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Philippines Plans South China Sea Escalation With US Support

By Chimauchem Nwosu – Sputnik – 15.01.2024

Washington’s increased military activities in the South China Sea could potentially destabilize regional peace and stability, as Manila is influenced and urged by the US to follow the path of confrontation.

The Philippines’ top brass has stated its intentions to advance its bases in the South China Sea and increase its naval fleet and radars, despite thawing relations with its Chinese neighbor.

Romeo Brawner Jr., Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, told the press that his country wants to make its outposts in the area more habitable — a move bound to fuel tensions over disputed maritime borders.

Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has told the armed forces to seek the support of foreign militaries as it shifts focus from internal security to maritime defense.

The Philippines is a key US ally in the region and hosts its military bases, used during US wars in Vietnam and Korea.

But in recent times, Washington has shifted towards “great power competition” with China, co-opting Manila as a tool in its quest to “contain” Beijing.

Tensions between the Asian nations have intensified since October 4, 2023, with reports of Flippino ships defying Chinese Coast Guard warnings to pass through the Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea on a resupply mission.

Early December last year, the Philippines established a monitoring base for its coast guard on Thitu Island in the disputed South China Sea. It also announced its intentions to increase joint patrols with the US and Australia in the area to curtail what it perceives as “pure bullying” by China, a Filipino official told media.

In response, Beijing has stated that such patrols potentially exacerbate a larger conflict that could plunge the region into chaos and criticized Manila’s plan as a provocation.

Chinese authorities have also accused the US of escalating tensions in the Asia-Pacific, especially in the South China Sea, and condemned Washington’s attempts to thwart China-Taiwan relations.

Washington insists that its ships will sail wherever they want in what it defines as international waters. The US has reiterated its resolve to defend the Philippines in the event of an attack, including in the South China Sea.

But China’s Foreign Ministry said heightened US military activities in the South China Sea further worsens the situation and subverts international law and its sovereignty.

“The US instigated and emboldened the Philippine side to infringe upon China’s sovereignty, which escalated maritime tensions. The Chinese side firmly opposes that,” Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense, said during a news conference.

Despite the deteriorating tensions, Marcos has stated that the Philippines will continuously assert its rights in the South China Sea. “We shall continue to assert our rights in accordance with the Philippine Constitution and international law,” Marcos remarked. This follows Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s caution that ties between Beijing and Manila are “facing serious difficulties” and warned against colluding with “malicious external forces.”

January 16, 2024 Posted by | Aletho News | , , | Leave a comment

Taiwan: cross-strait brinkmanship to continue

BY M. K. BHADRAKUMAR | INDIAN PUNCHLINE | JANUARY 15, 2024 

Taiwan’s electoral laws provide for the candidate with the highest number of votes becoming the winner on a first-past-the-post basis, and it is a moot point that the incumbent Vice President William Lai from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) who secured only 40 percent of votes is still elected as the next president. 

The DPP suffered a setback in the legislative election too, losing its majority in the 113-seat legislature and falling behind the Nationalist Party (KMT). In effect, it is an electoral outcome akin to what prevails in France or Brazil, for instance, with the exception that both Emmanuel Macron and Lula da Silva won a majority of votes cast in the second round. 

Such hair-splitting may seem irrelevant but then, there are ‘local characteristics’ in the situation around Taiwan that add to the complexity of Sunday’s election result. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping has made ‘national rejuvenation’ a goal for Beijing to reach by mid-century — and,  bringing Taiwan under its control and reunifying China is part of that rejuvenation vision. In his New Year address, Xi Jinping insisted that the “reunification of the motherland is a historical inevitability.” 

In this narrative, mainland China and Taiwan were separated at a certain point in time because of being ‘a weak nation’, an issue that would be resolved when ‘rejuvenation’ is achieved. Therefore, the issue is a core question for the Chinese Communist Party’s legitimacy. 

On the other hand, Lai and the DPP see Taiwan as an independent country, whereas, the two main opposition parties who between them garnered 60% of votes in Sunday’s poll do not subscribe to such a stance. The Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) opposes Taiwan independence and advocates ‘pragmatic dialogue’ while the other rival, the Taiwan People’s Party, proposes engaging with Beijing and maintaining peace. 

In sum, the majority of Taiwanese public opinion falls short of endorsing independence for the country and also prefers the path of dialogue and engagement with Beijing rather than confrontation. Indeed, some analysts in Taiwan estimate that the result of the legislative election may eventually clear the way for policies to promote exchanges with the mainland, such as reducing restrictions on mainland students and tourists and even promote communication. 

Unsurprisingly, Beijing is extremely critical of Lai who once described himself as a “pragmatic worker for Taiwan independence” and whose vice presidential candidate also happens to be a famous figure in the Beltway, having served as Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the US. 

The crux of the matter is that the Taiwan question cuts to the heart of a broader geopolitical rivalry between the US and China. Put differently, how Beijing is going to interpret the ascendance of a third successive government in Taipei led by the pro-independence DPP will be crucial. Will Beijing feel the need to up the stakes? That is a big question. 

To be sure, Sunday’s vote will not only decide Taiwan’s policy with Beijing for years to come, but also geopolitics in the Asia-Pacific region and US-China relations. Military tensions are already on the rise. Under Lai, who takes over as president in May, Washington will no doubt continue to regard Taiwan as a ‘like-minded’ partner. That, in turn, will complicate the fragile US-China relationship. 

And any surge in the US-China rivalry can only increase the strategic value of Taiwan for Washington, which will in any case continue to play the Taiwan card against Beijing, as it has been a low-cost, high-return game for the Americans to play — so far at least.  

By internationalising the Taiwan question, which is essentially China’s internal problem, and by drumming up a propaganda campaign against Beijing’s so-called assertiveness in the region and beyond, the US has thrown down the gauntlet at China’s diplomats who are quickly damned as ‘wolf warriors’ if they react robustly. 

Indeed, the strategy brought dividends insofar as the US’ Asia-Pacific allies Japan, Australia, South Korea and the Philippines, who depend on Washington to guarantee their security, as well as the NATO allies, to a lesser extent, who feel constrained to follow Washington’s lead on the Taiwan issue under the rubric of ‘collective deterrence’. 

The bottom line is, Washington realises that it is unrealistic and difficult for the US alone to respond to China’s material national power and needs to mobilise the assets of its allies and like-minded partners to strengthen ‘collective deterrence.’ 

In fact, the European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell last year called on European navies to patrol the Taiwan Strait to “show Europe’s commitment” to the region. 

However, interestingly, the countries of the Global South — the so-called ‘global majority’ — have remained unmoved and are unwilling to risk their China relations over Taiwan and are not in the least interested in taking sides in the US-China rivalry. 

Beijing knows that it is in a strong position vis-a-vis Taipei and that Lai has very few options and very little room for manoeuvring. Arguably, Beijing’s real challenge lies in showing its grave displeasure without going to war. It may require that Beijing expands its playbook without pushing regional allies further into the US camp. 

From the initial rhetoric, it appears that Beijing has not decided how to respond to the DPP victory. China’s full response may play out over months or years, but the likelihood is that the Taiwan election cannot change the direction of cross-strait relations, which also means that the dynamic of brinkmanship and stress will continue.

Reporting on Sunday’s poll, the New York Times wrote that “To Beijing, the (Taiwan) island is a remnant of its civil war that the United States has no business meddling with. To Washington, it (Taiwan) is the first line of defence for global stability… and the microprocessor factory for the world.” 

Indeed, in geo-strategic terms, the US sees Taiwan as a crucial link in the so-called first island chain that runs from Borneo to the Philippines, Japan and South Korea, where the American bases would curtail the deployment of Chinese presence in the western Pacific. 

But such a cold-war era containment strategy is dated, on the one hand, with the advent of new transport planes, strategic bombers, aircraft carriers and hypersonic missiles that have a multiplier effect on the Chinese military capabilities, while, on the other hand, the AI-driven military technology and machine learning may create lasting change across the national security enterprise. 

In fact, the San Francisco summit between President Joe Biden and Xi turned out to be AI’s ‘Oppenheimer moment,’ as the two leaders agreed to “work together to assess the threats posed by AI” with a view to develop concrete regulatory frameworks to prevent the potentially destabilising consequences of the rapid development of military AI outstripping international law.

When knowledge networks collide with any new technology, different futures tend to appear on the horizon that call for prudence and a more robust dialogue. Significantly, the surcharged Taiwanese elections did not discourage the US and Chinese defence officials from holding their ‘policy coordination talks’ at the Pentagon last week on Monday and Tuesday — the first such in-person meetings since before the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement in Beijing, the Chinese defence spokesperson said on Friday that Beijing “expects the US side to develop a right perception of China, respect the core interests and major concerns of the Chinese side, and take concrete actions to work with China in the same direction to follow through the important consensus reached by the two heads of state in San Francisco.”

January 16, 2024 Posted by | Aletho News | , | Leave a comment

US, UK attacks on Yemen illegal, strategic mistake: Iran foreign minister

Press TV – January 16, 2024

Iran’s foreign minister has strongly slammed the recent attacks on the Yemeni territory by the United States and the UK as illegal and a strategic mistake.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in an early Tuesday phone call with Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, during which the two sides discussed the latest developments related to the Gaza Strip and the Red Sea.

During the conversation, Iran’s top diplomat stressed the Islamic Republic’s principled stance on protecting and maintaining security of shipping and navigation.

“By stopping ships that are bound for the occupied [Palestinian] territories, Yemen seeks to put a halt to the Zionist regime’s crimes and genocide against civilians in Gaza,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

He added that “illegal measures taken by the United States and the UK in attacking Yemen” amounted to a strategic mistake that would lead to further escalation of tensions in the region.

Since the start of the Israeli military aggression on Gaza in early October 2023, the United States and its Western allies have been providing financial and logistical support to the occupying regime in its ceaseless bombardment campaign against Palestinians in the besieged territory.

As part of their support for Palestinians, Yemen’s Armed Forces and popular Ansarullah resistance movement have over the past month targeted several ships owned by Israel or bound for ports in the occupied territories in the strategic Red Sea after multiple warnings.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Iran’s foreign minister expressed concern about the complicated humanitarian situation in the besieged Gaza Strip, reiterating Iran’s readiness to send humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people in the territory.

The Israeli genocide in Gaza has so far claimed the lives of more than 24,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, leaving thousands of others wounded and millions homeless. According to the UN, about 85 percent of the territory’s population has been displaced and forced into crowded shelters.

The regime has been also enforcing an all-out siege against Gaza that has prevented the flow of food, water, fuel, and medicine into the territory.

The UN chief, for his part, expressed concern about further spread of conflicts across the region, saying the world body is trying to stop the war and alleviate the suffering of the regional people.

He once again condemned the ongoing military aggression against Gaza, stressing the need for stopping it and sending humanitarian aid to Palestinians there.

Guterres also lauded the role played by the Islamic Republic in bolstering peace and stability in the region.

January 15, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Militarism, War Crimes | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Iran fires missiles at ‘terrorists and spies’ near US consulate

RT | January 15, 2024

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had used ballistic missiles against an ISIS base in Syria and a stronghold of the Israeli spy service Mossad in Iraq on Monday, in retaliation for the recent terrorist bombings in Iran.

Two explosions killed almost 100 people in Kerman on January 3, as pilgrims gathered to honor the late General Qassem Soleimani, killed by the US in 2021. Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS) claimed responsibility. Last month, another suicide bombing in the town of Rask killed 11 Iranian police. It was blamed on the Pakistan-based group Jaish Al-Adl.

“In response to the recent crimes of the terrorist groups that unjustly martyred a group of our dear compatriots in Kerman and Rask, we have identified gathering places of commanders and elements of ISIS related to recent terrorist operations in the occupied territories of Syria and destroyed them by firing a number of ballistic missiles,” the IRGC said in a statement.

In a follow-on statement, the IRGC said it had also used missiles against “one of the main espionage headquarters of the Zionist regime (Mossad) in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.”

The attack was “in response to the recent evils of the Zionist regime in martyring the commanders of the Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Resistance Front,” the IRGC added.

“We assure our beloved nation that the offensive operations of the IRGC will continue until the last drops of martyrs’ blood are avenged,” the group said.

While the announcements did not specify the location of either strike, reports from Iraq suggested that the missiles struck the city of Erbil. Iran has attacked alleged Israeli targets in Erbil before, in March 2022, in reprisal over airstrikes in Syria that killed two IRGC officers.

The suspected Mossad base was near the US consulate in Erbil, leading to mistaken reports that the Americans had been targeted.

An Iraqi security source told ABC News that four people were killed in Erbil, but that no American troops were among them. The same source said that “eight locations” near the US consulate had been hit.

Iranian media has circulated several videos purporting to show the missiles being launched. There were unconfirmed reports of multiple explosions and gunfire in Erbil, presumably from air defenses attempting to engage the incoming projectiles.

January 15, 2024 Posted by | Aletho News | , , | Leave a comment

100 days of Israeli genocide in Gaza and 100 lies peddled by regime

By Humaira Ahad | Press TV | January 15, 2024

Since October 7, when the Israeli regime launched its genocidal war on Gaza, the regime and its media as well as their Western apologists have weaponized lies and propaganda against Palestinians.

Over the past 100 days, from “beheading of babies” to “Hamas headquarters” under the Gaza hospitals, the Israeli regime has employed hundreds of lies to justify its unchecked aggression.

Even at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearing last week, the Israeli lawyers resorted to flagrant lies to whitewash the regime’s crimes committed in the besieged coastal territory.

Here is the compilation of 100 Israeli lies that characterized the first 100 days of its war on Gaza, all of them already debunked and exposed.

1- Hamas beheaded babies near Israel’s southern border with Gaza on October 7.

2- Hamas fighters laughed and were jubilant after murdering babies, children and settlers.

3- Israeli girls were taken as sex slaves by Hamas fighters.

4- Hamas fighters went door-to-door to hunt down Israeli settlers.

5- Hamas fighters were instructed to pull out organs from people’s bodies and to behead people. Conversely, this is what the regime has been doing with Palestinians.

6- The use of white phosphorus shells in Gaza and Lebanon is “unequivocally false.”

7- Hamas fighters raped Israeli women during its attack on October 7.

8- Hamas entered the homes of Israeli civilians, kidnaped, raped, butchered and burnt their babies.

9- The whole family of an Israeli farmer was reduced to ashes by Hamas on October 7.

10- An Israeli woman’s body was paraded by Hamas as a trophy.

11- Hamas came with a genocidal intent to kill innocent Jews, and if they could, they would have killed everyone.

12- The attack on a civilian convoy fleeing Gaza City on a road identified as a “safe route”, which killed 70 people and wounded 200 others, was not done by Israel.

13- Israel is fighting Hamas, and not the civilian Gazan population, and it is doing so in full compliance with international law.

14- Israel bombed ‘al-Shifa’ hospital because it was a cover for the military operation of Hamas.

15- Ammunition and protective vests used by Hamas fighters were hidden behind M.R.I. machines at al-Shifa hospital, and other ammunition was in nearby storage units and some behind a “blast-proof door”.

16- A paper on a wall of a hospital showed a “list of terrorist names”, which actually was a calendar with days of the week written in Arabic.

17- Israeli regime sent incubators to Gaza hospitals to save premature babies from dying.

18- The projectiles fired by Palestinian fighters hit al-Shifa hospital on November 10.

19- The occupying regime said they targeted a car with “terrorists” in Lebanon. It was later found that the vehicle carried three little girls, their mother, and grandmother.

20- Hamas is holding people as human shields and the evidence is a video. The woman shown in the video was found to be a Mexican-Israeli actor.

21- An ambulance transferred members of Hamas to Rafah crossing (south of Gaza). After the ambulance was attacked, the victims were all civilians.

22- Gaza’s Baptist hospital attack, which killed 500 civilians, was done by Hamas. A fake video was released, transferring the blame to the Palestinian resistance group for the massacre.

23- Israel is doing everything it can to provide humanitarian assistance to babies at the Shifa hospital like sending them incubators and helping to evacuate them.

24- Hamas has its headquarters underneath hospitals in Gaza and is using babies as human shields, so these facilities are legitimate targets.

25- The tunnels under the al-Shifa hospital connect the hospital with other parts of Gaza.

26- The women raped by Hamas had their bones broken and suffered severe injuries.

27- On Jan. 14, Israel hinted at the possibility of pregnancies in female captives “raped” by Hamas. The claims of rape or injuries were never proven.

28- Israeli doctors treating freed captives said they had suffered violent sexual assault.

29- A video shared by Israeli official accounts said several Hamas fighters raped an Israeli woman. They were laughing and the last one shot her in the head.

30- The regime’s medics said a man aged 30 also suffered sexual assault during his captivity at the hands of Hamas. On the contrary, the freed captives were all praise for Hamas.

31- A 12-year-old Israeli captive was beaten by Palestinian civilians during captivity and was told Israel is destroyed.

32- A video of a young girl with a man showed Hamas fighters with a kidnapped Israeli girl.

33- Palestinian fighters were faking injuries. The video was a 2017 report about a makeup artist working on Palestinian films and with charities.

34- Palestinian children killed in the regime’s airstrikes were actually “dolls”, not humans.

35- Hitler’s autobiographical book “Mein Kampf” was found in the bedrooms of Gaza children.

36- Hitler’s picture was kept as the screensaver of tablets used by Palestinian children.

37- Hamas trains children in summer camps to kill Israelis, inciting them to terrorism. They are trained in tunnels and taught to shoot and kidnap, and learn the values of “jihad”.

38- Hamas has used every penny received from the international community to build terror tunnels.

39- Hamas teaches children not to love life but instead become martyrs and laud death.

40- Amid the ongoing war, Hamas has positioned children at the frontline sending them to deliver messages while operatives hide in shelters.

41- Hamas planted explosive devices in kindergartens in Gaza.

42- The complex web of Hamas tunnels located near Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City is equipped with elevators and electrical infrastructure.

43- Israeli army enacted tactical pauses for humanitarian purposes to allow civilians to replenish stocks such as food and water.

44- Food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment are being transferred to the Gaza Strip regularly. The claim has been refuted by the UN time and again.

45- Israel does not stand in the way of providing any form of humanitarian aid to people in Gaza

46- In January 2024, Israel coordinated and facilitated a new field hospital in southern Gaza with a capacity of 50 beds to help wounded people.

47- Hamas is stifling humanitarian aid efforts for the people of Gaza to force a ceasefire.

48- Israel seeks to bring down civilian casualties in Gaza as much as possible.

49- Hamas fighters are increasingly surrendering to the Israeli military.

50- Israeli military discovered 1500 Hamas tunnels in Gaza since the start of the war.

51- Hamas has a subterranean network in Khan Younis, where key commanders are positioned.

52- Gaza’s civilian population is not the target of Israeli military attacks.

53- Israeli military differentiates between Palestinian civilians and Hamas fighters.

54- Hamas has been hiding its missiles under a little girl’s bed in Gaza.

55- Israeli military found tunnel shafts under children’s beds in Gaza.

56- Weapons manufacturing facilities were unearthed inside mosques in the Gaza Strip and booby traps were seen leading to clinics.

57- Children in Gaza play with puzzles that show Palestinian gunboats attacking Tel Aviv.

58- Israel designed a whole area as a humanitarian zone for Palestinians to escape fighting but Hamas shifted to that humanitarian zone and fired over 100 rockets from there.

59- Hamas violently seizes humanitarian aid convoys and shoots Gazan civilians on their way to southern Gaza.

60- Hamas hijacks aid trucks meant for Gazans and the UN agencies cover it up.

61- Hamas is trying to stop the people of Gaza from moving south to safety as “requested” by Israel.

62- An Israeli has been “murdered” every 6 minutes since the war began on October 7.

63- Israel aims to protect its people, this is a war of self-defense for the regime.

64- Hamas is using Western media to spread lies and carry out their psychological warfare.

65- Hamas has been using a child’s bedroom to shield one of the group’s weapons manufacturing and storage facilities.

66- Israeli military has gone out of its way to protect civilians while shelling Gaza.

67- United Nations is the biggest disappointment since October 7. The secretary general and all the UN agencies are in denial of the truth; they are hypocrites and speak downright lies.

68- Hamas killed 160 Palestinian children to build tunnels and used child labor to construct the underground network.

69- Israeli army captured hundreds of Hamas fighters in Gaza, while the footage showed naked Palestinian civilians being paraded and humiliated by Israeli troops.

70- Hamas built a terror tunnel using UNRWA cement bags in civilian neighborhoods.

71- Hamas is targeting Jewish worshipers and struck a synagogue in Gaza.

72- Hamas has spent billions of dollars in funding on building tunnels, and each tunnel costs around $3 million.

73- Israel’s battle is not against flesh and blood, but it is a spiritual war against darkness.

74- Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza was revealed to be a covert terror base.

75- Israeli army helps civilians in Gaza. It helped an elderly woman to get to a safe zone, dressed the wound of a young girl, and saved a newborn puppy.

76- Hamas hid weapons inside incubators at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza.

77- Gazan physician, Dr Nasser Almadhun, was a Hamas fighter who had been hiding in a hospital.

78- The Israeli military is defending Al Aqsa mosque from Hamas missiles.

79- Hamas fighters, carrying stockpiles of weapons, leave hospitals in Gaza

80- Israel is doing the world a favor by fighting radicalism.

81- The dead body of a kidnapped Israeli woman was found by Israeli forces in a tunnel in Gaza, but it was never released to the media.

82- Israeli army detonated 850 mines in Gaza during its ground operations, however, it never gave an exact figure of its casualties.

83- Israeli forces found Hamas weapons hidden in UNRWA humanitarian bags inside a school in Gaza.

84- Israeli army plans to flood Hamas tunnels in Gaza with seawater.

85- Before the war, 70 food trucks entered Gaza but now the average is 109 food trucks facilitated by Israel.

86- A video was posted by Israeli officials, claiming that Palestinian fighters were “staging” war scenes. The video used was a Lebanese artistic tribute to Gaza.

87- One of Israel’s top diplomats shared a video showing people in Gaza watching footage of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, however, it was found to be an Al Jazeera video of the war.

88- Israel posted photos showing “the teeth of children killed on October 7”. The pictures were of porcelain crowns or fake adult teeth.

89- The Israeli army claimed that underneath the city of Khan Yunis was an underground tunnel holding Israeli hostages. The tunnel is beneath a civilian area.

90- Al Jazeera Journalists Hamza al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria were members of Hamas. Thuria was deputy commander in Hamas’ Gaza city brigade and Dahdouh was working with Islamic Jihad’s electronic engineering unit and previously served as deputy commander.

91- AK-47 rifles, cartridges, mortar shells, grenades and combat equipment were found in Gaza’s Islamic University.

92- The largest Hamas weapons production site in Gaza is located in Bureij, in central Gaza.

93- In a densely populated area like Jabalya, the Israeli army evacuated locals to protect them.

94- Israel has been helping in the delivery of medical aid to Gaza. Along with the UN, it helped in the delivery of 49,000 vaccines to Gaza on December 29.

95- Toy boxes were filled with mortar shells, warheads, and anti-tank missiles in a kindergarten in Gaza used by Hamas.

96- Israel aborts attacks on Gaza if it sees unexpected civilian presence.

97- Hamas connected dolls to speakers playing crying sounds and set them in an area rigged with explosives to ambush Israeli troops.

98- Hamas used a room in a mosque in Jabalya for rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) training. Ammunition was found inside UNRWA bags. Again a manipulated video to back the claim.

99- Israel is doing philanthropic activities in Gaza. In December, it assisted in the evacuation of patients from Al-Ahli Hospital to UAE field hospital
Rafah. The fact is that the regime bombarded the Al-Ahli hospital in October, killing 500 people.

100- School curriculums in Hamas-ruled Gaza promote antisemitic ideology.

January 15, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Leave a comment

US to send 1,500 troops to Syria and Iraq

The Cradle | January 15, 2024

The US is set to send 1,500 soldiers to Syria and Iraq, ostensibly in order to join the fight against ISIS, CBS Philadelphia reports on 14 January. 

The soldiers will be sent from the New Jersey Army National Guard in its largest deployment of soldiers to the area since 2008. 

“We have the people we need. We have the training that we need. We have the equipment that we need to fight and win,” Lt Colonel Omar Minott, who is among the 1,500 to be deployed, said. 

The deployment of troops to Syria and Iraq falls under Operation Inherent Resolve, the US military campaign against the Islamic State across Iraq, Libya, and Syria, which calls for combating ISIS and defending US bases against resistance groups in the region. 

The military operation caused a large number of US personnel deployments to the region this year. 

Within the latter half of 2023, the US sent a wave of 2,500 soldiers to Syria and deployed over 900 soldiers to Iraq on two separate occasions. The deployment of these soldiers was to protect US interests against “Iran-affiliated forces.”

According to Axios, the US military presence in the region reached about 45,400 as of October 2023. The majority is in Kuwait, with 13,500; followed by Bahrain at 9,000; and Qatar at 8,000. 

The US deployment into Syria and Iraq to combat ISIS raises questions. According to the US State Department, ISIS attacks in Syria have decreased by 68 percent and 80 percent in Iraq when comparing 2023 to 2022. 

The Cradle’s Robert Inlakesh has said that this push by the US is to keep hold of its dominance in the region. 

“To maintain the dominance of the collective west over the region, the immediate hurdle is overcoming the influences of Iran and Russia. This is why the occupation of roughly a third of Syrian territory by the US and its proxies, along with the imposition of deadly sanctions on Damascus, has become crucial in undermining the strength of its adversaries,” Inlakesh said. 

Iranian and Russian forces in Syria have been coordinating with the specific aim of forcing Washington’s troops to eventually withdraw from the country.

Meanwhile, various Iraqi resistance forces have said they will continue to fight the US until they withdraw from their nation’s borders. 

Kataib Hezbollah spokesman Abu Ali al-Askari has previously said that the group’s operations against the US occupation will continue until the last soldier is removed from Iraq.

January 15, 2024 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Militarism | , , , | Leave a comment

FBI Recruiting, Entrapping Autistic Children Terror Patsies for National Security

By Ben Bartee | Armageddon Prose | January 15, 2024

Your tax dollars at work, ladies and gentlemen.

The good folks over at the Department of Justice (Ministry of Love), are spending our hard-earned bucks forked over to the IRS at gunpoint to recruit and entrap autistic adolescents in manufactured terror plots in the name of national security.

The Intercept :

“Humzah Mashkoor had just cleared security at Denver International Airport when the FBI showed up. The agents had come to arrest the 18-year-old, who is diagnosed with a developmental disability, and charge him with terror-related crimes. At the time of the arrest, a relative later said in court, Mashkoor was reading ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid,’ a book written for elementary school children.

Mashkoor had gone to the airport on December 18 to fly to Dubai, and from there to either Syria or Afghanistan, as part of his alleged plot to join the Islamic State. The trip had been spurred by over a year of online exchanges starting when Mashkoor was 16 years old with four people he believed were members of ISIS. According to the Justice Department’s criminal complaint, the four were actually undercover FBI agents. As a result of his conversations with the FBI, Mashkoor could face a lengthy sentence for attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization…

Law enforcement agents first became aware of Mashkoor’s online activities in support of ISIS in November 2021. But instead of alerting his family, Mashkoor’s lawyers told The Intercept, FBI agents posing as ISIS members befriended him a year later and strung him along until he became a legal adult.

‘It is appalling* that the government never once reached out to his parents, even while they were sending undercover agents to befriend him online starting when he was 16 years old,’ said Joshua Herman, a defense attorney representing Mashkoor. ‘Almost all of the conduct he is alleged to have committed took place when he was a juvenile.’”

*Appalling, perhaps, but not shocking. Why would the FBI agents try to prevent crime when they can get a promotion out of egging it on? There’s no money or prestige in quietly extinguishing terror in the womb.

What they need to sell to the masses is spectacle — Bread and Circus.

Anyone who knows anything about how the feds work recognizes this modus operandi:

·       recruit a mentally ill patsy

·       pump them full of cash and bad ideas

·       set up a terror plot on their behalf

·       swoop in to save the day from the threat that they created in the first place

·       Parlay the alleged foiled terror plot into fatter budgets to do more of the same

And around and around we go!

I, for one, feel much safer now that the FBI is capturing autistic minor terrorists for posting naughty stuff online and putting them in prison for life where they belong.

God bless our heroes in law enforcement.

Where would we be without the FBI?

That’s a rhetorical question: inundated with autistic child terrorists, obviously.

They keep us safe. They keep us warm. They give us life. The Lord has sent them down from heaven to calm our flighty hearts.

And, by the way — and this isn’t said these days nearly enough — thank God for Saint George W. Bush, whose handlers pushed the PATRIOT Act through.

It’s called the PATRIOT Act (in capital letters) because it’s patriotic to arrest and prosecute autistic children for their terror. If you disagree, you’re probably a terrorist yourself.

You don’t hate Freedom™, do you?

If you aren’t doing anything wrong, like doing autistic child terrorist the heroes of the FBI entrapped, what do you have to hide?

Ben Bartee, author of Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile, is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist.

Related: More Fake Fed Nazis Show Up in Wisconsin

January 15, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception, False Flag Terrorism | , , | Leave a comment

Naked power and excessive force replaces the rule of law in Poland

BY JAN ROKITA | TEOLOGIAPOLITYCZNA.PL | JANUARY 15, 2024

Two years ago, the Hungarian opposition fighting to displace Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was promising, in case of victory, an experiment by which they would bypass the constitution, as if it was not there, despite not having the two-thirds required to actually legally change it. Orbán won, so it never happened, which may be a pity, as Poland might have been spared the experiment we’re currently facing.

In Hungary, the whole process would have had to go further, as there had been real constitutional change there, whereas in Poland, Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jaroslaw Kaczyński merely experimented with the gaps in the constitution without actually changing it.

What is happening in Poland is that the new liberal government is overturning procedural constraints so that its objectives are realized. This is utterly contrary to the 20th-century tradition of rulers staying within the bounds set by laws. These bounds were augmented by international laws and courts, which led to frustration that procedure was leading to political impotence and to these courts establishing a judicial aristocracy of progressive judges.

Poland’s rule of law crisis is the first in post-war Europe of this scale, so it is well worth watching since it may be a foretaste of epoch-making change. There are two aspects of this crisis of particular significance.

The first is that a semi-permanent state of emergency has been introduced, despite there being no emergency for people’s rights and constitutional procedures to be suspended. Such a suspension is required in times of war or natural disaster, as survival is more important than procedure. But this is not what we have here.

Take the example of public media. A minister steps in and, without declaring an emergency, takes action that is totally outside of the law just because he wants to bypass the unpleasant need for cohabitation with the head of state over changing legislation. Then, the government effectively suspends one of the president’s competencies, the right to issue pardons, by using an interpretation of the law rendering such a pardon invalid.

But we are going further still.

In Poland, the government is questioning the legal validity of key institutions such as the constitutional court and also judges who preside in other courts, calling them non-courts and non-judges.

No one has ever done this. Even during de-Nazification or the move away from communism, the existence of institutions themselves was not questioned. Their decisions and verdicts were questioned, but never their very existence.

Revolutionaries such as Georges Sorel have often argued that force is not necessarily evil. But I am rather inclined to agree with Max Weber who said that whenever force is used in politics, we are entering a pact with the devil. The liberal proceduralism that democratic Europe adopted after World War II was intended to minimize the zone of violence in politics.

Procedures are a constraint, but they protect our freedom by containing the use of force. This is why whenever the rule of law breaks down and is replaced by political will, force follows. The confrontation between force and procedure is a zero-sum game. The dream of the post-Fukuyama utopia of a liberal world without the use of force is over.

A new political era beckons in which, as has often been the case, Poland is to serve as a primary testing ground.

Jan Rokita is a former senior politician.

January 15, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties | | Leave a comment

Poland’s Morawiecki: ‘Now, I understand Brexit’

Remix News | January 15, 2024

In a Sunday interview with London’s Daily Express, the former prime minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, spoke against increasing centralization within the EU and warned that the “dangerous” EU “will implode.”

Morawiecki, of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, has admitted that he now understands why the British voted for Brexit, pointing to the ongoing centralization of the European Union. Morawiecki warned that while the EU has its advantages, these centralizing tendencies could lead to its implosion.

“Well, I probably differ from most Britons who were in favor of leaving the European Union because I believe that the European Union has its values, its advantages. But I think the trend is now very dangerous. And I now better understand why Britain made such a decision,” stated Morawiecki.

Morawiecki remarked that the European Commission’s decision to withhold funds from Poland under the recovery plan was an attempt to influence the outcome of Poland’s parliamentary elections in October.

“As far as various EU policies are concerned, there has definitely been interference in our internal affairs,” the politician emphasized, noting that the increasing transfer of competencies to Brussels is heading in the wrong direction.

“I think this is moving in a bad direction and will ultimately lead to the implosion of the European Union. I definitely believe that the European Union is a very valuable organization from the point of view of the free market area; cooperation within the internal market; and various freedoms, including freedom of movement of capital, people, goods, and services. But the more competencies are acquired and taken over by the European Commission, the less say a sovereign state has,” Morawiecki explained.

He further expressed concern about the latest plans of the European Parliament and the European Commission regarding treaty reforms.

“I believe this is very, very dangerous for the stability of the European Union. Because it primarily deprives sovereign states of their fundamental rights in the areas of security, foreign policy, tax policy, which are the backbone of every sovereign state, as well as in many, many other areas,” warned the former Polish prime minister.

January 15, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties | , | Leave a comment

NBC News Admits ‘Deep State’ Exists… To Save Us From Trump’s Return

By Tyler Durden | Zero Hedge | January 15, 2024

The last time Donald Trump got within striking distance of the Oval Office in 2016, the Clinton campaign, the Obama administration, and various foreign accomplices invented a hoax accusing the real estate tycoon of being a secret Russian agent, who would use the power of the United States to do Vladimir Putin’s bidding (Which begs the question; why wouldn’t Putin have just invaded Ukraine when his ‘puppet’ Trump wouldn’t have waged a proxy war?).

And when Donald Trump asked Ukraine about obvious corruption by the Biden family, one of the key ‘deep state’ players in his impeachment behind the scenes was none other than Mary McCord – who went from taking down Michael Flynn after the FBI set him up, to helping Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) to peddle a “whistleblower” complaint about Trump’s Ukraine call.

McCord is back with a new hoax to peddle, telling NBC News that the Deep State is preparing for Trump’s return – and is taking action to limit his ability to ‘become a dictator’ and use the military to those ends.

“We’re already starting to put together a team to think through the most damaging types of things that he [Trump] might do so that we’re ready to bring lawsuits if we have to,” McCord – executive director of the Institution for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law – told the outlet.

The quotes from this fine piece of yellow journalism from NBC are simply hilarious…

  • “Donald Trump is sparking fears among those who understand the inner workings of the Pentagon that he would convert the nonpartisan U.S. military into the muscular arm of his political agenda as he makes comments about dictatorship and devalues the checks and balances that underpin the nation’s two-century-old democracy.”
  • “A circle of appointees independent of Trump’s political operation steered him away from ideas that would have pushed the limits of presidential power in his last term.”
  • “In a new term, many former officials worry that Trump would instead surround himself with loyalists unwilling to say no.”
  • “He’s a clear and present danger to our democracy.“
  • “His support is solid. And I don’t think people understand what living in a dictatorship would mean.”
  • “There are an array of horrors that could result from Donald Trump’s unrestricted use of the Insurrection Act.”
  • “The military is hundreds of thousands of people strong, and ultimately Trump will find people to follow his legal orders no matter what … The Insurrection Act is a legal order, and if he orders it there will be military officers, especially younger men and women, who will follow that legal order.”

This one might be the best: “We’re about 30 seconds away from the Armageddon clock when it comes to democracy,” said William Cohen, a former Republican senator from Maine and defense secretary in the Clinton administration. “I think that’s how close we’re coming to it when you have a presidential candidate who can be indicted on 91 counts, who can be [found liable for] sexual aggression, who we have seen lies pathologically, who has flouted every rule in the book.”

Wow!

Narrative: Trump is going to appoint loyal peons to subvert democracy and declare himself a dictator.

But wait, the deep state cavalry is here!

“Now, bracing for Trump’s potential return, a loose-knit network of public interest groups and lawmakers is quietly devising plans to try to foil any efforts to expand presidential power, which could include pressuring the military to cater to his political needs.”

Part of the aim is to identify like-minded organizations and create a coalition to challenge Trump from day one, those taking part in the discussions said. Some participants are combing through policy papers being crafted for a future conservative administration. They’re also watching the interviews that Trump allies are giving to the press for clues to how a Trump sequel would look.

Other participants include Democracy Forward, an organization that took the Trump administration to court more than 100 times during his administration, and Protect Democracy, an anti-authoritarian group. […]

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is crafting a bill that would clarify the act and give Congress and the courts some say in its use. Its chances of passage are slim given that Republicans control the House and are largely loyal to Trump.

You tell us what that sounds like…

deep state
noun

  • a body of people, typically influential members of government agencies or the military, believed to be involved in the secret manipulation or control of government policy.

“We are preparing for litigation and preparing to use every tool in the toolbox that our democracy provides to provide the American people an ability to fight back,” according to Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward. “We believe this is an existential moment for American democracy and it’s incumbent on everybody to do their part.”

Ah yes, another ‘existential moment.’

Remember, the first rule of ‘Deep State’ is you do not talk about ‘Deep State’.

January 15, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Progressive Hypocrite | | Leave a comment

Climate Lockdowns Have Begun!

BY ATTORNEY BOBBIE ANNE COX | JANUARY 14, 2024

Well folks, I really hate to say this, but it’s another win for the conspiracy theorists. They can take off their tinfoil hats and take a deep bow. Yet another one of their outrageous “predictions” is coming true. For anyone keeping score, sadly the score card is rather one-sided. I think the count is something like Conspiracy Theorists = 1,000,000 wins vs. Logic & Normalcy = 0 wins. Boy how I wish we could win some on the “Logic & Normalcy” scale!

So, I acknowledge that I do have a rather dry sense of humor. I throw sarcasm in there a bunch. A couple of my friends tell me they cannot always tell when I’m being serious or if I’m joking. This makes me think that quite a few of you will be wondering, “Is she serious or is she joking with the title to her article?” To that I answer, I will tell you what I know, and then you decide. (You know how I love to promote critical thinking)…

Yesterday, our unfortunate Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, issued a TRAVEL BAN for an entire county. You read that correctly. No, not a travel advisory, but a full on travel ban ! Meaning, New Yorkers in Erie County are forbidden from going anywhere. What’s another name for that? Well, if you live in a rural or very suburban area (which most of New York State is), where driving on a road is the way you get from point A to point B, then I would say a synonym would be “lockdown.” And what was Dictator Hochul’s, I mean Governor Hochul’s reason for this lockdown of close to one million New Yorkers that live in Erie County? Wait for it. Ready? It was going to SNOW! For anyone who does not live in New York, or who has never been to Western New York in the winter, that area of our state gets a lot of snow. Often. And yet, the governor thinks (all of a sudden, out of nowhere) everyone living there is so ignorant, they must be confined to their homes until she says it’s safe for them to rejoin the world again. Either that, or she’s just testing you to see how far she can take her totalitarian desires. Or both.

For all the keyboard critics who love to jump in and twist my words, I’ll cut you off at the pass and say that I am not admonishing a governor’s desire to keep people safe in the wake of a storm. That’s not at all what I am saying. If a natural disaster is approaching, people should be warned, emergency services ready to roll, and help made readily available. Encourage people to stock up, stay home, and hunker down? For sure! Forbid people from leaving their homes? NO.

There is a big difference between caring about New Yorkers’ safety, and wanting to control people. Huge.

And in fact, Hochul was banning people from leaving their homes even if it was NOT snowing! Sound unbelievable? It sure does. But remember in my article last week, I cited to an ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, who fittingly said, “The truth often evades being recognized due to its utter incredibility.” Put another way, when something is so outrageous, it is often cast aside as untrue. Well, here’s what comrade Kathy posted on her Twitter yesterday:

She went on to post several other times about the snow and her travel ban. I was actually encouraged to read that most of the comments she received were negative, logical rebuttals to her power grab. Here are a few…

Ok, so digging a bit into travel bans, you’ll recognize that there have been travel bans based on big storms in the past here in New York. However, those are issued by the local government (i.e. County Executive), after a state of emergency is declared. They are not issued by the Governor, nor are they issued without an emergency declaration.

By the way, the travel ban is still in effect for most of Erie County today. Anybody surprised?

Does anyone see the correlation here between government overreach, their quest for “centralized” power, and their fear mongering? It’s the same thing the Governor and her DOH have been doing with their hideous “quarantine camp” regulation that I have been fighting in court for nearly two years now! The name of that case is Borrello v. Hochul, and you can read the details and case history here. Connecting the dots to the analysis at hand, you will note that the quarantine camp regulation tried to take the power from (elected) judges (in keeping with our law) who have the authority to temporarily quarantine sick, dangerous people, and shift that power to unelected, statewide, DOH employees and appointees who have zero accountability to We the People. Under their quarantine camp reg, the Governor and her DOH would have centralized control over 19 million New Yorkers, to force you to lockdown in your home, or they could force you (with the use of police) to go to a quarantine center/ facility/ camp (pick your noun), without any proof you are sick, indefinitely, with no procedure by which you can regain your freedom, and with no declared state of emergency! The fear factor used to try to justify the authoritarian power grab here is the threat of death… If we don’t lock people up who are possibly exposed to a disease, then you might die. Swap out “possibly exposed to a disease” and put in its stead “unclean.” What does that make you think of?

My next question: do you see any similarities here to Hochul’s probably illegal climate lockdown? I say “probably illegal” because I couldn’t find the supposed legal authority that she’s relying upon to prohibit people from driving. If you know what she is relying upon, feel free to post it in the Substack comment section.

Before you draw your own final conclusion about all this, I will add one last thing for you to consider. In December, a month before Hochul issued this Erie County travel ban, the (Democrat) County Executive, Mark Poloncarz, set up an online portal so residents could check and see if they would be deemed “essential workers” and thus exempt from any futuristic travel bans. Oh, and he coordinated with their “partners” in the federal government to come up with the list! Sound familiar, folks?! Remember Governor Cuomo’s C19 lockdown (“Just 2 weeks to flaten the curve”), which lasted for months, and all the “essential workers” that he exempted? Here’s an article about Erie’s coincidentally-just-in-time-for-a-travel-ban portal, “Erie County’s new online portal will identify essential workers exempt from travel bans.”

January 15, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties | , , , | Leave a comment

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