Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Victor Vasiliev
[REGNUM] The world has yet to fully assess the global consequences of the change of power in the United States. But it is already obvious that American foreign policy will undergo serious changes.
Such a strategically important direction as Africa is no exception. However, no one expected that changes would begin so quickly and the continent would find itself on the threshold of a new major war.
PROFITS OF WESTERN CORPORATIONS
The M23 (March 23 Movement) rebel group, which has seized control of much of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in recent years, says it has recaptured the key city of Goma, capital of North Kivu province, which is home to large reserves of rare earth metals, from government forces.
In addition to gold, copper, cobalt and diamonds, the Congo has large reserves of coltan, a valuable mineral used to make smartphones, tablets and other devices. Its production is the cause of serious armed conflicts, so it is no coincidence that coltan is called the "bloodiest" mineral. There is little of it on Earth, and the largest electronics manufacturers need more and more raw materials every year.
The bulk of coltan is smuggled out of Congo through neighboring Rwanda. The largest processing plants are located on its territory. And it is the Rwandan armed forces and special services that the Congolese side accuses of supporting separatists and direct participation in the armed conflict.
Last year, Rwanda signed an agreement with Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto to explore and develop lithium in the country, an official announcement was made on January 29, 2024. Rio Tinto Group is an Australian-British concern, the third-largest transnational mining and metallurgical company in the world and, incidentally, the main competitor of the Russian company RUSAL.
The investment agreement envisages the creation of a joint venture with the Rwandan company Aterian to develop lithium and related products (cesium, tantalum, etc.). Rio Tinto plans to invest $7.5 million, which will allow it to become the owner of 75% of the lithium production, located in the southwest of the country (on the border with the DR Congo) on a site of 2,750 hectares. The investment decision on Rwanda shows Rio Tinto's global strategy to take a significant share of the market for the metal needed for batteries.
Experts have long known that Rwanda's rare earth metals processing facilities, located in the west and south of the country, operate on raw materials mined in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. And now, under various pretexts, Kigali is carrying out aggression against its neighboring state, destabilizing the situation in the entire region, provoking a humanitarian crisis, and all this for the sake of profits for Western corporations such as Rio Tinto.
With Donald Trump in power in the White House, Rwanda has decided to build on its success. Which will likely result in another major bloodbath in Africa.
CHANGE IN US POLICY TOWARDS AFRICA
For the national interests of the United States, the geopolitical and geo-economic importance of Africa has increased significantly in recent years.
And President Trump, who has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to question conventional wisdom, including his own past judgments, is likely to pay significant attention to the African Continent, despite his previous statements about wanting to focus on domestic issues and his cool attitude toward Africa during his first term in 2017–21.
It is important to clarify that this does not refer to the place that Africa will occupy among the foreign policy priorities of the new administration, and, accordingly, not to the volumes of funds allocated. There will be a change in approach and a reorientation of attention to African countries other than those on which the Biden administration was counting.
For example, the well-known US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is often considered responsible for implementing the US “soft power” and “supporting democracy,” is likely to face significant budget cuts. The agency is plagued by accusations of meddling in the affairs of other countries.
Many humanitarian programs will be cut, not only in the area of human rights protection, but also in practical areas - in agriculture, health care, etc. And this will hit individual African countries and vulnerable groups hard.
Without a doubt, entire layers of African societies, made up of activists and humanitarian workers who use the corresponding budgets, will be left not only without work, but literally without food.
THE LOGIC OF CONFRONTATION WITH CHINA
On the other hand, the largest infrastructure project implemented by the United States in Africa, the Lobito transport corridor, will be supported and continued. Construction of the railway within the corridor is planned to begin in 2026. 830 kilometers of track should connect Lucano in Angola with Chingola in Zambia. The project envisages extending the railway to the enterprises of the Zambian copper belt. The work is estimated at 2.3 billion dollars.
Some experts call the "Lobito Corridor" the "Trump Corridor" because the idea appeared back in 2020 during the first presidential term of the "strongest American leader", and the project equally includes both commercial interests and geopolitical logic. That is, American policy will become less ideological, more practical and at the same time subordinate to this logic.
We are talking about confrontation with China and the definition of Beijing as the geopolitical "enemy number one", which became a certain consensus of the American elite during Trump's first term in office. And if we reason in the logic of opposition to the Celestial Empire, then Africa could become the key space for confrontation between the two powers.
As strange as it may sound, the key link in China's strategy is not Taiwan, not the bordering Central Asia or the countries of Southeast Asia, but Africa. Simply because of the presence of a huge number of minerals, including those critically important for modern sectors of the economy, in the extraction of some of which China already has a monopoly.
Also, due to objective factors - economic and population growth - in a number of African countries, China has seriously increased its imports in recent years. Africa is also a promising market, which is forgotten by the same Western mining companies. If you look at China's most famous initiative, "One Belt, One Road", it turns out that it was African countries that received the most funding.
In the energy sector alone, China has financed more than 36 projects (mostly hydroelectric and solar power plants) in at least 19 African countries. In addition, between 2021 and 2023, Beijing signed 66 project contracts with African governments, 57 of which were in sub-Saharan Africa, and only two contracts were signed outside the Belt and Road Initiative.
As a result, Africa will remain a primary focus of American foreign policy, along with the Middle East, where Israel has strong interests, and Southeast Asia, where US attention is focused on Taiwan, but not only.
SANCTIONS AND ISRAEL'S INTERESTS
The Republicans' toolkit for combating China's growing influence includes not only positive cases (like the "Lobito corridor"), but also negative ones. We are talking about sanctions that will be widely applied to African elites who allowed themselves to choose the "wrong partner."
Apart from China, where everything is pretty clear, many forget that the Republicans are almost completely in solidarity with Israel's foreign policy. The latest events in the Middle East are indicative in this regard. But this also applies to the African direction.
Under Trump, South Africa and a number of other African countries that allowed themselves to be too harsh in their criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the latest crisis in the Gaza Strip will find themselves in the crosshairs of American sanctions and other forms of pressure from Washington. At the same time, the United States will pay special attention to countries that have come under significant Israeli influence in recent years: Morocco, Ethiopia, Chad, Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda.
It is worth remembering that it was the Republicans who initially began to effectively use such an instrument as sanctions in international politics – this is a fact.
Just Security, an information resource at New York University School of Law and considered a source close to the White House administration, predicts that the Trump administration will widely use sanctions against Africa. The author of the article, Brad Brooks-Rubin, a senior adviser at the US State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination, reports that the Trump administration, unlike Biden, will be able to use this system of pressure more successfully:
“This could open up new opportunities to advance broader policy, national security and even economic goals, such as competition with China, supply chain security for critical minerals and other natural resources, and even immigration.”
As successful cases, the author cites the Trump administration's sanctions measures from 2017 to 2020 against the Democratic Republic of the Congo (which prevented Joseph Kabila from retaining power ) and against South Sudan (which helped end the civil war).
Overall, however, the idea that the Trump administration will be able to more effectively deal with the consequences of the huge array of sanctions that the Democrats have created against Russia and China is highly questionable.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR RUSSIA
The strategy of confronting China and defending Israel's interests can also be supplemented by the Republicans' dislike of traditional Western partners. To the point that in a number of areas, the Trump administration may prefer Russia to France as a partner in Africa (we are talking, of course, about the Sahel).
For example, Republicans cannot stand French President Emmanuel Macron. Phenomenally, but it is a fact: France’s recent defeats in Africa, including the forced and humiliating withdrawal of French troops from Chad, have caused Republicans to feel a sense of restrained satisfaction.
On the other hand, sanctions restrictions on a number of African countries (the "stick method") from the White House will once again push these countries towards Russia. It should not be forgotten that Russia and African countries have similar experience in resisting Western sanctions. Some African countries have been under sanctions pressure for a very long time: Sudan since 1993, Zimbabwe since 2003. And this is another circumstance that brings us closer together.
Such experience also provides an opportunity to implement a system of counter-sanction measures. Starting with interaction and coordination of a common position at the level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international platforms and ending with the implementation of specific economic steps. The first action could be to study the mechanisms for implementing Western sanctions and the practices of their application against African countries, as well as a comparison with the current Russian experience.
Africa is literally the storehouse of the collective West. Without access to African resources, all scientific and technical progress of the Western world loses its base, and the Chinese end up as winners. And in this sense, the position of African countries, which have largely refused to follow the Western propaganda, is very indicative.
Recall that 26 African countries did not support the resolution calling for an end to Russia's military operations in Ukraine. Eritrea voted against the resolution and expressed clear support for Moscow, 16 other African countries abstained, and nine countries did not take part in the vote.
Russia has no need to show solidarity with the interests of China or the United States on the African continent. Its goal is different: to consolidate and expand its own influence in the conditions of confrontation between these two powers, in particular to fully settle accounts with its long-standing opponent, France.
Returning to the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it can be noted that at the grassroots level in Congolese society there are numerous calls for the need to invite Russia and Russian instructors to ensure security in the eastern provinces of the country. These calls are indicative from the point of view of the possible growth of not only the relations between our countries, but also the popularity of Russia on the Black Continent as a whole.
We can equally act as independent arbitrators and as defenders of all those unfairly offended and disadvantaged on the continent.
#1
Without a doubt, entire layers of African societies, made up of activists and humanitarian workers who use the corresponding budgets, will be left not only without work, but literally without food.
#3
Very possibly the oldest "civilization" on the planet. Some reports indicate 80,000 years, possibly twice that. If they've not got it right by now, I'm reluctant to make further investment.
VDH
[AmGreatness] After years of U.S. appeasement, Mexico exploits open borders, drug trade, and remittances—it's time for America to enforce real consequences and reclaim control.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/31/2025 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11136 views]
Top|| File under: Narcos
#1
Mexico's interests are the interests of their ruling class. It always has been. The only new seasoning is the cartels taking part of that power arrangement.
#2
I still believe the majority of Mexicans are decent people. But their government has been corrupted by the cartels and they are most certainly our enemy. It's about damn time our own government faces reality and acts accordingly.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/31/2025 11:31 Comments ||
Top||
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Ilya Knorring
[REGNUM] On January 27, the Russian Defense Ministry officially confirmed that fighters from the Vostok military group had liberated the village of Velyka Novosyolka, 75 kilometers southwest of Donetsk, near the borders of the DPR with the Zaporizhzhya and Dnipropetrovsk regions. That same day, reports emerged of fighting on the outskirts of a nearby village with the unexpected (at first glance) name of Constantinople.
The military significance of the capture of the seemingly "small" village of Velyka Novosyolka is obvious. Earlier, the Regnum news agency recalled : this "inhabitant" in 2023-24 was an important hub of the enemy's defense on the line from Ugledar to Gulyaipole, in the summer of 2023, including from Novosyolka, the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried to launch a "counteroffensive" to the Sea of Azov. The current impressive offensive of our troops in this part of the southern Donbas is part of the "breakdown" of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' defense at the junction of two Russian regions, the DPR and Zaporozhye. But the liberation of Velyka Novosyolka and its environs also has a historical dimension.
ROMANS AND URUMS
If you look at the dates of the founding of the villages of Konstantinopol, Nizhnie Yaly, Komar and Velikaya Novosyolka (which until 1946 had a different name - Bolshaya Yanisol), you can notice a coincidence: all these villages and settlements appeared in 1779. And the original population was also similar - these were Greeks who moved with the gracious consent of Catherine the Great from the Crimean Khanate, where Russian troops had entered shortly before.
During the "times of Ochakov and the conquest of Crimea" on the Tauride Peninsula lived two groups of Greeks, who traced themselves back to the settlers of Byzantine times. Both peoples to this day call themselves almost the same: "Rumei" and "Urums". This means the same thing - Romans or, more precisely, Romai (this is what the inhabitants of the Eastern Roman Empire - Byzantium - called themselves).
In Russian usage, the Rumei were called Greco-Hellenes, since they retained a dialect derived from medieval, Byzantine Greek. The second group, the Urums, were called Greco-Tatars. They had long since switched to the Crimean Tatar dialect. For example, the names of the villages of Maloyanisol and Bolshaya Yanisol come from the Urum (and Tatar) "yeni sala" - new village.
The hypothesis that the Urums are baptized Tatars can be rejected unequivocally: the baptism of Muslims in the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate was impossible and punishable by death. The Greeks who accepted Islam dissolved into the Tatar population, leaving traces only in the gene pool of their descendants.
"Where is our homeland? In Greece? In Asia Minor? No! Our homeland is the mountains of Crimea... There are our holy temples and mountain monasteries, cave cities and impregnable fortresses," writes Urum local historian, professor of Donetsk University Stefan Kaloyorov.
CORRUPTION AND BUREAUCRACY
Catherine's decree on the resettlement of Crimean Christians (Greeks, Armenians and Vlachs) to the empty lands of Novorossiya seemed to bring only good: the empire took the Orthodox peoples under its protection and saved them from persecution by the "Mohammedans". Crimea had already been conquered in 1778-79, but had not yet become ours. The Khan still sat on the throne in Bakhchisarai.
But, on the other hand, the annexation of Crimea to the empire was a matter of time. Catherine's nobles and military leaders asked a reasonable question: was it necessary to organize the resettlement of Christians at all? General Alexander Prozorovsky, whose troops were stationed in Crimea, wrote to the Governor-General of Azov and Novorossiysk, Prince Grigory Potemkin : "When Crimea is taken into subjection... they (the Greeks and other Christians - editor's note) will be the first inhabitants here, so it seems there is no need to remove them from here."
But the empress made a decision. And so - about half of the Taurian Urums and Rumei, 18 thousand out of about 40 thousand who lived in Crimea, took one hundred thousand heads of cattle, left their native mountains and moved to the steppes of Northern Taurida. The resettlement was supervised by the most serene Prince Potemkin, Alexander Suvorov (then lieutenant general) and the Greek metropolitan of Kafa - Theodosius Ignatius.
"Anabasis" - "a march into the interior of the country" turned out to be difficult. Khan's customs officers were stationed at Perekop. The Tatars took 5 thousand rubles from the emigrants for passage - an astronomical sum. It is known that Khan Shahin-Girey "in respect for the withdrawal of Christians" (that is, for his consent) received 50 thousand rubles from the Russian resident in Bakhchisarai Andrei Konstantinov.
After the Crimean corruption, a new test awaited the settlers within the Russian Empire: domestic bureaucracy. The Greeks were sent to register in the Alexander Fortress (future Alexandrovsk, now Zaporozhye), after which they were supposed to determine the places of settlement - but the red tape continued until the spring of 1779.
During the winter of 1778–1779, the settlers “lived in difficult conditions, without any special provision for their needs, in conditions of rampant diseases… in dugouts or in open-air tents,” writes historian Kaloyorov. A letter from Metropolitan Ignatius to the Russian resident Konstantinov has been preserved:
"I suffered great anxiety on the way, and especially the poor Christians... Not having a place to live... some, having caught a cold, died of the cold. My spiritual son! What you spoke about and gave hope for, there is nothing yet."
The difficult circumstances of the resettlement give modern Ukrainian publicists and even historians a reason to declare this event a "deportation" and almost genocide. For example, the publication UArgument wrote:
"The tragedy of the Greek settlers remained a tragedy in the memory of the descendants of those settlers. But some opportunists from politics turn it into a farce, trying to present one of the actions of the expansionist policy of tsarist Russia as such a concern." But Kiev propagandists, as usual, show only part of the picture, distorting it.
FACTORIES AND GARDENS
One of the three people responsible for the resettlement, Alexander Suvorov, sounded the alarm and managed to squeeze 130 thousand rubles out of the imperial treasury, which were necessary for the settlement. On May 21 (June 3), 1779, Catherine signed a decree in Russian and Greek, which defined the status and privileges of the settlers. The settlers were granted a 10-year exemption from all taxes. The decree also stated:
“You are allowed to build merchant seagoing vessels from your own capital, to establish necessary and useful factories, plants and orchards, from the cultivation of which you can sell all kinds of grape wines… in barrels.”
The Urums and Rumei settled in the area of Mariupol, the "Greek capital" of the Russian Azov region. No less than two dozen settlements appeared here. Familiar names were transferred from Crimea: thus, Urzuf and Yalta (one of whose quarters is called Massandra), Stary Krym and Mangush - the "namesake" of an ancient village near Bakhchisarai - appeared in the Azov region. The village of Anadol reminds us of our ancestors from Anatolia - Asia Minor.
The settlers developed the former Wild Steppe north of the sea, along the banks of the Sukhie Yaly, Mokrye Yaly and Kalmius rivers. Thus were founded Bolshaya Yanisol - Velikaya Novosyolka, Constantinople, the settlements of Novaya Karakuba (today's Krasnaya Polyana) and Beshevo (now called Starobeshevo), as well as the village of Bugas, near which the city of Volnovakha arose.
Viticulture, “granted” to the Greeks by decree of Catherine, actually began to develop only at the beginning of our 21st century, but even in the century before last, agriculture and cattle breeding flourished, and orchards flourished.
SCYLLA, CHARYBDIS AND COMRADE YEZHOV
The Urums and Rumei, along with their neighbors, the Great Russians, Little Russians, Bulgarians, Moldovans, and other peoples who made up the motley population of Novorossiya, survived revolutions, repressions, and the Great Patriotic War. In the 1920s and 1930s, there were Urum schools and a department at the pedagogical institute, but after the implementation of Directive No. 50 215 signed by the head of the NKVD Nikolai Yezhov, which ordered the “liquidation of large espionage, sabotage, and nationalist counterrevolutionary organizations of the Greeks,” they ceased to exist due to the arrests of teaching staff.
However, the Azov Greeks managed to pass between Scylla and Charybdis - although in 1944 the Greek population was deported from Crimea, this new disaster did not affect the Donetsk region.
On the contrary, in the post-war decades the people even multiplied. The approximate number of representatives of the Greek-Azov subethnos is 250 thousand people. This is the third largest people of Donbass and the Azov region (the bulk of it is concentrated in the DPR) along with Russians and those who were counted as Ukrainians in the censuses.
Local Greeks are the largest compactly living community in the Hellenic diaspora in the post-Soviet space. True, in the 2001 census, many indicated themselves as Ukrainians - if the census takers filled out the questionnaires, or Russians, if the respondents filled them out themselves.
The Ukrainian ethno-nationalist project clearly did not imply cultural diversity. In 2014, the Greeks, like other residents of the former Donetsk region, mostly chose the DPR and a return to Russia - but the militia here, as in Mariupol, alas, did not have time to gain a foothold.
TYRANNY OF KLEPTOCRATS
Then, in the spring of 2014, Velyka Novosyolka found itself under double oppression: firstly, the SBU was operating in the frontline zone (in 2017, the security forces reported the arrest of the organizers of the "separatist" rallies three years ago). And secondly, the "eastern yoke" was established in the person of the Salama family, which local residents, according to them, fear more than the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the SBU.
As residents of Velyka Novosyolka say, the Salama family (the surname is of Arabic origin, although the Salamas themselves consider themselves Ukrainians) lived in the neighboring village of Krasnaya Polyana and owned a hardware store there. The most media-famous representative of the family, Petro Salama, got involved with the Right Sector* during the ATO and joined the Donbass* volunteer battalion, which, along with Azov*, gained notoriety for kidnapping and torturing prisoners, which was even recorded by the OSCE mission.
In December 2017, Donbass militant Petro Salama, also known by the call sign Vodila, was one of the defendants in the case of the murder of a couple of businessmen in Velyka Novosyolka, Vladimir and Larisa Degtyarenko and their son Valeriy. Ukrainian media reports constantly emphasized that the Degtyarenkos are close relatives of "Viktor Yanukovych's godfather." Larisa Degtyarenko's father, Valeriy Shira, is indeed the godfather of the former president of Ukraine. He is also the former head of the Velikonovoselkovsky District Council and the unofficial owner of the district.
By the way, we will add that Shira also has a criminal trail - suspicion of ordering the murder of a rich farmer and former deputy Ivan Kharaman. In general, the regime that reigned on the lands of the Azov Greeks could well be called by the ancient word "kleptocracy" - the rule of thieves.
Returning to the probable killer Petro Salama, we note that he, having spent about two years with his accomplices in the Mariupol pretrial detention center, was transferred to house arrest in April 2020. Then a "blackout" appears in his biography, and it appears again in the winter of 2022 - then the Salama brothers organize a territorial defense battalion in Krasnaya Polyana.
In May 2022, the village was liberated by units of the Russian Armed Forces, and local residents reportedly looted a household goods store belonging to the Salam family, taking the pillows, blankets, and cleaning products sold there to homes. Salam's brothers, who had chosen the Ukrainian side back in 2014, fled to Velyka Novosyolka, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces had established themselves, and took charge of the local territorial defense.
In Krasnaya Polyana, as local residents say, a sister, Natalya, remained, who reported in detail to the brothers across the front line about the looting of property. Enraged, the brothers ordered a strike from Novosyolka on Krasnaya Polyana with Grad launchers - but, ironically, the strike primarily damaged their own family home.
Needless to say, after this they became even more fierce, residents of Krasnaya Polyana note.
So the liberation of Bolshaya Yanisol - Velyka Novosyolka became liberation from the yoke of criminal authorities associated with the bandit national battalions. But the rampage of "brothers" controlled by no one is, of course, not the only trouble brought by the Kiev tyranny.
The forced evacuation carried out by the Kyiv authorities has hit the entire local population hard, and not only the Urumians. Now the Azov Greeks and their neighbors will once again face "anabasis" - this time returning home to Velikaya Novosyolka, Constantinople and other villages of "Russian Greece". There is one consolation: this road should be easier than that of their ancestors - the first settlers.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] One-fifth of insurance claims from Americans relying on Obamacare were rejected last year, denying access to care for millions of people.
An analysis from health policy charity Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) evaluated nearly 400million claims made to insurance companies included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which provides insurance to 21million lower-income Americans.
The researchers found about 19 percent of claims for in-network services - from a provider who works with that insurance - were denied in 2023, a 15 percent jump from the year before.
The rate was even more staggering for out-of-network coverage, with nearly four in 10 claims being denied.
The team also found Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, which serves 3million residents, denied 35 percent of claims, the most of any insurance company included in the ACA, also called ObamaCare.
UnitedHealth Group, which has come under fire over accusations of halting lifesaving medical care and overcharging patients, came in close second, refusing one in three claims filed in 2023 in for its ACA plans in 20 states.
And Health Care Service Corporation, America's fifth-largest health insurer, denied 29 percent of claims.
While GuideWell Mutual Holding, a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, shot down the fewest claims, it was still responsible for one in eight denials.
The most common reason claims were denied was listed as 'other,' meaning there was no clear explanation. This was the reason listed for one in three denied claims.
'Administrative reason,' excluded services, and enrollees reaching their maximum coverage limit were among the most common reasons for denied claims.
However, the researchers noted details were sparse, so there were no explanations provided.
Treatments being deemed 'not medically necessary' made up one in 20 denied claims. It's unclear what the treatments were for.
Despite the high rates of denials, the analysis found fewer than one in 100 patients appealed their claims.
However, in the rare instances they did, insurance companies upheld their decisions more than half of the time.
It's unclear how much patients had to pay for denied claims.
The findings come as more than 40 percent of Americans report having trouble paying off their medical bills, and about half of insured adults worry about affording their insurance premiums.
On average, ACA plans costed $477 per month in 2024, according to data from Health Markets.
For the new analysis, KFF researchers analyzed 392million claims filed to ACA insurance companies in 2023, the latest data available.
Data was taken from public reports released by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
It did not include claims from private insurers, such as policies provided to people through their employers.
Overall, ACA insurance plans denied 19 percent of total claims in 2023, an increase from 16 percent in 2022.
This was the highest rate since 2015, during which 19 percent of claims were denied. This adds up to 73million claims.
In recent years, the lowest rate was 14 percent in 2018.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama received just over 13million claims in 2023 and denied 4.5million, about 35 percent.
UnitedHealth Group, which serves 20 states that use ACA insurance plans, received 14million claims and denied 4.6million, a rate of 33 percent.
And Health Care Service Corporation, serving four states that use ACA plans - Illinois, Montana, Oklahoma, and Texas - received just over 25million claims and shot down 7.3million, a rate of 29 percent.
Centene Corporation, the largest health insurer managed by Medicaid, saw the most claims at 83million. Of those, 11.4million were denied, adding up to 14 percent.
Florida-based GuideWell Mutual Holding had the lowest denial rate of 6.7million out of 53million - 13 percent.
#1
...One-fifth of insurance claims from Americans
Given RFK's comment yesterday about the increased cost and decreased effectiveness of Medicaid and MediCare, you have to wonder how many rejects were illegals.
[Translated from Danish: H/t No-Pasaran]
[24NYT] It is a core narrative in Denmark that the country is one of the United States' closest allies. " We have always stood by the United States ," Danish prime ministers, politicians and commentators claim. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen recently stated that " the United States is Denmark's most important and strongest ally in NATO." All of this is a lie, because the reality is that Denmark has always pursued a deeply unsolidarity policy towards the United States. Even though the United States is the ultimate guarantor of Denmark's security, Denmark repeatedly fails the Americans and actively works against US interests worldwide. Some 20th century history:
...Denmark has failed the US by not establishing a credible defence . Since Denmark's defence is in ruins, the US decided in 2023 to take over the defence of the Danish straits and belts. Denmark's defence agreement with the US is the final proof that the Danish defence is worthless and that the US does not consider Denmark to be its core ally. Not surprisingly, the defence agreement with the US became a sleeping bag for the government. The implementation of the Framework Agreement on Defence has been postponed until a number of partial agreements have been reached, which have not yet been initiated. And Danish politicians are happy that Denmark will once again be exempt from having to carry its share of the NATO burden.
In relation to NATO, Denmark has for decades worked against American interests by pursuing a hawking strategy that is about securing security policy guarantees from the United States while at the same time avoiding having to pull its share of the load in NATO. Denmark has made cheating the United States an art . Here in January 2025, Denmark's real contribution to NATO is approximately 1.7 percent of GDP excluding donations to Ukraine, directly contrary to the agreement of 2 percent of GDP. The SVM government claims that Denmark spends 2.4 percent of its GDP on defense and security, but the Danish attempt to cheat NATO has been condemned and rejected by several NATO countries and the former Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, as the donations to Ukraine contribute neither to Denmark's nor NATO's defense capabilities.
...Both in NATO and in the US, of course, it is clear that Denmark talks a lot about solidarity in its toasts, but does not want to help shoulder the burden. In the US, the Danes are perceived as disloyal parasites who have been and continue to be freewheeling at NATO's expense and are letting the US foot the bill. This view is, of course, prevalent throughout the security establishment in the US, both Democratic and Republican.
In the UN, Denmark works against American interests by voting against America's friend, Israel . Denmark consistently supports anti-Semitic forces in the UN, and in all the Muslim-dominated UN bodies where Israel is condemned, Denmark votes with the rest of the EU countries to condemn Israel. Each year, Denmark typically votes for 15 out of 20 condemnatory resolutions against Israel. In other words, official Denmark supports the forces that want Israel removed from the world map.
Denmark is working against American interests by refusing to support the United States in its confrontation with China . In 2008, Denmark entered into a strategic partnership with China, and the following year it sent the controversial "verbal note" to state that Denmark is against Tibetan independence. Before the corona crisis, Danish politicians, business people and media people portrayed the Chinese dictatorship as an enviable democracy and a reliable superpower that is a champion of globalization, free trade and the environment. Journalist Rasmus Tantholdt went so far as to say on TV2 News that " we have more in common with China than with the United States ". It is also thought-provoking that 46 percent of Danes, according to a Kantor Gallup poll, agree or mostly agree that the United States, which is the only guarantor of Danish security, is a threat to Denmark.
Denmark opposes US interests in relation to Iran . To this day, Denmark boycotts US sanctions against Iran — a cruel regime that oppresses its own people, supports terror and warfare in its neighboring countries, and sends regular death squads to Europe, including Denmark. Most recently, Denmark has joined INSTEX, a European trade initiative aimed at circumventing US sanctions against Iran.
Denmark has outwitted the United States by revealing the top-secret intelligence cooperation between Denmark and the United States, in which the American intelligence service NSA was allowed to tap the cables of telecommunications companies on Danish soil in order to intercept Russian and Chinese telecommunications traffic. Instead of handling the matter in deep confidentiality, the Danish government has chosen to fire the head of FE, Lars Findsen, and exempt four other employees from duty, thereby revealing the intelligence cooperation with the United States.
In Greenland, Denmark is also working against the US's security policy interests. National tunnel vision, navel-gazing and sheer stupidity prevent Danish politicians from understanding that the US and Denmark have a common strategic interest in putting an end to China's and Russia's military buildup in the Arctic, that Denmark does not have the ability to develop Greenland's resources and defend Greenland militarily on its own, and that it is actually the US, and not the Danish defense, that guarantees Greenland's connection to Denmark. During his first presidential term in 2019, Donald Trump, as is well known, expressed a desire to buy Greenland. At the time, this was rejected as absurd by Mette "Nasty" Frederiksen. No wonder Trump has now decided to take off the velvet gloves, put Denmark thoroughly in its place and take over control of Greenland.
...The opinion-forming elite believes that Trump's tough stance towards Denmark regarding Greenland is an expression of the failure of a close ally as well as a lack of respect for Denmark. However, it is Denmark that repeatedly fails the United States and works against its interests. And therefore Denmark deserves no respect from the United States.
Posted by: Grom the Affective ||
01/31/2025 03:15 ||
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[Daily Headline] Lab-grown meat has to be one of the most unsettling and unappealing concepts I’ve ever heard of. It astounds me that the left, who were once all-natural hippies, want to fill their bodies with so much laboratory and big pharma garbage these days. "Sit down and eat this cheeseburger we grew in a Petri dish after you finish your 17th booster shot." For some strange reason, the idea of injecting and eating cells and other toxins excites liberals.
While some of us may laugh this off as another leftist pipe dream, many experts believe that in about 20 years, lab meat will be the only "meat" available to eat.
As usual, many experts cherry picked to support a contentious point are wrong, but do go on…
Granted, 20 years seems like a long time, even for evil globalists, but I agree that if we don’t take this seriously and stop them, they will eliminate meat. And once you hear what’s in this "lab-grown meat," I believe you’ll understand why it’s critical that we fight back against this abomination.
On this subject, there is a very interesting Substack. Igor Chudov, a math wizard and businessman, wrote it, and he explains how this creeptacular lab meat is made from cancer cells.
#2
And what could possibly be behind all of this "Ghoulishness." I believe RFK may have made reference to it in his testimony yesterday. Simply... "Follow the Money."
Little wonder he's under attack by the liberal pols. He's stepping on their income stream.
Text taken from the Telegram channel of darpaandcia
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] A group of Australian researchers conducted a large-scale study of human-robot interaction as part of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge program (a competition organized by DARPA aimed at developing autonomous robots to perform tasks in underground conditions). The results of this experiment provide insight into the future of human-machine interaction.
During 16 real missions, lasting a total of 10 hours, scientists compared the efficiency of robots controlled by operators and fully autonomous systems. The task was complex - searching for various objects in difficult terrain, from simple items to conditional "victims".
The study showed a significant advantage of human-machine teams. They demonstrated significantly better results - they detected 94% of objects versus 84% for autonomous robots, covered 12.71% more distance and covered 10.56% more unique territory. It is important to note that this difference was especially noticeable in complex and non-standard situations. But was it sufficient?
In routine conditions, autonomous robots worked comparably effectively. At the same time, it was found that operators under stress and high cognitive load could make mistakes that led to robot failures.
It is significant that even in the presence of an operator, robots operated in the "directed autonomy" mode about 70% of the time. This indicates a high level of development of autonomous systems, where a person acts more as a strategic leader than a direct executor.
From a military point of view, these results are of great importance. It is obvious that DARPA is developing dual-use systems under the guise of rescue technologies. The ability of robots to act autonomously in complex conditions, find objects and coordinate actions are critical qualities for modern military operations.
Thus, the study demonstrates that the optimal solution at this stage is precisely the symbiosis of man and machine, where each participant can maximize their strengths. At the same time, the development of autonomous systems continues, and the issue of control over them is becoming increasingly relevant.
First, leather bags must teach machines to kill other leather bags. In symbiosis. And then...
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.
