Ontario Cop Appeals Conviction For Freedom Convoy Donation
By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | November 29, 2023
Constable Michael Brisco, a highly respected officer of the Windsor Police Service, found his professional reputation threatened for making an online donation to a protest in support of civil liberties.
Armed with no previous disciplinary records, Brisco has been thrust into a legal tussle over his $50 donation to the Ottawa Freedom Convoy’s peaceful protest via GiveSendGo on February 8, 2022.
Get the background on this case here.
Importantly, this occurred within the permissible boundaries set by an Ontario Superior Court Judge, allowing people to participate in the protest in Ottawa, provided their advocacy did not include honking. Brisco, who chose to fund the peaceful protest anonymously and not in his capacity as a police officer, now finds his actions punished.
The crux of this issue surfaced when the GiveSendGo donor list was compromised and fell into the possession of the Ontario Provincial Police Service.
Brisco’s name was flagged in the data breach and subsequently forwarded to the Windsor Police Service, gently illustrating the porous safety afforded by digital privacy. Brisco now stands accused of what the Windsor Police Service deems “discreditable conduct.”
Brisco’s legal team maintains their client’s donation was not evidence of his support for the Ambassador Bridge blockade in Windsor, Ontario. They argue the prosecution’s attempts to link Brisco’s anonymous contribution with allegedly unlawful protests was threadbare, relying solely on newspaper commentaries by several officials, including Ontario’s premier and the prime minister. Specifically, no video, photograph, or indisputable evidence supports the accusations against Brisco.
Get more information on this case at the Justice Center For Constitutional Freedoms.
Michelin to cut production in crisis-hit Germany
RT | November 29, 2023
French tire giant Michelin will slash over 1,500 jobs in Germany by 2025, the company announced in Frankfurt on Tuesday. Competition from lower-wage nations and soaring energy prices have made production in Western Europe unprofitable, according to a statement.
Michelin plants in Karlsruhe and Trier will be fully shut down and some products at its site in Homburg will be discontinued. The decision will affect 1,410 employees in total. The Karlsruhe factory, Michelin’s oldest in Germany, was founded in 1931.
A further 122 jobs will be axed at the customer contact service in Karlsruhe, which will be moved to Poland, the company said. The operation supports clients in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, an area where Michelin employs some 8,000 people, according to its website.
“The commitment of our employees, the progress made within the company and the investments made in recent years in the affected activities can no longer compensate for the strong competitive pressure,” Maria Rottger, president of Michelin’s Northern Europe region, explained.
German trade union IG BCE said it will not “simply accept” the plans and will look for alternative solutions.
The firm noted that “recent health and geopolitical crises” had pushed up operating costs, putting “additional strain on Germany’s competitiveness as an industrial location.”
Germany has grappled with increasing economic problems since the EU chose to no longer buy cheap natural gas from Russia in response to the Ukraine crisis. The decoupling was reinforced in September 2022, when explosions sabotaged the undersea Nord Stream pipelines which delivered Russian fuel directly to Germany. Berlin has yet to identify the perpetrators of the attack, which Moscow claimed was likely masterminded by the US.
Some German politicians are urging the government to reconsider its antagonistic stance towards Russia, citing the economic damage their nation has suffered.
“The economic sanctions are hurting us more than Russia,” Klaus Ernst, an MP from The Left party, said on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday.
“The result is skyrocketing energy prices, a sharp decline in production in the energy-intensive industry and a shrinking economy in Germany,” he added, calling for energy supplies to be ramped up, including from Russia, in order to rein in prices.
Earlier this year, US tire maker Goodyear revealed plans to shut down two factories in Germany, which will cut around 1,750 jobs. As part of its rationalization plan in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, it will permanently close its facilities in Fulda and Furstenwalde.
Elon Musk says advertisers are attempting to blackmail X to censor, tells corporate advertisers: “Go fuck yourself”
By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | November 29, 2023
Elon Musk has expressed strong disapproval towards major advertisers withdrawing their support from his social media platform, X. He accused these companies of attempting to coerce the platform and even risk its financial stability, bluntly telling them, “Go fuck yourself… Go. Fuck. Yourself. Is that clear?”
This backlash from advertisers like Disney, IBM, NBCUniversal, and Lionsgate came after activist groups called on giant corporations to pull advertising on X until the platform censors.
At the New York Times DealBook Summit in New York, on Wednesday, Elon Musk spoke candidly about his turbulent year and his stance on being liked. Musk, unfazed by criticism, asserted, “Hate away. There’s a real weakness to wanting to be liked.”
Musk, undeterred, expressed his indifference to advertisers’ withdrawal, stating boldly, “I don’t want them to advertise. If someone is going to blackmail me with advertising or money go fuck yourself. Hey, Bob if you’re in the audience,” Musk added, referring directly to Disney CEO Bob Iger.
Musk also took criticism for supporting a post on X that many said was antisemitic – something Musk says he regrets.
“I handed a loaded gun to those who hate me,” Musk said, calling it “one of the most foolish” things he’s done on the platform.
X has taken legal action against Media Matters, accusing them of a malicious campaign against Musk and the platform, an allegation Media Matters dismisses as baseless.
US military aid to Ukraine may be postponed until after 2024 elections
By Ahmed Adel | November 29, 2023
Members of the US Congress fear that if a military and financial aid package for Ukraine cannot be agreed before Christmas, it could be delayed until after the 2024 presidential elections, which take place in the distant November. The Economist notes that due to this funding uncertainty, “now America has become one of Ukraine’s greatest worries” since Washington has been “Ukraine’s greatest saviour as it marshalled arms, money and more to help” to fight Russian forces.
According to the London-based outlet, “the longer the delay, the more the Republican and Democratic parties will “become consumed by election fever.”
“If there is no deal before Christmas, some in Congress worry, a fresh allocation of aid may be delayed until after the elections in November 2024,” the Economist reported, citing a source in the US Senate, who added that if Donald Trump was to be elected president, funding could stop completely.
Ukrainian officials fear that without American support, Kiev’s allies in Europe could lose heart, with the magazine highlighting that Ukraine is trying to boost its defence industry, which was famous during the Soviet era but has been badly neglected since.
“No matter how much we grow local production, we would be hugely dependent on Western partnerships,” admitted a senior official in Kiev.
Another Ukrainian source cited by the Economist said, “In the spring the flow of military supplies was a broad river. In the summer it was a stream. Now it is a few drops of tears.”
Without US and Western funding, Ukraine’s collapse would be imminent since this was the decisive factor in why the eastern European country’s military has survived for as long as it has. The situation is so dire that the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy and the National Bank believe that Ukraine’s GDP is expected to reach pre-crisis 2021 levels only in 2030.
Ukraine’s GDP dropped 29.1% last year, falling from 5.5 trillion hryvnia to 3.8 trillion hryvnia at constant prices, considering 2021 as the base year. With an average annual growth rate of 4.8%, the Ukrainian economy will reach pre-crisis levels only in 2030, when GDP will reach 5.6 trillion hryvnia at 2021 prices.
In comparison, the International Monetary Fund expects an average growth of 4.3% per year for the Ukrainian economy from 2025 to 2028.
Meanwhile, the Russian economy, which contracted 2.1% last year to 132.5 trillion rubles in 2021 prices, is forecast to grow 2.45% this year, reaching a GDP of 135.7 trillion rubles. Despite the sanctions, this value represents approximately 445 billion rubles more than recorded before the crisis.
Evidently, the sanctions against Russia have failed whilst Ukraine continues to struggle. Yet, despite this reality, the Biden administration is adamant about maintaining sanctions and financing Ukraine and is only blocked from doing so because of the strong opposition in Congress.
Biden’s unrelenting yet failed Ukraine policy will likely be his undoing since his popularity continues to plummet in the polls.
The latest Morning Consult poll, updated on November 27, had Biden’s approval rating at 38% and his disapproval rating at 55%. According to FiveThirtyEight’s average of all polls, Biden’s approval rating sat at 39%, with 54.7% disapproving.
The New York Times/Siena College polls at the beginning of November showed Trump ahead of Biden in four of the six swing states. Still, more indicators of the president’s electoral peril soon followed. Biden’s popularity in head-to-head matchups with Trump is dwindling, as seen in the fact that among the latest surveys this month from 13 separate pollsters, Biden’s position is worse than their previous polls in all but two.
As Politico highlighted, “And while polls suggest most of the movement comes from voters abandoning Biden — who might become undecided but not swing to supporting Trump — the Republican has also started to gain steam. Trump’s vote share in the national polling average is higher now than at any point in the past year.”
A massive reason for the swing in popularity between Biden and Trump is their respective positions on the Ukraine war. Trump has claimed he can end the conflict in 24 hours, and even though this is doubtful, it points to the fact that he wants to wrap up this war quickly. Biden, on the other hand, not only instigated the start of the war but is attempting to continue it for as long as possible, even at the expense of the American taxpayers who are already struggling with the cost of living.
If funding of Ukraine is discontinued until at least November 2024, Moscow will likely have ended the war by then after achieving their goals and will be ready to start engaging in slow normalisation efforts with Washington – if Trump were to be elected. And even if Congress eventually approves a new aid package for Ukraine, it will only merely delay for a short duration Russia’s final victory.
Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.
Ex-Soviet state summons Western envoys over funding of local media
RT | November 29, 2023
Azerbaijan has filed complaints with the US, Germany and France over the illegal funding of a local media outlet, which has published investigations into government corruption. Three of its journalists were recently arrested on accusations of currency smuggling.
On Tuesday, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry issued a statement saying the ambassadors of the three Western countries had been summoned to a meeting. They were informed that the AbzasMedia portal was conducting unlawful financial operations with the participation of organizations registered in those states. They were also told that their embassies were involved in such activities.
Azerbaijani legislation prohibits the allocation of funds to unregistered projects. However, according to the foreign ministry, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), FreedomNow, New Democracy Foundation, and other organizations illegally transferred funds to the country, violating the rules of grant allocation and illegally facilitating the activities of the unregistered media portal AbzasMedia.
AbzasMedia said in a statement that, several days ago, three of its journalists were arrested on charges of “currency smuggling” and sentenced to four months in custody, linking the case to its corruption investigations. The outlet also reported that, according to police, €40,000 ($44,000) in cash was found in the office, and accused officers of “deliberately putting money in the office to justify arrests.”
Last month, the government of neighboring Georgia raised the alarm over the actions of the USAID-funded Center for Applied Nonviolent Strategies (CANVAS), saying it was planning to unleash a violent color revolution. The US Embassy in Tbilisi claimed the accusations against CANVAS were “false and fundamentally mischaracterize the goals of our assistance to Georgia.”
On its website, USAID states that it is “investing in democracy work to advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.”
USAID activities have been banned in Russia since 2012. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, this decision was mostly due to the fact that the nature of the agency’s work in the country did not always comply with the stated goals, including their “attempts to influence the political process” through the distribution of grants.
Musk responds to Hamas invitation
RT | November 29, 2023
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has declined an invitation by a senior Hamas official to tour Gaza to see the fallout of the relentless Israeli attacks on the Palestinian enclave. The US billionaire recently paid a visit to Israel during which he agreed that the country had no other choice but to destroy Hamas.
On Tuesday, Osama Hamdan, a member of the Hamas politburo, told a press conference in Beirut, Lebanon, that the Palestinian armed group would be happy to show Musk “the extent of the massacres and destruction committed against the people of Gaza, in compliance with the standards of objectivity and credibility.”
Asked by a user on X (formerly Twitter) to comment on the invitation, Musk replied that “[it] seems a bit dangerous there right now.” “But I do believe that a long-term prosperous Gaza is good for all sides,” he added.
The US tycoon’s remarks came after Musk traveled to Israel on Monday, where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, and walked through a kibbutz destroyed by Hamas.
He also had a conversation with Netanyahu during which he agreed with the latter’s stance on Hamas, arguing that “those who are intent on murder must be neutralized.”
Musk’s trip to Israel came after the billionaire found himself in hot water over accusations that he harbored “anti-Semitic” sentiments. In particular, he emphatically concurred with one post accusing Jewish people of “pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”
He has also previously been at odds with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish advocacy group, which accused the mogul of allowing hate speech on X. Musk has denied the anti-Semitism allegations and has threatened to sue the organization.
The conflict, which erupted after Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, has caused thousands of casualties on both sides, as well as a humanitarian crisis and widespread devastation in Gaza. As the hostilities intensified, tensions between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli communities around the world have also surged.
Hamas Military Wing Says Released 2 Russian Citizens in Response to Request of Moscow
Sputnik – 29.11.2023
MOSCOW – The military wing of the Palestinian movement Hamas, Al Qassam Brigades said on Wednesday that it released two Russian citizens in response to Moscow’s request.
Earlier in the day, the i24 broadcaster reported, citing Hamas, that the movement will release two Israeli women with Russian citizenship, in addition to 10 Israeli hostages whose release was agreed upon, as a sign of gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Al-Qassam Brigades [will] release two Russian detainees in response to a request from the Russian leadership,” the statement said.
Last week, Qatar mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas on a four-day truce and an exchange of some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. On Monday, Qatar announced that an agreement had been reached between Israel and Hamas on a two-day extension of the truce.
Over the five days of the truce Israel was able to secure the release of 61 Israelis and 25 foreign citizens held hostage by Hamas.
On October 7, Hamas launched a surprise large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip and breached the border, killing and abducting people. Israel launched retaliatory strikes and ordered a complete blockade of Gaza, cutting off supplies of water, food, and fuel. On October 27, Israel launched a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip. The conflict has so far resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,200 people in Israel and over 16,000 in the Gaza Strip.
UN General Assembly Denounces Occupation of Syrian Golan Heights, Demands Israeli Withdrawal
Sputnik – 29.11.2023
UNITED NATIONS – The UN General Assembly renewed its resolution demanding that Israel withdraw from Syria’s Golan Heights.
The resolution was renewed on Tuesday with 91 votes in favor, eight against and 62 abstentions.
The resolution says that United Nations member states are “deeply concerned that Israel has not withdrawn from the Syrian Golan, which has been under occupation since 1967, contrary to the relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.”
The document also emphasizes “the illegality of the Israeli settlement construction and other activities in the occupied Syrian Golan since 1967.”
Iran holds IAEA accountable for Israel’s atomic threats: Nuclear chief
Press TV – November 29, 2023
The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) bears responsibility for any nuclear accident caused by Israel amid the regime’s repeated threats to use atomic bombs.
Speaking on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, Mohammad Eslami said that he had raised the issue of nuclear threats made by Israeli officials with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi before a meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors.
“We told the IAEA chief that … it is a violation of international law if you do not take a position against a party that has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is not committed to the Safeguards Agreement, does not allow the agency’s access to [its nuclear facilities], and clearly declares that it will use nuclear weapons,” he added.
“The responsibility for any [nuclear] accident lies with the IAEA, because the Zionist regime has not signed the NPT and the Safeguards Agreement, and today the regime is threatening the world with atomic bombs.”
Earlier this month, Israel’s so-called heritage minister Amichai Eliyahu said that dropping a nuclear weapon on Gaza was “one of the possibilities” in the ongoing war on the besieged Palestinian territory.
Back in September, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a “credible nuclear threat” against Iran in an address to the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. However, the hawkish premier’s office later said that he misread the line and meant to say a “credible military threat.”
Israel, which pursues a policy of deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear weapons, is estimated to have 200 to 400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, making it the Middle East’s sole possessor of non-conventional arms.
The usurping entity has, however, refused to either allow inspections of its military nuclear facilities or sign the NPT, an international treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear arms.
Also in his remarks, Eslami said that the bloody Israeli war on Gaza has exposed the nature of the Israeli regime.
He expressed hope for a day, when international organizations will be effective and ensure international peace and security.