[IsraelTimes] White House says move ‘will help save lives’; leaders also discuss ‘new initiatives to secure the release of hostages together with an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza’
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi agreed with US President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Sleazy Dem machine politician, paterfamilias of the Biden Crime Family... in a phone call on Friday to temporarily send humanitarian aid and fuel to the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... via Israel’s Kerem Shalom Crossing until legal mechanisms were in place to reopen the Rafah Border Crossing from the Paleostinian side, the Egyptian presidency announced.
Biden welcomed the decision, with the White House saying in a later readout on the call that "this will help save lives."
The US president "also expressed his full commitment to support efforts to reopen the Rafah Crossing with arrangements acceptable to both Egypt and Israel and agreed to send a senior team to Cairo next week for further discussions," the readout said.
The announcement was a win for the Biden administration, which has been pressuring Egypt in recent days to take this step, with aid piling up in Egypt since Israel launched the operation to take over the Gazook side of the Rafah Crossing with Egypt on May 7.
Not wanting to be seen as complicit with Israel’s military operation to take over the crossing, Egypt has refused to re-open Rafah until Israeli troops have withdrawn from the other side.
In the meantime, the US and Israel have urged Cairo to at least allow the growing amount of aid in Egypt to be transferred to Israel where it can be delivered into 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 an 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... through the Kerem Shalom Crossing.
Egypt had to date refused, still deeming such a move as collaboration with Israel’s military offensive in Rafah.
That stance led to rare criticism from the Biden administration, which had until this week only offered praise of Egypt’s role in the war — both as a mediator and as a controller of aid.
Biden on the call also thanked Sissi "for his efforts from the beginning of the crisis to ensure the continuous flow of assistance from Egypt into Gaza," the White House said.
"The two leaders also consulted on new initiatives to secure the release of hostages together with an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza," the US readout said.
The Paleostinian Authority also gave its public backing to Egypt’s decision — Cairo appeared to have requested a statement of support from PA 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....> ’s office to present its decision as being taken in full coordination with Ramallah.
In an effort to break the impasse earlier this month, Israel quietly asked the Paleostinian Authority to take over the Gaza side of the Rafah Crossing instead of Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... Israel conditioned the offer on officers not identifying themselves as part of the PA due to fears that this would spark opposition from far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, a US official told The Times of Israel.
The offer was rejected by Ramallah, which said it would not comply unless Israel agreed to establish a pathway to a future Paleostinian state — a non-starter for the hardline government in Jerusalem, the US official added.
Since that rejection, Israel and Egypt have been in talks about having Paleostinians not directly affiliated with Hamas or the PA running the Rafah Crossing with assistance from international organizations, the US official said.
Meanwhile,
...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. The whole thing smelled phony, kind of like a dead mackeral but without the scales... the United Nations said Friday that aid access to the Gaza Strip is extremely limited with less than 1,000 truckloads of humanitarian assistance entering the enclave since May 7, after Israel began the Rafah operation.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that between May 7 and May 23, only 906 truckloads entered the enclave of 2.3 million people.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said about 800 of those truckloads were food supplies.
OCHA said 143 truckloads passed through the Kerem Shalom crossing in Gaza’s south, while in Gaza’s north 62 passed through the Erez Crossing and 604 via Erez West. It said 97 truckloads have come through a US-built floating pier in central Gaza that began operating a week ago.
Accusations of severe food insecurity, malnutrition and even famine have formed an integral part of the allegations against Israel of genocide in the International Court of Justice and of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the ICC. Israel has strenuously denied all the allegations.
[IsraelTimes] Veteran left-winger, Jeremy Corbyn says will defend London seat after he was suspended from party for refusing to accept findings of watchdog over antisemitism under his leadership.
[IsraelTimes] Israel’s Barak says ‘the measure is a qualified one’ and Uganda’s Sebutinde warns directive should not be misunderstood, but South Africa’s Tladi says it explicitly requires a halt
Four of the 15 justices at the International Court of Justice argued that the key operative clause in the court’s ruling, handed down on Friday, does not require that Israel immediately halt all military operations in Rafah, but, rather, that it specifically halt military operations that "could bring about physical destruction in whole or in part" of the Paleostinians. Among the four was Israel’s Aharon Barak.
A fifth judge, South Africa’s Dire Tladi, took the opposite view, arguing that the ruling, in "explicit terms, ordered the State of Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah."
These were the only five of the 15 judges who penned an opinion or declaration to accompany the ruling.
The relevant clause in the ruling stated that Israel must "Immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Paleostinian group in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an 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 conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."
Former Supreme Court president Barak, who serves as an ad-hoc judge on the ICJ bench in the case brought against Israel by South Africa, wrote in his dissenting opinion that the majority decision "requires Israel to halt its military offensive in the Rafah Governorate only in so far as is necessary to comply with Israel’s obligations under the Genocide Convention."
Therefore, according to Barak, "Israel is not prevented from carrying out its military operation in the Rafah Governorate as long as it fulfills its obligations under the Genocide Convention."
"As a result," Barak continued, "the measure is a qualified one, which preserves Israel’s right to prevent and repel threats and attacks by Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... , defend itself and its citizens, and free the hostages."
The German judge, Georg Nolte, and the Romanian judge, Bogdan Aurescu — who are both among the 13 judges who voted in favor of this measure — also supported Barak’s interpretation of the decree.
It is expected that this interpretation — that Israel is not required to halt any and all operations in Rafah — will become the official position of the Justice Ministry and attorney general.
In an official response to the ruling, indeed, Israel said it "has not and will not conduct military actions in the Rafah area which may inflict on the Paleostinian civilian population in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part," echoing language used by the court in the relevant clause.
ICJ Vice President Julia Sebutinde (Uganda), who voted against all decisions on Friday, warned against misunderstanding the court’s directive as requiring a unilateral Israeli ceasefire in Rafah. Sebutinde was also the only judge to vote against all the measures in the court’s initial ruling ordering Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide as it fights Hamas bandidosholy warriors in Gaza.
"This measure does not entirely prohibit the Israeli military from operating in Rafah. Instead, it only operates to partially restrict Israel’s offensive in Rafah to the extent it implicates rights under the Genocide Convention," she wrote Friday.
She cautioned: "... this directive may be misunderstood as mandating a unilateral ceasefire in Rafah and amounts to micromanaging the hostilities in Gaza by restricting Israel’s ability to pursue its legitimate military objectives, while leaving its enemies, including Hamas, free to attack without Israel being able to respond."
According to this interpretation, an Israeli military operation which would not lead to the mass destruction of Paleostinian civilian life would be acceptable to the court.
South African Judge Tladi held the opposite opinion: "Today, the Court has, in explicit terms, ordered the State of Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah. The Court has previously, albeit in implicit and indirect ways, ordered the State of Israel not to conduct military operations elsewhere in Gaza because such operations prevent the delivery of human assistance and cause harm to the Paleostinian people. The Court has also reiterated its urgent call for Hamas to release the hostages."
Added Tladi: "The reference to ’offensive’ operations illustrates that legitimate defensive actions, within the strict confines of international law, to repel specific attacks, would be consistent with the Order of the Court. What would not be consistent is the continuation of the offensive military operation in Rafah, and elsewhere, whose consequences for the rights protected under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide has been devastating."
Along with its orders regarding Israel’s military operation in Rafah, the court also ordered Israel to "maintain open" the Rafah Border Crossing between Egypt and Gaza to allow the "unhindered provision at scale" of humanitarian aid to the region.
The Rafah Crossing has been closed since the IDF launched an operation earlier this month to take over the Gaza side of the gateway. Israel blames Egypt for refusing to reopen the crossing since Cairo does not want to reopen it as long as the IDF is effectively managing the other side, and Israel has struggled to recruit another body to run the crossing.
The court also ordered Israel to allow "the unimpeded access to the Gaza Strip" for commissions of inquiry, fact-finding missions, or other investigative bodies mandated by the UN to investigate allegations of genocide.
This order could prompt UN agencies to send delegations to start investigations on the genocide allegations being made by South Africa and other nations against Israel in the court.
The court ordered Israel to report back to it within one month as to how it has implemented the orders.
Should the court deem Israel to have violated the orders, it would be able to refer such violations to the UN Security Council, which could then decide whether or not to take punitive measures against Israel as a result.
[IsraelTimes] A Hamas terror cell planned to carry out terror attacks on the Israeli embassy in Berlin and a US military base in Germany, the Welt am Sonntag German newspaper reports.
The targets were found on the smartphone of a terror suspect, who was arrested in Berlin in December, and accused by prosecutors of looking for places to hide weapons for the terror group, the outlet reports, citing sources in the German security services.
According to the report, the suspect, who has Lebanese origins, received his instructions from Hamas officials in Lebanon.
The Prime Minister’s Office revealed in January that Hamas runs a network of operatives in Europe commanded by terror leaders in Lebanon, and aimed to attack Jewish and Israeli targets abroad.
[JustTheNews] Hunter Biden wrote his father was so enamored with China's communist leader "they all most kissed," new evidence shows.
Federal agents gathered evidence during the 2016 election that Hunter Biden had used access to his father on an official government trip to Beijing aboard Air Force Two to connect prospective Chinese business partners with then-Vice President Joe Biden, according to a massive cache of documents recently turned over to Congress and obtained by Just the News.
"They got to meet Dad. All very good. Talk later,” Hunter Biden wrote in a December 2013 email confirming how he connected his Chinese associates with his father in a Beijing hotel after the vice president had met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Continued on Page 49
Given that the Democrats control both houses of the legislature and the governor, this is just politicking.
[JustTheNews] There are no state-level criminal penalties for human smuggling.
With border exposure and natural ports, Michigan Republicans want to change state law to make human smuggling illegal and criminalize harboring and transporting people who are or have entered the country illegally.
There are no state-level criminal penalties for human smuggling.
State Reps. Cam Cavitt, R-Cheboygan, and Gina Johnsen, R-Lake Odessa, recently introduced legislation that would criminalize bringing unauthorized people into Michigan. Harboring and transporting people living in or who have entered the country illegally would also become a state crime.
“In Michigan, human smuggling poses significant dangers as our proximity to international borders and Great Lakes ports heightens the risk of victims being abandoned in remote, hazardous areas and exposed to extreme weather conditions,” Johnsen said. “Smuggled individuals frequently endure severe abuse, including physical violence, sexual assault, and forced labor. This is a real issue and it’s hurting real people. Offenders must be brought to justice.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement defines human smuggling as transportation-based, while human trafficking is exploitation-based. There are state penalties for trafficking.
“Criminalizing human smuggling at the state level will guarantee local law enforcement are authorized and equipped to punish the predators illegally transporting people into our state,” Cavitt said. “These new laws will ensure that even if federal leaders continue embracing more and more radical far-left policies, Michigan will be steadfast in punishing anyone who chooses to exploit the vulnerable for personal profit.”
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, the number of migrants apprehended while crossing the northern border more than doubled in 2023, from 3,578 arrested in 2022 to 12,200 in 2023.
While about 70% of illegal Canadian border crossings occur in the 295-mile Swanton Sector, which includes New York, New Hampshire and Vermont, Michigan still sees a significant amount of illegal immigration.
“Some smugglers even take to social media to promote their services,” Johnsen said. “But their customers have no recourse when they are harmed, abandoned in the smuggling process, or worse, abused, kidnapped, or forced into labor by predators posing as smugglers who never had any intention of helping them gain access to the United States.”
According to a report by The Center Square, the lowered security at the northern border can lead to multiple suspected terrorists breaching into the United States each year. In 2023, a record 147,666 single adults were encountered at the border, with 10,592 being in Michigan.
Michigan contains more than 700 miles of the northern border, making Alaska and Texas the only states with a larger share of border mileage.
“Our northeast Michigan community is right on the border with Canada,” Cavitt said. “When we’re talking about dangerous criminals paying to cross the Great Lakes into Michigan, they often are crossing right into our backyards. This crisis is putting our friends and neighbors at risk.”
Governor Democratic
Senate Democratic
House Democratic
[Ballotpedia] Michigan has a Democratic trifecta and a Democratic triplex. The Democratic Party controls the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and both chambers of the state legislature.
As of May 25, 2024, there are 23 Republican trifectas, 17 Democratic trifectas, and 10 divided governments where neither party holds trifecta control.
As of May 25, 2024, there are 25 Republican triplexes, 20 Democratic triplexes, and 5 divided governments where neither party holds triplex control.
A state government trifecta is a term to describe when one political party holds majorities in both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office. A state government triplex is a term to describe when one political party holds the following three positions in a state's government: governor, attorney general, and secretary of state.
#2
Not a lot of difference between the slave trade and human trafficking. Massa had to feed, clothe and house his slaves, taxpayers fill that role now.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/25/2024 15:51
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[ET via ZERO] Following her announcement that she would be voting for former President Donald Trump after challenging him in the Republican primaries this year, President Trump said he was sure that former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley would be joining his team in some capacity.
[Rumble] Sometimes Vice President Kamala Harris expresses a thought so esoteric as to be . . . well, indecipherable. But The Daily Show has this vignette that might explain what's going on. And if you didn't know that The Daily Show could poke fun at Democrats well -- neither did we, to be honest Pretty funny. Someone got a call after this aired, I'm sure
[JustTheNews] The group's website features calls for the support of Palestine, which it links to climate change.
A U.S. Senator has raised concerns about a $50 million grant the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded to the Climate Justice Alliance, a group that advocates for action on climate change.
Clearly part of the ecology branch of Antifa/Black Bloc anarcho-communist sydicalism.
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, said the Environment and Public Works Committee, found the EPA gave a $50 million grant to the group with money from the Inflation Reduction Act. She said the group "engages in pro-Hamas, anti-Israel, and anti-Semitic activities."
The group's website features calls for the support of Palestine, which it links to climate change.
"The path to climate justice travels through a free Palestine," according to the website.
Capito objected to the group's political positions.
"In December, the EPA granted $50 million to an organization called Climate Justice Alliance. So we went to the website of Climate Justice Alliance," she said. "If you dig deeper. They want to defund the police, defund the military, either them or their affiliates, want to have very radical, drastic initiatives that I think are anti-American, and they're certainly anti-Israel and anti-Semitic."
The group didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
[Dallas Morning News] Most University of Texas System employees terminated due to Texas’ DEI ban were women and people of color, new documents show. The employees worked for diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public colleges and universities across the state but lost their jobs after such programs were banned by a new law that went into effect in January.
The demographics of the staffers impacted most is not too surprising given those called to such work, experts say. A 2023 survey by the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education found that 51% of chief diversity officers are Black, while 11% are Hispanic, 7% are Asian and 8% are white LGBTCXYZ.
"It’s not unusual for individuals from historically marginalized groups to have interest, passion and skill sets that would respond to issues around race or achieving greater equity," said Paulette Granberry Russell, president of the association.
Several of the state’s public universities reported that no staff were let go because of the ban. In many cases, those schools saw employees quit after they were given the choice to take new jobs or apply for other positions, according to documents shared with state senators.
For instance, at the University of North Texas System, the DEI ban affected 30 employees. One senior DEI employee retired and three employees resigned after their positions were cut. The rest were reassigned.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/25/2024
10:52 ||
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#1
Jobs Lost After Texas DEI Ban were Women or People of Color
That's the newspaper's title, not the scientists'.
[ASBMBTODAY, h/t to the Dallas Morning Snooze] In early February, dairy farmers in the Texas Panhandle began to notice sick cattle. The buzz soon reached Darren Turley, executive director of the Texas Association of Dairymen: "They said there is something moving from herd to herd."
An early indication that something had gone awry on farms in northwestern Texas came from devices hitched to collars on dairy cows. What farmers saw when they downloaded the data in February stopped them in their tracks. One moment a cow seemed perfectly fine, and then four hours later, rumination had halted. "Shortly after the stomach stops, you’d see a huge falloff in milk," Turley said. "That is not normal."
In hindsight, Turley wished he had made more of the migrating geese that congregate in the panhandle each winter and spring. Geese and other waterfowl have carried H5N1 around the globe. They withstand enormous loads of the virus without getting sick, passing it on to local species, like blackbirds, cowbirds, and grackles, that mix with migrating flocks.
On March 7, Turley called the Texas Animal Health Commission. They convened a One Health group with experts in animal health, human health, and agriculture to ponder what they called the "mystery syndrome." State veterinarians probed cow tissue for parasites, examined the animals’ blood, and tested for viruses and bacteria. But nothing explained the sickness.
They didn’t probe for H5N1. While it has jumped into mammals dozens of times, it rarely has spread between species. Most cases have been in carnivores, which likely ate infected birds. Cows are mainly vegetarian. "If someone told me about a milk drop in cows, I wouldn’t think to test for H5N1 because, no, cattle don’t get that," said Thomas Peacock, a virologist at the Pirbright Institute of England who studies avian influenza.
What finally tipped off veterinarians? A few farm cats died suddenly and tested positive for H5N1. Swinford’s group — collaborating with veterinary labs at Iowa State and Cornell universities — searched for the virus in samples drawn from sick cows. "On a Friday night at 9 p.m., March 22, I got a call from Iowa State," Swinford said. Researchers had discovered antibodies against H5N1 in a slice of a mammary gland. By Monday, her team and Cornell researchers identified genetic fragments of the virus. They alerted authorities. With that, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that H5N1 had hit dairy cattle.
Sometime in March, viruses appear to have hitched a ride to other states as cows were moved between farms. The limited genomic data available links the outbreak in Texas directly to others in New Mexico, Kansas, Ohio, North Carolina, and South Dakota. However, the routes are imprecise because the USDA hasn’t attached dates and locations to data it releases.
Researchers don’t want to be caught off guard again by the shape-shifting H5N1 virus, and that will require keeping tabs on humans. Most, if not all, of about 900 people diagnosed with H5N1 infections worldwide since 2003 acquired it from animals, rather than from humans, Farrar said. About half of those people died.
Occasional tests of sick farmworkers aren’t sufficient, he said. Ideally, a system is set up to encourage farmworkers, their communities, and health care workers to be tested whenever the virus hits farms nearby.
"Health care worker infections are always a sign of human-to-human transmission," Farrar said. "That’s the approach you want to take — I am not saying it’s easy."
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/25/2024
10:21 ||
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How...?
Why, planning for the next pandemic, that's how.
[IsraelTimes] The Times of Israel joins paratroopers fighting in the heart of Jabaliya’s refugee camp, where a determined officer made a sad but profound discovery — days before he was killed.
Three drones patrolled overhead in languid circles. A smaller quadcopter took off buzzily from a four-story structure, which a Hamas commander had called home until Paratrooper Battalion 202 stormed into the Jabaliya refugee camp two weeks ago.
Now, Lt. Col. Almog Rotem uses the building in the northern Gaza Strip as a temporary command post, as his forces continue to drive toward the sea, flushing out organized Hamas resistance.
Across a narrow alley — now strewn with pieces of concrete and metal, clothing, and the detritus of urban combat — sits a smaller home with a jagged hole blasted into one side. Inside, a small child’s bike and a wheelchair lie crumpled amid the cinder blocks.
A family had lived in that home until they cleared out ahead of the Israeli paratroopers’ arrival. But amid the furniture and children’s toys, the house had contained a gruesome secret.
Last Thursday, the bodies of four Israeli hostages kidnapped on October 7– Itzhak Gelerenter, Amit Buskila, Ron Benjamin and Shani Louk – were discovered by Israel Defense Forces troops in a tunnel dug under that very home.
Long. An embedded reporter reports, including this tidbit:
Dozens of Hamas fighters were killed by Rotem’s troops, among 400 eliminated by the division in Jabaliya.
#2
And that is what happened to poor shani louk, whose young broken semi-naked body was paraded around gaza filmed on tge mobile phones of swarms of allahu akbars as they spat on her
Then her head was cut off and left somewhere else (found months ago) and her body taken down this tunnel by some lovely arab muslims of gaza
Resettle them ALL in egypt, Jordan, iraq and qatar
#6
I think the Iranians who resettled her did all right. It has more to do with WHY a person comes here.
America does not ask you to lose your heritage, only to reject those values that are un-American, the reason you came here to begin with. Greed is not an American value. In order for it all to work the country has to remain a predominant judo-Christian culture and majority Americans a people of faith. Anything else won’t work. That is the current problem. And we have been sleeping behind the wheel for too long.
#8
Any person can be blackmailed, especially if threats are too family as is common in totalitarian regimes (and the DOJ), to do wrong things. The question is did they become part of the system or seek to disrupt it, as they do in MI now. I would argue they assimilated, for the most part, adapting the more “bad” parts of Islam to be compatible with Americanism.
I’m not saying this without some skepticism. An additional problem seems to be if you pack too many in an area. They kind of fall into a group think. Islam, by its nature, is not compatible with a free society. There is no moderate Muslim. You either are or, if you bend the “rules” your not. So there is way more peer pressure to conform totally than on Christianity or Judaism, which both outline the importance of community but, generally, exert less peer pressure on an individuals strength of faith and its practice.
[IsraelTimes] Irish deputy PM fumes at Jerusalem following dressing down of ambassadors from Ireland, Spain and Norway for moving to recognize Palestinian state
Ireland’s deputy prime minister Micheal Martin on Friday called Israel’s reprimand of its ambassador “totally unacceptable,” after Dublin announced moves to recognize a Palestinian state.
Ireland, Norway and Spain said on Wednesday that they will formally recognize statehood on May 28 and Israel immediately vowed counter-measures, while recalling its ambassadors from the three countries for immediate consultations.
Irish Ambassador Sonya McGuinness and her Norwegian and Spanish counterparts were summoned on Thursday. The Foreign Ministry said it showed them video of the kidnapping of five female soldiers from a base during the Hamas-led October 7 attack that set off the Gaza war, after which the three were dressed down by senior diplomats.
The video footage, released Wednesday by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, was taken by body cameras worn by Hamas terrorists as they attacked the base near the Gaza border, and shows Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy, all five of whom are still held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the video would be shown as part of a “severe demarche” or formal diplomatic protest.
Israeli officials have repeatedly critizised the three countries. Katz called their decision “a gold medal to Hamas terrorists who kidnapped our daughters and burned infants.”
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said recognition was “a statement of unequivocal support for a two-state solution, the only credible path to peace and security for Israel, for Palestine and for their peoples.”
The recognition of a Palestinian state by the three countries is the latest in a string of diplomatic setbacks for Israel as it battles Hamas. On Tuesday, the International Criminal Court announced it was seeking arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for potential war crimes, in addition to three Hamas leaders, while on Friday the International Court of Justice issued a somewhat ambiguous ruling ordered Israel to halt military operations in Rafah that would risk the destruction of the civilian population sheltering there.
Israel has argued that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state now would be viewed as a reward for the October 7 Hamas onslaught in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were slaughtered and 252 kidnapped, many of whom remain hostage in Gaza. Israel’s military campaign to rid the Gaza Strip of the Hamas terror group has sparked worldwide sympathy for the Palestinians and galvanized support for recognizing statehood in some capitals.
The moves by the individual countries do not affect EU recognition of a Palestinian state, as that decision must be made unanimously by all member states.
Eight European Union countries recognize a Palestinian state — Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and Slovakia. Malta recognizes the concept of one and has indicated it may soon recognize a state, along with Slovenia.
Sweden is the only country that recognized a Palestinian state when it was already an EU member, with the rest having done so when part of the Soviet bloc.
Norway is not a member of the EU , but is closely aligned, and is a member of the European Economic Area.
#3
Ireland does what the EU tells them.
The EU embraces Islam
The muslim Brotherhood is powerful in France and Germany who set EU policy mostly
That is what muslim migration does over time
Takes over
#4
Ireland’s deputy prime minister Micheal Martin on Friday called Israel’s reprimand of its ambassador “totally unacceptable,”
Hold up those hands of innocence—go, scare your sheep together,
The blundering, tripping tups that bleat behind the old bell-wether;
And if they snuff the taint and break to find another pen,
Tell them it’s tar that glistens so, and daub them yours again!
#5
Jewish NGOs have been the prime driver of Islamic immigration to Europe, providing the migrant boats, transit through Europe, etc. Ireland for one is quite angry about having its peaceful and green island invaded by the shitskins.
Posted by: Cromonter Spawn of the Faeries8107 ||
05/25/2024 14:40
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#6
Golly, Cromonter Spawn of the Faeries8107. You sound exactly like those people who insist that the African slave trade was exclusively a Jewish endeavour.
#10
We must remember how England tried to take over Ireland. There aer still two countries in Ireland. Many Irish can talk about the English killing a brother, sister or parent. Can we really condemn the Irish for support the muslims? Islam treats women like second class citizens but the demmies don't care.
Posted by: Old Indian ||
05/25/2024 17:23
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#11
Given that England has been supporting — and importing — Moslems since the Victorian era, that the Irish would si enthusiastically agree with them is shocking. Even mire so given that fir the most part Jews were treated well in Ireland, especially in comparison to the at-best grudging acceptance they found in England.
For Ireland to support the Moslems, given the various strands of history woven there, is utterly idiotic.
[IsraelTimes] Announcement comes in response to Spanish recognition of Palestinian state and Spanish minister saying ‘Palestine will be free from the river to the sea’
Rightfully so. There should be an embassy in Ramallah for them, as they’re a separate “nation”. That’s what Colombia is doing:
#2
Spain took 500 years of war plus an inquisition to rid itself of muslims only to invite them back in
Now they are inside the EU in large enough numbers to influence policy
America they are colonising you also
How long before you cannot oppose?
[IsraelTimes] Reported plan would see US official located outside the Strip advising peacekeeping force possibly hailing from Egypt, Morocco, and United Arab Emirates.
#2
November 1, 2023 - "There's no plans or intentions to put U.S. military troops on the ground in Gaza, now or in the future," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters
The US floating pier allegedly used to provide relief supplies to Gaza civilians has partially washed away, and two boats used to service it have been washed ashore. According to reports, the Army was temporarily relocating the floating pier to the Israeli port of Ashdod because of heavy wave action. During the move, a segment of the pier came free, and the boats sent to retrieve it went aground.
The Israeli Navy is leading the recovery operation.
Nothing about this mission has been thought through. An absence of heavy-lift ships on the East Coast meant that small Army ships spent over a month in a trans-Atlantic crossing, roughly going the same speed as Christopher Columbus's fleet. We now know that none of the aid pushed over the pier has reached Gaza civilians. To top it off, our humanitarian mission has come under attack from the people we are trying to help.
Now, the final promise has been broken, that of no "boots on the ground" in Gaza — even if the boots belonged to US military personnel walking away from a shipwreck.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/25/2024 13:26
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[Breitbart] California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) promised in 2023 to deliver 1,200 “tiny homes” to help shelter the homeless in several California cities — but none has opened yet, according to a report in CalMatters.
CalMatters.org reported Thursday:
In March 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom stood before a crowd in Sacramento’s Cal Expo event center and made a promise: He’d send 1,200 tiny homes to shelter homeless residents in the capital city and three other places throughout the state.
…
There have been multiple delays and about-faces, over everything from the way the state is funding the units to the ability of local cities and counties to find places to put them. The state has suggested the delays are the fault of local governments. But tiny homes have failed to materialize even when local leaders moved quickly to approve a project site.
In Sacramento, at least, construction for the tiny homes has begun. In San Diego, testing of a proposed site is still under way. In San Jose, a grant from the state took months to arrive; the project will only be completed next summer. And in Los Angeles, there is no approved site yet.
In 2021, Newsom boasted that California had become a model for dealing with homelessness, after the Biden administration adopted his state’s policy of paying for hotel and motel rooms for homeless people, or even buying hotels.
Homelessness continues to be a problem in the Golden State. The homeless population has hit a ten-year low in San Francisco, but was still rising in Los Angeles, as of last year.
The Wall Street Journal reported last year that California spends billions of dollars on homelessness, with little to show for the effort.
#2
It'd be a lot easier and cheaper to put the homeless in tent cities out in the desert. Newsom would argue that's not compassionate. But how compassionate is it to let those people die from overdosing on the streets of LA and San Francisco?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/25/2024 12:22
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#3
^You could ask IDF: tents & food/water - if it works for Gazooks ...
#4
Imma justa put this outta on the table.
Narcon is keeping the brain dead on life support.
Was at a popular tourist destination and watched a young man just wilt and crumble on a well used path. The good people went into help mode, which is fine, but not realizing he was in the middle of having a fit, so instructed how to do moves with potential sharp pokey things in pockets. Sad.
From a Grom comment that I feel deserves its own posting.
[Pipeline] There’s a joke going around that it must be maddening to be a "direct action" climate-change protestor setting out in the morning to block a highway or deface a museum piece before gluing yourself in place, only to arrive and find the pro-Hamas protestors got up earlier and are already blocking the highway.
Of course this problem was quickly solved by fusing the two issues, which is easy for the left since the issue is never the issue—it’s only the revolution that counts. It only took days after October 7 for banners to appear at pro-Hamas marches declaring that saving Gaza necessarily involved "climate justice," while The Nation magazine, apparently with a straight face, announced that "The Single Most Important Thing President Biden Can Do for the Climate Is Enforce an Immediate Cease-Fire in Gaza." Just to make sure no one missed the linkage, St. Greta Thunberg ratified the marriage of the two issues by turning up to protest the Israeli contestant in the Eurovision Song Contest decked out in a large keffiyeh scarf, which totally isn’t a cultural appropriation when someone of the left does it.
Beyond the all-too-easy and predictable union of the left’s two main current obsessions is how massive the lavishly funded "non-profit sector" has become to the overall project of the left. It is important to understand the playbook, because the left’s grand strategy goes beyond private philanthropy to radical causes, and now includes direct taxpayer support (in the form of federal grants and legal fee reimbursements) as well as buying off corporate support with tax breaks and subsidies. Universities are always the main hub for these efforts, but the spokes now radiate out deep into the corporate world and the halls of government.
[Field Ethos] In March of 1943, the founder of Rolex, Hans Wilsdorf, received an order for a watch.
The customer requested a Rolex Model 3525—a popular model with both American and British pilots. The watch was made with a black face, round stainless-steel case, included a chronograph and, of course, it ran like a Swiss watch. For five years, Royal Air Force pilots were eager to ditch their issued watches and save their money for a Rolex, and Rolex filled orders as fast as possible. Hans Wilsdorf didn’t usually read every order that came in, he had teams to do that. But this order’s return address caught his eye.
Stalag Luft III. Occupied Poland. A POW camp for Allied pilots.
By 1943, Stalag Luft III was home to over 10,000 prisoners of war. Most of the soldiers being captured at this point were pilots and air crew, and with the amount of flak being launched from the ground, it was a matter of time before the Germans would be throwing up No Vacancy signs. Lucky for those captured, the camp was run by the Luftwaffe, and not the Gestapo, who had a tendency to rip out fingernails as a way to get to better know their captives. The Luftwaffe aimed to keep prisoners in, and to not let hands go idle. They installed libraries, allowed PT, distributed Red Cross rations, even allowed a beer now and then. And for the most part, looked to Allied officers to keep their fellow prisoners busy.
So one day, British army Corporal and POW C.J. Nutting decided to use his time wisely and wrote a letter to Rolex requesting a new watch similar to what the senior airmen had. He explained the situation, and promised to send payment as soon as possible, as he had been working as Stalag Luft III’s cobbler. Hans Wilsdorf sent a letter back saying they received his order, but to not worry about the payment of 250 Swiss Francs ($2500 USD in present day), he could pay after the war was over and he was free.
By August of 1943, Nutting received the watch, just in time to begin planning a major operation to escape the camp via tunnel systems. The plan called for 3 tunnels—nicknamed Tom, Dick, and Harry—to be dug, all leading under the camp. Tom was started under a barracks’ living space, concealed by a wood stove, heading directly west into the tree line. Dick was to serve as a storage tunnel for all dirt and debris from Tom and Harry. Harry was to reach past the tree line directly north. Tom was discovered early on and filled in, leaving Harry to bear the load.
Harry was 30’ below the surface, 2’ wide, and 338’ long. It contained an air pump for circulation, a rope and cart system, and a staging room at the exit.
Nutting found his Rolex had a place in this operation. Nazis were absolute fools for tight schedules, consistent routines, and unwavering order. Using his chronometer, Nutting watched the rotations of guards around the camp each day and began memorizing their movements.
By March of 1944, three months shy of D-Day, Harry was finished. Using Nutting’s recordings, the plan was to send two teams of 100 men through the tunnel and out to the forest, one every minute. Papers had been supplied by German resistance, allowing prisoners to travel unhindered. Using just watches, men would be given their cue to get out and sprint.
When they discovered the tunnel’s end was just short of the tree line, and with a layer of snow on the ground, the decision was made to limit escapees to one every six minutes. The 2nd team of 100 men were told they weren’t leaving tonight. By 5 A.M., 76 POW’s had made it out, the 77th one being caught by guards and surrendered. The tunnel was discovered and destroyed. Nutting was left to look on as his hope of escape was crushed.
In the end, 73 of the 76 escapees were caught. 17 were sent back to Stalag Luft III. Six were sent to other camps. 50 were lined up and shot, orders directly from Hitler himself.
Nutting ultimately was freed just a few months before the war’s end, his Rolex 3525 still on his wrist. It wasn’t until 1948 that he received a bill from Hans Wilsdorf. Hollywood eventually called and asked him to share his story of the breakout from Stalag Luft III. They turned his story into the highly-acclaimed film, The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen.
#1
Just less than 100 years ago people were very different as their interactions with the common man. I am surprised he got his watch under those conditions and surprised he kept his watch under those conditions.
[CityJournal] The images of the recent protests at Columbia University have grabbed the attention of the American public: students chanting for a Palestinian state, "from the river to the sea"; activists setting up a mass tent encampment on the campus lawn; masked occupiers seizing control of Hamilton Hall. For some, it was a sign that ancient anti-Semitism had established itself in the heart of the Ivy League. For others, it was déjà vu of 1968, when mass demonstrations last roiled campus.
After weeks of rising tensions, Columbia president Minouche Shafik resolved the immediate conflict by summoning the New York City Police Department, which swiftly disbanded anti-Israel student encampments, removed the occupiers of Hamilton Hall, and arrested more than 100 students, who were subsequently suspended.
President Shafik feigned surprise. In a statement to students, she expressed "deep sadness" about the campus chaos. But to anyone who has observed Columbia in recent decades, the upheaval should not come as a surprise. Behind the images of campus protests lies a deeper, more troubling story: the ideological capture of the university, which inexorably drove Columbia toward this moment. Columbia for decades has cultivated the precise conditions that allowed the pro-Hamas protests to flourish. The university built massive departments to advance "postcolonialism," spent hundreds of millions of dollars on "diversity, equity, and inclusion," and glorified New Left—style student activism as the telos of university life. These are not anti-Israeli protests. Not even anti-American protests. IMO, what we've been seeing in the last few years is Nihilism pure and simple. They will run wild at any excuse - because they want to run wild. And they want to run wild because, deep down inside, they know they're second rate.
Posted by: Grom the Reflective ||
05/25/2024
05:07 ||
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#1
They used to be called anarchists.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
05/25/2024 7:30
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#2
These are "look at meeeeee!" protests.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/25/2024 7:37
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#3
#1 From wiki Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is against all forms of authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state with stateless societies and voluntary free associations. As a historically left-wing movement, this reading of anarchism is placed on the farthest left of the political spectrum, usually described as the libertarian wing of the socialist movement (libertarian socialism).
Nihilism (/ˈnaɪ(h)ɪlɪzəm, ˈniː-/; from Latin nihil 'nothing') is a family of views within philosophy that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence,[1][2] such as knowledge, morality, or meaning.
Although, I might be giving them too much credit - and they're simply savages looting.
#4
As I recall, about 40% of them are outsiders, come to help the students do it right. Not only that, but many of the outsiders and quite a few of the students are being paid for the work, with supplies and funds for supplies provided as a package deal. A big funder of the protests is IT billionaire Neville Roy Singham, the notorious Maoist who lives in Shanghai. The People’s Forum is one of his projects, as Code Pink is his wife’s.
The cause is never the cause, as someone said. The cause is always revolution.
#5
Walter Sobchak:
Nihilists! F*** me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/25/2024 9:59
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#6
BDS is a dirty word. It's literally illegal in the USA to do that to Israel.
Posted by: Cromonter Spawn of the Faeries8107 ||
05/25/2024 14:43
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#7
It’s literally illegal at the state level for state or local government entities in certain states — I think about 27 of the 50 — to engage in BDS against Israel, or to do business with those who are engaged in BDS. Private businesses, individuals, and groups can do anything they want, even in those states, and anyone can do so at the federal level.
We have had this discussion several times before, Cromonter Spawn of the Faeries8107. But you refuse to accept reality counter to your fevered imaginings.
[IsraelTimes] Military says operation targeted Hamas, Islamic Jihad terrorists and infrastructure; eight of the dead claimed by terror groups as their gunmen; PA says surgeon, teacher killed
Israeli soldiers pulled out of Jenin early Thursday after a raid that lasted over 40 hours in the northern West Bank city, the military and local Paleostinian health authorities said.
Troops withdrew from the city early Thursday, a military spokesperson told The Times of Israel, after carrying out raids in the city’s refugee camp and exchanging fire with masked button men in a nearby neighborhood in the city center.
The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that it had launched the operation following "intelligence information from the Shin Bet indicating the activity of armed bandidosturbans affiliated with the Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... and Paleostinian 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... terror organizations, and the presence of many terror infrastructures in the area."
Later Tuesday, the IDF said that amid the raid, troops had demolished the home of Ahmed Barakat, a Paleostinian terrorist involved in the killing of Israeli civilian Meir Tamari in a shooting attack near the settlement of Hermesh in May 2023.
Barakat was killed in a dronezap in March.
On Wednesday, the IDF said troops had "exchanged fire with gunnies and killed a number of terrorists, including two bandidosturbans who threw explosives at the forces."
And in a statement on Thursday, the IDF reported that in the midst of the raid, troops identified an armed squad shooting in their direction, and pursued them to a hospital compound where they sought refuge.
The button men abandoned their vehicles, inside of which soldiers found six weapons as well as ammunition, the IDF said, attaching what it said was a video of the events.
PALESTINIANS SAY 12 DEAD, 25 WOUNDED
The Paleostinian Authority health ministry said Israeli forces had killed 12 people during the raid in Jenin.
AP reported that eight of the dead were claimed by Hamas and other terror groups as their button men.
The IDF said it had only shot upbutton men and Paleostinians hurling bombs at troops.
The official PA news agency WAFA and medical charity Doctors Without Borders reported that surgeon Usaeed Jabareen, from Jenin’s Khalil Suleiman government hospital, was among those killed on Tuesday.
An AFP correspondent reported seeing five bodies at the hospital morgue, including Jabareen’s.
A schoolteacher, Allam Jaradat, and a student were also among the dead, WAFA said, quoting hospital director Wissam Bakr.
Several of the bodies of those killed were draped in flags and carried among crowds of Paleostinians through the streets as gunfire rang out.
Paleostinian Authority 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....> condemned the Israeli raid, as did Hamas, the terror organization against which Israel is waging 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 an 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... , and which also has a significant presence in the West Bank.
PA Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa warned in a statement Wednesday of the dangers of "Israeli military escalation and settlers attacks in the West Bank."
Jenin is widely seen as a hotbed of terrorist activity, and the IDF regularly carries out operations there.
On May 17, a rare Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... in Jenin targeted a command room belonging to a local terror network and killed another terrorist involved in the murder of Meir Tamari, according to the military.
Since October 7, troops have arrested some 4,000 wanted Paleostinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,700 affiliated with Hamas. According to the PA health ministry, more than 510 West Bank Paleostinians have been killed in that time. Based on military estimates, the vast majority of those killed since October 7 were shot during festivities amid arrest raids.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] New images show America's highly secret, $745-million stealth nuclear bomber taking to the air for what is apparently its first, publicly acknowledged, flight test.
The B-21 Raider was unveiled in December 2022, but the US government has so far been discreet about showing off this cutting-edge, radar-evading aircraft.
The sleek bomber was shown flying for the first time as it undergoes flight testing, in pictures released Wednesday, one crucial step before a minimum first order of 100 of these stealth craft can be approved for manufacture.
The B-21 has been described as a 'dual-capable bomber' — able to launch both conventional and nuclear ordinance.
#1
...The project is doing amazingly well, and is absolutely on track. Now, that's not to say that something can't go wrong, but the chances are dropping fast.
My concern at this point is that the total number of airframes - right now at about 120 - is going to get cut. The infrastructure and personnel requirements are going to end up costing almost as much as the airframes, so if USAF wants to insure congressional support they need to start announcing basing (Ellsworth AFB is the only one locked in right now) soon.
#3
^ Not really. While nuclear and conventional gravity bombs will be deliverable by the B-21, the LRSO and LRASM will be the stars of the show, and those are cruise missiles.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/25/2024 11:43
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#4
Nuclear Arc Light = The best Arc Light?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/25/2024 11:44
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Law enforcement officers of Belarus detained in Minsk two citizens of Tajikistan who are suspected of preparing terrorist attacks on the territory of their country, official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus Natalya Sakharchuk reported on May 24.
The detainees were handed over to law enforcement officers of Tajikistan, REN TV reports.
No other details are provided.
As Regnum reported, in May 2024, during negotiations with the head of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the work of the special services of the two countries to respond to common terrorist threats has been established. Terrorism poses a threat to everyone, the president noted.
Russia, during its chairmanship of the CIS in 2024, will constructively build joint work on security and stability, the fight against terrorism and extremism, the head of state said in December 2023. The Russian Federation will continue to fight cross-border crime, drug trafficking, and corruption, Vladimir Putin added.
After the court refused to release Popov under house arrest, the judge asked the suspect if he had any questions.
“No, your honor. It could be worse,” answered the major general.
As reported by IA Regnum, the Second Western District Military Court, at a meeting on May 24, decided to leave Popov, accused of fraud on an especially large scale, in a pre-trial detention center. The Investigative Committee applied for a mitigation of the preventive measure against Popov.
During the hearing on May 24, the judge also clarified the qualifications of the charges against Popov. He is accused of fraud committed by a group of persons on an especially large scale using his official position.
On May 23, the official representative of the Russian Investigative Committee, Svetlana Petrenko, stated that Popov is accused of theft of more than 1,700 tons of metal structures, which were intended for the construction of defensive fortifications in the Zaporozhye region. The cost of rolled metal exceeds 130 million rubles.
The general denies all accusations. Popov’s father, in a conversation with IA Regnum, previously stated that his son was not guilty of anything. Popov Sr. is convinced that ill-wishers deliberately “digged” for the general. He called the current situation a “set-up.” Popov’s colleagues also do not believe in the version of the security forces. The soldiers are convinced that the general who “jumped into the trenches with ordinary privates” could not steal from his own people.
More from regnum.ru “Izvestia”: Shamarin’s wife stated that he did not take a bribe, but borrowed money
The head of the Main Communications Directorate of the Armed Forces (AF) of the Russian Federation, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin, who was arrested on charges of taking a bribe, was framed, Izvestia’s source said, referring to the general’s wife Elizaveta Shamarina.
According to the wife’s information, which was provided by the publication’s interlocutor, her colleagues wrote a statement against her husband. Shamarina claims that a friend lent him the money. At the same time, she emphasized that her husband himself did not ask to lend him anything.
The source clarified that, according to Shamarin’s wife, he was framed, since the testimony of his colleagues indicated that the lieutenant general himself asked for money.
As reported by IA Regnum, the detention of 52-year-old Shamarin became known on May 23. On the same day, he was arrested for two months by a military court in the case of receiving a bribe on an especially large scale. Searches were carried out in his apartment. The general himself did not admit his guilt.
The defendants in the case, the general director of the Perm Telephone Plant Telta OJSC, Alexey Vysokov, and the chief accountant of this enterprise, Elena Grishina, have been under arrest since the summer of 2023 on charges of fraud, it follows from the case materials. Shamarin could face up to 15 years in prison.
The police are also checking Shamarin for involvement in similar crimes. The investigation continues to actively collect evidence in the case of receiving a bribe on an especially large scale.
Vlasov was born in 1991 in the Novgorod region. He graduated from the Military Space Academy. Mozhaisky, and later underwent advanced training of military specialists in the construction and operation of buildings and structures for special and combined arms purposes.
Since April 2020, Vlasov worked in the main construction department of the Krasnodar region, which he headed in December 2021. Since March 2022, he headed the construction department of the Krasnodar Territory, and in December 2022 he was appointed to the position of vice-governor.
Vlasov oversees the work of the departments of construction, architecture and urban planning, supervision in the construction sector, the state housing inspection, as well as the Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergency Situations of the Krasnodar Territory.
As Regnum reported, in April 2024, the Investigative Committee reported that the deputy head of the administration of the Vasileostrovsky district of St. Petersburg, Vladlen Rodionov, was detained while accepting a bribe. Rodionov, who was responsible for regulation in the field of housing and communal services and construction in the region, demanded a bribe from the general director of a commercial organization for patronage, lobbying the interests of the company and interaction with government agencies.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Australia's Attorney-General will now decide if an ex-fighter pilot from the US will be extradited back to his home country for his alleged role in helping train the Chinese military after a Sydney court ruling.
Former top gun Daniel Duggan, 55, can be shipped back to the US to stand trial, Magistrate Daniel Reiss ruled at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Friday.
Mr Duggan's barrister, Bret Walker SC, told the court that his client could not legally mount a defence and would not contest the ruling, 9News reports.
The former pilot has spent 19 months in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison and will now await extradition under a temporary surrender warrant.
His wife, Saffrine, was joined by their children and other supporters outside the court to advocate for Mr Duggan's immediate release.
Mrs Duggan said that her house has been commandeered by officials and her requests for Legal Aid rejected while her husband has been preparing his defence.
'This deliberate torture has to stop today,' Mrs Duggan said outside court.
'They have done everything in their power to make this difficult for my family, to try and break Dan and to break us, but we will fight no matter what.
'We respectfully ask the attorney-general to take another look... and to bring my husband home.'
Mr Duggan was arrested in Australia at the request of the US after he was accused of breaching arms trafficking laws by providing military training to Chinese pilots.
Mr Duggan allegedly provided his services in South Africa from 2010 through to 2012 and received $100,000 for doing so.
He has 15 days to apply for a review in the Federal Court, otherwise it falls to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to determine whether he should be surrendered to the US.
Asked by Magistrate Reiss if Friday's hearing would be contested, Mr Walker told the court: 'Not really, no.'
Mr Reiss noted the position from Duggan's lawyers had 'streamlined the considerations significantly'.
The Magistrate reminded those in the attendance on Friday about contempt of court as one man likened the proceedings to a 'kangaroo court'.
Mr Duggan's family has argued that his charges are trumped up and politically motivated.
Outside court, Mr Collaery described the court's decision as an administrative step that would be followed by a lengthy submission to Mr Dreyfus.
'This was not an examination of the evidence, this was not a mini-trial of matters that are to be decided elsewhere,' he said.
In April Mr Duggan unsuccessfully tried to postpone the hearings after claiming to have spent $800,000 in legal bills.
While in prison he wrote a letter stating to have never broken the law since the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and US Naval Central Intelligence Service both knew what he was doing at the time.
More than 25,000 people have signed a petition calling on Mr Dreyfus to release Mr Duggan from prison and end his extradition.
Greens senator David Shoebridge offered to table the petition in parliament.
Mr Shoebridge said the country needs to 'show some guts' and 'make it clear that being an Australian citizen matters'.
A spokesman for the attorney-general said the government did not comment on extradition matters.
[SD UT] At least we heard about it - THIS TIME
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will undergo a medical procedure at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Friday evening and will transfer power temporarily to his deputy, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement.
Austin is continuing to deal with bladder issues that arose in December following his treatment for prostate cancer, Ryder said.
The procedure is elective and minimally invasive, "is not related to his cancer diagnosis and has had no effect on his exrcellent cancer prognosis," the press secretary said.
Austin will transfer authority to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks while he is indisposed, the Pentagon said.
Austin, 70, has had ongoing health issues since undergoing surgery to address a prostate cancer diagnosis. He spent two weeks in the hospital following complications from a prostatectomy. Austin faced criticism at the time for not immediately informing the president or Congress of either his diagnosis or hospitalization.
Austin was taken back to Walter Reed in February for a bladder issue, admitted to intensive care for a second time and underwent a non-surgical procedure under general anesthesia at the time.
The Pentagon has notified the White House and Congress, Ryder said.
"She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.A. from the University of Maryland’s School of Public Affairs, and an A.B. magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Mount Holyoke College."
[SHABELLEMEDIA] The forces of EUNAVFOR Atalanta are responding to the reports of a privacy incident currently underway off the coast of Somalia. Details are still unfolding with later updates expected once the warship assigned to Atalanta reaches the scene. I think they mean piracy
Two small crafts are reported to have come alongside the Liberian-registered Basilisk (17,800 dwt). The vessel’s last AIS signal was transmitted two days ago as it was north of Madagascar. The indication is that the vessel was traveling from Porto Grande in Cape Verde where it departed on May 3 and was due to reach Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on May 29. Built in 2013, the vessel is a general multipurpose dry fat merchantman managed by MINSHIP Shipmanagement of Germany.
Atalanta is placing the ship as sailing approximately 380 nautical miles east of Mogadishu, Somalia, heading north. The UK Maritime Trade Organizations places the vessel approximately 420 nautical miles southeast of Merca, Somalia.
There are unconfirmed reports that the crew was able to secure themselves in the vessel’s citadel. Atalanta reports one of its warships is in the vicinity and is first to respond.
At the beginning of last week, there were reports that pirates had hijacked another fishing dhow off the coast of Somalia. In the past, EUNAVFOR Atalanta has warned that attacks on merchant ships appear to take place within 12 days after reports of dhow hijackings.
Its strongest warnings however are for the area around Socotra island closer to Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... . They have warned that at least two groups were thought to be active in that area.
Last week, a Spanish frigate working with the EU forces was able to capture pirates who approached an oil product tanker, Chrystal Arctic. Six individuals were taken to the Seychelles for prosecution or attempted piracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2024
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Daria Rakic
[REGNUM] At a meeting of the UN General Assembly yesterday, they considered a draft resolution on “genocide” in Srebrenica. There were more people who spoke “against” the controversial document and abstained from voting than those who voted “for”. However, the resolution was still adopted.
#1
Former Yugoslavia is where, IMO, the currently humanity threatening Globalist/Islamist alliance was founded. With USA (idiots) providing the muscle.
#2
Look, this is just dredging up ancient history in an attempt to promote antisemitic conspiracy theories about a so-called "genocide" happening in Gaza. The latest thing is to attempt to trigger R2P, responsibility to protect, which requires the world to intervene in any genocide that happens anywhere.
Ain't gonna happen, folks. The only genocidaires here are Hamas. And the US is already intervening by sending hundreds of billions of dollars to Israel and keeping the bomb factories operating day and night.
Posted by: Cromonter Spawn of the Faeries8107 ||
05/25/2024 3:38
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On ancient history, knowing the relationship of the Serbian military, the Black Hand and the subsequent assassination of a Austrian archduke in 1914, the world might like a discussion about the consequential incineration of the globe that lead to. Talk about a body count.
[InterestingEngineering] The tensions between the US and Russia over space weaponization also surfaced at the UN Security Council.
Russia’s latest satellite launch has caught the attention of US intelligence officials who believe the satellite could be a weapon designed to inspect and attack other satellites.
The US Space Command (USSPACECOM) issued a statement on Tuesday, May 21, revealing that the Russian spacecraft launched last week is now trailing a US spy satellite in orbit. This raises concerns about the satellite’s potential to threaten critical US space assets.
On May 16, Russia’s Soyuz rocket launched from its Plesetsk site, located about 500 miles (800 kilometers) north of Moscow. This mission launched at least nine satellites into low-Earth orbit, including Cosmos 2576, a Russian military “inspector” spacecraft. The US has often criticized these types of satellites for their reckless behavior.
“We have observed nominal activity and assess it is likely a counterspace weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit,” a USSPACECOM spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.
The spokesperson further stated, “Russia deployed this new counterspace weapon into the same orbit as a US government satellite.”
SIMILARITIES TO PREVIOUS COUNTERSPACE PAYLOADS
Cosmos 2576 bears a striking resemblance to previous Russian satellites launched in 2019 and 2022. These earlier satellites, like Cosmos 2542 and Cosmos 2543, exhibited concerning behavior, including approaching sensitive US spy satellites.
In 2019, one such satellite released an object into space and closely followed a US intelligence satellite from the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which oversees intelligence-gathering satellites.
As of now, Cosmos 2576 has not approached any US satellite. However, space analysts have observed that it is in the same orbital ring as USA 314, a bus-sized NRO satellite launched in April 2021.
US INTELLIGENCE AND ALLIED CONCERNS
According to orbital data reviewed by Reuters, Cosmos 2576 appears to be trailing USA 314’s path at a faster speed, indicating that the two might come into closer proximity soon.
US intelligence agencies had anticipated the launch of Cosmos 2576 and had informed their allies of their assessment prior to its deployment. The launch included both military and civilian payloads, a mix that took analysts by surprise.
“This mix of military and civilian payloads was totally unexpected. Never seen that before on a Russian launch,” remarked Bart Hendrickx, a long-time analyst tracking Russia’s space program.
IMPLICATIONS OF RUSSIAN SPACE ACTIVITIES
The deployment of Cosmos 2576 comes amid growing concerns that Russia is developing space-based nuclear weapons capable of destroying entire networks of satellites. US officials believe that Russia has already launched at least one satellite, Cosmos 2553, which is related to its nuclear space weapon program.
However, they have clarified that no nuclear weapon has been deployed in space by Russia yet.
Since invading Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has made its space activities much more secretive and has threatened to target US satellites like SpaceX’s Starlink, a vast network of thousands of internet satellites in low-Earth orbit, which support the Ukrainian military.
[Bee] America's Dumbest Bartender
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As controversy continued to swirl around Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez demanded to know where Alito bought an upside-down U.S. flag.
After reports surfaced that an inverted American flag had been spotted flying over Alito's home, AOC issued a statement calling for the source of Alito's offensive flag so that the vendor could be reprimanded appropriately.
"Where does someone even get an upside-down American flag, anyway?" Ocasio-Cortez asked reporters. "Every store that sells flags should know how offensive an inverted U.S. flag is and should never manufacture or sell them to anyone. I think we all deserve to know where Justice Alito was able to purchase an upside-down American flag, don't you?"
AOC even went as far as to threaten legislative action to hold Alito accountable. "Don't even think I won't get to the bottom of this," she said. "Anyone who is selling inverted American flags should be publicly outed as un-American and a threat to democracy itself! As a Supreme Court judge, Justice Alito must be held to a higher standard. If there is some type of black market for upside-down U.S. flags, the American people deserve to know about it."
AOC expressed concern that more people would begin purchasing upside-down American flags if they were made easily attainable. "The next thing you know," she warned, "everyone will be able to have an inverted flag."
At publishing time, AOC was unable to be reached for further comment due to getting her head stuck between the spindles of the U.S. Capitol staircase banister.
[IsraelTimes] Washington Post analyst says plan to send two divisions into south Gaza city has been shelved, unnamed Israeli defense officials have agreed on how ‘day after’ will look
Israel has decided to shelve plans for a major offensive in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an 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’s southern city of Rafah, and will act in a more limited manner, after discussions with the US on the matter, Washington Post analyst David Ignatius reported Monday.
Ignatius said, based on conversations with unidentified officials with knowledge of the matter, that a previous plan to send two divisions into the city will not move forward, and operations will instead be more restrained.
Washington believes the new plans will result in fewer civilian casualties and thus is not expected to oppose them, Ignatius wrote.
He wrote that after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Saudi and Israeli officials this week, Washington had signposted "the direction of a gradual end to Israeli combat operations and the beginning of a still-fuzzy ’day after.'"
The report said that unspecified Israeli defense officials have also agreed on how Gaza will look at the conclusion of the war.
And what does Prime Minister Netanyahu — their boss — say? In such matters he decides. For this the unnamed Israeli defense official merely advise then execute his orders.
”[It] will include a Paleostinian security force drawn in part from the Paleostinian Authority’s administrative payroll in Gaza. This Paleostinian force will be overseen by a governing council of Paleostinian notables, backed by moderate Arab states such as Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
...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 Frational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... ," Ignatius wrote. "Some Israeli officials — but not Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — accept that this governing entity would have ties with the PA in Ramallah."
Ignatius said additionally that Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... has signaled that it "might" accept this outline as part of a truce and hostage deal.
However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... the columnist noted that Monday’s announcement by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, that he had requested arrest warrants from the court’s judges for Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, along with top Hamas leaders, could have an as yet unknown impact.
The report came after the Israeli military estimated that some 950,000 Paleostinians had evacuated the Rafah area, as ground forces operate in the eastern part of the city.
The military claims it learned from past experiences when it came to evacuating the population in Rafah, which was carried out at a much faster pace than the United States had predicted.
Some 300,000 to 400,000 civilians remain in Rafah, mostly in the coastal area and some parts of the center of the city, according to information seen by The Times of Israel. More than a million Paleostinians were sheltering in the city before the IDF pushed into the area.
The IDF believes that some Hamas operatives and members of other terror groups fled Rafah with the population to the humanitarian zone, as there are no Israeli checkpoints.
Rafah has been seen by the IDF as Hamas’s last major stronghold in Gaza, where four of its remaining battalions are located. Two more Hamas battalions remain in central Gaza, in the Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah camps.
Israel believes Hamas leaders and many operatives are hiding in Rafah, and also that an unspecified number of the 124 remaining hostages kidnapped in the Hamas-led October 7 atrocities are being held in the city.
The city in southern Gaza is also one of the last locations where Hamas was believed by the IDF to have major rocket stockpiles. The IDF believes that Hamas has the capability to launch rocket attacks on central Israel from the Rafah area, and when troops advance further into the city, the terror group is likely to carry out such an attack.
The IDF still maintains control of the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt, which had been a major conduit of humanitarian aid into the enclave. The crossing has remained shuttered since the IDF seized control of the Gazook side on May 7, as Egypt has insisted that it will not allow deliveries to resume until the Gazook side of the crossing is back under Paleostinian control.
At the same time, there were ongoing operations along the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, separating Egypt and Gaza.
The IDF has so far captured only about half of the corridor — in eastern Rafah — which runs for a total of 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) all along the Gaza-Egypt border.
In December, Netanyahu said that Israel would need to take control of the entire corridor to ensure that Gaza is and remains demilitarized and to prevent weapons from being smuggled through tunnels from Egypt into the coastal enclave.
[NAHARNET] A momentary shriek presages a bone-juddering blast, followed by a plume of thick black smoke. Refrigerator-sized holes mark where Hezbollah anti-tank missiles like this one have hit along Israel's northern border.
Hezbollah has been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire with the Israeli army since Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... ' unprecedented October 7 attack triggered 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 an 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... The Iran-backed group has launched thousands of rockets, mortar rounds, anti-tank missiles and attack drones at northern Israel.
The exchanges of fire have killed at least 11 civilians and 14 soldiers in Israel, according to the army.
At least 429 people have been killed in Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... , mostly holy warriors but also including at least 82 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
- ASSESSING THE DAMAGE -
The barrages have dealt a heavy blow to Israeli towns and villages near the border which have been evacuated for more than six months. They have also served as a warning of the far greater destruction that would be wrought by a full-blown war.
The Israeli defense ministry body responsible for rebuilding northern communities said it had received 930 reports of damage -- around a third of them categorized as moderate to critical -- the vast majority of it inflicted on residential buildings.
Hundreds more cases remain unassessed in towns like Arab al-Aramsheh, Menara and Metula because it is considered too hazardous for inspectors to enter.
The report did not cite an estimated cost, but a senior defense official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said reconstruction in the hardest hit locations could take months to a year.
In Kibbutz Menara, around 30 percent of buildings have suffered substantial damage, the official said.
At least 26 percent of the reported damage was caused by Israeli troops who have entrenched themselves in evacuated towns and villages along the 120-kilometer (75-mile) border, according to the Northern Horizon Directorate report.
The Israeli military said it "regrets any damage to the residents' property" and is working to minimize damage as much as possible.
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[BBC] Kenya’s designation as a major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) ally by the US elevates its role in regional and international security at a time when 1,000 of its police officers prepare to battle gangs in Haiti’s besieged capital, Port-au-Prince.
The announcement came as Kenya's President William Ruto embarked on a historic state visit to the US to discuss with President Joe Biden the much-awaited deployment to the Caribbean nation and other bilateral issues.
Kenya becomes just the fourth African nation to attain the status, and the first in sub-Saharan Africa, cementing Kenya’s status as one of the US’s closest allies on the continent.
Continued on Page 49
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] Despite the fact that the decision to release Leila Gatagazheva, 23, a native of Ingushetia, under house arrest was made in her favor, it is still a violation of the law, since the investigation period has been completed and she could not have been given a preventive measure at all, said lawyer Alaudi Musaev. As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, in February the investigation excluded the article on aiding terrorist activities from the charges against native Ingushetia Leila Gatagazheva; now she is accused only of participation in an illegal armed group.
On April 27, the court decided to transfer her to house arrest, and Gatagazheva returned to Malgobek from the Pyatigorsk detention center, human rights activists reported.
Expanding on an item mentioned in passing in this story from yesterday.
[IsraelTimes] Services fail to draw same crowds as those seen at funeral for Soleimani in 2020, in possible sign of country’s feelings; Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis meet on sidelines
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... on Thursday interred its late president Ebrahim Raisi at the holiest site for Shiite Moslems in the Islamic Theocratic Republic, a final sign of respect after he was killed in a helicopter crash earlier this week along with foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others.
Raisi’s coffin was flown to Mashhad in northeast Iran after a funeral procession was held for him on Thursday morning in the city of Birjand, in Iran’s South Khorasan province along the Afghan border, where thousands in black gathered along a main boulevard in the city.
A semi truck bore his casket down the street, with mourners reaching out to touch it and tossing scarves and other items to be placed against it for a blessing. A sign on the truck read: "This is the shrine."
Hours later, the plane carrying Raisi’s coffin arrived in Mashhad, his hometown, where he was laid to rest at the gold-domed Imam Reza shrine, the holiest Islamic site in Iran, revered by Shiite Moslems as the resting place of the 9th-century imam Ali al-Reza.
In 2016, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei appointed Raisi to run the Imam Reza charity foundation, which manages a vast conglomerate of businesses and endowments in Iran, as well as oversees the shrine. It is one of many bonyads, or charitable foundations, fueled by donations or assets seized after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
These foundations offer no public accounting of their spending and answer only to Iran’s supreme leader. The Imam Reza charity, known as "Astan-e Quds-e Razavi" in Farsi, is believed to be one of the biggest in the country. Analysts estimate its worth at tens of billions of dollars as it owns almost half the land in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city.
Raisi is the first top politician in the country to be buried at the shrine, which represents a major honor for the holy man.
However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... the services across the country did not draw the same crowds as those who gathered for services for Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani in 2020, slain by a US dronezap in Baghdad.
It was a potential sign of the public’s feelings about Raisi’s presidency during which the government harshly cracked down on all dissent during protests over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman who died in police custody after she was arrested for allegedly not wearing her mandatory headscarf to authorities’ liking.
That crackdown, as well as Iran’s struggling economy, went unmentioned in the hours of coverage provided by state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
and in newspapers. Also never discussed was Raisi’s involvement in the mass execution of an estimated 5,000 dissidents at the end of the Iran-Iraq war, which had earned him the moniker "the Butcher of Tehran."
Prosecutors warned people against showing any public signs of celebrating Raisi’s death and a heavy security force presence has been seen in Tehran since the crash.
Raisi, 63, was widely seen as a candidate to succeed 85-year-old Khamenei, who wields ultimate power in Iran. Mohammad Mokhber, who had been first vice president, is serving as interim president until a June election. For now, though, there’s no clear favorite for the position among Iran’s political elite — particularly no one who is a Shiite holy man, like Raisi.
Acting president Mokhber, a relatively unknown first vice president until Sunday’s crash, stepped into Raisi’s role following his death and even attended a meeting between Khamenei and Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... leader Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... on Wednesday.
In Tehran, meanwhile, former Iranian foreign ministers Mohammed Javad Zarif ...Persian foreign minister, Mouthpiece of Mullahs, good friend of John Kerry and similar exemplars of Merkin values... and Ali Akbar Salehi and other officials and foreign dignitaries paid respects to Amir-Abdollahian at the Foreign Ministry, where his casket was put on display.
His body was later interred in Shahr-e Rey just outside of Tehran at the Abdol Azim shrine, another final resting place for those famed in Persian history.
"Give Soleimani our greetings," a religious singer said as Amir-Abdollahian’s body was placed inside its final resting place, referring to the slain general.
Ahead of Raisi’s funeral, the representatives of some 60 countries took part in a ceremony paying their final respects on Wednesday afternoon. Among those in attendance were Tunisian President Kais Saied and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... i Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, as well as representatives from Belarus and Serbia, while countries of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... declined to attend.
Khamenei declared five days of national mourning in the wake of the helicopter crash.
[IsraelTimes] Report by Iranian military says ‘no bullet holes or similar impacts’ found at crash site to indicate Iranian helicopter was attacked, flight did not sway from pre-designated route?
[NAHARNET] Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... chief Jebran Bassil has criticized anew old FPM ally Hezbollah for opening a war on the southern border with Israel.
Bassil told Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai that Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... has enough problems, from a refugee crisis to an economic collapse and a presidential void.
"I don't see that these festivities have done any good to Lebanon," Bassil said. "If others accept this war as a fait accompli, we will not accept it."
Bassil wondered if this costly war would return the Israeli occupied Shebaa Farms to Lebanon, the Paleostinian refugees to their land, or the Syrian refugees to Syria. "If it did or if it secured oil investments, I wouldn't have any problem."
"The problem is that Lebanon alone, of course in addition to Paleostine, is bearing this hefty cost, with no benefits in return," he added.
Bassil blamed Hezbollah for opening fire without consulting with other Lebanese forces, and called for keeping Lebanon away from the region's problems, but said that he would nevertheless live with Hezbollah and share with the group the same land, tragedies and achievements. "I do not want Hezbollah to lose this war," he said.
The FPM chief also criticized Hezbollah and Amal for trying to impose a candidate on Christians who does not represent them. "We support holding consultations, and we are in fact in constant communication with all parties, sometimes away from the spotlight and other times publicly," he said. "We are in consultation with everyone."
Bassil said that the FPM-Hezbollah understanding is hanging by "a fine thread". "It doesn't mean it is fragile but the points of agreements are that little," he explained. "When it comes to protecting Lebanon, the relation with Hezbollah is very strong," he said.
On a separate note, Bassil said he does not support opening the seas for migrant boats to reach Europe, an idea floated by Hezbollah chief Sayyed His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...> , amid soaring anti-Syrian sentiment and accusations the West is seeking to keep refugees in Lebanon.
The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... had announced earlier this month $1 billion in aid to Lebanon to help tackle irregular migration, as Cyprus, the EU's easternmost member, wants to curb migrant boat departures from Lebanon towards its shores.
"If you want to close the sea, you should also close the land," he said.
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] The Ukrainian army stopped the advance of the invaders in Volchansk and Liptsy.
The Russian invasion of the north comes after months of intensified bombing of Ukraine's second largest city.
Ukraine's armed forces are planning a counteroffensive to push back Russian troops who have seized territory in the north-east of the Khar'kov region. Bloomberg writes about this on Friday, May 24.
Speaking about the current situation, the publication points out that two weeks after Russian troops crossed the border and opened a new front in the Khar'kov region, the advance of the invaders stopped in the city of Volchansk, less than 10 kilometers south of the border.
"The Kremlin's new front has forced Kyiv to push troops back into the country's northeast, depleting reserves as Moscow steps up attacks in the east," Bloomberg notes.
Bloomberg emphasizes that the Russian invasion in the north comes after months of intensified bombing of Ukraine's second-largest city.
“The DeepState mapping service has not recorded any significant advance of the Kremlin troops as part of the offensive on the Khar'kov region since Monday. According to the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Alexander Syrsky, the Russian military command is sending reserves to support the local offensive, but to no avail,” analysts point out.
The Russian Ministry of Defense also reported that Russian troops repelled a number of Ukrainian counterattacks, continuing to advance deeper into the Ukrainian defense line near Khar'kov.
“Fightings in the eastern Donetsk region have intensified as the Kremlin uses its advantage over Ukraine in ammunition and manpower. Moscow’s troops have advanced near the strategically important village of Vrem'ya Yar, which they seek to capture “at any cost,” the publication writes, citing words Syrsky.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces also do not rule out that the enemy may attempt a breakthrough in the Sumy region. However, Ukrainian troops are prepared for possible attacks.
Earlier, Zelensky said that Western countries are afraid of Russia losing the war, because after that there will be “unpredictable geopolitics.” He emphasized that “it doesn’t work that way,” and for Ukraine to win, “we need to give everything that they win with.”
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 21:00 Ukrainian troops dropped an explosive object from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on the Nikitovsky district of Donetsk, reported representationDPR at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of Issues Related to War Crimes of Ukraine. 19:55 Thousands of destroyed targets: soldiers of the 1st Army Corps effectivelyapplyattack FPV drones in the Donetsk direction
Every day, during reconnaissance, crews identify and hit targets such as observation posts, caches, ammunition depots, lightly armored vehicles, positions and concentrations of enemy manpower. Since the beginning of the SVO, just one UAV crew has already hit more than a thousand targets.
18:47 Offensive on Chasov Yar, May 24.
After the paratroopers broke through to the Seversky Donets-Donbass canal, the Ukrainian Armed Forces began to urgently respond to any movement and deployed significant mechanized forces along the canal - several dozen armored vehicles and tanks.
However, the situation quickly got out of control and the forces scattered along the Chassoyar watershed began to attack with drones and artillery.
As a result, the first line of defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces sank for a while and allowed the paratroopers to carry out a series of counterattacks, during which they managed to expand the zone of control near the Novy microdistrict and move the front line in the north of Chasov Yar to the west.
17:52 Personnel combat work of crews of 122mm howitzers D-30 of the Sever group of troops.
Artillerymen continue to carry out fire missions to destroy armored vehicles, fire weapons, ammunition depots and fortified positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
17:08 The number of those wounded as a result of artillery attack of the Petrovsky district of Donetsk by Ukrainian troops has increased to three, the JCCC reported.
16:49 The Ukrainian Armed Forces are preparing a counteroffensive in the Khar'kov direction, for this the command has transferred several Ukrainian brigades from the part of the DPR occupied by Kiev to this section of the front, said Pushilin’s adviser Igor Kimakovsky.
He also added that many Ukrainian units that are being transferred from the Donetsk direction no longer have armored vehicles.
15:59 Destruction of the T-72 tank of Ukrainian militants in the Khar'kov direction -video.
15:52 Personnel destruction of the operators of the reconnaissance UAV of the Ukrainian Armed Forces by a strike from our Lancet UAV.
15:15 The main thing from the new briefing of the Russian Ministry of Defense:
Within a week, 67 Ukrainian servicemen surrendered on the line of combat contact;
Over the course of a week, the Russian Armed Forces carried out 49 group high-precision strikes on military and infrastructure facilities in Ukraine;
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 350 soldiers in a week due to the actions of the Dnepr group of troops;
Within a week, units of the Southern Group of the Russian Armed Forces defeated the manpower and equipment of seven brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and four brigades of military defense;
Over the course of a week, the “North” group defeated five brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, four brigades of military defense and repelled 23 counterattacks;
The “West” group occupied more advantageous positions and defeated the formations of seven brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the military defense and the National Guard of Ukraine;
The Vostok grouping improved its tactical situation; the Ukrainian Armed Forces in its area of responsibility lost up to 920 military personnel;
Aviation and the Russian air defense system destroyed 2 MiG-29 aircraft of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, 8 SCALP-EG cruise missiles, 356 drones in a week;
Within a week, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 3,285 military personnel in the area of responsibility of the Southern Group of the Russian Armed Forces;
The Dnepr group of troops defeated eight Ukrainian brigades in a week;
Over the course of a week, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost up to 1,840 military personnel, six tanks, four 122mm BM-21 Grad and Vampire MLRS, as well as 37 artillery pieces in the Khar'kov region;
The southern group of troops destroyed 10 field warehouses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces within a week;
Units of the Central Group of the Russian Armed Forces repelled 41 counterattacks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the week;
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 2,040 military personnel, 32 field artillery pieces, including 14 Western-made ones, in the zone of responsibility of the “West” group;
Within a week, units of the Central Group of the Russian Armed Forces improved the situation along the front line and defeated formations of 9 formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost up to 2,770 military personnel in a week;
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost four Marder infantry fighting vehicles, five Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and three MaxxPro armored personnel carriers in the area of responsibility of the Central Group of the Russian Armed Forces.
14:54 Explosions in Khar'kov.
14:32 Crew of the Iskander operational-tactical missile system hit the command post and accumulation of military equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces unit.
14:24 Explosions in Kirovograd. Before this, a missile alert was announced there.
14:05 The Armed Forces of Ukraine struck Kremennaya (LPR), a woman was wounded, a store and power lines were damaged, about 12 thousand subscribers of the city were left without power supply, said the head of the administration of the Kremensky municipal district Tretyakov.
13:54 Artillery of the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed on the way out of Kharkov.
UAV operators were able to detect the 152mm 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled guns of the Ukrainian Armed Forces right at the exit from the Khar'kovring road. The self-propelled gun was destroyed by Lancet operators three kilometers from the above-mentioned road in the village. Cherkasy Lozova.
13:40 The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a counterattack on the southern bank of the Volchya River in Volchansk. Now their presence is recorded in the center along Gorky and Gogol streets in the city center.
13:34 From Staromayorsky we receive information about the stable control of the Russian Armed Forces up to half of the village, as well as about successful assault operations in the northeast of the village towards the Mokrye Yaly River.
12:49 Archangel of Special Forces reports the situation in Chasov Yar
Fierce fighting continues in the Kanal microdistrict. The assault units of our 98th Airborne Troops are moving in depth.
The enemy brought tanks into the battle, which are driving into the populated area, so the Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to stop the advancing landing force.
12:04 Combat Job of artillery of the 7th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 2nd Army Corps of the Russian Armed Forces in the Seversky direction.
11:56 In the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, as a result of artillery attack from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the driver of a car was wounded, he was taken to the hospital, the mayor of the city of Kulemzin said.
11:10 The Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked a private house with drones in Dnepryany, Novokakhovsky urban district, there were no casualties - Governor of the Kherson region Vladimir Saldo.
10:50 Military personnel from the “Center” group of troops improved tactical situation, defeated the formations of the 68th Jaeger, 24th Mechanized brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of Semenovka and Novgorod. We repelled five counterattacks by assault groups of the 71st Jaeger, 47th, 110th Mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of the settlements of Ocheretino, Solovyevo and Umanskoye.
In total, 325 identified enemy targets were defeated during the day, including 17 strongholds and 90 field artillery positions.
Enemy losses amounted to up to 405 military personnel, four armored combat vehicles, including three American-made MaxxPro, six vehicles, an M777 howitzer, an M-109 Paladin self-propelled artillery mount, a 152mm 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled artillery mount, a D-20 howitzer, a 2A65 Msta-B howitzer, two 122mm D-30 howitzers and two M-102 light towed howitzers.
10:30 Personnel combat work of military personnel of the units of the “Southern” group of forces during the liberation of the settlement of Kleshcheevka of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
09:40 Front-line report for May 24 from military correspondent Evgeny Lisitsyn:
Avdeevsk direction: in Netailovo the RF Armed Forces achieved success in battles. Heavy fighting is taking place in Umansky, the Russian Armed Forces are facing a powerful artillery counterattack. Intensified counter-battery work by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Arkhangelskoye complicates the situation.
Donetsk direction: in Krasnogorovka, Russian forces are expanding the zone of control, Ukrainian resources have confirmed the loss of positions. In Paraskovievka, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have lost control of the road and there are heavy oncoming battles.
Kherson direction: the situation in this area is uncertain: reports of rotation and removal of the wounded are mixed with information about the withdrawal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from their last positions.
Zaporozhye direction: our fighters stormed the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces north-west of Verbovoy.
South Donetsk direction: in Staromayorske there is an assault on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with a possible breakthrough to the center of the village. Also, attacks on the bridge between Vremevka and Velikaya Novoselka to complicate the logistics of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Artyomovsk direction: after controlling Kleshcheevka and Andreevka, the Russian army advances on Kurdyumovka and Ozaryanovka, which opens the way to Toretsk from the northeast.
08:22 UAV operators of 38 and 64 Separate Motorized Rifle brigades apply attacks on equipment and manpower of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
08:17 The city of Volchansk in the Khar'kovregion has been liberated by more than 50%. This was stated by the coordinator for interparliamentary relations with the LPR parliament, State Duma deputy Viktor Vodolatsky.
08:14 Operators of attack FPV drones of the Dnepr group of troops destroyed Ukrainian Armed Forces firing points north of Rabotin in the Zaporozhye region. This was reported to the Ministry of Defense.
08:10 The commander of the Strela-10 air defense missile system platoon with the call sign “Lacoste” told how the fight against enemy “birds” is being conducted -video.
08:06 Russian paratroopers gained a foothold on the eastern outskirts of the Novy microdistrict in Chasov Yar and gradually are advancing forward, the footage shows the work of the armored group of the 99th Airborne Forces and the TOS-1A “Solntsepek”.
08:00 Army Aviation pilots struck a strong point and an enemy armored vehicle in the Khar'kov direction.
[NAHARNET] Parliament Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians... on Friday marked Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... ’s Liberation and Resistance® Day by calling for "preserving and defending" the country during the current period.
"The entire region, including Lebanon, is witnessing a genocidal war" by Israel, Berri said in a "message to the Lebanese."
"We renew our commitment and adherence to U.N. resolution 1701 and all its terms and stipulations," Berri added, noting that Israel has committed "over 30,000 violations" of the aforementioned resolution.
The Speaker added that Lebanon is "keen on its right to defend its land with all the available means in the face of the Israeli hostility," calling for the liberation of "the remaining occupied territory in the Kfarshouba Hills, the Shebaa Farms, the northern part of the Ghajar village, and the contested border points with occupied Paleostine all the way to the B1 point in Ras al-Naqoura."
"Lebanon is open to positive cooperation with any international effort aimed at reining in Israel’s hostility and its ambitions towards Lebanon and its resources," Berri went on to say.
The country is "unwilling to give up any of its sovereign rights," he underlined.
He also vowed that Lebanon "will resist any attempt from any side to impose any form of naturalization, whether for the displaced Syrians or the Paleostinian refugees."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2024
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[Kunstler] There comes a time when the rigors and exertions of being insane just aren’t worth it anymore. You end up in a deadly Pareto distribution in which 80 percent of your energy gets wasted on hallucinating and the rest is barely enough to get yourself dressed, comb your purple hair, and choke down a granola bar.
Verging on a long, hot summer, the party behind “Joe Biden” looks like a 1950s horror movie, complete with lurching ghouls, evil scientists in white lab coats, and the sore beset denizens of Anytown USA screaming down the streets. Only it’s the actual life of our nation now, and it looks like an awful lot of the people who live here lawfully have had enough of it.
The mysterious cabal in power knows that they must ditch the old stumblebum pretending to run for president, and time is running out to get the dastardly deed done. They are staring down a month of dread days that lead to the proposed great debate between the major party candidates, which is doomed to play like a combo of the classic horror movie endings — the unmasking of the phantom with a wooden stake driven through his heart, with Donald Trump cast as Prof Van Helsing. Can our resourceful intel blob instead maybe find a way before that to make it look like the “president” passed away peacefully in his slumber? Or perhaps it would suffice to just leak the voice recording of his interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur and allow people to compare what’s in it with the already-released printed transcript.
Here’s just how crazy the party is: rumor has it that they might just rudely shove oId “JB” aside and try the Hail Mary pass of inviting RFKJr back on-board from exile to head the ticket. The Kennedy name alone used to be synonymous with the party’s brand, is their thinking, you see. Trouble is, the Democratic Party is, in reality, synonymous with the intel blob that infests it, and protects it in the service of protecting its own sorry ass. You might recall that RFKJr has publicly stated that his father and uncle were murdered by that selfsame intel blob, which he has promised to treat very harshly were he actually elected. So, scratch that gambit.
Beyond that, you’re back to the maddening rotation of Gavin Newsom, Michelle, and Rodan the Flying reptile, a.k.a. She-Whose-Turn-It-Is — all of them appallingly impossible. Gavin might have been Mr. Dreamboat incarnate — that hair! that height! those teeth! — prompting a pandemic of The Vapors among ladies who lately predominate in the Democrat rank-and-file. But, alas, under his charge California degenerated into a Woke bedlam of diseased homeless junkies shitting all over his cities, with non-stop flash-mob looting, carjacking, and drag queen promenading in the background, and there’s no way of hiding it. Gavin Newsom has a big “L” carved on his forehead the way that Charlie Manson used to sport a swastika.
#4
Given the Liberals, Socialists & Democrats that now make up the (D) party. Many have noted their growing adoption of Immoral lifestyles, sexual perversions, Race hate speech, their protesting of Christian values and support of Genocidal Terrorist groups.
It is no wonder some Internet commenters are referring to them as the DEMONcrat Party.
#5
Funny and spot on
Americans do have a third option
Just vote in RFK jr as independent candidate
He is the only anti-corruption man you have
Get him in to clean house because you already know from last time Trump won't do it
President Kennedy will do it. Knows how and has the will - and cannot be bought.
Don't waste your vote on the 2 oligarch-controlled parties.
Clean house.
#6
^ Thanks for Aussie opinion. RFKjr is an idiot. Research his positions since 2000. If his name was Bob Smith, he's have trouble running for City Council
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/25/2024 11:29
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#7
RFK, Jr. gets a few things very right, but many more terribly wrong, Anon1. Not being corrupt cannot be the deal maker, under the circumstances.
#9
It still tickles me that the dems have gone so far left that they have basically turned their backs on Camelot other than to publicize any of his relatives who say they won't vote for him.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/25/2024 13:35
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Vladislav Sovin
[REGNUM] “I don’t know if they will be able to force the hall to vote for a ban on the UOC. Yes, Poroshenko’s supporters, Soros from “Golos” and some part of “Servant of the People” will definitely be for the ban and are ready to vote even now. But many people, both here and in other factions, do not want to take sin on their souls. There are some boundaries for everything,” says our source, a people’s deputy from Servant of the People. Like many of his colleagues, he is in a state close to despair. Even before the war, parliamentarians were not really taken into account, but now, in the general opinion of the “servants,” they were completely turned into servants, into serf pushers.
#1
Cut off all aid to the ukrainian regime and ket it fall to moscow
Sorry US but Victoria Nuland, State Dept and Biden meddling here is a complete disaster
Cost 500k lives and destroyed a country so visa, mastercard and google could have the comms and fintech infrastructure, blackrock could rebuild and so arms dealwrs raytheon, lockheed, boeing, northrop et al could all cash in
And all at your expense. Billions upon billions gifted to US corporate oligarchy
You must fix your country for god's sake vote in RFK jr because you have to stop this bs now. It is destroying entire countries.
First person to see Toria Nuland please remove her with a citizens arrest
[ZH] The House Armed Services Committee adopted an amendment in the annual defense policy bill on May 22 that, if cleared through Congress, would force the Pentagon to rehire U.S. troops who were fired for refusing a COVID-19 vaccine.
But will the Democrat-controlled Senate agree?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/25/2024
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Ukrainian special services are directly related to the terrorist attack in Crocus, said the director of the Russian FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, at a meeting of the Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services of the CIS Member States in Bishkek.
“The investigation is ongoing, but we can already say with confidence that Ukrainian military intelligence is directly related to this attack,” said the head of the FSB.
He added that more than 20 people, including direct perpetrators and accomplices, have been detained in connection with the attack on Crocus. Two of the four perpetrators arrived in Russia from Turkey shortly before the attack.
Turkey? The plot thickens!
Law enforcement officers continue to establish the entire circle of those involved.
During the investigation, it was established that Islamists operating in the Afghan-Pakistan zone coordinated the preparation and execution of the terrorist attack, as well as the withdrawal of the attackers, via the Internet. The perpetrators of the terrorist attack were expected near the Ukrainian border; a “window” was prepared for them on that side, Bortnikov also said.
As Regnum reported, the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk near Moscow took place on March 22. The attackers burst into the hall, began shooting at people, and then set the auditorium on fire. 145 people died, including six children. Another 550 people are listed as injured.
The alleged perpetrators of the terrorist attack were taken into custody on March 25. President Vladimir Putin promised that Russia will reach all the beneficiaries and customers of the terrorist attack at Crocus.
Earlier, FSB Director Bortnikov said that the testimony of those detained in the case of the terrorist attack in Crocus confirms the Ukrainian trace. The perpetrators of the terrorist attack received significant amounts of money from Ukraine, he explained.
The head of Rosfinmonitoring, Yuri Chikhanchin, said that the terrorist attack was financed through several organizations using cryptocurrency. The scheme involved citizens of a number of countries.
Posted by: badanov ||
05/25/2024
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#1
Apparently not enough folks believe this tale yet so they keep flogging different variations of it. Silly people still think it was Al-Qaeda/ISIS SOP.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” - Joseph Goebbels
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
05/25/2024 17:43
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Spiritual Administration of Muslims (DUM) of Russia is ready to support the ban on wearing the niqab if the connection of this item of women's clothing with extremism is proven. This was stated by the deputy head of the Muslim Spiritual Directorate, Mufti of Moscow Ildar Alyautdinov, writes Gazeta.Ru on May 24.
According to him, the Muslim Spiritual Directorate will approve the proposal of the head of the Human Rights Council under the President of Russia Valery Fadeev to ban the niqab if Russian officials identify a direct connection between the wearing of fully covered clothing by Muslim women and the increase in threats associated with extremism. In this case, banning the niqab will help save the lives of citizens.
Alyautdinov noted that the Muslim Spiritual Directorate is always ready for dialogue, especially on issues related to people’s safety. He added that the spiritual administration does not promote wearing a niqab, considering the choice in favor of the hijab to be more correct.
As Regnum reported, Fadeev previously proposed banning in Russia the wearing of the niqab, a traditional Muslim women's headdress that leaves only the eyes exposed. Fadeev explained that this forced measure is designed to reduce the risks of extremism.
Alyautdinov responded to this by saying that Russia is reaching a new level of strengthening relations with the countries of the East, so difficulties may arise due to the ban on the niqab. These attempts, he added, would look like a clear act of violation of the norms of secular law and the Constitution, which guarantees citizens of the Russian Federation the right to freely observe religious canons. The Council of Ulema of the Muslim Spiritual Directorate of Russia is always ready to discuss this initiative with the authorities, the mufti clarified.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] For the first time, the Yemeni Houthis attacked a commercial ship in the Mediterranean Sea, the Essex ship en route to Israel was attacked, military representative of the movement Yahya Saria said on May 24, as reported by Al Masirah TV channel.
“Missile forces carried out a series of strikes on the Israeli vessel Essex in the Mediterranean Sea because it violated a ban on passage to ports in occupied Palestine,” he said.
Saria also said the Houthis launched ballistic missile attacks on the MSC Alexandra in the Arabian Sea and attacked the Yannis, owned by the Greek company Eastern Mediterranean Maritime, while it was in the Red Sea.
As Regnum reported, a day earlier, the leader of the Yemeni Ansar Allah movement, Abdel Malik al-Houthi, said that the Houthis carried out one of the operations in the Mediterranean Sea, without specifying its details. According to him, in a week a total of eight operations were carried out using 15 missiles and drones in the Red and Arabian Seas, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. In total, the number of ships associated with Israel, the United States and Britain that were attacked reached 119.
On May 18, a missile hit an oil tanker off the coast of the Yemeni city of Moha. After this, a fire broke out on board. The ship was flying the flag of Panama. It received minor damage and continued to its next port of call.
Later, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) clarified that the Houthis allegedly attacked the M/T Wind oil tanker, which was allegedly heading to China. The US military claims that the ship moored in Russia before the voyage. It was operated by a Greek operator but flew the Panamanian flag.
On May 15, the Houthis said they attacked the American destroyer Mason in the Red Sea with a missile. In addition, they also launched a missile attack on the commercial ship Destiny, which was heading to the Israeli port of Eilat.
[IsraelTimes] Pictures taken on May 8 display large patches of sand in two areas that were crowded with tents three days earlier; IDF says 950,000 have fled city under partial evacuation order
Newly released satellite photos reviewed by the News Agency that Dare Not be Named show a large exodus of Paleostinians from the southernmost 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 an 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... city of Rafah earlier this month.
The photos taken three days apart — first on May 5 and then on May 8 — show the change on the ground after Israel issued its first evacuation order for the city on May 6.
They show that crowded tent camps in the central and northwest regions of the city grew sparse within days of the order, though only neighborhoods in the east of the city had been ordered to evacuate.
One pair of before-and-after photos shows an area near the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp west of Rafah, adjacent to the humanitarian zone set up by the Israeli military.
In the three days between the photos, at least half of the hundreds of tents cramming the area disappeared, likely from Paleostinians packing up and departing.
The other pair of photos shows the central Shabourah neighborhood of Rafah city. Tents packing city streets give way to sandy patches.
Before the evacuation orders, some 1.3 million Paleostinians — many already displaced from other parts of Gaza — had taken shelter there, according to the UN.
It was unclear where all the Paleostinians packing up their tents and fleeing Rafah are going. Rights groups say there is nowhere in Gaza with nearly enough food, water or tents for the newly displaced masses.
Israel has advised civilians to go to a humanitarian zone in the al-Mawasi area northwest of Rafah, and recently announced that the zone had been expanded to accommodate for the expected influx.
Paleostinian are also concentrated in areas of central Gaza where Israeli ground forces have not yet operated.
The Israeli military estimated Monday that some 950,000 Paleostinians had evacuated the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, as ground forces operate in the eastern part of the city.
Some 300,000 to 400,000 civilians remain in Rafah, mostly in the coastal area and some parts of the center of the city, according to information seen by The Times of Israel.
Israel has so far classified its operations in the city as limited in scope, a claim the US has echoed. Currently, the IDF has not pushed further than the Brazil neighborhood of eastern Rafah, leaving most of the city under Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... control.
Israel’s military said Monday the war would likely last another six months.
Article Linked To Is Available Only Via VPN
[EngMilRu] From 18 May to 24 May 2024, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out 49 group strikes by high-precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles, which hit the enemy military airfield infrastructure, missiles, ammunition and fuel storages, and the production facilities for uncrewed surface vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles.
In addition, temporary deployment areas of the AFU mampower, foreign mercenaries and nationalist formations, as well as enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine were hit.
Over the past week, units of the Sever Group of Forces liberated Staritsa (Kharkov region) as a result of active actions and continued the advance to the depth of the enemy defence.
Servicemen of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of five brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and four territorial defence brigades.
Twenty three counterattacks of assault groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were repelled close to Glubokoye, Tikhoye, Liptsi, and Volchansk (Kharkov region).
The enemy losses amounted to up to 1,840 troops, six tanks, eight armoured fighting vehicles, 40 motor vehicles, four Grad and Vampire MLRS combat vehicles, as well as 37 field artillery guns.
The Zapad Group of Forces' units captured more advantageous lines, and also defeated units of four AFU mechanised brigades, two territorial defence brigades, and one national guard brigade.
Over the past 24 hours, 15 counterattacks were repelled by units of four AFU brigades and one national guard brigade close to Grigorovka (Donetsk People's Republic), Chervonaya Dibrova, Novovodyanoye, and Stelmakhovka (Lugansk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 2,040 Ukrainian troops, two tanks, 18 armoured fighting vehicles, 19 motor vehicles, two Grad MLRS combat vehicles, and 32 field artillery guns, to include 14 Western-made.
Over the past week, units of the Yug Group of Forces have liberated three settlements: Belogorovka, Kleshcheyevka, and Andreyevka (Donetsk People's Republic), and continued to advance to the depths of the enemy defence.
Servicemen of the Yug Group of Forces inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of seven AFU brigades and four territorial defence brigades.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 3,285 Ukrainian troops, seven tanks, 13 armoured fighting vehicles, 46 motor vehicles, 32 field artillery guns, to include 27 Western-made.
In addition, ten AFU ammunition depots were destroyed.
The Tsentr Group of Forces' units improved the situation along the front line and defeated units of nine AFU and Ukrainian National Guard's formations.
Forty one counter-attacks launched by assault groups of eight AFU brigades were repelled close to Shumy, Netaylovo, Novokalinovo, Umanskoye, Ocheretino, Archangelskoye, and Solovyovo (Donetsk People's Republic).
During the week, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have lost up to 2,770 Ukrainian troops, one tank, 26 motor vehicles, 35 field artillery guns, and 20 armoured fighting vehicles, including four German-made Marder infantry fighting vehicles, as well as five Bradley and three U.S.-made MaxxPro armoured personnel carriers in this direction.
The Vostok Group of Forces' units improved the tactical situation and hit manpower and hardware of AFU motorised infantry and territorial defence brigades.
Nine counter-attacks launched by assault groups of AFU mechanised, territorial defence, and national guard brigades were repelled near Vladimirovka, Staromayorskoye, and Urozhaynoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 920 Ukrainian troops, 13 armoured fighting vehicles, 39 motor vehicles, and 18 field artillery guns, to include ten Western-made.
The units of the Dnepr Group of Forces have engaged manpower and hardware of two marine brigades, three AFU brigades, two territorial defence formations, as well as one national guard brigade.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 350 Ukrainian troops, three tanks, two armoured fighting vehicles, 35 motor vehicles, two Grad MLRS launchers, as well as 24 field artillery guns, including seven U.S.-made M777 howitzers, and one UK-made FH-70 towed howitzer.
Air defence units have shot down two MiG-29 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force, eight French-made SCALP-EG cruise missiles, 25 U.S.-made ATACMS and Tochka-U operational-tactical missiles, 18 French-made Hammer guided bombs, 13 U.S.-made HARM anti-radiation missiles, one Neptun anti-ship missile, 91 HIMARS, Vampire, and Olkha MLRS projectiles, as well as 356 unmanned aerial vehicles.
Over the past week, 67 Ukrainian servicemen surrendered on the line of contact.
In total, 603 airplanes and 274 helicopters, 24,590 unmanned aerial vehicles, 524 air defence missile systems, 16,149 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,311 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 9,802 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 21,966 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 22:08 Zelensky said that the US aid package includes badly needed long-range missiles: “Right now this package is critically important as the enemy is intensifying attacks on the front line. Today in Kharkov I saw with my own eyes the importance of strengthening our soldiers to protect our people, our cities and our communities."
22:00 Arrests began in the structures of the Russian Ministry of Defense - within a month, three generals, including a deputy minister, were detained on suspicion of taking bribes, and the former commander of the 58th Army, Ivan Popov, was detained on charges of fraud. Read more about the purges in the Russian army in the material How to eliminate the guilty.
21:56 German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius confirmed the transfer of another IRIS-T air defense system to Ukraine.
21:52 The defense forces managed to take combat control over the border area in the Kharkov region, where Russian troops entered, Zelensky said in an evening video message.
21:47 Blinken announced a new package of military aid to Ukraine worth $275 million. According to the Pentagon, it included, in particular, 155 mm and 105 mm artillery shells; 60 mm mortar mines; TOW missiles; Javelin and AT-4 anti-tank systems; precision aircraft munitions; small arms and additional small arms ammunition and grenades; demolition ammunition; anti-tank mines, etc.
21:38 Germany will not transfer Taurus missiles to Ukraine, since the Ukrainians allegedly will not be able to program them themselves, and Berlin will not send its soldiers there due to the “risk of escalation,” Scholz said.
21:06 Putin is allegedly ready to stop the war in Ukraine through ceasefire negotiations that will fix the current position of the parties on the front line, Reuters reports, citing high-ranking sources from Russian political and business circles who have worked or are working with the Kremlin leader. For this story, Reuters spoke to a total of five people who work or have worked with Putin at senior levels in the political and business world. Read more in the article New rumor about a truce.
20:39 The accuracy of some types of Western weapons has decreased due to the work of Russian electronic warfare, which is why Kiev stopped using them, writes The Washington Post. We are talking about weapons that have satellite guidance, in particular, Excalibur shells and HIMARS systems. According to an American official, the United States is equipping HIMARS with additional equipment to ensure accurate targeting. And one of the ways the Ukrainians counter Russian electronic warfare is by using drones before targeting enemy targets.
20:10 Another Iris-T air defense system from Germany has arrived in Ukraine, writes Spiegel. Currently in Ukraine there are four medium-range Iris-T systems and one short-range Iris-T system.
20:04 Russia is holding 403 Ukrainian women in captivity, many of whom are illegally detained civilians, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported. There are also women whose fate has been unknown since 2014. The Russian side simply ignores numerous appeals demanding the return of women.
Women released from captivity talk, among other things, about humiliation, inhumane conditions of detention, inadequate nutrition, and the inability to receive qualified medical care and contact with relatives. The Russians also prohibit representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross from accessing places of detention of prisoners and civilians, of which there are more than 100 in the Russian Federation and temporarily occupied territories.
19:16 Moscow is spreading anonymous statements about Putin’s alleged readiness to freeze the war in order to disrupt the Peace Summit, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said: “Why are Russian “sources” suddenly telling the media that Putin is ready to stop the war on the current line of contact? It’s all very simple. Putin is desperately trying to disrupt the Peace Summit in Switzerland. He is afraid of its success."
“Now Putin has no desire to stop aggression. Only the principled and united voice of the world majority can force him to choose peace over war. This is what the Peace Summit is designed to achieve. That is why he is so afraid of it,” the Foreign Minister explained.
18:41 On Saturday, May 25, hourly power outage schedules will be in effect for industrial and household consumers throughout Ukraine from 20:00 to 22:00 - during the hours of maximum evening consumption, Ukrenergo reported.
18:32 Putin said that he is ready for negotiations with Ukraine, but considers Zelensky illegitimate: “We are aware that the legitimacy of the current president has ended. When resuming negotiations with Ukraine, Russia needs to understand with whom it can and should deal when signing documents."
The head of the Kremlin also repeated that Moscow is ready for negotiations “only based on today’s realities in the special operation zone.” In addition, he blamed the West for the breakdown of negotiations, and the Istanbul agreements of 2022, according to him, allegedly suited both Kyiv and Moscow. Putin added that it is possible to return to negotiations “based on the agreements already reached.” “We see that conversations about the need to return to negotiations on Ukraine have resumed again. Let them return,” Putin said.
18:10 The government has set profitability at 25% for domestic ammunition manufacturers - the same as was previously established for drone manufacturers, said the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Mikhail Fedorov. This will allow manufacturers to expand and modernize their lines. The minister noted that over the past two years, Ukraine has significantly increased the production of its own weapons, and among the most successful cases is the revolution in the production of various types of drones. One of the factors for this success was the attraction of private manufacturers. As a result, drone production increased 100 times over the year.
17:59 In parallel with the peace summit in Switzerland, Russia is convening a BRICS meeting at the level of foreign ministers, Politico writes, citing sources. This means that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi may travel to Russia rather than Switzerland, as can the foreign ministers of India, Brazil and South Africa, the newspaper writes.
17:14 As a result of the Russian attack on the printing house in Kharkov, the total capacity of book publishing in Ukraine may decrease by 30-40%, said the owner of the Factor-Druk printing plant, Sergei Polituchy. According to him, this also applies to textbooks - the printing house produced up to 50% of all textbooks printed in the state. Recovery will take at least several months and international assistance.
16:36 Zelensky visited the destroyed Factor Druk printing house in Kharkov and showed the consequences of a missile strike, which killed seven workers:
16:08 British intelligence reports that Russia sent an African corps of former Wagnerites to attack Volchansk. The Afrika Korps of the Russian Ministry of Defense, created in December 2023, consists of more than 2,000 regular soldiers and officers, as well as experienced mercenaries, many of whom previously served in the Wagner PMC. According to intelligence, Afrika Korps troops are likely to have previously deployed to Syria, Libya, Burkina Faso and Niger.
15:55 The General Staff conducted a study to optimize the staff and decided to reduce it by 60%, said the head of the Main Directorate of Defense Planning of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Evgeniy Ostryansky. According to him, the Armed Forces of Ukraine plan to further staff the operational and tactical levels of command and control, as well as combat military units. This will allow for the rotation of units that have been in the combat zone for a long time.
15:47 More than 1 million citizens updated their data through the Reserve+ application, the Ministry of Defense reported. For comparison, the number of people liable for military service who did this through the TsNAP is 40,865 people, and through the TCC - 21,735 people. Reserve+ is currently available in 176 countries. Soon, a military registration document will appear in the application, which will have the same legal force as a paper one.
15:03 Radio Liberty showed fresh satellite images from the Kushchevskaya airfield in the Krasnodar region of the Russian Federation, which was attacked by drones on the night of May 19. The Planet Labs satellite recorded damage to at least two Russian fighters - the Su-27 and Su-34. The photographs also show that after the strikes, most of the fighters were removed from the airfield.
14:49 Defense forces stopped Russian troops in the Kharkov direction and are carrying out counter-offensive actions, said Igor Prokhorenko, a representative of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the Sumy and Chernihiv regions, according to him, the situation is under control. The enemy is amassing troops on the territory of the Russian Federation and daily strikes at border settlements.
14:11 Yanukovych’s plane has arrived in Belarus, where Putin and Lukashenko are meeting today. According to Belarusski Gayun, the Dassault Falcon 900C landed at Gomel airport today at 12:50. The last time Yanukovych was in Belarus was in March 2022.
14:02 Orban believes that Russia does not have enough strength to attack NATO: “Russian troops have already shown the limits of their capabilities in Ukraine. If the Russians were strong enough to defeat the Ukrainians in one fell swoop, they would have done it already. That’s why I I don’t think it’s logical that Russia, which can’t even defeat Ukraine, would suddenly come and swallow the entire Western world. The chances of this happening are extremely low.”
13:56 Germany, together with Denmark, announced a new package of military assistance to Ukraine. It included, in particular, ten Leopard tanks, 54 Vector and Heidrun reconnaissance drones, 8,500 155 mm artillery shells, 20 MG3 machine guns for Leopard-2, Dachs tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles. In addition, three HIMARS MLRS are being prepared for shipment.
13:17 Zelensky said that today he is on a visit to Kharkov and held a meeting on the operational situation in the region and preparations for the heating season.
12:58 Reuters writes, citing Russian sources, that Putin is allegedly ready to end the war in Ukraine through negotiations that recognize the current front lines.
12:19 Orbán said Hungary is working to “rethink” its NATO membership status to potentially avoid involvement in future operations outside the Alliance and increased NATO support for Ukraine. “Our lawyers and officers are working hard on how Hungary can maintain its NATO membership in such a way that it does not have to participate in NATO activities outside the territory of the Alliance,” the Hungarian Prime Minister said.
12:07 The Ministry of Reintegration announced the forced evacuation of children from 36 settlements in the Bogodukhovsky, Izyumsky, Kupyansky and Chuguevsky districts of the Kharkov region. In total, it is planned to take out 123 children. We are talking about orphans and children deprived of parental care.
11:41 In Lvov on May 23, a Russian Opposition Forum was held, in which representatives of the political and armed opposition to the Putin regime took part, including delegates from volunteer units fighting as part of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense reported. According to the report, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the MOU, Kirill Budanov, “supported the holding of such an event as one of the manifestations of the struggle against the Kremlin dictatorship, which also contributes to Ukraine’s victory over the aggressor state.” The media reported that Khodorkovsky, Kasparov, Feigin, Shenderovich and others took part in the forum.
11:27 The Khmelnitsky City District Court reported that it granted all 50 requests for parole of convicts who expressed a desire to mobilize into the Defense Forces.
11:02 Brazil and China are calling for a peace conference with the participation of both Russia and Ukraine, Bloomberg writes. The day before, Chinese Foreign Affairs Representative Wang Yi met with Brazilian President Celso Amorim's chief adviser, following which they issued a statement outlining a "common understanding" on the path to resolving the war in Ukraine. This is the first time that China has signed a joint declaration of war with another country, the newspaper notes.
"China and Brazil support holding an international peace conference at an appropriate time, recognized by both Russia and Ukraine, with equal participation of all parties, as well as fair discussion of all peace plans," the statement said. It also condemns the potential use of weapons of mass destruction.
10:46 As a result of yesterday's Russian strike on Kharkov, 50 thousand books burned in the destroyed printing house, Zelensky said.
10:32 Russia is increasingly succeeding in disrupting the operation of Starlink in Ukraine, writes The New York Times. So, for the first time this happened on the morning of the Russian offensive near Kharkov, which disoriented the Ukrainian Armed Forces, after which such cases were repeated. According to Ukrainian officials, the Russians have deployed more powerful electronic weapons and more sophisticated tools to degrade Starlink, which "poses a serious threat to Ukraine."
The publication notes that this “could mark a tactical shift in the conflict, highlighting Ukraine’s vulnerability and dependence on services provided by Elon Musk’s company.” Ukraine is communicating with the management of SpaceX to solve problems, said the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Mikhail Fedorov. Starlink's service quality should improve soon, he said.
10:09 The police will forcibly deliver to the TCC those persons liable for military service who are on the wanted list, said the head of the National Police, Ivan Vyhovsky. According to him, police will check the documents of those liable for military service in public places. If a person is wanted, he will be forcibly taken to the TCC.
09:44 Late in the evening of May 23, the Russians shelled Kharkov again - the building of the enterprise was damaged, one person was injured, said the head of the OVA Oleg Sinegubov. He also said that as a result of yesterday’s S-300 attack on a printing plant, seven people were killed and 21 were injured. Eight people were injured in Dergachi, ten in Lyubotin.
In addition, over the past 24 hours, one person was killed as a result of shelling. Redkodub, Kupyansky district; one person was killed and two were injured in the village. Kondrashovka, Kupyansky district; in the village An 11-year-old child was injured in Ryasnoye, Bogodukhovsky district; one person was wounded in the village of Prikolotnoye, Kupyansky district.
09:26 Biden is likely to skip the Peace Summit in Switzerland next month because it coincides with a campaign fundraiser in California, which the American president is scheduled to attend with Hollywood stars, Bloomberg writes.
09:01 In the Donetsk region over the past 24 hours, two people were wounded as a result of Russian shelling - in Toretsk, said the head of the OBA Vadim Filashkin.
08:49 In the Zaporozhye region, one person was killed as a result of an enemy attack in the Pologovsky district, said the head of the OVA Ivan Fedorov.
08:47 At night, the Russian army again attacked the railway infrastructure in the Kharkov region, Ukrzaliznytsia reported. As a result of the shelling, tracks, buildings, non-working freight cars and an electric train car were damaged. No people were injured, trains are running on schedule.
08:35 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of May 24:
personnel - about 498,940 (+1240) people,
tanks - 7635 (+13),
armored combat vehicles - 14,775 (+27),
artillery systems - 12 902 (+42),
MLRS - 1080 (+3),
air defense systems - 813 (+0),
aircraft - 356 (+1),
helicopters - 326 (+0),
UAV of operational-tactical level - 10 401 (+10),
cruise missiles - 2209 (+0),
ships/boats - 27 (+0),
submarines - 1 (+0),
automotive equipment and tank trucks - 17,569 (+56),
special equipment - 2101 (+7).
07:42 In the morning, the Russians struck Nikopol, Dnepropetrovsk region, several times with kamikaze drones, and also fired artillery at the Marganets community. According to preliminary information, two people were injured, a four-story house and a store were damaged, said the head of the OVA, Sergei Lysak.
07:26 On the evening of May 23, at least six ATACMS missiles hit the communications center of the radar and air defense forces of the Russian Army in Alushta, Crimean public pages write. At the site of the impact there is a radio antenna of a space observation station and several buildings of the facility. At the time of the attack, high-ranking military personnel of the Russian Armed Forces were allegedly present there. Explosions were also heard in Simferopol, Saki, Yalta, Dzhankoy and Yevpatoria. According to the “head” of annexed Crimea, Sergei Aksenov, two people were killed as a result of an attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Simferopol, and in Alushta the attack was allegedly “on an empty commercial facility.”
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that air defense systems allegedly destroyed three ATACMS missiles over Crimea and two drones over the Belgorod region overnight. Also, naval aviation allegedly destroyed three unmanned boats in the Black Sea, heading in the direction of Crimea.
05:53 The first group of Ukrainian pilots completed training on F-16 aircraft at a military base in the US state of Arizona, said Arizona National Guard representative Erin Hannigan. The pilots trained at the 162nd Air National Guard Base in Tucson. Hannigan did not say how many graduated or the exact graduation date "out of concern for their safety." Pilots are currently heading to Europe for additional training.
05:14 Japan imposed sanctions against nine organizations and one individual from Russia, as well as two companies associated with Russia and Belarus. Among those included in the sanctions lists are Transmorflot LLC, State Airlines 224 Flight Detachment and its general director, military unit 25969, the Vladimirovka research complex and the Ashuluk training ground. South Korea also announced its sanctions - the Russian vessels MAIA-1 and MARIA were subject to restrictions.
00:38 Putin arrived in Minsk for negotiations with Lukashenko. The head of the Kremlin said that he plans to discuss with Lukashenko “security issues and the second phase of the Russian Federation’s nuclear exercises with the participation of the Belarusian military.”
00:21 The Financial Times writes, citing a source close to the leadership of the Russian Armed Forces, that a new partial mobilization in Russia “will become inevitable” by the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025. At the moment, the authorities are “ready to sacrifice some operational successes at the front” in order to “protect society” from participation in hostilities, the source claims. However, without announcing a new mobilization, he said, carrying out major offensive operations is not possible.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[LB] On May 22, the number of combat clashes in this direction increased more than three times compared to the day before.
by Iryna Lysohor
A total of 113 combat clashes took place during the day. Russia launched three missile strikes using 13 missiles, carried out 57 airstrikes with 97 anti-aircraft missiles, more than 990 strikes by kamikaze drones, more than 4,000 attacks (147 from rocket salvo systems).
This was announced by the spokesman of the General Staff, Dmytro Lykhova, on the air of the telethon. He provided data on the situation for the day in various directions.
In Kharkiv, the enemy continued offensive-assault actions. There were four combat clashes. The fighting took place in the area of the settlements of Liptsi, Staritsa, and Tyhe.
There were 27 combat clashes in the Kupyansk direction. Defense forces successfully repelled enemy attacks in the area of Tverdokhlibov, Synkivka, Berestov, Druzhelyubivka, Ivanivka of Kharkiv region, Stelmakhivka, Nevske, Grekivka and Novoyehorivka of Luhansk region.
In the Lyman direction, the enemy made five attempts to break through the defenses in the area of Torske and Terna settlements of the Donetsk region.
In the Siversky direction, the Defense Forces repelled three attacks in the area of the settlement of Bilogorivka, Luhansk region.
In the Kramatorsk direction, the occupiers tried ten times to break through the defenses of our troops in the area of Novy, Ivanovske, Bila Gora, Klishchiivka and Andriivka settlements.
In the Pokrovsky direction, the defenders repelled 28 attacks in the area of Yevgenivna, Umanske, Kalinove, Novoselivka Persha, Sokil, Solovyove, and Novolexandrivka settlements of the Donetsk region, where the enemy, with the support of aviation, tried to dislodge our units.
In Kurakhivsk, the Defense Forces continue to hold back the enemy in the area of Krasnohorivka, Kostyantynivka and Vodyane settlements, where the Russians tried to break through the defense 16 times.
In the direction of Vremivsk, the occupiers made two unsuccessful attempts to break through the defenses in the direction of Staromayorsky and Urozhany of the Donetsk region.
In the Dnieper direction, the enemy launched 11 attacks on the positions of the Defense Forces.
After the stabilization of the situation with the Russian offensive in the north of the Kharkov region, the largest number of clashes with the enemy during the weeks was in the Pokrovsky direction.
However, on May 22, the number of Russian attacks in the Kupyan direction increased sharply - up to 34. The day before, there were ten of them.
[GEO.TV] The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday stated that "significant progress" was achieved during talks with Pakistain towards reaching a staff-level agreement for an extended fund facility.
An IMF team, led by Nathan Porter, the IMF’s Mission Chief to Pakistain, visited Islamabad during May 13-23, 2024, to discuss the country’s plans for a home-grown economic programme that can be supported under the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
The visit was undertaken on Islamabad’s request.
"The mission and the authorities will continue policy discussions virtually over the coming days aiming to finalise discussions, including the financial support needed to underpin the authorities' reform efforts from the IMF and Pakistain's bilateral and multilateral partners," Porter said in a statement.
Pakistain is likely to seek at least $6 billion under the new programme and request additional financing from the IMF under the Resilience and Sustainability Trust.
Ahead of the discussions, the IMF had warned that downside risks for the Pak economy remained exceptionally high.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2024
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[GEO.TV] Aid access to the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an 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 is extremely limited with less than 1,000 truckloads of humanitarian assistance entering the enclave since May 7, after Israel began a military operation in southern Gaza's Rafah area, the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... said on Friday.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that between May 7 and May 23, only 906 truckloads entered the enclave of 2.3 million people, where a famine looms amid the war between Israel and Paleostinian Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said about 800 of those truckloads were food supplies.
OCHA said 143 truckloads passed through the Israel-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing in Gaza's south, while in Gaza's north 62 passed through the Erez crossing and 604 via Erez West. It said 97 truckloads have come through a U.S.-built floating pier in central Gaza that began operating a week ago.
The Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza has been closed since Israel began stepping up its military operation in the area, creating a backlog of aid in Egypt where some of the food supplies have begun to rot.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Only 906? I wonder what people of Darfur would've said.
As we know, the reason for Israel going into GAZA was HAMAS's Terror Attack . Like any nation, Israel has a rightful mission to seek out and find it kidnapped civilian hostages and eliminate the Terrorist group hell-bent of genocide. As we know, HAMAS is a terrorist group that videotapes raping, murdering and/or torturing civilians. Then posts the videos on Social Media to show and brag about their inhumanity to non-Islamic persons.
UN DATA: Gaza Strip is a Palestinian territory of about 365 square kilometers, that HAD 2.1 million inhabitants (UN data from Oct 2023)
UN DATA: There has been numerous Government & UN reports of a Rafah exodus which exceeds 810,000, (so says UNRWA | UN News). That's just for Rafah.
UN DATA: UN official reports indicate other GAZA areas have had between 150k and 203K that fled.
SO USING UN DATA
Pre Oct 2023 population UN estimate was 2.1M
UN and Media estimated numbers having left Gaza 1.1M
So using UN & Media provided DATA and applying Old School Math would mean about 1M remain in GAZA.
[IsraelTimes] No injuries in barrage; air defense systems intercept many projectiles that rained down hours after IDF targeted man said behind procuring ‘strategic and unique weapons’
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday some 30 projectiles were fired from Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... at northern towns in a barrage that came hours after a senior Hezbollah member, who was said to have procured "strategic and unique weapons" for the terror group, was killed in an Israeli strike.
It was the latest round in a simmering border conflict that threatens to boil over into a full-scale war.
According to the IDF, some of the projectiles were intercepted and others landed in open areas, and there were no injuries. The rockets sparked a bushfire in the Hula Valley region. Six firefighting crews were dispatched to try the blazes.
Hezbollah took responsibility for the attack, saying it fired Katyusha rockets at a military base in the north of the country near the city of Safed.
The IDF said air force jets attacked the launchers used to carry out the attack, "quickly closing the circle."
Videos from northern Israel being posted online appear to show several rocket interceptions near the city of Safed and other areas.
Rocket alarms were heard in several towns in the Galilee, stretching from Yaron and Avivim near the Lebanon border to Ayelet Hashahar, which sits over 10 kilometers (six miles) away from the frontier. Alarms also went off in several towns in between, including Sde Eliezer, Alma, and Ruheinah, the IDF’s Homefront Command said.
The Upper Galilee Regional Council said in a message that no rockets impacted in Ayelet Hashahar after sirens sounded in the kibbutz, which is deeper inside Israel than attacks normally take place.
Later in the afternoon, a barrage of at least five rockets was launched from Lebanon at the Beit Hillel area in northern Israel, according to the IDF. One rocket struck near Maayan Baruch Junction. There were no reports of injuries.
Drone alerts that went off in Kiryat Shmona and other nearby areas were a false alarm, the army added, the second such scare during the morning.
Earlier, a source close to Iran-backed Hezbollah said one of its fighters was killed in an Israeli dronezap in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah later announced the death of its member Muhammad Ali Nasser Farran, from Nabatieh, saying he was killed "on the road to Jerusalem," its term for operatives slain in Israeli strikes. It did not provide information on his role.
The IDF confirmed carrying out the strike in Kafr Dajjal, close to Nabatieh. It said Farran was a "prominent" member of the terror group, responsible for the manufacturing and procurement of weapons.
Farran was involved in "the production of Hezbollah’s strategic and unique weapons." Some of the facilities under his command were struck in recent months, it said.
The military added that the killing is part of the IDF’s activity to "cause a blow to the build-up of the Hezbollah terror organization with weapons designed to attack the Israeli home front."
It published footage of the strike.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency had reported that a "drone targeted a car on the road leading to Nabatieh," a city close to Lebanon’s border with Israel.
"The driver was killed," it said, noting that three children in a nearby school bus were maimed.
A member of the civil defense told AFP that the children received "light injuries as a result of the broken windows of the bus that was taking them to school" and that they were taken to a hospital.
On Monday the IDF said that it killed in an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... the commander of Hezbollah’s coastal rocket and missile unit. Qassem Saqlawi was targeted in a dronezap while driving in the Tyre area in southern Lebanon, the military said.
In another incident in the north, two suspects approaching the Israeli border in the northern Golan Heights were detained by soldiers, the IDF said. It said the suspects were tracked throughout the incident, and were detained before crossing the border fence with Syria.
The pair were taken for further questioning.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support 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 an 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... amid the war there that opened with the Paleostinian terror group Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... ’s massive cross-border attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in 10 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 14 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 312 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 61 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The adoption of the UN General Assembly resolution on the international day of remembrance of the “genocide” in Srebrenica will only aggravate existing disagreements and increase the conflict potential in the Balkans, according to a commentary by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, published on the ministry’s website.
According to her, this document is another irresponsible attempt by Westerners to rewrite history and consolidate an interpretation of the circumstances related to the ethnic conflict in the territory of the former Yugoslavia that meets their geopolitical interests.
The diplomat emphasized that the resolution has a clearly politicized and anti-Serbian character, which clearly shows the intention to place full responsibility for the conflict on the Serbian people. Thus, Zakharova believes, they want to punish the Serbs for free-thinking, independence and unwillingness to “bend in” to NATO orders.
The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also noted that the initiators of the adoption of this document by the UN General Assembly state that its goal is to promote interethnic reconciliation and unity of the three state-forming peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) - Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats.
She expressed confidence that the document adopted by the UN General Assembly will only worsen existing differences and increase the potential for conflict in the Balkans.
As Regnum reported, the UN General Assembly on May 23 approved a draft resolution on the “genocide in Srebrenica” submitted by Germany and Rwanda. Representatives of 84 countries voted in support of it, and 19 countries voted against it, including Russia, China, Belarus, Hungary and Cuba. Representatives of 68 countries abstained from voting.
The adoption of a resolution in the UN General Assembly on the “genocide” in Srebrenica will likely lead to the promotion of other similar resolutions, Russia warned the co-authors of the document about this, said the Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzia. He added that Russia opposes the proposed resolution on the events in Srebrenica.
In addition, the document violates the Dayton Agreement, and possible adoption could lead to destabilization of the entire Balkan region, Nebenzya added. The head of the Russian diplomatic mission emphasized that the UN General Assembly never condemned the genocide committed by Nazi Germany on the territory of the Soviet Union and in Europe in general, but after creating a precedent with the resolution on Srebrenica, the situation may change.
As noted by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, the draft resolution proposed by Germany and Rwanda is being promoted with the goal of “ breaking the Serbs ” and forcing Belgrade, aimed at joining the European Union, to recognize the independence of self-proclaimed Kosovo and join sanctions against Russia.
#1
Yet, Russia promotes exactly the same policy toward Israel. I've no problem with Russia - I've a problem with "western" countries kissing ass to Muslims & Nihilists.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin.
[ColonelCassad] Armed Forces tanker Maxim Likhachev escaped from Ukraine in a tank, driving it across the front line.
Likhachev Maxim Anatolyevich, born in 1985. in Svatovo (LPR).
In the fall of 2022, he returned to Ukraine from Poland.
On 10/22/22, through the Svyatoshinsky TCC, he entered service in the 101st brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
A year later, on October 23, 2023, he transferred to the 110th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
02/01/24 transferred to the 119th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
From 03/01/24 until capture in the 59th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Likhachev came over to our side in the Donetsk direction on a stolen Ukrainian T-64 tank. He stole the tank because he thought it would be safer to get to our positions, where he was expected in advance by prior agreement. No one would shoot in the back, and for other Armed Forces officers in the forward positions, everything looked like an ordinary tank combat exit.
Who Maxim met in Poland, after which he returned to Ukraine, why every brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine where he appeared suffered losses and what he will do with us Likhachev will soon tell himself.
He also added that the person who surrendered was a native of the city of Svatovo, LPR; since the beginning of the special operation, he managed to serve in four brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Related, in the same story:
As reported by IA Regnum, on May 22 it became known that a Russian serviceman with the call sign Soroka, in a collision with the enemy, not only was not captured, but also persuaded four Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers to surrender.
Soroka was wounded during the assault. To bandage his wounds, he took refuge in the first basement he came across, but Ukrainian militants were already there. They wanted to deliver the unarmed fighter to their commanders, but during the conversation the Russian fighter managed to convince them to surrender.
On May 20, it was reported that servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces rescued Ukrainian Armed Forces fighter Valentin Mantiporov, who was left in a dugout without cover and, after the collapse of the structure, could not get out on his own.
[GEO.TV] As candidates bidding for the White House are busy attracting voters and funding from their supporters around the country, a new inquiry has been launched against former US President Donald Trump ...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...... The investigation has been launched by the Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... from the Senate that is finding claims that Donald Trump offered the oil companies of the US that if the giants supported him for his White House bid, he would reverse the climate policies by President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Old, boring, a plagiarist, fond of hair sniffing and grabbing the protruding parts of women, and not whatcha call brilliant... or is that an act?... , reported CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... The investigation was announced in a statement from the chairs of the Senate Finance and Budget Committees Thursday.
The letters from the politicians have also been sent to the nine oil behemoths including ExxonMobil and Chevron.
The inquiry stems in response to The Washington Post report earlier this month detailing the contents of the April fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago.
One person expressed frustration about the regulations of climate change. In response, Trump reportedly promised the elimination of regulations in exchange for a $1 billion contribution.
The letter demanded the information in which the 77-year-old reportedly asked for $1 billion in return for the reversal of climate policies of Joe Biden.
Meh. He’d as happily have reversed them for free, the cue being the billion dollar ask. Nobody donates at that level, not even rich candidates to their own campaign.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2024
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#3
That's nice - further attempts to criminalize differences in policy. And - how good do you think that information is on the 'reported' $1 B exchange?
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] Putin supposedly believes that the achievements in the war today are “enough to sell victory to the Russian people.”
Vladimir Putin is allegedly ready to stop the war in Ukraine through ceasefire negotiations that will fix the current position of the parties on the front line, Reuters reports, citing high-ranking sources from Russian political and business circles who have worked or are working with the Kremlin leader. For this story, Reuters spoke to a total of five people who work or have worked with Putin at senior levels in the political and business world. THERE IS SOMETHING TO FEED THE PEOPLE
According to the agency's interlocutors, if Kyiv and the West do not respond to the Russian president's proposal, Putin is ready to continue the war.
Three sources familiar with discussions around the president said Putin “expressed disappointment” to a small group of his advisers that, in his opinion, the West was trying to derail such negotiations, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was rejecting them altogether.
“Putin can fight as long as necessary, but Putin is also ready for a ceasefire to freeze the war,” a fourth source, a senior Russian official with knowledge of high-level Kremlin discussions, told the agency. The fifth source did not comment on the freezing of the war on the current front line.
Putin believes that the successes already achieved in the war are enough to “sell” victory to the Russian people, two Reuters interlocutors said. Putin understands that any new advance at the front would require another wave of mobilization, which he is reluctant to undertake, three of the sources said. One of the agency’s interlocutors claims that the mobilization announced in September 2022 brought down Putin’s level of popularity among Russians.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, in response to the agency’s request for comment, said that Putin has repeatedly made it clear that Russia is supposedly open to dialogue to achieve its goals, adding that it does not want “eternal war.”
BYPASSING UKRAINE?
One source believes that while Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is in power, no deal can happen unless Russia bypasses him and makes a deal with Washington.
It is reported that, according to all interlocutors, fixing in the agreement all the achievements of the Russian Federation on the battlefield is not subject to discussion.
One of the factors influencing the Russian dictator's view of the need to end the war is that the longer it drags on, the more battle-hardened veterans return to Russia, dissatisfied with post-war job and income prospects, one Reuters source said, potentially creates tension in society.
However, all five sources reported that Putin told advisers that he had no plans on NATO territory.
THIS HAS ALREADY HAPPENED
Since the end of 2023, Western media have twice reported that Putin proposed freezing the war in Ukraine. Thus, according to The New York Times, Putin, starting in September 2023, “through various diplomatic channels,” made it clear that he was ready to begin negotiations on a ceasefire in Ukraine, stopping at the positions taken. In February, Reuters reported similar “signals” from Putin, which were rejected in Washington, not wanting to negotiate bypassing Kyiv. The Kremlin denied that the Russian president had made such proposals.
UKRAINE'S POSITION
Vladimir Zelensky has repeatedly said that he is not ready to negotiate and conclude an agreement on the terms of the Russian authorities. Ukraine is preparing for a peace summit - an international conference dedicated to ending the war in Ukraine, which will be held on June 15-16 in Switzerland.
Russia was not invited to the summit. Zelensky explained this decision by saying that the Russian side “will block everything, disrupt everything.” According to him, Russia will be involved in the discussion when the basic principles of the agreement are developed.
In March, Zelensky said that when Russian dictator Vladimir Putin loses what he has occupied since 2022, he will then be ready for dialogue.
“I am sure that when he loses what he has captured since 2022, he will lose the confidence of both those countries that doubt it and within the state. As soon as this happens, he will be ready for dialogue,” Zelensky noted.
#1
Three sources familiar with discussions around the president said Putin “expressed disappointment” to a small group of his advisers that, in his opinion, the West was trying to derail such negotiations, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was rejecting them altogether.
So, nothing new here. This has been the situation from the get go. Biden and Zelensky still think they can win and don't give a rat's ass how many people die in the effort.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/25/2024 12:00
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#2
Biden and Zelensky still think they can win and don't give a rat's ass how many people die in the effort.
It is not really about winning in the traditional sense. Winning would mean the game comes to an end. IMAO, this has always been an attempt to grind down the Russians by parties who shall remain unnamed using Ukraine and its people as an expendable tool.
In Zelensky's particular case, "winning" means a continuing flow of money and position so he does not have to go back to being a stand-up comedian or trying to revive his acting career
Side note: When hostilities do eventually end, there will be lots of money to be made rebuilding Ukraine.
#4
Yes. I would be watching my back very carefully if I was the Z man. Kinda reminds me of that Afghan president, can't remember his name but he wore a cape. He was smart though. He got out before things went south.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/25/2024 15:14
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[FoxNews] Republican governors don't want WHO controlling health emergencies in their states
Two dozen Republican governors don't want the World Health Organization (WHO) to call the shots in the case of another global pandemic, according to a letter they sent to President Biden this week.
Currently, there are two proposals under negotiation that would grant WHO "unprecedented and unconstitutional" authority in the U.S., according to the Republican Governors Association.
"If adopted, these agreements would seek to elevate the WHO from an advisory body to a global authority in public health," the letter stated. "Under the proposed amendments and treaty, the WHO’s Director-General would supposedly gain unilateral power to declare a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ in member nations, extending beyond pandemics to include a range of perceived emergencies."
The two proposals aim to amend the WHO's existing International Health Regulations and establish a new "Pandemic Agreement" Treaty.
"Additional concerns arise regarding the establishment of a global surveillance infrastructure and requirements for member states to censor speech related to public health, potentially facilitating the proliferation of biological weapons," the governors continued. "We are committed to resisting any attempts to transfer authority to the WHO over public policy affecting our citizens or any efforts by the WHO to assert such authority over them."
Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Kay Ivey of Alabama, Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, Eric Holcomb of Indiana, Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Bill Lee of Tennessee, Jim Justice of West Virginia and Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa are among those who signed the letter.
The governors of Texas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming also signed the letter.
The letter also said the proposed WHO agreement would radically change the way governors are able to respond to health emergencies in their states.
#4
Yeah, international treaties require the Senate to ratify it. Otherwise it is about as much as a law as me stating the world has to wear orange on Tuesdays.
#5
An "executive agreement" will be used to end-run the treaty ratification process. Bath House did it several times.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/25/2024 9:58
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#6
Excellent WELL DONE republican governors
We must exit the WHO altogether as it is no longer a health advisory body it is an organ of dominance for the highest bidder which is the Gates and Big Pharma cartel
Every billionaire wants a slice of the IP royalty pie, too
Google is behind the current Bird Flu scam. Reject it.
In fact we would all be a lot safer from these drug dealers if the US would repeal tge PREP Act, remove all liability immunity from vaccine makers and remove intelllectual property rights from all pharmaceuticals
We will be safer when anyone can make generics compettetively
And when new drug discovery is done for actual altruism
#7
^^^ more than a bit hyperbolic and over the top. I’m no fan of the WHO and feel they should be ignored. But if you think removing intellectual property rights and associated profit motive from drug discovery is the best move, then you won’t see any new drug development.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
The demographics of the staffers impacted most is not too surprising given those called to such work, experts say. A 2023 survey by the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education found that 51% of chief diversity officers are Black, while 11% are Hispanic, 7% are Asian and 8% are white 
Researchers don’t want to be caught off guard again by the shape-shifting H5N1 virus, and that will require keeping tabs on humans. Most, if not all, of about 900 people diagnosed with H5N1 infections worldwide since 2003 acquired it from animals, rather than from humans, Farrar said. About half of those people died.
[Bee] 
...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 Frational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,....jpg)
...every time you hear the phrase 
