlled by the Kiev regime are using civilians as human shields. This was reported by the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin.
According to him, eyewitnesses are telling about this. He added that after the liberation of populated areas, the investigative department staff inspects the scenes of incidents and questions witnesses from among civilians.
“The civilian population directly points out to investigators the crimes of Ukrainian armed groups, including looting, the use of civilians as human shields, the setting up of firing points in residential buildings and other urban infrastructure structures,” TASS quoted Bastrykin as saying.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, the head of the Investigative Committee previously stated that 652 civilians were killed by the actions of Ukrainian armed formations in the border and rear regions of Russia alone. Among them were 23 children. In addition, 2,980 people, including 169 children, were injured. Bastrykin added that all the facts are being investigated; a total of 2,690 criminal cases have been opened.
The resistance organization "Russian Kherson" reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are terrorizing civilians in the Kiev-controlled city of Kherson. Ukrainian soldiers launch drones from the roofs of multi-story residential buildings, cowardly hiding behind civilians. And in one of the city's districts, they do not allow people to collect water until they fill their containers to capacity. As a result, many residents do not get water.
Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova reported on February 19 that more than 400 appeals regarding crimes committed by Ukrainian neo-Nazis against the civilian population of Russia were sent to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2024.
[Asia Times: Uwe Parpart] Europe can dream about strategic autonomy but the reality is it wholly lacks the military means to defy Trump’s Ukraine peace plan
US President Donald Trump unceremoniously showed Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky the door following an acrimonious exchange at the White House on Friday. Trump’s angry words for Zelensky were televised for all of America to hear, and no doubt shocked many in the viewing audience.
“You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III. You’re gambling with World War III,” Trump said. “You’re not winning. You’re not winning this. But you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out.”
Just as shocked as the American TV audience about Trump’s blunt “make a deal or you’re on your own message” were the US’s European allies and rushed to pledge their support for Zelensky and condemn Trump –moves and words they may soon live to regret.
European Union chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa jointly tweeted: “Be strong, be brave, be fearless. You are never alone, dear President@ZelenskyyUa.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “Ukraine, Spain stands with you”; his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk wrote: “Dear [Zelensky], dear Ukrainian friends, you are not alone.”
Incoming German chancellor Friedrich Merz addressed a tweet directly to “Dear Volodymyr” and vowed to stand with Ukraine “in good and in testing times.”
Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Keir Starmer chimed in with similar profundities.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s chief diplomat and former prime minister of Estonia, outgunned them all: “Ukraine is Europe! We stand by Ukraine. We will step up our support to Ukraine so that they can continue to fight back the aggressor. Today it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge.”
Most of them were scheduled to meet the Ukrainian leader on March 2 in London for a summit on Ukraine organized by Prime Minister Starmer. Zelensky was set to be honorably hosted by King Charles III at his Sandringham country retreat.
As a welcome to London on Saturday, Zelensky was handed a 2.6 billion pound check (a loan), a down payment on the UK’s “standing with you as long as it takes to protect the integrity of your country.”
Hit the link for the actual opinion piece. It's painfully accurate.
Painfully blunt as well. Mr. Parpart, who served in the West German military in the decade before the Berlin Wall fell, explains that at the current procurement rate some German weapons systems will take a century to be fully supplied.
Posted by: 3dc ||
03/03/2025
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#2
What I heard, Europeans do not have an autonomous defense plan. US were the guarantors of any peace plan they presented. Starmer and Marcon said US + Guarantees about a dozen times.
Their plan is to put NATO troops into harms way with plausible deniability so when a death does occur, they can simultaneously deny it was premediated while calling for Article 5 to pull the US into the quagmire.
Ultimately, a future existence as a neo-Soviet Russian satrapy should be an unacceptable perspective for all EU nations and nukes are the most cost-effective way to avoid that fate now.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] A shooting took place in the Krasny Kit shopping center in Mytishchi. This was reported by the REN TV channel.
According to preliminary information, one of the visitors opened fire from a traumatic weapon.
Did the reporter mean automatic weapon?
He had a conflict with security guards.
Earlier, the man came to the shopping center on Sharapovsky Proezd and behaved inappropriately, he was taken out of the building. Then the visitor returned with a weapon and began to provoke the security guards, an eyewitness said.
Footage of people leaving the shopping center has appeared online. According to the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Moscow Region, three people were injured.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, similar incidents in the Moscow region have occurred before. Thus, on December 7, a conflict with shooting broke out in the Euphoria restaurant in Krasnogorsk. Three people received gunshot wounds.
In November, several men got into a conflict on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street in the center of Moscow. Weapons were used, and one person received a gunshot wound to the thigh. A criminal case was opened on the fact of the incident.
In October, a fight with gunfire occurred near the Mega shopping center in Khimki, Moscow Region. Two young men fought with a 34-year-old man and wounded him with an air pistol. The police conducted an investigation under the articles "Hooliganism" and "Causing serious harm to health."
Ministry of Health: Number of victims in Mytishchi shooting rises to four
The department noted that the wounded were examined by ambulance crews. The victims were hospitalized, TASS reports. Doctors assessed their condition as moderate.
Initially, three people were reported injured.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on March 2, a shooting occurred in the Krasny Kit shopping center in Mytishchi. According to preliminary information, one of the visitors opened fire from a non-lethal weapon. According to an eyewitness, the man had previously come to the shopping center on Sharapovsky Proezd and behaved inappropriately; he was taken out of the building. Then the visitor returned with a weapon and began to provoke the security guards. The police later detained the shooter in the Krasny Kit shopping center. The circumstances of the incident are being investigated.
In October 2024, a fight with shooting took place near the Mega shopping center in Khimki, Moscow Region. Two young people fought with a 34-year-old man and wounded him with an air pistol during the conflict. The victim contacted the police, and an investigation was launched based on his statement under the articles "Hooliganism" and "Causing serious bodily harm."
The incident occurred on March 1 in the Goluboy settlement on Trehsvyatskaya Street. CCTV cameras recorded how the attacker ran up to the victim from behind, suddenly pounced and stabbed him several times in the chest and stomach.
The victim, who lost a lot of blood, was urgently hospitalized in serious condition. The police are currently searching for the attacker.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on January 13, in Shchyolkovo, Moscow Region, a drunk man stabbed three people in a store on Krasnoznamenskaya Street. According to the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Moscow Region, the attacker attacked the staff and visitors without cause. All the victims received cut wounds and sought medical assistance. The suspect, a 20-year-old resident of the Volgograd Region, was detained by police officers.
[IsraelTimes] In interviews, Zeinab and Mohammed Jawad Nasrallah speak of how Israeli strikes damaged Hezbollah morale, say father was noticeably ‘no longer with us’
Hezbollah chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...> became depressed and was emotionally changed by Israel’s exploding pager attack on his operatives as well as by strikes that decimated the group’s leadership, his family told Lebanese media.
His son said Nasrallah was noticeably no longer the same man, and his daughter revealed that he cried after the beeper attack.
Nasrallah’s son, daughter, and three grandchildren spoke to al-Manar television for interviews that were broadcast on Friday.
On September 17, 2024, thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah across Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... suddenly went kaboom!, killing dozens of operatives and maiming thousands, marking the beginning of Israel’s escalation against the terror group after almost a year of persistent Hezbollah rocket fire that displaced some 60,000 residents of the north, and was met with Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s.
The pagers, laced with explosives, were detonated via an encrypted message that required users to hold the devices with both hands, maximizing the likelihood of the subsequent blast causing debilitating injuries.
Over the next several weeks, Israeli airstrikes pounded Hezbollah, wiping out almost all of its leaders — including Nasrallah himself — and depleting the Iran-backed terror group’s fighting abilities. A ceasefire was eventually reached at the end of November.
Nasrallah’s daughter Zeinab Nasrallah told al-Manar that she called her mother the day after the beeper explosions to find out how her father had reacted.
"She told me that he cried," Zeinab Nasrallah said, according to an English translation of her comments on the site.
Son Mohammed Jawad Nasrallah said that his father sank into a serious depression after a July airstrike killed Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in his Beirut apartment, and then the beeper attacks.
Everyone who met him said "he is no longer with us," Jawad Nasrallah recalled.
In addition, Israel’s relentless bombing campaign, once the conflict escalated into open war, had a profound effect on the Hezbollah leader, and directly impacted the terror group’s morale, Nasrallah said.
He also said that his father was aware of the danger he faced, but apparently had dropped his guard and become less cautious than he had in the past about evading a possible Israeli strike against him.
Ten days after the beeper attack, Israel killed Nasrallah in a massive bombing of his Beirut underground bunker. He had led the terror group for three decades.
Last December, two former Mosssd ...... agents spoke to CBS’s 60 Minutes about the beeper operation, with one of them asserting that the veteran Hezbollah leader saw pagers exploding and injuring people who were right next to him in his bunker.
"Nasrallah — when we operated the beeper operation — just next to him in the bunker several people had a beeper receiving the message. And in his own eyes, he saw them collapsing."
Asked how he knew that, the agent said, "It’s a strong rumor."
Two days after the attack, Nasrallah gave a speech.
"If you look at his eyes, he was defeated," the agent said in accented English. "He already lose the war. And his soldier look at him during that speech. And they saw a broken leader."
Last week, Mossad chief David Barnea described the beeper operation as a "turning point" in the fight in Lebanon.
Nasrallah was buried last week in a Beirut funeral ceremony. As the funeral began at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, Lebanon’s biggest sports arena, Israeli warplanes flew at low altitude over Beirut.
The beeper attacks, swiftly attributed to Israel, came as Israel began to step up a counteroffensive against Hezbollah, which began striking Israel the day after the allied Paleostinian terror group Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... ’s October 7, 2023, attack.
#1
I'm sorry but we've been down this road before and I'm not buying it. It's not genuine grief if he didn't throw his hat on the floor like Edgar Kennedy.
#2
Nasrallah — when we operated the beeper operation — just next to him in the bunker several people had a beeper receiving the message. And in his own eyes, he saw them collapsing.
Did they put dedicated paging network repeaters into the bunkers or were these bunkers much less deep and robust than the public believed?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/03/2025 21:16
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Top||
#4
Dilemma: "Have rather less gold
In a mammoth hole, drafty and cold...
Our be snug as a bug
In an old Persian rug
With more... Roll it and wrap it! I'm sold!"
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...every time you hear the phrase 
Starmer said he is working on a Ukraine peace plan intended to receive U.S. backing and warned that Europe must do the heavy work of defending itself.
_(cropped).jpg)
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...every time you hear the phrase 
... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all ofwhich have enough problems without them...
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
[NYPOST] Texas middle schoolers passed around a shared needle and participated in mass tattooing sessions in classrooms while their oblivious teachers carried on with their lessons, leaving parents outraged — and worried this week.
[IsraelTimes] In interviews, Zeinab and Mohammed Jawad Nasrallah speak of how Israeli strikes damaged Hezbollah morale, say father was noticeably ‘no longer with us’
......
