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The US Reinforces Military Presence in Syria

teleSUR | March 18, 2021

The U.S. forces present in Syria, without the authorization of the country’s legitimate government, intensified their destabilizing actions and sent more reinforcements to their illegal enclaves, in addition to transferring thirty Daesh terrorists to the east of this Arab nation, according to local news agencies.

According to state television, the Kherab Jir area base in the northeastern province of Hasakeh received in the last hours a caravan of 40 trucks loaded with weapons, ammunition, and war and logistic equipment and Sanaa agency.

The caravan is said to have entered Syrian territory through the illegal Al-Walid crossing with northern Iraq, which is often used by U.S. troops for their movements. Similarly, another column of several armored vehicles and trucks moved towards the Ionian gas field’s newly established base in the northeastern Deir Ezzor province.

Meanwhile, Syrian news agencies reported the transfer in two helicopters of about 30 members of the Islamic State (Daesh, in Arabic) to the illegal U.S. base in Tanef, on the border with Iraq and Jordan.

According to the data revealed, the terrorists were being held in one of the prisons of the separatist militia Syrian Democratic Forces, a force close to Washington’s interests, which arms these terrorists and uses them in the service of its destabilizing plans in Syria, the agencies said.

The government of Bashar Al Asad denounced that the recent attacks of Daesh against military and civilians in the desert are planned and facilitated by the U.S. occupation forces, who offer them support with weapons and intelligence information to prolong the war in this Middle East nation.

March 19, 2021 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Militarism, War Crimes | , | 1 Comment

Bolivia has every right to prosecute coup perpetrators for their crimes

By Bradley Blankenship | RT | March 17, 2021

The arrest of Bolivia’s former interim president Jeanine Áñez and her coup co-conspirators is being painted by pro-Western organizations as political persecution, but it’s far from that.

Bolivian authorities arrested ex-interim president Jeanine Áñez on March 14 for sedition, terrorism and conspiracy for her role in the 2019 coup that ousted former president Evo Morales and ushered in a dark age of violence and repression in the country. Justice Minister Ivan Lima said days after the arrest that he would seek a 30-year sentence for Áñez if found guilty, a sign that the victims of the coup regime’s repression will get the justice they deserve.

There have been many more arrests, including several ministers under the Áñez government and right-wing paramilitary leaders involved, and more are expected to follow. In many of these cases, it’s social movements leading the pressure for charges to be brought against co-conspirators in the coup.

This shows that President Luis Arce, a member of Morales’ Movement toward Socialism (MAS), is serious about getting the country back on its pre-coup developmental path – and keeping criminals accountable.

To be sure, the coup government of Jeanine Áñez tried hard to take Bolivia off of this path and that’s why they worked to radically change the character of institutions in the country. They repressed the MAS and grassroots social movements; allowed street gangs to terrorize and murder dissenters; worked to destroy the free press and opened the country back up to Western capital penetration, which they called a “return to civilization.” (A racist dig at Evo Morales, the country’s first indigenous leader).

Now, for Arce and his government, course-correcting will take a correspondingly heavy approach. That being said, it does not mean that one should fall into the intellectual trap of both-sidesism, i.e. that both sides are just as bad as one another. Such a position fails to appreciate exactly how repressive Áñez and her co-conspirators were, and, by comparison, how orderly the judicial process they face is.

Just look at the 2019 Senkata and Sacaba Massacres that occurred immediately after Áñez took power. With Decree 4078, a license to kill that was so blatant it was even denounced by Amnesty International, Áñez absolved armed forces of any criminal liability in their actions and they immediately massacred anti-coup protesters. That same month, family members carried the coffins of those killed in the attack through the city of La Paz and Áñez ordered a crackdown on the march.

This isn’t even to speak of the violence that took place during the events of the coup. Áñez was actually able to seize power in the first place after the resignation of Victor Borda, former president of the lower house representing MAS, after protesters tortured his brother and burned his family home down.

Despite these extraordinarily well-documented crimes, many in the Western media and Western-backed institutions are painting the arrests of the former coup government officials and their street militias as political persecution against the MAS’ opposition.

These are the same kinds of people that have criticized independent governments for decades, who have apparently no limit to the amount of empathy they can express for murderers and traitors, and whose barometer for democracy is whether pro-Western radicals are allowed to carry on with impunity.

Just look at the Organization of American States (OAS), an organization that was one of the main drivers of the 2019 coup when it falsely claimed there were election irregularities during that year’s presidential election. The OAS recently called on Bolivia to release Áñez and the other coup co-conspirators because of supposed problems in the country’s judicial system, saying they should be tried before the International Criminal Court (ICC) instead to provide a “fair” trial.

Likewise, this sentiment was followed by Human Rights Watch. For its part, this human rights NGO denounced Bolivia last week for giving amnesty to those arrested by the coup government. According to them, the amnesty decree issued by President Arce was too broad and could allow for serious crimes to be dismissed.

Western media outlets are predictably condemning the arrests, labeling them as persecution. The AP ran with the headline, “Bolivia’s ex-interim president arrested in opposition crackdown,” which was reprinted as-is in many major English language media publications.

For her part, Áñez is also actively fielding support from foreign governments. A letter sent by Áñez to OAS chief Luis Almagro dated March 13, a day before her arrest, described the charges as political persecution. The memo apparently got through to at least an imaginary government since Venezuela’s “Legitimate Government,” the one headed by Venezuelan non-president Juan Guaidó issued a statement of support for Áñez.

Pro-Western organizations and media have little concern for “democracy” or “human rights” and only truly care about supporting governments that kowtow to the interests of multinational corporations. Holding their favored leaders accountable for crimes is “political persecution” and apparently in the same category as street violence, torture and mass murder. The hypocrisy never ends.

When President Arce took office in November, he promised to “rebuild the country in unity.” What he did not say was that Bolivia would allow murderers to roam freely, because surely that would only set the country up to be further divided by external forces. That is exactly what happened the whole year before he took office.

Bolivia is showing the world what justice and the rule of law look like, whether Western countries like it or not.

Bradley Blankenship is a Prague-based American journalist, columnist and political commentator. He has a syndicated column at CGTN and is a freelance reporter for international news agencies including Xinhua News Agency.

March 18, 2021 Posted by | Progressive Hypocrite, Timeless or most popular | , | 2 Comments

Israel to displace 1,550 Palestinians to build park in Jerusalem

MEMO | March 18, 2021

More than 100 Palestinian homes face demolition and about 1,550 residents, including more than 800 children, will be made homeless at the hands of Israel’s Jerusalem Municipality, Arab48 reported yesterday.

This comes as the Israeli municipality cancelled all agreements with the Palestinian residents of the Silwan neighbourhood.

According to Arab48, the Israeli municipality rejected plans it had requested as an alternative to the demolition of the Palestinian homes, instead it is set to demolish the Palestinian homes and turn the area into The King’s Garden, claiming that it was a garden for Israeli kings thousands of years ago.

The municipality had agreed to provide Palestinians with land in other areas to build new homes, but it suddenly backtracked on this decision.

The legal battle has cost the Palestinian community more than $500,000.

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said in a statement that the “massive destruction and displacement operation against the population may amount to ethnic cleansing and a war crime.”

March 18, 2021 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | 4 Comments

US foreign policy under Biden is a return to the ‘old normal’ – a continuation of subverting democracy abroad

By Tomasz Pierscionek | RT | March 18, 2021

Biden’s administration includes hawks from the Obama era and other disciples of imperialism. Despite the delusions of some progressives, Biden’s foreign policy is hardly a breath of air.

US President Joe Biden’s election heralds a return to business as usual, where Wall Street and large corporations dictate domestic policy whilst the State Department and Pentagon spearhead America’s imperialist ambitions abroad. The US establishment and its allies can cool their nerves. In contrast to Donald Trump, who was accused of instigating a right-wing mob to storm Congress and sabotage democracy at home, Joe Biden looks set to follow the US tradition of subverting democracy abroad.

Following Trump’s neglect of his NATO allies, Biden reaffirmed his commitment to the combative cold-war alliance. In January, Biden made his views clear during a telephone conversation with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, in which the former declared he was “totally committed to NATO.” A few weeks later Biden informed world leaders at the annual Munich Security Conference that “America is back” and followed with the usual adversarial stance towards Russia and China.

On Tuesday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report blaming Russia for trying to influence the recent Presidential election and for eroding public confidence in the electoral process. On Wednesday, Biden declared during a television interview that “he will pay a price,” in reference to President Putin, whom he also accused of lacking a soul. At the same time, despite economic losses secondary to the Covid pandemic, this week NATO announced an increase in its spending for the sixth year running.

Earlier this month the Pentagon announced that Ukraine would receive a $125 million aid package, with another $150 million on the way if the nation makes “sufficient progress on key defense reforms this year.” Last week the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine’s website reported that four NATO ships had docked at the Black Sea port of Odessa and would perform training exercises with the Ukrainian Navy.

We can expect Ukraine’s former comedian-turned-president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to feel emboldened to reignite tensions on the border of Ukraine and the breakaway Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR/LPR) in the Donbass region. As journalist Eva Bartlett reported, Kiev’s shelling of civilians in DRP and LPR has intensified in recent weeks. Even before his election, Biden made no secret of his support for Belarus’ opposition and vowed to “significantly expand” sanctions. Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has since urged Biden and the West to make good on this promise.

Meanwhile, in Venezuela, despite repeated failures over the past couple of years to parachute self-declared ‘interim president’ of Venezuela Juan Guaido into the actual presidency, the Biden Administration does not intend to give up trying and is in “no rush” to lift the sanctions Trump implemented. Meanwhile the US continues trying to groom Guaido for the Venezuelan presidency, as shown by a recent telephone conversation he had with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Soon after taking office Biden ordered the bombing of alleged Iranian militia positions in Syria in order to send a warning to Iran, a move that was criticised by some Democratic members of Congress, who stated“Offensive military action without congressional approval is not constitutional absent extraordinary circumstances.” These lawmakers ought to also ask why the US continues to occupy Syrian territory without the nation’s consent – the US reportedly has 11 military facilities across Syria.

Contending with China, set to be the largest global economy by the end of the decade, is no trivial matter. Donors to Biden’s presidential campaign, such as Wall Street, Big Tech, major banks and Hollywood, all want a piece of the growing Chinese economic pie and would welcome a rapprochement. However, other factions of the US establishment have different ideas. In January Secretary of State Blinken declared in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: “Let me just say that I believe that President Trump was right in taking a tougher approach to China…I disagree very much with the way that he went about it in a number of areas, but the basic principle was the right one, and I think that’s actually helpful to our foreign policy.”

Biden’s administration has spoken out against the International Criminal Court’s plan to investigate whether Israel has committed war crimes within the occupied Palestinian territories. According to a State Department spokesman, the US “will continue to uphold our strong commitment to Israel and its security including by opposing actions that seek to target Israel unfairly.” When it comes to Israel, no one expects a miraculous change in policy. Regardless of who sits in the presidential chair, unwavering loyalty to Israel is a prerequisite for holding the position.

Biden’s administration includes hawks from the Obama era and other disciples of imperialism. A return to the ‘Hope and Change’ era of President Obama, who bombed seven countries in six years and whose administration aided in the overthrow of a democratic government in Ukraine, is something the world could well do without.

It is going to be a long four years if the Biden administration tries to continue projecting waning US influence to all corners of the globe instead of allocating resources to a multitude of domestic problems. Ignoring significant socio-economic and health inequalities exacerbated by the Covid pandemic and lockdown can lead to the type of domestic instability and civil unrest that America has at times instigated abroad.

Tomasz Pierscionek is a medical doctor and social commentator on medicine, science, and technology. He was previously on the board of the charity Medact and is editor of the London Progressive Journal.

March 18, 2021 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Militarism, Wars for Israel | | 1 Comment

Interview 1625 – New World Next Week with James Evan Pilato

Corbett • 03/18/2021

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Welcome to New World Next Week – the video series from Corbett Report and Media Monarchy that covers some of the most important developments in open source intelligence news. This week:

Watch on Archive / BitChute / LBRY / Minds / YouTube or Download the mp4

Story #1: March 20 “World Wide Rally For Freedom”
https://www.startpage.com/do/search?q=March+20+World+Wide+Rally+Freedom

QAnon Groups on Telegram Seethe with Covid Denialism and Vaccine Misinformation
https://archive.is/cpznz

Global March 20 Anti-Vaccine Protests Promoted by QAnon-Linked Groups
https://archive.is/I3DX6

Far-Right Trump Supporters Hope to Use RFK Jr.-Backed Protests to Stage Comeback
https://archive.ph/FVEV1

No to the new normal which takes away the future of Japan and children’s smiles.
https://twitter.com/jimakudaio/status/1371045888001474561

Nagoya, Tokyo, Osaka, Okinawa, Kyushu, Shikoku, Tohoku and Hokkaido
https://www.facebook.com/events/188525632676626

World Wide Rally – Walk For Freedom – Calgary, Alberta
https://thelibertyclub.ca/event/world-wide-rally-walk-for-freedom-calgary-alberta/

No Lockdown, Yes Freedom: New Mexico Statewide Rally
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/821800098953691178/821800379691433994/image0.jpg

Daily Kos: CIA-Engineered Controlled Opposition? (Aug. 9, 2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20071011031548/http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=950

Story #2: Moderna Begins Study of COVID-19 Vaccine In Kids
https://archive.is/dnL9E

Toronto Lockdown Czar’s Husband Has ‘Financial Ties’ to Pfizer
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/toronto-lockdown-czars-husband-has-financial-ties-to-pfizer-astrazeneca

“Doctor” Fauci sat down for an interview with Mexican “comedian”
https://twitter.com/wakeupfromcovid/status/1370188597366784003

Fauci gets grilled by Mexican Comedian
https://odysee.com/@TruthPills:5/derbez:3

‘Vaccine Secrets’: What Parents Should Know Before They Vaccinate Their Kids
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/vaccine-secrets-parents-should-know-before-vaccinate/

Story #3: Spotify Censors Art for “Misinformation,” Pulls Ian Brown’s Anti-Lockdown Track
https://reclaimthenet.org/spotify-censors-ian-browns-anti-lockdown-track/

NSFW: Media Monarchy Cancels His Spotify Premium, Asks Questions About Other Pop Songs
https://twitter.com/mediamonarchy/status/1372018888674713600

Visit NewWorldNextWeek.com to get previous episodes in various formats to download, burn and share. And as always, stay up-to-date by subscribing to the feeds from Corbett Report (https://corbettreport.com/members​​​​) and Media Monarchy (https://mediamonarchy.com/join​​​​).

Those in the US who want to support our work can send cash, check or money order (payable to James Evan Pilato) to:

Media Monarchy
c/o James Evan Pilato
P.O. Box 22486
Santa Fe, NM 87502-2486

Thank You.

March 18, 2021 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | | Leave a comment

CNN Forced to Admit Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Refusal to Lockdown Florida is “Paying Off”

By Paul Joseph Watson | Summit News | March 18, 2021

CNN was forced to admit that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ refusal to impose strict lockdown measures and mask mandates is “paying off,” with the state recording fewer COVID-19 deaths per capita while the economy is booming.

Unlike states run by Democrat politicians, DeSantis consistently refused to impose harsh pandemic restrictions and has been pilloried for it by the media for the best part of a year.

However, compared to those states, which have recorded higher COVID deaths and face massive economic turmoil, Florida is in such a better position that even CNN has been forced to acknowledge it.

“A year into the pandemic, Florida is booming and Republican Gov. DeSantis is taking credit,” writes CNN’s Jeff Zeleny.

“As many parts of the country embark on an uneasy march toward normalcy, Florida is not only back in business — it’s been in business for the better part of the past year. DeSantis’ gamble to take a laissez faire approach appears to be paying off — at least politically, at least for now, as other governors capturing attention in the opening phase of the pandemic now face steeper challenges.”

“Despite far fewer rules and restrictions, Florida lands nearly in the middle of all states on a variety of coronavirus metrics. The state has had about 3% more Covid-19 cases per capita than the US overall, but about 8% fewer deaths per capita.”

Drew Holden pointed out on Twitter how, as recently as December, CNN was amplifying claims that DeSantis was putting politics in front of lives.

Now they’re having to eat those words.

Florida’s unemployment rate stands at just 4.8% compared to 6.8% in Texas, 8.8% in New York and 9% in California.

“DeSantis suddenly appears to be in a position of strength compared to some of his fellow governors, including many of whom took far more restrictive approaches to the fight against coronavirus that caused a trickle-down effect on the economy,” admits CNN.

March 18, 2021 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Economics | , , | 2 Comments

Sick Society: Crisis of Chronic Diseases in America

By Stephen Lendman | March 18, 2021

According to Fight Chronic Diseases.org, nearly half of Americans have one or more chronic diseases.

They’re responsible for around 70% of US deaths annually.

They’re disabling, destroy the quality of life and shorten lifespans.

The American Action Forum calls growing numbers of chronic diseases a national crisis that costs nearly $4 trillion annually, around 20% of GDP.

Spiraling healthcare costs make treatment unaffordable for millions of US households.

Health issues notably affect the aged. Yet US children are disproportionately ill.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Children’s Health Defense (CHD) calls “the chronic disease epidemic” affecting US children “the greatest crisis” the nation faces.

Mass-jabbing with experimental, high-risk, DNA altering, unapproved, rushed to market drugs based on Big Lies and mass deception is making crisis conditions far worse.

According to CHD, over half of US children suffer from one or more chronic diseases.

They include autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), asthma, allergies, pediatric autoimmune conditions and others.

In the last 30 years, the incidence of diseases in children grew dramatically — at a time of life when most US children were healthy and normal long ago.

No longer because of increased use of heavy metals, pesticides, fluoridated water, herbicides, toxic drugs, air pollutants, artificial food additives, hazardous to health GMO foods and ingredients, and other environmental toxins that risk the health and well-being of everyone.

Vaccines are another major culprit. None are safe. They don’t preserve health.

Time and again, they cause diseases they’re supposed to protect against.

They create customers for other drugs, the more taken, the greater the risk of serious adverse events and shortened lifespans.

In the 1950s, the US had one of the world’s highest life expectancy rates.

Today it’s one of the lowest among developed nations.

It has the world’s highest child poverty rate among developed nations and increasing social inequality.

US children have never been more adversely affected by chronic illnesses than today — what CHD calls the “sickest generation,” adding:

“Life expectancy is falling and infant mortality is rising.” 

“US children are 76% more likely to die before their first birthday than infants in other wealthy countries.”

“A study conducted from 2001-2004 found that half of US youths (ages 13-18) had been diagnosed with at least one mental, emotional, and/or behavioral disorder.”

“Top military leaders report seven in ten young Americans aged 17-24 are unfit to serve in the US military because of obesity, asthma, hearing and eyesight problems and mental illness.”

Instead of fostering wellness as a national priority, an epidemic of sickness harms most Americans, including over half the nation’s children.

The world’s richest country is unhealthy, things worsening, not improving.

Among developed nations, Americans have shorter lifespans, more illnesses and injuries — despite around double the per capita amount spent on healthcare.

What should be a model system for the world community to emulate is dysfunctional for most of its people.

Sickness is prioritized over good health because the latter is unprofitable.

Among developed nations, the US has one of the highest per capita rate of infant mortality, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, strokes, respiratory illnesses and other diseases.

Millions of adverse prescription drug reactions happen annually.

Over 100,000 Americans die each year from prescribed drugs, including vaccines.

The above toll is rising sharply because of mass-jabbing with hazardous to health covid drugs.

Millions of Americans lack health insurance. Many millions more are inadequately covered because it’s unaffordable.

At a time of made-in-the-USA Main Street Depression with over 25% of working-age Americans jobless, most others way underemployed, the health and well-being of countless millions of households greatly eroded.

Instead of going all-out to stimulate economic growth by jobs creation and other policies to end hard times for most people, US policymakers serve privileged interests at the expense of most others.

The worst of times most likely lie ahead.

As long as US policymakers serve sickness industry interests over wellness, the crisis of chronic diseases is likely to worsen, not improve, including for the nation’s children.

March 18, 2021 Posted by | Economics | , | 1 Comment

Is the new covid variant deadlier?

By Sebastian Rushworth, M.D. | March 18, 2021

An article was recently published in the British Medical Journal that reported on a matched cohort study which compared the risk of dying for those infected with the new British variant (a.k.a. B.1.1.7) and those infected with the older covid variants.

A matched cohort study is a type of observational study where you take a group of people with some condition and then try to find a similar group without the condition to match against. Then you follow the two cohorts over time and see if they differ in some meaningful outcome (like death). Since it is an observational study, it can only show correlation. It can’t prove the existence of a cause and effect relationship, but that doesn’t stop many people acting like it does.

The article has resulted in fear-mongering headlines in news media around the world. Just to take the first example I could find, Al-Jazeera published an article with the headline: “UK variant up to 100% deadlier more deadly, study finds”.

Those darn studies, they’re always finding things. It’s like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole. You knock one down here, and another one pops up over there. Anyway, let’s look into the study some detail, and see if the claim is true.

There were two criteria that had to be fulfilled for a person to be included in the study. They had to have a PCR-test positive for covid at some point between the beginning of October 2020 and the end of January 2021. And they had to be over 30 years old. The authors don’t provide any reason for the second criterion. The only reason I can see for removing people under the age of 30 is that they pretty much never die when they get covid, and including them would therefore have resulted in less impressive mortality numbers, which would have made it a little bit harder to use the results as part of public fear mongering campaigns.

In the UK, the PCR test currently in use is based on three reading frames. In other words, three separate pieces of viral RNA are sought. The B.1.1.7 variant has some variations in its genetic code that cause one of these reading frames to turn up a negative result. This is useful, because a problem with doing a big study like this and comparing mortality rates for different viral variants is that most people don’t actually get their infections gene-sequenced. So all you have to work with in most cases is a PCR test. But the fact that the B.1.1.7 variant has this oddity, that one of the three reading frames turns up a negative result, means that it can be identified through PCR with pretty good accuracy. No gene sequencing necessary.

So, what the researchers did was to put everyone with a covid diagnosis in which the other two reading frames were positive, but this specific reading frame was negative, into one cohort, the “B.1.1.7 variant” cohort. Those who had all three reading frames turn up positive were put in the other, “old variants”, cohort.

Now, as mentioned, a cohort study is a type of observational study, and observational studies are rife with confounding factors that mess up the results. In order to minimize this problem as much as possible, the researchers went through and matched each person in the new variant cohort to a similar person in the old variant cohort. The cohorts were matched on date of testing, in order to deal with potential biases caused by one person for example getting tested during the covid peak, when hospitals were overstretched, while the matched person in the other cohort got tested at a time point when nurses actually had time to fluff their pillows. The cohorts were also matched on geographical location, age, gender, and ethnicity.

The endpoint that the researchers chose to look at was death within 28 days. This is a very problematic end point, that will tend to overestimate mortality due to covid. Basically, anyone who had a positive covid test and who then died with the next 28 days was counted as a covid death. Even if they got hit by a bus. Apart from overestimating the covid death rate, this could also muddy the results of the study, making it harder to see a real difference in mortality between the new variant and the older variants, if such a difference does exist. Why they chose to do this rather than actually looking at death certificates, to see whether covid was listed as the cause of death or not, I really don’t understand.

Anyway, let’s get to the results.

54,906 people with the new covid variant were identified, and these were matched with 54,906 people with the older variants. Among those with the new variant, 227 patients died (0,41%). Among those with the old variants, 141 people died (0,26%).

So, the new variant does appear to be a little bit deadlier than the older variants, 0,15% deadlier to be precise. To put this in perspective, for every 700 people who develop covid due to the new variant, you can expect one extra death, as compared with getting covid due to the older variants.

You could of course, like the mass media do, focus on relative risk, and say that the new variant is 61% deadlier, or “up to 100% deadlier” as Al-Jazeera state in their headline (based on looking at the upper end of the confidence interval), but in this instance, looking at the absolute risk gives a much clearer understanding of how deadly the new variant actually is, don’t you think?

One should of course always remember that this is an observational study, and although the researchers have done their best to get rid of confounding factors, it is still possible that the increased mortality rate seen here is due to some unknown confounder, and not due to the new variant itself.

The thing that strikes me most about the results of this study is not the fact that the new variant seems to be a bit more deadly than the old variants, but how un-deadly this study clearly shows that covid is. We have to remember that this study only included people who actually took a PCR test. According to the eminent Dr. Anthony Fauci, 40-45% of covid infections are asymptomatic. Obviously, people who are asymptomatic are for the most part not going to get a PCR test (unless they get caught through contact tracing, but this likely only catches a small proportion of asymptomatic infections). And equally obviously, people with asymptomatic infections aren’t going to die of covid. So, although this study found a fatality rate of 0,41% for the new variant, and 0,26% for the old variants, the real fatality rate is likely considerably lower.

That is especially true if we also factor in that this study excluded people under the age of 30, and counted every death within 28 days of a positive covid test as a covid death. Both of those factors would push the fatality rate down further if factored in. So this study, funnily enough, adds to the existing evidence that the infection fatality rate for covid has been grossly overstated.

To be fair, the proportion of participants over the age of 80 in the study is low, only 0,5%, compared with 3% in the UK population as a whole, which will push the fatality rate in the opposite direction. Whether excluding everyone under the age of 30 (constituting 25% of the UK population) or only having 0,5% of participants be over the age of 80 (when they constitute 3% of the UK population) has the bigger impact on the overall fatality rate in the study, is hard to say. But it raises another interesting point. The mortality rate in the 80+ group in the study is 100-fold higher than it is among the people aged 30-59 (12%, or one in nine people, as compared to 0,12%, or one in 900 people). This is in line with earlier studies that have shown that the risk of dying rises steeply as people reach an advanced age.

As always, the devil is in the details. So, what can we conclude from this study?

The B.1.1.7 variant does appear to be a little deadlier than the older variants, increasing the risk of dying for the average person who gets a symptomatic infection by a marginal amount (0,15% to be precise).

However, the main take-away from this study is that the infection fatality rate, even with the new variant, is very low for most people. I think a more reasonable title for Al-Jazeera’s article about this study would have been “Covid much less deadly than everyone thinks, study finds”.

March 18, 2021 Posted by | Mainstream Media, Warmongering | | Leave a comment

Hancock Is Terrified That Under-50’s Will Refuse Covid Vaccine

By Richie Allen | March 18, 2021

It’s a bit of a mystery. Speaking from Downing Street last night, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that the under-50’s would have to wait a bit longer for their covid vaccine. He blamed production issues. The manufacturers said there are no issues. What’s going on?

A leaked letter suggested that the NHS is expecting a significant reduction in supply for a month from March 29. The letter said that local vaccination centres have been told not to make any new bookings from the end of this month.

This means that the under-50’s will have to wait until at least May, to get their first dose. Hancock said the country was still “on track” to hit vaccination targets to take England out of lockdown.

A fall in provision from AstraZeneca is being blamed for the shortage. Last night, the firm moved quickly to refute the claim. The company insisted that its UK supply chain was not experiencing disruption.

A spokesman said: “Our UK domestic supply chain is not experiencing any disruption and there is no impact on our delivery schedule.” Someone is lying.

I bet the government is anticipating widespread refusal among the under-50’s. I’ve been speculating for some time now, that the roll-out hasn’t been as successful as the government would have us believe.

I believe that they were largely successful in persuading OAP’s to have a jab, but began running into problems as they moved down the age groups.

Younger people are far more likely to refuse the vaccine or choose to wait and see if it causes harm. And it is causing harm. Unless you’ve been on Planet Mars for the last fortnight, you’ll have heard of the blood clotting.

The majority of under-50’s have Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. They’ll be aware of reports that the vaccines are killing people, although it’s not known on what scale. But it’s happening.

And they’ll also be aware that 200,000 NHS workers have indicated that they will decline the jab. That was covered by mainstream media. Taking all this into account, my guess is that Matt Hancock is lying when he says that “supply is bumpy.”

He’s terrified that us under-50’s won’t be rolling up our sleeves. And why would we? Why would we need an experimental drug for an illness that most of us have never had, or may have had and didn’t even know about it?

I believe the government has bought itself a month, to try and figure out what to do. If it opens the door to booking under-50’s for their jabs and there is widespread refusal as I’ve suggested, the media will cover it, even if reluctantly.

Expect the dangling of more carrots in the weeks to come. We’ll hear a lot of talk about holidays and outdoor music festivals tied in with green passports or whatever name they give them. That’s their ace card.

At some stage though, they’ll have to go for it and open the doors to the young. What happens next will be fascinating.

March 18, 2021 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Science and Pseudo-Science | , , | 1 Comment

WHO Whistleblower Talks To Lawyer Reiner Fuellmich

Global Report: There Is NO Deadly Virus – http://online.anyflip.com/inblw/ufbs/mobile/index.html?s=08
www.stopworldcontrol.com
Link to UK Governments Website confirming the downgrading of Covid19 on 19th March 2020 – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/high-consequence-infectious-diseases-hcid
Learn The Risk (Brandy Vaughan) – https://learntherisk.org/
The ‘Independent’ governing body overseeing the Pfizer Vaccine…..funded by………you guessed it – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mhra-awarded-over-980000-for-collaboration-with-the-bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation-and-the-world-health-organisation
Rockefeller Operation Lockstep (2010) – https://thealterofdeceit.net/2020/05/09/rockefeller-foundation-paper-published-in-2010-lockstep/
Expose the Great Reset – www.exposethegreatreset.com

March 17, 2021 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Corruption, Science and Pseudo-Science, Timeless or most popular, Video | , | Leave a comment

Tanzanian President Who Was Skeptical of Western Vaccines DEAD After Missing for Two Weeks

By Brian Shilhavy | Health Impact News | March 17, 2021

It is being reported today that Tanzania’s president, John Magufuli, has died after being missing for more than two weeks.

The President’s death was announced today by the country’s vice-president Samia Suluhu, who said the president died of heart failure. He was 61.

About two weeks ago Health Impact News published an article that was written by Rishma Parpia of The Vaccine Reaction reporting that both President John Magufuli, and his health minister, Dorothy Gwajima, had announced that their country has no plans in place to recommend widespread use of COVID-19 vaccines in the African country.

On Feb 2, 2021, Tanzania’s health minister, Dorothy Gwajima, announced that her country has no plans in place to recommend widespread use of COVID-19 vaccines in the African country.

The announcement came a few days after Tanzania’s President John Magufuli expressed concern about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines developed and manufactured in Western countries.

President Magufuli said that the health ministry will only accept COVID-19 vaccines after Tanzania’s experts have examined and certified them. Health Minister Dorothy Gwajima explained,

“We are not yet satisfied that those vaccines have been clinically proven safe.”

President Magufuli reiterated that he will not allow Tanzanians to be used as guinea pigs in COVID-19 vaccine trials conducted by vaccine manufacturers. He warned that COVID-19 vaccines could be harmful and has been urging Tanzanians to stop living in fear and adopt common sense disease control measures and lead a healthy lifestyle. Health Minister Gwajima said:

We must improve our personal hygiene, wash hands with running water and soap, use handkerchiefs, herbal steam, exercise, eat nutritious food, drink plenty of water, and [use] natural remedies that our nation is endowed with.

See:

Tanzanian President Says Citizens Will Not Be Guinea Pigs in COVID Vaccine Trials – Skeptical About Safety of Current COVID-19 Vaccines

Almost immediately after this article was published, President Magufuli disappeared from public life.

Last week, Kit Knightly, writing for Off-Guardian, wrote an article titled: Tanzania – The second Covid coup?

President John Magufuli’s disappearance makes him potentially the 2nd “Covid denier” head of state to lose power.

JOHN MAGUFULI, PRESIDENT OF TANZANIA, HAS DISAPPEARED. HE’S NOT BEEN SEEN IN PUBLIC FOR SEVERAL WEEKS, AND SPECULATION IS BUILDING AS TO WHERE HE MIGHT BE.

The opposition has, at various times, accused the President of being hospitalised with “Covid19”, either in Kenya or India, although there remains no evidence this is the case.

To add some context, John Magufuli is one of the “Covid denier” heads of state from Africa.

He famously had his office submit five unlabelled samples for testing – goat, motor oil, papaya, quail and jackfruit – and when four came back positive and one “inconclusive”, he banned the testing kits and called for an investigation into their origin and manufacture.

In the past, he has also questioned the safety and efficacy of the supposed “covid vaccines”, and has not permitted their use in Tanzania.

In the Western press Magufuli has been portrayed as “anti-science” and “populist”, but it is not fair to suggest that the health of the people of Tanzania is a low priority for the President. In fact it’s quite the opposite.

After winning his first election in 2015 he slashed government salaries (including his own) in order to increase funding for hospitals and buying AIDs medication. In 2015 he cancelled the Independence Day celebrations and used the money to launch an anti-Cholera campaign. Healthcare has been one of his administration’s top priorities, and Tanzanian life expectancy has increased every year while he has been in office.

The negative coverage of President Magufuli is a very recent phenomenon. Early in his Presidency he even received glowing write-ups from the Western press and Soros-backed think tanks, praising his reforms and calling him an “example” to other African nations.

All that changed when he spoke out about Covid being hoax.

If we are about to see the sudden death and/or replacement of the President of Tanzania, he will not be the first African head of state to suffer such a fate in the age of Covid.

Last summer Pierre Nkurunziza, the President of Burundi, refused to play along with Covid and instructed the WHO delegation to leave his country…before dying suddenly of a “heart attack” or “suspected Covid19”. His successor immediately reversed every single one of his Covid policies, including inviting the WHO back to the country.

That was our first Covid coup, and it looks like Tanzania could well be next.

Kit Knightly is looking more and more like a modern day prophet. Read his full article here.

President Magufuli could hardly be “anti-science.” He had masters and doctorate degrees in chemistry from The University of Dar es Salaam. In 2019 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Dodoma for improving the economy of the country.

I would expect that the incoming new administration will be quick to accept western COVID experimental “vaccines” now, similar to what happened in Burundi.

March 17, 2021 Posted by | Aletho News | , | 1 Comment

Uncle Shmuel Is Truly Brain Dead…

By The Saker | Unz Review | March 17, 2021

By now, you have all heard it. Here is the official transcript:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Director of National Intelligence came out with a report today saying that Vladimir Putin authorized operations during the election to under — denigrate you, support President Trump, undermine our elections, divide our society. What price must he pay?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: He will pay a price. I, we had a long talk, he and I, when we — I know him relatively well. And I– the conversation started off, I said, “I know you and you know me. If I establish this occurred, then be prepared.”

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You said you know he doesn’t have a soul.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I did say that to him, yes. And — and his response was, “We understand one another.” It was– I wasn’t being a wise guy. I was alone with him in his office. And that — that’s how it came about. It was when President Bush had said, “I looked in his eyes and saw his soul.” I said, “Looked in your eyes and I don’t think you have a soul.” And looked back and he said, “We understand each other.” Look, most important thing dealing with foreign leaders in my experience, and I’ve dealt with an awful lot of ’em over my career, is just know the other guy. Don’t expect somethin’ that you’re– that — don’t expect him to– or her to– voluntarily appear in the second editions of Profiles in Courage.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: So you know Vladimir Putin. You think he’s a killer?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Uh-huh. I do.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: So what price must he pay?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: The price he’s gonna pay we’ll– you’ll see shortly.

This is truly a historic interview and a watershed moment in US-Russia relations. Let’s deconstruct what is happening here:

“Director of National Intelligence came out with a report”: Ever since 9/11, the US intel community has been under huge pressure to produce not intelligence, but to serve as a kind of criterion of truth, a substitute for any rules of evidence. For example, if tomorrow Biden’s handlers want to accuse Putin of eating newborn babies for breakfast, all they have to do is get the US intel community to produce a report which will say with “great confidence” that it is “highly likely” that Putin does, indeed, like to start his days by snaking on babies. The “logic” here works like this: “since we (the West) are the good guys, our intelligence community is objective, non-political and trustworthy”. QED. And the fact that the history of both the CIA and the FBI prove beyond any reasonable doubt that both of these agencies were totally politicized for decades does not matter. Why? Because the also “objective, non-political and trustworthy” US media says that the intel community must be trusted because it is, you guessed it, “objective, non-political and trustworthy”. Oh the beauty of circular logic…

Next,

“What price must he pay?”. This one is so important that Stephanopoulos asks this twice and Biden “reassures” him twice. The message here is that it is not Stephanopoulos who demands a retaliation, it is the vox populi, the outraged people of the United States. And why would the people of the US hate Putin and Russia and demand retaliation? Why – because the objective, non-political and trustworthy US media fully endorses the claims of the objective, non-political and trustworthy US intel community! How can anybody possibly doubt these two paragons of honesty?! Only a “Putin agent” would doubt their word, right?

Then,

“Putin does not have a soul”. This is pretty pathetic, since Stephanopoulos comes from a Greek Orthodox family he should know that all humans have a soul and to suggest otherwise is, actually, a total and categorical rejection of everything Christianity stands for. It is also a clear case of dehumanization, something which all politicians do before they turn to violence and war. It is unlikely that Biden has any idea what he did or did not tell Putin when they met, but even if we assume that Biden did actually tell Putin that he had no soul, I can just imagine the true amazement (and inner giggle) of Putin hearing that. By the way, the “official” response of Putin was “we understand each other” which makes absolutely no logical sense. So what we have is a basically brain dead pseudo “President” who is programmed by his handlers to tell the US public that Putin has no soul and that Biden told him that face to face. What actual purpose such a statement would pursue is neither asked nor answered.

Finally

“Is Putin a killer”. First, what a fantastically stupid thing to ask. Why? Because this question has no objective meaning unless the context or scope is specified. It could mean “did he commit murder?“, that is illegal manslaughter, a crime under Russian law. Or it could mean “did he, the President of Russia, order Russian special services to kill Litvinenko, Skripal, Navalnyii and others?“. This would be legal under Russian law and, in fact, the Russians have never denied ordering the execution of, say, Wahabi terrorists (both in Russia and outside). That would be a policy decision similar to one the US used to (putatively) execute Osama Bin-Laden or General Soleimani. Finally, that question could also mean “did Putin as the commander in chief of the Russian armed forces order military operations which resulted in the loss of human life, including possible innocent human life?“. This would also be a policy decision which any commander in chief has to make. These are all completely different questions, but for micro-brains like Stephanopoulos or Biden, the purpose of questions is not to elicit answers, it is to set an emotional tone, a kind of “mental background” which Orwell very aptly called the “two minutes of hate“.

Yes, all of the above is completely unprecedented: not even in the worst hours of the Cold War did western politicians use that kind of language. What we witness today is not only truly extremely dangerous, it is also the end of diplomacy. Yes, I know, ever since the Obama administration, US “diplomats” were mostly unprofessional political appointees with a fantastically low level of education, fully compensated by a fantastically high level of arrogance and hypocrisy. But while the likes of Psaki would spew any idiocy imaginable, US Presidents have never sunk to the level of Biden.

You might wonder what the Russian reaction to all that is?

First, the Russian media immediately picked up on this and posted key excerpts of this interview with Russian voice-over, as did the Russian Internet. The goal here is simple: to show each and every Russian how much the West hates Russia and everything Russia. Furthermore, it does not take a genius to understand the implications of the combination of the following two facts:

  1. Putin is by far the most popular Russian politician, at least since Stalin
  2. The West sees Putin as some kind of devil incarnate
  3. Ergo: the West hates all the Russian people for regularly voting for Putin

Simple and quite undeniable. In fact, an increasing number of Russians are saying “we are the Jews of the 21st century” and, frankly, I cannot disagree with this. The big difference here is that 20th century Jews did not have thousands of nuclear weapons to defend themselves. Russians do.

I wonder if Stephanopoulos and the rest of them understand this? I don’t think so. There is a culture of total impunity in the US which stems from the fact that the US never fought a war in defense of the US mainland in its history and from the fact that the US used to be protected by two oceans and two absolutely peaceful neighbors.

In sharp contrast, Russia has no natural borders and 1000 years experience of war, most of them existential and most fought on Russian soil.

I would also add that the other comment many Russian officials are making is that Biden simply lacks even basic manners. To make clear: they are not only saying that Biden has zero understanding of diplomacy, they are saying that Biden simply has no basic manners which any semi-educated person ought to have. On the main Russian TV channel reporters were even asking today whether Russia ought to completely break diplomatic relations with the US! That would be a very dangerous mistake and I don’t think that the Kremlin will go so far, at least officially, but there is a clear understanding amongst Russian officials while officially the two countries still have diplomatic relations, in reality the US basically terminated them.

Do I really have to spell out here how insanely dangerous this is?

While it is absolutely normal for some tribes still living in the bronze-age to play out ritual threats and displays of macho prowess in order to impress an adversary, to see the (nominal) leader of a nuclear superpower acting like such a bronze-age tribal leader is perplexing to say the least.

And just like the Sentinelese tribesmen believe that their bows and arrows can scare away metal ships and even helicopters, so do the “Biden tribesmen” (let’s call them that) hope that sanctions or US military capabilities will scare Russia into complete submission.

Furthermore, at no time does Stephanopoulos question the moral and legal right of the US President to “punish” Russia and/or Putin. In fact, by repeating this question, he strongly suggests that punishing Russia and/or Putin is not only the right of the US President, but his moral and, possibly, even legal obligation. This is exactly what Dr John Marciano calls “empire as a way of life” (see here and here for details). This ignorant, arrogant, narcissistic, messianic and terminally delusional belief that the US is some kind of “collective messiah” tasked by nature or some god with policing the planet. The Sentinelese try to “defend” their own shores and land and they don’t have millions of members in an organization called “Veterans of Foreign Wars” (have they really no shame at all?) and they don’t spend on “defense” more than the rest of the planet combined.

Finally, we can rest assured that whoever is in command of the Sentinelese he (or she) is a much smarter and honest leader than the brain-dead vegetable that the theft of the US 2020 election put into power.

In Hans Christian Andersen’s wonderful tale the breaking moment comes when an innocent child explains “he hasn’t got anything on!“, while the rest of the people are under the spell of what is called “pluralistic ignorance“.

In conclusion, let me ask you: how soon do you think that declaring, say, “Uncle Shmuel is truly brain dead…” will become a criminal offense in the so-called “the land of the free and the home of the brave“?

UPDATE: Breaking news – Russia recalls ambassador from the US.

March 17, 2021 Posted by | Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Russophobia, Timeless or most popular | , , | Leave a comment

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