[Yahoo] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that his country does not support plans by Finland and Sweden to join NATO, claiming they are home to "terrorist organizations."
"We are following the developments regarding Sweden and Finland, but we don’t hold positive views," Erdogan told reporters at a press conference in Istanbul. "Scandinavian countries are guesthouses for terrorist organizations."
"They are even members of the parliament in some countries," Erdogan added, without offering evidence. "It is not possible for us to be in favor."
#3
Vote For Oz And Georgia And All Remember Trump Made Peace With Pompeo For Most Gulf Arabian States With Israel !! Made The DOW Over
30,000 ! Warp Speed Vaccines On Covid-19 !! Would Make Warp Speed For Baby Formula !! If Was There ! We Gutt Biden !! Let's Go Brandon !! Vote Repub for gloria steinman supported early abortion in article in 1968 , MS Magazine !! Not Late Term Abort And Dissuade Work Vacation Abortion !! Not Good for health endangers women and die , or sickly thru this , DUH !!
[Insider] A coup to overthrow Russian President Vladimir Putin is underway and can't be stopped, according to Ukraine's military intelligence chief.
Speaking to Sky News, Major General Kyrylo Budanov said that a Russian military defeat would result in Putin's removal and the country's eventual collapse.
"It will eventually lead to the change of leadership of the Russian Federation," Budanov said, per Sky News. "This process has already been launched."
Budanov said "yes" when pressed by Sky News international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn on if this means that a coup attempt is currently in motion.
"They are moving in this way and it is impossible to stop it," he added.
Insider previously reported that all of the grievances that traditionally motivate a coup in Russia are in place, but Putin has spent decades making his regime "coup-proof."
A poor military performance, floundering morale, and a struggling economy make a coup against the Russian dictator more likely, Insider reported, but the existence of the FSB, the FSO, and The Rosgvardia serve to protect him.
In the exclusive Sky News interview, Budanov claimed that Putin is in "a very bad psychological and physical condition and he is very sick."
It follows a report that an unnamed Russian oligarch linked closely to the Kremlin was recorded saying that Putin is "very ill with blood cancer."
There has been a great deal of speculation on whether the Russian leader is unwell. Video footage emerged in late April, showing Putin shaking "uncontrollably," sparking suggestions that he might have Parkinson's disease.
Commentators have also pointed to his unusually puffy face as a sign of steroid use, and possible illness, as well as the use of a blanket to keep warm during Russia's Victory Day military parade last week.
#7
I'd be more enthusiastic about this if I thought Thomas Jefferson was waiting in the wings. But for all I know, Putin may be the best case scenario.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/14/2022 11:21
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#9
If you read about a coup in the news and the guy is still in power then the coup has failed. If the coup was impossible to stop then it would not have been stopped and Putin would be dead before we heard about it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/14/2022 11:54
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#10
Maybe Pooty will nuke the Moscow Coup?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/14/2022 12:10
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#11
Sounds like feeding the hopes of the morons who just gave you $40,000,000,000.
[UnHerd] Barbed wire knots together sky and earth. Burned-out vehicles, modern-day carcasses of industrial warfare, dot the landscape. The ground is strafed and cratered: Eastern Ukraine has been disembowelled by shelling. The war here is fought with 21st-century drone technology, but it flies over soldiers who carry 50-year-old Kalashnikovs. The black snouts and brown handles of these guns line the eastern front, which is a frieze cast in metal and wood, and is where, in the late afternoon of a warm spring day, I see Jesus.
He is about a foot tall and half as wide, and is being carried by a man with a ponytail and scraggly black beard. Dressed in jeans and a tracksuit top, he cradles the icon in his arms. "Is this the way to Mariupol?" he asks the group of us standing by the road: me, Dima, the soldier taking me to the front, and my friend the journalist, Vladislav Davidzon. Mariupol — which has been almost destroyed by the Russian army — is almost 300km south. "Um, not really," Dima replies. "Who are you?"
"I am a pilgrim," he replies. "I’m going to get people out of the city." He shows me what appears to be the business card of a UNHCR official — a psychologist it appears. I look at him. He has the glazed, trembling look of a pilgrim; of a smaller, scrawnier Rasputin (and, disconcertingly, Harry Kane). We talk for a few minutes before I watch him walk off into the distance, a lone madman clutching his Christ amidst the destruction.
"Well," says Dima as we get back into the car. "If he makes it to Mariupol, it really will be divine fucking intervention."
[Task & Purpose] new and somewhat unnerving recruiting pitch from the Army’s 4th Psychological Operations Group asks viewers one simple question: "Have you ever wondered who’s pulling the strings?"
The three-and-a-half minute, movie trailer-esque video was released by the 4th PSYOP Group on Youtube on May 2. Since then it’s brought in almost 250,000 views, and it’s not hard to see why: This is not your father’s recruiting commercial.
Complete with eerie whistling in the background and suspenseful music, the video is far from the sometimes-cheesy Army recruiting commercials we often see on television. It’s dark and palpably tense, the clips of old cartoons and radio segments from world events combining perfectly to create something that is both intriguing and unsettling.
It accomplishes exactly what psychological operations soldiers set out to do: Influence an audience. As one commenter on Youtube pointed out: "Everything is a weapon. Even this video."
Col. Chris Stangle, commander of 4th PSYOP Group, told Task & Purpose on Friday that the video was created in-house, both as a recruitment effort but also to literally show people what they can do — part of psychological operations is creating persuasive media. Stangle said that the artist behind the video tailored it a bit after iconic horror film JAWS, where the filmmakers showed restraint in actually showing the shark. Instead, viewers knew it was lurking just below the surface.
"Drawing on this approach, we kind of sought to create a piece that doesn’t show what a PSYOP soldier does necessarily, because it’s so complicated and there’s so much about it — quite honestly. It’s just not incredibly sexy — but what it feels like to do our craft when we’re successful," Stangle said. "And we think that kind of allows the audience to immerse into what our world is, and what our craft is."
[NV-The New Voice of the Ukraine] President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he is ready for in-person negotiations with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, but only face-to-face, and with the purpose of having a real dialogue, during an interview with Italian TV station Rai 1 on May 13.
He rejected any meeting that would simply result in the Russian dictator attempting to force ultimatums onto Ukraine.
#1
So now Rantburg is linking to blatant Ukrainian agitprop. Nice.
Re "dictator": Do the readers even know which of these two has banned the entire opposition as well as all use of their native language by the main separatist minority in his country?
Posted by: Albert Omerong9589 ||
05/14/2022 11:17
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#2
And the letter Z, Mr. Squidward. And the letter Z.
Actually, we all just fell off the turnip truck last night and were sitting here waiting from some kind stranger to enlighten us as to the true state of the world. We're like Diogenes searching the inter-webs for an honest fact. But not actually moving around.
Zel is still in the pre-negotion declaration stage where you boldly state your unshakable position. The Russians are not going to give back what they have now. But we can't talk about that until the Second Act. And now, back to the show!
#4
Geez, Mr. Anonymous Coward, tell us how EEVIL it is for the Ukrainians to not be keen on the Russians who have twice in the last 100 years tried to exterminate them! Tell us how cruel they are to the totally grass-roots, completely not funded and staffed by Russia "separatist" movement!
And don't forget to tell us how EEEVIL the Finns and Poles are, and how they need "denazification" next!
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/14/2022 19:34
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#5
Z-man is another fake Jeffersonian huckster in a long series of fourth world con men who've fleeced Uncle Sam with their bullshit about bringing democracy to their benighted patch.
The little asshole poked the bear in the eye, walked away from Minsk II, and now he's got a $60 billion candy store for him and his fellow kleptocrats to plunder.
Remember Ahmad Chalabi?
How about Hamid Karzai?
Anyone recall our brave freedom fighters in Libya? Syria?
We're the world's patsy: every shithole dictator, swindler, tinpot politico who claims to be holding back Washington's scapegoat du jour can bamboozle Congress to send him billions by pretending to be fostering "freedom" and "democracy."
The Iraqi National Congress was a fabulous con. So was Karzai's Afghan pseudo-town hall and girls' education bullshit.
Our swampies are the most gullible assholes ever to wield a trillion-dollar budget.
#6
Suffering is the rule, not the exception, of the human condition. The "native Americans" were slaughtering each other until we came along and did it better and quicker for them.
Since Woodrow Wilson inserted us into Other People's Troubles™ in the early 20th century, it's been all down hill. We now live in R2P Land, where the Nulands, Kristols and so forth get your childrens' blood spilled for no good reason because they were treated poorly on the Auld Sod.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/14/2022 19:41
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#7
Sixty. Fucking. BILLION.
Shipped out of the USA to yet another shithole of shitholes, a dictatorship led by the most corrupt government this side of Pakistan, for a fake country that's already been cut in half and blasted to smithereens.
Place your bets. How much of this $60 billion will be stolen? Utterly wasted?
We've blown over a TRILLION in Iraq - a complete waste. Another TRILLION in Afghanistan torched. And now, for the third fucking time in a row, our DC idiots are about to blow hundreds of billions on another fool's errand.
For "democracy" and "freedom" in a shitty little dictatorship that has neither. You can't make this shit up.
#8
All on paper. It will never get there. I'm sure they had focus groups to see if there was a way to make the theft into a feel-good exercise for the alphabet mafia, but with all the Sh*tter blue checks sporting their Ukraine flags, this won.
Does money stolen by politicians even go off shore anymore?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/14/2022 19:58
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#9
The Iraqi National Congress was a fabulous con. So was Karzai's Afghan pseudo-town hall and girls' education bullshit.
Chamabi and Karzai got nothin' on the Z-man. He's a Jewish entertainer, he rocks a snug t-shirt and his scapegoat du jour is a million times worse than Saddam and the Taliban!
He's got the Hollywood vote -- both the real Hollywood and "Hollywood for ugly people."
Posted by: Jack the Prolific9314 ||
05/14/2022 20:05
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#10
Trump's working hard now to keep the senate democrat. Story in that somewhere.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/14/2022 20:11
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#11
Does money stolen by politicians even go off shore anymore?
We sent $12 billion (pre-Biden dollars) to Iraq in the three months following the invasion. ALL of it disappeared without a trace.
Those were pre-Biden dollars. Plus Ukraine is even more corrupt than Iraq, and our lobbyists know all the klepto pathways there. Rosemont Seneca's offshore accounts are ready and waiting.
#13
Way too early for an October Surprise and congress is in summer recess. Bad timing for anything other than a practice run.
And mass shootings have not really worked out media wise since the Vegas Mirage thing.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/14/2022 20:51
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#14
mass shooting at Buffalo’s Tops supermarket
What odds that the white, 18 year old killer who drove hours to get to the black neighbourhood grocery store will turn out to have mental health issues?
[Mercer] Let us be clear on what free speech truly is. The words people speak, write, tweet; the beliefs they are known to hold, the flags they fly, the symbolic, non-violent ceremonies and rituals they enact, the insignia, paraphernalia, the goose-stepping, Hitler salutes they dick around with—all that is protected speech, licit in natural law.
So long as these oddities and idiosyncrasies, whether performed alone or in groups, thoughts harbored or shared in public—so long as no violence accompanies such speech or behavior (prohibited here is violence visited on animals as well); so long as mitts stop at the next man’s face: SPEECH. It’s all speech. It should be free, unfettered and as wild and as wanton as it can be.
Spoken, written, preached: Impolite and impolitic thoughts are nothing more than thought crimes which ought to be ferociously protected by a free people. By logical extension, any accusations of Naziism—if leveled at a belief system, rather than at palpable violent actions—is suspect.
Thoughts and words spoken or written that are not politically polite—for example, racism; Naziism—ought to retain protected status as speech beyond the adjudication of law-makers, bureaucrats, mediacrats, educrats and technocrats.
In fact, "In the current climate," I had suggested—and considering the inherently paranoid style of American politics—it’s worth contemplating special protections for politically impolite, racist speech."
"In 1978, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) ’took a controversial stand for free speech by defending a neo-Nazi group that wanted to march through the Chicago suburb of Skokie, where many Holocaust survivors lived." As a free-speech absolutist, a term Elon Musk has revived, I long for the return of what I shall term here the Skokie Standard of free speech and thinking.
In 2022, the once-grand ACLU, however, no longer vigorously defends marginalized speakers and thinkers. Instead, the ACLU defrauds the public about its mission, devoting its resources to the well-popularized causes of the Left’s privileged populations: LGBTQ demands, illegal immigrant claims-making, seekers of abortion-on-tap, looters of property and destroyers of peace and prosperity (in Orwellian speak, "peaceful protesters").
#1
It is clear: Azov has a fight with the Russians. Its vigilance might also be in support of the Ukrainian white ethno-state. But if this is the case, and the battalion’s war doesn’t involve ethnic cleansing other than their battle to repel a Russian invader.
"Ukrainian white ethno-state?" OMG, you mean like the "Volkstaat/Boerestaat" or the deplorable Republican fly-over people ?
Republican fly-over people? That would the folks who simply want Washington to stay the fok out of their business.
Yes, I can see the corollary. Little wonder the 'central planning' crowd have painted with the NAZI brush.
#2
Bunch of cosplaying wannabes without any political basis of the originals. Thugs and gang members with retro colors and garb. Not creative enough to come up with their own flash.
#5
People who say "Jew" as opposed to "Jewish" bug me.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/14/2022 10:07
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#6
I've said it before -- if someone invaded the southeast US, if some foreign power set up a "break-away" puppet state in Georgia, there would be a lot of people rallying to the Confederate flag. That doesn't mean they actually want to secede from the US so much as they're recalling a symbol of resistance and unity.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/14/2022 10:10
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#7
I doubt Florida would go along. I'd definitely be part of the militia stomping that down.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/14/2022 10:12
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#8
#5 People who say "Jew" as opposed to "Jewish" bug me.
#14
I just think the short form is often used as a sort of slur by a certain type.
It's all in the tone and context, I guess.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/14/2022 18:29
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#15
That’s Jooooooo, M, with snickers and a variable number of the letter O.
Ditto Juices, SteveS. Juiceish would follow, grammatically, but apparently those who use such euphemisms to get around antisemitism filters aren’t interested in grammar humour.
#27
Liked "nall" enough to think it might've been intentional. Filed with "iff."
Sure, "J-- bankers" clangs like an alarm bell to any decent person, but should it, really? For every time I've heard such phrases in real life, I've heard 'em a hundred times from a screen... or a thousand... but who even counts? Also, compare, say, "Ainu bankers." Or... "Hebrew."
[ZERO] Synthetic biology (synbio) is a field of science that redesigns organisms in an effort to enhance and support human life. According to one projection, this rapidly growing field of science is expected to reach $28.8 billion in global revenue by 2026.
As Visual Capitalist's Carmen Ang details below, although it has the potential to transform many aspects of society, things could go horribly wrong if synbio is used for malicious or unethical reasons. This infographic explores the opportunities and potential risks that this budding field of science has to offer.
As forwarded this morning by 3dc
[Cooper] Good morning everybody! It’s getting ever harder — to avoid sarcasm when summarising developments on battlefields in Ukraine. But, let me try.
[Washington Examiner] I’m standing in an air base in northeastern Romania looking at the incontrovertible truth that there’s something different about Russia’s aggression this time: the NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, aka the men and women responsible for stopping World War III. The task force, a "spearhead" of the free world's military, has been deployed for the very first time. "Two hundred nautical miles away, there’s a hot war going on across the Black Sea right now," U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Matthew Van Wagenen tells me. This plot of land — MK Air Base, outside the resort city of Constanta, and the front-line NATO countries of which it's a part — "this is the edge of freedom."
In any given year since the VJTF was created, one country has to keep soldiers ready to deploy as quickly as possible, while another trains to take over the next year. This year, it’s a joint French-Belgian group, 800 soldiers who got here in two days and five days, respectively, after they got orders. The French flew in their tanks, and the Belgians drove theirs on a massive truck convoy across Europe. In the tents where the French and Belgian Very High Readiness Task Force members actually live, it smells a little like sweat. The Belgian and French barracks tents are arranged in rows, with a few supplemental Dutch tents off to the side. The French and Belgians have separate tents for the female soldiers, but the Dutch, thinking that prim, sleep coed. Nico, a French paramedic driver of an armored personnel carrier ambulance, sits at a table across from the rest of his unit as they take apart, oil, and put back together a .50-caliber machine gun. On the wall, there’s a map of Ukraine, with the areas of high conflict shaded red, and another chart of their upcoming exercises. Last week, they did a training exercise near the Ukrainian border in Smardan, Romania, with American forces involving artillery, among other things learning NATO procedures and practicing commands in English. This week, they are off for Orthodox Easter, and the week after, it’s tank exercises with Belgians and the Polish. Nico says they spend a normal day doing three things: "Practicing, practicing, practicing." Their families, someone says, are worried about them here. "We left a bit fast, because when we were deployed, we had 24 hours to say goodbye. It was a bit stressful for them. But they are proud."
#1
'NATO vindicated' you say? It has been a while so I am no doubt out of touch. But the image of GEN Van Wanker ensconced in a Black Sea resort proclaiming the edge of freedom is a might slender for so Herculean a task. On a positive note even after all the turmoil in the Mouse house, this will get Mickey back to proudly wearing that NATO watch.
#3
When the Wall came down and the commies lost power in Moscow, we should have packed up and came home. Hard to be paranoid when 'them' have gone home.
[Free Beacon] The House of Representatives is set to announce it will provide taxpayer-funded monthly Peloton memberships to all of its staff, Fox Business reported on Friday. The contract comes just over one year after the fitness company set up a lobbying shop in Washington.
Memberships to the exercise service, which offers workout classes, will be available to House staff in Washington, D.C., and in district offices, as well as to Capitol police officers, Fox Business reported. The number of people eligible for the fully taxpayer-funded memberships totals roughly 12,300.
Members of Congress already have access to the congressional gym, which reportedly has cardio and weight machines, a steam room, and a swimming pool.
Under the contract with Peloton, which takes effect May 18, the government will pay the company $10,000 up front and $10 per month for each staffer who chooses to enroll, according to Fox Business. With high participation among House staffers, the monthly cost of the contract for taxpayers could exceed $100,000 per month.
#4
Raj can weigh in. Subscriptions annoy me because they want to ding my bank account or credit card in advance. It's all about booking revenue they don't have yet. Last office manager position I was in, I busted a nut and spend legal fees to break a Pitney Bowes contract for an office that closed. When the contract was renewed, they somehow changed the paperwork from what was actually signed to a 5-year subscription, which of course they wanted paid even though the office closed. We broke them, but it cost money to do it.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/14/2022 10:42
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#6
I did my first ride this morning; just under 13 miles in just under an hour. Like most first rides of the season, it sucked getting on track most of the ride (handling, shifting, pedal cadence, dealing with that lovely Boston traffic, etc.).
All that said, the only time I ever rode a stationary bike indoors is when I trashed my knee seventeen years ago, and even then I only did it twice. I don't care if you have some jagoff personal trainer type yelling at you on a fucking screen half the time - it has to be the most deathly boring form of exercise known to man. I laugh at these assholes and hope they file for Chapter 11 any day now.
Some chick last year was doing 'spin class' (fancy name for fat yoga broads taking a day off from sticking their bellies at the sky) and told me 'Raj - I did 17 simulated miles on my bike today'. I told her 'nice job' but I'm really like (pat her on head) 'That's nice, cookie. I do that shit in my sleep, and every year for nearly the past half century. Speaking of centuries - ever ride any (100 REAL miles)? How good are you at navigating Boston traffic & highway interchanges? Ever get flats on both tires doing 30 MPH? Ever look up and see a 2" branch with 30 feet to go at 30 MPH before you hit it and do the Steve Austin road wipeout (hint - I did not - hard swing left and I missed all of the branch except for barely nicking the end)? Save it for someone who gives a rat's ass, 'cause that someone ain't me.'
[OneIndia] The Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... Police has arrested five people in connection with the RPG attack at its intelligence headquarters in Mohali and said a nexus of krazed killer outfit Babbar Khalsa International,
...one of the Khalistan independence groups, fighting for the idea of an independent Sikh homeland in the Indian (and Pak, but they don't dwell on that) Punjab...
[Breitbart] On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN International’s "First Move," Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics at Harvard University Ken Rogoff said that inflation in the United States is "just way too high. It’s not getting under control." And predicted that the Federal Reserve will not do enough to stop inflation, but will cool it down because "they won’t want to have an epic recession. I’m not even sure they can pull that off." Rogoff also argued that the Biden administration was "pouring buckets of fuel" onto "the inflation fire" with its "massive stimulus."
Rogoff said, "I think, in the end, they are going to pull up short. It’s true that if they wanted to really just wring inflation out of the system, and here we’re talking especially about the United States, where the — particularly, the last year, year-and-a-half has just had too much stimulus too late. The inflation’s just way too high. It’s not getting under control. It would be nice to have it under control, but just how big a recession do you want to tolerate on top of so many other things? I suspect that they’ll end up, in two years, having raised interest rates to 3 or 3.5%. But the point is, it won’t have been enough to stop inflation. It’ll cool it off, but they won’t want to have an epic recession. I’m not even sure they can pull that off."
He added that inflation will be around "3.5, 4%. And I think they’re going to — what they’re going to start saying is, well, we see it’s going to be down at 2% in another couple of years and we don’t want to rush. And they’ll just push things back. It’s a very difficult situation. Frankly, if China keeps throwing out problem after problem, it’s not easy to dig our way out of this."
Rogoff concluded, "There is both a supply problem and a demand problem. Let’s understand that, when the Biden administration came in, no one knew what to do, I’m not saying we know what should have been done. It’s not clear. But, now we know they were pouring buckets of fuel on the fire, with these — the inflation fire with [this] massive stimulus. And that’s really the situation we’re in in the United States. And it just takes time to dig your way out."
#3
One of the first jobs I did was an inventory system that tracked forex daily. Your inventory is worth what it's worth, not what you paid for it.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/14/2022 10:52
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#4
Petroleum is the prime mover of the world economy
You raise the cost of fuel and everything shipped by truck or train becomes more expensive
If you screw with the supply side of the curve the balance point between supply and demand moves upward especially with commodities with inelastic demand.
Everything they have done from ruining our balance of payments to ruining what little monetary policy we have and finally artificially inflating the cost of the prime mover of our economy led to this
Actually Carter didn’t do any of these things so Biden is worse
[CTVnews] In a world of mobile phones, satellites and the internet, some old school technology is making a major comeback. The shortwave radio, used by spies for decades to send encrypted messages, is being resurrected for the war in Ukraine.
According to Dr. Andrew Hammond, curator and historian at Washington, D.C.’s International Spy Museum, the shortwave radio "is a classic tool that was used for espionage.
"With a shortwave radio like this, you can transmit information over huge distances," he told CTV National News.
But now, decades later, shortwave is coming back into use.
After Russia attacked communication towers in Ukraine, the BBC went old school, broadcasting their news service on the shortwave frequency to counter Russian propaganda about the war.
"The BBC is using it to transmit it because it's a lot harder to block those transmissions," John Figliozzi, a shortwave radio expert and author of the book ’The Worldwide Listening Guide,’ told CTV National News. "It's an old technology, but it works."
Used in conflict zones, shortwave is less complicated than other communication avenues, and travels further than TV or cell phones.
Radio waves are electromagnetic signals that can be broadcast and for others to tune into by tuning a radio to the correct frequency, such as tuning your car radio into AM or FM chanels.
Shortwave radios tune into a range of frequencies that includes all of the high frequency bands, among others. When shortwave transmissions are directed at an angle into the sky, they bounce off of a layer of atoms in the atmosphere called the ionosphere, allowing them to travel beyond the horizon, much farther than other radio waves that are limited by having to transmit in a straight line.
Over the past few months, amateur radio hobbyists have used shortwave to pick up Russian soldiers openly discussing battle plans. Anti war protestors have also used it to ’troll’ the Russian military, by blasting the Ukrainian national anthem or jamming their channels with annoying ear worms.
"Just from this little box," Hammond said. "And during the Cold War, this little box came into its own."
While shortwave was used back in the First World War, it became more widespread in the Cold War era, when the U.S. and the Soviet Union were highly invested in hearing each other’s secret communications and hiding their own.
Shortwave changed the way spies communicate, sending cryptic messages on so-called number stations which were traced to governments all over the world.
If you tuned in to one of these number stations at the right time, a mysterious monotone voice would read out what seemed to be random numbers.
One of the ways to understand these transmissions was by using a cipher key called a one-time pad, which allowed the intended recipient to crack the code.
And it’s still used by modern day Russian spies, including a husband and wife team who had been posing as Canadians for two decades and were arrested in Boston in 2010, inspiring the hit series, ’The Americans’.
"The shortwave radio is unbreakable," Hammond said. "So you know that's a pretty powerful tool."
But could shortwave make a difference in Ukraine?
"You know necessity is the mother of invention right?" said Figliozzi. "If you need to get through, you’re going to try anything."
Sending signals and listening — with a tool from the past, reborn.
Posted by: Papa Cooky ||
05/14/2022 12:26
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#6
Radio Waves can be tracked. Electronically they are the equivalent of standing in an auditorium yelling. Same as playing loud music or running in place in a submarine.
Posted by: Papa Cooky ||
05/14/2022 12:26
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#7
Wow, vacuum tubes! Or Fleming valves as we used to call them back in the day when we ran our electronics by boiling electrons.
The local radio club takes part in regular (yearly?) disaster comms drills. Just in case...
Murray Kessler, the CEO of Irish-American firm Perrigo, said he expects shortages and heightened demand to last for the 'balance of the year'
Perrigo produces around 8pc of the U.S. baby formula, and he said their factories in Ohio and Vermont were working at 115pc capacity to meet demand
The shortage is a combination of pandemic supply chain problems, a monopoly of producers, and the February shutdown of a major manufacturer
On Friday a visibly-irritated Joe Biden said that to have done more to prevent the crisis you would have needed to have been a mind reader
Critics pointed out there has been a 10pc nationwide shortage since August; the Wall Street Journal raised the alarm in January; and the NEC in February
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] 23:47 The command of the Russian Black Sea Fleet has decided to appoint a new flagship - the frigate Admiral Makarov, journalist Roman Tsymbalyuk said. According to him, a task force of the Black Sea Fleet has now been deployed on Admiral Makarov.
23:41 Ukraine expects to receive 350-360 thousand tons of fuel by the end of May thanks to the opening of new logistics routes, said First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko. According to her, Ukraine has agreed on a reverse pipeline from Hungary.
23:38 From Mariupol and its environs, the Russians deported to Russia and to the occupied territories of the Donetsk region more than 47 thousand civilians, said the mayor of Mariupol Vadim Boychenko. At the same time, he emphasized that we are talking only about confirmed data.
23:35 The head of the Lugansk OVA, Sergei Gaidai, said that Russian troops had practically taken control of Rubizhne, but in Belogorivka they were suffering more and more losses, which is why a whole battalion of Russians had already refused to go on the offensive.
23:29 Zelensky on Azovstal: "We do not stop trying to save all our people from Mariupol and Azovstal. Now very difficult negotiations are underway on the next stage of the evacuation mission - the removal of the seriously wounded and doctors. We are talking about a large number of people. Of course, we are doing everything to evacuate and everyone else, every one of our advocates. Everyone in the world, who can be the most influential mediator, has already been involved in the relevant negotiations."
23:25 Zelensky said that as of May 13, 1015 settlements have already been de-occupied, which is six plus over the past day. "We are returning electricity, water supply, communications, transport, social services there. Of course, we remember every city and every community that is still under occupation. Kherson and Melitopol, Berdyansk and Energodar, Mariupol and all the cities and towns of Donbass ... Gradual The liberation of the Kharkiv region proves that we will not leave anyone to the enemy," the President stressed.
22:46 If the US Senate does not vote for a package of assistance to Ukraine by May 19, the supply of weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine may be interrupted, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said: "May 19 is the day from which, without additional powers, we really will not be able to send materials. By May 19, this will begin to affect our ability to provide uninterrupted assistance." According to Kirby, at the moment the White House has about $100 million left to help Ukraine.
22:41 While Russia continues its invasion of the territory of Ukraine, Western countries continue to impose sanctions against the Russian Federation. And now even representatives of the closest circle of the president of the aggressor country fall under their action. More details - in the material We got to Kabaeva .
22:35 Former NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen believes that Russia's nuclear threat is an attempt to intimidate NATO: "I don't consider these warnings real, so I'm not concerned about threats. This is an attempt to intimidate NATO allies in order to reduce the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Putin knows that if he uses a weapon of mass destruction - be it tactical nuclear, biological or chemical weapons - he will get a decisive response. And Putin will lose. If we allow these threats from Moscow to affect us, then this brutal tyrant will have a decisive argument in conflicts that he initiates.
22:01 Olena Zelenskaya said that more than 200 thousand Ukrainian students are already studying in Polish schools.
21:43 Vereshchuk urged not to exaggerate the influence of world leaders on the situation in Mariupol and prepare for the fact that the result of the negotiations on Azovstal "may not satisfy everyone."
21:19 Russia has put into the sea all six active submarines of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, reports Krym.Realii. According to the publication, the berths in the South Bay of Sevastopol, near which submarines usually stand, are now empty. In addition to mine-torpedo armament, these ships carry Caliber-type cruise missiles - each can be armed with four such missiles.
21:15 The Finnish company Fingrid announced that on Saturday, May 14, Russia will stop exporting electricity "due to problems with receiving payments." Since the beginning of the year, the Russian Federation has accounted for about 10% of electricity consumption in Finland. This volume is compensated without any problems by increasing supplies from Sweden and domestic generation.
21:09 The head of the Luhansk OVA, Serhiy Gaidai, said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are clearing Belogorovka "already on the other side of the river, our defenses are in Kamyshevakh near Popasnaya." According to him, Lisichansk and Severodonetsk are completely under the control of Ukraine, the enemy cannot pass the outskirts of Rubizhne. “The voivodeship, about which they said that it was theirs, is not ours there, but it is not theirs either. And today ours cleared Shchedrishchevo and occupied a normal defense there,” Gaidai added.
He also said that one of the main tasks of the Russian troops in the Luhansk region is to "cut" the Liman-Bakhmut highway: "They are trying to cut it in two places - from the side of Popasna and from the side of Belogorovka."
21:05 "Authorities" of the Kherson region are going to conduct a population census, said "deputy chairman of the military-civil administration" Kirill Stremousov: "If a referendum or some other form of plebiscite is held, then the first thing is necessary: a census of the population of the Kherson region at the moment, then what we are going to do now."
21:02 South Ossetia has scheduled a "referendum" on unification with Russia for July 17.
21:00 The most tense in the Donetsk region is the Liman direction, where the Russian troops are trying to force the Seversky Donets, building pontoon crossings, said the head of the Donetsk OVA Pavel Kirilenko. According to him, the attempts of the Russians to cross led to the fact that today they did not advance, but continued to expose the region to heavy fire: "Maryinka, Krasnogorovka, Ugledar, Avdeevka. The Toretsk community suffered very badly today, and the shelling continues right now."
20:41 Ukrainian artillery disrupts Russia's efforts to advance in the Donbass, a senior US Department of Defense official said, CNN reports. In particular, the official was referring to Russia's attempts to transfer forces across the Seversky Donets River in order to strengthen positions in the north of Donbass.
Also, the Pentagon noted that there is a lot of fighting between Izyum and Slavyansk, but the Russians have not been able to make much progress. However, Russian forces have made some progress west of Popasna.
20:30 As a result of night attacks of Nikolaev five infrastructure objects and more than ten high-rise buildings are damaged, five people were injured, the mayor of the city Alexander Senkevich reported.
20:27 Kuleba, after meeting with colleagues from the G7 countries, said that Hungary undermines the unity of the EU and thus gives Putin a reason to celebrate: "We are all waiting for the end of the drama with the introduction of the sixth package of sanctions by the EU. If this package is introduced without embargo on Russian oil, then I think President Putin will be able to celebrate. Because this will be the first time that the unity of the European Union will be undermined because of the decision of one state - Hungary."
20:24 Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, following his Swedish counterpart, also expressed bewilderment over Ankara's statements about its unwillingness to see Scandinavian countries in NATO, as he had heard completely different words from the Turkish Foreign Minister. At the same time, Haavisto said that he was ready to solve the problem through negotiations: "This process requires patience. These things are always connected with politics. Most problems can always be solved."
20:19 Washington is working to clarify Turkey's position on the potential membership of Sweden and Finland in NATO, said Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried.
20:14 The turning point in the war will come at the end of summer, Kirill Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, said in an interview with Sky News: "The turning point will be in the second half of August. By the end of this year, most of the active hostilities will be completed. As a result, we will restore Ukrainian power on all our territories that we have lost, including Donbass and Crimea."
Budanov also said that a coup was already underway in Russia to overthrow Putin, who is seriously ill with cancer.
20:10 Germany will not agree to peace in Ukraine if Russia dictates its terms, Scholz said after a telephone conversation with Putin at an SPD election event: "Russia has not yet understood that peace is impossible if Moscow seizes a piece of Ukraine by military force. Peace is possible only with an agreement, consent, a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, which is not dictated by the world."
19:38 The Cabinet of Ministers decided to transfer 172 filling stations to Glusco to the management of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, Shmyhal said. According to him, this will help, among other things, to overcome the shortage of fuel in the country. The prime minister said that there is already a corresponding court decision.
The Glusco network was created on the basis of the former Rosneft gas stations operating under the trademarks Formula, TNK, Golden Gepard, Smile. In 2016, Rosneft decided to sell them to the Swiss Proton Energy group of businessman Nisan Moiseev, who is informally associated with Viktor Medvedchuk.
19:33 Kuleba condemned US Senator Rand Paul, who single-handedly blocked the approval of military assistance to Ukraine: "We could already start using a new US aid package to more effectively save the lives of Ukrainians defending a democratic world. President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, Senate Republicans and Democrats strongly supported, and Rand Paul delayed much-needed support."
19:21 Russia wants to sit down at the negotiating table not only with Ukraine, but also with the West, and conclude a new major agreement, Erdogan's chief adviser Ibrahim Kalin told Türkiye: "The issue is both in Ukraine and not in Ukraine. There is a deeper strategic calculation , which includes Ukraine. It is impossible to end the hostilities and, finally, the war without restoring the right balance here."
According to him, in order for the terms of negotiations to develop, "all parties, including Europe and the United States, must have a constructive position."
19:17 The head of Ukrzaliznytsia Alexander Kamyshin said that most trains from the western regions of Ukraine to Kiev are more than 95% full. According to him, at least 11,000 people return to Kyiv every day by rail alone. At least 10,000 passengers returned from Europe by rail to Ukraine from May 1 to May 11.
In May, Ukrzaliznytsia transported 250,000 passengers, of which only 10,000 were carried by evacuation trains, which is no more than 4%. "As of yesterday, we had 177 people from Pokrovsk to Lviv and 30,000 regular passengers," Kamyshin said.
19:09 Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto hinted at a price of 700-750 million euros, which Budapest would like to receive for agreeing to impose an embargo on Russian oil: "Our oil refining capacities are designed for Russian oil. To process other types of oil, we would have to invest 500 to 550 million euros - it will take about four years To replace the oil pipeline from Russia, we will have to expand the capacity of the Adriatic Sea pipeline, which would mean 200 million euros, and we do not know how long it will take Gas prices in Hungary will increase by 55%."
18:44 Ukrainian military intelligence has data on the deployment by Russia on Zmeiny Island of the Pantsir anti-aircraft missile and gun system and the Tor-M2 air defense system, which should provide Russian short-range air defense, Vadim Skibitsky, a spokesman for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, said.
18:30 US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with Shoigu for the first time since February 18, the Pentagon said: "Austin called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and noted the importance of maintaining communication lines."
18:27 In Kiev, due to savings, they will not turn on large fountains in the city center and on the Rusanovsky Canal until the end of May. The KSCA explained that ensuring their work is energy-intensive and expensive. At the same time, small local fountains have already been turned on, the maintenance of which is not so expensive.
18:19 In Mariupol, the invaders are interrogating children. According to the mayor's adviser Petr Andryushchenko, during the filtration measures, after the interrogation of the parents in their presence, they begin clarifying the interrogation of the children - they try to catch the parents in a lie.
18:17 Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde was surprised at Erdogan's negative attitude towards Sweden and Finland's membership in NATO: "We have good and constructive relations, and they have not told us anything like that. Neither NATO ambassadors, nor any of the 30 countries presented anything like that. I hope that we can discuss everything, and if we decide to apply for NATO membership, we will receive positive notifications from all countries."
18:11 The Russians are forcibly taking the residents of Popasnaya to the ORLO, said the head of the Popasnyansky district military administration, Nikolai Khanatov. According to him, as of May 8, when the invaders entered the city, 1.5 thousand people remained in Popasna. Everyone who wanted to leave on time had such an opportunity. "Now the invader is coming to the shelter, pointing the muzzle of his machine gun and taking our priests to Pervomaisk and Stakhanov, which have been occupied for eight years," Khanatov said.
18:05 Yermak, in an interview with CNN, said about a test for NATO: "Finland's desire to join NATO is a test for the alliance. We are very happy for our friends in Finland - indeed, this is an absolutely logical step. At the same time, this demonstrates the double standards of NATO "because the whole world has seen that Ukraine has long decided to move towards the alliance, but we do not yet have any concrete answer. Now our courageous and heroic nation has shown that Ukraine's participation and membership in NATO would strengthen the alliance."
17:44 Journalists of the Scheme project (Radio Liberty) noticed on satellite images of the Serpent Island marks in the form of the letter Z and a floating crane that could be transported from Sevastopol to raise the sunken landing craft of the Serna type. These images were taken on May 12 by a Maxar satellite.
17:37 Since the beginning of the war, 1,214 children have been reported missing, said Daria Gerasimchuk, Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Children's Rights and Children's Rehabilitation. Another 90 children remain on the wanted list today, and among those who were found, two were dead. In addition, 2389 children were taken to Russia.
16:42 The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine spoke about the intimidation and filtering of the population of the occupied territories. Thus, in the village of Bezymennoye, Donetsk region, during filtration measures, the occupiers offer people monetary compensation for destroyed housing in exchange for agreeing to "testify" against Ukrainian defenders in Mariupol.
In Berdyansk, the occupiers sound an alarm and order everyone to close windows, doors and not leave their homes - this is how the Russians convince the local population that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are going to use chemical weapons in the city.
A group of recruiters arrived in Kherson, which includes FSB officers, officers of the “Ministry of State Security of the DPR” and representatives of the PMC Liga (formerly Wagner) to find people who would agree to work in the special services of the “DPR”. In parallel, demonstrative filtration measures are being taken against the patriots. During the stay of this group, up to 50 civilians were tortured and killed. About 120 residents of Kherson were abducted, their whereabouts are unknown. On May 12, this group arrived at the local pre-trial detention center, where they carried out the so-called "mobilization", firing from machine guns was heard from the premises.
16:29 Ukrainian air defense forces shot down a Russian attack helicopter Mi-28 Night hunter in the Lugansk region, said the speaker of the Odesa OVA Serhiy Bratchuk. Its cost is about 18 million dollars.
16:24 Kuleba at the G7 meeting noted the recent improvements in the supply of weapons to Ukraine, but said that there are two big problems that still need to be solved. The first is the supply of MLRS multiple launch rocket systems, the second is aviation.
16:21 In the Black Sea, the battles for Serpent's Island have intensified recently. The occupiers are trying to reinforce the weakly defended garrison that is located there in order to block the sea, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine regularly deliver pinpoint strikes, destroying enemy equipment and personnel. About the meaning of the island - in the material Battle for the Serpent .
16:03 In Bulgarian Sofia, opposite the memorial in honor of the Soviet army, a sculpture called The Cry of the Ukrainian Mother was installed . As conceived by the author Nedelcho Kostadinov, the monument denounces the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
15:59 The G7 countries at the meeting of finance ministers next week are going to initiate budget support for Ukraine in the amount of almost 30 billion euros on the basis that the war will end within a year, writes Der Spiegel. The amount is related to Ukraine's previously announced need of 5 billion monthly for the functioning of the economy. Assistance will be provided in the form of loans and grants, so that Kyiv will not have to return everything.
15:42 Scholz said that in a telephone conversation he called on Putin for an early ceasefire in Ukraine: "There must be a ceasefire in Ukraine as soon as possible. The claim that the Nazis rule there is false. And I pointed out Russia's responsibility for the global food situation" .
15:30 Kuleba called on the G7 countries to transfer to Ukraine the frozen assets of the Russian Federation for hundreds of billions of dollars. He stated this during a meeting of the G7 foreign ministers in Germany: "I urge the authorities of the G7 countries to adopt legislation and carry out all necessary procedures to confiscate Russia's sovereign assets and transfer them to Ukraine so that Ukraine can use this money to restore the country."
15:19 The occupiers are using blackmail and threats to force Ukrainian providers to connect to Russian networks. According to the State Service for Special Communications, this morning, servicemen of the Russian Guard of the Russian Federation seized the premises of the Kherson Status company and turned off all communication equipment. Now they are blackmailing the company's management by taking away all the equipment if they refuse to connect to the Crimean network.
15:11 Zaluzhny showed in action 155 mm howitzers of the M777 type, which the Biden administration provided to the Ukrainian military.
15:07 Erdogan said that Turkey, which is itself a member of NATO, cannot "positively evaluate" the plans of Sweden and Finland to join the alliance: "We do not have a positive opinion on this matter. The Scandinavian countries are like a guest house for terrorist organizations ". The Turkish president was referring to members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party who have taken refuge in the Scandinavian countries.
Erdogan also said that Turkey could use its status as a member of the alliance to veto the admission of new members. Turkey's former rulers "made a mistake" by giving the green light to Greece's NATO membership in 1952, he said.
14:41 Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Russia would be forced to pay indemnity to Ukraine: "We deeply believe that the international community ... will force Russia to pay indemnity simply to restore what was destroyed in Ukraine."
14:39 The head of the European Council, Charles Michel, supported the proposal of the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, to further increase the funding of the European Peace Fund to 2 billion euros for military equipment for Ukraine.
14:14 The Russian Foreign Ministry recommended that Russians refrain from traveling to the UK and from issuing British visas.
14:07 Russian propagandists are forcing unit commanders to withdraw from the front lines and allocate personnel and military equipment at their disposal to participate in the filming of campaign videos and fake "reports from the front line." As Ukrainian intelligence found out, the invaders are forced to dig trenches in the rear areas and imitate the arrangement of advanced positions, fire mortars, tanks and artillery, imitate assault actions and demining the territory.
To create stories, propagandists demand several times to mine and clear the territory already cleared of ammunition. During one of these "demining" at the Arabat Spit, several Russian soldiers received shrapnel wounds and shell shock, which, according to propagandists, only "made the picture more realistic."
13:55 The Japanese company Eneos Holdings, the owner of the country's largest refinery, said it was refusing to purchase Russian oil: "At the moment, we intend to get an alternative from existing trading partners such as Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait."
13:49 Scholz called Putin, discussed Ukraine "with an emphasis on humanitarian aspects," the Kremlin said. Putin also told Scholz that the talks were "essentially blocked by Kyiv."
13:44 Peskov said that Russia does not refuse a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, but "it is impossible to hold it without preparation." According to him, "there is still no movement in the elaboration of a joint document by Russia and Ukraine, there is no response from the Ukrainian side to the proposals of the Russian Federation."
13:41 Great Britain imposed sanctions against Kabaeva, as well as the cousin of Russian President Igor Putin and his son Roman.
13:38 Adviser to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Viktor Andrusiv said that when the Ukrainian troops reach the border of the Kharkiv region, our multiple launch rocket systems will be able to fire at Belgorod from the Ukrainian border. "Belgorod - get ready," he said and added that "they will soon find out what it's like to run into the basement."
13:35 In addition to 500,000 tons of grain, Russian invaders illegally removed tens of thousands of tons of sunflower oil, hundreds of kilograms of vegetables and agricultural equipment from the occupied territories of Ukraine, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky said in an interview with Channel 5.
13:19 Russia has suffered two strategic defeats since the start of a full-scale war against Ukraine - both on the battlefield and at the diplomatic level, Reznikov said.
13:10 Zelensky said that Israel, Turkey and Switzerland are working on the release of the defenders of Mariupol from the besieged Azovstal plant.
13:02 Ukraine does not consider Pridnestrovie as a serious threat, Zelensky said in an interview with Rai 1: "There may be an attack in Pridnestrovie, Russia controls 100% of the people there. <...> There may be up to 15 thousand groups, but it is not very ready. <...> This part of the group, if they go, we are not very afraid of them, because out of these 15 thousand, up to three thousand people know how to fight. This may be a challenge, but we do not see too much threat there."
12:58 Poroshenko, Yushchenko and Kuchma appealed to world leaders with a request to organize the evacuation of the Ukrainian military from Azovstal.
12:57 Zelensky urged Italy to boycott Russian tourists: "Ordinary people who come to rest should feel it. They must be told that the rest in Europe is over, for the occupiers there can be no treatment like other people."
12:51 Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki said that "the Russian world is a cancer that poses a mortal threat to the whole of Europe, so we must completely destroy this terrible new ideology." In response, Peskov called the statement of the Polish prime minister "outrageous, unacceptable and rabid."
12:45 In Russian Omsk, unknown people threw Molotov cocktails at the military registration and enlistment office, local media report. Prior to this, military enlistment offices were on fire in Cherepovets, Nizhnevartovsk, Moscow, Voronezh, Mordovia, Sverdlovsk and Ivanovo regions.
12:40 The head of the Russian government, Mikhail Mishustin, said that due to a sharp increase in revenues from oil and gas exports, the budget revenues of the Russian Federation have grown significantly, which has allowed a quarter to increase spending in four months.
12:37 Podolyak called Russia a country of barbarians and marauders: "There was a" party of swindlers and thieves", it became a country of barbarians and marauders. First - stolen leasing aircraft, then - toilet bowls and underwear. Now the theft of Ukrainian grain for sale to Syria and Lebanon. How low will Moscow fall? Will they steal the medals of Ukrainian veterans?"
12:34 Zelensky on the air of the Italian TV channel Rai 1. said that Putin would not be able to save his face and there would be no future with him: "He needs to think about how to save the country."
He also commented on Macron’s proposals: “Macron wanted to find results in mediation between us. He didn’t find it. And not from our side. He didn’t find it from the Russian side. to save Putin's face... It seems to me that this is not very correct."
12:27 Zaluzhny said that the Russians daily fired from 10 to 14 cruise missiles at civilian infrastructure facilities: "Recently, Russia has resorted to the tactics of massive use of supersonic cruise anti-ship missiles of the X-22 type at these facilities. So, over the past day in Kremenchug oil refinery, the enemy used 12 cruise missiles, two of which were shot down from the Stinger MANPADS. One of the reasons for the enemy to switch to this tactic is the refusal to use aviation, which incurs heavy losses."
12:13 Zelensky, in an interview with the Italian TV channel Rai 1, said that he was ready to speak with Putin personally - "only with him, but without his intermediaries, and on the terms of dialogue, not ultimatums." According to the head of state, the Ukrainian-Russian talks now talk about the withdrawal of the Russian Federation to the borders of the territories occupied until February 24.
The President added that the time when it was possible to conduct a dialogue with the Russian Federation "with wine at the table" is in the past: "There is not wine in this glass, but the blood of our people." At the same time, he acknowledged the need for "pragmatic dialogue": "We understand that peace comes after every war, and if there is a chance to end the war with dialogue, we must use this chance."
11:58 Borrell expressed his conviction that the EU countries will agree on an oil embargo against Russia, despite the current opposition of Hungary.
11:56 The territory of the Lozova community of the Kharkiv region was subjected to a missile attack, Mayor of Lozova Serhiy Zelensky said.
11:51 CNN reports, citing satellite images, that in the Kharkiv region, all three bridges that are critically needed for the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian military have been blown up. We are talking about bridges near the settlements of Rubezhnoye, Stary Saltov and Pechenegy. The publication notes that this can significantly complicate the Ukrainian military crossing the Seversky Donets River.
11:32 The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced that a missile warehouse was destroyed near Kharkiv Shebelinka. Ukrainian rescuers previously reported that in the village of Shebelinka, Izyumsky district, an enemy shell hit a hangar building, causing a fire. Three people died and five were injured.
11:28 The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that on the northern outskirts of Kremenchug in the Poltava region, "high-precision weapons destroyed the production facilities of an oil refinery and tanks with fuel for Ukrainian troops."
11:25 Lavrov said that the European Union has become an "aggressive player", and against this background, "the harmlessness of Ukraine's desire to join the EU raises doubts."
11:22 Sanctions against Russia cannot be lifted until the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from all over Ukraine, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said at a meeting with G7 representatives in Germany: "We must ensure that Putin is defeated in Ukraine, which will not bring him any benefits and ultimately deter new aggression."
11:06 In the occupied Melitopol, license plates with the image of the coat of arms of Zaporozhye of the sample of 1811 and the inscription TVR have been distributed . As the Zaporozhye regional administration stated, this is a direct reference to the Tauride province, and this is "not idolatry, but a powerful information and psychological operation aimed at suppressing the resistance of the local population of the occupied territories."
11:00 Because of the war, almost 2.5 thousand Ukrainian babies were born in Poland, said Deputy Health Minister Waldemar Kraska. According to him, more than 200 Ukrainian mothers with newborns and Ukrainian women in the last stages of pregnancy are now in Polish hospitals.
10:53 If Gazprom does not fill the underground gas storage in Austria, the country will block its access there, said Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer. At present, the gas storage facility in Heidach (Salzburg) has a zero filling level. "If it is not filled, we will consider measures to have it filled," Nehammer said. According to him, this is not about nationalizing the repository, but about transferring access to it to another provider. The storage facility in Haidach is strategically important for Germany and the western lands of Austria, and its occupancy is a matter of their energy security.
10:50 Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, the SBU has exposed 13 representatives of foreign media who prepared custom materials for Kremlin propagandists and published disinformation from the fronts. They are banned from entering Ukraine for a period of three years.
Since February 24, the SBU has also neutralized more than ten bot farms with a capacity of over 100,000 fake accounts, exposed hundreds of Internet agents, and blocked more than 5,500 accounts.
From the latest special operations - the exposure of an extensive intelligence network of the special services of the Russian Federation, which was led from the Crimea. It included pseudo-journalists and so-called "experts" who received money from Russian curators.
10:46 The General Staff announced the approximate combat losses of the enemy on the morning of May 13. The enemy suffered the greatest losses in the Kurakhov direction.
personnel - about 26,900 (+250) people liquidated,
tanks - 1205 (+10),
armored combat vehicles - 2900 (+27),
artillery systems - 542 (+8),
MLRS - 193 (+2),
air defense systems - 88 (+1),
aircraft - 200 (+1),
helicopters - 162 (+1),
UAV operational-tactical level - 405 (+7),
cruise missiles - 95 (+1),
ships/boats - 13 (+0),
automotive equipment and tankers - 2042 (+23),
special equipment - 41 (+0).
10:42 Kharkiv was bombed with cluster bombs on the orders of the general who commanded the assault on Aleppo. Behind the attack, as it turned out, is the 79th rocket and artillery brigade, subordinate to Colonel General Alexander Zhuravlev, CNN reports.
10:40 Ukraine will fight for Snake Island for as long as it takes, said Kirill Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense. He explained that the island is of strategic importance for both Ukraine and Russia, since it allows to control the surface and, to a certain extent, the air situation in southern Ukraine.
Also, Snake Island is strategically important from the point of view of the possibility of a tactical amphibious landing by Russia. According to the major general, theoretically this is the only region through which the Russians can try to land troops in Transnistria.
In addition, Snake Island is "a strategically important point to open trade sea routes, bring weapons to us and exclude any possible military actions of Russia on the territory of the "MRT", from which they can attack the western part of Ukraine." "Whoever controls the island can at any time block the movement of civilian ships in all directions to the south of Ukraine," Budanov explained.
10:32 Borrell said that the EU intends to allocate an additional 500 million euros for military assistance to Ukraine, thus bringing it to 2 billion euros.
10:30 In Kiev, the court will begin hearings on the country's first war crimes case - Russian serviceman Vadim Shishimarin is accused of killing a civilian. The defendant, a 21-year-old commander of one of the units of the Kantemirovskaya tank division, fought in the Sumy region. He is accused of killing an unarmed 62-year-old resident in the village of Chupakhovka, who was riding a bicycle and talking on the phone. Shishimarin faces 10 to 15 years in prison or life imprisonment.
10:23 On the night of May 13, the Russian invaders launched a missile attack on the Dergachev House of Culture, where humanitarian aid was stored and issued to the civilian population, the Dergachev City Council of the Kharkiv Region reported. As a result, aid will not be issued today.
10:18 There are now four ships and two submarines of the Russian Federation with more than 30 Kalibr cruise missiles in the Black Sea, OK Pivden reports.
10:14 In Kiev, the curfew will be reduced by one hour: starting from Sunday, May 15, it will operate from 23:00 to 05:00, Klitschko said. Also, from May 16, public transport in the capital will work longer: the metro - from 06:00 to 22:00, ground transport - from 06:00 to 22:30.
09:47 In Pridnestrovie, unknown people tried to set fire to an oil depot and a military registration and enlistment office with the help of a Molotov cocktail, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported.
09:44 In the Luhansk region, the enemy gave up all efforts to break through the defense, two thousand units of enemy equipment were seen passing through the day, said the head of the OVA Serhiy Gaidai. According to him, the Russians are storming Rubezhnoye, Zolote, Nizhne, the outskirts of Severodonetsk. The invaders are again trying to throw a pontoon across the Seversky Donets. "It seems that today will be Belogorovka 5-0," Gaidai said.
According to him, in the region, most of the settlements are destroyed by 70%, and those under occupation - even more.
09:33 Zaluzhny spoke with the head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, and assured him that strict accounting and control over the use of the provided material resources was being maintained: "We are ready to share all the materials with the United States Embassy as soon as it returns to Ukraine."
09:11 EU member states admit that the oil embargo against Russia will be postponed in order to adopt other sanctions, since Hungary is still blocking it, writes Bloomberg. The EU wants to reach a consensus by the end of the week, but opinions are already being heard about removing the oil embargo from the sixth round of sanctions. Some countries oppose this as it would be "a sign of weakness" and a fragile EU unity.
09:08 The Russians are actively using the air base in the occupied Melitopol. According to CNN, citing satellite imagery, there were at least seven helicopters at the airbase on May 12 in the afternoon, while on May 7 there was one helicopter.
09:04 In four days, the invaders lost or abandoned 73 units of military equipment as a result of an unsuccessful crossing of the Seversky Donets River in the Belogorovka area, a BlueSauron investigator reported, citing satellite images.
08:59 In Russia, covert mobilization goes in two ways, said the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kirill Budanov: "The first is the actual mobilization, and the second is the use of reservists. They call it BARS - the country's combat army reserve, that is, according to in fact, reservists who are involved in combat operations on short-term contracts. These facts are absolutely confirmed, we have prisoners who were involved in this system. "
08:45 British intelligence reported that Russia is making significant efforts in the area of Izyum and Severodonetsk, trying to achieve a breakthrough to Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. The primary task in this direction is to encircle the Ukrainian forces in the JFO zone in order to cut off reinforcements from the west.
Ukrainian forces prevented an attempt to cross the Seversky Donets west of Severodonetsk (we are talking about Belogorovka). During the crossing, Russia lost armored vehicles and a pontoon ferry. Russian troops failed to achieve any significant successes, despite the concentration of forces in the area.
08:41 In Mariupol, the invaders, under cover of shelling, are trying to break through the ground into the Azovstal plant, Petr Andryushchenko said. According to him, the situation is getting more complicated day by day.
08:36 Vereshchuk spoke about the evacuation from Azovstal: “We started a new round of negotiations around the special operation roadmap. We start with the seriously wounded. There is the Red Cross, they met with the Russians. We held negotiations with them, as well as with the UN, and gave them a mandate. We we want the document to be signed: how exactly the evacuation from Azovstal will take place, we are preparing for signing." The Deputy Prime Minister specified that Turkey agreed to act as a mediator in the current round of negotiations.
08:29 The American Institute for the Study of War reports that Russian troops have advanced slightly north of Severodonetsk and have probably captured Rubizhne and Voevodovka. They also fired heavily on Ukrainian positions north of Kharkiv to stop the ongoing Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Russian forces are fortifying their position on Serpent Island to block Ukrainian sea lanes and capabilities in the northwestern Black Sea on the outskirts of Odessa.
08:27 On the outskirts of Severodonetsk, a large automobile bridge across the Borovaya River was blown up, said the governor of the Lugansk region, Sergei Gaidai.
08:26 Ukroboronprom announced that it had repaired and restored captured Russian military equipment for a total of UAH 1.5 billion.
08:22 On the evening of May 12, the Russian military fired artillery at a convoy of refugees that was leaving the Kherson region, said Alexander Vilkul, head of the military administration of Krivoy Rog. Civilians who were moving from the side of Berislav suffered.
Vilkul said that the occupants gathered refugees in the morning, kept about a thousand cars under the scorching sun, and began to release only in the afternoon in batches of 200 cars to cover the movement of their own military equipment. At 16:00, they attacked the convoy, which was already in the controlled territory in the area of Belaya Krinitsa.
08:21 In the Kharkiv region, an enemy shell hit a hangar building. Three people were killed and five others were injured, the State Emergency Service said.
08:12 Since the beginning of the invasion, Russia has fired more than 2,100 missiles at Ukraine, said Ukraine's envoy to the UN Serhiy Kislitsa.
07:39 In the border areas of the Bryansk region of the Russian Federation, the enemy is pulling additional artillery units to build up provocative attacks, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in the morning report .
In the Donetsk direction, the enemy is trying to establish full control over Rubizhne. In the Limansky direction - to gain a foothold in the Aleksandrovka area. In the Bakhmut direction, the invaders conducted unsuccessful assault operations in the direction of Orekhovo and in the Kamyshevakhi region. On Kurakhovsky - they advanced in the direction of Maryinka.
Artillery and air strikes on Mariupol continue. The main efforts of the enemy are focused on blocking Ukrainian troops in the area of the Azovstal plant. "The enemy is using strategic aviation. Taking into account the measures to evacuate local residents, we should expect an increase in fire impact in the near future," the General Staff stressed.
04:45 Japan bans the export of high-tech goods to Russia, such as 3D printers, quantum computers and electron microscopes.
03:58 AFU shot down the newest Russian ship Vsevolod Bobrov, when the ship was trying to deliver an air defense system to Snake Island, Arestovich said. He clarified that Vsevolod Bobrov is a logistic support ship of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Federation. Previously, the ship was damaged, but not sunk.
01:13 US Republican Senator Rand Paul has blocked the provision of another $40 billion in aid to Ukraine - he wants an inspector general to control spending, writes The Washington Post. The fast track vote in the Senate required a unanimous decision (100 votes), and this one-man block means the House will not approve the measure this week. Biden wanted the bill on his desk by the end of this week.
00:47 Sberbank believes that a cyber war has been declared on Russia, the number of participants in cyber attacks exceeds 100 thousand people.
00:11 Ukraine has spent $8.3 billion on military needs since the beginning of the war, Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko said. According to him, the Ministry of Finance partially took these funds from the budget for development. Marchenko also said that in April Ukraine received 60% of the planned tax revenues, and in May and June these revenues are estimated at 45-50% of the previously planned.
Text by an unidentified Telegram user
[ColonelCassad] Regarding the question raised about the need to increase the size of the armed forces.
This issue is certainly on the agenda. In addition to the immediate issues related to the need to concentrate efforts on the campaign in Ukraine, there is the problem of doubling the size of the Polish army and the general increase in the permanent military presence of US and NATO troops on the western borders of the country, posing a threat to Belarus, Kaliningrad (the threat of blockade of the enclave is more than real) and the North-Western regions of Russia (currently covered by fairly modest forces). This is in addition to the need to keep troops in the Caucasus, hold positions in Central Asia, and also strengthen defenses in the Far East in the light of Japan's territorial claims.
Accordingly, an increase in the size of the army to 1,500,000 - 1,700,000 is quite probable. At the same time, the issue of providing the army with modern military equipment at least at the level of 70% is not removed.
But there are still issues of modernizing logistics, import substitution and expanding the capabilities of the military-industrial complex to provide the army with equipment and equipment, including the expanded State Defense Order 2023-2025.
All this can lead to issues of reworking the existing military doctrine, a new military reform and investments in the development of the military-industrial complex.
From my subjective point of view, the increase in the army in the conditions of the breakdown of the world order and the struggle for a new world order seems inevitable. Another question is that this growth must be correlated with limited economic opportunities, when the principle of "guns instead of butter" can lead to a well-known situation where the strength of the army is completely unimportant if its rear is corny cracked and collapsed.
We know this well from our sad experience. Therefore, here they will obviously look for some kind of golden mean, where the increase in the army will be correlated with an understandable desire to "live within their means."
All that being said, based on nothing at all it seems to me it would take at least a year to get the physical necessities for a larger number or troops squared away, then another year or more to get the new troops through basic training and enough of the more advanced skills to have a hope of being useful on the battlefield. What say you, dear Reader?
#1
I think a 2 year time frame optimistic. Anything could happen. But historically the Russians haven't been very concerned with either the well being or training of their forces. They only just replaced foot wraps with socks, the foot wraps being an innovation from Ivan the Terrible's days.
[AlAhram] A Cairo criminal court has sentenced 25 people to 15 years in prison, one juvenile to five years, and acquitted 12 others in a retrial of the case known in media as “the dispersal of the Rabaa sit-in case.”
These sentences are only preliminary, leading to years more of retrials before anything is finalized. Hence the Page 2: WoT Background designation,
The defendants were charged with several crimes that took place in August 2013, including the premeditated murder of civilians as well as policemen who were tasked with dispersing a sit-in in Cairo’s Rabaa square, which has been renamed Hisham Barakat Square.
The defendants were also charged with attempted murder, blocking roads, destroying public property, and possessing firearms and Molotov cocktails.
The case, which involves more than 700 defendants including fugitives, dates back to the dispersal of the Rabaa sit-in that was held by supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in August 2013.
The dispersal left hundreds dead and thousands arrested on a variety of charges. It also unleashed days of nationwide street clashes and attacks on security installations.
In June last year, Egypt’s Court of Cassation upheld the death penalty for 12 people in the case, Mohamed El-Beltagy, Safwat Hegazy, and Abdel-Rahman El-Bar, three key leading members of the terrorist-designated Muslim Brotherhood.
The country's top appeals court also commuted in June the death penalty for 31 others in the same case to life imprisonment, but upheld prison sentences ranging from five to 25 years for 277 others.
The cassation court also upheld a 10-year prison sentence against Osama, the son of ousted President Morsi.
Criminal proceedings against another key Brotherhood figure, Essam El-Erian, were abated after his death in custody in August 2020. El-Erian had received a final death penalty in the case.
In 2018, a Cairo Criminal Court issued preliminary death sentences for 75 members of the Brotherhood in a mass trial in the case. Several defendants, including Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide, were handed life imprisonment sentences in the case.
More on this story from two days ago. It turns out 350,000 are already symptomatic, with nearly 188,000 being treated in isolation out of the highly malnourished population, At least only Pudgy Kim himself has to worry about the risks of obesity...
[Dawn] At least one person confirmed to have Covid-19 has died in North Korea ...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche... and hundreds of thousands have shown fever symptoms, state media said on Friday, offering hints at the potentially dire scale of country's first confirmed outbreak of the pandemic.
The data represents an unprecedented admission of an "explosive" outbreak in a country that had previously reported no confirmed cases since the pandemic began, and could mark a grave public health, economic, and political crisis for the isolated regime.
Continued on Page 49
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Evgeny Norin
[ReadovkaSpace] During the First World War, a person walking along Nevsky Prospekt or walking at the Red Gate in Moscow might think that nothing special was happening to the country. Cabbies drove, shops worked, people lived an ordinary life. Factories, universities were built, people intrigued, loved, were born and died. They ate, they drank drunk.
In 1917, the country collapsed, went through the Civil War, and was reassembled, changed beyond recognition. In the crowd that came to the Maly Theater to see The Merchant of Venice in October 1916, hardly many thought that they were spending the last months of their life, which can be called normal, and in less than six months they would find themselves inside a working meat grinder that would not stop for a long time. about forty years old. In the same way, in 1985, people who giggled at jokes about decrepit general secretaries did not assume that the seemingly unshakable state would fall apart in six years, crushing those who did not have time to dodge under the rubble.
Now we are facing the same terrible challenge.
The events that have taken place in the past three months are incomparable to anything in our memory. The effects for the economy produced by the restrictions and confiscations that have already taken place are comparable to a good nuclear strike - another thing is that we were rather ready for it, but the strike still does not stop. In war, the level of casualties is not exactly known, but we will not be mistaken in saying that this is already the most difficult war in Russia since the Great Patriotic War. Taking into account the accumulated losses in the Donbass since 2014, this is definitely the largest and most severe. And she continues. And the enemy is not going to give up at all.
Worse, they are now planning to destroy us, in general . And they will beat until the final - so that we never get up. The tasks have already been clearly and unambiguously outlined in one form or another: undermining the military, scientific and economic potential, exclusion from the world, creating a ghetto with us inside. This is a very bad fact, but it is real, and if you just say “Uncles, don’t hit”, the uncles will say exactly one thing: hurray, they are broken, you need to finish them off.
We have come to the edge . Russia is not only in a state of war - the enemy has orders of magnitude more resources. The enemy, of course, is not Ukraine, Ukraine is the source of cannon fodder, the askari of the real opponent.
And to cope with this enemy - not only to win, but simply to preserve itself, to resist - Russia can only do one way.
We will have to become more effective than the enemy . More adaptive. Flexible. It is better to predict the behavior of the enemy, it is better to predict the consequences of your own steps. We cannot afford the kind of mistakes that Europe can make, that the US can make, that even China can make.
Russia is a superpower, but with one huge caveat. It is a superpower with the least resources in existence. We are in the big leagues, but with the shortest bench. We are the underdog in any fight, we are not the favorite in any confrontation. We have fewer people, less money, fewer troops and less influence in the world than any other superpower.
So, it is necessary to use what is available as efficiently as possible.
But this is not the case now. Now we are making mistakes that cost the whole country dearly. We swing for a very long time before we start doing something, and often we are late. This applies to the industry - even with the localization of the production of engines for combat helicopters, they were pulled to the last, and many positions, including sophisticated equipment for oil production, have not yet been localized. This applies to solutions for the military - we still have enough "experts" to explain that UAVs and "smart" aerial bombs are not so necessary. This applies to the view of the world as a whole: it seems that the wave of confiscations of property from Russian oligarchs and the freezing of foreign exchange reserves came as a surprise to many - “they can’t…” We are aware of the existing trends by the time they are already starting to hit us in the forehead.
Reforms are needed to become a more efficient society. We need a very serious renewal of personnel at various levels of the country's leadership. We need working social elevators. We need less regulation and more freedom for local initiative. We need a major revision of the relationship between government and business. Relations between government and society. Capitals and regions. Relations within society - people with each other. In recent years, bans and lockdowns have become an almost universal way to deal with any threat to the Russian authorities - but bans cannot win the fight, and the future is not forged by bans.
However, a no less difficult challenge awaits the country on this road. It is necessary to reform the country right in the course of the ongoing war, and at the same time avoid chaos and change out of control. Gorbachev accidentally destroyed the USSR in this way: well-intentioned reforms were carried out without a clear understanding of how they would work and what consequences they would lead to. As a result, the Soviet regime disappeared, and the country, which had been put together for centuries, collapsed in a matter of years. Now you have to be smarter and show more will, determination and flexibility of mind.
#2
The die anyway part, I'm cool with. Sorry? Not so much...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/14/2022 10:38
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#3
“In recent years, bans and lockdowns have become an almost universal way to deal with any threat to the Russian authorities - but bans cannot win the fight, and the future is not forged by bans.” Sounds a lot like CCP and the oligarchs of our country.
Posted by: Papa Cooky ||
05/14/2022 12:37
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[AnNahar] Syrian rebels killed 10 soldiers in northern Syria Friday, in the deadliest such attack since a truce deal reached over two years ago, a war monitor and state media said.
Nine soldiers were also maimed in the attack, Syria's official news agency SANA reported, quoting a military source.
"Around 9:30 this morning snuffies targeted an army bus" in the west of Aleppo province, SANA said, quoting the source.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had reported earlier on Friday that "pro-regime fighters" died in the assault.
It was not immediately clear whether it was carried out by the area's dominant jihadist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... (HTS), or other rebel forces, the monitor said.
The attackers fired an anti-tank guided missile at a bus carrying pro-regime fighters back to their home villages, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
He said six rebel fighters were killed this month in similar attacks conducted by regime soldiers or allied militia.
Friday's corpse count was the heaviest reported in pro-government ranks from a rebel attack since a truce agreement brokered by Russia and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... in March 2020.
Before Russia intervened in the Syrian conflict, the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... controlled barely a fifth of the national territory.
With Russian and Iranian support, Damascus clawed back much of the ground lost in the early stages of the conflict, which erupted in 2011 when the government brutally repressed pro-democracy protests.
The last pocket of armed opposition to the regime includes large swathes of Idlib province and parts of the neighboring Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces.
HTS, headed by ex-members of Syria's former al-Qaeda franchise, is the dominant group in the area but other rebel groups are also active, with varying degrees of Ottoman Turkish backing.
The 2020 truce deal has held despite sporadic attacks by both sides, including continued Russian air strikes.
Turkey was keen to cement its influence in northern Syria and avert a new phase of fighting in the conflict that could have caused an unprecedented wave of refugees to flood its border.
Turkey is home to more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees and Prime Minister His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important... , facing rising public anger over the issue, has suggested that his government would encourage a million of them to return.
[Garowe] Somali security forces killed 17 al-Shabaab ...... the personification of Somali state failure... gunnies and maimed several others during security operations in the southern region on Wednesday, officials said on Thursday.
The Somalia National Army (SNA) told Radio Mogadishu that the security operation which was carried out by its special forces, Danab, also saw nine of al-Shabaab hideouts destroyed in southern and southwestern states.
"Seventeen al-Shabaab bad boyz were potted and nine of their hideouts destroyed in special security operations carried out by SNA commanders in Somalia's Jubaland and Southwest states in the past 24 hours," the radio reported.
The government forces have stepped up operation against al-Shabaab blamed for staging sporadic attacks targeting 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... and government key bases including public places in Mogadishu and elsewhere across the country.
The intensified operation also comes ahead of the long-delayed presidential elections to be held in the capital, Mogadishu, on Sunday.
Al-Shabaab snuffies who have opposed the ongoing electoral process have staged a series of attacks, targeting delegates in bid to disrupt the electoral process.
[IsraelTimes] Country declares 40 days of mourning for its leader; Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, long the de facto ruler, is expected to succeed.
The United Arab Emirates’ President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan died aged 73 on Friday, state media said, after battling illness for several years.
Sheikh Khalifa’s rule since 2004 saw his country’s meteoric rise on the international scene.
"The Ministry of Presidential Affairs condoles the people of the UAE and the Islamic world... on the passing of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan on Friday, May 13," the official WAM news agency said.
The ministry announced a 40-day period of mourning and a three-day suspension of work in all ministries and the private sector beginning Friday, including flags to be flown at half-staff.
The late head of state was rarely seen in public since a stroke in January 2014, and the country has largely been ruled by his half-brother Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, known colloquially as MBZ.
MBZ, who led the country’s normalization process with Israel in 2020, is expected to ascend to the presidency of the small Gulf nation.
Israeli leaders expressed their condolences to the UAE over the president’s death.
"Sheikh Khalifa’s legacy and tremendous deeds are greatly admired in Israel," Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement. "The State of Israel stands alongside the United Arab Emirates at this difficult time."
Sheikh Khalifa took over as the UAE’s second president in November 2004, succeeding his father as the 16th ruler of Abu Dhabi, the richest of the federation’s seven emirates.
He has rarely been seen in public since 2014, when he had surgery following a stroke, although he has continued to issue rulings. The cause of death was not immediately released.
The UAE, a former British protectorate that was founded in 1971, has gone from desert outpost to booming state in its short history, fueled by its oil wealth and Dubai’s rise as a trading and financial center.
The Arab world’s second-biggest economy behind Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century... has also begun to wield growing political influence, filling a space ceded by traditional powers such as Egypt, Iraq and Syria.
The country of 10 million also joined military campaigns in Libya and Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... and broke ranks with much of the Arab world to establish ties with Israel in 2020.
The bearded Sheikh Khalifa had cut a frail figure on his occasional public appearances, while his brother hosted world leaders and led diplomatic forays abroad.
"The Emirates has lost its virtuous son and leader of the ’stage of empowerment’ and the trustee of its blessed journey," Mohammed bin Zayed tweeted on Friday.
"His stances, achievements, wisdom, generosity and initiatives are in every corner of the nation... Khalifa bin Zayed, my brother... may God have mercy on you and grant you access to paradise."
Sheikh Khalifa, who had no formal higher education, led the UAE as Dubai emerged as a tourism and trade hub and Abu Dhabi pumped oil as a key OPEC player.
He came to the rescue of Dubai when it was hit by the global financial crisis in 2009, extending a multi-billion-dollar lifeline to the debt-laden emirate.
[IsraelTimes] Sgt. Maj. Noam Raz, 47, dies of wounds after being airlifted to hospital; video shows security forces surrounding home of Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... suspect, firing missile toward building
A police commando who was seriously maimed during fierce exchanges of fire between Israeli troops and Paleostinian button men in the northern West Bank on Friday morning has died of his wounds, police said
The officer was named as 47-year-old Sgt. Maj. Noam Raz, a 23-year veteran of the elite Yamam counterterror unit.
Raz "fell this morning during a fight with armed bully boyz who opened fire on our forces during an operation in the village of Burqin near Jenin. During the battle he was maimed and evacuated by helicopter to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, where he was declared dead," police said.
Raz, a founder and resident of the settlement Kida in the West Bank, leaves behind a wife and six children. Police hailed him as an experienced fighter who had "taken part in hundreds of operations to prevent terror, risked himself and saved lives."
He was a brave, professional and humble fighter," the statement said.
Raz was hit as forces were wrapping up an operation that included raids on terror suspects’ homes. A senior officer in the military’s Central Command said the amount of gunfire directed at troops on Friday was "indescribable."
The Israel Defense Forces earlier acknowledged that forces from the military and Shin Bet as well as Yamam were operating in Burqin in order to arrest a number of suspects.
"During the operation, Israeli forces fired at armed bully boyz who opened heavy fire and threw explosives toward them... As part of the operation, forces used various special measures to arrest a suspect who barricaded himself inside his home and eventually surrendered together with his brother," a joint statement issued by police and the IDF read.
According to the IDF, five suspects were arrested in the West Bank overnight and this morning, and illegal weapons were seized in the city of Hebron.
Military officials said the suspects who were arrested in the Jenin area were responsible for shooting attacks at troops in recent weeks.
The Paleostinian Authority Health Ministry reported 13 hurt, including one critically, in the Jenin fighting.
Footage on social media showed masked Paleostinians firing rifles in the direction of Israeli soldiers, as heavy gunfire could be heard.
Paleostinian reports said Israeli forces surrounded the home of a suspect and called on everyone inside to surrender. The Islamic Jihad terror group identified the suspect, Mohammad al-Dab’i, as a member of its military wing.
Video showed an Israeli soldier firing a shoulder-launched missile at the home, with smoke then seen rising from the building.
A separate clip showed the house on fire. It was unclear if anyone was inside.
The suspect’s father later told Paleostine TV that his son was arrested after "hours of siege."
Clashes were also reported in the nearby Jenin refugee camp.
Amid the gunbattles, Islamic Jihad spokesperson Tariq Izz al-Din urged all Paleostinians and gangs to "defend the Jenin refugee camp."
One of the Paleostinian maimed was named as Daoud Zubaidi. His brother, Zakaria Zubeidi, is a convicted terror leader who last year beat feet from Gilboa Prison for a week before being recaptured. Daoud Zubaidi was later taken to an Israeli hospital for treatment, according to the Ynet news site. He was listed at death's door.
Several Paleostinian bully boyz behind recent deadly attacks that left 19 dead hailed from Jenin and its environs. Israeli forces have been carrying out raids in the area.
Police Chief Kobi Shabtai hails Sgt. Maj. Noam Raz, who was killed in a battle with Death Eaters near Jenin this morning, as a hero who recently saved the life of a comrade.
"We bow our heads in the memory of Noam Raz z"l who fell in an exchange of fire with terrorists," says Shabtai.
Noam, was a dedicated husband, an exemplary father and one of the best fighters in the Israel police," he says.
He revealed that Raz, who was a paramedic in the elite Yamam counterterror unit, had recently saved the life of a seriously maimed comrade during previous festivities in Jenin in recent weeks.
"Heroism and values were inherent in his character and operational activity in the Yamam," he says.
#1
Some may be shocked at the misuse of government property. I'm a bit shocked that an Air Force crew lacked the low cunning necessary to get away with this scheme.
#4
Nice to know there's enough oversight to catch this. Not nice to know it can selectively go blind with the right piece of paper or phone call.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/14/2022 7:29
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#5
Pilots and crews are required to do 'x' amount of flight time. How they do that sometimes is irregular from 'normal' exercises. When there was a drought in the Carolinas in the 80s, they had their Air NG fly to NY to pick up bails of hay needed by their farmers from donations by NY farmers. It's flight time.
#8
Lots of cross-country training flights in 1989 resulted in our det having to stay out in town because Alameda BEQ/BOQ were full. Obviously a coincidence that World Series was in town that weekend…..
And funny how Intruder cross-countries to/from Maine always arrived w/blivets full of lobster??? Damn stowaways anyway.
#9
US Air Force crew is not disciplined for landing their Hercules aircraft at Kabul International to pick up a vintage ZSU Technical owned by one of its members.
#11
Loadmaster story about the Wake Island (?) Fire Engine being flown out, a C-130, the weight/center of gravity calculation from the Equipment Manual in pre-flight, and how much 500 gallons of water weight still in the tank of the fire engine. Some imagination for pilot comments required!
#12
I worked with someone who was a crewman on Marine-1 back in the 60's (Johnson->Nixon) He told of flying somewhere to pick up a canoe for an an officer . They found out that the Grumman plant they chose that had an airfield didn't make canoes only aircraft!
The one I witnessed was back around 1979. While waiting for my plane in Belize City , a group of British aviators entered the terminal with dollies full of cases of beer. A helicoptor rapidly spooled up . Once the vital supplies were loaded on board it was time to RTB!
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] "Those words were the second-worst thing that I had in my mouth that day"
The South Carolina senator was recorded on January 6, 2021, discussing his hopes that incoming president Joe Biden would calm the tensions
Lindsey Graham, 66, said that he felt Biden, 79, was 'maybe the best person to have' in the aftermath of the insurrection, adding: 'How mad can you get at Joe Biden?'
On Thursday Graham was asked about his remarks, and said he had been wrong
The senator said he had wanted Biden to be a success, but had been left deeply disappointed with his performance
Graham said Biden had made the U.S. 'less safe' by emboldening bad actors, and had made a mess of the U.S.-Mexico border, with Taiwan also in danger
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2022
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#1
McCains water boy is one of those Beltway swamp creatures that have infested the GOP for far too long. Little Lindsey has made it a habit being wrong by trusting the old country club way of operating in the Senate. Time for him to retire, and make way for someone more like Sen Scott.
#8
Lindsey tried hard to be reasonable while Trump was in office but now, with Trump out of the way, he feels free to revert to his old ways.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/14/2022 11:49
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#9
On behalf of SC voters, I apologize.
He had no recognizable primary opposition; and in the November elections, his opponent was the guy who is now chair of the DNC. Talk about the lesser of two evils.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/14/2022 16:48
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[Rudaw] Decades-long conflict between The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has left 212 villages across Erbil province abandoned, an official told Rudaw on Thursday amid Ankara’s latest operation against the group in the Kurdistan Region.
Frequent Ottoman Turkish operations in the Region seeking to rid its southern border of PKK fighters, allegedly using the area as a staging ground for attacks on Ankara's soil, have brought significant discomfort to villagers with many leaving their homes due to the conflict between the two.
"The villages have become the site of many conflicts, and the ongoing conflicts have caused a lot of problems for us as an administration," Halgurd Sheikh Najib, head of Soran independent administration, told Rudaw's Bakhtiyar Qadir.
Bradost, an area frequently bombed by Turkey, recorded the highest number of empty villages where 118 villages were abandoned in the past 30 years, Najib said.
Najib stressed that returning villagers cause his administration significant concern, saying that they "cannot ensure their safety" and "many unfortunate incidents have happened where they have fallen victim to Ottoman Turkish bombardments and PKK landmines."
Apart from Turkey-PKK festivities, Iranian warplanes often target Bradost area. On Wednesday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted a mountainous area in Sidakan, inflicting no civilian or material damage.
Dozens of other villages have also been abandoned in Barzan, Choman, and Rawanduz.
Sixty five Barzan villages are uninhabited, 24 in Choman’s Balakayati area and five in Rawanduz, according to Najib.
Last month, Turkey announced a fresh phase in a series of anti-PKK operations, an gang struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. The operation, dubbed Claw-Lock, is an air and ground assault that heavily focuses on mountainous border areas where the PKK maintains a presence.
The recent incursion has been widely condemned by Iraqi officials, labeling it as a "hostile" and "provocative" violation of the country's illusory sovereignty.
Turkey has come under criticism from Baghdad, Erbil, and the wider international community for violating Iraqi illusory sovereignty, but Ankara continues to establish increasing numbers of bases and outposts in the mountains of Erbil and Duhok provinces. Turkey says that it is in the mountains of the Region to cut off the path of PKK bandidosforces of Evil and to prevent them from crossing into the Kurdish areas in the southeast of the country and attacking the security forces.
A parliamentary report published in 2020 said the conflict has left a staggering 504 villages empty across the Kurdistan Region.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Fed chair Jay Powell issued warning to Americans struggling with inflation
The medicine will bring 'some pain,' he said in an interview on Thursday
Powell is trying to bring down inflation without triggering a recession
That could mean job losses and pay freezes for workers
He spoke after being confirmed for a second term as head of the central bank
The Fed is now in the process of raising interest rates to slow borrowing and spending enough to cool off inflation
Powell's support in Congress demonstrates that Republicans largely blame Biden's spending rather than the Fed's ultra-low interest rates and purchasing of trillions of dollars in securities
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2022
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#2
How about a wind-fall tax on all senior federal government bureaucrats' income* with additional penalty for any remuneration gained from businesses, organizations, and fronts that they're suppose to work with, to ease the pain of the little people?
#3
Term limit all elective and appointed gummint officials.
Cap all spending at a < 100% amount of last year's tax revenues.
All legislation is required to be sunsetted on a schedule out of sync with congressional elections.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/14/2022 8:02
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#4
This asshole is incompetent. He failed to raise rates last year when everyone knew inflation was getting out of control. Then he lied about inflation. Why on earth was this mendacious blockhead reconfirmed? Have we really run out of competent economists in this country?
#5
Trump was the best president since Reagan, and his competence was lacking in many areas. I don't think any prexident in my lifetime willingly had more backstabbers working for him.
The founders designed a great system for honest, competent men who didn't intend to make politics their lives. It was not designed to work with what we have had since maybe Lincoln, and he dealt with a lot of backstabbers too.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/14/2022 8:43
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#6
And you know what? America's problems are Americans' problems. I'm more comfortable with Herb's "we" WRT US actions around the world than I am with some troll jackleg trying to insinuate he's (it's) "one of us."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/14/2022 8:46
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#7
Government investigates government's failure, finds its your fault, suggests more government.
Commentary by Russian military blogger Andrey Chervonets
Republican Senator Rand Paul blocked a bill to allocate $ 40 billion to help Ukraine
During a speech broadcast by C-Span, the congressman justified his refusal to support the bill as high risks to the economy. "We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the US economy," he said.
"I swore allegiance to the US Constitution, not to any other country. Congress is trying to push a spending bill again - one I doubt anyone has actually read - and there is no control over how the money is spent," Paul wrote on Twitter.
In his opinion, the United States cannot continue to spend money that they do not have. Otherwise, it threatens the national security of the country, and is "a slap in the face to the millions of American taxpayers who are struggling to buy gasoline, groceries and baby food."
Paul tried to initiate an amendment to the bill that would allow federal oversight of the allocation of funding for Ukraine. The amendment was rejected. It is understandable and the decision will be pushed anyway. This bill is more for money laundering than real help to Kyiv. 90% of the assistance will go to the purchase of weapons, and at exorbitant prices. And, accordingly, space kickbacks to Western bureaucrats.
Now the West will put pressure on Zelensky so that the Armed Forces of Ukraine go on a large-scale offensive (approximately the end of June, the beginning of July).
- if the Armed Forces of Ukraine wins and moves in depth, reclaiming their lost territories, then the collective West naively hopes for a Maidan in Russia, a split, collapse and complete disappearance of the Russian Federation, and so on.
- if the Armed Forces of Ukraine go on the offensive, receive a crushing defeat, many corpses and a retaliatory strike by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation - then this triggers a quick collapse, and then a division between Ukraine's neighbors. At the same time, the West will not have to restore Ukraine and maintain 5-7 billion euros in month hungry and devastated country.
Note that the West is very quickly exporting wheat from Ukraine, realizing that these lands will be given to the opponent, which means that it is necessary to “empty” them as much as possible, just like before bankruptcy, capital is withdrawn.
[IsraelTimes] Statement says ’mob’ took Shireen Abu Akleh’s casket against her family’s wishes, prompting police action; images of officers beating mourners spark global condemnation
Israeli police said late Friday that officers intervened in the funeral of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jerusalem earlier in the day after "rioters" seized her coffin at the hospital, against her family’s wishes.
Officers charged Paleostinians who were holding and surrounding the casket, and beat them with batons, nearly toppling the coffin. Images of the incident sparked global shock and condemnation.
Continued on Page 49
[Daily Wire] The man at the center of the Ruby Ridge standoff died Wednesday.
Randy Weaver, the Idaho survivalist whose refusal to surrender to federal agents led to the 11-day siege of his remote cabin in Boundary County, Idaho, passed away at the age of 74. His daughter Sara confirmed his passing in a Facebook post Thursday morning.
"Love you always Dad....❤ ’See ya next time I see ya’ 😘 January 3, 1948 — May 11, 2022 😢💔," Sara Weaver wrote. A cause of death has not been made public. According to an earlier post on the page, Weaver requested prayers in late April for her father, indicating that he had been sick at least since then, KXLY reported.
Weaver was a survivalist who built a remote cabin in the woods of Boundary County, near Ruby Ridge, in the 1980s. Federal agents began investigating him in the 80s over allegations by a neighbor that he had made threats against government leaders. Then, in 1989, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms accused Weaver of selling sawed-off shotguns to an ATF informant. Charges were filed in June 1990; Weaver was arrested by ATF agents in January 1991, and told to appear for trial in February, but the court gave participants conflicting travel dates, and Weaver refused to appear, leading the judge to issue a bench warrant.
The United States Marshals Service initially put off the warrant until March, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office convened a grand jury a week before the Marshals intended to enforce the warrant. According to the U.S. Sun, Weaver simply chose not to surrender and remained inside the cabin in Ruby Ridge for a year and a half with his wife and children.
On August 21, 1992, deputies of the United States Marshals Service arrived at the cabin to arrest and take Weaver into custody in compliance with the bench warrant. The Marshals showed up in military camouflage and scouted the area. The family dog, Striker, was alerted to the marshals throwing rocks at the cabin, and Weaver, his son Sammy, and family friend Kevin Harris went to investigate. Sammy and Harris encountered the Marshals, who shot the dog and Sammy dead. Harris shot back, killing Deputy Marshal William Francis Degan.
The incident escalated into an 11-day siege of the cabin. On August 22, Weaver’s wife Vicki was shot and killed by an FBI Sniper while holding their 10-month old daughter in her arms. Weaver and his three daughters finally surrendered to the Marshals on August 31, after a civilian negotiator convinced him to allow Harris to receive medical attention. Weaver and Harris were both injured during the standoff.
Weaver turned himself into authorities. He was charged with killing Degan, but was acquitted of all charges, except for failure to appear in court and a previous violation of bail conditions. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but was released after 16 months on good behavior. Harris was also charged with murder, but was acquitted on all charges. Five years later, he was indicted for the murder of Degan, but the charges were dropped on double jeopardy grounds. The Weavers settled a lawsuit with the Justice Department in 1995, which awarded Weaver with $100,000 and each of his three daughters $1 million each.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/14/2022
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#1
Met Mr. Weaver at gun show in the Metro-Atlanta many years ago. He was nothing the media attempted portray him as. The title "White Sepratist" was the DC media machines way of trying to inject a false race card. He and his family were white and lively away from a screwed up world in the moutains. Nothing more.
#2
You guys are probably tired of me always bringing this up when Ruby Ridge stories hit the Burg. However ..history is important. The Atty. Gen at the time was Bill Barr. His recent antics should surprise no one.
#4
It annoys me that discussion of Ruby Ridge rarely mentions that Weaver was a Green Beret, that he was falsely accused by the ATF of a gun crime in an attempt to induce him to become an informant, that he was found not guilty of everything but a bench warrant failure to appear/contempt charge, that the Federal government quietly settle with him years afterwards giving him $100,000 and each of his daughter 1 million dollars in compensation.
[FoxNews] Robert McFarlane, a national security advisor to former President Ronald Reagan who was involved in the Iran-contra scandal, has died at the age of 84.
McFarlane died on Thursday in Lansing, Michigan, according to the New York Times, and was visiting family when he passed away.
He pleaded guilty to withholding information to congress in 1988 during the investigation of the Iran-contra scandal, when the Reagan administration secretly sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of Western hostages in 1988. Money made from the weapons sales was then secretly funneled to the Nicaragua contra rebels who were attempting to overthrow its Marxist government regime.
[Reuters] President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday it was not possible for NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... -member The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... to support plans by Sweden and Finland to join the pact given that the Nordic countries were "home to many terrorist organizations".Though Turkey has officially supported NATO enlargement since it joined the U.S.-led alliance 70 years ago, its opposition could pose a problem for Sweden and Finland given new members need unanimous agreement.
Turkey has repeatedly slammed Sweden and other Western European countries for its handling of organizations deemed terrorist by Ankara, including the Kurdish murderous Moslem groups PKK and YPG, and the followers of U.S.-based Islamic holy manFethullah Gülen ... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world. Gülen and Erdogan used to be really good friends, but only one of them could be sultan, and Gülen lost... . Ankara says Gulenists ...the Turkish version of the Boogie Man, who set fire to the Turkish Reichsstag... carried out a coup attempt in 2016. Gulen and his supporters deny the accusation.
Finland's plan to apply for NATO membership, announced Thursday, and the expectation that Sweden will follow, would bring about the expansion of the Western military alliance that Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... aimed to prevent by launching the invasion of Ukraine.
"We are following the developments regarding Sweden and Finland, but we don't hold positive views," Erdogan told news hounds in Istanbul, adding it had been a mistake for NATO to accept Greece as a member in the past.
"As Turkey, we don't want to repeat similar mistakes. Furthermore, Scandinavian countries are guesthouses for terrorist organizations," Erdogan said, without giving details.
Dreadful. Simply dreadful, and quite unlike the terrorist organizations nestled in the Turkish bosom.
"They are even members of the parliament in some countries. It is not possible for us to be in favour," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#2
Turkey just don't want the U.S. to move it's tactical nuke stockpiles to Sweden or Finland! Turkey likes to straddle the fence, thinking only of themselves in a NATO stance.
#7
No mention of Cyprus. The festering boil on the butt of this nation split between Greece and turkey. I don't see Erdogan backing down. With Biden so weak and Putin represents strength.Russia and China represent a stronger alliance. The media versus reality. As this conflict drags on Russians will not retire.
#8
there should be an total ceasefire on the Ukraine Conflict & Full Diplomacy adhered , too !! Truth & Reconcillation Commmission For All Involved !! Unify Russia & Ukraine , together !!
[NAHARNET] Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader Samir Geagea ...Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005... on Friday snapped back at Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... chief Jebran Bassil over his latest remarks against the LF, a few hours before the country enters electoral silence for Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
"On what did Jebran Bassil rely to say that those voting for the LF would be voting for the Israeli enemy and ISIS? He is not relying on anything but his sick mentality," Geagea said in an interview on Leb ...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... ’s MTV.
"Jebran Bassil is a corrupt, liar and crook and we’re relying on facts, whereas what is he depending on when he accuses us?" the LF leader added.
"The corrupts and liars are the FPM and Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... has a project that is bigger than Lebanon," Geagea wen on to say.
He pointed out that the main issue in the country today is "treating the disease" and "this disease is Hizbullah."
"Based on this, I say that anyone voting for Hizbullah, the FPM and their allies would be voting for the extension of the situation that we are living in," Geagea added.
He also charged that "intentionally or unintentionally, Hizbullah, the FPM and their allies are destroying the country."
"An opposition force that is capable of confronting this destructive scheme for the country must be formed," Geagea urged.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Lovelle Jordan, 27, shot three Chicago police officers at the Grand Central District police station on July 30, 2020
Jordan managed to hide a gun in his crotch after being arrested for trying to steal a Porsche, handcuffed and thrown in a cruiser
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability released all the bodycam footage, as well as police reports after concluding its investigation in March 2022
Jordan can be heard telling officers to stay away from his crotch and convincing then to handcuff him in the front which allowed him to reach for the weapon
Officer Jason Cloherty, now 49, was shot in the neck while James Rowe and James Kurth were also hit but all three survived
Jordan was sentenced to 31 years in prison for his actions in April 2022, but recently died on April 19 from unknown injuries
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFrontInfo] 23:50 NM DPR, together with the RF Armed Forces, since the beginning of the current day, have destroyed 26 Ukrainian nationalists, one 152mm self-propelled artillery gun 2S5 "Hyacinth", two nomadic 120mm mortars, one reconnaissance chemical vehicle "Kashalot", two lightly armored vehicles. one armored personnel carrier and two cargo vehicles were captured. 23:22 From the side of Ukraine, areas of 10 settlements of the DPR were fired upon. As a result of Ukrainian aggression, three civilians were killed and five were injured. A total of seven residential buildings and two civil infrastructure facilities were damaged.
22:31 Ukrainian fighters launched an artillery strike on Dokuchaevsk. As a result of this terrorist act, one civilian was killed and four civilians were injured, including two journalists from the Russian television channel RT, who were on duty. As a result of this shelling, apartment buildings and gas stations of the Republican Fuel Company were damaged.
21:18 According to the operational line of the JCCC DPR, information was received about damage as a result of shelling of the VFU at the following addresses:
n.p. Mikhailovka:
- st. Maiskaya, 42 - a direct hit in a private residential building.
Information about the consequences of shelling continues to arrive.
21:08 Decree of the Head of the DPR No. 203 of May 13, 2022 amended the Decree of the Head of the Donetsk People's Republic of March 3, 2022 No. 45.
The liberated settlements, previously temporarily under the control of Ukraine, are included in the zone of influence and responsibility of the Starobeshevsky district of the Donetsk People's Republic.
According to the changes, temporarily included in the zone of influence and responsibility:
The document comes into force from the day of its official publication.
21:05 According to the operational line of the DPR JCCC, information was received about the wounding of 8 civilians as a result of the shelling of the AFU on the previously liberated territory of the Republic:
— n.p. Rubizhne (LPR):
is a woman born in 1958.
n.p. Pavlovka:
is a man born in 1989.
n.p. Middle:
— child (boy) born in 2014;
- a man born in 1972.
Mariinsky district:
is a woman born in 1968.
n.p. Opytnoye:
is a woman born in 1989.
n.p. Nikolskoye:
- a man born in 1991.
n.p. Mariupol:
- a man born in 1955.
19:30 DPR Minuglya: power supply of four more settlements restored
Residents of the recently liberated villages of Shevchenko, Berdyanskoye, Prigorodnoye, Novoazovskoye were finally able to turn on the lights in their homes.
Power engineers in the shortest possible time carried out a significant amount of emergency recovery work at Pervomaiskaya-Shevchenko and the 35 kV Shevchenko substation that feeds these settlements.
16:15 Another 178 people were evacuated from Mariupol to Bezymennoye
During the day on May 13, from 08:00 to 16:00, 178 people, including 26 children, were evacuated from Mariupol to Bezymennoe, Novoazovsky District.
Currently, they are at the point of assistance to the evacuated population, which is deployed by the forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the DPR.
The department has compiled lists of the evacuated population. Advice on finding missing relatives can be obtained around the clock at the following numbers:
14:32 Daily summary of the Headquarters for territorial defense of the DPR on May 13, 2022
In the course of a joint operation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the DPR and the LPR to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, a group of DPR troopscontinues to releasesettlements of the Donetsk People's Republic, previously under the control of the VFU.
13:08 VFU shelled Horlivka, a fire broke out in the mine
As a result of the shelling at the checkpoint of the mine. Lenin, located on the street. Spasenov, there was a fire.
Take care of yourself and your family, try not to leave the house unnecessarily. During the shelling, do not leave the shelter.
13:00 According to updated information, as a result of the shelling of the VFU of the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, on the street. Kizilskaya, 9/3, it is reported about the death of a civilian - a man born in 1973.
12:45 The operational line of the DPR JCCC received information about the death of a civilian - a man born in 1973. as a result of the shelling of the VFU of the Petrovsky district of Donetsk at the address st. Kizilskaya, 9.
12:28 Ukrainian militants continue to fire indiscriminately
As a result of the shelling of the village of Yasinovka, on the street. Tabashevsky, 11A, Ukrainian shells interrupted the power line.
Take care of yourself and your family, try not to leave the house unnecessarily. During the shelling, do not leave the shelter.
12:27 Mayor of Gorlovka Ivan Prikhodko reports on the shelling of the village of the Gagarin mine and the village of Golmovsky by the Ukrainian Nazis.
12:10 Information was received through the operational line of the DPR JCCC about the wounding of a civilian born in 1950. as a result of the shelling by VFU Petrovsky in the district of Donetsk at the address st. Krasnoselskaya, 36.
As a result of shelling by VFU of Petrovsky district of Donetsk recorded damage to a private residential building at st. Vyatskaya, 86.
10:17 A total of 2,600 subscribers remain without power supply in Oleksandrivka
A total of 29 transformer substations, one hospital, one school, one kindergarten, 2,600 household subscribers were de-energized as a result of the shelling of the VFU in Aleksandrovka, the DPR Ministry of Coal and Energy reported.
10:16 AFU shelled the Kuibyshevsky district of Donetsk.
As a result of the shelling on the street. Nagornaya suffered housing construction. Details are being specified.
Take care of yourself and your family, try not to leave the house unnecessarily. During the shelling, do not leave the shelter.
10:04 Yasinovataya is again under fire from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Beat using MLRS Grad.
10:00 A total of 509 people were evacuated from Mariupol in a day to the settlement. Nameless Novoazovsky district. Of these, 36 children.
09:25 Information about the death of a civilian born in 1960 was received through the operational line of the DPR JCCC. as a result of the shelling of the VFU n.p. Verkhnetoretskoe.
09:05 Shelling was recorded from the side of the VFU in the direction: n.p. Krasnogorovka - n.p. Staromikhaylovka: fired five5 mines in 120mm caliber.
08:42 Shelling was recorded from the side of the VFU in the direction: n.p. Kamenka - n.p. Verkhnetoretskoye: eight shells of 122mm caliber were fired.
08:33 The first social facilities have been powered in Mariupol. For several weeks, employees of the State Unitary Enterprise of the DPR “Regional Energy Supply Company” worked literally in emergency mode, without days off and holidays, in order to return electricity to the city as quickly as possible.
08:30 Shelling was recorded from the side of the VFU in the direction: n.p. Krasnogorovka - Donetsk (Petrovsky district): five shells of 122mm caliber were fired.
08:17 Shelling was recorded from the side of the VFU in the direction: n.p. Novomikhailovka - Donetsk (Petrovsky district): eight8 shells of 122mm caliber were fired.
08:00 Shelling from the side of the VFU was recorded in the following directions:
n.p. Avdievka - n.p. Yasinovataya: five missiles fired from the BM-21 Grad.
n.p. Avdievka - n.p. Yasinovataya: 10 missiles fired from the BM-21 Grad.
n.p. Novgorodskoye - n.p. Panteleymonovka: six shells of 122mm caliber were fired.
[IsraelTimes] Officers say they found 19-year-old, who apparently illegally entered Israel, close to Tzur Yitzhak carrying knife and stone
An armed 19-year-old Paleostinian who allegedly sought to commit a terror attack was arrested on Friday night near the central Israeli town of Tzur Yitzhak, police said.
According to police, the suspect — apparently illegally in Israel — was found to be carrying a knife, a stone, and a letter apparently "indicating his intention to carry out an attack in Israeli territory."
"Officers from the Taybe station conducted scans in the area of Tzur Yitzhak and Route 444 upon receiving a report of a man walking around the Tzur Yitzhak junction in a suspicious manner, with a stone in his hand," police said in a statement.
The suspect was taken for further questioning.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, additional forces were deployed to the entrance of the town, which is close to the West Bank security barrier.
[RedState] How deep are the White House lies? We see Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Sleazy Dem mschine politician, paterfamilias of the Biden Crime Family... making up lies virtually every day.
But perhaps some of the most offensive lies that he and his administration tell are the ones that defy reality right in front of our faces. Such as when White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki ...a valley girl who woke up one morning and found she was spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of State under Obama... told us that Kámala Harris Former Oakland mayor Willie Brown's former mistress, now a senatrix from California former 2020 Dem presidential hopeful, and Joe Biden's wing nut... was socially distancing from people during Ketanji Brown Jackson’s ceremony (despite the pictures showing Harris hugging her), that there was no internal ceremony (despite pictures showing there was one), and that Harris wore a mask while inside despite White House posting a video that showed she wasn’t). They simply didn’t care about telling such blatant lies because they are largely not held accountable for it.
I thought the Ketanji Brown Jackson lies were bad, defying what we could see right in front of our faces. But the vaccine lie that the White House told just may beat those for audacity.
This has been up since 4:45 p.m on Thursday and it hasn’t been deleted yet despite a severe ratio.
"When President Biden took office, millions were unemployed and there was no vaccine available," the account tweeted. "In the last 15 months, the economy has created 8.3M jobs and the unemployment rate stands at 3.6% — the fastest decline in unemployment to start a President’s term ever recorded."
The second part is no achievement since it’s people returning to work as the pandemic lockdowns eased, not because of anything Biden has done. But the first part — "there was no vaccine available" — just beggars all the facts.
It was because of the unique effort employed by President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... , making a private-public partnership, that they got vaccines done in record time and available by December 2020.
They were averaging over one million a day and had 20 million vaccinated by the time Joe Biden came in. That was an amazing thing to achieve within a little over a month and not having done anything like that on such a massive scale before.
Heck, Biden even got his first shot in December and his second shot before he came in.
Of course, given it’s Joe, maybe he doesn’t remember. But the White House account even tweeted about it themselves. So they get busted by their tweet.
[NAHARNET] Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... chief Jebran Bassil on Friday said anew that he is in favor of "peace with Israel," while adding that such a peace would have its "conditions."
"I would like to see us reaching peace with Israel and Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... does not agree with me in this issue," Bassil said in an interview on LBCI television, a few hours before electoral silence begins for Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
"We must reach peace but peace has its condition," he added.
Asked about visiting Syria "as a presidential candidate," Bassil said such a scenario is not on the table.
As for the post-elections period, the FPM chief said: "We must have two courses -- the first is the formation of a government and the election of a president, and the second is real dialogue about the issue of the system, including decentralization, the defense strategy and halting the collapse."
Separately, Bassil said the FPM holds Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri ...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians... "largely responsible for everything that happened to the presidential tenure" of President Michel Aoun ...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... .
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Soldiers from 19 nations are taking part in NATO-led military drills in a show of strength across Europe
Swift Response 22 exercises in North Macedonia today involve 4500 US, British, French, Italian and allied troops
Exercise Hedgehog is also taking place on the Estonia-Latvia border this month featuring 18,000 NATO troops in the biggest military exercise in Estonia which takes place every four years
Similar military drills are being held across five locations in Europe this month
It comes amid Russian aggression against NATO expansion as Finland announced intention to join the pact
[TOLO] I don't know which part of this cluster is most hilarious/ironic
The Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi once again called for an inclusive government in Afghanistan that represents all groups and political factions.
In a joint press conference with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Thursday, Raisi discussed the situation in Afghanistan and said the country needs sustainable security.
"Afghan people must have an inclusive government to cover all political groups and ethnicities and as well as a government that can provide a lasting security across the country," said Ebrahim Raisi.
Several Afghan experts said the establishment of an inclusive government could be a pathway to end challenges that currently exist in Afghanistan, Saying the conditions set by the international community are the demands of the Afghan people.
"Forming an inclusive government is an important factor for stabilizing security and the economy in Afghanistan. Such a government, and women and girls’ education, must be focused on," said Sayed Harron Hashimi, a political expert.
The Islamic Emirate said it has already taken steps toward inclusive government.
"The Islamic Emirate has always been committed to forming an inclusive government and took steps to prove it; on the other hand, it is an eternal issue of Afghanistan and Afghan people."
The Islamic Emirate is still struggling for international recognition, despite many efforts made during the past months.
However, political offices of several countries remained open in Afghanistan.
The international community has constantly stated that the new government of Afghanistan must fulfill its commitments to receive recognition. The international community insisted on the forming an inclusive government, respect for the rights of women and girls and other minorities, and as well as that Afghanistan not becoming a haven for insurgent groups.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/14/2022
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Top|| File under: Taliban/IEA
direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] Fighting between armed groups took place in the port city of Sabratha in northwestern Libya, on May 13, Al-Marsad reported.
The place of their confrontation was the Dahman district. Residents of the city reported explosions in the area where the conflict began .
As REGNUM reported , on May 12, in the Libyan city of Janzur, west of Tripoli, clashes occurred between local armed groups using large-caliber weapons.
#1
Not ASW. These were the LCS littoral combat ships, with supposed modular payloads. And they also had gearing design problems that limited their top speed to 15knots. The Independence class LCS are also being decommissioned because of cracks in the deck between the deck plates and the vertical hull frames which limit the affected ships to max speed of 15 knots and limits them to SeaState 4 max!
Theyd have almost been better off building old Perry class frigates, sheesh
#2
Yes, but all those Captains and Admirals involved got pretty medals and a good retirement for delivering this upon us. They'll be no lessons learned from the failure either.
#9
In theory the LCS would have been the wet dream of the Pentagon bean counters ... in theory.
The whole "plug n' play modules" multi-role idea meaning we don't have to maintain both specialist minesweepers (not sexy!) and small ASW ships (the Surface Warfare career track went out with the battleships so double not sexy!) -OR- the source of institutional knowledge embodied in their crews. Just wave a magic wand in the 5-sided Puzzle Palace and *Presto change-o* and all that lost institutional knowledge will reappear...
#3 Seeking has the point: ships are not an airframe that you can just hang a new "mission pod" off of. They are a mixture of humans, machines and doctrine that takes time to work all the kinks out of.
#10
Magpie: the Danish ships built to the same idea were successful. The problem the Pentagon had was that they decided they wanted a version of the Danish ships, but half the size... and twice the speed. And they never actually bothered getting the modules working, because they could procrastinate "We'll get them later."
#11
The money on the LCS project was lost when it was designed. Fer instance, the ASW module couldn't perform because the sensors and coutermeasures need to built into the hull, not bolted on later. Similar issues with the other versions, but you couldn't do working capability in the volume.
Everything was a compromise aimed at making political points (i.e., we need to keep x shipyard and y contractor with plant in z state in the money flow).
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/14/2022 15:41
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#12
My layman's undertsanding is that a source of the problem is the Navy deciding to go with ''transformational" designs -- "this is a vast leap over what we have now" -- rather than incremental designs, like a new flight of Burkes or Perrys. Build a little, test a little, build some more. But hey, I'd be happy if they could just get the rust under control.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/14/2022 16:20
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#15
magpie, yeah, I think the FREMM'S are the basis for the new Constellation-class FFG's. Construction has just started. What I like about them already is that they're going to have real Original Six frigate names (Congress, Chesapeake, etc.) as opposed to Mayor Ted Wheeler or other commie BS. Who wants to go in harm's way on the Harvey Milk?
Posted by: Matt ||
05/14/2022 17:22
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#16
Ian Toll: Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the US Navy.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/14/2022 17:29
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#17
/\ Matt, I was thinking of that book, actually and that the LCS was the opposite of those ships: "Underarmed, Undermanned, and undersailed ...!*"
(* the professional opinion of the British Navy was that those US Six Frigates were 'overgunned, overmanned and oversailed' and yes they were, but then the British idea of a Frigate was different and how it fit into their much larger navy.)
#18
^ I've stood on the deck of the Constitution in Boston, and that is one sturdy beast. I felt like I was in a bunker rather than on the deck of a ship. As I recall Toll's book explains the considerable effort that went into finding just the right timber. Of course we had no ships-of-the-line.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/14/2022 18:28
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Sudden Jihad Syndrome. No doubt we will subsequently be informed that the poor unnamed dear is suffering from mental illness.
[DW] At least six people were maimed after an assailant attacked them with a knife on a passenger train near the western German city of Aachen. The suspect has been detained by police.
Several people are being treated in hospital after being injured during an attack on a train in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), officials said on Friday.
Herbert Reul, the NRW state interior minister, said six people were maimed, including the suspected attacker. Reul said the suspect struck passengers "indiscriminately and arbitrarily."
Reul also said that "based on everything that we know so far," Sherlocks believed the perpetrator's intent was to harm as many people as possible.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE ATTACK?
The attack took place on a regional passenger train around Herzogenrath, near the city of Aachen, on Friday morning.
Four people were taken to the hospital, although none of the passengers sustained life-threatening injuries. The victims sustained wounds to their hands and cut wounds to their faces.
The suspect is a 31-year-old man who was born in Iraq, although his citizenship remains unclear, Reuel told news hounds. The state interior minister added that Sherlocks are probing a possible hard boy motive behind the attack.
In 2017, the man was flagged by authorities as a person potentially at risk for religious radicalization after his behavior considerably changed during his time living in a refugee shelter, Reuel said. Since then, however, there have been no further incidents.
A 60-year-old federal police officer, who was off-duty and happened to be on the train, managed to overpower and detain the male suspect with the help of two other passengers, officials said. There were 270 passengers on board the train at the time of the attack.
Around 200 officers were deployed to the scene. Authorities have closed the track while investigations are ongoing.
[IsraelTimes] Sheikh Yusuf Albaz charged over a Facebook post and comments supportive of riots; he is currently on trial for similar remarks made a year ago
Prosecutors filed two indictments on Friday morning against Sheikh Yusuf Albaz,
...a holy man at Lod’s Great Mosque and a big turban with the Northern Branch of the so-called Islamic Movement, the militant arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Israel. They go in for rabble rousing, riots and harassing Jews on the Temple Mount via their Israeli Arab Mourabitoun cadres, funding Hamas, and social services in Arab villages in the Galilee. It’s estimated 10% of Arab Israelis are associated in one way or another with either the militant Northern Branch or the political Southern Branch and its Ra’am Party. As a result of his part in these activities, Sheikh Albaz is a frequent flyer in Israeli prison...
63, from Lod, charging the imam with incitement to violence.
The Cyber Department of the State Attorney’s Office filed the charges due to Albaz’s public support for rioters who attacked police on the Temple Mount during Ramadan.
Albaz was arrested in April and questioned by police over his positions and "the publication of content... that is suspected of inciting against the security forces, and support for violent mostly peaceful disturbances of order, among other things," according to the police.
The first indictment relates to a post Albaz published on his Facebook account in which he hailed the "young, the brave, the fortified, the people of freedom" who took part in the riots.
"This is the jihadist honor slate, which has crushed the Israeli occupation with blood and prevented it from dividing the al-Aqsa Mosque," he added, hailing rioters as "heroes."
The second indictment related to a speech Albaz made at a conference next to the Great Mosque in Lod, where he allegedly praised the rioters.
"These young people who put on masks and defend the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque with their bare bodies and a few stones, some iron and wood in the face of an Israeli war machine... We should kiss their heads and legs, otherwise, Israel would have emptied the al-Aqsa Mosque long ago," the indictment quotes Albaz as saying.
Prosecutors are requesting that Albaz be detained until the end of the legal process, citing the "real and substantial" damage caused by his statements.
"These are provocative statements made by an individual with great influence on a wide range of people, against the backdrop of the tense period we are in, reflected by terrorist attacks across the country during which 19 Israelis have been killed, and serious riots have occurred," the indictment read.
Albaz is no stranger to charges of incitement. Another trial is being held against him in the Ramle Magistrate’s Court over statements the imam made during Operation Guardian of the Walls in 2021.
In one of his posts at the time, Albaz shared a clip from the Australian movie "Wolf Creek" which shows the murder of two coppers, with the caption, "the best way to deal with injustice."
In another post, Albaz allegedly threatened Lod’s deputy mayor, Yossi Harush. "I suggest that you stop your bullies because your provocation will take us back [to the riots] and you will pay the price for these actions," Albaz allegedly wrote. "And as for the war you are threatening us with, Yossi Harush, we promise you that we will easily give up our souls in order to teach you to stop your bullying."
NYC: The two far-left lawyers captured on camera carrying out a terrorist firebombing attack during a #BLM riot in 2020 have struck a sweetheart deal with federal prosecutors that will likely limit their prison term to 2 years instead of 10. https://t.co/Gj8C9yCXZq
Activist New York lawyers Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman may now face just two years in prison after destroying a NYPD police car with Molotov cocktails in 2020.
Colinford Mattis: African-American, Princeton grad, NYU Law, former corporate law associate at some fancy New York City law firm, who along with his sister is the primary caregiver for his dead mother’s three foster children — the things ya gotta do in Brooklyn to keep the family’s rent controlled apartment!
Urooj Rahman: the pouty, connected Pakistani-American who trained with Hamas before studying human rights law at Fordham. Her self-proclaimed best friend, successful Washington, DC lawyer Salmah Rizvi, previously worked for President Obama as an intelligence analyst.
According to Fox News, while the actual sentence has yet to be handed down, in a letter filed Tuesday by prosecutors for the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, the prosecutors agreed to recommend an 18- to 24-month sentence following the duo agreeing to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit arson.
A judge could still issue the maximum sentence of five years behind bars to the two lawyers.
The incident in question occurred on June 2, 2020, amidst the massive wave protests raging across the country in the wake of St. George Floyd ...the patron saint of Minneapolis, a sterling example for our children and indeed for us all. St. George was martyed by the Devil's agents in blue while standing on a street corner preaching tolerance and racial justice or something like that... 's death in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25 of that same year.
NYPD surveillance cameras allegedly recorded then 31-year-old Rahman throwing a Molotov cocktail at an unoccupied NYPD vehicle which was parked near the 88th Precinct in Brooklyn, New York. She was seen fleeing in a tan minivan driven by Mattis, then 32.
Photo evidence was later presented of both of them handing out Molotov cocktails to people in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn.
On the morning of June 4 2020, the pair posted bail and were released by a judge, over the objections of the prosecution.
On Oct 20 2021, the pair pleaded guilty to the charges against them, and, at the time, were both potentially facing sentences as long as life in prison for their crimes.
The original indictment included a 40-year mandatory minimum count, with Mattis and Rahman potentially facing life in prison.
The newly recommended sentence is down from the government’s previous plan to seek a 10-year sentence with terrorism enhancement, which was discussed in an October 2021 Brooklyn federal court hearing, according to Fox News.
Patrick J. Lynch, president of New York City’s Police Benevolent Association, expressed his discontent with the prosecution's sentencing recommendation:
"The judge must reject this request. There is absolutely no justification for lowballing the sentence for an anti-police terrorist attack," he said, continuing:
"It's bad enough that these dangerous criminals have been allowed to sit at home for the past two years. Handing them a below-guidelines sentence would give a green light to other anti-police faceless myrmidons who seek to advance their cause through violence. The judge must reject this request."
The prosecution’s Tuesday letter requests that U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan to convert a May 18 hearing scheduled for debate over the terrorism enhancement to a change of plea hearing, according to the Daily Mail.
#3
In ancient Greece, the penalty for any crime committed while 'under the influence' was doubled. Of course, the Greeks then were slow but surely building a civilization, unlike societies today.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFrontInfo] 23:27 Air-based missiles of the Russian Federation hit the headquarters of the defense and the 24th Mechanized Brigade. The RF Armed Forces carried out airstrikes on 55 enemy targets. The missile forces and artillery of the Russian Federation hit 392 targets of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. 22:41 Russian servicemen detained a group of Ukrainian correctors who had been coordinating the fire on Melitopol for several months.
21:40 Rocket troops and artillery hit 17 Ukrainian command posts, five artillery units in positions.
20:15 Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed an ammunition depot in the Kharkov region and more than 300 nationalists.
18:03 Tonight, the RF Armed Forces launched a missile attack on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the settlement of Ochkino, Sumy region. The building was completely destroyed, the losses of the Ukrainian military are being specified.
17:10 Melitopol central library were books promoting the ideas of nationalism have been discovered. "Polite people" seized publications. Propaganda literature will be stored in a special repository, where it will be studied in detail by historians. Instead, true historical books will appear on the shelves of the library.
15:54 In the Kharkiv region, three bridges were blown up, necessary for the transfer of Ukrainian forces. We are talking about bridges near the settlements of Stary Saltov, Pechenegy and Rubezhnoye (not like in the LPR) - CNN.
15:50 According to unconfirmed data, in the area northwest of Izyum shot down another aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force. Soon this square will be called the cemetery of aircraft. Nowhere else is there such a density of downed sides per square kilometer.
15:40 The National Guard entered the premises of the Kherson Internet provider "Status" and turned off all communication equipment. This was reported by the State Service for Special Communications in Telegram. The Russian military demand to connect to the Crimean network.
15:35 Briefing and about. Mayor of the city of Berdyansk A.F. Saulenko:
sports facilities are reopening in Berdyansk; in the department of education, they interviewed the directors of schools; cultural institutions will start working in the near future; the work of route transport to garden associations has been resumed.
13:13 In Vasilyevka, Zaporozhye region, the police department has started working. For all matters relating to law enforcement, please contact: st. Lenina, d. 10.
11:35 The Central Bank of the DPR is preparing to open its representative offices in the liberated territories of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions - Denis Pushilin. It is also planned to open a representative office of the DPR.
11:08 Russian investigators interrogated about 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered - Russia's Investigative Committee.
08:06 Personnel combat work of Ka-52 crews during a special military operation in Ukraine. They are engaged in the destruction of armored vehicles and infrastructure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the delivery of troops and military cargo, and air support for units.
08:02 Russian servicemen provided safe removal of 127 citizens from Russia, Syria, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Ukraine from the territory of the Kherson region.
President Joe Biden will push cities to hire more cops and fund crime prevention programs amid a surge in violence across the U.S.He also will brag about the $10 billion from the American Rescue Plan being used to prop up communities when he meets with mayors and police chiefs
The timing of Biden's remarks is tied to the summer season, when there has historically been more violent crime compared to winter months
Crime also expected to be major issue in November's midterm election
Voters give Biden low marks on his handling of crime
Posted by: Skidmark ||
05/14/2022
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Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
I guess we could use this as an example of Political Bi-polar thinking.
As long as you have prosecutors going after police for talking meanly to perps and not the sociopaths among us, no amount of money will entice them to stick their necks out.
#11
Fund sheriff departments not police departments. Sheriffs are elected and responsible to the public. Police chiefs are appointed and loyal to their political masters
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] To quote a television detective: You gotta be somebody to deserve this kind of fire power.
As an aside, the AK is Romanian in origin, Romak.
Shocking video shows deadly shooting of father-of-one by unknown assailants
Mother of Brandon Dixon, 30, said: 'My heart has been snatched out of my body'
Lisa Dixon: 'I would put my hand on the bible my son was not into anything'
Two shooters remain on the loose as they sped away after broad daylight killing
Brandon's daughter Jordan, 5, confided: 'I'm not gonna see my dad anymore'
Cops are offering a $20,000 for info leading to an arrest of the suspects at large
Surveillance footage shows the balaclava-clad men drive up to the gas station and watch Dixon pump gas into his car before leaping out with assault rifles, firing at least 25 times at the fleeing dad.
Dixon can be seen in the footage sprinting from the pair as they burst from the backseat of their red sedan - which was driven by a third accomplice - but was still struck several times.
'The offenders fired multiple shots at the victim, striking him throughout the body,' lawmen said in a statement addressing the shooting in West Oak Lane - a neighborhood where roughly 95 percent of its 41,000 residents are African-American.
No one else was hit by the gunfire, cops said.
Police searching for the suspects Monday said that one of the gunmen appeared to be armed with an AK-47 rifle, while the other looked to be firing a handgun with an extended magazine clip.
They also revealed the suspects had fired off at least 25 shots during the commando-style shooting - which appeared to be a premeditated hit.
#1
At what point dear judges did you realize all that lust of procedures and getting the proper t crossed and i dotted brought us to decivilization? /rhet question
[IsraelTimes] State media claims a large number of missiles launched by jets over Masyaf; footage shows fire at site in area thought controlled by Iran-backed forces
Five people were killed and seven others were hurt in an alleged Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... on Friday night in northwestern Syria, the country’s state news agency said. ... and if you can't believe the state news agency who can you believe? It was the second alleged Israeli strike on the country in days, after missiles were reportedly launched at a site just across the border from Israel in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday.
The state-run SANA said a large number of missiles were launched by Israeli fighter jets over Masyaf during the Friday night strike.
SANA quoted an unidentified Syrian military official as saying most of the missiles were intercepted.
The Syrian military claims to shoot down incoming missiles after nearly every alleged Israeli strike, which Israeli military officials and civilian defense analysts largely dismiss as empty boasts.
According to SANA, one of those killed is a civilian, meaning the other four were military forces. The network said seven other people, including a child, were hurt in the airstrikes.
Damage was also caused to a site in the area, SANA said, without elaborating further. Footage posted to social media apparently showed a site that was hit multiple times by the Israeli missiles, with fire rising from the area.
The Masyaf area is thought to be used as a base for Iranian forces and pro-Iranian militias and has been repeatedly targeted in recent years in attacks attributed to Israel. The area was struck allegedly by Israel as recently as last month.
The area is also home to a facility belonging to the Scientific Studies and Research Center, known as CERS, which itself has been struck several times in the past.
Western officials have long associated CERS with the manufacture of chemical arms. According to the United States, sarin gas was developed at that center, a charge denied by the Syrian authorities.
There was no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces, which does not normally comment on individual strikes.
[Garowe] The United States will not promote the secessionist ideology being pushed by Somaliland, two senior US officials have maintained, just over a month after President Muse Bihi Abdi visited Washington to rally for statehood in the region.
And rather, the US now maintains it will continue promoting a single Somalia policy, that advocates for close cooperation between the South and the North, which have been wrangling for the last three decades.
Larry Andre, the new US ambassador to Somalia, and General Stephen Townsend, the commander of US Africa Command, on Thursday, visited Hargeisa, the regional administrative capital of Somaliland, where they pushed for the US agenda for Somalia.
"Amb. André and US Africa Command Gen. Townsend met with Muse Bihi today. The leaders discussed furthering our cooperation within the context of our single Somalia policy," the US embassy said. "They also met with Berbera port and airport officials, then viewed the port by helicopter."
The US delegates' visit comes amidst last preparations ahead of the anticipated Somalia presidential election following a prolonged poll process. This also marks Ambassador Larry's first visit to Somaliland since taking office as the head of the US mission in Somalia.
On Sunday, Somalia will be holding a presidential election which has triggered fierce contests, pitting outgoing President Mohammed Abdullahi Farmajo and former Presidents Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud among other potential winners.
The northern regions [Somaliland] have elected their senators and Lower House members mainly domiciled in Mogadishu to represent them in the Federal government in the capital. The senate speaker Abdi Hashi and the deputy PM Mahdi Guled hail from Somaliland.
The region is also pushing for the building of a US military base and has even threatened to cooperate with China.
China has been penetrating markets in Africa by directly participating in the development agenda, further triggering massive economic and military interests by the US. Washington is keen to edge Beijing out of the Horn of Africa thus frequent visits to the region.
[Rudaw] A Dutch court deemed the necessity of repatriating dozens of mothers and children affiliated with the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) from northeast Syria (Rojava) in order to ensure the women are prosecuted, media outlets reported on Thursday.
In a closed session on Wednesday, a court in Netherlands’ Rotterdam city called for the retrieval of 12 Dutch women and their 29 children held in camps in Rojava within four months, before the country loses the right to prosecute them, Netherlands public broadcasting system NOS reported.
"The Netherlands wants to prosecute women who have gone to Syria to join the terrorist group," it added.
This is the first time a Dutch court rules to deliver a verdict to such a big number of people in a single hearing.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested thousands of ISIS fighters along with their wives and children when they took control of the group’s last stronghold in Syria in March 2019. Most of these people are held at al-Hol and Roj camps.
Al-Hol camp, the largest of the two camps, houses around 56,000, according to UN numbers.
On Wednesday, Netherlands’ Public Prosecution Service demanded a jail term of eight years for the first Dutch woman repatriated by the government from Syria, according to NOS.
Rojava authorities have repeatedly called on governments to take responsibility for their citizens, but most Western nations are reluctant to repatriate nationals who may be a security risk due to their links with ISIS. Most countries repatriate on a case-by-case basis, prioritizing children.
The Netherlands has resisted repatriating its nationals because of concerns over the security of both people who would be involved in the repatriation in "dangerous" northern Syria and the Netherlands as a whole. Regardless, a number of Dutch people have been repatriated from the camps since.
In February, it repatriated five Dutch women and 11 children from Roj camp.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/14/2022
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
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.
[Yahoo] Turkish President Recep Tayyip 
[Task & Purpose] new and somewhat unnerving recruiting pitch from the Army’s 4th Psychological Operations Group asks viewers one simple question: "Have you ever wondered who’s pulling the strings?" 
[Mercer] Let us be clear on what free speech truly is. The words people speak, write, tweet; the beliefs they are known to hold, the flags they fly, the symbolic, non-violent ceremonies and rituals they enact, the insignia, paraphernalia, the goose-stepping, Hitler salutes they dick around with—all that is protected speech, licit in natural law.
[Breitbart] On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN International’s "First Move," Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics at Harvard University Ken Rogoff said that inflation in the United States is "just way too high. It’s not getting under control." And predicted that the Federal Reserve will not do enough to stop inflation, but will cool it down because "they won’t want to have an epic recession. I’m not even sure they can pull that off." Rogoff also argued that the Biden administration was "pouring buckets of fuel" onto "the inflation fire" with its "massive stimulus."
[CTVnews] In a world of mobile phones, satellites and the internet, some old school technology is making a major comeback. The shortwave radio, used by spies for decades to send encrypted messages, is being resurrected for the war in Ukraine.
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] 
[AlAhram] A Cairo criminal court has sentenced 25 people to 15 years in prison, one juvenile to five years, and acquitted 12 others in a retrial of the case known in media as “the dispersal of the 
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important...
...... the personification of Somali state failure...
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century...
[IsraelTimes] Sgt. Maj. Noam Raz, 47, dies of wounds after being airlifted to hospital; video shows security forces surrounding home of 
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] 
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
This is for you Jay. 
[FoxNews] 
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
[IsraelTimes] Officers say they found 19-year-old, who apparently illegally entered Israel, close to Tzur Yitzhak carrying knife and stone
...46th president of the U.S. Sleazy Dem mschine politician, paterfamilias of the Biden Crime Family...
...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] 
part of this cluster is most hilarious/ironic
[IsraelTimes] Sheikh Yusuf Albaz charged over a Facebook post and comments supportive of riots; he is currently on trial for similar remarks made a year ago
...the patron saint of Minneapolis, a sterling example for our children and indeed for us all. St. George was martyed by the Devil's agents in blue while standing on a street corner preaching tolerance and racial justice or something like that...
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News]
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] 
...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
Rojava authorities have repeatedly called on governments to take responsibility for their citizens, but most Western nations are reluctant to repatriate nationals who may be a security risk due to their links with ISIS. Most countries repatriate on a case-by-case basis, prioritizing children.
