[FoxNews] Maybe the Suspect Identified as an FBI Agent? 😉
Either way they think he is Mentally unstable and took him the Grady for an Mental Eval.
On a more serious note:
Given the numerous official internal & Public threat warnings that Atlanta and other Metros have issued. Regarding the planned upcoming weekend Peaceful Protests Riots and threats. Could this have been a test to determine response times and response strategies.
#2
Atlanta in the news today. Seems Alabama has built four ships post haste. Admiral indicated we are in second place to China but their ships are poor quality. 24/7 construction. Group reviewed ships which included Marines. They had to sign off on inspection. Rush job showed poor lumpy welding.
#3
Is Grady still a crappy hospital? Was in the 80's.
Posted by: Cleared Cookies Lost Nic ||
04/02/2024 13:06
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#4
#3^
A 1st responder family member works the area and said its very interesting on Friday night to Sunday early mornings to drop off injured persons.
its very interesting on Friday night to Sunday early mornings to drop off injured persons
Particularly when 2 diametrically opposed parties happen to meet each other just outside the door while attempting to "drop off" victims of the other side.
[JohnHelmer] The electric war, which in its first phase commenced in September 2022, has now entered its second and final phase – final, that is, for the Ukraine.
This is strategic; war has never been fought like this in Europe. The US and NATO general staffs and politicians have been taken by complete surprise. “The Ukrainians are building Maginot and Siegfried lines according to the instructions of their foreign advisers,” according to a Moscow analyst, “as if the Russian offensive will be men, artillery and tanks running across the landscape towards Kiev. But they won’t have to. The offensive against Ukrainian electricity cannot be stopped at these lines.”
Without effective defence for its power generating plants, distribution hubs, and grid lines, the Kiev regime’s power is being stopped across the country; the major Novorussian cities in the east – Odessa, Kharkov, Dniepropetrovsk – are being blacked out and their populations forced to evacuate; the warmaking resupplies of the NATO allies are being cut off at borders which are now exposed to reversal of electricity surges threatening the plants and grids of southern Poland, Romania and Moldova. Even European and American money for President Vladimir Zelensky’s regime needs electricity to move.
Isn’t preferentially destroying civilian structures a war crime?
#2
"Isn’t preferentially destroying civilian structures a war crime?"
War Crimes, funny that. No one I've asked can list russian military targets in Belgorod. The attacks there are simply to terrorize russian civilians. Not the war crimes your looking for, huh.
#5
At the risk of getting called for piling on, Ukraine moves military stuff by train, trains that use electricity for traction power. Power plants are harder to repair than train tracks.
[Daily Wire] Tainting the Jury Pool. She needs to go
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has again publicly discussed race, seemingly in response to Georgia Judge Scott McAfee rebuking Willis for her infamous "playing the race card" speech at an Atlanta church in January.
Judge McAfee decided last month that Willis is permitted to stay on a controversial Trump election interference case after Trump co-defendant Michael Roman claimed Willis’ affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade was a clear conflict of interest, which financially benefited Willis.
"It’s hard out here always having to prove yourself two and three times," Willis said on Friday, at the South Fulton Women of the Shield Awards. "Recently they tell me they don’t like me to talk about race. Well, I’m gonna talk about it anyway. Truth is, there is [sic] some challenges to being black."
Though Willis was allowed to stay on the Trump case if Wade resigned, which he did, McAfee scolded Willis for acting with a "tremendous lapse in judgment," suggested she lied on the stand, and said he did find an appearance of "impropriety."
The judge also rebuked Willis for the public racially-charged speech she gave in January, which seemed to target those who brought the apparent conflict of interest to light.
"They only attacked one," Willis said at the church. "First thing they say, ’Oh, she’s gonna play the race card now.’ But no God, isn’t it them that’s playing the race card when they only question one. Isn’t it them playing the race card when they constantly think I need someone from some other jurisdiction in some other state to tell me how to do a job I’ve been doing almost 30 years."
McAfee wrote that the speech was "legally improper."
"In these public and televised comments, the District Attorney complained that a Fulton County Commissioner ’and so many others’ questioned her decision to hire SADA Wade," he wrote. "When referring to her detractors throughout the speech, she frequently utilized the plural ’they.’ The State argues the speech was not aimed at any of the Defendants in this case. Maybe so. But maybe not. Therein lies the danger of public comment by a prosecuting attorney."
"More at issue, instead of attributing the criticism to a criminal accused’s general aversion to being convicted and facing a prison sentence, the District Attorney ascribed the effort as motivated by ’playing the race card,'" McAfee continued. "She went on to frequently refer to SADA Wade as the ’black man’ while her other unchallenged SADAs were labeled ’one white woman’ and ’one white man.’ The effect of this speech was to cast racial aspersions at an indicted Defendant’s decision to file this pretrial motion."
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Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2024
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[250 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Well, really, what else has she got?
Posted by: Tom ||
04/02/2024 10:47
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#2
When she talks she sounds like she is strait out of the Hood.
[NYP] Eight Norwegian Cruise passengers, including a pregnant woman and an elderly man with a heart condition, claim they have been stranded on an African island without money and vital medications after the vessel left port without them.
Jill and Jay Campbell, from South Carolina, said they are stuck on the Central African island of São Tomé with four other American and two Australian passengers after the captain of the ship allegedly refused to let them reboard, according to WMBF.
But a spokesperson for the cruise line claimed the passengers were left on the island "on their own or with a private tour" and missed the "all-aboard time."
#6
I can understand leaving the Australians but the yanks too?
Snark O'The Day
Whahahaha gasp, whahahahahaha
Posted by: Cleared Cookies Lost Nic ||
04/02/2024 9:48
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#7
The American Express Card (and your cell phone and your passport) - don't leave home without it!
These guys were taking a risk with the private tour but the article also points out the captain of the ship could've taken them back on but refused. If that's true we'll be reading about a former captain of Norwegian Cruise Lines in a few weeks.
#8
^ I dunno. "Refused to allow them to reboard" sounds like they had either been a problem already on board or some sort of red flag went up when they came back from their "private tour."
The captain may not be in any trouble with his employer at all.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/02/2024 10:03
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#9
^ happens to drunken me at airports all the time.
"show up late, set a new date."
#10
#8 ^ I dunno. "Refused to allow them to reboard" sounds like they had either been a problem already on board or some sort of red flag went up when they came back from their "private tour."
The captain may not be in any trouble with his employer at all.
Posted by: M. Murcek 2024-04-02 10:03
MM,
I'm thinking that they got there just in time to see the gangways going up, and their cries came to naught.
My wife has been on several cruises, and she noted that they make it VERY clear that if you miss sailing time, yer on your own.
#11
Several Smithsonian Channel 'Mighty Cruise Ship' shows have pointed out the schedules are really tight, including port docking windows, and putting the pedal to the metal to catch up can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
But the ships featured managed to wait 15-20 minutes for late tours. But if you make your own arrangements, you own the risks. You can always sue the local tour operator.... [snicker]
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/02/2024 12:41
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#12
^ FWIW, there's a bunch of those episodes coming up at 4 PM today on that channel. I watch these and kinda sorta want to go on one, but not one of those monster 4,000 person floating keg party cruises. I think I'd be more inclined to go on an expedition type cruise - fewer frills, smaller boats going to Greenland / South Pole, etc.
#13
I always made it clear to every woman I was ever involved with - including my wife - that the first time we missed a flight because she was "running late" was the last time the plane tickets were bought on my dime.
Never missed a flight ever.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/02/2024 14:19
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[Refuge] This is a little funny. The Washington Post has an article about Democrat data scientist Aaron Strauss, who helps direct progressive spending at the firm OpenLabs, warning his peers that registering young people to vote, young people of color specifically, is helping Donald Trump.
The data shows that when Democrats help register young voters, they end up registering people who will vote for Trump. Now they are considering not even holding voter registration drives in target markets because they align with Trump.
WAPO — [...] A confidential memo circulated among top Democratic donors has sparked a furious debate in Democratic circles about whether to narrow the focus of voter registration efforts to avoid signing up likely Republicans.
For decades, nonpartisan groups allied with the Democratic Party have run wide-ranging efforts aimed at increasing voter registration among people of color and young people — groups that tend to lean Democratic but have historically voted at lower rates than older and White people.
In recent years, however, there has been a marked shift among the roughly one in five citizens of voting age who are unregistered toward Republicans, raising fresh questions about how much boosting nonpartisan voter registration could help presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump heading into November.
Aaron Strauss, an influential data scientist who helps direct progressive spending at the firm OpenLabs, sparked private disagreements over this issue in January when he sent about a dozen major Democratic donors a confidential memo that challenged traditional nonpartisan registration.
[...] Polls in recent months have regularly shown Biden polling below 2020 levels among Black and Latino voters. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found Biden pulling support from 60 percent of Black voters and 34 percent of Hispanic voters in a five way race with Trump and three third-party candidates. Exit polls in 2020 showed Biden winning 87 percent of the Black voter and 65 percent of the Latino vote. (read more)
#8
What the Sleestak is saying is accurate, but it’s not. The young folks will vote for non-establishment Republicans. They don’t care for the Romney crowd anymore than we do.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/02/2024 15:57
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[Gateway] Earlier this year, BBC broadcaster Gordon Smart recalled a creepy and frightening incident involving his friend, actor Jamie Dornan.
On the Jan. 12 episode of BBC Radio Scotland’s "The Good, the Bad and the Unexpected" podcast, Smart revealed that on a March 2023 golfing trip to Portugal, he began to feel heart attack symptoms, which he attributed to too many espresso martinis, according to People magazine.
Oddly, however, when he returned from the hospital, the 43-year-old broadcaster learned that Dornan, 41, had experienced the same symptoms.
A native of Northern Ireland, Dornan starred in the "Fifty Shades" trilogy of erotic romance films.
Smart, meanwhile, described himself as having kept in decent physical shape.
"Now, I’m a fairly healthy guy but once you start thinking, you’re having a heart attack, you’re pretty sure that you’re convincing yourself that you are having one," the broadcaster said according to Page Six.
[IsraelTimes] Suspect, an Israeli citizen who lives in the country, accused of ‘serious security offenses’; evidence reportedly shows support for terror group’s October 7 massacre
A sister of Hamas ...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... 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... has been arrested on suspicion of contact with operatives from the terror group and supporting acts of terror, defense sources said Monday.
Israel Police said in a statement that it had arrested a 57-year-old woman who is "a relative of a senior member of Hamas" in a joint raid with the Shin Bet that was dubbed "Early Dawn."
The statement did not identify the suspect, saying only she was a resident of the southern town of Tel Sheva, where the raid took place.
However, the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything... defense sources, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , confirmed that the woman is one of Haniyeh’s sisters.
Police later identified the suspect as Sabah Avad al-Salam Haniyeh, Channel 12 reported.
Police said that during a raid on the suspect’s home, officers found documents, media, telephones, and other evidence linking her to "serious security offenses."
The statement noted she will appear at the Beersheba Magistrate’s Court later Monday for a hearing on her detention.
Among the evidence reportedly uncovered was material that showed support for the October 7 massacre and encouraged terror operatives 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 to continue their activities.
Police also found hundreds of thousands of shekels in cash at the premises.
Haniyeh, the Hamas political leader, lives in exile in Doha, 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... . His three sisters live in Tel Sheva and were married to Arab Israelis. Two are now widowed and have fallen foul of Israeli authorities in the past by making illegal trips into Gaza in 2013 via Egypt. They were both given eight-month suspended sentences for the visits in 2015. Later that year, Israel denied Haniyeh’s request that his sisters be permitted to attend his son’s wedding in Gaza.
The three sisters all have Israeli citizenship and according to a 2006 report from the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, some of their children have served in the Israeli Defense Forces.
For years, even at times of heightened tensions, Israel has taken in Gazook patients for medical care. Permits are granted based on security and health considerations and are usually given to cases in dire and life-threatening conditions.
This policy has meant that family members of Hamas leaders have also received medical treatments in the Jewish state. Haniyeh himself has seen his niece, mother-in-law, daughter, and granddaughter all treated in Israeli hospitals.
In 2014, Haniyeh’s daughter was hospitalized at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital for "a number of days," according to a hospital front man at the time. The hospital did not disclose her medical condition, but Rooters reported that the treatment followed complications during a standard medical procedure she had undergone in Gaza.
In June 2014, Haniyeh’s 68-year-old mother-in-law was treated in Augusta Victoria Hospital, near Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives.
In November 2013, Haniyeh’s 1-year-old granddaughter received treatment in Israel for an infection in her digestive tract. She was taken to an Israeli hospital at death's door, but was returned to her family in Gaza after her condition was deemed incurable, an Israeli military front man said. The girl later died of her condition.
In February, Channel 13 reported that one of Haniyeh’s nieces gave birth at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.
[IsraelTimes] FSB says it foiled additional plot by suspects in ISIS shooting at Crocus City Hall, which killed over 140 people
Russia’s FSB security service has said that four people arrested Sunday in a foiled "terror" plot had provided money and arms for the deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall last month.
More than 140 people were killed when button men stormed the Crocus City Hall venue on March 22 before setting the building on fire in the most fatal attack in Russia for two decades.
The FSB said in a statement on Monday that it had arrested a group of four a day earlier in the southern Dagestan ...a formerly inoffensive Caucasus republic currently bedevilled by low-level Islamic insurgency, occasional outbreaks of separatism, ethnic tensions and terrorism, primarily due to its proximity to Chechnya. There are several dozen ethnic groups, most of which speak either Caucasian, Turkic, or Iranian languages. Largest among these ethnic groups are the Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Lezgin, and Laks. While Russers form less than five percent of the population, Russian remains the primary official language and the lingua franca... region who "were directly involved in the financing and supply of terrorist means to the perpetrators of the terrorist act carried out on 22 March in the Crocus City Hall in Moscow."
On Sunday, Russia’s national anti-terrorism committee said it had apprehended three people who were "planning to commit a series of terrorist crimes."
The FSB said Monday that four foreign citizens had been arrested in the operation in the regional capital Makhachkala and the nearby town of Kaspiysk.
The Interfax news agency cited an FSB video showing one of the detained men saying: "I took weapons to them, these guys who attacked Crocus City Hall. I took them weapons from Makhachkala."
Russian authorities had previously announced the arrests of 12 people they say are connected to the attack — including the four suspected button men, who have been identified as Tajik citizens.
The Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said separately on Monday that it was formally charging another suspect with carrying out a "terrorist attack." It said it would ask a judge to send him to pre-trial detention.
"At the moment, the investigation has charged 10 defendants," it said in a statement.
The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) has grabbed credit for the massacre, the most deadly it says it has ever carried out on European soil, though Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... has talked up a Ukrainian and Western connection.
[IsraelTimes] Starting this week, hundreds of yeshivas will see their budgets slashed, prompting leading rabbis to look abroad to raise the funds needed to continue operating.
What does the ruling mean in practical terms, and how will it affect the over 1,000 yeshivas that have, until now, received monthly payments from the Education Ministry?
The background
For decades, ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, men of military age have been able to avoid the draft by enrolling for study in yeshivas and obtaining repeated one-year service deferrals until they reach the national age of military exemption, currently 26.
These repeated deferrals — de facto military service exemptions — and the government stipends many yeshiva students receive through age 26 have infuriated the wider general public, sparking numerous legal and legislative efforts to ensure what advocates of universal conscription call “equality of the burden.”
The court decision, issued on Thursday night, came after the government repeatedly delayed submitting a proposal to the court for plans to increase ultra-Orthodox military enlistment. It took effect following the expiration on Sunday night of a legally dubious temporary regulation that instructed the IDF conscription authorities not to draft Haredim — a regulation the government issued last summer just before the expiration of the law that enshrined the annual deferrals.
As of Monday morning, the ruling applies to funding given by the state to Haredi yeshivas for students who reached enlistment age after the expiration of the law last year — as the legal framework for deferring their military service no longer exists. Although they were unable to receive deferrals, these students were not called up for service because of the government’s order not to enforce enlistment, but they are now eligible for the draft.
#4
Shifa Hospital was a hive of terrorists. The Syria hit was on a residential building adjacent to the Iranian Embassy - and we all know how sacred Iranians view Embassies, right?
Try again trollboy
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2024 12:00
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#5
Don't know why that part about Snowden got included.
#6
When we visited Israel the tour guide said the ultra-orthodox got away with what they did because they formed a voting bloc that the ruling party needed to form a coalition.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/02/2024 13:25
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#7
^Part of it. The other part, it was tolerable, when they were a small group - but they breed like rabbits.
Of course, the dem "coalition of victims" here in USA sucks monkey ass too.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/02/2024 13:47
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#9
The Syria hit was on a residential building adjacent to the Iranian Embassy
I came across this tidbit earlier in another place. Funny how sprinkling a little additional information on top completely changes the flavor of the story from a ballsy but necessary move to "Oopsie! Sorry about the collateral damage." Not that I am suggesting the media are lying crapweasels, but one does wonder how often it happens.
#10
Given how often UNWRA staff in Gaza have primary careers in Hamas, with the second job at UNWRA coming after they developed skills additional to their prime work as made men, one has to ask who paid the dead World Central Kitchen people during their off hours. Five’ll get you ten that they had worked hard to deserve suddenly becoming a floating red mist — no matter how much certain parties consider it unthinkable.
#11
It was a truck convoy that was hit. The media keeps shouting "kitchen kitchen kitchen" like it was a mess tent full of women and children that was hit.
These convoys have been used to move arms. If IDF had actionable intel to that effect, they are under no obligation to expose their "sources and methods" to placate a medi that won't be placated anyway.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/02/2024 14:13
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#13
^I've to add that, personally, I only care about IDF casualties. As to the WCK victims - they might have been full of good intentions & compasion, but they assisted evil.
#14
Things happen in war zones. Gaza is not a safe space like New York City.
With regard to the Damascus hit, all the details were revealed in comments here yesterday. By the time my mother had retired to bed*, leaving me free to address working up articles for today’s Burg, there was nothing left for me to add. Well done, y’all!
* My darling 98-year old mother has reached the stage where she can no longer live independently, so we moved her into our front sitting room a few weeks ago. It’s an adjustment for us all, but overall a pleasure.
#19
Honestly, my mother is fun to have around — we’ve been inviting her to move in ever my father entered his final decline twenty years ago. Even diminished, she is cheerful with a sly sense of humour, interested in everything and everyone, and is ever willing to lend a helping hand with whatever needs to be done. We’ve been polishing silver and shredding old tax returns, among other long disregarded chores. So she’s been making a difference. :-)
[IsraelTimes] Legislation passed 71 to 10 gives PM and communications minister temporary powers to shut down foreign news networks deemed threatening to national security for 45-day periods.
The Knesset approved on Monday evening the so-called Al Jazeera law, giving the government temporary powers to prevent foreign news networks from operating in Israel if they are deemed by the security services to be harming national security.
The law passed 71 to 10 in its second and third readings in the Knesset plenum.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who spearheaded the effort to pass the law, vowed immediately after the final vote that the 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-funded Al Jazeera news channel would be closed down "in the coming days," saying "there won’t be freedom of expression for Hamas ...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... mouthpieces in Israel."
Karhi, a member of the hardline flank of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, continued: "We have brought to fruition an effective and swift tool against those who use freedom of the press to harm Israel’s security and IDF soldiers, and who incite to terrorism during a time of war."
The US expressed concern over the legislation, with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying: "We believe in the freedom of the press. It is critically important. The United States supports the critically important work journalists around the world do, and that includes those who are reporting on the conflict 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... . If those reports are true, it is concerning to us."
In an earlier statement, Netanyahu’s Likud party said that the prime minister would "act immediately to close Al Jazeera" in accordance with the terms of the new law.
The new law gives the prime minister and the communications minister the authority to order the temporary closure of foreign networks operating in Israel and confiscate their equipment if it is believed that they are "doing actual harm to state security."
It is the communications minister who is empowered to issue such orders, but only after receiving the approval of the prime minister and the security cabinet, and after a professional position paper has been presented to the prime minister and the communications minister by the security services detailing the "factual foundations" of allegations that the channel is causing damage to Israel’s national security.
The law empowers the communication’s minister to order "content providers" to cease broadcasting the channel in question; order the channel’s Israeli offices to be shuttered; order the channel’s equipment confiscated; and order the channel’s website to be taken offline, if the server is physically located in Israel, or otherwise block access to the website.
Such orders are valid for 45 days but can be renewed for further 45-day periods.
Under the terms of the law, any order to shut down a foreign news channel must be brought within 24 hours for judicial review by the president of a district court, who must then decide within three days if they wish to change or shorten the period of the order.
The law itself has been passed as a temporary law and will expire on July 31 or earlier if the declaration of an emergency situation is lifted by the government.
The legislation passed a first reading in the plenum in February and was approved for its second and third readings following an extended debate in the Knesset National Security Committee.
Though Israeli officials have long complained about Al Jazeera’s coverage, which they say is heavily influenced by Hamas and endangers IDF troops in Gaza, in the past they stopped short of taking action, mindful of Qatar’s bankrolling of Paleostinian construction projects in the Gaza Strip, which were seen by all sides as a means of staving off conflict.
Communications Minister Karhi’s office said in October that the drive to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel was based on "proof that it is assisting the enemy, broadcasting propaganda in the service of Hamas, in Arabic and English, to viewers around the world, and even passing sensitive information to the enemy."
Karhi accused the station of pro-Hamas incitement and exposing Israeli troops to ambushes. Al Jazeera and the Doha government did not respond to those allegations.
In November, however, Israel appeared to spare the Qatari station, instead ordering the shutting down of the local broadcasts of a smaller Lebanese pro-Iranian channel, Al Mayadeen, under emergency media regulations.
[IsraelTimes] Tehran gained information from suspects linked to Kerman bombing in Iran, but material it provided to Russians lacked specific details of ISIS-Khorasan plans
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... tipped off Russia about the possibility of a major "terrorist operation" on its soil ahead of the concert hall massacre near Moscow last month, three sources familiar with the matter said.
In the deadliest attack inside Russia in 20 years, button men opened fire with automatic weapons at concertgoers on March 22 at the Crocus City Hall, killing at least 144 people in violence claimed by the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group.
The United States had also warned Russia in advance of a likely bully boy Islamist attack but Moscow, deeply distrustful of Washington’s intentions, played down that intelligence.
It is harder, however, for Russia to dismiss intelligence from diplomatic ally Iran on the attack, which has also raised questions over the effectiveness of Russian security services. Moscow and Tehran, both under Western sanctions, have deepened military and other cooperation during the two-year Ukraine war.
"Days before the attack in Russia, Tehran shared information with Moscow about a possible big terrorist attack inside Russia that was acquired during interrogations of those arrested in connection with deadly bombings in Iran," one of the sources told Rooters.
Iran arrested 35 people in January, including a commander of Islamic State’s Afghanistan-based branch ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), who it said were linked to twin bombings on January 3 in the city of Kerman that killed nearly 100 people. Islamic State grabbed credit for the Iran blasts, the bloodiest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. US intelligence sources said ISIS-K had carried out both the January 3 attacks in Iran and the March 22 shootings in Moscow.
ISIS-K, one of the Islamic State’s most fearsome branches, has raised the group’s profile again with large-scale bloodshed.
ISIS-K, named after an old term for a region that encompassed parts of Iran, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan, emerged in eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and quickly established a reputation for extreme brutality.
’SIGNIFICANT OPERATION’
A second source, who also requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said the information Tehran provided to Moscow about an impending attack had lacked specific details regarding timing and the exact target.
"They (the members of ISIS-K) were instructed to prepare for a significant operation in Russia... One of the snuffies (arrested in Iran) said some members of the group had already traveled to Russia," the second source said.
A third source, a security bigshot, said: "As Iran has been a victim of terror attacks for years, Iranian authorities fulfilled their obligation to alert Moscow based on information acquired from those arrested terrorists."
Asked about the Rooters report, Kremlin front man Dmitry Peskov said on Monday: "I do not know anything about this."
Iran’s foreign ministry did not reply to a request for comment on this story. The White House had no comment on the matter.
A source familiar with the US intelligence on an impending attack in Russia said it was based on interceptions of "chatter" among ISIS-K bully boys.
Challenging the US assertions, Russia has said it believes Ukraine was linked to the attack, without providing evidence. Kyiv has strongly denied No, no! Certainly not! the assertion.
TAJIK NATIONALS
The attacks in Kerman and near Moscow both involved Tajik nationals. ISIS-K has aggressively recruited from the impoverished former Soviet republic of Tajikistan, security experts say.
Sources said Iran had discussed its security concerns with Tajikistan. A diplomatic source in Tajikistan confirmed that Tehran had recently discussed with Dushanbe the issue of increased involvement of ethnic Tajiks in bully boy activities.
Islamic State harbors a virulent hatred for Shi’ites — Iran’s dominant sect and also the target of its affiliate’s attacks in Afghanistan. The hardline Sunni Moslem group views Shi’ites as apostates.
In 2022 the Islamic State grabbed credit for a deadly attack on a Shi’ite shrine in Iran that killed 13 people. Tehran identified the attacker as a Tajik national.
Earlier attacks claimed by Islamic State include twin bombings in 2017 that targeted Iran’s parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
#2
Well it ain't Biden running the show, that is for sure. And makes sense to sell them some new ones. The older F-15s Israel has have got to be getting close to their end of life.
#6
As an amusing aside, it seems that the Puppet Show can't stay bought by the Mooslim Lobby when serious McDonald-Douglas/MIC vigorish may be on the table.They may hate the Juice, but Benjamins is Benjamins when you are facing a move back to Rehobeth in January!
* Homosexual as a character or themes in supporting role
* The F Word use at least 5 times per episode
* GOD's or Jesus' name used as profanity
* Promotion of radical themes
* Promotes Social Drug use
* Constant promotion of alternative & Bi-lifestyles
* Open Sex scenes, relationships and hook-ups
* Promote and/or include Anti-Religious dialogs
and more.
That was 3+ years ago.
Now Main Stream TV has jumped on the Netflix Train.
[BBC, hat tip Red State] Nuclear energy currently provides about 10% of the world's electricity. Being low-carbon, it's seen by many as an important player in the fight against climate change.
But it has also remained controversial in many countries due to its high cost and long build times, as well as concerns over the safety of nuclear reactors and the unresolved issue of what to do with nuclear waste.
"Onkalo" is a Finnish word for a cave or a hollow. It's a fitting name for a huge grave made in Finland over the last 20 years. Onkalo, which lies 450m (1,500ft) deep inside the bedrock of Olkiluoto island in the southwest of the country, is the world's first permanent storage site for spent nuclear.
Onkalo has cost €1bn (£860m/$1.07bn) to build and is expected to begin operations in about two years. Its arrival has been hailed as a game changer by many, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). "Everybody knew of the idea of a geological repository for high-level radioactive nuclear waste, but Finland did it," commented Rafael Mariano Grossi, IAEA director general, on a visit to the site in 2020.
The Onkalo repository is based on the KBS-3 concept developed by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company, in cooperation with Posiva. The idea is to create three barriers around nuclear waste: first, put it in copper canisters, then wrap the canisters in bentonite — a water-absorbing clay — and finally, bury them in tunnels deep in the bedrock.
"We've all benefited from nuclear energy for over 60 years," says Lewis Blackburn, a lecturer in nuclear materials at the University of Sheffield in the UK. "It's our generation of scientists' and engineers' responsibility to undertake the challenge to dispose of the waste, instead of leaving it to future generations.
#2
Yucca Mountain remains in limbo for reasons that defy logic, but not EPA concerns about the 10,000 year radiation dosage levels...
"One point of concern has been the standard of radiation emission in 10,000 to 1,000,000 years. On August 9, 2005, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a limit of 350 millirem per year for that period.[49] In October 2007, the DOE issued a draft of the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement showing that for the first 10,000 years mean public dose would be 0.24 mrem/year and that thereafter the median public dose would be 0.98 mrem/year, both of which are substantially below the proposed EPA limit. For comparison, a hip X-ray results in a dose around 83 mrem and a CT head or chest scan results in around 1,110 mrem.[50] Annually, in the United States, an individual's dose from background radiation is about 350 mrem, though some places get more than twice that.[51][52]"
#3
As I recall from my time in NV [82-95], the trains that would haul the East Coast waste go through a number of political cities: St. Louis, KC, Vegas, etc. Apparently some hesitancy for rail transport and then offloading mobile containers for rough road transport. For some reason using the test cavities at the National Test Site in Mercury NV was/is also a nono.
[YouTube] A Eugene man had a major scare after a large (4’), runaway saw blade slammed into a convenience store, seconds after he went through the front door.
From the transcript:
… a traffic contractor
1:19
who witnessed the incident says a loose
1:21
bolt and possible operator error may
1:24
have caused the giant soate to come
1:26
loose in spin away at high speeds.
#5
A patient of mine long long ago narrowly escaped being sliced vertically by a huge rapidly spinning "buzz saw" that came off its axle at a local lumber processing operation. He just happened to see the thing wheeling towards him, he ducked to one side & had the blade slice right through one of his deltoid muscles. He got some very good first aid & was then dropped off at my ER. He was the only Amish man I ever met that I could call "excited". After I found out what happened, I sent him for a "scout" xray. Sure enough the xray showed the kerf the saw made in the upper end of his humerus, leaving only the slightest strip of bone bridging the two pieces. Without that bridge the only thing holding his arm on was nerves, arteries, veins, easily torn stuff like that. I called the orthopedic surgeon, who met the patient shortly afterward in the OR. That first aid bandage wasn't touched until absolutely everything else was ready in the OR. Patient did OK except he couldn't use the deltoid muscle any more.
Article Linked To Is Available Only Via VPN
[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
In Kupyansk direction, units of the Zapad Group of Forces in cooperation with Operational-Tactical Aviation engaged manpower and hardware of AFU 60th Mechanised and 4th Tank brigades close to Yampolovka and Terny (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 30 Ukrainian troops, two infantry fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, and one Polish-made Krab self-propelled artillery system.
In Donetsk direction, units of the Yug Group of Forces improved the situation along the front line and defeated units of AFU 31st Mechanised and 92nd Assault brigades near Konstantinovka and Novodmitrovka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses were up to 510 Ukrainian troops, three tanks, four armoured fighting vehicles, including one U.S.-made M113 armoured personnel carrier, and 27 motor vehicles.
In the course of the counterbattery warfare, two multiple launch rocket systems, six self-propelled artillery systems, including three Polish-made Krab self-propelled artillery systems, one 152mm Msta-B howitzer, two 122mm D-30 howitzers, and one Bukovel-AD electronic warfare station were eliminated. Eleven AFU ammunition depots were also destroyed.
In Avdeyevka direction, the Tsentr Group of Forces' units captured more favourable lines, and inflicted losses on units of AFU 47th Mechanised, 59th Mechanised infantry, 68th Jaeger, and 25th Airborne brigades close to Pervomayskoye, Berdichi, Tonenkoye, and Vodyanoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
Two counterattacks launched by assault groups of the AFU 24th Mechanised Brigade were repelled near Leninskoye and Shumy (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 295 Ukrainian troops, one U.S.-made Abrams tank, five armoured fighting vehicles, and five motor vehicles.
In the course of the counter-battery warfare, one 122mm BM-21 Grad MLRS combat vehicle, one 152mm 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system, one 122mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, two 122mm D-30 howitzers, and one U.S.-made M119 gun were eliminated.
In South Donetsk direction, the Vostok Group of Forces' units improved the tactical situation, and inflicted fire damage on manpower and hardware of AFU 72nd Mechanised, 102nd and 108th Territorial Defence brigades close to Komsomolskoye, Malinovka (Zaporozhye region), and Staromayorskoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses were more than 120 Ukrainian troops, three tanks, two armoured fighting vehicles, and two pick-up trucks.
In addition, one Polish-made Krab self-propelled artillery system, two U.S.-made M777 howitzers, one Strela-10 anti-aircraft missile launcher, as well as one ammunition depot were destroyed.
In Kherson direction, units of the Dnepr Group of Forces inflicted fire damage on manpower and hardware of AFU 35th Naval Infantry, 128th Territorial Defence brigades near Novotyaginka (Kherson region) and Dobraya Nadiya (Dnepropetrovsk region).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 50 Ukrainian troops, five motor vehicles, two 152mm D-20 howitzers, as well as one Bukovel-AD electronic warfare station.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces have engaged one radar guidance post, one battle command vehicle, and two S-300 anti-aircraft missile launchers.
In addition, one temporary deployment area of foreign mercenaries was hit near Kharkov region, as well as AFU manpower and hardware in 138 areas.
Russian air defence systems have shot down one Su-27 aircraft of Ukrainian Air Force close to Rayskoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
228 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, four HIMARS MLRS projectiles, and one U.S.-made JDAM aerial guided bomb have been intercepted during the day.
In total, 581 airplanes and 270 helicopters, 18,179 unmanned aerial vehicles, 495 air defence missile systems, 15,670 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,261 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 8,611 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well 20,476 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Energy giants have pocketed £420billion in profits in just four years as millions of Britons struggle with soaring bills and the cost-of-living crisis - and fat-cat bosses cash in with seven-figure pay-packets.
New figures reveal the staggering amounts made by 20 utility firms since 2020, amid rising inflation as well as Russia's invasion of Ukraine helping to hike prices.
British Gas, Shell and BP are among the British-based companies who have been making the most, while campaigners say many hard-pressed families are struggling to afford to keep the heating on.
NOTE:
There has been some recent increases in Electrical power grid emission captures in urban and Rural areas. What I have seen, powered a large TV and a few basic house lights.
BTW: Power companies are now switching out older power meters for meters that allow them & Gov. to remotely or monitor control of your homes power usage.
Interesting that the older meters ""can be acquired" at flea markets for $50+/-
#2
Leaving aside that the cost-of-living crisis is from governments effing up the economy, it is a Great Injustice(tm) that someone is poor while someone else is making money. In the name of Decolonization, Ignorance and Equity (DIE), we must dismantle the oil companies and ban the use of fuel so everyone can be poor, cold and equal together.
#4
Before or after taxes? Next year's capital improvements?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/02/2024 13:10
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#5
Ref # 3
Generac 22kw installed in 2020, can run the entire house including A/C, washer and dryer, well pump and diswasher simultaneously. $9k fully installed with 7 yr warranty. Peace of Mind has no price!
#6
A relative had a whole house nat gas powered generator hooked up a few years ago. It can run the house indefinitely as long as there's natural gas coming through the line. It cost her $22,000. Most of that expense was the electric switch and site preparation, gas line extension, etc. The actual generator was a small portion of the total.
#7
Years ago stripper wells in the Midwest that had a steady flow of natural gas (flares) could be piped and regulated to provide energy for rural homes. Don't know if that is still being done or not.
Oil lease pumping engines were also run by gas from a well flare. Again, don't know if that is still done or not either.
#8
I had a couple friends back in PeeAye who got free gas as a result of allowing an easement for the gas company to cross their properties to get to wells.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/02/2024 17:34
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#2
And the entirety of the Education-Government Complex and NPR America will believe him.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
04/02/2024 6:12
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#3
Joe is saying that he signs stuff that he doesn’t read or his staff are faking his signature. Alternately, he can’t remember what he has done or he’s a liar. Which of those alternative is presidential?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/02/2024 9:04
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#8
"They" know he's a vegetable, and worse, "they" know that WE know. Its part of the plan--they're literally rubbing our faces in it. And they will stop at nothing to ensure that sufficient cheating takes place to drag this vegetable across the finish line again.
[Garowe] Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... has withdrawn from the federal arrangement in Somalia, the Council of Ministers announced on Saturday, in a move that comes hours after the federal parliament passed four chapters of the proposed constitution in a disputed vote.
The federal parliament on Saturday unanimously endorsed four chapters of the new constitution, effectively making the life of the federal government five years and introducing a universal suffrage model of elections. The move also gives more power to the sitting leader.
But Puntland accused President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of breaching the provisional constitution. Additionally, the council of ministers during an emergency session in Garowe last night has made another decision referencing Article 4 of the Puntland State Constitution.
In a statement read by Puntland Information Minister Mohamud Aydid Dirir, Puntland said it will no longer recognize federal government institutions until the completion of a constitution agreed by all stakeholders including Puntland.
Puntland insists it will run a government with the "full powers of an independent state" until there is an inclusive federal government and a constitution agreed by all including Puntland, and approved through referendum. The state did not participate in the drafting of the proposals.
The Federal State said the changes are a threat to Somali unity and federalism. The region asserts full governance autonomy, inviting cooperation with entities respecting the original 2012 constitution.
The resolution, pending Puntland Parliament’s approval, signifies a major stance on national unity and governance autonomy, urging dialogue with the international community and global organizations to safeguard its interests and future.
Puntland has been questioning the cooperation of Mogadishu in important issues regarding the management of the federal system. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is under scrutiny and the latest protest could be injurious to his leadership.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Psychiatrist Dr Sohom Das, London, debunks common myths about murderers.
1. Dr Das, 44, said that the first myth he wanted to debunk is that all murderers must be mentally ill.
'Some definitely do have mental health diagnoses, but most do not. The ones in the psychiatric units, obviously do.'
He continued, explaining that it 'depends how you define mental illness'.
'If you're the layperson, you might say that anybody who does something as extreme as killing another person - especially if it's somebody they don't know - is mentally ill,' Dr Das explained.
'But that's not the psychiatric definition. The psychiatric definition is somebody that has to have like a recognised mental disorder like depression, like bipolar, like schizophrenia...and of all killers, only a very small proportion have those things.
'And here's something to throw a pie in the ointment - even if they do have symptoms of mental illness, or if they are mentally ill, most of the time, it's quite mild symptoms...not severe enough to control their actions.' A pie in the ointment?
2. The second myth he discussed was that most murderers kill strangers.
He explained: 'That's true, but it's actually more commonly not true. So there are cases [like that]... which shock the nation because [it can happen to] complete strangers who were at the wrong place at the wrong time.
'But you're much more likely to be killed by somebody you know, especially if you're young, and especially if you're female.'
According to Dr Das: The Office for National Statistics said that in the year ending March 2020, which is when the most recent statistics are available, 62 per cent of of victims of murder knew their killer - and this was higher for females - 70 per cent compared to male victims, 52 per cent, and for victims under 16, the proportion that knew their suspects was even higher - about 88 per cent.'
3. According to the expert, myth number three is that murderers will kill again.
But, he said: 'Actually, it's very unlikely for somebody who's killed before, to go on to kill again.'
4. Moving onto myth number four, he said that it is that 'serial killers are these brilliant criminal masterminds'.
He added that around 40 per cent of serial killers have low I.Qs, they live on the fringes of society, and they attack their victims randomly.
'So [there isn't that sort of pre planned effort, stalking people for a long period...they just have this like, this frenzied urge and rage to kil, so they go out and do it randomly.
'They often don't move the bodies, they literally just leave the scene, they try and hide. Or they try and disguise the trend evidence because they just want to get out.
5. Dr Das's fifth and final myth about killers is that...'they are all inherently evil or they are all monsters.
He added: 'So to me, this paints a simplistic and harmful picture. People who've taken life before come from diverse backgrounds, they have different motivations, experiences, have different mental states.
'So judging them solely on this one act ignores the complexity of their life and circumstances, even taking morality out of the question.'
He added: 'I guess what I'm saying, is somebody can have done something horrendous, and it doesn't necessarily reflect their entire personality or character.'
#2
The psychiatric definition is somebody that has to have like a recognised mental disorder like depression, like bipolar, like schizophrenia...
He left out sociopaths. Maybe he doesn't consider reptiles to be insane.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/02/2024 11:11
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#3
Seems like murder is a broad topic that can include murder for hire, murder of a significant other, drive by’s, honor killing, jihad, war crimes, etc.. there would also be variation by country. The datasets would need to be huge. The quality of data coming out of places like Haiti or North Korea might not be very good.
That said, I’m glad Dr Das was able to do a lot of debunking. Hopefully, he is not a sociologist. Otherwise, his study is probably not worth much.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/02/2024 11:24
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#5
Ok, I'll bite:
(1) Not all killers are crazy. Some people need killing.
(2) Most killers kill someone they think needs killing.
(3) Killing's a lot of work. So's staying out of jail.
(4) Successful serial killers are smart. They also know when to stop.
(5) See (1): Some people need killing.
Your mileage may vary.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/02/2024 14:26
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#6
^ Great summary!
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/02/2024 14:41
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[ShabelleMedia] The Indian Navy said it had freed the 23-strong crew of an Iranian fishing vessel that was seized by armed pirates off Somalia.
The al-Kambar 786 was southwest of the 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... i island of Socotra, in the Arabian Sea, on March 28 when it was reported to have been boarded by nine pirates, according to a naval statement on Friday.
The vessel was intercepted by the navy’s INS Sumedha and INS Trishul, leading to "over 12 hours of intense coercive tactical measures" forcing the pirates to surrender, the statement said.
The nine pirates are being brought to India under the domestic law against piracy on the high seas, the navy said in a separate statement on Saturday.
The fishing vessel’s crew of 23 Pak nationals were safe and received medical checks before being cleared to continue with fishing activities, the statement said.
Piracy incidents east of the Red Sea have resurfaced for the first time in nearly a decade.
Taking advantage of Western forces’ focus on protecting shipping from attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... holy warriors, pirates have made or attempted more than 20 hijackings since November, driving up insurance and security costs and adding to a crisis for global shipping companies.
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Deputies reported that the trailer had been dropped off in the middle of the intersection and 'intentionally set on fire' outside Global Vision Bible Church
Pastor Greg Locke had just gotten back from Israel was shocked when he learned what happened at his church on the Holy Day of Resurrection
The church's security cameras caught a man at 6:00 Easter morning dropping off a trailer filled with bibles before setting the trailer and bibles ablaze So he spent his own money to do this thing, rather than stealing someone else’s holy books?
The Wilson County Sheriff's Office is handling the investigation and the suspicious fire. No arrests have been made
#2
If its funded by the Feds, the Davis Bacon Act applies, which means prevailing union wages for the area. So the real question is who audits the work to make sure the workers get that pay. That is where the graft and corruption comes in.
#6
I think we can rule out high end or tourist accoutrements based on my vague memory of the neighborhood. Even trash can seems pretty optional in Metro Baltimore.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/02/2024 11:29
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#7
#4 and #2 are correct. My source at the time was my son and grandson.One is still working as an iron worker and does welding.Yes, the Unions and it being a federal project one would think non union not invited to play. Labor shortage perhaps an angle.
Reclamation of old paper mill locally required 100 Mexicans.1,000,000 dollar loss of drums of copper. Cashed in two states away.
#10
The thing about the I695 bridge (the Scott Key bridge) is the it was a bridge. All the rest of the harbor crossings are tunnels.
That means the I695 crossing is the only direct HazMat crossing between Virginia and Philly.
That means that they better be planning to rebuild, else fuel flows and military cargos are basically have to be routed thru central PA, maybe 300 miles out of the way.
Maybe they can use some the design genuises they got working on hi-speed rail to fix it up for them.
And no, even interstate highways are built under state regulations, not federal. They have to meet federal guidelines, but they're done at the state level. Look for fun times at the Maryland DOT.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/02/2024 14:11
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#11
Did Mayor Pete tell that, Ed?
I believe you're right, BTW, but you're the first person I've heard say/write that.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/02/2024 15:36
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#12
AASHTO regs on Interstates and most states use same.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2024 19:01
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[LB] Defense forces destroyed a third of Russian tanks.
Ivanna Kapustyanska
On March 30, the defense forces in the Avdiivsk direction repelled probably one of the largest tank attacks of the Russian army on Ukrainian positions since February 24, 2022. During the fighting, the enemy lost a third of its tanks, writes Forbes.
"It ended up being one of the biggest tank losses in Russia's entire 25-month war against Ukraine. When the smoke cleared, the Russians left behind a third of their tanks," Forbes writes. Chip Diller: "All is FINE!"
According to the publication, a few weeks before Saturday's assault, the Russians mainly used infantry to advance west of the city. The reason was that they lacked vehicles after heavy losses during the capture of Avdiivka in mid-February.
However, the situation changed, and in the Avdiiv direction, the enemy again used armored vehicles, including tanks.
Thirty-six tanks and 12 BMP combat vehicles of the Russian Army's 6th Guards Tank Regiment, part of the 90th Tank Division, attacked along the road stretching from Russian-occupied Tonenko to the liberated village of Umanske, two miles to the west.
The Ukrainian 25th Brigade spotted the column and struck it hard. A total of 12 tanks and eight infantry fighting vehicles were knocked out.
The day after the assault, the Defense Strategy Center described the fighting around Tonenke as "positional," meaning that neither side had advanced.
Forbes suggests that, despite a severe shortage of ammunition, the Ukrainian brigades are still capable of confronting the Russian army using mines, artillery, anti-tank missiles and attack drones.
According to the information of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, the enemy has been trying to break through the defense of our troops in the bands of three brigades for several days in a row, daily throwing assault units into battle on equipment and on foot.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] An explosion occurred in Starobelsk in the Lugansk People's Republic. The head of the Starobelsky district, Vladimir Chernev, announced this on April 1.
An explosion occurred in the car. According to local authorities, the explosion killed the deputy head of the Center for Services to Educational Organizations, Valery Chaika.
“On April 1 at 13:30 (coinciding with Moscow time) a car was blown up near the Starobelsky Faculty (branch) of Lugansk Pedagogical University,” the head of the administration wrote on the Telegram channel.
Representatives of the Investigative Committee for the LPR, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the police and the National Guard are working at the scene and clarifying the circumstances of the incident.
As Regnum reported, on March 4 it became known that an explosive device was found under the car of the ex-adviser to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the LPR, deputy rector of Lugansk State University named after Vladimir Dahl, military expert Vitaly Kiselyov. According to preliminary data, he was not injured; specialists arrived to examine the car.
On December 6 last year, terrorists blew up a car in the center of Lugansk. This happened near the Avangard stadium. As a result, former deputy of the People's Council of the Lugansk People's Republic, member of the Donbass people's militia, Oleg Popov, died.
Earlier, on September 20, 2022, there was already an attempt on Popov’s life. At that time, the customers were SBU employees.
In Lugansk on November 8, as a result of an explosion in a car, Mikhail Filiponenko, deputy of the LPR People’s Council, former head of the LPR People’s Militia department, was killed. The republic's law enforcement agencies reported that approximately 1 kg of explosives were placed in the deputy's car. The bomb was under the driver's seat. It was blown up when the colonel left the house on Parachute Street.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The issue of removing the status of a terrorist organization from the Taliban (a terrorist organization whose activities are prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation) is being studied, the final decision will be made by the top leadership of Russia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on April 1.
It sure looks hypocritical when Russia is sidling up to the Taliban, who they have registered as a terror organization, given they're really only doing so to annoy America.
“This issue is being studied by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Russian Ministry of Justice and other Russian relevant departments,” the department told Gazeta.Ru.
The Foreign Ministry emphasized that the final decision will be made by the country's top political leadership.
Earlier, on April 1, the special representative of the Russian President for Afghanistan, director of the second department of Asia of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zamir Kabulov, said that the delegation of the Afghan Taliban movement was invited to participate in the Russia-Islamic World forum, which will be held in Kazan in May.
As Regnum reported, in December 2023, the Kazakh authorities decided to remove the Taliban from the list of terrorists.
Official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova expressed hope that the decision of the Kazakh authorities to exclude the Taliban movement from the national list of terrorist organizations will have a positive impact on the dialogue with Afghanistan and strengthen security in the region. The diplomat noted that the exclusion of the Taliban from the terrorist list will contribute to its removal from international isolation.
Since March 2022, Moscow has established diplomatic relations with Afghanistan and accredited diplomats from the government formed by the Taliban.
In January 2024, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that representatives of the Taliban movement as a whole control power in Afghanistan, and Russia does not stop contacts with them.
[ShabelleMedia] On Saturday night, security officers in Baidoa, the Bay region’s capital, captured a suspect in a hand grenade attack on a mosque in the southern town.
According to a police officer, people helped apprehend the individual during a security operation, and he is now being held at the Baidoa cop shoppe.
The city is part of Somalia’s Southwest state, and its security is primarily provided by Æthiopian troops, some of whom are not part of the AU operation.
"Immediately following the incident, security forces detained the individual. I urge the people to work with security officials to prevent anything that could jeopardize the area’s security," the officer stated.
Located around 250 km southwest of Mogadishu, Baidoa’s security has lately improved as a result of enhanced army operations targeted at securing the town.
Officials say al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... has severely times attempted to seize the town, after launching attacks and imposing road blockades for the past years, but the group failed on its mission.
[BBC] Chinese researchers have unveiled an ancient skull that could belong to a completely new species of human.
The team has claimed it is our closest evolutionary relative among known species of ancient human, such as Neanderthals and Homo erectus.
Nicknamed "Dragon Man", the specimen represents a human group that lived in East Asia at least 146,000 years ago.
It was found at Harbin, north-east China, in 1933, but only came to the attention of scientists more recently.
An analysis of the skull has been published in the journal The Innovation.
"In terms of fossils in the last million years, this is one of the most important yet discovered," he told BBC News.
"What you have here is a separate branch of humanity that is not on its way to becoming Homo sapiens (our species), but represents a long-separate lineage which evolved in the region for several hundred thousand years and eventually went extinct.
The researchers say the discovery has the potential to rewrite the story of human evolution. Their analysis suggests that it is more closely related to Homo sapiens than it is to Neanderthals.
They have assigned the specimen to a new species: Homo longi, from the Chinese word "long", meaning dragon.
Dragon Man had large, almost square eye sockets, thick brow ridges, a wide mouth, and oversized teeth. Prof Qiang Ji, from Hebei GEO University, says it is one of the most complete early human skull fossils ever discovered.
"It has a mosaic combination of primitive and more modern features, setting itself apart from all the other species of human," the researcher explained.
The scientists believe that Dragon Man was powerfully built and rugged. But little is known about how he lived, because his skull was removed from the site in which it was found.
This means that there is currently no archaeological context, such as stone tools, or other elements of culture.
The skull was reportedly discovered in 1933 by a construction worker helping to build a bridge on the Songhua river running through Harbin, in Heilongjiang province, which translated means Black Dragon River, hence the new human's name.
#1
Probably this is a propaganda piece to make all things CCP. But what struck me was in the ‘90’s my Argentinian-Hungarian cultural Anthropology professor informed us that Asians technically met the standard to be classified as a separate homo group, similar to the classification of Neanderthals or hidelbergensis. But that weirdness about racial views post ww2 did not allow the science for that. Oddly denisovans were “unknown at that time”. So the science might have been on to something.
Consequences. Even if certain parties were interested in preemptively surrendering to bring back their accustomed Palestinian workers, regardless how risky in part or in whole.
[LI] Jerusalem Post: "Thousands of laborers are expected to work in the embattled construction sector, which relied almost exclusively on Palestinian workers before the war."
Thousands of Indian nationals are set to replace Palestinian workforce, which fell out in the wake of the October 7 massacre.
"An influx of Indian workers is expected to arrive in Israel in the coming weeks as part of an effort to overcome a labor shortage due to the Israel-Hamas war," the Jerusalem Post reported earlier this month, "Thousands of laborers are expected to work in the embattled construction sector, which relied almost exclusively on Palestinian workers before the war."
The replacement of workforce from Gaza and the West Bank is matter of Israel’s national security. Evidence suggests that Hamas misused Israel’s work permit program to carry out reconnaissance on bordering Jewish communities ahead of the attack. Several of the terrorists who entered Israel on October 7 were holders of work-permits and had intimate knowledge of the security measures in place.
Evidence, indeed.
Israel’s government-backed agency, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), conducted recruitment drives in several Indian states. Jerusalem is looking for skilled workers, such as plumbers, electricians and masons, along with agricultural and constructions workers.
"Thousands of Indians flocked to a recruitment center [located in northern India] ... for jobs that would take them to Israel despite the ... Israeli-Hamas war (...)," the Associated Press reported in late January, describing the scene as one such drive. "Many among the crowd of men, mostly skilled construction workers and laborers, said they would take their chances in a country embroiled in war as they are struggling to find jobs in India, where unemployment remains high despite a swelling economy."
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2024
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#1
It would be even better if tens of thousands of unemployed MBAs & lawyers took laborer jobs. But, one thing at the time.
#3
Make a "Youth Labor Corps" and draft the yeshiva students -- at least they can do something immediately useful to the economy. They might even learn a craft in the process.
[IsraelTimes] The protest group founded by reserve soldiers last year wants involvement in education, community and employment issues, to strengthen democratic values in society
It was late in the day at the Brothers and Sisters in Arms complex in central Israel, but seamsters still sat at sewing machines working on repairs to soldiers’ uniforms.
A kindergarten and school created by the organization to serve 500 children evacuated from the northern city of Kiryat Shmona had emptied as children had gone "home" to their temporary housing between Herzliya and Ramat Hasharon, but one office was full of computer equipment being repaired. Another had piles of first-aid kits — 3,000 of which have been handed out to kibbutzim in border areas, including the West Bank.
The door of a fourth room was labeled "Families of Reserve Soldiers." This unit tries to meet the needs of families whose (usually) menfolk are in military service by finding them a babysitter, a dog-walker, and the like.
The Brothers and Sisters in Arms organization was created by reserve soldiers last year to protest the government’s attempts to reform the judicial system by weakening the courts. Many of its founders hold senior ranks, served in elite units, and have impressive post-army CVs.
Months of noisy street demonstrations came to an immediate halt on October 7, when thousands of Hamas ...the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... holy warriors poured into Israel’s mainly rural 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... border area, massacring 1,200 people in circumstances that included rape, mutilation, and burning people alive. The holy warriors also kidnapped 253 people to the Gaza Strip.
Within hours of the October 7 attack, members of Brothers and Sisters in Arms sped south to battle the button men, rescue residents under fire, and later help evacuate entire communities.
With the government caught off guard and paralyzed at the time, the organization instantly metamorphosed into a support infrastructure.
In those early days, thousands of civilians poured into the Tel Aviv Expo to help the war effort.
With military discipline, Brothers and Sisters in Arms and a handful of other organizations created a network of volunteers — an estimated 15,000 in the early weeks — to identify the dead and the missing, find transport and accommodation for survivors, and collect and distribute everything from food, clothing, and toys to medical supplies and even furniture and appliances for mourning tents. The hangar at Expo Tel Aviv that the organization rented for donated supplies stayed open till February.
Ronen Koehler, one of the activist organization’s founders, said that since October 7, the organization had raised around NIS 130 million ($36.4 million).
Over the past five months, he explained, it has been busy helping evacuees from the south, and the northern border, who have been staying in hotels and private accommodations all over the country.
Now, it is turning its attention to those Gaza border residents who are starting to go home. Around 100 to 150 volunteers, Koehler said, turn up daily at the Glilot offices that The Times of Israel toured.
In the long term, he said, Brothers in Arms wants to bring its influence and its commitment to democratic values to bear on education, community, economic, and employment issues, to strengthen what he called the country’s "social infrastructure."
"We’re here to stay," Koehler said.
In another office at the Glilot complex sat Ayelet Yagur, surrounded by children’s books, toys, and play equipment. These were returned from hotels that families evacuated from the Gaza border had left, and will go on to kindergartens in the border villages to which these people are returning or to temporary accommodation where they will live until their homes have been rebuilt.
"We’re doing lots of field visits and are in contact with the educational teams in the kindergartens," said Yagur, who formerly managed the Long School Day, an afternoon informal education program, in kindergartens in Ramat Hasharon in central Israel.
"We build a kindergarten design plan that fits with the team’s pedagogical approach," she said.
Looking ahead to the needs of the Gaza border, as evacuees start to return, Brothers and Sisters in Arms are working with local education departments to help clean schools and kindergartens, and even find teachers.
Volunteers recently equipped and furnished a whole school at Kibbutz Gvulot, close to the Gaza border, to serve children from area kibbutzim.
SUPPORT FOR HOTEL EVACUEES
Koehler is a former submarine commander who became an organizational consultant and worked in several top Israeli companies. Like many of his socially minded peers in Brothers in Arms, he was already involved in civic society before the war, having established an association for navy veterans who help one another and mentor marginal youth. He also heads a marine youth group in Tel Aviv.
He credited his wife, child psychologist Talia Koster, with getting Brothers in Arms to start their involvement with the hotels where evacuees were being sent, especially in Eilat, on Israel’s southern tip, and the Dead Sea.
Koster had traveled to Eilat as part of a 15-member clinical delegation. "At the end of the day, she called and said, ’You don’t know what’s happening down here. Where are you?'" according to Koehler.
"I sent a message to veterans of the navy and the [Israeli equivalent of the] Navy Seals asking for volunteers to go to Eilat and the Dead Sea," Koehler recalled.
"It was the Sabbath. Despite this, Ori Lahav [the ex-navy co-founder and CTO of the web-based recommendation platform Outbrain] volunteered to go to Eilat, and [professional strategist] Irad Yuval from the Navy Seals went to the Dead Sea. On Saturday night, they reported that there was much for us to do there. By Sunday [October 15], we had set up an evacuee situation room."
That kickstarted a large volunteer effort to help with needs that the state bureaucracy was never designed to meet, and where government ministries were absent.
The activities included acquiring dozens of washing machines and dryers and creating laundry rooms, and building 190 hotel-based kindergartens, along with community centers for teens, and activities for seniors.
The group helped to keep bored youth out of mischief by building a sports area on the beach in Eilat and bringing artists to perform daily at the Dead Sea
It built a special needs school at the Dead Sea — in just five days.
And it has provided 4,000 days of volunteer help to date for factories short of workers and continues to send hundreds of volunteers every day to help farmers left without their Thai and Paleostinian farmhands.
In the hospitals treating maimed soldiers, it has procured small items that make a difference — a guitar here, a subscription to a computer programming course there.
It is also helping people to find jobs. Together with the Jewish Agency and the Israel Business Forum, it has raised around NIS 10 million ($2.7 million) to help those whose businesses have run into trouble because of the war.
As conflict between the IDF and the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah warmed up along the northern border, and northern communities were evacuated as well, volunteers organized a northern situation room that can call upon 1,000 volunteers, Koehler said.
It collected metal frames from hundreds of sukkot — the temporary "dwellings" Jews set up for the Feast of Tabernacles — and fitted them with tarpaulin to protect troops from the rain.
According to Koehler, tactical equipment including bulletproof vests and helmets and protective goggles has been distributed to community security teams all over the country, while volunteers with a background from the Shin Bet internal security services are training the teams.
One of the lessons from October 7, according to Koehler, was: "Where there was a well-trained security team, the communities were saved."
A CHANGE OF APPROACH
Over a year ago, Brothers and Sisters in Arms became a government bête noire for opposing both planned changes to the judiciary and exemptions from military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews.
According to Koehler, coalition politicians constantly try to get the organization’s charitable status reversed. But government officials have reached out for help and relations with local authorities are warm, Koehler said.
"The position taken by Brothers in Arms on this government can be hard for people on the right to digest. But such deep relationships have been established with the mayors, who see that we’re good guys, that we’ve set up a Going Home department," he said.
Koehler claimed that Brothers in Arms’ strategy had become softer since the anti-judicial reform protests.
"We understood that the way we behaved last year, while it was very effective, came at a high price," he said.
It’s good to see that they are educable, though it’s appalling that it took nothing less than 10/7 to break through their self-righteous assumptions. A neat demonstration of the differences between wisdom, knowledge, and cleverness. These are people who excel in the second and third sets, ignoring until extremis any need whatsoever for the first.
"We want to prevent being in a place where people think we’re not on the same side. We believe some things can be done with more discussion and less extremism. We were dragged to the extremes. The government refused to talk."
There was no dragging. Y’all took the anti-democratic position that what you wanted must be, even though more than half the country disagreed.
These days, the organization is trying to secure a cross-party agreement on two critical issues — early elections and drafting ultra-Orthodox young men, who are currently exempt from military duty, into the IDF.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to take responsibility for the October 7 fiasco, and has said the next elections will take place "in a few years," as scheduled, because wartime is "not the time for politics."
Existential war, anyway.
On the streets, said Koehler, the group’s current activities were characterized by hanging banners at junctions and holding gatherings.
Other groups in your coalition, though, are burning bonfires in the streets and attacking the police. Shut them down, habibi, if you want us to believe you've changed.
"We’re on the streets, but we’re for, not against. We’re not blocking roads. The strategy has completely changed," Koehler said.
"We’re all army people," he said. "We understand that we have enemies and that Israel will need an army for many years. But we believe we have to find a solution with the Paleostinians."
First win the war. Then find a solution, if the Palestinians are ready to negotiate in good faith — as they haven’t been since the 1920s.
He went on, "Being a citizen is about more than paying your taxes and voting every four years. It’s not about Bibi [Netanyahu]. It’s about people being involved."
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[Townhall] Former President Trump reacted to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s threat to the Biden Administration over the southern border.
Trump called out the "lack of respect" foreign leaders have for President Joe Biden on Sunday after Obrador demanded that the United States send Mexico $20 billion a year in taxpayer money to Latin America and the Caribbean to address so-called "root causes" of illegal immigration.
The 2024 presidential frontrunner insisted that he wouldn’t give the Mexican president so much as "ten cents."
"He said he wants $10 billion essentially just to talk, $10 billion to talk, and that's come out since, and no, that wouldn't happen with me, with the wall," Trump told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade when asked if it was reasonable for Obrador to dictate American policy.
During an interview with 60 Minutes, the foreign president stated that Mexico will not shut down its border until the Biden Administration changes its policy on Cuba and Venezuela.
When Trump was in office, foreign leaders did not dare pull such a bold move— according to the former president.
"It's very simple: lack of respect for the president. They would never say that to me. They would never say before we even talk. They want $10 billion a year, Mexico just asked for $10 billion a year. They would never ask it. I wouldn't give them 10 cents," Trump said.
Obrador insisted that he controls a significant portion of the southern border that has been abandoned by the Biden Administration. He acknowledged that his relationship with Trump was majority productive other than the border wall being a sore subject for the two leaders.
In January, Obrador demanded that Biden halt the surge of illegal immigrants, lift existing sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela, grant legal status to Mexican illegal immigrants in the U.S., as well as send the countries $20 billion annually.
He insisted that the massive influx of illegal immigrants coming into the U.S. will not stop until the Biden Administration meets its list of demands.
The Mexican president claimed that Biden commanded him to "control the flow of migration"— which he did— resulting in illegal entries dropping by 50 percent in January.
However, those numbers spiked again in February.
In December alone, nearly 250,000 immigrants illegally crossed the southern border.
Trump warned that if there isn’t a leadership change in the upcoming November election, then "we're not going to have a country anymore."
"The most important day in the history of our country is going to be November 5th. Our country is going bad, and it's going to be changed on November 5th, and if it's not changed, we're not going to have a country anymore," Trump added.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2024
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Top|| File under: Migrants/Illegal Immigrants
#2
"He insisted that the massive influx of illegal immigrants coming into the U.S. will not stop until the Biden Administration meets its list of demands."
This is a declaration of war.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/02/2024 9:07
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Shut the border tight. Only allow repatriation of citizens one way. See who's economy tanks first.
#4
1. Finish the wall.
2. Deploy the Army to backstop the Border Patrol.
3. Re-instate Remain in Mexico.
4. Ruthless enforce E-Verify and prosecute major
violators like Tyson Foods.
6. Stop/throttle the $60 billion in remittances
sent to Mexico each year, the second largest
legal income source behind oil.
7. Prosecute every abuse of federal funds for
supporting illegal aliens.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Kamran Hasanov
More on this story from yesterday. The odds are high his legacy will not last beyond his lifetime, if that long.
[REGNUM] There have been many crises during Erdogan's administration. They tried to overthrow him twice. Once he lost in the city of which he was mayor. Nevertheless, the fourth and, probably, one of the most unpleasant blows could not be avoided.
The first time they tried to throw Erdogan over the Maidan was in 2013 due to the cutting down of trees in Gezi Park. The second time was in 2016 through a military coup. Everyone remembers his phrase: “Whoever controls Istanbul controls Turkey,” but in 2019 Erdogan lost in Istanbul - opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu was not stopped even by the second round, where he gained even more votes. However, having lost Istanbul in 2023, Erdogan still managed to win the presidential election.
On March 31, for the first time since 2002, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party lost regional elections. The opposition Republican People's Party not only received more votes throughout the country - 37% versus 35% for the AKP, but also won in key cities - Istanbul (accounting for a third of the country's GDP), Ankara (the capital), Izmir (the industrial center), Bursa (former capital of the Ottoman Empire) and Antalya (resort center).
They beat the margin of cheating in so many cities? Wow.
The defeat of Erdogan's party, on the one hand, is surprising.
After all, about a year ago, in the parliamentary elections, the government “People's Alliance”, the backbone of which is the AKP-MHP alliance, won a landslide victory, receiving 336 seats out of 600 mandates. Erdogan himself, albeit in the second round, defeated the opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu .
Why is it that, a year later, the results of the party in power are so different, and why is the opposition gaining the upper hand?
There are two explanations here.
The first factor is subjective. As we remember, last year the power-hungry Kılıçdaroğlu prevented the popular mayor of Istanbul Imamoglu from running as the main opposition candidate in the presidential elections. He also interfered with the no less popular mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavas .
Each of the two candidates was toxic in their own way. Legal proceedings began against Imamoglu for insulting the Central Election Commission; Yavaş is a nationalist. Nevertheless, due to the absence of a bright candidate, Erdogan easily beat the opposition.
The same personal factor affected the results of the parliamentary elections.
Kılıçdaroğlu, as the head of the CHP party and the opposition National Alliance coalition, dragged his own people to the bottom in parliament.
In addition, the reputation of the opposition was affected by scandals. Three days before the elections, due to discrediting photos and videos on social networks, the chairman of the Fatherland Party, Muharrem Ince, withdrew his candidacy . In addition, a scandal broke out in the National Alliance due to the fact that the head of the Good Party, Meral Akşener, refused to support Kılıçdaroğlu, considering the candidacies of Imamoglu and Yavaş more successful.
On the other hand, the parallel holding of presidential elections helped Erdogan get additional votes for his coalition.
The objective factor in the defeat of the AKP is the economy.
Immediately after his victory last year, Erdogan began to move closer to the West and implement the IMF's recommendations to raise the key rate. For the first time since 2021, inflation in Turkey has slowed, but remains at a very high level of 85%. Turkish Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati stated that the peak of inflation has passed and the country is moving downward. GDP also looks decent, growing by 4.5% in 2023. The unemployment rate fell to its lowest level (9.4%) over the past 10 years.
Yet, despite relative progress, the economic crisis dealt a serious blow to the well-being of citizens.
Everything is becoming more expensive: food, cars and apartments. Many Turks go abroad not because there is no work, but because they can earn much more abroad.
If the economy is the main problem, then a number of other minor issues could also play against the authorities. The fate of almost 5 million refugees, mainly from Syria, has not been decided. Migrants dump and create social conflicts. Neutral voters may also be annoyed by the strengthening of the vertical power structure, the arrests of opposition politicians and journalists, as well as the 20-year tenure of the same person in power.
If last year's elections, in which Erdogan barely retained his post in the second round, and the municipal elections of 2019, when he lost Istanbul, were a wake-up call, then yesterday's vote is a ringing alarm bell.
This time the bell is ringing for both Erdogan and his party.
There is still a lot of time until 2028. But if nothing changes, the president's heir could miserably lose the next presidential election, and the AKP-led alliance could lose parliament. Inspired by the victory, the opposition already wants early presidential elections, but presidential adviser Mehmet Uçum rejected such an idea.
Erdogan will not participate in the next elections. He has already announced that the current elections will be his last.
However, as a leader who built not only a new system, but also a new country, he must take care to preserve his legacy. After admitting defeat, Erdogan promised to “objectively and self-critically” analyze the message conveyed by citizens who cast ballots in the ballot boxes. The president committed himself and his administration to “work tirelessly” to improve the welfare and safety of the population and rebuild the earthquake-damaged regions. Presidential aide Uchum made it clear that the authorities will spend the next four years implementing reforms.
Erdogan has not yet decided on a successor.
How can he? The minute he makes his choice known, even privately, that man will start plotting against him, or he will fear that the man plots. It’s the Byzantine and the Ottoman way,
They call different names. Some talk about the experienced Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan , others about the successful businessman and UAV manufacturer Seljuk Bayraktar . The role of the individual will be of fundamental importance. But charisma alone won't get you far.
In 2028, Turks will judge the AKP candidate and the party itself by deeds. Time will tell whether the Turkish authorities will cope with the economy and migrants.
In principle, municipal elections should not affect foreign policy.
In 2019, Republicans became mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, but international policy was strictly subject to the will of the president. Erdogan carried out Operation Peace Spring in Syria, fought against Assad’s troops in Idlib in 2020, and at the same time helped the al-Sarraj government in Libya fight off General Haftar. At the same time, as we remember, against the backdrop of the peak of the economic crisis, aggravated by the earthquake, Erdogan softened towards the EU and the United States and approved Sweden’s membership in NATO.
To further improve the investment climate, Erdogan will have to continue to take measures to improve relations with the West. At the same time, he will take active steps to diversify trade and financial ties in favor of the east.
It is not for nothing that Turkey and the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf recently began negotiations on a free trade zone. Russia remains a key and energy partner for Turkey, so rapprochement with the West will not come at the expense of joint projects with Moscow, even if the risk of tertiary sanctions becomes real.
The ideal geopolitical scenario for Erdogan is normal relations with both Russia and the West. To skillfully play on both boards, Turkey needs to reduce the degree of confrontation between Moscow and Washington.
Therefore, in the coming years, Erdogan will continue efforts to resolve or at least freeze the conflict in Ukraine. A possible change of administration in the White House this fall could become a “tailwind” for him.
With more than 90% of ballot boxes counted, incumbent Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, was leading by a wide margin in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund... ’s largest city and economic hub, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. Mansur Yavas, the mayor of the capital, Ankara, retained his seat with a stunning 25-point difference over his challenger, the results indicated.
In all, the CHP won the municipalities of 36 of Turkey’s 81 provinces, according to Anadolu, making inroads into many strongholds of Erdogan’s party. It gained 37% of the votes nationwide, compared to 36% for the president’s party, marking the CHP’s greatest electoral victory since Erdogan came to power two decades ago.
Sinan Ulgen, director of the Istanbul-based Edam think tank, said "the surprising outcome" was due to voters wanting to punish the ruling party over the "depth of an economic malaise." Skyrocketing inflation has left many Ottoman Turkish households struggling to afford basic goods.
AKP supporters opted to stay away from the ballot stations or voted for other parties, Ulgen said.
"Turnout was relatively low compared to past elections," he said. "There were cross-party shifts in the vote, which did not happen in the nationals elections because of stronger ideological attachments. This time around the economy prevailed over identity."
Some 61 million people, including more than a million first-time voters, were eligible to cast ballots for all metropolitan municipalities, town and district mayorships as well as neighborhood administrations.
Turnout was around 76%, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency, compared to 87% last year.
Some 594,000 security personnel were on duty across the country to ensure the vote goes smoothly. Nevertheless, one person was killed and 11 others hurt in the city of Diyarbakir where a dispute over the election of a neighborhood administrator turned violent mostly peaceful, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. At least six people were also injured in fighting that erupted in the nearby province of Sanliurfa.
Analysts said a strong showing for Erdogan’s party would have hardened his resolve to usher in a new constitution — one that would reflect his conservative values and allow him to rule beyond 2028 when his current term ends.
Erdogan, who has presided over Turkey for more than two decades — as prime minister since 2003 and president since 2014 — has been advocating for a new constitution that would put family values at the forefront.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/02/2024
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Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#2
For the first time since 2021, inflation in Turkey has slowed, but remains at a very high level of 85%
Islamist Bidenomics
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2024 7:49
Comments ||
Top||
#3
…for political reasons: Turkey looking to improve relations with Israel
That’s the third time — or is it the fourth? — since 2015 or so. At this point they’ve moved well beyond trust but verify. Verification has demonstrated that he is not trustworthy. Perhaps that will change after the Kurds have inherited from the moribund Turks in another generation or two.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The activation of the radical underground in the North Caucasus may be associated with external actors who are trying to worsen the situation inside Russia, but someone inside Russia is helping them, noted analysts interviewed by the Caucasian Knot.
As the Caucasian Knot reported, three people planning terrorist attacks were detained in Makhachkala and Kaspiysk during the counter-terrorism operation. According to the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, the detainees were found with automatic weapons, ammunition and an improvised explosive device. There were no casualties among civilians or losses among security forces, the committee reported. According to the head of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, the special operation was carried out as part of strengthening security measures after the terrorist attack in Moscow.
President of the Association of Veterans of the Alpha anti-terror unit Sergei Goncharov, commenting on the counter-terrorism operation in Makhachkala and Kaspiysk, suggested that the activation of the radical underground in the North Caucasus may be related to the situation in Ukraine.
Eventually, as we are all sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, all things connect. Though often enough the connection is very tenuous and tortured, indeed.
“Currently, things are bad in Ukraine. They are asking for help, but what they are given is clearly not enough for them. [Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate] Budanov said earlier that in case of problems at the front, we will transfer our sabotage activities deep into Russia. And the Northern Caucasus, as you know, has always been a region with serious problems for the Russian Empire, the USSR, and Russia. That’s why they began to activate their “sleeping” cells,” he told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent on March 31.
On March 3, during a counter-terrorism operation (CTO) in Karabulak, security forces killed six suspected militants. On March 5, sources reported that Amirkhan Gurazhev, Zelimkhan Tsuroev, Magomed Barkinkhoev, Tagir Tsuroev, Mikail Tutaev and Bers Chemurziev were killed. No losses among security forces were officially reported; according to Kommersant, five FSB officers were injured during the counter-terrorism operation in Karabulak. NAC stated that six Islamic State militants were killed in the shootout; three of the killed militants were on the federal wanted list. The "Caucasian Knot" has prepared a report "How the special operation took place in Karabulak."
Retired police colonel Amir Kolov believes that the activation of the gang underground in the North Caucasus is “an attempt to divert the real organizers of the terrorist attacks in Crocus City Hall, an attempt to pit Muslims against Russians and other peoples of Russia.”
In Dagestan, after a number of cases of extrajudicial killings of innocent people, many people do not believe what the media and official structures say about counter-terrorism operations, Kolov also told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
On the evening of March 22, armed people broke into the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk near Moscow and opened fire and also committed arson. The FSB classified the incident as a terrorist attack. By March 26, eight people had been arrested in connection with the attack. On March 27, the Ministry of Emergency Situations published a list of 143 killed in the terrorist attack. On March 29, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko announced that another victim of the terrorist attack, who was in extremely serious condition, died in the hospital. As of March 30, the number of victims of the terrorist attack increased to 551.
Senior researcher at the Center for Caucasus Problems and Regional Security at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Akhmet Yarlykapov, linked the terrorist attacks in Russia with a change in the structure of ISIS*, which turned from a territorial structure into a network structure, using the so-called “lone wolves” - lone terrorists, often independently swearing oath to terrorists. “Over the past few years, ISIS* has lost territory in Syria and Iraq and turned into a network structure with a few militants controlled by it - “islands” in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and recruited so-called “lone wolves,” he told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.
He also noted that with the beginning of the Northern Military District, a consensus was reached among the radicals - not to carry out terrorist attacks on the territory of Russia and Ukraine during military operations. “They decided this because in conditions of hostilities, every terrorist attack would be interpreted as assistance to one (non-Muslim) side,” Yarlykapov emphasized.
That echoes ISIS orders not to get involved with the October 7th aftermath in the Palestinian Territories, because Hamas has sold out to Shiite/heretic Iran and the Palestinian Authority is secular Arab rather than austere Sunni Moslem — so neither merits support from properly pious Moslem jihadis.
“Apparently, something has changed within ISIS* itself as part of its development, since this consensus has been destroyed. And, perhaps, Moscow will not be the last city to undergo such an attack - the threats of ISIS* leaders against Europe and the United States sound quite serious," he concluded.
Analysts noted that the radicals are surrendering, whereas previously they often committed, for example, suicide bombings. Sergei Goncharov suggested that we are talking about a decrease in the level of training. “ISIS fighters are trained almost from childhood, they are trained, brainwashed. Now this is not the case, and these bandits are no longer what they used to be,” he said.
More than ever they are merely bandits with a whitewash of religion? If this were Iraq or Syria or the Philippines, I’d they were being killed off faster than they could be trained…
Akhmet Yarlykapov also noted that, judging by the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, the current ISIS militants are “people trained to carry out a terrorist attack, but not too much processed.”
Orientalist Ruslan Suleymanov, speaking about ISIS-Khorasan*, which allegedly claimed responsibility for the terrorist attacks, noted that the main arena of activity of this organization is Afghanistan. “Their base is people from Central Asia, especially Tajiks (they have serious media resources in Tajik, including telegram channels for recruiting recruits). But they say that there are also citizens of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia, although little is known about this ", he told the Caucasian Knot correspondent, adding that a distinctive feature of ISIS-Khorasan* is the use of suicide bombers.
On the day of the terrorist attack in Krasnogorsk, it became known that the terrorist organization "Islamic State"* had claimed responsibility. The New York Times noted that US officials in March gathered intelligence that the Afghanistan-based Islamic State-Khorasan was planning an attack in Moscow, and Russia was warned about it. Statements about the responsibility of ISIS-Khorasan* for the terrorist attack were given weight by the FSB report released two weeks before the terrorist attack on the prevention of an attack on a Moscow synagogue being prepared by militants of the same group. The terrorist attack on visitors to Crocus City Hall has similarities with the January terrorist attack in Iranian Kerman, for which the Islamic State also claimed responsibility, said Mina Al-Lami, an expert on extremist groups.
According to Suleymanov, the question of whether these terrorist attacks were the work of ISIS-Khorasan* is still unclear to him. “Personally, I am not entirely sure that it was this particular branch of ISIS*. If we look at the propaganda materials of this group, we will see that the perpetrator is not specifically named anywhere. ISIS* spokesman Abu Hanifa al-Ansari only stated that it was were "non-Arab lions of the Caliphate", and ISIS* in its weekly report simply allocated a separate line for Russia. Rather, we can say that in Russia there are individual militants affiliated with ISIS*. It would seem that the perpetrators of the terrorist attack in Crocus City Holle" [named] Tajiks, confirms the version of the participation of ISIS-Khorasan *. But I still have great doubts, especially since the style of the attack is not at all similar to the one used by this group, which usually sends suicide bombers," Suleymanov said.
In addition, he noted that ISIS-Khorasan simply does not have the resources to organize such an attack. “But if it is still ISIS-Khorasan*, then someone should have helped him on Russian territory. I believe that the Russian authorities must answer the question of who carried out these terrorist attacks and whether they had assistants in Russia,” - he added.
Akhmet Yarlykapov also noted that ISIS-Khorasan* mainly turns its attention to Afghanistan and has not differed in anything special outside the region. “But since no special ISIS wilayats were formed for Central Asia, the inhabitants of the region were apparently assigned to the “Khorasan wilayat”, and all the terrorist attacks committed by them were attributed to this group,” he suggested.
Yarlykapov also emphasized that in terms of tactics, “ISIS-Khorasan”* was no different from the “Caucasus Vilayat” proclaimed by ISIS*. “The tactics are the same,” he noted.
#6
Remember Islamic Rage Boy? For years he supported his family as a paid protestor, which makes the odds pretty good that the Pakistani mob that fired the KFC were on someone’s payroll at the time.
[Insty's Substack - Subscribe to help continue] It’s feeling a little like 1938. There’s not a great power shooting war going on, but you can smell one coming. There’s the Ukraine war, which involves Russia (kindasorta a great power, but not really nowadays), and which seems to fill the role that the Spanish Civil War played in the 1930s — a testing ground for new technologies and tactics, and an indication of just how destructive, and expensive, modern war can be, but not a main event.
Meanwhile, the main antagonists — this time around, that’s the United States and the People’s Republic of China — are arming up, seeking allies, and thinking strategy and tactics.
The U.S. didn’t really begin to arm up until the massive naval expansion begun (a bit late) in 1940. But weapons development (e.g., the B-17) had begun earlier, and although the politicians continued to talk as if war was unlikely, by 1938 the military and naval folks were expecting a war in the near future.
Chairman Xi, we’re told, has ordered his generals to be ready to invade Taiwan in 2027. Perhaps not coincidentally, rumors are that the Defense Department expects a war, presumably with China, also in 2027, and is preparing for it.
Well, it’s the Defense Department’s job to prepare for war all the time, though these days I suppose I should be grateful they’re still paying some attention to that task instead of pronouns and diversity. And of course it’s entirely possible — probably even some flavor of likely — that this will blow over without World War III. So far pundits and military analysts have predicted something like 11 of the last 0 World Wars since 1945.
But if today is the equivalent of 1938, what should we be doing? Well, let’s break that down into the multiple versions of "we" that could mean.
1. We the Nation.
The United States of America, in other words, though secondarily this includes allies, treaty organizations like NATO, etc. In short, we need to finally begin executing the "pivot to Asia" that the Obama Administration announced, but never really implemented. This means both increased diplomatic efforts to organize China’s neighbors into a containment sphere, and increased military efforts to build up our response capability.
We’re actually making some ground on the first of these, not least because China’s neighbors saw the problem before we did — and also because they’ve lost a lot of confidence in the United States in its role as protector. Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, even the Philippines (which for a while was drifting into China’s orbit) have begun resisting Chinese encroachments, and arming up, while talking to each other (even South Korea and Japan) about presenting a united front.
Militarily, well, these countries are arming up, as I said, and the United States is kindasorta working on it, though we lack the shipbuilding capability to expand our navy as we should, and our woke army seems to be unable to convince enough people to sign up, especially for combat positions.
There’s a fair amount of economic decoupling going on, though less than there needs to be if a war is coming. It’s not just in shipbuilding that domestic production capability is weak. We rely very heavily on Chinese and Taiwanese electronics production, neither of which will be available in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, successful or otherwise. Our production lines for manufacturing drones, missiles, smart bombs, etc. are all much too small to meet wartime demands. Even the Ukraine war has put a strain on some of them.
As Austin Bay and Jim Dunnigan said years ago in How to Make War, a major modern conflict will demonstrate how absurdly, and probably unsustainably, expensive modern warfare with modern weapons has become. (But see below for some alternatives.) But you can’t fight without bullets, and the more modern equivalents. (We still need actual bullets too, though, and supplies of those could be better as well.)
If we’re serious about preparing for a war, the production lines for important weapons, sensors, and the like should be running around the clock. They’re not.
The Army has started doing something about recruitment, replacing "woke" recruiting ads featuring diversity with more traditional ads featuring white men jumping out of airplanes, which led some wags to suggest — probably correctly — that this means they expect to have to fight soon. But it won’t be easy to undo the damage of recent years, including the wanton betrayal of Americans, and foreign allies, in Afghanistan. People noticed, and you can’t turn on a dime after something like that.
One thing I would be doing is studying Ukraine closely. In particular, Ukraine’s use of cheap homemade drones in the air and at sea is worth a close look. Invading Taiwan across a hundred miles of water isn’t an easy task; Ukraine, despite lacking a navy, has basically neutralized the Russian Black Sea Fleet with a combination of ship-killer missiles and cobbled-together drones. It has also made up for the lack of an effective air force by using drones to make deep strikes into Russian territory.
But if you wanted to distill what the U.S. could do into one brief phrase it would be this: "get serious." That means, among other things, a defense secretary who’s up to the job (we don’t have one of those) and a commander in chief who takes things seriously, and isn’t on the Chinese payroll. (Oops.) Well, that’s what Iwould do, and what the U.S. should do, not what the Biden Administration will do. We will pay a price for that, if things come to a head.
2. We the People.
What would you have done in 1938 if you had known that war was coming in 1941? If you had been of an age and inclination to serve, you might have signed up early for one of the service branches, so as to get a leg up on the training process and acquire some seniority. If you had been of the age and resources to invest, you might have put money into war-related industries (which would include obvious things like arms and oil, as well as less obvious things like medical equipment and agriculture). If you had been a member of Congress you might have sought membership on war-related committees. If you were an attorney you might have acquired expertise on government contracts and procurement. If you were a nuclear scientist, you might have started having quiet discussions with trusted peers, as in fact was done. Etc., etc.
What are the equivalents today? Well, some are the same — investing in oil or medical supplies or agriculture, for example. Others are new: Cyberwar will be a big thing and while nobody’s really fought one on a grand scale, it’s likely that Chinese efforts would be gigantic, and quite possibly very destructive.
What else should people be thinking about? Talk about it in the comments below, please!
3. Taiwan.
Taiwan is likely to be China’s first major target —but see the Philippines — and having had the advantage of decades to prepare for a Chinese invasion. I don’t know how well they’ve put that to use. My daughter was in Taipei last year and reported a surprisingly lackadaisical attitude on the part of the ordinary Taiwanese she talked to; what that says about the scope and scale of government efforts I don’t know.
Certainly my advice about learning from Ukraine goes double or triple for the Taiwanese. It’s entirely possible that they could bloody or even neutralize a Chinse invasion fleet with a bunch of low-budget swarming drones. It helps that, unlike Ukraine, they have a huge electronics industry already. If there aren’t Taiwanese observers studying Ukraine’s technology, or Ukrainian consultants teaching their tactics to the Taiwanese military, then somebody has really dropped the ball.
The Taiwanese also should be, and to some degree are, moving some of their manufacturing offshore, to other Asian countries or even to the United States. Of course, that’s a mixed bag for them. Having so much of the world’s semiconductor manufacturing capacity on their small island gives them a useful hostage, a way to make sure that the world cares what happens to them. It’s also an attraction to the Chinese, though Taiwan should also have plans to destroy its factories and evacuate its skilled personnel overseas in the event of an invasion. China’s interest in Taiwan is, in the end, political rather than economic, but the less valuable the prize is in economic terms the better.
Finally, we might take comfort from the fact that China is in serious economic trouble:
You know it’s over when 65 million homes — one-fifth of the nation’s total — lie vacant and real-estate prices have collapsed to 2018 levels.
Tens of millions of Chinese plunked down their life savings for an apartment in a high-rise that they will never live in because the builder went bankrupt, leaving the building an uninhabitable empty shell.
You know it’s over when China’s "official" youth unemployment rate reaches double digits, while its Ministry of Finance reports a 16% drop in personal income tax collected year over year.
Given how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) toys with statistics, the real numbers must be much, much worse.
Finally, you know China’s boom days are over when both capital and people are heading for the exits.
Five hundred billion dollars may have fled the country in 2023 alone and the hemorrhaging continues.
But countries in economic trouble often start wars as a means of getting out of it, or at least distracting from it. Germany invaded Poland because it was facing bankruptcy on its existing course, as the bills for Hitler’s reorganization of the country came due. Chairman Xi is clearly willing to do anything before he’ll admit to error, and he’s wrecked China’s once-flourishing economy too. (Given what’s going on in Western economies, a distraction might become welcome here, too.)
So we may luck out and avoid a war. Heck, we might have done so last time around. But we didn’t, and we may not avoid another one now. And even if we do, it’s likely to be a bumpy ride.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2024
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Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
And the main thing: Western ruling classes and the major part of their populations live in a fantasy world having no connections with reality.
#5
Finally, we might take comfort from the fact that China is in serious economic trouble:
I've been hearing that for decades. The more I hear it, the less I believe it. Underestimating your enemy can only lead to complacency and then to defeat.
What should we be doing? Stop trading with the commie bastards immediately. Their military is only as capable as their economy and ever since the early 1990's we have been the biggest enabler of the Chinese economy. As well as driving the Chinese economy, we have gutted our own manufacturing capacity. That doesn't make any sense.
Next, elect a Republican president. History is very clear: Democrats have always gotten us into the shittiest wars. I think Joe Biden would take rather money from the communists, let them flood our country with fentanyl and prepare for surrender than to deter war with superior fire power.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/02/2024 12:37
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#6
We are at war already. This is a fantasy of refighting ww2. Like the Vietnam experience. China does not want to destroy the US. Belt and road seeks resource control. USAs econimic engine is the resource. They want to manage it. China wants do everything it can to avoid the USA realizing it is already in conflict. It does want us to divide and fight each other. Then support one side over the other.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Viktor Lavrenenko
[REGNUM] The US Congress has approved a government funding bill, which, among other things, provides for the allocation of $228 million to “strengthen the security of the Baltic countries.” The Americans are practical: they gave this amount as an “incentive” to three small states, which already spend huge amounts of money from their state budgets on the purchase of weapons.
A significant part of this money goes to the American military-industrial complex and, in fact, we are talking about a considerable “tribute” that Washington collects from its vassals. So the issuance of these millions should be seen as a transfer of funds from one American pocket to another.
FROM POCKET TO POCKET
The US and NATO have created several mechanisms for military subsidies. In particular, through the Baltic Security Initiative (BSI), created in 2020, the US Department of Defense supports the development of “independent defense capabilities” of the Baltic republics.
Last year, as part of this “initiative,” $225 million was allocated to the Baltic countries; in 2022, the amount of support was $169 million. When using BSI funding, the main emphasis is on developing air defense, naval defense and ground forces capabilities. How these 225 million will be distributed between Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will become clear only in the fall.
There are other American programs for military subsidies to allies.
Thus, the United States this year allocated $47.3 million to Estonia as part of the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program. Naturally, in Tallinn they express loyal delight about this. “This continues to be a clear signal of the US commitment as NATO’s largest ally to our security and stability in the region,” said Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur.
Here, however, you should know that the funds that Washington transfers to the states dependent on it are completely insignificant in comparison with the amounts that they themselves allocate for defense. Thus, Estonia, gripped by an economic crisis, compiled its military budget for 2024 in the amount of 1.3 billion euros (3.2% of national GDP).
During a recent visit to the United States, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna announced the republic’s readiness to maintain defense spending at more than 3% of GDP. “If U.S. security assistance is added to our own defense budget, we will be able to build independent defense capabilities faster than planned,” he added.
Tallinn actively purchases weapons from foreign manufacturers and very actively pays, in particular, American gunsmiths. Thus, in December 2022, Estonia signed an agreement with the American Defense and Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) for the purchase of HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems. The total value of the contract was more than $200 million, making it the largest military procurement in Estonia's history.
“As part of the agreement, in addition to multiple launch rocket systems, Estonia will also purchase ammunition and communications equipment. The agreement also includes resolving issues related to training and logistics. The package also includes various missiles with a range of from 70 to 300 kilometers,” Ramil Lipp, a representative of the Estonian Defense Investment Center, told reporters.
The Estonian military emphasizes that the country urgently needs this type of weapons. “The HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems are a new and important step in the development of Estonia’s defense capabilities,” said Lieutenant Colonel Kaarel Mäesalu, head of the Department of the General Staff of the Defense Forces.
Both he and Lipp particularly emphasized that Estonia is acquiring HIMARS mainly through US aid - in 2022 it amounted to $140.5 million. Also, the Ambassador of Estonia to the United States, Kristjan Prikk, noted that his country had previously used American financial assistance to replenish stocks of large-caliber ammunition.
THE AMERICAN MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX NEEDS TO BE FED
Riga is also reliably “hooked” on the “needle” of the American military-industrial complex. Not long ago, the US State Department made it clear that it does not object to the sale of six HIMARS missile and artillery systems to Latvia. In December, Riga signed a corresponding agreement on the purchase of both the HIMARS themselves and ammunition for them for a total amount of about $180 million.
“This sends a clear message to any potential adversary: the United States and Latvia take seriously our shared commitment to defending every square inch of NATO territory,” enthused US Ambassador Christopher Robinson.
And at the end of October, Riga announced that they would also purchase ATACMS high-precision and long-range missiles. “This is another important step in strengthening the strategic partnership between Latvia and the United States and developing NATO’s defense capabilities,” emphasized Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds.
It is expected that HIMARS systems could be received by Latvia in 2026–2027, and maybe even later. American arms manufacturers are overloaded with work and the turn to fulfill orders from the small Baltic countries will not come soon.
This situation clearly contradicts the rhetoric of local politicians, who argue that defense needs to be built right now - because, they say, Russia is capable of attacking at any time, and already this year.
In this regard, Latvian military analyst Martins Verdins warned a year ago that in arms purchases not everything comes down to money. There is a long line of customers, and it will take Latvia 5–10 years to get what they want.
That is, in essence, we are not talking about “urgent security”, but about “feeding” enterprises of the American military-industrial complex.
The news of December 8 last year should be viewed in the same context. On this day, Andris Spruds and Christopher Robinson announced that Riga had signed an agreement with the American company Raytheon and the Norwegian Kongsberg on the acquisition of Naval Strike Missile anti-ship missile systems.
This system is capable of hitting targets at sea and on land at a distance of up to 185 km. and is in service with several NATO countries - the USA, Poland, Germany, Norway and others.
The total purchase amount will be $105 million. At the same time, 70% of the amount for the purchase of anti-ship missile systems is covered by the United States. That is, Washington is using Latvia as a pretext to throw a chunk at its military enterprises and force the customer to pay them. And deliveries will begin only in 2027.
MAKING MONEY ON FEAR
The Lithuanian Ministry of Defense commented on the news about the allocation of $228 million to the Baltic countries in the sense that they would use their share to strengthen the “critical capabilities of the armed forces” - to strengthen air defense, intensify monitoring of the marine environment, purchase ammunition, and build up artillery potential.
“The United States is a strategic partner of Lithuania and one of the main allies ensuring the security of the Baltic region. The Americans are taking an extremely active part in the implementation of security measures in the Baltic countries, strengthening the security and stability of the region,” said the new Lithuanian Minister of Defense Laurynas Kaciunas.
According to the local Ministry of Finance, last year the United States allocated about $200 million to Lithuania through various military financing mechanisms. However, this is a very small amount if you compare it with what the Republic of Lithuania gives to the armed forces, taking it out of its own budget and squeezing it out of citizens in the form of taxes.
The state allocates 2.45% of the country's GDP for military spending. In total, about 23 billion euros will be allocated for military needs over the next ten years. The Republic of Lithuania is actively buying weapons.
At the end of 2022, Lithuania entered into an agreement with the Americans to purchase eight HIMARS units with ammunition for $495 million. The first products are expected to arrive this year. Vilnius will also purchase 36 AIM-120C-8 medium-range missiles (AMRAAM) from the United States for 94 million euros. These missiles can be used in NASAMS medium-range air defense systems, which Lithuania has already purchased from the Norwegian manufacturer.
Recently, fifty American armored all-terrain vehicles JLTV (Joint Light Tactical Vehicle) were delivered to the republic - this is the third delivery of this kind. The armored vehicles arrived in Lithuania as part of the implementation of a contract for the purchase of 200 all-terrain vehicles dated 2019.
This year, deliveries of American SUVs produced by Oshkosh Defense to the republic will begin - as part of a contract for 300 vehicles signed in 2022.
Lithuania is also purchasing Switchblade drones, Javelin anti-tank missile systems, two Black Hawk helicopters, and communications equipment from the United States.
Sometimes Americans still blurt out that they are not so much trying to protect the Baltic countries as they are making money by creating fear of “unpredictable Russia.”
Thus, recently the US Permanent Representative to NATO Julian Smith said that Washington does not at all believe that a Russian attack on the Baltic countries is inevitable. However, she quickly added: “We have your back, we think about your safety and we are taking more measures every month in NATO to respond to your very real security concerns.” Just bring us the money...
[FoxNews] DeSantis started flying illegal immigrants to progressive states in late 2022 to highlight the Biden administration’s inadequate response to the border crisis
A federal judge on Monday dropped Ron DeSantis from a lawsuit after the Republican Florida Governor coordinated flights of illegal immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in 2022.
In a 77-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs dropped DeSantis and various past and present staff members from the lawsuit over "insufficient facts" presented in the case.
Allison said the court could not "ascertain what actions were taken by whom and therefore cannot determine which, if any, of those individual Defendants transacted business or caused injury here, leaving it no choice but to find that, at least on this record, personal jurisdiction has not been established."
Still, the ruling leaves open the possibility for further litigation against Vertol, the Florida-based company that coordinated the flights for $1.5 million.
Like his counterparts in Texas and Arizona, DeSantis started flying illegal immigrants to progressive states in late 2022 to highlight the Biden administration’s failing at the southern border.
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] American intelligence helps Kyiv in preparing terrorist attacks on Russian territory. In particular, as the Foreign Intelligence Service announced on April 1, Washington provides the Ukrainian side with information from satellites.
Of course they would say so, no matter the truth of it.
“Data received by the service indicate that when organizing attacks, Ukrainians actively use satellite information provided to them by American intelligence,” the department’s press service said.
The SVR stated this in the context of US actions to distort the picture of the terrorist attack that happened on March 22 in the Crocus City Hall near Moscow. The service noted that the administration of current US President Joe Biden has intensified relevant work so as not to incur suspicions of involvement in terrorism after attempts to “whitewash” the Kiev regime.
“It is becoming obvious that the United States risks being suspected of involvement in international terrorism,” the SVR said.
However, the United States is unable to achieve unity in the assessment of the terrorist attack among NATO and European Union members, since attempts to shield the head of the Kiev regime, Vladimir Zelensky, began almost at lightning speed after the terrorist attack, which many in the West seemed reckless and suspicious, the SVR emphasized.
As Regnum reported, terrorists attacked Crocus City Hall on the evening of March 22. They opened fire on visitors and set fire to the concert hall. According to official data, the attack killed 144 people and injured 551 others. The head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, reported that those detained in the case of the terrorist attack in Crocus spoke about the Ukrainian trail, and emphasized that the Islamists could not prepare everything on their own, they were helped. On March 28, the Russian Investigative Committee announced that it had received evidence of a connection between the Crocus terrorists and Ukrainian nationalists.
The White House made its first statements just hours after the attack on the concert hall. Then the United States said that it saw no signs of Ukraine or Ukrainians being involved in the incident, while the US administration claimed that it did not have information about the preparation of this attack.
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, responded at the time that if Washington makes statements in the midst of a tragedy about the non-involvement of anyone and has no information about what happened, then it does not have the right to “protect any forces.” Later, she also explained that the West realized the need to change its position towards the terrorist attack in Crocus, so many representatives of Western diplomatic missions came to the Foreign Ministry to leave entries in the book of condolences.
In addition, on March 8, the US Embassy in Moscow issued a warning to Americans about the threat of terrorist attacks in the next 48 hours. The message noted that the diplomatic mission is monitoring reports that extremists have plans to attack large gatherings of people in Moscow, including concerts. After the terrorist attack, the United States announced “the only version” - the involvement of members of ISIS (a terrorist organization whose activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation).
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that such a reaction at a time when the investigation was still ongoing, at least looked strange and spoke of a desire to shift attention from something. White House spokesman John Kirby responded to the version about the involvement of Ukraine and the West in the terrorist attack with rudeness, without stating anything specific.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Denis Davydov
[REGNUM] Vladimir Zelensky is celebrating two important anniversaries one after another. March 31 marked the fifth anniversary of his shocking victory in the presidential elections in Ukraine. And on May 21, presidential powers turn into a pumpkin and right now they are preparing a “defense line”, with the help of which Bankova hopes to continue to maintain Zelensky’s sole power.
The irony of fate is that he is not the first head of state who was looked upon with great hope at the beginning, but in the end began to be viewed with contempt and hatred. And Zelensky himself, which is also traditional for Ukrainian politics, desperately clings to power, shouting about his need. Although in 2020 he proved to foreign journalists: “I don’t cling to ratings or power. If I cannot end the war, then another person needs to come who is capable of ending this tragic story between our countries.”
The “anti-system” party and promises to build “a country of other opportunities, where everyone is equal before the law, where there are fair and transparent rules of the game” allowed them to win the elections on March 31, 2019 with an indicator of 73.22%. The war party then shrank to 25%, even without the voters of Donbass and Crimea, Ukrainian society clearly expressed its desire for peace, and Zelensky firmly promised it to everyone. The people, fed up with the aggressive shamanism named after Petro Poroshenko, were ready to vote for anyone - just to breathe out and start living normally.
However, certain force majeure circumstances pulled the cheerful colloquial artist into their millstones, along with his motley “mono-majority” recruited literally on the street. The result was smooth red-black coarse Bandera flour. Instead of “smiling Ukrainians” we see a totalitarian society with a tormented Fuhrer at the very top. Now Zelensky stands “for war to a victorious end,” regardless of any losses, and executes anyone who dares to contradict him.
On the occasion of an important anniversary, it is worth remembering what these circumstances were and how the KVE officer from Krivoy Rog turned from a harmless “clown” into a bloody dictator with a crumpled face.
"THE PEOPLE'S PRESIDENT"
“Dear people, throughout my life I have tried to do everything to make Ukrainians smile. I felt this in my heart, it was not only my job - it was my mission. For the next five years, I will do everything, Ukrainians, so that you don’t cry,” - with this phrase the political path of Vladimir Zelensky as president began.
None of the Ukrainian political scientists (including the author of these lines) believed in his victory, with the exception of a little-known expert who, even after the release of the TV series “Servant of the People,” declared: this is a successful bookmark for future elections. Then no one heard him. However, already a few months before the 2019 elections, some serious people from Europe began to seek contacts with the actor’s headquarters. We wanted to agree in advance on serious contracts and cooperation parameters.
It looked very strange, but in the end it turned out that serious people knew something. It’s just that a false scheme was initially built, thanks to which many believed that Zelensky’s electorate was only young people. In fact, sociology showed that throughout the campaign the candidate moved into older niches and, accordingly, his core was formed closer to the elections at the expense of the older generation: 35 plus, 45 plus, etc.
The TV series plot really worked; Ukrainian voters voted for the sincere “teacher Goloborodko”, who was going to deal with the old elite, bloated from constant theft. The campaign was carried out competently, unlike other candidates, Volodya was almost invisible, he existed as a conventional figure and was unobtrusive. Each voter endowed it with its own content, superimposing the image from the series on a living person and convincing himself that “there is justice, it is worth fighting for.”
“Back then it was a classic protest vote. At that time, society was wildly tired of the “gray-haired Hetman,” who trumpeted on daily television about the Army, Faith and Mova. Like, it is necessary to fight to the bitter end, talk only in language and go to a single “politically correct” church, which he himself created. So the reaction of the Ukrainian people is absolutely not surprising,” Ukrainian political scientist Kirill Molchanov explains to Regnum.
The technologists, hired and paid by the de facto owner of the young candidate, the all-powerful oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, did a stellar job, creating a message box that would go straight to the liver. Zelensky ideally approached the post-Maidan society, exhausted over five years, calling to leave the Russian language and Russian-speaking people alone, “to negotiate even with the bald devil,” to rid everyone of inflated politicians, “who in 28 years have created a country of opportunities for kickbacks, flows and “ deribans,” put scoundrels in prison and serve the people.
At the inauguration ceremony, where the new head of state sensationally dissolved the Verkhovna Rada, he said: “I’m even ready to lose my post just for peace to come. Without losing our territories, never." It is impossible to say for sure whether he really believed in all this or simply played the role with talent, but people took what he said completely seriously. This is the tragedy of both the individual Jewish boy and the entire country.
"SERVANT": THE BEGINNING OF THE FALL
As soon as the harsh workdays began, progressive young politicians had to act according to the old, familiar patterns of Ukrainian politics. Other methods simply did not work there. Zelensky surrounded himself with “his own people”; almost the entire management of the Kvartal 95 studio moved to government power, mixed with Kolomoisky’s people. The president’s confidant and “wallet” Sergei Shefir became the right hand and liaison with big business, Kolomoisky’s adviser and the lawyer of his business partner Andrei Bogdan were appointed head of the office, lawyer and head of “Kvartal 95” Ivan Bakanov became the head of the SBU, and prime minister at the same time the fosterling of “Western partners” and Kolomoisky’s protégé Alexey Goncharuk, etc.
In total, as the grant organization “Committee of Voters of Ukraine” calculated, 30 people were appointed to the highest governing bodies who had previously worked in the structures of Zelensky’s company, its subsidiaries, provided services to the company, collaborated with Zelensky on a professional basis, or were his acquaintances, friends or relatives. Of these, 12 directly worked at Studio Kvartal 95. All of them immediately began to make money on “kickbacks”, “flows” and “deribans”.
The majority of the Servant of the People party formed in parliament also consisted of a mixture of different influence groups, behind which stood certain influential people (starting with Kolomoisky). Like mad, it issued laws that were passed down from the presidential office until it came up against “land reform.” It was not possible to quickly organize the sale of Ukrainian land, and this became the first serious stumbling block.
And the second and main thing is the seemingly defeated minority, which firmly made it clear that the street is behind them and the new government will not be allowed to stop the war. Commanders of various types of volunteer battalions formed in 2014 publicly stated: if troops are withdrawn from the “ATO zone,” they will raise their people and take their place.
In October 2019, at an unauthorized checkpoint set up by members of Azov (an organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation) in Donbass, a famous conversation took place in a raised voice. Zelensky shouted: “I am the president of this country, I am 42 years old. I'm not a loser. I came to you and told you: “Put away your weapons.” From that moment on, the nickname “Neloh” informally stuck to him.
The corresponding attitude was clearly demonstrated on March 20, 2021, when right-wing activists staged a protest near the office of the President of Ukraine in support of the convicted “brother,” a representative of the “Right Sector” (an organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation) in Odessa, murderer and standard scoundrel Sergei Sternenko. The charged guys clashed with the police, as a result of which 27 law enforcement officers were injured, and the entire facade of the building on Bankovaya Street was covered with offensive inscriptions and swastikas.
To briefly summarize, in 2.5 years “Neloh” fully realized that he was not able to control the situation - it was she who controlled him.
All attempts to enter into effective negotiations with Russia and directly with the DPR and LPR, to disengage troops, and to begin implementing the Minsk agreements were met with accusations of treason and opposition from the “patriotic part of society.” There was simply nothing to oppose it: there was no army of its own, and it would seem that all-encompassing power did not give real influence. She was completely lost in the management system built by the United States after the Maidan, and there the end of the war in Donbass was not agreed upon. The desire to get out of the control of Kolomoisky, to whom the United States had complaints, led to control by the Americans and personally over Zelensky.
He was received in Washington, he was promised support and money, personal security, and agreements on financing the defense industry were signed with the participation of the new President Joe Biden. 2021 dotted all the i's: changing the role became a matter of not only political, but also physical survival for Zelensky. Therefore, what he was trying to fight against now had to be led. The Fuhrer began to hatch from the Neloha larva.
THE WAR STARTED IN KYIV
At the beginning of 2021, the issue of “annexation of Crimea” by Russia and the topic of returning the peninsula to Ukraine, as well as the rejection of a political settlement of the armed conflict in Donbass, finally became the center of foreign policy efforts of the Ukrainian leadership. In essence, Zelensky has turned into a copy of Poroshenko, completely taking over the rhetoric of his opponents.
In mid-March, he signed the “Strategy for de-occupation and reintegration of the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol” developed by the National Security and Defense Council, which states that Kiev will use measures of a “diplomatic, military, economic, informational, humanitarian and other nature” to return this territory. At the same time, the process of searching for participants in the preparation, signing and ratification of the Kharkov agreements of 2010, as well as those responsible for the loss of Crimea in 2014, began. “International partners” were called to the cause of sacred struggle, and they tried to unite them at the summit of the “Crimean Platform” - a new international negotiating platform.
In the new “Military Security Strategy of Ukraine”, signed by Zelensky and published on March 25, 2021, the Russian Federation is declared a military adversary from which the main threats come. Accordingly, “the integration of Ukraine into the Euro-Atlantic space and the acquisition of NATO membership” were named among the main goals of the military security strategy. High-ranking Americans often visited Kiev, Biden was constantly on the phone, and in early May, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the famous “cookies on the Maidan” Victoria Nuland, Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs, visited Ukraine.
Following the summit meeting in September, a joint statement was adopted on the strategic partnership between the United States and Ukraine. The parties agreed to intensify the work of the commission, which should develop a new Charter for Strategic Partnership. During the visit, agreements worth 2.5 billion were signed between Ukroboronprom and US military-industrial companies, including Lockheed Martin, Harris Global Communications, Global Ordnance, Day & Zimmermann Lone Star LLC. That is, the main suppliers of weapons already in 2022.
At the same time, a “witch hunt” began within the country. First, all opposition television channels were subjected to aggressive pressure and then closure (the latter were destroyed already in 2022) and a number of other publications. Personal sanctions were introduced by decisions of the National Security and Defense Council against the political opposition, which called for peace and normalization of relations with the Russian Federation. Looking back, we can state that preparations for war were in full swing.
On February 19, 2022, at the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky announced that he would initiate consultations within the framework of the Budapest Memorandum. If the summit of the participating countries does not take place or does not provide Ukraine with security guarantees, then the document will be declared invalid by the Ukrainian side along with the clauses that were signed in 1994. That is, an application was made to own nuclear weapons.
The long-awaited, in fact, and approaching war with Russia with all our might, has already made it possible, through the hands of “teacher Goloborodko”, to fully implement the “Poroshenko program” - and in fact, Western Ukrainian nationalism. War “to the bitter end”, the ban on the canonical Orthodox Church, the seizure of churches and the transfer of holidays to the Catholic calendar. Total Ukrainization of not only the official sphere, but also the social sphere, with the complete destruction of the Russian language. A complete ban on any dissent, total purges, unlimited power of repressive bodies and “activists” looking for “enemies of the people.”
Moreover, he implemented it with such zeal and enthusiasm that the “gray-haired hetman” is desperately jealous: it turns out that it was possible.
END OF THE PERFORMANCE
Over the past two years, the former cheerful boy, joker and mischief-maker has turned into a pure inquisitor, a twitched neurasthenic, lashing out at his subordinates and destroying anyone who allowed him to say a word against him. First of all, members of his team - as happened with people’s deputy Alexander Dubinsky, who is unlikely to leave the walls of the pre-trial detention center.
Zelensky can no longer get out of this role; the destruction of his psyche has gone too far. So he views the expiration of his term of office as an unfortunate misunderstanding that makes no sense to discuss. He categorically denies elections, and colossal efforts were spent to knock out his main competitor, ex-commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny (whom the Ukrainians also in absentia endowed with fantastic virtues), from the game.
At the same time, one of the main motivators for the former president is fear. After everything he has done, he will not have peace in any country in the world, and without power, just anyone will crush him. While he is on duty, he is alive and can do something. Therefore, the office on Bankovaya is undergoing vigorous activity to strengthen its position. Just the other day, first assistant Shefir, four out of 11 advisers, as well as two commissioners were fired. The reasons are not given, but it is significant that all seven full-time and 18 non-staff advisers to the head of the office Andrei Ermak, 14 advisers to his deputies and 8 office advisers remain in place.
“This part of the process is the evacuation of Zelensky’s personal friends before a period of vague legitimacy. Now it’s better for them to stay away from Ukraine. These personnel rotations had to be completed before March 31, while Ze’s legitimacy was absolute. At the same time, no one left Ermak’s apparatus, except for Elena Kovalskaya, who went for a promotion, becoming, in fact, the head of Bankova’s apparatus, instead of Alexey Dneprov, who had been sitting in this place since the time of Turchinov. Only personnel personally tied to Ermak remain in the office. Preparations are underway for the period of “Yermakovism,” sayspolitical strategist Mikhail Pavliv to Regnum news agency.
Ermak, reliable as a rock, is going to be prime minister in order to personally hold all executive power in his hands. After Zaluzhny’s resignation, there were large-scale changes in the security bloc, and the new commander in chief, Alexander Syrsky, is personally loyal to Zelensky. Just like the head of the SBU, Vasily Malyuk, who poured out loyal statements in a recent interview.
The circle that the Zelensky-Ermak tandem still trusts has narrowed to a number of people who can be counted on the fingers of one hand. But this is a classic mistake that once cost Viktor Yanukovych power. He also thought that if his people were stationed everywhere, “everything was seized, everything was paid for.” But in fact, just as the “Western partners” were tired of the too cunning and greedy Poroshenko, who managed to please both Washington and Moscow, they were also tired of Zelensky, who had lost his sense of proportion.
In principle, anyone can do his job: the “New Ukraine” project is formatted and effectively managed by the right-wing radical elite and its junta. So the “people”, who successfully changed the role of the Krivoy Rog captain at the beginning of his term, will just as easily finish the production with a new role. Vladimir Aleksandrovich is unlikely to receive his beloved applause at the end of his career. And he will meet his inevitable end in a remote corner, snarling like a rat.
Almost 70% of Ukrainians think that President Volodymyr Zelensky should remain in office for the duration of martial law, and elections should be postponed until it is lifted, according to a survey released on Feb. 20 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).
#3
Almost 70% of Ukrainians think that President Volodymyr Zelensky should remain in office for the duration of martial law, and elections should be postponed until it is lifted, according to a survey released on Feb. 20 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).
Right. Zelensky canceled the elections because he has the support of the people. Right. Sure. That's why.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/02/2024 11:46
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#4
Everything you NEED to know about Ukrainians is that they've elected a guy who played a president in TV series.
THAT appears to be what the FSB assessment was for the "3 day Special Operation".
#5
We elected an actor as POTUS back in the 80's. Turned out fairly well
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2024 12:33
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#6
^Beldar, your statement lends support to mine.
Ukrainians are dumb for electing Elenski. And they're superdumb for being willing to fight to the last Ukrop on behalf of their EU masters (and Americans are dumb for supporting EU's traditional Drang nach Osten)
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 23:58 Official summary of the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC from 00:00 04/01/2024 to 00:00 04/02/2024.
16 facts of armed attacks by the UFU were recorded by the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC over the past 24 hours.
There were no reports of civilian casualties
DAMAGED:
Four residential buildings
Ten artillery attacks in the Donetsk direction
Six artillery attacks in the Gorlovka direction
A total of 44 units of various ammunition were fired
21:35 Enemy admits the actual loss of Vodyanoy.
This settlement beyond Avdeevka is located almost close to Pervomaisky, more than half of which is also under our control.
Ukrainian military analysts publish geolocations, showing on maps that Russian troops have actually reached the outskirts of the village.
Advancement in an area up to 200 m wide to a depth of up to 650 m.
20:18 All last week, Ukrainian formationscontinuedstrike Russian regions. As before, most of the enemy attacks fell on the populated areas of the Donetsk People's Republic, Belgorod and Kherson regions.
Compared to last week, the enemy has reduced the intensity of artillery attack of the Donetsk agglomeration by more than 20%, while the Ukrainian Armed Forces are still using cluster munitions. Meanwhile, the number of rounds fired into the Belgorod region decreased by 12%. In the Kherson region this figure was 18%.
The difficult situation still remains in the populated areas of the DPR, where three people were killed and 11 were injured. In the Belgorod region, the death of two residents was recorded, and 15 civilians were injured. Eight people were injured on the Kherson left bank, but there were no casualties.
Other front-line regions, such as the Kursk and Zaporozhye regions, also came under attack. In the Bryansk region, Kurkovichi, Zernovo and Belaya Berezka were shelled: four people were wounded. All of them together fired at least 70 rounds of ammunition.
In the rear regions, the target of the Kyiv regime was objects in the Rostov region, where air defense systems destroyed two modified S-200 anti-aircraft missiles. And at the end of the week, the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried to attack the infrastructure of Yaroslavl: one drone was landed by electronic warfare equipment on approach to the Slavneft YANOS refinery.
19:57 The situation along Chasov Yar is reported by the Special Forces company of the 331st regiment:
“The situation is complicated, their FPV works godlessly, it’s impossible to move, they started using night ones, they came close, at night they knocked out the Ukrainians from 2 strong points, to the first houses 600-800 meters away, I definitely didn’t look at the alpine, but they are at altitude, I worked there A vpurist was working in one of the houses, they folded the house at night, we are actively attacking it with artillery, the work is being carried out with drops and FPV, for now I won’t talk about a further attack, but we will try, brother, glory to the Airborne Forces.”
19:31 The Typical Odessa channel reports about the explosion in the Odessa region.
19:15 The Diary of a Paratrooper reports about the successes of the Russian Armed Forces between Ivanovsky and Bogdanovka in the direction of Chasov Yar.
According to the channel, Russian artillery and aviation strikes play a big role in the offensive.
17:55 The Russian military struck the Lozovatka airport in Krivoy Rog, from where Ukrainian Air Force planes and helicopters took off throughout the day, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the pro-Russian underground.
17:40 Encounter battles near Chasovy Yar and access to operational space near Avdiivka: situation at the front on April 1.
Kharkov direction. The activity of operational-tactical aviation of the Russian Armed Forces has increased. Arrivals are recorded in the area of the Lozovaya station (302nd Anti-aircraft Missile Regiment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces), in Tsirkuni (164th Radio-technical Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces), as well as in the area of the settlements of Prelestnoye and Frunze, where, presumably, those withdrawn to combat missiles and aircraft are hit S-300 air defense system. According to preliminary data, some of the launchers (and other air defense equipment) of the Ukrainian Armed Forces may be hidden on the territory of the Kharkov Aviation Plant.
Zaporozhye direction. The Russian Armed Forces continue to cut off the Rabotinsky ledge and close pincers around a dozen units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Fighting, as before, takes place for every forest belt, but their intensity is gradually increasing. Ukrainian troops periodically transfer reinforcements near Rabotino, but most of them are ground down in the process of being transported from the main roads to positions. An almost similar situation developed near Pyatikhatki, several kilometers to the west.
Avdeevskoe direction. Due to the threat of losing the main positions, reserves of the 407th Special Operations Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transferred to Berdychi. The 31st Mechanized Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces also began working in Berdychi, partially replacing the forces of the 47th Mechanized Infantry Brigade that were knocked out here.
Control of the village is approximately 50/50; on the Ukrainian side we are talking more about a gray zone than a permanent presence. The battles for neighboring Semyonovka intensified, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces were retreating after the loss of Tonenky. In the near future, the LBS in this area may move directly to the village. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to prevent this at all costs, since the loss of Semenovka will mean that the Ukrainian army will have to dig in in the fields with nowhere to hide.
Statements by Western analysts about the imminent entry into the “operational space” do not correspond to reality, since after the capture of Semyonovka and Umansky, the distance to the next “point of attraction” is no more than five km. At this distance, it is possible to create a gap in the operational-tactical defense system of the Ukrainian Armed Forces for the subsequent development of an offensive in depth and towards the flanks, but there is no talk of a large-scale breakthrough yet.
Chasov Yar/Bogdanovka. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have strengthened their defenses near the Kanal microdistrict, moving a number of reserve units from Konstantinovka. After the loss of key support forces between Chasovy Yar and Bogdanovka, Ukrainian units are actively digging in in residential areas. Observation posts were set up in apartment buildings on Gorbatov and Zelyonaya streets. In the basements there are powerful diesel generators and situation centers.
Some unit commanders act in the same way as before the start of the battle for Artyomovsk. All military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are sent to the front line, police functions are partially transferred to the international Normandy battalion with a large number of Polish and Romanian mercenaries. Also, in case of a breakthrough of the RF Armed Forces from the Krasny (Ivanovsky) side, the Armed Forces of Ukraine received reserves of the 112th and 114th Territorial Defense brigades. Replenishment is mainly mobilized from the central regions of Ukraine without combat experience.
Ugledar direction. The Russian Armed Forces continue to move and attempt to capture Ugledar from the north. At the moment there are battles for Novomikhailovka. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to hold the village and are transferring significant reserves to this direction, but more than half are already under the control of the Russian army.
The exit of Russian troops to Paraskovievka and the O0532 highway will actually put Ugledar in a semi-siege situation, since the evacuation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces garrison remaining in the city will be difficult. At the same time, in neighboring Yekaterinovka and Elizavetovka, reserves are being destroyed, the transfer of which by the Ukrainian Armed Forces is carried out from Karlovka.
16:50 Explosions in Krivoy Rog.
16:29 Township Kupyansk-Uzlovoy “arrival” in the area of ??the crossing, (area of the Chugunny Bridge), writes Kharkov direction.
16:10 Fighters of the Vostok group continue to liberate the village. Novomikhailovka. Sakhalin residents and marines are gradually clearing the settlement -video.
15:32 In the Seversky direction, airborne artillery destroyed an enemy warehouse.
Crews of 152mm howitzers D-20 of the Tula paratroopers destroyed a field warehouse with ammunition identified by aerial reconnaissance, and also destroyed a concentration of enemy infantry, writes the Paratrooper’s Diary.
In addition to destroying this point, by striking at a concentration of manpower, the artillery made it easier for the assault groups of paratroopers to clear the stronghold on which the artillery had worked.
In the same area, another enemy field warehouse with ammunition had previously been destroyed by fire from D-20 howitzers.
15:19 Calculations of attack FPV drones continue combat work in the Seversk direction.
Operators of kamikaze drones daily destroy enemy strongholds and manpower, clear mines and make passages in the obstacles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, helping the advancement of assault units.
To effectively carry out combat missions, the group’s specialists organized a full cycle of production of attack quadcopters directly at the forefront. In the workshops, military personnel make combat parts for quadcopters, assemble bodies and program drones.
15:01 Two residential buildings, a gas pipeline and a power line support (power line)gotdamage as a result of artillery attack of Pervomaisk by Kyiv militants. This was announced by the head of the city district Sergei Kolyagin.
14:27 Calculations of the 2S5 152mm Msta-S self-propelled gun destroy targets with precision-guided ammunition "Krasnopol"
The artillery brigade of the 36th Combined Arms Army of the Vostok group of troops has hit hundreds of targets. According to the gunners, with “Krasnopol” the effectiveness of work increases significantly, the shooting accuracy is one hundred percent, the range is about 25 kilometers.
The next target of the artillerymen was a fortified Ukrainian Armed Forces post and ammunition depot set up in a forest belt; the target was destroyed.
13:40 The main thing from the briefing of the Russian Ministry of Defense:
The Russian Armed Forces destroyed two launchers of the S-300 air defense system and hit a temporary deployment point for mercenaries near Kharkov;
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 510 military personnel in the Donetsk direction;
Russian troops occupied more advantageous positions in the Avdeevsky direction, repelled two counterattacks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the enemy lost up to 295 troops;
The Russian Armed Forces destroyed 11 ammunition depots in the Donetsk direction;
Over the course of a day, the forces of the Russian Armed Forces improved the tactical situation in the South Donetsk direction, the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces amounted to more than 120 military personnel;
The Russian Armed Forces have improved the position along the front line in the Donetsk direction;
The air defense of the Russian Armed Forces intercepted 228 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as four HIMARS MLRS rockets and a JDAM bomb during the day.
12:05 Artillerymen of the 58th Army with an accurate shot destroyed armored vehicles of Ukrainian Armed Forces militants in the Rabotino area in the Zaporozhye direction using the Krasnopol adjustable artillery ammunition
12:35 The Russian Armed Forces hit a temporary deployment point of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kharkov region.
“Director for Ukraine” reports that the FAB-500 flew in direct fire to the fire station in the village. Cossack Lopan, which was used as a PVD of the 113th Troops Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
11:24 T-80 tanks and attack drones of the 1st Army Corps ensured the advance of assault groups of the “Southern” group of troops in the Donetsk direction -video.
11:11 650 meters to Chasov Yar: the landing force continues to break through the enemy’s defenses – Military Correspondents of the Russian Spring
Advancing from Artyomovsk, the 98th Ivanovo Airborne Division successfully advances, crushing the forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, occupying enemy strongholds one after another and approaching the important city of Chasov Yar.
Ukrainian military analysts report defeats of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and publish maps of the progress of the Russian Armed Forces:
“At Chasov Yar, Russian troops occupied a forest belt running from the eastern edge of the Deciduous Forest to the Stupki-Golubovskie 2 reserve. Advancement in an area up to two km wide to a depth of 620 m. The Russians continue to bring up reserves for assault operations with a wider coverage. From the city of Chasov Yar to the positions of the Russian Armed Forces is about 650 meters,” write enemy resources.
Fierce fighting also continues in Bogdanovka and in the Ivanovsky area, and Russian troops continue their assaults.
11:07 The Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked a residential building in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region, no casualties - authorities
10:35 A captured Ukrainian military man spoke about the disorderly withdrawal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Avdievka -video.
10:25 Situation on the Rabotino-Verbovoye section at 10.00:
At night in Rabotino, the struggle for positions and fortifications continued, but without a significant change in the line of combat contact. The enemy from time to time made attempts to dislodge the Russian Armed Forces from their positions, but to no avail.
North-west of Verbovoy, our troops managed to move forward a little, despite stubborn enemy resistance. The enemy suffered losses and retreated. And yet the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not give up hope of seizing the initiative.
10:17 Ukrainian Telegram channels reported about explosions in Khar'kov.
09:27 Russian army defeated four counterattacks by Ukrainian Armed Forces assault groups in the Kupyansk direction.
In the area of Tern and Sin'kovka, units of the West group of troops repelled four counterattacks of enemy assault groups. The Russian Armed Forces hit temporary deployment points, platoon strongholds, artillery positions, concentrations of manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Enemy losses amounted to up to 25 military personnel, the 122mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled gun, the Grad MLRS combat vehicle, the 152mm Msta-B and 152mm D-20 howitzers, the Ukrainian Nota electronic warfare station, four vehicles and an ammunition depot.
08:19 Today, early in the morning, the territory of the city of Pervomaisk (LPR) came under fire from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. According to preliminary data, there are no casualties or injuries. This was reported to the City Administration.
08:12 Enemy channels confirm installation of two flags by the Russian Army in the western part of the village of Vodyanoye DPR. Ours are moving west.
08:00 Summary on the morning of April 1, 2024:
In the Kherson direction, our assault groups are clashing with the enemy in Krynki. The Ukrainian Armed Forces do not intend to give up maintaining the presence of small groups of infantry on our shore, despite the losses and regular destruction of boats, the enemy is trying to bring personnel and supplies to our shore. Strikes against civilians continue, and artillery duels are taking place.
On the Zaporozhye Front, the Russian Armed Forces are advancing towards Rabotino from the west, holding the southern part of the village. North-west of Verbovoy, fighting intensified yesterday, artillery and drones were used on both sides, and the enemy is actively using Baba Yaga agricultural drones to mine the area. The Ukrainian Armed Forces also deployed German armored vehicles in the direction. FAB and UMPC strikes are carried out on enemy concentration areas near Orekhovo.
South of Mar'inka, the Russian Armed Forces are engaged in heavy fighting in Novomikhailovka. In the Kurakhovsky direction, the Russian Armed Forces are moving west.
South-west of Avdievka they report the liberation of a village by our troops. Vodyanoye, which creates additional conditions for the development of the offensive in Pervomaisky. To the north there are battles for Semyonovka and Berdychi.
In the direction to Chasov Yar (west of Artyomovsk), the Russian Armed Forces are advancing towards the city along the railway, our advanced units are located less than 1 km from the western outskirts of Chasov Yar. There are battles in Bogdanovka, Ivanovsky (Krasny), and near Kleshcheevka.
South of Kremennaya the battle for Belogorovka continues. To the west, the Russian Armed Forces are advancing towards Terny.
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 22:13 In Krivoy Rog, one person was injured as a result of an enemy attack, said the head of the Dnepropetrovsk OVA, Sergei Lysak.
21:45 The Greek government is preparing to send a large batch of artillery ammunition to Ukraine from its army warehouses via the Czech Republic in the amount of 150 million euros. But this requires the approval of the relevant parliamentary committee, reports local publication iEidiseis.
21:28 The production of long-range drones in Ukraine in 2024 has increased tenfold compared to last year, said the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Mikhail Fedorov, in an interview with Die Welt. According to him, most of the drones that attacked Russian refineries have a range of 700 to 1,000 km, “but now there are models that can fly more than 1,000 km.”
20:32 During the day, air defense forces destroyed the Russian reconnaissance drone Outpost over the Black Sea, as well as the X-59 guided aircraft missile in the Krivoy Rog region of the Dnepropetrovsk region, the Air Force reported.
19:44 Zelensky said in an evening video message that he held a special meeting today on working with NATO regarding compatibility and prospects for this year. “This year raises several fundamental issues for relations between Ukraine and NATO. In particular, this applies to the summit in Washington and many other aspects of interaction. Only with Ukraine in the Alliance can we count on real security in Europe,” the president emphasized.
18:27 According to The New York Times, Ukrainian authorities gave Russian pilot Maxim Kuzminov $500,000 for hijacking a helicopter, and also provided him with a Ukrainian passport under a false name. Kuzminov was killed on February 13, 2024 in Spain. Spanish intelligence services have no doubt that one of the Russian intelligence services is behind the murder. NYT told the details of the high-profile murder. Read more in the material Dissolute Life.
18:18 Governor of the Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov said that nine people were injured as a result of the shelling of Belgorod. According to him, 17 air targets were allegedly shot down over Belgorod and the Belgorod region.
17:43 Defense Express analysts estimate that Russia could have already accumulated from 245 to 285 Caliber cruise missiles. Experts refer to the words of the representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Vadim Skibitsky, that as of November 2023, the Russians had a stock of 165 Calibers. The production rate ranges from 20 to 35 units per month. If we take into account that the Russian Federation almost did not use these weapons for about four months, then the stockpile could increase by 80-120 missiles.
17:27 On March 29, a petition appeared on the website of the Office of the President calling for restrictions on the gambling business. It was created by a soldier of the 59th brigade, Pavel Petrichenko. The author emphasizes that military personnel who have been at the front for three years under stressful conditions are especially psychologically vulnerable. Therefore, for many of them, gambling becomes the only way to cope with stress and, as a result, quickly causes dopamine addiction and weakens self-control. Read more about the problem and ways to solve it in the article Will online casinos be regulated in Ukraine ?
16:59 Border guards planted the flag of Ukraine almost over the positions of the Russian troops - between Kurdyumovka and Ozoryanovka near Bakhmut, the State Border Service reported. They managed to raise the Ukrainian flag using a drone.
16:26 Attacks on the village of Tonenkoe near Avdeevka have actually been going on for two years, but on March 30, the Russians launched one of the largest tank assaults during a full-scale invasion. The RF column consisted of 48 units of heavy equipment - 36 tanks and 12 infantry fighting vehicles. About how events developed further, see the material Large-scale assault on Russia near Avdeevka.
15:48 In the occupied Starobelsk of the Lugansk region, “deputy head of the Center for servicing educational organizations of the LPR” Valery Chaika was killed in an explosion, local “authorities” reported. Public accounts write that a collaborator’s car was blown up.
15:37 Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said that European soldiers will not fight in Ukraine, but there is a possibility of sending them to speed up the training of the Ukrainian military. According to him, now “every NATO country” already has military personnel in Ukraine - “for example, military attaches or people who come to Ukraine from time to time.”
15:13 Zelensky said that he held a “maximum specific” meeting about drones with the military and officials. "Important decisions: on simplifying the procurement procedure, importing components, increasing the production of projectiles for drones and training operators. The project to build an integrated system for managing electronic warfare equipment to protect our soldiers and equipment from Russian UAVs. The system is already being tested in certain areas. We have planned to scale the project throughout front," the president said.
14:58 The Russians attacked residential buildings in Volchansk, Kharkov region, one person was wounded, said Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OVA.
14:45 Russian planes dropped two more FABs on the Belgorod region, reports the opposition Russian publication Astra. So, on March 31, a FAB-500 was found in the area of the Nina farmstead, and in the area of the village of Kryukovo they found a crater, in which, preliminary, there was also a FAB-500.
In addition, fragments of the Russian X-101 missile were discovered in Krasnoarmeysk, Saratov region. Local media wrote that it was allegedly a “downed Ukrainian drone.” However, the publication found out that during the launch, the warhead of the strategic missile detonated in the air, and the debris fell on the territory of Krasnoarmeysk. Local authorities did not comment on the situation.
13:47 In the southern direction, Russian troops are actively using reconnaissance drones, trying to compensate for the lack of A-50 long-range radar reconnaissance aircraft, said Natalya Gumenyuk, speaker of the Southern Defense Forces.
13:18 From January 1 to March 31, 2024, Russia used more than 180 weapons of destruction in the direction of Kiev, including five 3M22 Zircon missiles, KGVA reported. In addition, the enemy launched 11 Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missiles, six Iskander-M missiles, three Kh-69 units, one Caliber, 113 Kh-101 missiles and 48 Shahed attack UAVs towards the capital.
13:10 Russia received from Iran a batch of components for kamikaze drones, said Natalya Gumenyuk, spokesperson for the Southern Defense Forces: “In recent days, we have observed cargo flights from Tehran to Moscow, which indicates that they are ready to produce more drones. The enemies continue to raise funds defeats on their territory, they are actively working." According to her, in this regard, the number of attacks in Ukraine may increase in the near future.
12:54 The Russian army may launch a large-scale offensive in the west of the Donetsk region in late spring or early summer, predicts the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW). At the same time, analysts believe that Russian troops will be able to launch a coordinated large-scale offensive operation only in one operational direction due to the limitations of their own resources.
ISW experts note that the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled a Russian battalion mechanized attack near Avdievka on March 30 - the first battalion mechanized attack since Russian troops began their campaign to capture Avdievka in late October 2023.
12:22 The Russians attacked civilian infrastructure in the Lyubotin community of the Kharkov region. Preliminarily, there are no wounded, but there is a threat of a second strike, said the head of the OVA, Oleg Sinegubov.
11:40 Almost all critical infrastructure in Kharkov has been destroyed, city mayor Igor Terekhov said in an interview with Liga. According to him, the Russians began to attack the city with new ammunition, which covers a distance of up to 90 km. There have already been two such strikes over the past week. Strikes from S-300 systems also continue; these shells fly in 40 seconds. In addition, the enemy began to use attack drones more often.
At the same time, Terekhov emphasized that so far there is no reason for evacuation: “So far, neither we nor the military see any reason to evacuate from Kharkov. The city has gone through more difficult times. There was a time when out of almost two million population only 300 thousand remained.” According to him, 1.3 million people now live in the regional center.
11:33 Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson said that he will put a bill to help Ukraine to a vote immediately after the holiday break, which ends on April 9. According to him, the document will contain “important innovations,” in particular, it is possible that assistance will be provided to Kyiv in the form of a loan or income from frozen Russian assets.
11:24 On March 31, a Russian drone damaged equipment at one of Ukrenergo’s substations, emergency restoration work continues, the company reported. This morning, consumption restrictions were applied for all consumers in the Kharkov region and for industrial consumers in the Krivoy Rog region.
10:39 France expects Beijing to send very clear signals to Moscow regarding the war in Ukraine, said the country's Foreign Minister Stephane Sejournet: “We expect China to send very clear signals to Russia. China obviously plays a key role in ensuring the independence of Ukraine and respect for international law, including its sovereignty."
10:26 The head of the Intelligence Committee of the US House of Representatives, Republican Mike Turner, said that the issue of providing assistance to Ukraine will be a priority after congressmen return from the holiday break.
09:42 In the Zaporozhye region, one person was wounded as a result of Russian shelling of the Pologovsky district, said the head of the OBA Ivan Fedorov.
09:10 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of April 1:
personnel - about 442,880 (+710) people,
tanks - 6986 (+20),
armored combat vehicles - 13,321 (+17),
artillery systems - 11,082 (+32),
MLRS - 1023 (+0),
air defense systems - 744 (+1),
aircraft - 347 (+0),
helicopters - 325 (+0),
UAV of operational-tactical level - 8757 (+26),
cruise missiles - 2057 (+9),
ships/boats - 26 (+0),
submarines - 1 (+0),
automotive equipment and tank trucks - 14,752 (+35),
special equipment - 1826 (+3).
08:39 Late in the evening of March 31, the Russians struck Kharkov KAB, said Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OVA. Two buses, a truck and a car were damaged. The building of the educational institution was partially destroyed, the dormitory building and a residential building were damaged. No people were hurt.
In addition, the State Emergency Service reported that at night the enemy struck a fire and rescue unit in one of the border settlements of the Kharkov region. As a result of the shelling, a third of the fire station building was destroyed. Six rescuers were on duty and were not injured.
07:54 At night, Russian troops attacked Ukraine with three Shahed-type UAVs, two of which were destroyed, the General Staff reported.
07:45 Over the past 24 hours, 53 military clashes took place at the front, the General Staff reported in its morning report. In particular, the enemy tried 22 times to break through the defenses of Ukrainian troops in the Novopavlovsk direction - in the areas of Georgievka, Novomikhailovka and east of Vodyanoye, Donetsk region. Another 13 attacks were repulsed in the Avdeevsky direction - in the areas of the settlements of Berdychi, Semenovka, Umanskoye, Pervomaiskoye and Nevelskoye in the Donetsk region.
The enemy did not conduct offensive actions in the Kupyansk direction. In the Liman direction, the Defense Forces repelled three enemy attacks in the Ternov area of the Donetsk region; in Bakhmutsky - eight attacks in the Belogorivka districts of the Lugansk region, as well as Verkhnekamensky, Ivanovsky, Kleshcheevka, Andreevka of the Donetsk region; on Orekhovsky - two attacks in the districts of Staromayorsky, Donetsk region and Rabotino, Zaporozhye region; on Kherson - two attacks.
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.
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...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
But it has also remained controversial in many countries due to its high cost and long build times, as well as concerns over the safety of nuclear reactors and the unresolved issue of what to do with nuclear waste.
[Garowe] 
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
... the personification of Somali state failure...
[Townhall] Former President Trump reacted to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s threat to the Biden Administration over the southern border. 
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