[KhaamaPress] Germany detained and deported five Afghan nationals at the Polish border on May 18, 2025, as part of tightened security measures.
German police apprehended 11 individuals—including a child—attempting to cross the border illegally from Poland. The group comprised migrants colonists from Afghanistan, Somalia, and Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... , highlighting the diverse origins of those attempting unauthorized entry into Germany. This operation is part of Germany’s intensified border enforcement measures aimed at curbing irregular migration.
Among the detained, five were Afghan nationals. Four possessed Russian visas, while one lacked any documentation. All five were subsequently deported back to Poland. Additionally, three Somali nationals were apprehended in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region. Two adults were expelled, and a minor was handed over to local youth welfare authorities. Three Eritrean men, aged 22 to 25, were also detained; all three lacked valid identification and were returned to Poland.
These detentions occurred amidst Germany’s broader strategy to bolster border security. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt reported a 45% increase in expulsions at the country’s land borders over the past week, following the implementation of stricter border control measures by the new government. This surge reflects the government’s commitment to reducing irregular migration and enhancing national security.
The newly appointed government has also reversed a 2015 policy that allowed undocumented third-country nationals to enter Germany. Interior Minister Dobrindt emphasized that while vulnerable groups would still be permitted to apply for asylum, the focus would shift towards stricter border enforcement. Plans include deploying up to 3,000 additional coppers to the borders, increasing the total border force to 14,000 officers.
This policy shift has sparked debate within Germany. While some view it as a necessary measure to address security concerns, others argue that it may conflict with EU regulations and affect Germany’s international relations. The coalition government is working to balance these considerations as it navigates its new approach to border management.
Germany’s recent actions underscore a significant shift in its approach to migration and border security. The increased detentions and expulsions reflect the government’s commitment to controlling irregular migration and enhancing national security. However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... these measures also raise important questions about the balance between national interests and international obligations.
As Germany continues to implement these policies, it will be crucial to monitor their impact on both domestic security and international relations. The evolving situation will likely influence future discussions on migration policy within the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... .
[ShabelleMedia] Heavy fighting ... as opposed to the more usual name-calling or slapsy... has erupted over the past two days along the border between Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle regions, involving local community militia known as Macawiisley, backed by Somali National Army (SNA) forces, and the al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... The battles, described as intense, have resulted in significant casualties on both sides. The conflict initially broke out at the regional border but soon spread to areas near the Aadan Yabaal district in Middle Shabelle.
Colonel Khaliif, a Macawiisley commander, confirmed that Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s targeted al-Shabaab positions where some Macawiisley fighters were previously ambushed.
He stated that al-Shabaab suffered heavy losses, forcing them to retreat from the frontlines where they had launched the attack.
Local militia forces reportedly pursued fleeing al-Shabaab fighters into surrounding villages under Aadan Yabaal’s administration, continuing the military pressure in the region.
The Ministry of information reported that over 70 al-Shabaab members were killed in the festivities without providing evidence as there is no independent sources confirming the claims.
[Garowe] A drone strike in central Somalia mistakenly hit a pro-government militia, killing at least 12 fighters, officials and residents said on Sunday.
The strike occurred near Moqokori, a town in the Hiran region where Somali government troops and the Ma’awisley militia were engaged in coordinated operations aimed at pushing back Al-Shabaab insurgents. The two forces have been working closely in recent years to reclaim territory from the Al-Qaeda-linked militant group.
A senior regional security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the drone was part of ongoing counterterrorism operations but misidentified the target, striking fighters from the Ma’awisley militia.
“Twelve members of the Ma’awisley militia were killed and dozens wounded in the strike,” the official said. “It was a tragic mistake, and an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the misfire.”
Residents confirmed the strike, saying the militia had recently returned from patrol when they were hit. “We heard a loud explosion and saw smoke rising from the area where the fighters had gathered,” said Hassan Abdi, a resident near Moqokori.
The Somali federal government has not issued an official statement, and it remains unclear whether the drone was operated by Somali forces or international partners, including the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), which regularly carries out airstrikes in Somalia targeting Al-Shabaab.
The Ma’awisley militias, made up of local clan fighters, have played a key role in recent offensives aimed at dislodging Al-Shabaab from rural strongholds in central Somalia. The deadly incident risks straining ties between federal forces and community militias, whose collaboration has been crucial to recent battlefield gains and future operations.
[ShabelleMedia] An extensive criminal network involving Somali nationals has been uncovered following detailed investigations by government authorities. The inquiry has revealed years of involvement in fraudulent schemes and human trafficking operations spanning Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... and North America.
Authorities have identified Mohammed Osman Haji Ali, Hamdi Abdulkadir Osman and Mohamud Hassan Ali as the central figures behind the operation. The trio reportedly operated under various false identities, at times presenting themselves as government officials, civil society representatives, think tank researchers or labour experts. Their objective, according to officials, was to infiltrate government institutions and defraud international organizations, including the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... Senior officials within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered... due to the sensitivity of ongoing investigations, confirmed that both Mohammed Osman and Hamdi Abdulkadir recently returned to Somalia from Canada and Sweden, respectively. They submitted to the Ministry what appeared to be a proposal for a labour project, allegedly linked to Ottoman Turkish trade unions and the Ottoman Turkish Ministry of Labour, seeking to solicit millions of US dollars from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... The proposal was initially submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but was later referred to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs for follow-up due to its relevance to labour issues. However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... officials at the Labour Ministry swiftly identified the proposal as fraudulent, exposing it as an attempt to exploit ministerial structures to access foreign funding under false pretences.
Following the collapse of the scheme, Mohammed Osman reportedly shifted his focus to human trafficking. According to official sources, he re-engaged Mohamud Hassan Ali, who had previously served as Director of the Minister’s Office under Minister Abdiwali Ibrahim Sheikh Mudey at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Mohamud reminded Osman of their earlier operations in which individuals had been trafficked to Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... using forged documents, official stamps and falsified ministerial signatures.
Authorities confirmed that the renewed trafficking scheme was orchestrated by both Mohammed Osman and Mohamud Hassan. The operation involved collecting between $15,000 and $19,000 per person to be smuggled into Europe during 2025. To facilitate the plan, Hamdi Abdulkadir was tasked with pressuring the government, particularly the Ministry of Labour, to endorse the individuals they intended to present as part of a national delegation to Switzerland. Hamdi’s familial connection to a senior government official was repeatedly exploited to influence official decisions and lend legitimacy to the operation. However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... the Labour Ministry rejected the request outright, refusing to approve the inclusion of individuals falsely presented as "labour representatives" intended for human trafficking.
A senior government official stated:
"Hamdi Abdulkadir Osman does not work with our government. Yes, she has a relative in the office, but that does not give her the authority to interfere with how government business is conducted. Her actions constitute criminal misrepresentation. She is putting the integrity of public institutions at risk by seeking to legitimise human trafficking."
Investigators discovered that this was not the first time the trio had been involved in smuggling operations. In 2016, Mohamud Hassan Ali was interrogated by Swiss authorities on suspicion of human trafficking but was not detained after smuggling three individuals into Switzerland. These individuals later absconded to the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, taking advantage of free movement within the Schengen Area. Fearing arrest, Mohamud fled and applied for asylum elsewhere in Europe. In 2018, facing a similar risk of apprehension, Mohammed Osman travelled to the United States, crossed into Canada and claimed asylum in Winnipeg, believing that applying for asylum in Europe would increase the likelihood of arrest.
Despite their asylum applications, both Mohamud and Mohammed reportedly continued their operations remotely through proxies. In 2019, Mohammed Osman used Ahmed Hassan Omar to facilitate the trafficking of Abdilkadir Awil Mohamud into Switzerland, reportedly for a payment of $20,000. Somali authorities, upon discovering the scheme, informed Swiss immigration officials. This led to the denial of a visa for Abdilkadir. Following the failed attempt ...Curses! Foiled again!... , Ahmed Hassan Omar travelled alone to Switzerland, absconded and later applied for asylum in La Belle France. He was eventually deported after fingerprint records in the Schengen database revealed his links to smuggling networks and his asylum application was rejected.
According to witnesses interviewed, the group’s local associate in Mogadishu, Abdisalam Yarow, had been handpicked by Mohammed Osman, while he remains in Canada. He was later exposed and discredited, rendering him irrelevant to the operation. Mohammed Osman then severed ties with Tarow and relied solely on Hamdi Abdulkadir as the new public face of the operation. Hamdi subsequently approached Swedish trade unions and the International Labour Organization (ILO), claiming to be a trade union representative. Her attempts were quickly flagged as dubious and her communications were blocked.
Similarly, Mohammed Osman attempted to contact the Canadian Labour Congress from Winnipeg. Officials there dismissed his approach after identifying him as an impostor posing as a Somali trade unionist. Both the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and ITUC-Africa, along with the ILO, confirmed that Mohammed Osman, Ahmed Hassan Omar and Abdisalam Yarow had been placed on a no-contact list following verification of falsified claims, impersonation and forged credentials.
Reliable sources confirmed that Swiss authorities, already familiar with the criminal activities of Mohammed Osman and Mohamud Hassan, have been alerted once again. Reports indicate that Mohammed, Mohamud and Hamdi had planned to use foreign passports and fraudulent documentation to smuggle individuals through Swiss borders in late May or early June 2025.
According to officials, during an earlier phase of their operations between 2014 and 2016, Mohammed Osman and Mohamud Hassan exploited Mohamud’s position within the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs under Minister Abdiwali Ibrahim Sheikh Mudey to produce official-looking documents that enabled individuals to enter Europe. In one documented case, a forged invitation letter and ministry seal were used to secure entry for individuals who later absconded in Europe.
Recent attempts to revive these activities have failed due to enhanced scrutiny and stronger coordination between Somali ministries and international institutions. The group’s fraudulent association with the so-called Somali Congress of Trade Unions, a fabricated entity created to gain international legitimacy, was also exposed. An individual who had previously worked with Mohammed Osman confirmed that the entity was entirely fictitious. International organizations, including the ILO and ITUC, have since blacklisted the names and email addresses of those involved.
Sources within the Somali government insisted that they are committed to combating human trafficking. Government ministries have been formally alerted and instructed to remain vigilant against criminal actors attempting to exploit national institutions and international partnerships.
Investigations into Mohammed Osman Haji Ali, Hamdi Abdulkadir Osman and Mohamud Hassan Ali are ongoing. Shabelle Media Network has reviewed documentation confirming that their names have been forwarded to Swiss criminal investigation authorities for appropriate legal action in relation to impersonation, fraud and trafficking offences.
In the past three months alone, Somalia’s Immigration and Citizenship Agency (ICA) has arrested 21 individuals involved in human trafficking to the United Kingdom and European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... territories. Several suspects are now being pursued through international channels, with extradition requests underway to bring those hiding in Europe to justice.
[Rudaw] More than 600 displaced people on Sunday returned to the Yazidi heartland of Shingal (Sinjar) from Duhok province, Iraq’s migration ministry said, as officials anticipate a rise in returns once schools go on break.
"The 126 families of 617 people returned to Shingal district from Duhok province," the spokesperson for the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement Ali Jahangir told Rudaw on Sunday.
He added that once school holidays begin at the start of summer, the pace of repatriation will increase, noting that over 13,000 families have already returned from the Kurdistan Region in recent years, with around 21,000 still remaining.
In June 2014, 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) seized control of large swathes of territory in Iraq’s north and west. A little over a month later, in August, the group launched a wide-scale attack against the Yazidi community in Iraq's northern Shingal.
During the August 2014 assault, ISIS killed and kidnapped around 9,900 Yazidis. Recognizing the systematic targeting of the Yazidis as genocidal, the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... also reported that up to 200,000 Yazidis were displaced from Shingal, many of whom settled in camps across Dohuk.
According to the migration ministry, returning Yazidi families will be provided with four million dinars (around $3,000) in financial assistance, along with some essential household appliances including a refrigerator, stove, and television.
Though more than ten years have passed since ISIS launched its attack on Shingal, much of the Yazidi community remains displaced. Their return has been hindered by a combination of security concerns, political disputes, and infrastructure and reconstruction challenges. The presence of various gangs has also created an unstable environment, further deterring many Yazidis from returning.
[ShabelleMedia] The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) has announced a temporary halt to the release of information regarding casualties from its Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in Somalia, as the administration of President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... continues to shape its military policy for the region.
Since Trump took office in January 2025, the U.S. has conducted at least 24 airstrikes targeting ISIS faceless myrmidons in Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... and fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... group, which continues to wage an insurgency against the Somali federal government.
Previously, AFRICOM regularly published casualty figures, particularly concerning civilian harm, amid pressure and scrutiny from human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. groups.
However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... recent AFRICOM blurbs have omitted such details, citing operational security.
"We are temporarily refraining from publishing casualty estimates while the new administration finalizes its policy," an AFRICOM spokesperson said, describing the move as provisional.
Despite the shift, AFRICOM pledged to continue issuing quarterly civilian casualty reports related to dronezaps and other military actions in Somalia.
The command said its latest assessments found no evidence of civilian harm in recent operations, but any updates would be reflected in upcoming reports.
[Rudaw] The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Monday that 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) cells carried out an attack on their forces in eastern Syria, killing a fighter and injuring another.
The "treacherous" attack targeted one of SDF’s checkpoints in Hajeen district of the eastern province of Deir ez-Zor, according to a statement from the SDF.
The oil-rich Deir ez-Zor is partially controlled by the SDF and has seen an escalation in ISIS activity.
"These repeated terrorist attacks underscore the difficult challenges our forces face and reaffirm the critical importance of our mission to eliminate terrorism at its roots and uphold security and stability throughout the region," read the statement.
The SDF, the de facto army of northeast Syria (Rojava), has reported several ISIS attacks in Deir ez-Zor. It has also captured several ISIS suspects.
ISIS has also been active in parts of Deir ez-Zor controlled by Damascus.
Syrian state media reported on Sunday that a suspected ISIS attack on a cop shoppe in Deir ez-Zor’s Mayadeen city. At least four people were killed, and several others were maimed.
ISIS, which was territorially defeated in 2019, has recently sought to regain ground, taking advantage of instability following the fall of Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... ’s regime. The SDF has fought to prevent the murderous Moslems from reestablishing a foothold in the shifting security landscape.
[Rudaw] Three people were killed and several others injured in a blast caused by an explosive-rigged vehicle in the Deir ez-Zor countryside of eastern Syria on Sunday, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
In a statement on X, SANA quoted a "security source" stating that "three deaders have fallen and several others were maimed in the initial toll of the earth-shattering kaboom that targeted a cop shoppe in the city of Mayadeen," located 45 kilometers southeast of Deir ez-Zor. The agency later confirmed that the three fatalities were coppers.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) shared footage of the deadly blast, adding that the earth-shattering kaboom occurred outside a prison in Mayadeen.
Importantly, the deadly incident occurred just hours after the Syrian Ministry of Interior announced that the Syrian General Security and General Intelligence directorates had launched a "joint security operation" targeting a "hideout of an 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) terrorist cell" in the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo, northern Syria.
The ministry reported that one Damascus-affiliated security officer was killed during the operation, along with three members of the terrorist cell. Four additional cell members were arrested for their involvement in "carrying out terrorist activities, including direct attacks on General Security personnel."
The Syrian interior ministry further noted that "weapons, kabooms, and boom jackets" were seized from the suspects, reinforcing its "commitment to combating criminal cells" and emphasizing that it would "not hesitate to protect the security and stability of the country and confront anyone who attempts to disrupt it."
In a separate development, Syria's Defense Minister, Murhaf Abu Qasra, confirmed on Saturday that all armed units had been integrated into his ministry to unify the country’s armed forces.
He issued a ten-day ultimatum to "remaining small military groups" to complete the unification and organizational efforts, warning that any delay in compliance would be dealt with under the law.
Abu Qasra further explained that the push to consolidate all armed units under a single institutional structure began shortly after the fall of Syrian dictator Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... in early December, when a coalition of opposition groups, led by Hay’at 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), overthrew Assad.
On Saturday as well, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reported capturing suspected members of an ISIS cell in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province.
"Based on precise intelligence, our forces raided the location where members of the terrorist cell were hiding in the town of al-Busayrah and successfully captured them," read a statement from the SDF.
The operation was carried out with the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ).
"The captured holy warriors were planning to carry out attacks targeting our military and security forces, as well as civilians and public institutions in the area," the SDF statement added.
ISIS, which was territorially defeated in 2019, has recently attempted to regain ground, taking advantage of the prevalent instability in Syria following the fall of the Assad regime.
On Friday, the SDF announced that they had captured 10 ISIS suspects in Deir ez-Zor after one of their fighters was killed and three others injured in an ISIS attack.
According to the UK-based war monitor, SOHR, there have been 84 operations carried out by ISIS cells in northeast Syria (Rojava) since the beginning of 2025, including armed attacks, assassinations, and bombings.
[Rudaw] The Bavarian Supreme Court held a trial for a Kurdish couple accused of 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) links on Monday, more than a year after their detention for several charges, including crimes against Yazidis.
Twana was born in 1981 and hails from Kurdistan Region’s Halabja province. He has been living in Germany since the early 2000s. In Munich, Twana joined some Islamic turban groups and later went to djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... and Raqqa and became a member of ISIS. His wife, Asya, is a Kurd from Iraq’s Hawija town in Kirkuk province. For her 18th birthday gift, her father took her hand and brought her into the ranks of ISIS. There she married Twana.
The couple were previously named in the Rantburg archives as Twana H.S. and Asia R.A.
Since April 9, 2024, Twana and Asya have been imprisoned in Germany on charges of membership in a foreign terrorist organization, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and sexual assault against individuals under 18 years of age.
"If the charges brought against them by the public prosecutor are confirmed, then there will be life imprisonment; the complaint is about genocide. The client we represent in this process and other Yazidi survivors whom we have represented talk about two main motivations for why they participate in these trial processes and why it is important to them," Natalie von Wistinghausen, a lawyer for a Yazidi girl who survived ISIS atrocity, told Rudaw.
Twana has been accused of sexually abusing two Yazidi girls, one of which is expected to be present in a future trial as a witness.
ISIS swept through vast swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and declared a so-called caliphate in a brazen offensive that saw the group take control of around a third of Syria’s territory as well as several Iraqi cities, including the second largest northern city of Mosul. It was declared territorially defeated in 2017 and 2019 in both countries respectively.
During the jihadists’ brutal reign, they committed heinous atrocities, such as genocide, sexual slavery, and massacres against non-Moslems, especially the Yazidi ethnoreligious group.
[IsraelTimes] State attorneys have filed an indictment against a 16-year-old suspected of spying on Iran’s behalf, after he was arrested Friday by police.
The defendant is thought to have carried out missions for his handler, who he contacted over Telegram, over the course of several months. They began corresponding a few months after October 7.
According to the indictment filed this morning, the suspect received NIS 1,600 from the agent for printing incendiary posters and taking pictures with it near public buildings. He is said to have taken photos and videos of eight public buildings in Rehovot, including the Magistrate’s Court, Tax Authority office, police station and others.
Prosecutors add that the agent asked the teenage defendant, a resident of the Judean foothills area, to set fire to a forested area near Rehovot during large wildfires that broke out west of Jerusalem earlier in May. He never carried out the act, however, due to a dispute over the amount he was to be paid.
He is charged in the Lod District Juvenile Court with contacting a foreign agent and providing information to the enemy.
Over the past two years, Iranian intelligence operatives have ramped up their efforts to recruit ordinary Israelis as spies or saboteurs in exchange for money, according to Israeli law enforcement.
Just yesterday, police officers and Shin Bet agents arrested 18-year-old Yavne resident Moshe Attias on suspicion of contact with “Iranian terror elements” and carrying out several missions on their behalf, including spying on former prime minister Naftali Bennett when he was hospitalized.
[IsraelTimes] A 28-year-old man was remanded in custody in Denmark today on suspicions of purchasing drones to be used in a Hamas “terrorist attack,” Danish intelligence says.
Flemming Drejer, head of operations at Denmark’s PET intelligence service, says in a statement it believed that “this individual purchased drones intended for use by Hamas in a terrorist attack at an unknown location in Denmark or abroad.”
Appearing before a court today, the man was remanded in custody until June 11.
PET says the case has links to both Hamas and criminal gangs in Denmark, and is related to a number of arrests made in December 2023 as part of an operation to prevent a suspected planned “terrorist attack.”
Six people were ordered detained at the time, four in absentia, among them the 28-year-old man, who Danish media reports said was a prominent figure in organized crime in Copenhagen. According to public broadcaster DR, the suspect had been extradited from Lebanon over a separate double murder case.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says it foiled yet another attempt to smuggle weapons into Israel from Egypt using a drone last night.
The drone had been identified crossing the border from Egypt into Israel before it was downed by troops deployed to the area.
The drone was found to be ferrying 19 handguns and three machine guns. The contraband and drone were handed over to the police.
In recent months, there have been frequent attempts to bring weapons and drugs over the Egypt border using drones. There have also been attempts to smuggle similar contraband from Israel into Gaza using drones.
כוחות צה”ל סיכלו ניסיון הברחת אמצעי לחימה ממצרים לישראל
אמש, תצפיות צה”ל במרחב חטיבת פארן זיהו רחפן שחצה משטח מצרים לשטח ישראל בניסיון להבריח אמצעי לחימה.
הרחפן הופל ע”י כוח צה”ל, ובסריקות שביצעו לוחמי צה״ל אותר הרחפן שנשא 19 אקדחים, שלושה מקלעים ותחמושת.
IDF forces foiled an attempt to smuggle weapons from Egypt to Israel
Last night, IDF surveillance in the Paran Brigade area identified a drone that crossed from Egyptian territory into Israeli territory in an attempt to smuggle weapons.
The drone was shot down by IDF forces, and during searches conducted by IDF fighters, the drone was located, carrying 19 pistols, three machine guns, and ammunition.
The weapons were transferred to the security forces for further processing.
[PJMedia] Hillel Neuer this weekend posted the smoking gun: the UN’s Paleostinian "humanitarian" agency knew in advance of Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... ’s Oct. 7 terror invasion — and Hamas meant to torpedo any chance for peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... Relief and Works Agency for Paleostine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) chief Philippe Lazzarini posted Sunday that throughout the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , "one of the most dreadful updates I regularly receive is the corpse count on UNRWA staff. Today, that corpse count has surpassed the gruesome milestone of 300."
Lazzarini also made this highly questionable claim, given what we know about the veracity of Hamas's casualty figures: "The vast majority of staff were killed by the Israeli Army with their children & loved ones: whole families wiped out."
The loss of innocent life is always regrettable — and, in war, often inevitable. Assuming they happened at all, given Hamas’s habit of inflating civilian death numbers. But I will not weep for the loss of UNRWA personnel.
You might wonder why I don't mourn the loss of these "humanitarians." Sit tight.
Regulatory capture is when a government agency meant to regulate an industry ends up serving the interests of that industry instead of the public. It doesn't happen all at once, of course. An agency is set up with the best of intentions, at least ostensibly, but lobbying and the "need" for industry expertise eventually turn the regulator into just another arm of the industry it’s supposed to oversee.
So what do you call it when a UN relief organization over time becomes run and staffed by people whose ambition is terrorism instead of humanitarianism? I don’t know about you, but I still call it terrorism. Because when you’re enabling mass murder, I don’t care about technicalities.
Here's UNRWA's pure evil, courtesy of Neuer:
Mr. Lazzarini, here are the minutes of Hamas' high-level meeting on Oct. 3, 2023 planning an “extraordinary action” to torpedo Saudi-Israel peace. Your longtime UNRWA official Suhail al-Hindi is listed. He was away, but did they inform him/you of the planned Oct. 7 massacre? https://t.co/eptlcbt3LEpic.twitter.com/bAU4h2D8J9
According to Neuer's translation, the minutes cite Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar saying, "There is no doubt that the Saudi-Zionist normalization agreement is progressing significantly... [opening] the door for the majority of Arab and Islamic countries to follow" and that an "extraordinary action" was required to derail Arab-Israeli peace efforts.
And Another Thing: This is the year that Data Republican (small-r) taught us about something I think we should term "mission capture." That's when NGOs end up doing privatized versions of the things government shouldn't do or doesn't want to be seen doing, instead of charitable or humanitarian work. Granted, many NGOs are established for that very reason.
Oct. 7 quickly followed — and UNRWA's own Suhail al-Hindi was present at the meeting where the need for an "extraordinary action" was floated.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
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#2
Too much financial and logistical prep went into Oct 7 without somebody noticing. UNWRA may have not been the only one with prior knowledge of a pending attack.
Hamas had acquired ultralight aircraft and had been training its personnel on their deployment and use. Who could have possibly known ?
#3
So why didn't Mossad?
You're going to tell me Mossad didn't have UNWRA bugged more than that airliner Qatar just gave to Trump?
Hamas had paragliders, and they got those into a tiny area like Gaza without Mossad getting a whiff?
Unbelievable.
[IsraelTimes] Mahdawi Mahdawi joins post-commencement ceremony vigil outside university’s gates, raising photograph of his classmate Mahmoud Khalil, who remains in federal custody
Less than three weeks after his release from an immigration jail, the Paleostinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi strode across the graduation stage at Columbia University on Monday morning, savoring a moment the Trump administration had fought to make impossible.
Draped in a keffiyeh, Mahdawi, 34, paused to listen to the swell of cheers from his fellow graduates. Then he joined a vigil just outside Columbia’s gates, raising a photograph of his classmate Mahmoud Khalil, who remains in federal custody.
"It’s very mixed emotions," Mahdawi told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named. "The Trump administration wanted to rob me of this opportunity. They wanted me to be in a prison, in prison clothes, to not have education and to not have joy or celebration."
You already got the education, idiot, though clearly it didn’t take if you are that confused about the situation. “They” just didn’t see reason to keep you in the country long enough to be formally handed that sheepskin while wearing a pseudo-Medieval costume.
Mahdawi, a 34-year-old legal resident of the US, was detained during an April 14 citizenship interview in Vermont, part of the widening federal crackdown on pro-Paleostinian activists.
He was released two weeks later by a judge, who likened the government’s actions to McCarthyist repression. Federal officials have not accused Mahdawi of committing a crime, but argued that he and other anti-Israel student activists should be deported for beliefs that may undermine US foreign policy.
For Mahdawi, who earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Columbia’s School of General Studies,
…perfectly suited for standing behind a counter in colourful polyester for minimum wage, politely asking, “Would you like fries with that?”
the graduation marked a bittersweet return to a university that he says has betrayed him and other students.
"The senior administration is selling the soul of this university to the Trump administration, participating in the destruction and the degradation of our democracy," Mahdawi said.
He pointed to Columbia’s decision to acquiesce to the Trump administration’s demands — including placing its Middle Eastern studies department under new leadership — as well as its failure to speak out against his and Khalil’s arrest.
He said Columbia’s leadership had denied his pleas for protection prior to his arrest, then ignored his attorney’s request for a letter supporting his release from jail.
A spokesperson for Columbia University did not return an emailed inquiry.
Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. At Columbia, he organized campus protests, led a Buddhist association
…clearly a matter of protective colouration and taqqiya, because while he reportedly meditates beautifully, there is no peace to be found in his heart…
and co-founded the Paleostinian Student Union with Khalil.
The Jordanian-Palestinian graduate philosophy student at Columbia boasted to a Vermont Gun shop owner that he had plenty of experience with guns, having built 9mm submachine guns and used them to kill Jews back home in Palestine — he started his career throwing rocks at IDF soldiers as a child, then led anti-Israel Palestinian student groups since arriving in America a decade ago, true to the traditions in his family where a cousin is an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade field commander. He is president of the anti-Israel Palestinian Students Union at Columbia, since 10/7 organizing violent anti-Israel protests and taking the opportunity to beat up Jews, for which he was arrested thrice; he was also caught at the Canadian border with drugs, but one imagines the judge did not think that a notable event; Mr. Mahdawi did not think any of this an issue before he was arrested for a revoked green card on his way to his scheduled citizenship exam.
Khalil would have received his diploma from a Columbia master’s program in international studies later this week. He remains incarcerated Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! in Louisiana as he awaits a decision from a federal judge about his possible release.
Mr. Khalil, 30, was a frontman for Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the student coalition that spearheaded violent and vicious anti-Israel protests at the school, hosted at least one specially designated foreign terrorist, and broke into, occupied, and vandalized a university building. All of which led the Trump administration to treat Columbia like a post-Civil War southern state in need of Reconstruction.
As he prepares for a lengthy legal battle, Mahdawi faces his own uncertain future. He was previously admitted to a master’s degree program at Columbia, where he planned to study "peacekeeping and conflict resolution"
…no doubt he planned to apply his steller Jew-beating skills to the problem, or perhaps he still prefers his youthful favourites: rocks and homemade submachine guns..
in the fall. But he is reconsidering his options after learning this month that he would not receive financial aid.
Somebody finally noticed the not-so-minor problems with that...
For now, he said, he would continue to advocate for the Paleostinian cause, buoyed by the support he says he has received from the larger Columbia community.
"When I went on the stage, the message was very clear and loud: They are cheering up for the idea of justice, for the idea of peace, for the idea of equality, for the idea of humanity, and nothing will stop us from continuing to do that. Not the Trump administration nor Columbia University," he said.
How much time and federal money do you suppose that particular bit of stupidity cost the university, dear Reader?
The School of General Studies graduation comes two days before Columbia’s university-wide commencement, as colleges across the country are bracing for possible disruptions.
Last week, New York University announced it would withhold the diploma of a student speaker who criticized Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... in his graduation speech.
[IsraelTimes] Palestinian media says undercover troops apprehended wife and children of Popular Resistance Committees commander in Khan Younis; IDF rebuffs report of hostage rescue operation
A senior Paleostinian terror operative was killed in an Israeli operation in the southern Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip early Monday morning, as the Israel Defense Forces denied that the effort was an attempt to rescue Israeli hostages.
The military wing of the Popular Resistance® Committees, a small terrorist organization operating in the Gaza Strip, announced the death of Ahmad Sarhan, following reports that the senior figure was killed in an Israeli commando raid this morning. The organization said Sarhan was responsible for the group’s "special operations." It claimed that Israeli commandos killed Sarhan after failing in an attempt to arrest him.
Media outlets in Gaza reported earlier in the morning that Israeli special forces entered Khan Younis and killed Sarhan. According to the reports, the force entered the heart of the Paleostinian city in disguise, including some troops dressed as women. During the operation, Sarhan’s wife and children were apprehended, the reports claimed.
The Popular Resistance® Committees is considered the third-largest terror organization operating in the Gaza Strip, after Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... and 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... . In recent years, the group has operated under Hamas’s directives.
Amid the incident at dawn, a wave of heavy Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s was reported around the Khan Younis area, including Nasser Hospital. Videos from the Strip showed large strikes in quick succession in the area, followed by the sounds of helicopter gunships, shelling, small arms fire, and other explosions. There were unconfirmed Paleostinian media reports of casualties.
Initially, a report from Saudi news channel al-Arabiya, picked up by Hebrew-language media, claimed that the Israeli forces entered the area as part of an attempted hostage rescue operation. In response, the IDF issued a vague statement hinting that no such operation took place.
"The IDF is in the midst of Operation Gideon’s Chariots and is operating in all areas of the Gaza Strip," the military said, referring to its intensified offensive launched late last week.
"Following the reports, there is no change to the situational assessment," the statement added.
The special forces exited the city without taking on any casualties, according to Hebrew-language media.
Paleostinian media published images purportedly showing a wagon left behind by the Israeli forces. The photos showed what appeared to be a wagon of the kind usually pulled by a mule or cycle of violence, and often used by displaced Gazooks to move their belongings. Inside, however, was a secret hollow section where Israeli troops or equipment may have been hidden, or which possibly could be used to hold suspects.
IDF DECLARES ALL OF KHAN YOUNIS A COMBAT ZONE
The IDF announced Monday that all Paleostinians living in and around the large southern Gaza city of Khan Younis must leave their homes as it prepares to launch an "unprecedented attack" on the area. The evacuation order, covering all of Khan Younis as well as the suburbs of Bani Suheila and Abasan, marks the first major evacuation order since the IDF launched an expanded offensive in the Strip, with Israeli leaders warning they intend to conquer the whole territory to smash Hamas.
Media outlets in Gaza published footage showing large numbers of residents leaving the Khan Younis area on foot. According to Al Arabiya, thousands of residents have already begun evacuating. In recent weeks, there has been relatively low compliance with IDF evacuation orders in Gaza, according to both residents’ testimonies and UNRWA data on the number of evacuees.
Meanwhile,
...back at the argument, Jane reached into her purse for her .38... Israeli warplanes struck over 160 targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military said, after Paleostinian media outlets reported that dozens of aerial bombardments were conducted across the territory overnight. According to the IDF, the targets included cells of operatives, anti-tank missile launch sites, tunnels, a weapons depot, buildings used by terror groups, booby-trapped structures, and a command center. Strikes were reported in and near Khan Younis, in Gaza City in the north, and in the area of Deir al-Balah in the central Strip.
Hamas-run authorities in Gaza said Israeli attacks on Monday have killed at least 52 people. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said 136 bodies were brought to Gaza hospitals over the past 24 hours, along with 364 maimed.
In one of the latest operations, the military said it demolished a tunnel in Rafah used by Hamas operatives in an attack that killed two soldiers earlier this month. In the attack on May 3, Hamas operatives set off a bomb in a tunnel shaft in Rafah, killing Cpt. Noam Ravid and and Staff Sgt. Yaly Seror, who served in the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit. After setting off the earth-shattering kaboom, the operatives fled through the tunnel, which was some 200 meters long, the army said. Troops mapped out the tunnel in recent days and demolished it. The IDF said that during the demolition of the tunnel, troops killed another cell of Hamas operatives, which was hiding inside the underground passage.
IDF front man Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said in a press statement from the Gaza border on Sunday evening that five divisions were now operating inside the Strip.
"We are entering a new stage in the fighting. During the operation, we will increase and expand our operational control in Gaza while bisecting the Strip and moving the population for its safety in all the areas where we operate," he said. "Unlike before, we are now focusing on the offensive effort in the Gaza Strip...until the defeat [of Hamas] in the areas where we operate."
Israeli officials had warned that the major offensive would be launched if no hostage deal was reached with Hamas by the end of US President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... ’s visit to the region on Friday. Hostage talks were still ongoing, and the military said it was only carrying out the preliminary stages of the offensive. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said, "The IDF will allow flexibility for the political echelon to advance any hostage deal."
"A hostage deal — this is not a halt; it is an achievement," Zamir stressed during a visit to Gaza on Sunday. "We are working toward it."
According to Israeli officials, the offensive would see the IDF "conquer" Gaza, raze the vast majority of buildings and retain the territory for the foreseeable future; attack Hamas and prevent it from taking control of humanitarian aid supplies; and move Paleostinians from Gaza’s north to its south.
Zionist forces besiege Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Israeli occupation forces (IOF) laid siege to the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip on Sunday evening, as military vehicles and bulldozers advanced amid heavy gunfire.
Eyewitnesses said that IOF tanks encircled the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza and began to fire directly at the building.
Sources reported that there were 55 people inside the hospital, including four doctors and eight nurses, in addition to dozens of patients who were unable to move and could not be evacuated during the morning attack. ''Communication with medical staff and the sick inside the hospital has been cut off,'' the sources said.
Meanwhile,
...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind... the director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Munir al-Bursh, said that ''Israeli tanks and bulldozers are surrounding the Indonesian Hospital in the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.''
''A number of patients were maimed due to IOF shooting directly at the hospital. We appeal to the world to intervene immediately to protect the medical staff, patients and the maimed inside the hospital,'' al-Bursh added.
Health sources at the Hospital confirmed that the IOF did not inform the hospital of any evacuation orders nor did they issue any warnings before the bombing began, affirming that ''there are no military targets inside the hospital.''
The medical staff currently inside the hospital appeal to the international community and human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... organizations to intervene urgently to stop this attack and save their lives.
On Sunday morning, a health official said the occupation army surrounded the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalia, in northern Gaza, with drones amid direct shooting in the area.
The hospital director, Marwan al-Sultan, said in a statement that Israeli drones fired at the hospital's intensive care unit, affirming that one patient was injured after shots were fired in the hospital vicinity.
The Paleostinian Ministry of Health said the occupation army has been intensifying its targeting and siege of the Indonesian Hospital since dawn Sunday, days after the European Gaza Hospital was put out of service.
This comes at a time when all hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip have ceased operations and the health sector is facing an unprecedented humanitarian disaster amid a bloody military escalation by the Israeli occupation forces against the Gaza Strip.
The complex director explained in his statements that the humanitarian situation is deteriorating dangerously with the arrival of large numbers of wounded and sick people amid a severe shortage of basic medical supplies. This crisis has already led to the death of some patients due to the lack of adequate care.
He pointed to the massive human losses resulting from the recent escalation, noting that the enormous pressure on the complex greatly exceeds its capacity, preventing it from providing the necessary medical care, whether for critical cases or for newly injured patients.
#1
Apparently IDF strategy now is to trisect Gaza and within each portion to have multiple strike operations.
Initial assessment is that this is leading to relatively high rate of Hamas elimination. Maybe it will lead to some mass surrenders that will lead to a change in Hamas policy.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
05/20/2025 9:55
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#2
Or they can just all die, NN2N1. That’s ok, too.
[IsraelTimes] Army probing cause of Sgt. Yosef Yehuda Chirak’s death, including possibility of friendly-fire; UN says aid from few trucks that entered Gaza not distributed due to security concerns
Sgt. Yosef Yehuda Chirak was killed fighting in northern Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... on Monday, the IDF announced, as Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... -linked authorities in the Strip said another 91 Paleostinians were killed in Israeli strikes over the past day. The IDF said it was still investigating the cause of Chirak’s death, including the possibility of so-called friendly fire. Chirak, 22, served in the Combat Engineering Corps’ 601st Battalion and was from Harasha.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier Monday that Israel would "take control" of the whole of Gaza as it intensified attacks across the territory, where aid trickled in for the first time in over two months after the easing of a total blockade.
With supply shipments blocked by Israel since March 2, the World Health Organization warned Gaza’s "two million people are starving."
Israel, facing mounting criticism over the humanitarian crisis, announced it would let limited aid into Gaza and said the first five trucks entered Monday carrying supplies "including food for babies."
UN front man Stephane Dujarric said that "none of the aid has been picked up" at a designated zone as it was "already dark" and due to "security concerns, we cannot operate in those conditions."
The leaders of Britannia, La Belle France and Canada issued a harsh condemnation of Israel’s conduct of the war, slamming its "egregious actions" in Gaza, particularly the expanded offensive and the "wholly inadequate" resumption of aid. They warned of "concrete actions" if Israel did not ease its stepped-up offensive. Netanyahu called their joint statement a "huge prize" for Hamas.
A group of 22 countries, including La Belle France, Britannia, Canada, Japan and Australia said in a joint statement that Gaza’s population "faces starvation" and "must receive the aid they desperately need".
In southern Gaza, the Israeli military issued an evacuation call to Paleostinians around Khan Younis city ahead of what it described as an "unprecedented attack."
Gaza’s Hamas-linked civil defense agency said 91 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the territory on Monday.
Netanyahu, in a video posted on Telegram, said that "the fighting is intense and we are making progress."
"We will take control of all the territory of the strip," he added.
Israel’s military said on Monday it had struck "160 terror targets" in Gaza over the past day.
The UN’s OHCHR rights office said Israel’s actions were "in defiance of international law and tantamount to ethnic cleansing."
According to Israeli officials, the fresh offensive launched over the weekend would see the IDF "conquer" Gaza, raze the vast majority of buildings and retain the territory for the foreseeable future; attack Hamas and prevent it from taking control of humanitarian aid supplies; and move Paleostinians from Gaza’s north to its south.
Hundreds of Gazooks have been killed in Israeli strikes since the initial stages of the operation were launched on Friday, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which says more than 53,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the war so far.
The tolls cannot be verified and do not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January, and another 1,600 murderous Moslems inside the country during the October 7 onslaught, when thousands of Hamas-led murderous Moslems killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
Also, the IDF said it carried out an airstrike on Hamas operatives at a command center in central Gaza’s Nuseirat earlier Monday. According to Palestinian media, the strike hit a school currently being used as shelter for displaced Gazans, killing at least nine. According to the IDF, the site was being used by Hamas operatives to plan and carry out attacks on troops and Israeli civilians. The military said it took steps to mitigate civilian harm, including by using a precision munition, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.
‘PREPOSTEROUS’ TALK OF ABANDONING ISRAEL
On Monday, a US official denied a Washington Post report citing an unnamed source who claimed that the Trump administration would abandon Israel if it kept the war going in Gaza.
The US official said that there may be disagreements, but “the idea that we would abandon Israel is preposterous.”
“Trump’s people are letting Israel know, ‘We will abandon you if you do not end this war,'” the source told The Post. “Politically, as in the past, Netanyahu has a way to do that, with a huge majority in the Knesset and in Israel, but he does not have the political will.”
#3
A Silver Platter
By Natan Alterman
And the land grows still, the red eye of the sky slowly dimming over smoking
frontiers
As the nation arises,
Torn at heart but breathing,
To receive its miracle, the only miracle
As the ceremony draws near,
It will rise, standing erect in the moonlight in terror and joy
When across from it will step out a youth and a lass and slowly march toward
the nation
Dressed in battle gear, dirty,
Shoes heavy with grime, they ascend the path quietly
To change garb, to wipe their brow
They have not yet found time.
Still bone weary from days and from nights in the field
Full of endless fatigue and unrested,
Yet the dew of their youth.
Is still seen on their head
Thus they stand at attention, giving no sign of life or death
Then a nation in tears and amazement will ask: "Who are you?"
And they will answer quietly,
"We Are the silver platter on which the Jewish state was given."
Thus they will say and fall back in shadows
And the rest will be told
In the chronicles of Israel
That seems like something I should have studied in my Hebrew school Modern Israeli Lit. class, but if so I’ve completely forgotten. It hit me like a hammer.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/20/2025
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#1
Kurt...brilliant as always. Time to put the "pay the piper" clause of the Biden pardons to work. Get Frank, Jill et.al on the stand. They can't plead the fifth and enjoy pardon status at the same time.
Especially Frank. He's on record back in 2022 of saying Joe had a terminal illness. Time to look into that.
[BBC] The US Supreme Court has said it will allow the Trump administration to terminate deportation protections for some 350,000 Venezuelans in the US.
The ruling lifts a hold that was placed by a California judge that kept Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in place for Venezuelans whose status would have expired last month.
Temporary Protected Status allows people to live and work in the US legally if their home countries are deemed unsafe due to things like countries experiencing wars, natural disasters or other "extraordinary and temporary" conditions.
The ruling marks a win for US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly tried to use the Supreme Court to enact immigration policy decisions.
[FoxNews] Retired four-star Admiral Robert Burke found guilty in scheme to direct contracts in exchange for $500,000-a-year job
A retired four-star admiral who once served as the Navy’s second-highest ranking officer, was convicted of bribery and other conspiracy charges, making him the most senior member of the U.S. military ever convicted of committing a federal crime while on active duty.
Following a five-day trial, retired four-star Adm. Robert P. Burke, 62, was found guilty on Monday of a scheme to direct lucrative contracts to a training company in exchange for a $500,000-a-year job after leaving the Navy, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
Burke is facing up to 30 years in prison for his role in the scheme to direct contracts potentially worth millions of dollars to a New York City-based company that offered training programs to the Navy.
"When you abuse your position and betray the public trust to line your own pockets, it undermines the confidence in the government you represent," U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro wrote in a post on X following the conviction.
#1
Another reason to reduce the number of flag officers.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/20/2025 7:00
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#2
Keep in mind that the reason DOD procurement regs are so cumbersome is that there was rampant high level Navy corruption re: shipbuilding in the 80s.
“OK,” replied the IDF. “We’ll just continue the war until you surrender — give us back all the hostages, living and dead, disarm, and get out of Gaza.”
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Head of Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... ' Political Bureau Abroad, Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri ...a senior spokesman for Hamas. Zuhri gained notoriety in 2006 when he dropped his money belt containing somewhere between 640,000 and 900,000 euros, which was confiscated by Paleostinian security and customs officials at a routine border crossing from Egypt to Gaza. The news brought competing Hamas and Fatah forces to the crossing checkpoint for an epic face-making and hollering contest... denied the rumors about the movement agreeing to release 9 ''Israeli'' captives in exchange for a two-month truce, emphasizing that talks about such an agreement are inaccurate and an attempt to deceive global public opinion.
Abu Zuhri told al- al-Jazeera that the occupation is trying to confuse the arena with fake news in order to pressure the resistance and carry out its crimes.
He confirmed that Hamas will not hand over the occupation's captives as long as it insists on endlessly continuing its aggression against Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ''We initiated the handover of soldier Edan [Alexander] to create an atmosphere for reaching an agreement, but the American administration did not appreciate our step,'' he said.
He expressed the movement's readiness to release all the captives at once, but only on the condition that the occupation commits to ending the war with international guarantees.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2025
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[NAHARNET] The U.S. Department of State's Rewards for Justice program on Monday announced a reward of up to $10 million for information on ''Hezbollah financial networks in South America.''
''Hezbollah has maintained a presence in the Western Hemisphere since the 1980s, particularly in the Tri-Border Area (TBA) of Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... , Brazil, and Paraguay,'' RFJ said.
''The group is responsible for carrying out terrorist attacks in the Western Hemisphere, including the July 18, 1994 bombing of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Aid Society. Hezbollah was also implicated, along with Iran, in the 1992 attacks on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina as well as the 1994 bombing of Alas Chiricanas flight 00901 in Col n, Panama,'' it added.
The statement claimed that ''in the TBA, Hezbollah members, supporters, and controllers are involved in large-scale revenue-generating schemes, including trade-based money laundering, narcotics trafficking, charcoal and oil smuggling, illicit diamond trade, bulk cash smuggling, smuggling of cigarettes and luxury goods, document forgery, and the counterfeiting of U.S. dollars.''
''They also generate revenue from commercial activities across Latin America, including construction, import/export trade, and real estate sales,'' it added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2025
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#1
Surprising announcement. Embassies in Asuncion and Buenos Aires were collecting information on tri-border in the 1980s. Lebanon served as trampoline as the Paraguay rep in Beirut was selling passports and travel documents to both Shiites and Sunnis. Since then it was established to the satisfaction of DEA who was running the narcotics show from Ciudad del Este. The tri-border remains untouchable because the governments of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina in effect lost control of the region long ago.
Posted by: Albert McCoy9505 ||
05/20/2025 7:52
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#4
I may be confusing Noriega with some other ratbag dictator, but if I recall, the quote was "He may be a sumbitch, but he is *our* sumbitch". Right up until he wasn't.
Intelligence agencies enjoy some degree of success in small clandestine collection activities and missions. The kind of stuff which they were designed for. Larger scale military operations however, do not appear to be their forte. The Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, and Afghanistan could be offered as examples.
The transition from traditional collection to actual military operations is generally their downfall. Providing intelligence to other decision makers is seen as mundane. Becoming an 'operator' and shaping events is much sexier.
#6
A reminder of a parallel track of certain groups. Hawalah-long standing and often semi-immune from LE investigation to avoid "instantaneous" accusations of being Islamophobic, a serious woke crime second only to being a racist, and often conflated with it.
[NAHARNET] Dialogue between the Lebanese state and Hezbollah over the latter's remaining weapons is ongoing behind the scenes, a diplomatic source from the five-nation group for Leb ...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... said.
''A number of sites north of the Litani River have been handed over, away from the spotlight and media coverage, as per the agreement between the two sides,'' al-Liwaa newspaper quoted the source as saying. Or abandoned by hungry, unpaid Hezzies.
Israel has continued to launch raids on Lebanon despite a November truce which sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah including two months of all-out war.
Under the ceasefire, the Iran-backed Hezbollah was to pull back its fighters north of Lebanon's Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to its south.
Israel was to withdraw all its forces from Lebanon, but it has kept troops in five areas that it deems "strategic".
The Lebanese Army has been deploying in the south as Israeli forces have withdrawn and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure.
The truce was based on a United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.
Last month, President Joseph Aoun said the army was deployed in more than 85 percent of the south, and that the sole obstacle to full control across the frontier area was "Israel's occupation of five border positions."
Also in April, Lebanon's military said a munitions blast in the south killed three personnel, days after a kaboom killed another soldier as the force was dismantling mines in a tunnel.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2025
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Antifa rioted in Milan, Italy at a violent direct action to try to shut down a conference (@resum25) about remigration (i.e., mass deportations) on May 17. pic.twitter.com/3sFuFsazJG
Starbucks employees currently on strike are now claiming that Starbucks is "imperiling every single civil right they have" by implementing a dress code at their company.pic.twitter.com/w3Yodrhcxe
#8
I don't get it. They work for one of the most liberal companies in the world and they're still not happy? Well, I don't get it but I don't care either.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/20/2025 11:22
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#9
The lesson being, its never enough. Feeding the locusts in the hopes they will leave.
[FoxNews] New task force filing up to 50 warrants weekly to get more illegal immigrants into federal custody
United States Attorney for the District of CaliforniaBill Essayli is taking major action to crack down on "sanctuary" policies in the Golden State.
He’s launching "Operation Guardian Angel," which is a task force, made up of assets from ICE, HSI, DEA, FBI, ATF, and Border Patrol, to begin scanning a criminal database every single day to identify arrested illegal aliens in local jurisdictions that DOJ can charge with felony illegal-reentry.
"They've made it almost impossible for ICE to do their job, issue detainers and get criminal illegal immigrants out of jails. So what we're doing instead is we're going to start issuing warrants," he told Fox News.
"We're going to flood the system with warrants for criminal illegal immigration that are in county jails, they can ignore a detainer, but they cannot ignore a criminal arrest warrant," Essayli continued.
"As soon as an illegal immigrant is booked into a county jail, we're reviewing their file. And if they meet the elements of illegal reentry, which is a federal crime, we are filing a complaint and getting an arrest warrant issued before they're released from state custody."
Essayli said that the first-of-its-kind program will make the Golden State a "testing ground" for other sanctuary jurisdictions throughout the country, as the administration aims to get illegal aliens with criminal charges and convictions swiftly out of the United States.
While border crossings have plummeted, the administration is aiming to boost the number of removals. The CBP One app was turned into the CBP Home app, where those in the country illegally can now self-deport with a paid-for flight and an $1,000 stipend once they have been confirmed to leave the country.
As for illegal aliens in the criminal justice system, the attorney said they plan to file up to 50 warrants a week in his jurisdiction, which covers Los Angeles – there’s already been 350 filed since Trump took office.
"They have no choice, they will comply. And if they don't comply, if they interfere in our ability to arrest a federal felon, they can expect to face consequences for that. So I don't expect any resistance from the local authorities," he said.
Felony re-entry was largely not prosecuted during the Biden administration. Essayli says his predecessor, the US Attorney in Los Angeles under Biden, only filed 17 of these cases in two years.
The attorney said transferring from local to federal custody is one of the better ways to get hold of illegal aliens with criminal charges.
"This is the safest way for us to get criminal illegal immigrants. Get them while they're still in state custody, where they've been searched. They have no weapons, and we can do a safe transfer," he said.
[X]It’s about the most American thing ever to be cynical about, and mock, our political leaders, a tradition that predates the formation of this great nation by going on two centuries.
WATCH: Rep. Jeffries says it's "inappropriate to look backwards" & ask questions about the coverup of Biden's health problems.
When it calls into account the LSD's:
$$$$$ Fraud,
illegal auto-pen signed Exec Orders & Pardons,
Subversion of the US Constitution,
Illegal detentions,
Gov abuse of power,
Rigging of the State and Federal court systems,
various Treasonous acts,
and a White House ran by a puppet regime.
#7
Reminiscent of the way they started the MoveOn.org website after Bill Clinton admitted to lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. It must be a standard part of their playbook.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/20/2025 11:58
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#8
"Move forward" appears to be the latest dem talking point. When you hear it mouthed by multiple operatives, you can rest assured it is an approved release from the central autorities.
#9
Afraid a lot more backwards looking is on the way Hakeem: "🔥🚨BREAKING NEWS: It was just revealed in the Diddy freak off trial that former President Obama used to meet with the man that used to pick up drugs for Diddy and confirms that he met with Obama and other former Presidents. The hole just got deeper than we ever imagined."
#10
Inappropriate to look backwards….. as bogus charges are brought against Trump on 20+ years ago activity…. After changing the statute of limitations?!?!
Demonstration against Hamas in Khan Yunis this afternoon. While the world blames Israel, the residents of Gaza know that it is Hamas preventing an immediate end to the war. If Hamas were to surrender, return all the hostages, and agree to disarm, war would end. pic.twitter.com/AABnrVO5Im
Attorney General Pam Bondi is eliminating the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section That Shields Members of Congress from Corruption Charges
With the move Bondi wants to change how the DOJ handles corruption cases against members of Congress - taking away their protection from a D.C.… pic.twitter.com/bz1ihYBLEr
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2025
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#1
When will we see arrests for:
Epstein related crimes?
The cover-up and handling of C-19 Vax.
Theft of $$$ Billions by various Gov officials.
Violation of Civil Rights.
Open Borders Drug & Human trafficking.
Sex Crimes.
Dept Of Ed promoting perversion.
To name just a few
#2
Is the Public Integrity Section the one that is charge of all the blackmail material?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/20/2025 6:42
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#3
Let's see...we have the United States Institute for Peace which it seems is anything but peaceful and the DoJ Public Integrity Section which has no integrity at all. It's funny the way they name these organizations.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/20/2025 11:53
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#4
/\ USAID (United States Agency for International Development.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] …and blames her for 'Schindler's List' atmosphere
A former Clinton administration staffer claimed that Hillary Clinton was so detested during her husband's time in the White House that she was known as a 'Nazi schoolmarm' who made aides run in fear.
Buzz Patterson, the former Air Force Aide to Bill Clinton who carried the 'nuclear football' wherever the president went, took to X to reveal intimate details of the former First Couple.
He said he primarily lived in the White House and was 'always in close proximity to both Bill and Hill', which made him quickly learn that the mood of the day 'depended solely on the presence or absence of Hillary.'
'We used to say that when Hillary was gone, it was a frat party. When she was home, it was Schindler's List,'' Patterson wrote in a scathing X post that has received over five million views.
Patterson served as Clinton's Senior Military Aide from 1996 to 1998, and his role saw him carry the 'Presidential Emergency Satchel' to allow the president to launch a nuclear strike from anywhere in the world.
He said in his X post that the day-to-day work for Clinton varied dramatically based on Hillary's whims, as he scathingly described her as 'evil, vindictive, profane' and 'a b****.'
'Among the military who served in the White House and the professional White House staff, the Clinton administration was infamously known for its lack of professionalism and courtesy, though few ever spoke about it,' he wrote.
'But when it came to rudeness, it was Hillary Clinton who was the most feared person in the administration. She set the tone.'
Patterson, an outspoken Donald Trump supporter, said he was warned from the get-go that Hillary Clinton was the most daunting figure in the White House, not her president husband.
'When I first arrived to work in the White House, my predecessor warned me: 'You can get away with pissing off Bill but if you make her mad, she’ll rip your heart out,'' he wrote.
'I heeded those words. I did make him mad a few times, but I never really pissed her off. I knew the ramifications.'
In a response to an X user asking what he did that 'pissed off' Clinton, Patterson said he once didn't let him go to a restaurant when he was hungry because the Secret Service hadn't swept it.
He said while these small issues could be brushed over by Bill, Patterson 'realized there were different rules for Hillary.'
'She instructed the senior staff, including me, that she didn’t want to be forced to encounter us,' he said, adding that staff were seen scrambling to avoid her 'no matter their position in the building.'
'Many a time, I’d see mature, professional adults, working in the most important building in the world, scurrying into office doorways to escape Hillary’s line of sight,' he wrote.
'She was the Nazi schoolmarm and the rest of us were expected to hide as though we were kids in trouble.'
Patterson served over 20 years in the Air Force and was deployed on tours to regions including Bosnia, Haiti, Rwanda and Somalia.
But he said reverence for military service was scant in the Clinton White House, and recalled a time ahead of the 1996 election when Hillary 'attempted to ban military uniforms in the White House.'
'She was trying to craft the narrative that the military was not a priority in the Clinton administration,' he wrote.
'As a military aide, carrying the football, and working closely with the Secret Service, I objected to that. It simply wasn’t a matter of her political agenda; it was national security.
'If the balloon went up, the Secret Service would need to find me as quickly as possible. Seconds matter. Finding the aide in military uniform made complete sense. Besides, what commander in chief wouldn’t want to advertise his leadership and command?'
Patterson said Hillary 'finally relented because the Secret Service weighed in', but said the incident was a telling moment for his understanding of how the White House worked under the Clintons.
'The Clintons are corrupt beyond words,' he concluded the scathing X post.
#5
The only people suprised are Dem voters. Everybody else already knew.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/20/2025 12:31
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#6
This business of ducking into offices so Hillary wouldn’t see you in the hallway corroborates a second hand story told to my wife and I back in the nineties by a relative living in Bethesda.
DOGE: The United States Institute of Peace was anything but peaceful. When Trump's team arrived the agency fought tooth and nail to prevent entry. Once the DOGE team was inside they found crew served weapons, pallets of cash, and witnessed agency officials deleting terabytes of… pic.twitter.com/H83K2e0IGO
…deleting terabytes of evidence. Trump-hating Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the president had no right to shutdown the CIA front agency operating in the heart of Washington DC.
🚨 Today my office has charged Congresswoman McIver with violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 111(a)(1) for assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement. pic.twitter.com/TV00uwRtKq
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] The ZSU is holding back the Russian offensive in the south and east of Ukraine.
Most of the fighting has been recorded in the Pokrovsky direction. There, Russian invaders are trying to break through the defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of 13 populated areas.
Since the beginning of the current day, 84 combat clashes have occurred on the front. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an operational report as of 16:00 on Monday, May 19.
Thus, in the Kharkov direction, Russian troops attacked twice near Vovchansk and Kutkovka. One combat clash continues.
In the Liman direction, the enemy army carried out 13 attacks near Yampolivka, Zelenaya Dolina, Torskoye and in the direction of Glushchenkovo, Karpovka, Serebryanka, Yampol, Grigorovka, Ridkodub and Olgovka. Three combat clashes are ongoing.
In the Seversky direction, the enemy attacked three times in the areas of Verkhnekamyanskoye, Belogorovka and in the direction of Grigorovka.
In the Kramatorsk direction, four armed clashes occurred near Chasovy Yar, Belaya Gora and Kurdyumovka. One armed clash is still ongoing.
In the Toretsk direction, the enemy tried to break through in the areas of Toretsk, Novospasskoye and towards Dilievka. The defense forces repelled two enemy assaults, three more clashes are ongoing.
In the Pokrovsk direction, Russian invaders carried out 26 attacks in the areas of the settlements of Mirolyubovka, Elizavetovka, Lisovka, Udachnoye, Novosergeevka, Troitskoye, Kotlyarovka, Andreyevka and in the direction of the settlements of Zarya, Novoukrainka, Staraya Nikolaevka, Shevchenko Pervoye, Novaya Poltavka. The defense forces stopped 20 assaults. Another six battles are ongoing.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, 11 attacks were stopped in the areas of Constantinople, Privolnoye, Rovnopol, Volnoye Pole and in the direction of Novopol and Zelenoye Pole.
In the Orekhov direction, the occupiers carried out four attacks in the direction of Malaya Tokmachka and near Stepovoye.
In the Dnieper direction, enemy units tried to advance forward once, but were unsuccessful.
The operation in the Kursk direction continues. Our soldiers have repelled two enemy attacks.
Let us recall that in one day on May 18, Russia lost more than 1,000 fighters killed and wounded. The total number of Russian losses since the beginning of the great war is approaching 1 million people.
[NAHARNET] A decision to disarm the Paleostinian refugee camps in Leb ...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?... has been taken and Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....> ' visit to Beirut on Wednesday will be ''decisive in this regard in terms of devising the plans and executive mechanisms,'' Lebanese sources informed on the Paleostinian file said.
''Lebanese officials prefer that the plans be Paleostinian and shared with the Lebanese side, with Lebanon pushing for the disarmament process to be among the Paleostinian themselves and led by the Fatah Movement,'' the sources told ad-Diyar newspaper.
''The Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... Movement for its part has sent positive signals on its readiness to hand over weapons if there is a major Lebanese-Paleostinian decision in this regard, as eyes remain fixed on the hardline organizations inside the camps and whether they will cooperate or the matter will require surgical measures carried out by Fatah and its allies,'' the sources added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2025
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Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2025
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#1
Improvise. Adapt.
And then die.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/20/2025 3:19
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#2
I don't think that word means what they think it means.
Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence.
#7
Re #2,
despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence
Existence is a gift, and it is neither absurd nor incomprehensible, unless you consider the incomprehensible generosity of its giver. Where would you be without it?
[NY Post] Embattled CBS News boss Wendy McMahon was pushed out on Monday after less than two years – including a $20 billion lawsuit brought by President Trump that has stalled parent company Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance Media.
McMahon, who was given the title of CEO of CBS News, Stations, and CBS Media Ventures in 2023, has opposed settling the lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris in the heat of the presidential campaign that Trump alleges was deceptively edited to aid the former vice president.
“It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward,” McMahon said in a memo sent to shell-shocked staff.
CBS CEO George Cheeks,
“They call him Sweet Cheeks, donchaknow, because he’s such a sour pickle of a man.”
/not even a little bit sorry
one of three executives in charge as Paramount awaits approval of the merger from the FCC, said McMahon had decided to “step down.” She will remain at the network for “a few weeks to support the transition,” he added.
McMahon, 51, offered a curt reply in her farewell note.
“To George: Thank you for this opportunity.”
McMahon’s tenure was marred by her widely-panned overhaul of the evening news, plummeting ratings at both the nightly newscast and the morning show, and internal turmoil over editorial standards.
“This is not a surprise. It was just a question of when,” said one person familiar with the matter. “It’s a bit late to stand up for journalism given what she’s done to CBS News — it’s not even the ratings, it’s the quality of the journalism.”
Paramount’s controlling shareholder Shari Redstone supported McMahon’s removal, a source close to the situation told The Post.
In recent weeks, she has pushed to settle the bitter legal battle as the two sides have gone into mediation – leading longtime “60 Minutes” producer Bill Owens to quit.
The media heiress and daughter of the late Sumner Redstone stands to make about $2 billion from the Skydance deal.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/20/2025
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...TRANSLATION:
1: CBS is involved in a VERY high stakes business deal which requires Federal approval.
2: They got caught putting their thumbs on the scale bigtime, and if this goes to court the business deal goes away and CBS will take a hammer to it's bottom line, because they WILL lose - and even an out of court settlement would be a horror, because the President isn't going to let them off the hook with the money and a mealy-mouthed apology. They'll have to admit it. So,
3: As Lord Blackadder used to say, "Someone's for the chop."
#2
The company and she couldn’t agree on which road to take off the cliff.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/20/2025 6:43
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#3
How much does the news division cost CBS? Offer that as that to OAN or Newsmax on a three year contract to see if the other 50% of America may tune in rather than try chasing the remainder with 3 other outlets.
[DailyCallerNewsFoundation] A growing conservative law firm led by attorneys who worked with Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk aims to tackle political litigation others won’t touch.
Within the Trump administration, there’s an intentional shift away from reliance on left-leaning “BigLaw” firms, seen through President Donald Trump’s deals securing millions in pro bono work from major firms and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to distance itself from the American Bar Association. Outside, Lex Politica is positioning itself to fill the void in a changing legal landscape.
“The administration and others are catching on,” Lex Politica CEO Chris Gober told the DCNF in an interview. He argued the “hypocrisy” of major firms who don’t apply equal standards in taking on political cases is creating a need for firms like his that are willing to be “unapologetically conservative.”
“They bend over backwards not to offend the sensitivities of those [liberal] lawyers and those clients, and what they’ll tend to do is just refuse to take on cases that are, you know, synonymous or connected with the conservative or Republican movement,” Gober told the DCNF.
Lex Politica’s current clients include close to 20 senators and over 50 members of the House, along with governors, attorneys general and other Republican politicians, Gober says. They have been involved in key issues, such as legal and political considerations related to establishing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Attorneys Steve Roberts and Jessica Furst Johnson left Holtzman Vogel to join Gober’s effort, as did Christine Fort and Nicole Kelly.
“We are offering what BigLaw can’t – and won’t,” Lex Politica Partner and Political Law Co-Chair Steve Roberts told the DCNF in a statement. “Having worked at an AmLaw 100 firm, I can tell you first hand that BigLaw’s problem with Trump isn’t legal, it’s cultural. While some firms dance around politics, we’re stepping in with a firm that says what it believes and can act in the best strategic and legal interests of our clients.”
Trump’s executive orders against law firms have stirred up controversy and legal challenges. A judge struck down Trump’s order against Perkins Coie, which sought to cancel the firm’s government contracts and attorney security clearances, as unconstitutional in early May.
“I think a lot of these firms would have no problem at all taking on a pro bono case for an organization like a Planned Parenthood, but they will say that they can’t take on some kind of religious liberty case for a company that is out there,” Gober said.
During the presidential campaign, Gober worked with Musk closely to establish America PAC, which he expects will continue to play a critical role in the midterm elections and beyond.
“I do not see it being a one and done,” he said, noting a lot of people had that question during the campaign. “I think we’ve answered a little bit of that…in our involvement with Wisconsin.”
Musk gave $238 million to America PAC to help elect Trump, according to CNN.
Musk’s America PAC spent close to $12.7 million backing conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Judge Brad Schimel, who lost his race in April, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Working with Musk through the PAC was a “new experience,” Gober says, noting some of the unique initiatives they launched, such as the petition program.
“There was definitely a level of creativity with the PAC that you normally don’t see in politics,” he said.
As far as DOGE goes, Gober says he doesn’t see much “fundamentally changing” as Musk scales back his work.
“The fact of the matter is, it was the creation and structure of DOGE that I think is critically important,” Gober said. “Even without him being there, I think you’re left with a lot of the same kind of foundational elements and people with the same kind of mindset as Elon.”
[NAHARNET] President Joseph Aoun has said diplomatic contacts are ongoing especially with the U.S. to pressure Israel to stop its attacks on Leb ...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. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... , adding that Deputy U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Morgan Ortagus will visit Lebanon soon.
In an interview late Sunday with Egyptian digital television channel ON E, Aoun said the Israeli occupation of five Lebanese hills is preventing the Lebanese army from deploying on the border. "We are in constant contact with the U.S. to urge it to pressure Israel," he said, explaining that Lebanon is seeking a truce deal and not a normalization of ties with Israel.
"We have asked for indirect negotiations to demarcate the land border the same way we did with the maritime border" with Israel, Aoun told the Egyptian channel.
As for his dialogue with Hezbollah over the handover of its weapons, Aoun said he and Hezbollah are exchanging messages but that the group's security situation does not allow it to have meetings. "Hezbollah represents a segment of the Lebanese population and has the right to participate in the politics but not to keep its arms."
Aoun said that addressing the Hezbollah's disarmament should not be done too hastily, adding that Lebanon has good relations with Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... but does not accept any foreign intervention. "If the U.S.-Iranian negotiations reach a conclusion, it will affect the region and Lebanon," he said.
Aoun will also discuss this week with Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....> the disarmament of Paleostinian camps.
By long-standing convention, Lebanon's army stays out of the Paleostinian camps -- where Abbas's Fatah movement, bad boy group Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... and other gangs are present -- and leaves the factions to handle security.
Last month, the army said it had arrested several Lebanese and Paleostinians in connection with rocket attacks towards Israel.
Abbas last visited the country in 2017 and will arrive in Lebanon on May 21
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2025
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Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] Putin and Trump's talks have ended.
Putin called the talks meaningful and useful. Putin thanked Trump for organizing the talks with Ukraine.
Russia is in favor of stopping the fighting, but it is necessary to develop the most effective paths forward.
Russia is ready to work on a memorandum with Ukraine, including a ceasefire.
Russia and Ukraine need to find compromises that would suit all parties.
We are on the right track (c) Putin
We will continue to negotiate.
Trump's version.
The conversation with Putin went very well.
Russia and Ukraine will immediately begin talks on ending the war (c) Trump
The full text of Trump's statement:
"My conversation with Putin has just ended. I believe it went very well. Russia and Ukraine will immediately begin talks on a ceasefire and, more importantly, a complete end to the war. The terms will be agreed upon between the two sides - as they should be, because only they know the details of the negotiation process that are not available to anyone else. The tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent. If it were not so, I would say so right now, and not later.Russia wants to do massive TRADE with the United States after this disastrous "bloodbath" is over, and I support that idea. Russia has tremendous opportunities to create jobs and build wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED. Ukraine can also be a major beneficiary of trade relations as it rebuilds its country.
Russia-Ukraine talks will begin immediately. I communicated this to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb in a phone call immediately after my conversation with President Putin.
The Vatican, according to the Pope, has expressed a strong interest in hosting these talks on its territory.
A meeting between Russian and US Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump is not currently being prepared. This was reported on May 19 by the official Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“No, it is not being prepared now,” Peskov said, answering a question from journalists.
Earlier on May 19, the Russian leader's press secretary noted: Putin and Trump will decide on a possible meeting and its timing themselves. At the same time, he emphasized that the negotiations between the leaders of Russia and the United States must be productive, and for this they must be well prepared.
Peskov also announced a telephone conversation between the Russian president and his American counterpart, which will take place on May 19 at 17:00 Moscow time. The US president had previously stated that the main topics of the conversation would be a ceasefire in Ukraine and trade issues.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] In Moscow, a court refused to collect 1 million rubles from the MSM Group company (the organizer of concerts, including the Piknik group, in Crocus City Hall) in favor of the victim of the terrorist attack. This is reported by TASS.
“The Khoroshevsky District Court of Moscow has decided to deny the claims of A. N. Zagoskin,” the agency quotes the judge as saying.
The plaintiff had previously stated that he had been poisoned by carbon monoxide during the terrorist attack and suffered severe psychological stress. He was not officially recognized as a victim in the criminal case, but he did provide the court with medical documents confirming that an ambulance had been called after the terrorist attack.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, MSM Group refused to compensate the victim who claimed damage to his health. In addition, the company Crocus International was brought into the case as a third party.
On March 22, 2024, terrorists broke into Crocus City Hall, opened fire on visitors and employees of the concert hall and started a fire. As a result of the terrorist attack, 146 people died, six of them children. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened several criminal cases, including under Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Terrorist attack"). 12 people were arrested. Currently, 19 defendants are already in custody.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Sergey Adamov
[REGNUM] The Russian Armed Forces continue to carry out tasks in the area of the special military operation. Despite reports online about a possible ceasefire in the near future, military actions continue along the entire contact line - from Donbass to the Kursk region.
Developing the offensive on the eastern side of the Donetsk front, Russian troops liberated the settlement of Novoolenovka. "As a result of active and decisive actions by units of the "Center" group of troops, the settlement of Novoolenovka of the Donetsk People's Republic was liberated," the Russian Defense Ministry reported.
The Defense Ministry also confirmed earlier reports about the liberation of the village of Tarasovka. The advance in this direction also confirms other reports - about the gradual collapse of the enemy's defense line east of Pokrovsk and the loss of control over the strategically important Pokrovsk-Konstantinovka highway, connecting two centers of defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donbas.
The current situation creates threats to encircle two enemy groups at once.
CONTOURS OF THE FUTURE ENVIRONMENT
In mid-May, after several weeks of calm, the front line north of Donetsk began to move again. After Russian troops liberated the settlements of Toretsk and New York, the Ukrainian Armed Forces retreated north - in the direction of Konstantinovka. Pursuing the enemy, Russian troops liberated the settlement of Romanovka.
Thus, the Russian Armed Forces managed to reach the approaches to Konstantinovka simultaneously from the south - from Toretsk, from the east - from Chasov Yar, and from the west - from Novoyelenovka. Ukrainian sources expect that in the near future Russian troops will begin an operation to encircle the city from three sides at once.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces are strengthening the approaches to the city and creating defense centers in the city's industrial zone at the Avtosteklo and Krasny Oktyabr enterprises and in the workshops of the Konstantinovka Metallurgical Plant. Ukrainian sources expect that in the near future, Russian troops will continue their offensive from the Novoyelenovka area, bypassing Konstantinovka from the west and northwest. In the future, the advancing units of the Russian army may break out onto the Konstantinovka-Druzhkovka highway, closing the encirclement.
At the same time, front-line sources of the Regnum news agency do not confirm the data of the Ukrainian media about the upcoming offensive operation.
"When and where we will act - how would they even know? For them, it is usually a surprise. But our offensive in the Konstantinovka area is developing successfully, and, of course, we will strive to encircle large centers of defense. Now we are approaching a huge agglomeration: Slavyansk - Kramatorsk - Druzhkovka - Konstantinovka, which cannot be taken head-on. And in the future, we should expect news from our direction," the source added.
Simultaneously with the ongoing offensive north of Donetsk, Russian troops have also advanced in another strategic direction.
BOGATYR ON THE FREE FIELD: THE ROAD TO DNEPROPETROVSK
Another major success of the Russian army was the liberation of the settlement of Bogatyr in the southern Donetsk direction. According to information from the field, the city was taken by storm by forces of the 29th Guards Army of the "Vostok" group. Russian troops also managed to occupy the adjacent forest areas and drive the enemy out of the territory of a dairy farm west of the city.
The settlement was transformed into a powerful defensive hub, which was held by units that retreated from the Kurakhovo and Velyka Novosyolka areas. Heavy fighting in this area continued for several months. In an effort to prevent the loss of the settlement, the Ukrainian army command carried out a series of counterattacks, but all of them were repelled.
The fighting on this section of the front continues on the outskirts of the village of Otradnoye, where the enemy retreated after retreating from the village of Bogatyr.
A further offensive in this direction could provide Russian troops with a breakthrough deep into the enemy’s defenses, front-line sources tell IA Regnum.
"The situation is developing in such a way that in the near future we will be able to enter operational space. There are no large settlements within eight to nine kilometers of the Bogatyr-Otradnoye border. Further on, there are two small settlements - Zaporozhye and Yalta, where the enemy will not be able to hold the defense for long. Thus, our troops have the opportunity to break through to the territory of the Dnepropetrovsk region, which is only a few kilometers away," the source noted.
A breakthrough west of Otradnoye also creates the opportunity to liberate the settlement of Komar, which in the long term could allow the completion of the defeat of all enemy forces in the southern Donetsk direction.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Armed Forces left a line of fortifications on this section of the front, located on the left bank of the Mokrye Yaly River. Thus, the enemy does not have a line of defense that could stop the Russian army's advance in the direction of the village of Komar and the territory of the Dnipropetrovsk region.
To the south, units of the "East" group of forces liberated the settlement of Volnoye Pole, closely approaching the area where the borders of the Zaporizhzhya and Dnepropetrovsk regions and the territory of the DPR converge. Thus, the enemy's defense in the southern Donetsk direction continues to crumble, while Kyiv throws all available reserves to other sections of the front.
CREATION OF A BUFFER ZONE IN THE BORDER AREA
Despite the threat of a collapse of the defensive line in Donbass, the Ukrainian command does not abandon plans to break through to the territory of the Kursk region.
On Monday, May 19, footage emerged of the defeat of an armored group of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which attempted to cross the border near the settlement of Tyotkino. A unit of two Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and one engineering vehicle, assisted by infantry, advanced from the settlement of Ryzhevka from the adjacent territory of Sumy Oblast, but was discovered. The decisive role in repelling the breakthrough was played by drone operators, which are controlled using fiber-optic cable. The constant attempts by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to cross the border, resulting in heavy losses, are causing discontent in the ranks of the Ukrainian army.
The day before, the battalion commander of the 47th Mechanized Brigade, which has been constantly carrying out combat missions in the Kursk region for the past few months, Aleksandr Shirshin, submitted a resignation report and accused the command of “moronic decisions” that led to unjustified losses among the brigade’s personnel.
On his social media page, Shirshin stated that "political games and assessments of the real state of affairs do not correspond to either reality or possibilities." However, the events in the Tyotkino area showed that the Ukrainian command does not listen to the opinions of commanders on the front lines, organizing more and more provocations on the border. In an effort to prevent the enemy from breaking through the border, the units of the North group of troops are conducting an operation to create a "buffer zone" in the adjacent territory of the Sumy region.
The day before it became known that the group's forces had liberated the settlement of Maryino, located in close proximity to the border with the Belgorod Region. Footage from the village was published on the Internet.
The village of Maryino is adjacent to the settlements of Popovka and Demidovka on the Russian side. It was on this section of the state border that the Ukrainian Armed Forces attempted to break through to the Krasnoyarsk District of the Belgorod Region in March 2025.
During a month of fierce fighting, the enemy lost dozens of NATO armored vehicles, which, however, did not allow it to consolidate its position on Russian territory. The creation of a buffer zone in the Sumy region is intended to stop any attempts to break through in this section of the demarcation line.
The lack of any prospects in the border area and the ongoing retreat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donbass show that Kyiv has fewer and fewer opportunities to try to change the situation in its favor. And the summer campaign of 2025 could be a disaster for Ukrainian troops in this region.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 21:10 FPV drone crews of the 44th Army Corps of the North Forces Group support their comrades on the front lines.
Onvideo- drone operators prepare and send food rations to the sniper pair, who are in hidden positions.
19:55 Calculation of the 122mm BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system of the Dnepr group destroyed two crews and a control point for enemy UAVs on the right bank of the Dnieper.
18:29 Russian Armed Forces are advancing near Otradnoye and Bogatyr, –MAP.
17:33 Clarification of the front line northwest of Dzerzhinsk –MAP.
17:29 Crews of the 152mm 2S3 self-propelled howitzer "Acacia" of the "East" group of forces inflicted fire damage to a number of critically important enemy targets in the area of the Gulyaipole settlement.
17:26 Advance of the Russian Armed Forces in the Fedorovka area –MAP.
15:59 Units of the "Vostok" group lead successful offensive operations and regularly replenish the fleet of equipment by evacuating damaged and abandoned Ukrainian vehicles.
15:22 After the liberation of Novaya Poltavka, the Russian Armed Forces continue to advance in the direction of Popov Yar, – MAP.
14:47 Drone drivers of the "North" liquidated a concentration of several groups of Ukrainian Armed Forces militants in a wooded area of Sumy Oblast.
13:45 Around 12:40 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed one Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle of the airplane type over the territory of the Kursk region.
13:07 Artillery crews and FPV drone strike teams of the 35th Combined Arms Army in the area of Gulyaipole and Komsomolskoye destroyed six UAV launchers.
In the area of the village of Bogatoe, an FPV drone hit a trench electronic warfare (EW) station and a Vampire hexacopter.
12:17 Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the special military operation as of May 19, 2025
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue to conduct a special military operation.
As a result of decisive actions, units of the North military group liberated the settlement of Maryino in the Sumy region.
Concentrations of manpower and equipment of two airborne assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and two territorial defense brigades were defeated in the areas of the settlements of Proletarskoye, Pavlovka, Atinskoye, Ryzhevka, Sadki and Yunakovka in the Sumy region.
In the Khar'kov direction, the formations of the mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the territorial defense brigade were defeated in the areas of the settlements of Bologovka and Volchansk in the Khar'kov region.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 140 servicemen, a tank, two armored combat vehicles, nine cars, five field artillery pieces and an electronic warfare station.
Units of the "West" group of forces improved their tactical position. They defeated formations of two mechanized, airmobile brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a brigade of the National Guard and a border detachment of the Ukrainian Border Service in the areas of the settlements of Kupyansk, Sobolevka, Glushchenkovo, Novy Mir, Novoosinovo in the Khar'kov region, Redkodub, Yampol, Karpovka, Kirovsk in the Donetsk People's Republic and Novoyegorovka in the Luhansk People's Republic.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost over 230 servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, including a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier, five cars, a Western-made artillery piece, a Kraken electronic warfare station, and an ammunition depot.
The units of the "Southern" group of troops occupied more advantageous lines and positions. They defeated the manpower and equipment of two mechanized, airmobile and assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of the settlements of Serebryanka, Seversk, Chasov Yar, Markovo, Stupochki, Predtechino, Minkovka, Grigorovka, Dyleevka and Verkhnekamenskoye of the Donetsk People's Republic.
The enemy lost over 210 servicemen, six armored combat vehicles, including two M113 armored personnel carriers and two US-made HMMWV armored vehicles. Five pickup trucks, an artillery gun, three electronic warfare stations and an ammunition depot were destroyed.
As a result of active and decisive actions by units of the Center group of forces, the settlement of Novoolenovka in the Donetsk People's Republic was liberated.
Defeat was inflicted on formations of three mechanized, assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and two brigades of the National Guard in the areas of the settlements of Razino, Krasnoarmeysk, Grodovka, Novaya Poltavka, Mirolyubovka, Petrovskoye, Novoekonomicheskoye, Novosergeevka, Ulyanovka and Koptevo of the Donetsk People's Republic.
The enemy's losses amounted to 455 servicemen, three pickup trucks, as well as US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, two M-113 armored personnel carriers and a MaxxPro armored vehicle.
Units of the "East" group of forces continued to advance into the depths of the enemy's defense. They defeated the manpower and equipment of the mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the territorial defense brigade and the national guard brigade in the areas of the settlements of Novoukrainka, Novopil, Zaporizhia, Aleksandrograd, Yalta, Zelenoye Pole of the Donetsk People's Republic, Gulyaipole and Chervone of the Zaporizhia region.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost over 150 servicemen, four vehicles and two field artillery guns. Two electronic warfare stations and an ammunition depot were destroyed.
Units of the Dnepr group of forces defeated formations of the mechanized brigade and the coastal defense brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of the settlements of Blakytnoe, Novoandriyevka, Pavlovka in the Zaporizhia region and Otradokamenka in the Kherson region.
Up to 30 servicemen, a vehicle, and three warehouses of ammunition and supplies were destroyed.
Operational-tactical aviation, strike unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops and artillery of the groups of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation inflicted damage on infrastructure facilities of military airfields, ammunition depots and material and technical equipment, as well as temporary deployment points of units of Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries in 142 districts.
Air defense systems shot down five US-made JDAM guided aerial bombs and 127 aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, the following have been destroyed:
662 aircraft,
283 helicopters,
57,718 unmanned aerial vehicles,
605 anti-aircraft missile systems,
23,399 tanks and other armored combat vehicles,
1,563 multiple launch rocket system combat vehicles,
25,028 field artillery pieces and mortars,
35,668 units of special military vehicles.
12:08 As a result of active and decisive actions by units of the Center group of forces released settlement of Novoolenovka, Donetsk People's Republic.
12:07 Units of the North group of forces as a result of decisive actions released settlement of Maryino, Sumy region.
11:55 The Molniya crew of the Vostok group of forces destroyed MaxxPro armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the South Donetsk direction.
UAV units of Ussuri paratroopers destroy enemy weapons and military equipment in the Kursk border area.
10:56 Russian Armed Forces advance near Ozaryanovka, – MAP.
08:31 FPV drones calculations of the "Southern" group of troops destroyed enemy communications equipment and electronic warfare stations.
07:49 During the past night, air defense systems on dutydestroyed 35 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles:
26 UAVs over the territory of the Republic of Crimea,
Eight over the territory of the Bryansk region,
One was flying over the territory of the Belgorod region.
07:32 Changes to map over the past 24 hours:
Advance south of Grekovka
Control zone southwest of Makeyevka has been expanded➡️
Russian Armed Forces entered Novoalekseevka (administratively part of Yablonovka)
Russian Armed Forces storm Novopol and Zelenoye Pole➡️
Advance to Poltavka
Expansion of the control zone north of Kotlyarovka
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The prosecution considers Khasin Kabardaev, a resident of the Adyge-Khablsky district, to be the organizer of the extremist cell; five more local residents will appear in court as its participants.
As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, in May 2024, a court in Cherkessk placed six residents of Karachay-Cherkessia under arrest, suspected of organizing and participating in the activities of the extremist organization "At Takfir wal-Hijra". "At Takfir wal-Hijra" is not popular among residents of the North Caucasus and has not claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks in Russia, analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" indicated at the time.
The organization "At-Takfir wal-Hijra" (accusation of unbelief and hijra) appeared in Egypt and spread in the North Caucasus, especially in Kabardino-Balkaria in 1997-1998. Supporters of the organization belong to the Salafi movement in Islam and are distinguished by strict demands on co-religionists, according to the "Caucasian Knot" article " Kabardino-Balkaria: On the Path to Disaster. Prerequisites for the Armed Revolt in Nalchik on October 13-14, 2005."
They called themselves Jama'at al-Muslimin (Society of Muslims), but their Egyptian neighbours mockingly called them Excommunication and Exile. Cult-like, they require members to cut off all contact with their families. The introverted Takfir Wal Hijra faction split off from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in the 1960s. The extroverted “moderate” faction followed Ayman Al-Zawahiri into Al Qaeda. Takfir Wal Hijra consists of loosely affiliated cells which have committed acts of terror as far afield as Morocco and Holland.
The Adyge-Khabl District Court of Karachay-Cherkessia has accepted for consideration the case of six residents of the republic who were detained in May 2024 on charges of involvement in an extremist religious organization.
The prosecution believes that the organizer of the At Takfir wal-Hijra* cell was Khasin Kabardaev: according to the investigation, he used his knowledge of the Islamic religion and Sharia, as well as his “leadership skills” and authority among members of the Muslim community of Karachay-Cherkessia, to create a division of the banned organization in the republic.
The goal of the cell is said to be the propaganda and dissemination of radical views and ideas of the ideologists of "At Takfir wal-Hijra"* among the Muslims of the republic. According to investigators, the voluntary members of the association were Arsen Aichepshev, Murat Kabardaev, Nazir Koshev, Murat Mulazhev and Mikhail Smadich, who supported the religious views of Khasin Kabardaev, the United Press Service of the Courts of Karachay-Cherkessia reported today on its Telegram channel.
The hearing on the case is scheduled for May 21. The "Caucasian Knot" does not yet have any comments from the accused or their lawyers regarding the prosecution's version of events.
[NY Post] Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) was slapped with a campaign finance complaint Monday, accusing him of using campaign money to promote a book authored by his twin brother, Alexander — a key witness in President Trump’s first impeachment.
According to the complaint by Americans for Public Trust (APT), Eugene’s campaign team touted Alexander’s book “The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine” in fundraising email blasts sent Feb. 27 and March 7 of this year.
The Post previously reported that Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show that Eugene’s campaign paid $38,783 to a South Florida bookstore where Alexander was concurrently signing copies of the tome as a “fundraising expense.”
“It is clearly illegal to use campaign resources for personal use, and that is just what Representative Vindman has done,” said Americans for Public Trust executive director Caitlin Sutherland.
“Rep. Vindman misused campaign resources to help promote his brother’s book all the way to the New York Times bestseller list. The tens of thousands of campaign dollars spent to subsidize his brother’s spurious book should be immediately investigated by the FEC.”
FEC rules state that using campaign assets, such as donor lists, for book promotion or other monetary benefit is usually classified as “prohibited personal use.”
The Feb. 27 email blast by Eugene’s campaign bore the subject line “Alex’s New Book” and encouraged recipients to purchase a copy, saying that it “reveals profound truths.”
The March 7 email again promoted “The Folly of Realism” and urged recipients to “claim your copy,” according to the complaint.
“Vindman for Congress has significantly subsidized the marketing costs that should be borne by Alexander Vindman and his book’s commercial publisher,” APT’s filing stressed, citing FEC rules stipulating that campaign funds can’t be converted “by any person to personal use.”
The Post reached out to Eugene Vindman’s office for comment.
Ten days after the book’s Feb. 25 release date, Eugene’s campaign made a $7,809.55 payment to Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla., followed by a second payment of $30,972.97 processed on March 20.
The Coral Gables store previously confirmed to The Post last month that Alexander Vindman held book signings at that location and noted that a member of one of Eugene Vindman’s team had asked her earlier in the day what she would do if a reporter came around asking questions.
Campaign payments to the store were listed as a “fundraising expense,” but the store worker wouldn’t specify whether Eugene’s team had actually held fundraising activity there.
Two days after the first payment, on March 9, Alexander Vindman posted on X about signing copies of his tome at Books & Books.
On March 21, a day after the second payment of $30,973, Eugene posted that he was participating in a chili cookoff in Caroline County, Va. on the day the check cleared.
Alexander Vindman’s book briefly made the New York Times “hardcover nonfiction” bestseller list during the week ending March 16.
Eugene Vindman won a close race to represent Virginia’s 7th District last November with a message centered on fighting against corruption, highlighting his efforts to assist his twin brother in testifying against Trump.
The Post previously reported that the now-congressman eschewed questions last year about whether his taxpayer-funded trips to Ukraine played a role in his business ventures of trying to sell weapons to Kyiv.
Eugene told the Prince William Times that as of late 2023, he had made 14 trips to the war-torn country, funded by the “Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group” State Department program.
But during that time, his company, Trident Support LLC, worked to sell the Ukrainian government a weapons system. That firm also used the same PO box as Vindman’s congressional campaign.
Vindman raked in $125,000 from Trident early last year despite reports that he did not earn a salary from the company, financial disclosures show.
[YouTube] Only please to call it “research”. If it was good enough for the great Lobachevsky…
The Alpha News article — it reads like a parody, but nowadays the joke sites fall rapidly behind reality:
The University of Minnesota will close its Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity (CARHE) on May 30, 2025, following the departure of its founding director, Rachel Hardeman, amid allegations of plagiarism.
“We are closing the Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity (CARHE), effective May 30, 2025. We are currently assessing and reimagining the important work of health equity research and action as we also work closely with our funding partners to align priorities and strategic direction,” Melinda Pettigrew, dean of the School of Public Health, said in a staff email viewed by Alpha News.
The center, launched in 2021 with a $5 million donation from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, aimed to study the health effects of structural racism, according to the Daily Caller.
Hardeman, who was named to Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2024, announced her exit last month, as former employees alleged that she plagiarized a 2021 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant proposal, according to the Daily Caller’s report.
Brigette Davis, employed at CARHE from November 2022 to March 2024, claimed Hardeman copied her dissertation proposal “verbatim,” the Daily Caller reported.
“When I say ‘verbatim’ I mean, she performed a find+replace in my document, and replaced all instances of ‘Mike Brown’ with ‘Philando Castile,’ and all instances of ‘St. Louis, Missouri’ with ‘Minneapolis, Minnesota,’ and submitted this to the NIH as if it were her own,” Davis wrote on LinkedIn.
Jé Judson, who worked at CARHE from June 2022 to September 2024, alleged the center’s grant proposals “lit up like a Christmas tree” on a plagiarism checker, the Daily Caller reported. Naomi Harada Thyden, a former researcher at the Minnesota Population Center supporting CARHE, corroborated Davis’s claims, according to the Daily Caller’s report.
Another study co-authored by Hardeman found black newborns experience lower mortality rates when cared for by black physicians, but the “study’s findings proved irreproducible in a 2024 replication study,” the Daily Caller reported.
Hardeman published an article in the Star Tribune saying her departure from the university wasn’t related to the plagiarism allegation, which she attributed to an “attribution error” that she “addressed quickly.”
In a statement to KSTP, Hardeman said the closure was not a “reflection of CARHE’s work” but of the university’s “failure to support, protect, or sustain antiracism work when it becomes inconvenient.”
The university confirmed one closed complaint against Hardeman exists but said privacy laws prevent it from sharing specifics.
“The University of Minnesota School of Public Health remains strongly committed to our values and advancing health equity, which is central to who we are and how we teach, conduct research, and engage with communities,” Pettigrew said in a statement shared with Alpha News.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2025
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“We are closing the Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity (CARHE), effective May 30, 2025. We are currently assessing and reimagining the important work of health equity research and action as we also work closely with our funding partners to align priorities and strategic direction,” Melinda Pettigrew, dean of the School of Public Health, said in a staff email viewed by Alpha News.
I'd ask for a translation but I'm thinking it's probably just gibberish and doesn't mean anything at all.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/20/2025 11:16
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$5 million donation from Blue Cross and Blue Shield...the folks who raise our rates every year without fail.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] In the capital of Haiti, a street food vendor poisoned 40 members of the Viv Ansanm criminal group with empanadas. This was reported by Oddity Central, a website dedicated to unusual events, places, inventions, and characters from around the world.
"A Haitian woman who lost family members to a violent criminal gang took revenge on 40 gang members by poisoning them with tainted empanadas," the report said.
According to the portal, the incident took place in the city of Port-au-Prince. There, a woman, whose name is not disclosed for security reasons, offered the criminals pies as a treat, saying that she wanted to thank them for "protecting the area." After the treat, the criminals felt severe pain in their stomachs, and then they began to vomit. Soon, they all died before the ambulance arrived.
However, the story does not end there. The authors of the article claim that soon after the incident, the woman left her home, fearing retribution. It later turned out that her anxiety was not in vain - her home was set on fire. The Haitian woman herself came to the police, where she stated that she planned the poisoning of 40 criminals and acted alone. It is specified that local law enforcement agencies have not yet charged her with murder.
Arguably it was self-defense, or possibly protecting the community from predators…
Reality doesn’t care what you accept, dude. Sorry.
[NAHARNET] Hezbollah MP Ali Fayad warned Monday that ''the military, political and financial pressures that Leb ...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?... is facing are expected to escalate,'' noting that some sides mistakenly think that ''their escalation will push the Lebanese people to surrender.''
''These are wrong calculations, because threats boost the Lebanese society's firmness and readiness to defend itself,'' Fayad added.
''Hezbollah is showing full readiness for cooperation for the sake of a salvation course that leads to recovery, stability and reform, but it will strongly reject any attempt to impose political conditions that harm Lebanese illusory sovereignty or aim to remove the right of the Lebanese to defend themselves,'' the MP said.
''The complications of the current period necessitate further responsibility and firmness,'' Fayad went on to say, calling for ''adhering to national unity.''
He added: ''What increases the fears of the Lebanese is the fall of international guarantees, especially from the two countries sponsoring the implementation of Resolution 1701.''
Accusing the U.S.-led ceasefire committee of ''full bias'' in Israel's favor, Fayad said ''the gateway to stability and recovery in Lebanon begins by pressing Israel to withdraw from the five hills, halt hostilities, release the captives, respect Lebanese illusory sovereignty and lift the obstacles in the way of reconstruction.''
Moreover, Fayad said ''Hezbollah has positive intentions for cooperating with the government within the context of dialogue and understanding, with the aim of building state institutions and enabling them to perform their missions. But we will not accept or tolerate that some leave our people out in the open, without any protection, guarantees or capabilities.''
''Protecting the Lebanese people is the state's duty, as per its ministerial statement and presidential inauguration speech, and it needs to commit to its sovereign role in safeguarding national rights,'' the politician added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2025
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Is this typical spring weather?
There seems to be a lot of wind.
[NAHARNET] A list backed by most political parties won all 24 seats of Beirut's municipality on Sunday, maintaining Christian-Moslem parity on the capital's municipal council.
Political rivals such as Hezbollah and the Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... came together to form the list, arguing that such a temporary coalition was necessary to preserve equal Christian-Moslem power-sharing.
The list was also backed by the Amal Movement, the Kataeb Party, the Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... , al-Ahbash, the Tashnag Party Socialist party representing the Armenian diaspora in Leb. They're Christians, but they try to remain neutral, which means they get shot at without shooting back... , the Hunchak Party and MP Fouad Makhzoumi.
A rival list was formed by MP Nabil Bader, the Jamaa Islamiya and a figure who was considered close to al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...
... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... Movement.
Four other lists were also formed in the capital, including one by the Beirut Madinati civil society group, which won one third of the capital's votes in the 2016 polls.
Voter turnout reached 21% in Beirut, 44.57% in Zahle, 41.11% in West Bekaa, 37.70% in Rashaya, 34.15% in Hermel and 48.88% in Baalbek.
The Lebanese Forces meanwhile announced its victory in the Zahle municipal polls against a list backed by all the other political forces and families in an electoral battle in which the Free Patriotic Movement gave its supporters the freedom to vote for either list.
LF 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.... hailed a ''major victory'' in the city, saying ''Zahle has chosen progress, change, civilization, illusory sovereignty, deaders and Leb ...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... A Hezbollah front man meanwhile said the party and its ally the Amal Movement won in the city of Baalbek, the city of Hermel and in 19 towns in the Bekaa.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2025
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Don't think they have parity anymore in London, it seems.
Text taken from a news article which appeared in rg.ru
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] "An agreement on cooperation in this area was signed," RIA Novosti quotes Azizi as saying.
According to him, the agreement was signed on the Russian side by Inteko Group within the framework of the Russia - Islamic World. KazanForum forum.
Inteko Group has already conducted geological exploration in Afghanistan and will begin drilling operations to extract oil, said Rustam Khabibullin, head of the Russian Business Center in Afghanistan.
At the same time, work will begin on the construction of an oil refinery at the selected site. The site is equipped with the necessary utilities, Khabibullin added.
The agency's interlocutor also noted that this is the first agreement of this kind.
Earlier, the first underground oil storage facility was put into operation in Russia. It is located in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and can already be used.
The Taliban have been discharged from the terrorists. Now it can be officially mined. The Chinese, by the way, are already developing Afghan lithium deposits.Since Afghanistan has persistent problems with fuel and lubricants, cooperation with the Taliban in the oil sector is one of the obvious areas of interaction for Russia.
In the future, we can expect agreements on the extraction of rare earth metals (yes, Trump, rare earth metals),
…lots of places have them. The rarity is that it takes a lot of raw ore to get a small amount of the refined stuff — but new deposits seem to be found every few months…
as well as on agriculture. Russia has already imported food to Afghanistan, and in the future, it is beneficial for us that Afghan farmers move away from poppy crops to growing ordinary grain crops.
That would be beneficial for everyone — there’s a serious market glut for opioid products.
The Chinese have already established cooperation of this kind in the border provinces of Afghanistan. Increasing the area of grain crops is the best way to systematically reduce the production of raw poppy.
Well, in the long term, Afghanistan may become another market for Russian goods.
P.S. On the negative side, the stubborn Taliban pushed through a ban on chess in Afghanistan. Such paroxysms of the Middle Ages will seriously hinder the transformation of Afghanistan into a normal state.
It will never happen so long as the Pashtuns/Pakhtons are running things.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Dmitry Gubin
[REGNUM] Our side has already outlined the main "positional points" following the direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations held on May 16 — the first in almost three years. Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov pointed this out on May 19. The start of the negotiations marked changes in the "chess game" of the conflict. The Kiev regime has played to a clearly worse position compared to March 2022.
On this occasion, the head of our delegation, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, gave a blitz lecture on air on Russia 24, citing, as a historian, analogies from the past and, as a politician, parallels with the current negotiations.
LESSON 1: THE WEST, BY DISRUPTING NEGOTIATIONS, HARMS ITSELF
The first historical analogy is with the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. “There were many Russo-Turkish wars, and as a result of one of these wars, which was caused by a major conflict in the Balkans – this was in the 1870s – we, in principle, came to an agreement with Turkey,” Medinsky noted.
We remember from our school history course that Russia then helped the Balkan countries – Serbia, Montenegro, Romania – gain complete independence from the Turks and Bulgaria, which gained autonomy within the Ottoman Empire. Less well known is the diplomatic postscript to the exploits of Russian soldiers in Plevna and Shipka, the storming of Kars and the defense of Bayazet.
On March 3, 1878, bilateral agreements between Russia and Turkey were concluded in San Stefano, a suburb of Istanbul. San Stefano, occupied by Russian troops, was not chosen by chance. The head of our delegation, Count Nikolai Ignatiev, wrote: “A wonderful place on the shores of the Sea of Marmara, there we will be the same as in Constantinople, and the English (who “demonstrated” their squadron. — Ed.) will have nothing to find fault with.”
According to the treaty, the Ottomans agreed to transfer Macedonia, part of eastern Thrace and access to the Aegean Sea to the newly formed Bulgarian Principality. The territory of Serbia and Montenegro, allied with Russia, was increased, and Bosnia received autonomy within the Ottoman Empire.
But “our Western partners” decided to devalue the results of the Istanbul negotiations of 1878. If in 2022 the Istanbul agreements were nullified by Boris Johnson, who persuaded Kiev to fight until “victory on the battlefield”, then almost 150 years ago this role was played by diplomats from Germany and Austria-Hungary - behind whom loomed the same Britain.
In May–June 1878, the British signed two treaties: with the Turks (the Ottomans gave Cyprus to the British, and London promised to defend its borders in Asia by “force of arms” in the event of Russian encroachment) and with the Austrians on a common line of conduct. At the initiative of the Western powers, the Berlin Congress was convened. At these multilateral negotiations, Russia was forced to revise the Treaty of San Stefano.
Russia returned the fortress of Bayazet to Turkey, the territory of Bulgaria was cut in half and divided into two parts with different levels of dependence on the Ottoman Sultan. Macedonia (which the Bulgarians considered historically theirs) was left with the Turks, part of the Bulgarian acquisitions were transferred to Serbia, and Bosnia, populated largely by Orthodox Serbs, was “gifted” to Catholic Austria-Hungary. It seemed that the goal had been achieved - the West “curtailed Russian appetites” and did not allow the new Balkan states to be turned into our satellites.
"What did the West's 'improvement' of the bilateral agreements that had been reached lead to? Because then there were new Balkan wars, in 1912-1913. And ultimately, due to the unresolved problems in the Balkans, the First World War broke out," Medinsky notes.
Let us explain: during the first, unexpectedly bloody Balkan War, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and the Macedonian rebels fought Turkey, which was “left too much” at the Berlin Congress. Bulgaria emerged victorious, and was immediately torn apart by its neighbors: Serbia, Greece, Romania and the same Türkiye.
At the same time, the Bosnian issue fueled Serbia's hatred of Austria-Hungary, which resulted in "the most effective terrorist act in history" - the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. The First World War, provoked by this shot, ended, among other things, with the death of the German and Austro-Hungarian empires - the two powers that guaranteed the Berlin Congress. And the British Empire also emerged from the war rather battered - especially if you consider that the First World War made the Second World War inevitable.
Trying to dig a hole for Russia, which in 1878 almost reached an agreement with Turkey, the West dug one for itself.
Another example close to the Istanbul-2022 and Istanbul-2025 incidents is the history of the Soviet-Finnish War.
As historians point out (Medinsky in the interview is no exception), Joseph Stalin offered Finland a truce in the early stages of the war. Let us add that before the start of hostilities, the Soviet leader offered the Finns a mutually beneficial compromise. Here we can draw a parallel with the compromises regarding security in Eastern Europe that Moscow offered the West in 2022, before the start of the Central Military District.
"Since Leningrad cannot be moved, we ask that the border be 70 kilometers from Leningrad... We ask for 2,700 square kilometers," Stalin addressed the Finnish side. But the latter, feeling the support of Britain and France, stood its ground - just as the Kiev regime stood its ground on the issue of Ukraine's membership in NATO and the return of the republic's nuclear status.
In parallel with the battles at the front, " Stalin offers Finland a truce, that is, peace," Medinsky noted. But the Finns refused, because they were inspired by London and Paris. In France - as now, during the time of Emmanuel Macron - they began to threaten to introduce "peacekeepers" and even demonstratively began to assemble a volunteer expeditionary corps. Britain began to concentrate long-range bombers in Iraq (then a mandated territory), capable of flying to the Baku oil fields.
But no "volunteers" came to help Finland - the Suomi authorities were unable to fight "to the last Finn" on their own, and on March 12, 1940, the Moscow Treaty was signed. The Finns recognized Soviet claims on the Karelian Isthmus and moved the border without any compensation from the Soviet Union.
Britain and France, by inciting the Finns against the USSR and disrupting the negotiation process, did not win at all. It was not they, but Hitler who received another ally in Marshal Mannerheim. The Third Reich had enough forces and resources in the West both to defeat France and to wage war with Britain.
Will the current leaders of the West, who are eager to become a third party in hypothetical negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv (and achieve an agreement that is advantageous to them and disadvantageous to us), learn historical lessons?
LESSON 2: RUSSIA CAN PLAY THE LONG GAME AND GET WHAT IT WANTS
However, it seems that Europe has a poor memory (or pretends to have a poor memory) of the history of the Napoleonic wars that ploughed up this continent in 1803-1815. Now the West and its Kyiv "clients" are taking the position of first stopping the fighting, a truce, and then negotiations. French President Macron, in particular, demanded a 30-day halt to the fighting.
His more successful predecessor, Emperor Napoleon, acted differently: the Peace of Tilsit of 1807 (or rather, two peace treaties between France and Russia and Prussia) was preceded by negotiations between Paris and St. Petersburg and Vienna. And these negotiations, we note, were conducted against the backdrop of battles between Napoleon's army and the troops of the 4th anti-French coalition. There was no "ceasefire" until Tilsit.
But the Napoleonic wars should be remembered not only as an example of how negotiations are conducted, but also for another reason. After the defeat at Austerlitz (which was a failure for our army as well) and the defeat of the Prussians and Russians at Friedland, after the forced diplomatic maneuver at Tilsit, there was the undermining of the power of Napoleon's great army in the Battle of Borodino. And then - the defeat of the French at Berezina, the Foreign Campaign of 1813-14 and the triumphal entry of Russian troops into Paris. Which was followed by the establishment of the post-Napoleonic order in Europe, where Russia played no small role.
This is an example of how Russia can and does play the long game, achieving its goals after military failures and political compromises.
In this sense, an even more striking example, which Medinsky also cited, is the Northern War of 1700–1721 “with Sweden, after which Sweden forever lost its status as a great power, and the Russian Empire became a great power.”
Russia, under the leadership of Peter the Great, was returning its previously lost historical lands in this war — access to the Baltic Sea, which was taken from our country by the "advanced European power" Sweden during the time of Ivan the Terrible and later, during the Time of Troubles. As a result of the battles, our new (and in fact, returned to the Russian state) territories became the "Izhora and Korelskaya provinces". A new capital appeared on the ancient Izhora land, which was still owned by Veliky Novgorod — St. Petersburg.
And here an important historical parallel appears: simultaneously with the military actions, but without interrupting them, Peter I offered Charles XII a compromise option: Sweden would agree to the transfer of Ingria, that is, the lands around St. Petersburg, to the Russians, and would retain the Baltics for itself.
But Charles preferred to “defeat Russia on the battlefield” and fight for the borders of 1700.
"Charles XII continues his insane war, despite Peter's repeated peace proposals. But the funniest thing is, who do you think supported Charles XII? England and France. They endlessly finance Sweden," scientist and politician Medinsky drew a historical parallel.
But Charles did not take into account the main thing - the ability of Peter and his army, which had modernized during the war, to wage a battle of attrition and over large territories. The war was fought in the Ostsee (Baltic) provinces of Sweden, and on the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and in Little Russia.
The defeat of the main Swedish land forces near Poltava occurred on July 8 (1709 according to the new style), the "zeroing" of the Swedish fleet at Gangut - on August 7, 1714. And for almost seven more years the Russian army exhausted and finished off the enemy.
As a result of the Treaty of Nystad concluded in 1721, Sweden lost much more than it could have conceded if it had not listened to London and Paris and come to its senses earlier. The successor of Charles XII, who died in 1718, Queen Ulrika Eleonora was forced to admit the loss of Ingria, Estonia with Reval (Tallinn), Livonia with Riga and Old Finland, that is, Eastern Karelia.
Sweden forever lost its role as the hegemon of the Baltic and a first-rank European power. And after two unsuccessful attempts to play a rematch with Russia (1788–90 and 1808–09), these “descendants of the Varangians” ceased to pose a threat to our country and to Europe.
Russia has been among the great powers since 1721 until now. The Swedes had enough historical memory from the beginning of the 19th century until the 2020s, when the country decided to join the anti-Russian alliance again, this time NATO. At the same time, Kiev preferred to forget how Sweden's client, Hetman Ivan Mazepa, ended his life.
But in Russia they remember the lessons of history: including the fact that the 21-year war that Russia went through from the “confusion” near Narva to the Poltava “victory” and the political victory in Nystadt was not in vain.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Rostov Region Governor Yuri Slyusar signed an order to introduce a state of emergency (ES) from May 19 due to damage to crops as a result of frost.
"Rostov Region found itself in the grip of unfavorable weather conditions. Spring frosts affected most agricultural areas of our region, having a significant impact on the condition of crops," Slyusar wrote on his Telegram channel.
The head of the Rostov region instructed the regional Ministry of Agriculture to collect the necessary documents to determine the area that suffered from frost, as well as to assess the extent of the damage caused to farmers.
Since April 28, frosts in the air and on the soil surface to values below 0 degrees have been recorded in the region. According to preliminary data, crops on an area of about 240 thousand hectares were damaged due to low temperatures. The total area under crops in the region is 4.9 million hectares.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on May 15, a regional emergency regime was introduced in agriculture throughout the Voronezh Region due to frosts. According to preliminary data, 30,000 hectares of crops were damaged by frosts in the region, with winter crops and sugar beets being the worst affected. Up to 70% of fruit tree ovaries were lost, and 44% of plantings were damaged. It is expected that the fruit and berry harvest will be half as much as previously expected.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... has demanded the United Arab Emirates to explain its decision to expel Sudanese consular staff from its consulate general in Dubai, stating that this constitutes a violation of the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and Consular Relations.
This move comes amid a new escalation in the dispute between the two countries, following Khartoum's decision to sever diplomatic relations with Abu Dhabi.
These developments come amid rising tensions between the two sides, which began with drone attacks on vital areas in Port Sudan in early May.
Port Sudan has been the temporary seat of the Sudanese government since the outbreak of conflict between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in April 2023. Khartoum accuses Abu Dhabi of providing military support to the Rapid Support Forces, including supplying them with weapons used in the attacks.
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry issued a statement indicating that Emirati authorities recently expelled most members of the Sudanese consular mission in Dubai without providing clear reasons.
The statement indicated that the expelled diplomats were detained for eight hours at Dubai Airport after completing travel procedures, during which their smartphones and electronic devices were arbitrarily searched.
The statement described these actions as a flagrant violation of the Vienna Conventions, which guarantee the protection and immunity of diplomats.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2025
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#1
This move comes amid a new escalation in the dispute between the two countries, following Khartoum's decision to sever diplomatic relations with Abu Dhabi.
Do I have this right?
1) Sudan cuts diplomatic relations with Abu Dhabi
2) Abu Dhabi kicks out Sudan's grifter/diplomats
3) Sudan whines that a country they don't have diplomatic relations has kicked out its diplomats in a most undiplomatic way.
As Fred Flintstone might ask "What should Abu Dhabi Doo?"
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