Aletho News

ΑΛΗΘΩΣ

Bill Gates-Funded Biotech Firm Claims GMO Mosquito Project a ‘Success,’ But Critics Cite Lack of Proof

By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | April 20, 2022

Oxitec this week announced results of the first open-air study of genetically engineered mosquitoes in the U.S.

The U.K.-based firm described the results as “positive,” but said, “Larger tests are still needed to determine whether the insects can achieve the ultimate goal of suppressing a wild population of potentially virus-carrying mosquitoes.”

The company’s self-reported results are not yet independently confirmed or peer-reviewed.

Oxitec, the recipient of a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) for “self-limited mosquito field trials,” in April 2021 launched its pilot project in the Florida Keys.

The company completed the first stage of the study with the release over seven months of nearly 5 million engineered Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

The pilot study was conducted under an experimental use permit issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It was the first to be approved in the U.S., though the company has since received a permit to conduct a similar experiment in California.

Reporting this week on Oxitec’s announcement about its Florida results, Nature stated:

“Wild A. aegypti mosquitoes can carry viruses such as chikungunya, dengue, Zika and yellow fever, so scientists have sought ways to reduce their populations. Oxitec’s engineered males carry a gene that is lethal to female offspring.

“If all goes to plan, when released into the environment, the engineered males should mate with wild females, and their female offspring will die before they can reproduce. Male offspring will carry the gene and pass it on to half of their progeny. As each generation mates, more females die, and the A. aegypti population should dwindle.”

Oxitec’s pilot project in the Florida Keys involves releasing up to 1 billion OX5034 mosquitoes — the first genetically modified (GM) mosquito approved for release in the U.S — in Monroe County over a two-year period.

Oxitec said the mosquitoes have a “self-limiting” gene that makes the females dependent on the antibiotic tetracycline. Without the drug, they will die.

Mosquitoes require water to mature from an egg to an adult. By adding water to the boxes the mosquitoes are deployed in, both GM males and GM females will hatch.

However, with no tetracycline present in the box, the GM females are expected to die in early larval stages.

The male mosquitoes will survive and carry the gene. When they leave the boxes, according to Oxitec, the insects will fly away to mate with wild females to pass the gene to the next wild generation.

In an April 6 webinar about the Florida pilot study, Oxitec claimed the first stage of the experiment was a success.

Oxitec’s researchers collected more than 22,000 eggs from traps set as part of the pilot study, Nature reported. They found the males that hatched from the eggs typically traveled within a one-hectare area around the release box.

This represents the same range over which wild A. aegypti mosquitoes fly.

Oxitec reported all females that inherited the lethal gene died before reaching adulthood, and said researchers could determine this because mosquitoes carrying the lethal gene fluoresce under certain light.

According to Nature, however, reducing A. aegypti populations won’t reduce the need for anti-mosquito pesticides, at least in the Florida Keys, as this specific mosquito type represents only 4% of the local population.

Other mosquito types, such as the black salt marsh mosquito (Aeges taeniorhynchus), described as “more of a nuisance than a disease vector,” have much larger populations in the region.

Nature also cited other limitations of Oxitec’s study results:

“[L]arger tests are still needed to determine whether the insects can achieve the ultimate goal of suppressing a wild population of potentially virus-carrying mosquitoes

“The pilot study was not intended to determine how well the method suppresses the wild population.”

Oxitec said it plans to gather this additional data in an extension of the Florida Keys study, which requires approval from state regulators.

Thomas Scott, an entomologist at the University of California, Davis, expressed reservations about any results Oxitec’s expanded studies would provide.

Scott told Nature, “[t]here’s not enough Aedes-transmitted viral infection in the Florida Keys,” or anywhere in the continental United States, to conduct a study that would determine whether Oxitec’s GM mosquitoes actually reduce the transmission of viruses.

This would require an “enormously expensive” clinical trial, he said.

Scott said disease outbreaks can occur even when A. aegypti populations are low. It’s “just not that simple.” he said.

GM mosquito project in Brazil failed: Yale study

Although Oxitec’s CEO claimed “strong public support” from Florida Keys communities, the company’s first U.S. pilot project sparked protests and pushback from local residents.

Critics warned the promised benefits and potential negative consequences of the project — representing the largest-ever release of GM insects in the world — had not been sufficiently studied.

Oxitec in 2016 released billions of lab-grown mosquitoes in Brazil with the intent to combat the spread of Zika and other viruses.

However, according to an independent peer-reviewed study from Yale University, the continual releases of the GM mosquitoes over a two-year period failed to reduce populations of A. aegypti mosquitoes.

The Yale study also found the GM mosquitoes bred with local Aedes aegypti, resulting in the circulation of hybrid mosquitoes in the wild that could be more aggressive, more difficult to eradicate and that could increase the spread of mosquito-borne disease.

The mosquitoes released in 2016 in Brazil and other locations, including the Cayman Islands, were Oxitec’s OX513A version. The company released a different version, OX5034, in Florida.

The Yale study examining the release of OX513A in Brazil confirms some of the GM mosquitoes’ offspring — which were supposed to die and not pass new genes to the wild — survived to adulthood and reproduced with their native counterparts.

According to the study, 10% to 60% of the native mosquitoes contained genes from Oxitec.

The study’s authors concluded they did not know what impact these mixed mosquitoes have on disease control or transmission but said their findings underscore the importance of monitoring the genetics of the insects.

“The claim was that genes from the release strain would not get into the general population because offspring would die,” Jeffrey Powell, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University and senior author of the study, said in a statement. “That obviously was not what happened.”

Powell added there is no known health risk to humans from these hybrids. However, “it is the unanticipated outcome that is concerning,” said Powell.

Oxitec publicly disagreed with the findings and responded on the journal’s website, telling Gizmodo that Yale’s study included “numerous false, speculative and unsubstantiated claims and statements about Oxitec’s mosquito technology.”

Oxitec’s reassurances did not assuage the fears of environmentalists and Florida residents who expressed concerns prior to the start of the Florida pilot study.

Environmental organization Friends of the Earth described the Florida Keys pilot study as a “live experiment,” noting concerns arising from the Yale study that the GM mosquitoes could reproduce with their wild counterparts.

Billions of GM mosquitoes set to be released in California

Oxitec in August 2021 received an experimental use permit from the EPA to release mosquitoes at a second study site spanning several California counties, and is constructing a research and development facility in California.

Grassroots groups concerned about the proposed California project said there are zero local cases of diseases transmitted by A. aegypti in California — and very few nationally — and no studies on the ability of GM mosquitoes to reduce the transmission of disease.

The groups also accused Oxitec of “corrupt, backdoor political lobbying” to receive EPA approvals, claiming the company “has repeatedly lied to the public [and] refused to produce information requested by the public and independent experts,” has a “concerning history of misrepresentation or failure,” and made “purposeful efforts to cover up those issues and attack … researchers who publish unfavorable findings.”

The groups also claimed a solution to mosquito-borne viruses already exists: the Wolbachia-infected mosquito, “a non-GMO biopesticide mosquito,” which has “a proven record of success.”

Other environmentalists described Oxitec’s pilot studies as a means for the firm to maximize profits, instead of an effort to eradicate mosquito-borne disease.

Oxitec conducted GM mosquito trials in some regions of India, where GM mosquitoes were released in an attempt to control dengue and the chikungunya virus.

Subramanian Swamy, a member of the Indian parliament with the country’s ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, in 2018 accused Bill Gates of “making Indians into guinea pigs,” citing the after-effects of the release of GM mosquitoes in Brazil.

The BMGF reportedly is heavily involved in the Indian trials.The involvement of the BMGF in the realm of mosquito-borne illnesses has gone as far as to propose, in 2017, alongside the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, the development of a mosquito emoji, to be “used for public health campaigns.”

Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D., is an independent journalist and researcher based in Athens, Greece.

April 21, 2022 Posted by | Science and Pseudo-Science, Timeless or most popular | | Leave a comment

Turkey accuses NATO members over Ukraine

Samizdat | April 20, 2022

Turkey wants to negotiate an end to the conflict in Ukraine, while some other NATO members would like to see it drag on as a way to harm Russia, Ankara’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday in a TV interview. In a lengthy appearance on CNN Turk, Cavusoglu addressed Turkey’s decision not to sanction Moscow and why the Istanbul talks between Russia and Ukraine failed, among other things.

“There are countries within NATO that want the Ukraine war to continue. They see the continuation of the war as weakening Russia. They don’t care much about the situation in Ukraine,” Cavusoglu said.

While he did not name any names, US President Joe Biden said earlier this month that the conflict in Ukraine “could continue for a long time,” which was echoed by the former CIA chief of Russian operations.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said after a phone call with G7 leaders on Tuesday that the West is united in not allowing Russia to win and determined to “continue to arm the Ukrainian military so that it can continue to defend itself against [Russian] attack.”

Turkey has decided not to join the US-led sanctions against Russia because they are unilateral, unlike the “binding sanctions decided at the UN,” Cavusoglu told CNN Turk. Ankara articulated its position on the first day of the Ukraine conflict, which is to continue diplomatic contacts with both sides, as “a country that both sides trust.”

While Turkey did not expect much after the first Russia-Ukraine talks in Antalya, “hopes were high” after the follow-up talks in Istanbul, Cavusoglu revealed. However, Ukraine backtracked from the agreement reached there after images of the alleged massacre in Bucha, which Kiev blamed on Russian troops. Moscow has denied the allegations.

Cavusogly also shed light on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s demand for security guarantees from NATO.

“Nobody agrees with Zelensky’s request for NATO’s Article 5 guarantees,” the minister said, referring to the alliance’s famous mutual defense clause. “No country has accepted this proposal. The US, UK and Canada do not accept this either. Of course, Turkey does not accept this. In principle, no one opposes this guarantee, but the terms of it are not clear.”

April 21, 2022 Posted by | Militarism | , , , | Leave a comment

Rhode Island bill plans to DOUBLE tax for parents of unvaccinated children

By Kit Knightly | OffGuardian | April 21, 2022

A bill recently placed before the Rhode Island legislature contains clauses that would make Covid vaccination mandatory for everyone over the age of 16, and double state income tax for all parents who refused to inject their children with Covid the experimental Covid “vaccines”.

The bill, titled “HEALTH AND SAFETY- IMMUNIZATION AGAINST COVID-19 ACT” and introduced by State Senator Samuel Bell lays out in S1 (a) and (b):

(a) Every person of at least sixteen (16) years of age who is eligible for immunization against COVID-19 and who resides in the State of Rhode Island, works in the State of Rhode Island, or pays personal income taxes to the State of Rhode Island pursuant to chapter 30 of title 44 shall be required to be immunized against COVID-19.

(b) Every resident of Rhode Island eligible for immunization against COVID-19 who is under sixteen (16) years of age or under guardianship shall be required to be immunized against COVID-19, with the responsibility for ensuring compliance falling on all parents or guardians with medical consent powers pursuant to § 23-4.6-1.

And then details stringent financial penalties in S1(e) [emphasis added]:

Any person who violates this chapter shall be required to pay a monthly civil penalty of fifty dollars ($50.00) and shall owe TWICE THE AMOUNT OF PERSONAL INCOME TAXES as would otherwise be assessed pursuant to chapter 30 of title 44.

This is by far most punitive “anti-vaxxer” legislation we’ve seen (so far). Even if it does not pass, it shows us that the Covid agenda is still very real, and they are not even close to done trying to bully people into compliance.

You can download the whole bill here.

April 21, 2022 Posted by | Civil Liberties | , , , | Leave a comment

INDIA TODAY INTERVIEWS SERGEY LAVROV IN MOSCOW

April 19, 2022

Interview by Geeta Mohan of India Today.

April 21, 2022 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, Video | , , | Leave a comment

Durham: Five Witnesses Connected to the Clinton Campaign’s False Russian Claims Have Refused to Cooperate

By Jonathan Turley | April 17, 2022

Special Counsel John Durham continues to drop bombshells in filings in the prosecution of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann. Just last week, Durham defeated an effort by Sussmann to dismiss the charges.  He is now moving to give immunity to a key witness while revealing that the claims made by the Clinton campaign were viewed by the CIA as “not technically plausible” and “user created.” He also revealed that at least five of the former Clinton campaign contractors/researchers have invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to cooperate in fear that they might incriminate themselves in criminal conduct. Finally, Durham offers further details on the involvement of Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias and former British spy Christopher Steele in the alleged false claims.

Recently, Durham revealed extremely damaging evidence against Sussmann. However, this is the first full description of the Clinton associates refusing to cooperate under the Fifth Amendment. Durham noted that he gave immunity to an individual identified only as “Research 2.” He then noted that this was made necessary by the refusal to cooperate by key Clinton associates:

“The only witness currently immunized by the government, Researcher-2, was conferred with that status on July 28, 2021 – over a month prior to the defendant’s Indictment in this matter. And the Government immunized Researcher-2 because, among other reasons, at least five other witnesses who conducted work relating to the Russian Bank-1 allegations invoked (or indicated their intent to invoke) their right against self-incrimination. The Government therefore pursued Researcher-2’s immunity in order to uncover otherwise-unavailable facts underlying the opposition research project that Tech Executive-1 and others carried out in advance of the defendant’s meeting with the FBI.” [Emphasis added]

For his part, Sussmann and the Clinton associates have sought to use attorney-client privilege to keep evidence from Durham.

Durham also detailed how the false Russian collusion claims related to Alfa Bank involved Clinton General Counsel Marc Elias and Christopher Steele. Indeed, the new requested immunized testimony would come from a Tech executive who allegedly can share information on meetings with Elias and Steele.

The Alfa Bank hoax and Sussmann’s efforts paralleled the work of his partner Elias at the law firm Perkins Coie in pushing the Steele Dossier in a separate debunked collusion claim.  The Federal Election Commission recently fined the Clinton Campaign and the DNC for hiding the funding of the dossier as a legal cost by Elias at Perkins Coie.

“Durham notes that both the CIA and FBI were sent on an effective wild goose chase by the Clinton campaign. He notes that the government found the allegations to be manufactured and not even technically possible.  He refers to the CIA in the following passage:
Agency-2 concluded in early 2017 that the Russian Bank-1 data and Russian Phone Provider-1 data was not “technically plausible,” did not “withstand technical scrutiny,” “contained gaps,” “conflicted with [itself],” and was “user created and not machine/tool generated.”

This dovetails with the statements of the Clinton associates themselves who were worried about the lack of support for the Russian collusion claims.  “Researcher 1” features prominently in those exchanges.

According to Durham, the Alfa Bank allegation fell apart even before Sussmann delivered it to the FBI. The indictment details how an unnamed “tech executive” allegedly used his authority at multiple internet companies to help develop the ridiculous claim. (The executive reportedly later claimed that he was promised a top cyber security job in the Clinton administration). Notably, there were many who expressed misgivings not only within the companies working on the secret project but also among unnamed “university researchers” who repeatedly said the argument was bogus.

The researchers were told they should not be looking for proof but just enough to “give the base of a very useful narrative.” The researchers argued, according to the indictment, that anyone familiar with analyzing internet traffic “would poke several holes” in that narrative, noting that what they saw likely “was not a secret communications channel with Russian Bank-1, but ‘a red herring,’” according to the indictment.

“Researcher-1” repeated these doubts, the indictment says, and asked, “How do we plan to defend against the criticism that this is not spoofed traffic we are observing? There is no answer to that. Let’s assume again that they are not smart enough to refute our ‘best case scenario.’ You do realize that we will have to expose every trick we have in our bag to even make a very weak association.”

“Researcher-1” allegedly further warned, “We cannot technically make any claims that would fly public scrutiny. The only thing that drives us at this point is that we just do not like [Trump]. This will not fly in eyes of public scrutiny. Folks, I am afraid we have tunnel vision. Time to regroup?”

It appears that the “time to regroup” has passed with the issuance of immunity deals to compel testimony.

Here is the filing:

US-v-Sussmann-04162022-US-Filing

April 20, 2022 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception | , , , | Leave a comment

Why Is Russia Still Collaborating With Countries That Are Actively Working to Destroy It?

By Edward Slavsquat | Anti-Empire | April 20, 2022

Close your eyes and imagine you’re Russia.

You’re scrambling to create an alternative financial system in order to bypass 100 gazillion sanctions.

At the same time, you’re formulating “global health” policies with the same countries that are actively trying to destroy your economy.

Something doesn’t quite add up here.

Imagine being Russia and implementing “health recommendations” from an organization funded by Germany, Bill Gates, the UK and the USA. And yet…

There is endless excitement about Russia’s imminent “economic sovereignty,” but what about Russia’s medical sovereignty? Does it matter if Russia adopts the golden petro-yuan (or whatever) if it continues to copy-paste “health measures” drafted by an organization that gets most of its funding from NATO states and Bill Gates?

It’s a serious question, especially because the WHO is forging ahead with its so-called “global pandemic treaty.” Slated for completion in 2024, the agreement will give the World Health Organization unprecedented powers to combat new outbreaks of positive PCR tests.

Does Russia really need this? After two years of the WHO’s non-stop virus scamming, maybe it’s time to pull the plug?

Thankfully, a grassroots campaign (aided by lawmakers) seeks Russia’s immediate withdrawal from the WHO. This is an excellent idea—but is it possible?

Russia’s unrepentant WHO-love

It’s fun to fantasize about loading Dr. Tedros into a Novichok cannon and launching him into outer space, but it’s not so simple. The World Health Organization has friends in high places. Some prominent WHO-lovers in the Russian government include:

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council: This guy is completely smitten with global “health” tyranny. In November, Medvedev whined about how the WHO lacked “the leverage to force states to pursue a single, coordinated policy at all levels” during a declared worldwide health emergency. Thankfully he offered a solution to this terrible conundrum:

It is necessary to think about giving WHO the authority to make significant mobilization decisions in the interests of the entire world community in an emergency situation (for example, during a pandemic). It is likely that in order for the WHO to obtain such authority, it will be necessary for the UN members to adopt an international convention on cooperation in this area.

There you have it: Medvedev has fully endorsed the idea of a pandemic treaty and wants Russia to submit to the WHO whenever there are too many positive PCR tests or other existential threats to public health. (It’s charming how over the last two months, Medvedev has endeavored to rebrand himself as a mighty crusader against the depraved West. Yes, he’s a true patriot.)

Mikhail Murashko, Health Minister: Okay, maybe Medvedev is an insufferable WHO groupie, but so what? He’s not in charge of health policy. That’s Murashko’s job:

Yikes.

Russia has agreed to participate in the creation of a pandemic treaty, but with the stipulation that any new agreement should not “duplicate” previous accords.

What does this mean, exactly? It’s open to interpretation and gives Russia room to maneuver. [It sounds to me like it means the new agreement should go beyond existing agreements.] That being said, Murashko can hardly be described as hostile to the WHO; on the contrary, he’s worked tirelessly to make Russia WHO-friendly. Unsurprisingly, Murashko is also an unapologetic advocate for digital cattle tags.

Tatyana Golikova, Deputy Prime Minister: Russia’s former health minister (2007-2012) is True Believer who has been heaping praise on the WHO for more than a decade. Over the past two years she’s been instrumental in ensuring Russia’s adoption of WHO-endorsed anti-health measures.

But there’s also been some finger-wagging. In May 2021, Golikova told the WHO it needed to “speed up” its procedure for approving new vaccines. Because public health.

Sergey Sobyanin, Mayor of Moscow: In September 2020, Sobyanin thanked the WHO for inspiring him to impose a lockdown on Russia’s capital.

“I would like to express my gratitude to the World Health Organization, which from the first days of the pandemic has always informed the world community, both Russia and Moscow, about the processes that are taking place in different countries that were the first to be infected with COVID-19,” the mayor told Hans Kluge, the director of the WHO’s European Bureau.

Nine months later, Sobyanin became a trailblazer for compulsory vaccination and QR codes in Russia.

Cool WHO flag, bro.

Anna Popova, head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor): As Russia’s chief sanitary doctor, Popova has taken on the role of National COVID Nanny. Her penchant for arbitrary and useless “epidemiological” measures can be attributed in part to her devotion to the WHO.

In October, Popova supervised a WHO exercise held in Kazan that simulated the outbreak of an infectious disease.

Popova oversaw WHO-sponsored Virus Games in Kazan (source)

The Rospotrebnadzor chief said the simulation would be used to develop international standards for rapid response to “epidemiological threats” around the world.

Ungrateful Kazan residents protested against the WHO-sponsored Virus Games, apparently because they felt they were being used as guinea pigs (ridiculous!).

Russia’s upper management is basically completely A-Okay with the WHO. So, uh, who doesn’t like the WHO? We’re glad you asked…

The fellowship of anti-WHO Duma deputies

Russia’s parliamentarians are starting to ask: “Hey, why are we part of an organization that is almost entirely funded by hostile NATO members/Bill Gates?” Good question.

Pyotr Tolstoy, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma: Tolstoy has called for Russia to withdraw from the WHO as well as the World Trade Organization and UNESCO. According to the senior lawmaker, it was idiotic of Russia to join these esteemed US-dominated global bodies in the first place.

Yana Lantratova, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education: Lantratova believes Russia should suspend its cooperation with the WHO due to the organization’s links to biological laboratories in Ukraine.

“All of you know about the work of WHO around the world, it seems to me that interaction with this international organization in the current geopolitical situation does not meet the national interests of the Russian Federation,” she said last week. “Russia should suspend its membership in the WHO until the end of the parliamentary investigation. This will not affect on the health care system in Russia, but the fact that the organization has been collaborating for several years with biological laboratories created in Ukraine by American specialists cannot be ignored.”

Sergey Leonov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection: Although he opposes leaving the WHO, Leonov thinks Russia should stop paying membership fees.

“It is not entirely clear what benefit this organization brings to us,” the deputy said on March 30.

Sergei Mironov, parliamentary leader of A Just Russia — For Truth: Mironov and other members of his party recently introduced a draft resolution to the State Duma calling for Russia to suspend its membership with the WHO.

The proposed legislation would halt cooperation with the organization pending the results of a parliamentary investigation into the WHO’s dealings in Ukraine.

While lawmakers are focusing their rage on Ukraine-related WHO shenanigans, Russian activists have taken a more “big picture” stance: The World Health Organizations is actively destroying our health, and that’s bad.

“A direct threat to our national sovereignty”

What’s going on outside of the Duma chambers? Quite a bit.

A group of prominent Russian activists held a roundtable on April 14 to discuss how to safeguard Russia’s medical sovereignty. According to an excellent report from Katyusha.org, numerous participants called on Russia to withdraw from the WHO.

Anti-clot-shot crusader and conservative firebrand Alexandra Mashkova-Blagikh (whom your humble Moscow correspondent had the honor of meeting at the Doctors For Truth conference in December) gave a particularly rousing speech at last week’s event:

The WHO has been turned into an instrument of geopolitics. Whom it serves is clear if you look at its main sponsors: the USA, the Bill Gates Foundation, Germany, Britain… In the conditions of the war being waged against Russia, we cannot afford such a partnership. We are dealing with cultural, value, demographic and biological terrorism.

Now, under the pretext of the need to fight a “pandemic”, the WHO seeks to expand its power around the world through the Pandemic Agreement. This is a direct threat to our national sovereignty. It is obvious that this structure will never act in the interests of our country, and the time has come to withdraw from this organization. It is encouraging that serious politicians have started talking about this.

A coalition of activist groups has also issued an open letter calling for the removal of WHO-loving government officials (including many of the unsavory specimens we listed above).

What happens now?

A lot can happen in two years. What will the world look like in May 2024, when the pandemic treaty is scheduled for completion and ratification?

Probably we will all be eating bug-tacos in socially distanced quarantine camps as Triple-Ebola Swine Pox (a positive PCR test) ravishes the Earth.

If Russia wants to avoid this unpleasant future, it should probably not volunteer to be a “co-author” of any WHO-related treaty. Just to be on the safe side, Russia should exit this regrettable organization immediately. Today. Preferably right now.

April 20, 2022 Posted by | Civil Liberties | , , , | Leave a comment

IMF to expedite $5 billion loan to Ukraine

Samizdat | April 20, 2022

Ukraine likely needs $5 billion a month in financial assistance to keep its economy operating and the immediate priority was finding ways to fill that gap in the next three months, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

The Washington-based financial institution will start work on a future loan program, but it was “unfair” to expect Ukraine to implement a far-reaching package of reforms at the moment, Georgieva told a news conference on Wednesday.

On Sunday, Kiev requested $50 billion in financial support from the Group of Seven (G7) nations and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cover a budget deficit largely created by the military conflict with Russia.

Ukraine is also considering issuing 0% coupon bonds to bridge the fiscal gap, as the country is currently facing an estimated $7 billion deficit a month, according to Oleg Ustenko, the top economic adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The IMF and World Bank have approved more than $2 billion in loans to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s military operation in the country. Meanwhile, the World Bank said it was preparing nearly $1.5 billion in extra funds to allow essential Ukrainian government services to continue.

Over the weekend, Georgieva said “more [funds] would be necessary … to keep the economy functioning and prevent inflation shooting up.”

April 20, 2022 Posted by | Corruption, Economics | , | Leave a comment

“Pandemic Treaty” will hand WHO keys to global government

By Kit Knightly | OffGuardian | April 19, 2022

The first public hearings on the proposed “Pandemic Treaty” are closed, with the next round due to start in mid-June.

We’ve been trying to keep this issue on our front page, entirely because the mainstream is so keen to ignore it and keep churning out partisan war porn and propaganda.

When we – and others – linked to the public submissions page, there was such a response that the WHO’s website actually briefly crashed, or they pretended it crashed so people would stop sending them letters.

Either way, it’s a win. Hopefully one we can replicate in the summer.

Until then, the signs are that what scant press coverage there is, mostly across the metaphorical back-pages of the internet, will be focused on making the treaty “strong enough” and ensuring national governments can be “held accountable”.

An article in the UK’s Telegraph from April 12th headlines:

Real risk a pandemic treaty could be ‘too watered down’ to stop new outbreaks

It focuses on a report from the Panel for a Global Public Health Convention (GPHC), and quotes one of the report’s authors Dame Barbara Stocking:

Our biggest fear […] is it’s too easy to think that accountability doesn’t matter. To have a treaty that does not have compliance in it, well frankly then there’s no point in having a treaty,”

The GPHC report goes on to say that the current International Health Regulations are “too weak”, and calls for the creation of a new “independent” international body to “assess government preparedness” and “publicly rebuke or praise countries, depending on their compliance with a set of agreed requirements”.

Another article, published by the London School of Economics and co-written by members of the German Alliance on Climate Change and Health (KLUG), also pushes the idea of “accountability” and “compliance” pretty hard:

For this treaty to have teeth, the organisation that governs it needs to have the power – either political or legal – to enforce compliance.

It also echoes the UN report from May 2021 in calling for more powers for the WHO:

In its current form, the WHO does not possess such powers […] To move on with the treaty, WHO therefore needs to be empowered — financially, and politically.

It recommends the involvement of “non-state actors” such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organisation and International Labour Organisation in the negotiations, and suggests the treaty offer financial incentives for the early reporting of “health emergencies” [emphasis added]:

In case of a declared health emergency, resources need to flow to countries in which the emergency is occurring, triggering response elements such as financing and technical support. These are especially relevant for LMICs, and could be used to encourage and enhance the timely sharing of information by states, reassuring them that they will not be subject to arbitrary trade and travel sanctions for reporting, but instead be provided with the necessary financial and technical resources they require to effectively respond to the outbreak.

It doesn’t stop there, however. They also raise the question of countries being punished for “non-compliance”:

[The treaty should possess] An adaptable incentive regime, [including] sanctions such as public reprimands, economic sanctions, or denial of benefits.

To translate these suggestions from bureaucrat into English:

  • If you report “disease outbreaks” in a “timely manner”, you will get “financial resources” to deal with them.
  • If you don’t report disease outbreaks, or don’t follow the WHO’s directions, you will lose out on international aid and face trade embargoes and sanctions.

In combination, these proposed rules would literally incentivize reporting possible “disease outbreaks”. Far from preventing “future pandemics”, they would actively encourage them.

National governments who refuse to play ball being punished, and those who play along getting paid off is not new. We have already seen that with Covid.

Two African countries – Burundi and Tanzania – had Presidents who banned the WHO from their borders, and refused to go along with the Pandemic narrative. Both Presidents died unexpectedly within months of that decision, only to be replaced by new Presidents who instantly reversed their predecessor’s covid policies.

Less than a week after the death of President Pierre Nkurunziza, the IMF agreed to forgive almost 25 million dollars of Burundi’s national debt in order to help combat the Covid19 “crisis”.

Just five months after the death of President John Magufuli, the new government of Tanzania received 600 million dollars from the IMF to “address the covid19 pandemic”.

It’s pretty clear what happened here, isn’t it?

Globalists backed coups and rewarded the perpetrators with “international aid”. The proposals for the Pandemic treaty would simply legitimise this process, moving it from covert back channels to overt official ones.

Now, before we discuss the implications of new powers, let’s remind ourselves of the power the WHO already possesses:

  • The World Health Organization is the only institution in the world empowered to declare a “pandemic” or Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
  • The Director-General of the WHO – an unelected position – is the only individual who controls that power.

We have already seen the WHO abuse these powers in order to create a fake pandemic out of thin air… and I’m not talking about covid.

Prior to 2008, the WHO could only declare an influenza pandemic if there were “enormous numbers of deaths and illness” AND there was a new and distinct subtype. In 2008 the WHO loosened the definition of “influenza pandemic” to remove these two conditions.

As a 2010 letter to the British Medical Journal pointed out, these changes meant “many seasonal flu viruses could be classified as pandemic influenza.”

If the WHO had not made those changes, the 2009 “Swine flu” outbreak could never have been called a pandemic, and would likely have passed without notice.

Instead, dozens of countries spent millions upon millions of dollars on swine flu vaccines they did not need and did not work, to fight a “pandemic” that resulted in fewer than 20,000 deaths. Many of those responsible for advising the WHO to declare swine flu a public health emergency were later shown to have financial ties to vaccine manufacturers.

Despite this historical example of blatant corruption, one proposed clause of the Pandemic Treaty would make it even easier to declare a PHEIC. According to the May 2021 report “Covid19: Make it the Last Pandemic” [emphasis added]:

Future declarations of a PHEIC by the WHO Director-General should be based on the precautionary principle where warranted

Yes, the proposed treaty could allow the DG of the WHO to declare a state of global emergency to prevent a potential pandemic, not in response to one. A kind of pandemic pre-crime.

If you combine this with the proposed “financial aid” for developing nations reporting “potential health emergencies”, you can see what they’re building – essentially bribing third world governments to give the WHO a pretext for declaring a state of emergency.

We already know the other key points likely to be included in a pandemic treaty. They will almost certainly try to introduce international vaccine passports, and pour funding into big Pharma’s pockets to produce “vaccines” ever faster and with even less safety testing.

But all of that could pale in comparison to the legal powers potentially being handed to the director-general of the WHO (or whatever new “independent” body they may decide to create) to punish, rebuke or reward national governments.

A “Pandemic Treaty” that overrides or overrules national or local governments would hand supranational powers to an unelected bureaucrat or “expert”, who could exercise them entirely at his own discretion and on completely subjective criteria.

This is the very definition of technocratic globalism.

April 20, 2022 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Corruption, Full Spectrum Dominance, Timeless or most popular | , , | Leave a comment

CNN’s US Intel Source Just Admitted That Everything Zelensky Says Is Propaganda

By Andrew Korybko | One World Press | April 20, 2022

Ukrainian President Zelensky has been accused by his many critics across the world of spewing propaganda in every one of his many appearances, yet up until CNN’s surprising publication of an article on Tuesday, the US-led West condemned any such suspicions as so-called “Russian propaganda”. The “politically correct” narrative has suddenly changed, however, due to that outlet’s piece titled “What happens to weapons sent to Ukraine? The US doesn’t really know”. Partway through the text, CNN reported the following about US suspicions that Ukraine isn’t telling the whole truth about anything:

“’It’s a war — everything they do and say publicly is designed to help them win the war. Every public statement is an information operation, every interview, every Zelensky appearance broadcast is an information operation,’ said another source familiar with western intelligence. ‘It doesn’t mean they’re wrong to do it in any way.’”

This jaw-dropping disclosure amounts to a complete reversal of the prior narrative whereby it’s no longer so-called “Russian propaganda” to accuse Zelensky of spewing propaganda but is now reportedly the unofficial position of none other than the US government itself. Not only that, but this is supposedly something that should even be praised, not condemned. That new narrative builds upon the one introduced by NBC News earlier this month when it quoted unnamed US spies who openly admitted to waging information warfare against Russia, including through the spread of fake news speculation.

All of this might understandably be too much for the average Western information consumer to process, which is why the purpose of this piece is to explain the emerging cognitive warfare trend that’s on display in this context. The US-led Western Mainstream Media (MSM) is clearly on the defensive after it became impossible to deny that Zelensky is spewing propaganda in literally every one of his many appearances according to CNN’s own US intel source on the matter. Doubling down on the false narrative that he’s an “innocent truth-teller” is counterproductive since folks don’t trust him anymore.

For that reason, the US’ permanent military, intelligence, and diplomatic bureaucracies (“deep state”) felt compelled to enact a drastic change in the official narrative by allowing some of these shadowy officials to anonymously speak to CNN in order to recalibrate their perception management operations. Instead of desperately clinging to their discredited narrative, they sought to radically change it through the so-called “limited hangout” tactic of admitting something unsavory (in this case that all the Ukrainian leader does is spew propaganda) but then spinning it into something positive.

By giving some credence to the suspicions of their increasingly skeptical audience who’ve largely realized by now that Zelensky can’t be trusted after he’s gone so overboard with his rhetoric during his many appearances as of late, they hope to strategically disarm their target by getting their guard down so that they swallow the second part of the “deep state’s” amended narrative related to why “it doesn’t mean that [he’s] wrong to do it in any way.” This conforms to the trend first introduced by NBC News whereby Americans are now supposed to expect propaganda in the media, not condemn it.

The unofficial acknowledgement of “deep state” meddling in the US media from NBC News’ sources and the praise that CNN’s intel source just lavished upon Zelensky for the lies that this individual candidly admitted he spews during all of his appearances are meant to precondition the targeted Western audience into appreciating that which they’d otherwise have condemned as contrary to their country’s values, especially that which concerns the supposed integrity of their media. That said integrity has long been gone, however, which is why it was way overdue for the “deep state” to finally flip the narrative.

Observers should remember that this is only being done because the population at large is awakening to how maliciously they’ve been misled by the so-called “fourth estate” through its collusion with the “deep state” and foreign officials like Zelensky, whose words they hitherto passed off as truth without any second thought and condemned those who questioned him as “Russian propagandists”. Big data analytics have evolved to the point where “deep state” structures can very easily assess the pulse of their targeted audience and thus get a sense of their true sentiments towards whatever it might be.

Considering the radical revision of the official narrative that just took place in less than a few weeks’ time through NBC News and CNN’s seemingly coordinated “revelations” about media meddling, it can confidently be concluded that this was done in response to the “deep state” realizing that it absolutely had to undertake this course of action lest its targeted audience soon lose all trust in its media proxies. For that reason, this should be seen as an unprecedentedly desperate move that has no precedent in American history, which speaks to the population’s similarly unprecedented distrust of the media.

April 20, 2022 Posted by | Deception, Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | , | Leave a comment

Most people are wrong about most things, most of the time

Brief thoughts about thinking

eugyppius | April 20, 2022

Most people are wrong about most things. This is especially true of the people who are brought to your attention by newspapers and television. It doesn’t matter how smart they are, or how well-read, or how thoroughly educated. There aren’t very many fields of endeavour where you can get ahead on the sheer strength of being right. Our expert classes succeed instead by cultivating the correct allies, publishing the right papers in the right journals, working on the right problems, winning the right grant funding, and making the right friends. People who enjoy these trivialities are precisely the people for whom being right is not a priority.

Above all, experts prefer to work within and propagate safe, consensus positions. This is because they have primarily careerist goals, which are best pursued secure from the criticism of colleagues. Being wrong is not nearly so important as seeming wrong, which can cost you promotion. Once you realise that experts are little more than consensus-establishing and -propagating professionals, statements about what the science says or what the literature shows acquire a totally new meaning.

Forget, then, about expert opinion. There is no substitute for doing your own research. In everything that matters to you, you must consider the actual theories that are presented to you for yourself. And, particularly in areas of limited evidence, you’ll be less interested in which theories are wrong (though that matters too), than in the subtler problem, of which theories are more or less probable than the alternatives.

Most of the theories that are put about, are not really theories at all. They are, instead, arguments, designed to justify or advocate for specific policies. Arguments are not genuine attempts to understand anything; they are attempts to convince other people to think in a certain way.

People assemble arguments like they would a house. They develop a program (the plan), collect evidence in favour of this program (the materials), and finally they present their program with all the evidence adduced in neat footnotes (the construction). This approach is reasonable enough, if all you want to do is persuade, but if you want to understand how a given model of reality fares against others, it is the wrong way.

April 20, 2022 Posted by | Science and Pseudo-Science, Timeless or most popular | Leave a comment

Russia accuses OSCE of ‘spying’ for Ukraine

Samizdat | April 20, 2022

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) collaborated with the Ukrainian government in its fight against the Donbass republics and tried to cover up offences by Ukrainian nationalist forces, Russia’s deputy representative to the UN told a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday.

The accusations came as Dmitry Polyansky blasted Western powers, saying they were being hypocritical regarding the security crisis in Ukraine. The US and its allies pursue their own selfish interests rather than the interests of the Ukrainian people, when they fan hostilities in the east European country, the diplomat said.

“We obtained the latest proof of how dirty your tricks are in building a ‘rules-based order’ when we discovered proof that the OSCE special monitoring mission in Ukraine simply spied for Kiev instead of recording violations of the ceasefire,” he claimed. The official said Russia was collecting more evidence to make the case against the monitors.

Polyansky made more allegations as he brought up the seizure of official OSCE vehicles by Ukrainian nationalist troops in the city of Mariupol. He said there were reports that eight cars, some of them armored, were taken by the Ukrainians at gun point. One of them was later filmed with clear signs of use in battle. Similar reports came from other places in eastern Ukraine, he said.

“The OSCE leadership was aware of the problem, but they chose to hush up this fact as long as it could,” the Russian official claimed.

He added that such discoveries “undermined trust in international organizations where Western officials play a dominant role.” This lack of trust makes Moscow question any calls for a humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine coming from the West, the official said.

“In practice, [the calls] demonstrated a desire to give Kiev nationalists and radicals a pause to regroup, receive new shipments of drones, anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, and stage more inhumane provocations to spread lies about the actions of Russian soldiers,” Polyansky said.

Russia will differentiate between “pseudo-peacemaking” and genuine attempts to “help Ukraine take the long-necessary right decisions,” he said.

The OSCE was invited to Ukraine to monitor the situation in the country in March 2014, shortly after an armed coup in Kiev triggered a spike in tensions in the east. The Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) became a crucial tool in observing a truce between government forces and rebels, which was listed as the first part of the roadmap to peace set in the so-called Minsk agreements. OSCE monitors patrolled the disengagement line to check whether deployments of forces by the warring parties complied with the deal and to report any violations of the ceasefire.

The field mission was the biggest in the organization’s history, with as many as 814 international and 477 national staff involved and over 2,400 daily reports produced in eight years.

The mission’s mandate expired on March 31, with Russia opposing its extension. Moscow accused the OSCE of pushing Russian representatives out of the SMM even as the number of observers was increasing.

As he explained the country’s decision to withdraw its participation and funding, the Russian representative at the organization, Aleksandr Lukashevich accused the OSCE of taking Kiev’s side in treating the two Donbass republics as “a territory under control of some terrorists,” and virtually refusing to coordinate with them.

Last week, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics decided to ban OSCE monitors on their respective territories starting April 30. Both are investigating allegations of espionage by members of the mission. The government in Lugansk reported arresting two OSCE employees suspected of treason. Russia is conducting its own criminal investigation of the espionage claims.

April 20, 2022 Posted by | Deception | , , | Leave a comment

« Previous Entries     Next Entries »