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House Committee Subpoenas State Department on Proxy Censorship Claims

By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | June 19, 2024

The Chairman of the US House Committee on Small Business Roger Williams last week subpoenaed the State Department and Global Engagement Center (GEC) after they refused to turn over requested documents related to accusations of “censorship-by-proxy.”

We obtained a copy of the subpoena for you here.

GEC was used to flag posts that would then get censored by social media platforms and was also involved in giving grants to fund online blacklisters.

The documents and communications the committee requested but failed to obtain concern the latter activity, specifically an investigation into government bankrolling companies that hindered US small businesses from competing simply because they engaged in lawful online speech.

The material the committee wants for its probe goes back to grants awarded since 2018. The request names almost two dozen entities – the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) and NewsGuard among them.

In a statement, Chairman Williams explained that the investigation has been ongoing for a year, with the focus on how the US government may be using taxpayer money to put roadblocks in the way of the country’s small business development – namely, by hampering them online.

“All Americans deserve a fair shot to compete in the marketplace, and the government should not be tipping the scales against any business for their legal speech on the internet,” Williams is quoted as saying while explaining the need to hit the GEC and the State Department with a subpoena after they repeatedly refused to cooperate.

Williams described this attitude by the government as unacceptable, given that (with the importance of unhindered presence on the internet), “the livelihoods of many small businesses are on the line.”

The Committee’s investigation focuses on how what is described as “censorship-by-proxy” (i.e., the government circumventing constitutional prohibitions to censor online speech by looking for “friendly” non-governmental entities to put pressure on social platforms) – affects US small businesses’ bottom line.

And logically, impeding them from gaining exposure and reach online, especially, but not only, during the pandemic, would have caused serious consequences.

The House Committee said that over the year of the investigation, GEC “slow-rolled document production and ignored legitimate oversight document requests.”

And so, 12 months into it, and after repeated accommodations – such as giving GEC extra time and even narrowing the scope of the requests – the Committee now feels it’s time to “escalate the issue at hand, and issue the subpoena.”

As they say – “nice just doesn’t work with some people.”

June 19, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

Criminal college poison mandates, and what to do going forward

Info that people with high school kids will need

BY MERYL NASS | JUNE 18, 2024

What bothered me the most about the COVID poison shots was the extreme interest in giving them to children. And while most parents of controllable children said no, over 50% of impressionable high schoolers wound up getting them, often with rewards and almost always with peer pressure. (The usefulness of providing rewards to induce acceptance had been tested in this age group with the HPV vaccine.)

But it was almost impossible to get to college without a shot. It turned out that college administrators were worse than drill sergeants when it came to requiring the shots. How much were they paid? We don’t know yet. We do know that both Pfizer and the CDC had given substantial grants to the American college health organization before COVID shots had even rolled out, which pushed out propaganda about the shots to all college health providers. Many medical providers in colleges are paraprofessionals, who are used to taking orders. The planners, I believe, counted on their obedience. I blogged about this organization’s grants 3 years ago on my anthrax blog. Then the organization took down the info about their grants. Either Zeke or Rahm Emanuel (can’t recall which evil brother it was) had something to do with the plan to force the jabs on students.

Children were least likely to suffer from COVID. And for some yet unearthed reason, colleges were the last to end their shot mandates. Even today some colleges still mandate these poison shots.

Anyway, Lucia Sinatra (and CHD) has sued colleges over the mandates, and Lucia has fought against these mandates in many ways. CHD has asked the Supreme Court to take its mandate case against Rutgers University.

Today Lucia provides a list of colleges that still have these mandates and lots of advice about which ones never had mandates, etc. If you have a child who will enter college soon, this is really important information. Please share.

June 19, 2024 Posted by | Corruption, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Israeli actions in Gaza ‘intentional attack on civilians’: UN inquiry

Press TV – June 19, 2024

A new report by a United Nations-backed independent commission has discovered that the Israeli military’s deliberate use of heavy weapons during its relentless offensives in the Gaza Strip has been an “intentional and direct attack on the civilian population.”

Navi Pillay, chairperson of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said on Wednesday that “Israeli authorities are responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.”

These include “extermination, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, murder or willful killing, using starvation as a method of war, forcible transfer, gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys, sexual and gender-based violence amounting to torture, and cruel or inhuman treatment,” Pillay said as she presented the report to the UN Human Rights Council.

The UN commissioner said the Israeli military “forcibly transferred almost the entire population [in Gaza] into a small enclosure that is unsafe and uninhabitable” and used heavy weapons in densely populated areas in “an intentional and direct attack on the civilian population”.

Pillay said the commission concluded that specific forms of sexual and gender-based violence constituted part of the Israeli forces’ procedures.

The UN commissioner said the world faces its biggest threat of impunity for violations of international law unless perpetrators are held to account and justice is delivered for all victims.

She underscored that the large-scale surprise attack by members of Hamas and other Gaza-based resistance fighters against Israel in early October did not occur in a vacuum as it was preceded by decades of violence and retribution against Palestinians.

“Thousands of Palestinians have been detained and are being held incommunicado… ” Pillay said.

“The enormity of this tragedy overwhelms us, and we are deeply disturbed by the immense human suffering.”

Pillay’s commission found that the immense numbers of civilian casualties in Gaza, and the widespread destruction of civilian objects and infrastructure were the inevitable result of an intentional strategy to cause maximum damage.

Pillay also noted that the daily onslaught in Gaza must not sideline attention to a parallel wave of violence in the occupied West Bank, where more Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers since the start of the Gaza war in any other recorded period.

Israel waged the atrocious onslaught against the Gaza Strip, targeting hospitals, residences, and houses of worship after Palestinian resistance movements launched a surprise attack, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm, against the usurping regime on October 7.

Israel has killed more than 37,390 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since that October day.

Over 85,500 individuals have also sustained injuries. More than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced during the war as well.

June 19, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘France provided Israel with weapons used to bomb civilians in Gaza’

MEMO | June 19, 2024

France has approved the sale of weapons equipment used by Israel to bomb civilian targets in the Gaza Strip, including a hospital, an investigation by the French non-profit media outlet Disclose revealed on Monday.

Dozens of classified documents obtained by the outlet revealed that French IT company the Thales Group has recently delivered electronic components used to construct Israel’s Hermes 900 armed drones. France owns a 26 per cent stake in the company.

The investigation showed that “the French company delivered to Israel the communication equipment during 2024,” despite repeated confirmations by the French defence ministry that “French arms exports to [Israel] were limited to defensive military equipment used in the Iron Dome to confront Palestinian resistance rockets.”

The outlet quoted the head of Israel’s Squadron 166, which flies Hermes 900 assault drones, as admitting to targeting a hospital in Khan Yunis in February following France’s delivery of the surveillance and targeting equipment.

“At least eight of these transponders were supposed to be flown to Israel between December 2023 and the end of May 2024,” said Disclose. “That’s several months after the first aerial bombings. Two transponders were delivered in 2024… The other six are reported to have been stopped by French customs.”

According to the outlet, the French armed forces ministry’s Directorate General for International Relations stated that the eight TSC 4000 IFF transponders are not allowed to be “sold, gifted, leased nor transformed without the prior agreement of the French government.”

Since 7 October, the Israeli occupation forces have continued to bombard the besieged Gaza Strip, killing 37,343 Palestinians and wounding 85,372 others. Around 1.7 million people have been displaced, according to the UN, amid massive destruction of civilian infrastructure.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. The occupation state denies the allegation.

June 19, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Germany lists BDS movement as ‘extremist’ for questioning ‘Israel’

Al Mayadeen | June 19, 2024

A new report issued by Germany’s Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Tuesday revealed that it was dealing with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement as a “suspected extremist case,” noting that it had “links to secular Palestinian extremism.”

The report claimed that the BDS is not a homogeneous association, party, or organization.

German news site Watson cited the report as saying that “there is sufficient, strong, factual evidence to suggest that [the] BDS thereby violates, among other things, the idea of international understanding” by questioning “Israel’s” existence.

The report said, “After the terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, BDS-affiliated groups mobilized and participated in many anti-Israel gatherings and intensified their demands for an end to an alleged ‘Israeli apartheid’ as well as called for a boycott of companies and goods related to Israel.”

German news site Judische Allgemeine quoted Faeser as stating, “We must oppose internal threats from extremism just as decisively as [we do] external threats,” adding, “We absolutely have to break the spiral of escalations in the Middle East, leading to even more disgusting hatred of Jews here.”

“Security authorities are reacting with great vigilance to the latest developments and are actively taking action against any kind of anti-Israel and antisemitic agitation,” she continued.

German-Israeli Society welcomes decision

Meanwhile, German public-broadcasting radio station Deutschlandfunk confirmed reports that Germany’s federal domestic intelligence agency labeled the BDS movement as an extremist movement – and the German-Israeli Society (DIG) welcomed the decision.

DIG’s president Volker Beck released a statement applauding the announcement.

“For the first time, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution names the anti-Israeli boycott movement BDS as a suspected extremist case in its annual report,” stressing, “This supports the assessment of the German Bundestag in its ‘confront the BDS-Movement Resolutely – Fighting Antisemitism’ resolution in 2019.”

According to Beck, “All forms of antisemitism must be fought equally – consistently. The trivialization of or even sympathy by some cultural institutions with [the] BDS must finally stop.”

“We welcome the recent bans on associations issued by Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, which weakened the infrastructure of significant extremist-antisemitic organizations. We call for this course to be consistently continued,” she concluded.

This comes only days after more than 2,000 German academics signed a letter calling for the resignation of the country’s Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger criticizing her efforts to penalize scholars supporting pro-Palestinian students.

The scholars emphasized in a statement that “academics in Germany are experiencing an unprecedented attack on their fundamental rights, on the 75th anniversary of the Basic Law.”

They emphasized that Stark-Watzinger’s recent actions have made her position “untenable”.

“The withdrawal of funding ad personam on the basis of political statements made by researchers is contrary to the Basic Law: teaching and research are free. The internal order to examine such political sanctions is a sign of constitutional ignorance and political abuse of power,” the statement pointed out.

June 19, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , | Leave a comment

Jailed Iranian musician’s social media activities belie French claims against him

By Ivan Kesic | Press TV | June 19, 2024 

It’s been more than two weeks since Bashir Biazar, an acclaimed Iranian musician and filmmaker, was arrested and imprisoned in France over charges widely described as politically motivated.

In a chargesheet filed by the French interior ministry, a copy of which is in the possession of Press TV, Biazar is accused of “Iranian propaganda,” “anti-Zionism and anti-Americanism,” “hateful social media posts,” being a “vector of hatred,” and posing a “threat to public order in France.”

Human rights activists, officials, and Biazar’s family and friends have categorically rejected the charges as baseless and driven by the French government’s political motives against the Islamic Republic.

A detailed examination of the charges and Biazar’s social media activities, especially in recent months, makes it clear that the case against him is not based on merit but is politically motivated.

Born and raised in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Biazar is an independent music composer and filmmaker internationally acclaimed for his work.

He has previously served as managing director of the New Horizon Institute of Arts and Culture and was the secretary of the London-based Islamic Student Association.

For many years, he also worked as a production manager at the Music and Song Department of IRIB, Iran’s state broadcaster, and was behind many acclaimed works produced by the organization.

French indictment against Biazar

The French interior ministry accuses Biazar of disseminating alleged Iranian “state propaganda” and promoting “anti-Zionism and anti-Americanism,” which they view as “political-religious interference.”

It also claims that Biazar has “an operational mission to act against Iranian opponents, Jewish, and Israeli targets,” in France and thus represents “a threat to the country’s integrity and security, as well as its international relations.”

The most serious accusations are that he “incites terrorism with hatred,” is involved in “hateful posts on social networks,” “supports Hamas and Hezbollah,” and “smears France.”

French authorities further describe Biazar as “a vector of hatred that seriously threatens public order and fundamental interests of the state,” recommending his expulsion from the country.

His case is cited as “an absolute emergency,” with France believing that his “hostile activities” are damaging the international situation, likely fueling tension, hatred, and violence between communities in the country.

Le Point, a major French weekly political news magazine, recently reported that the ministerial expulsion order was signed on May 22, two weeks before his arrest and imprisonment.

A French court reportedly ordered Biazar to leave the country within 28 days, but French police have not released him, providing no explanation for the continued detention.

False accusations of undermining France

Since his arrest, many commentators, officials, and Biazar’s family and associates have condemned the French indictment and charges against him, terming them baseless and politically motivated.

A close examination of his activities on various social media networks, particularly the X platform (formerly Twitter), reveals the unfounded nature of the charges leveled against him.

Biazar used X for 13 years before his profile was deleted in 2022 “without explanation, warning, and reason.” After that, he created another account on X where he is active now.

He has also been using Instagram to a much lesser extent, leaving only 43 posts on the network.

Instagram, a Meta-affiliated network, has strict rules against pro-Palestinian resistance movements, leading to many pro-Palestine voices being blocked or suspended.

The fact that Biazar’s profile was not deleted or suspended proves he has not broken any rules.

All his social media posts, comments, and tags—whether on X or Instagram—are written in Persian, indicating they are not intended for a French audience.

According to Press TV analysis and examination of his social media activities, no French person follows him, and no French citizen has ever interacted with his posts.

His social media activities, like millions of pro-Palestine advocates around the world, including in France, have primarily focused on the unfolding Israeli genocide in Gaza since October last year.

Voice against Gaza genocide

Biazar, like other conscientious pro-Palestine campaigners, has raised his voice against the Israeli genocide in Gaza, which has claimed the lives of 37,400 Palestinians, most of them children and women.

The pinned post on Biazar’s X handle features a video of him addressing a United Nations session on anti-Iran sanctions, Israeli actions in Gaza, and the world body’s passivity.

“The Zionists have never been so alone, hated, defeated, and humiliated,” he wrote in the tweet.

In a tweet on May 28, Biazar criticized the silence of French President Emmanuel Macron, CNN, and the BBC on Israeli crimes in Gaza, particularly the massacre in southern Gaza’s Rafah refugee camp.

He also posted about anti-Iran elements in London, holding an Israeli flag, and harassing an Iranian woman who was heading to a memorial ceremony.

Some of his tweets showed the massive gathering in different Iranian cities paying tribute to late Iranian president Ebrahim Raeisi and his companions martyred in a helicopter crash.

But, most of his social media activities in recent months were wholly concentrated on the Israeli genocide in Gaza and the Western silence and complicity in it.

In a tweet on May 9, he shared a video clip of the Piers Morgan show in which an Israeli regime spokesman was not able to defend the crimes of the regime against Palestinians.

On October 27, 2023, he criticized the French police’s decision to cancel a permit for a public gathering in support of the Palestinian people and declare it illegal.

Some of his tweets were also dedicated to the US campus movement and police violence against students, like millions of other netizens tweeting about the same.

Biazar commented on French internal security affairs only once, on May 10, comparing adolescent violence during anti-government protests in France to West-backed Iranian riots.

Biazar stated that controlling teenagers during social unrest is the primary responsibility of their parents, aligning with the French Ministry of Justice’s decision last July.

French Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti said parents who neglect their children under 17 and leave them out at night could face two years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros.

Biazar emphasized that just two days after this statement, the protests over the police killing of Nahel Merzouk were extinguished completely.

False accusations about resistance movements

Since the Israeli genocide on Gaza began on October 7 last year, Biazar has posted hundreds of tweets about Palestine, the suffering of Palestinians, and criticism of the Israeli regime and Western governments’ indifference, similar to what many French and Western citizens do regularly.

Among these tweets, only nine have mentioned the Gaza-based resistance movement Hamas, all in Persian. Seven were replies to other comments, achieving limited reach.

The two direct tweets commented on videos of Khaled Mashal and Israeli military commander Gadi Eisenkot discussing the impact of Hamas operations.

In reply comments, Biazar criticized media manipulations about Hamas and mentioned their operations’ goals. He stated that Hamas operates in the occupied territories according to UN resolutions and noted the scale of Israeli brutality in Gaza.

Biazar has not commented on Hezbollah in recent months, except for a single comment on a speech by its leader, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, criticizing media manipulation of his words.

He has never published material that could indirectly link him to the charges, such as videos of Palestinian resistance groups’ military operations.

#FreeBashir campaign growing louder

The campaign to release Biazar from French captivity has been growing louder and bigger in recent days, with many journalists, activists, artists, and academics joining it.

Richard Medhurst, a British journalist, called his arrest and imprisonment “outrageous” in a post on X.

“French police summoned an Iranian musician on June 4 with no explanation, immediately arrested him for ‘supporting terrorism,’ and drove him 100 km to a camp meant for illegal immigrants. This is purely political and ridiculous,” wrote Medhurst.

Ramy Abdu, the chairman of Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, shared an article on X stating that Biazar “has been languishing in a French prison for almost two weeks following his arbitrary arrest for pro-Palestinian activism.”

Tim Anderson, an Australian academic and writer, said the Macron regime in France has jailed the Iranian musician “for pro-Palestinian activism.”

Marwa Osman, a Lebanese journalist and TV host, asked if Macron had taken the Iranian national “hostage” to “release his agents whom he sent to spy on Iran in 2022.”

“This is how #France is going to play it now? Well, I’d say this is one risky game Macron is playing. Because you know, two can play the same game… always,” she wrote on X.

June 19, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Outgoing Stoltenberg is still laying mines for the world

Global Times | June 19, 2024

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is about to leave his post, and the upcoming NATO summit to be held in the US next month will be his farewell tour, if nothing else. In the past two days, Stoltenberg went to Washington to warm up for the upcoming summit, at the same time showing off some of his own “achievements” to leave some political legacy for the past nine years in his post as NATO Secretary General. He touted that 23 of the 32-member bloc have met the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, while revealing that NATO is discussing the deployment of more nuclear weapons. Stoltenberg’s remarks, which make the world feel great concerns and threats, are said with easiness and even great excitement. The NATO chief also continued to threaten China, saying that China cannot “have it both ways” between the West and Russia and that if it does not change course, “there should be consequences.”

In his nine years in office, the world saw the prolonged Syrian civil war, and the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as well as the Israel-Palestine conflict. The role of NATO, a product of the Cold War and the world’s largest military bloc, in the conflicts of such magnitude, is dishonorable. The Ukraine crisis, in particular, caused by the bloc’s eastward expansion, plunged Ukraine into war, further tore Europe apart, and brought NATO back to life. Even within the US and Europe, there has been harsh criticism and warnings about this.

Yet, Stoltenberg is not satisfied, as he continued to call on the West to supply more weapons to Ukraine on Monday in Washington, claiming it is the “path to peace.” Even he cannot justify it, admitting that this “may seem like a paradox.” This is Stoltenberg’s way of covering up his attempts at war and culpability, as well as the way of NATO as a whole: to create conflicts in the name of preventing crises and to exacerbate catastrophes in the name of managing crises. As one Western scholar summarized, invasion has been hailed as “humanitarian intervention,” coup d’état as “democratic revolution,” regime subversion as “democracy promotion,” gunboat diplomacy as “freedom of navigation,” military bloc expansion as “European integration,” and domination as “negotiation from a position of strength.”

Under Stoltenberg’s leadership, NATO has also been attempting to interfere in the Asia-Pacific region, aligning with the strategic direction of the US, and promoting “NATO’s Asia-Pacificization.” Although such attempts have encountered resistance from the majority of countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and thus remain limited to a small circle of US allies, regional countries must not be negligent. The desire of regional countries to maintain the regional peace and development does not mean that NATO has no intention of creating discord. NATO’s own history has proved that it strengthens its functions through crisis creation. Since it now intends to enhance its presence and functions on a global scale, it inevitably has to create larger crises.

On this point, insightful individuals internationally, including those in Western countries, have long provided incisive summaries. Organizations like NATO have interfered in nearly all wars and conflicts since its foundation, consistently exporting war and only bringing more problems. In the cycle of seeking enemies, creating crises, and extending its existence, NATO aims to make China the latest target. In recent years, NATO summit declarations have increasingly mentioned China, and provocative actions against China have become more frequent. Particularly, Stoltenberg himself has repeatedly issued threats this year, demanding that China must choose sides between the West and Russia. In February alone, he created a notable scene during his US visit by making seven provocative statements about China in six days. His speeches are filled with confrontational language and echoes of the Cold War. Given that some political elites in the US and Europe frequently champion moral causes such as “opposing coercion” and “defending peace,” they should feel embarrassed by Stoltenberg’s remarks.

Stoltenberg’s strenuous efforts to perform and use various occasions to promote the “China threat” narrative indirectly indicate that this task is difficult. China consistently participates in international affairs as a responsible major power, pursuing peace and bringing opportunities. Even within NATO, China is one of the main trading partners for the majority of its 32 member countries. This is one of the reasons why NATO labels China as a “systemic challenge.” For a war-dependent entity like NATO, a China that follows a path of peaceful development naturally becomes a “challenge.”

This year also marks NATO’s 75th anniversary. Stoltenberg’s warmongering rhetoric is the best commentary on the role NATO has played over the past 75 years. If Stoltenberg leaves any legacy during his term, it is conflict and war. People should be particularly wary of Stoltenberg’s promotion of the “threat narrative.” History has repeatedly shown that such rhetoric always runs counter to peace, development, and prosperity. The louder NATO’s voice becomes, the more vigilant peace-loving people should remain.

June 19, 2024 Posted by | Economics, Militarism | , | Leave a comment

EU state imprisons Russian academic for ‘spying’

Vyacheslav Morozov
RT | June 19, 2024

Former Tartu University professor Vyacheslav Morozov has been sentenced by an Estonian court to six years and three months in prison for allegedly working for a foreign intelligence service, the news outlet ERR reported on Tuesday.

Morozov, a Russian citizen, was detained by Estonian police in January on charges of collaborating with Moscow by supposedly collecting and providing information about the Baltic state.

According to the court documents, the academic had worked at St. Petersburg State University until 2010. He later joined the faculty of the University of Tartu in Estonia, where, from 2016 to 2023, he held the position of Professor of European Union and Russian Studies. He then worked there as a professor of International Political Theory until his arrest.

“Morozov was tasked by the Russian special service to collect information from the Republic of Estonia about Estonia’s internal, defense and security policy and related people and infrastructure,” the leading state prosecutor Taavi Pern was quoted as saying in a press release by the Estonian internal security service (Kapo).

According to Pern, the professor was forwarding information about Estonia’s “political situation and elections, allied relations, and integration and social integration.” The prosecutor claimed that while most of this information was publicly available, and some had been obtained by Morozov thanks to his “position as a scientist,” it could be used to “threaten Estonia.” Pern noted that Morozov did not have any access to state secrets.

The prosecution also claimed that Morozov had been working with Moscow “for a long time” and alleged that he was recruited by Russian intelligence services when studying at a Russian university in the 1990’s.

At the same time, Kapo Director General Margo Polloson noted that in his actions, Morozov “did not damage or manipulate his own educational or research activities in any way. The science he did and guided is still relevant today.” Nevertheless, Polloson claimed that Morozov “pretended to be a professor of international relations, which gave him access to various entities, events and people, which he took advantage of.”

The head of the Tartu University Johan Skytte Institute for Political Studies, Kristiina Tonnisson, had previously stated that Morozov’s arrest in January was a “shock to us all.” She added that while the university had “no grounds for complaints regarding Morozov’s previous work,” his past activities would be critically reviewed.

June 19, 2024 Posted by | Russophobia | | Leave a comment

Ukraine frustrated with US over F-16 pilot training

RT | June 19, 2024

The US is making “excuses” for its failure to prepare sufficient numbers of Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilots to aid the war effort, the head of the arms procurement commission in Kiev’s parliament, Aleksandra Ustinova, has claimed.

Kiev’s sponsors in the so-called ‘F-16 coalition’ – the US, Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands – have pledged to deliver up to 60 American-made aircraft by the end of this year. Ukrainian pilots are being trained in the US and Denmark, while a separate training program in Romania is planned, but is yet to begin.

So far only eight Ukrainian pilots have received training at the Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson, Arizona, Ustinova told British newspaper The Times in an interview published on Monday. An additional 12 are being trained in Denmark, she added.

The delay in preparation means Ukraine is likely to only have 20 fully trained F-16 pilots by the end of this year, the lawmaker said. Ukraine earlier asked the US for at least another ten spots in the training programs, but was refused, Ustinova noted.

Last week, Politico wrote that Kiev’s efforts to get 30 more pilots into Western training facilities have been rebuffed. Ukrainian pilots have already hit language barrier issues, a senior DOD official told the news outlet. The Tucson base can only train 12 at a time, and Washington already has other countries’ pilots booked, the source added.

Ustinova questioned the US justification for the delays, suggesting it was deliberate.

“These are not arguments, they are excuses, and they keep coming up with them time and time again,” she stated. The training delays are likely motivated by Washington’s fear that a large-scale presence of US F-16s in the Ukraine conflict could be viewed by Moscow as the integration of the country into NATO, Ustinova told The Times. “This is totally political.”

F-16s are needed to help mitigate the effect of Russian glide bombs on the battlefield, a weapon that has shown devastating effectiveness in the Ukraine conflict, Ustinova stressed. “These bombs are huge – from 500 kilos to 1,500 kilos,” and for Kiev, the only solution is to “bring them down is jet-to-jet.”

Moscow has repeatedly warned that Western arms deliveries will not change the course of the conflict, and only prolong it, causing more deaths. The Russian Parliament’s Defense Committee chair, Andrey Kartapolov, replied to Kiev’s statements about plans for some F-16s to be stationed outside Ukraine. Should the aircraft take off from foreign bases and be used to strike at Russian forces, both the jets and the facilities they are stationed at will be considered “legitimate targets,” Kartapolov warned.

June 19, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment

KC – 46A Pegasus Refueler Failure Continues

By Bill Buppert | The Libertarian Institute | June 19, 2024

One of the components of American strategic projection has been the world’s most prodigious and sophisticated aerial refueling fleet.

There are currently approx 400+ KC-135s capable of refueling two receiver aircraft at the same time in the current USAF fleet. The first operational flight was 1956. The last KC-135 was delivered to the Air Force in 1965. Of the original KC-135As, more than 417 were modified with new CFM-56 engines produced by CFM-International.

The newest KC-135 air-frame is 59 years old.

The retirement of the KC-135 has been anticipated and the replacement has been the disastrous KC-46A Pegasus Tanker Modernization Program which has had significant problems to include video control of the fuel boom difficulties and believe it or not, a refueling system that leaks fuel and the usual circus of missing deadlines so typical of DoD programs.

The Boeing KC-46A Pegasus has performed in the same way one would expect in the 21st century: over-budget, way past promised deadlines and rife with problems that should ground the aircraft.The next near-peer or peer contested fight will decimate the refueling fleet if the aircraft are used in the fight and the KC-46 is not ready for prime-time.

You are watching a unique capability die in real time. No one else on Earth has this. The upside is making imperial war-making even more problematic in the future.

According to the GAO report, the Air Force’s KC-46A Tanker Modernization Program has been further delayed because of issues with delivering wing aerial refueling pods and issues with the boom. The report notes that the program has already been delayed by 76 months (over six years).

The program is also at risk of continuing delays due to “ongoing problems with maturing three critical technologies related to the redesigned RVS—a set of visible and long-wave infrared boom cameras and the primary display.”

According to the DoD, “The KC-46A will be equipped with a modernized KC-10 refueling boom integrated with a fly-by-wire control system and will be capable of delivering a fuel offload rate required for large aircraft. Furthermore, a hose and drogue system will add additional mission capability which will be independently operable from the refueling boom system.”

https://simpleflying.com/us-air-force-kc-46a-tanker-modernization-delayed-wing-aerial-refueling/

June 19, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | | Leave a comment

Russia and North Korea agree on mutual aid against aggression – Putin

RT | June 19, 2024

Moscow and Pyongyang have pledged to assist each other against foreign aggression, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday during a visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Putin and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-un, signed a strategic partnership which will serve as a roadmap for future cooperation in all spheres, from cultural and tourist ties, to trade, economic relations and security, the Russian leader has said, calling it “truly a breakthrough.”

“The document on comprehensive partnership that we have signed today provides, among other things, for mutual aid in case of aggression against one of the participants,” the president added.

Moscow supports Pyongyang’s intention to protect its security and sovereignty from possible Western aggression, which is its right, Putin said. The country considers the US and its allies responsible for the increasing tensions in the region, he added.

“Overused Western propaganda tropes can no longer hide their aggressive geopolitical intentions, including in Northwestern Asia,” Putin said.

Putin noted that Western nations were supplying advanced weapons to Ukraine and have given Kiev the green light to strike Russia. Under these circumstances, “Russia does not rule out the development of military cooperation with the DPRK under the document signed today.”

The visiting head of state denounced the “indefinite restrictions regime” imposed on North Korea by the UN Security Council, which includes an arms embargo, as “orchestrated by the US” and urged for it to be revised.

The Russian president had previously warned the West over Kiev’s desire to use donated weapons to conduct attacks deep inside Russia. Should that happen, Moscow could send similar types of weapons to enemies of the West, which could use them to strike the military assets of the US and its allies, he said earlier this month.

Pyongyang has an “objective and balanced” stance on the Ukraine conflict and sees its core causes, which proves North Korea’s independence and sovereignty, Putin said. The two nations are also on the same page in supporting “a more just and democratic multipolar world” that should replace the previous Western-centric system.

”We will continue to oppose the imposition of strangling sanctions, which the West has turned into a tool of maintaining its hegemony in politics, the economy and other areas,” the president vowed.

Recalling the lengthy record of Russian cooperation with North Korea, Putin noted the role that the Soviet Union played in the fight against Imperial Japan during the Second World War and the reconstruction efforts following the Korean civil war, which split the Korean Peninsula between two rivals. Moscow was the party with which Pyongyang signed its first international agreement 75 years ago, he added.

June 19, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Florida Surgeon General: measles outbreaks, COVID-19 vaccines & public health

Maryanne Demasi, reports | June 18, 2024

According to the CDC, measles activity in America is “currently low” with a total of 151 cases reported by 22 jurisdictions so far this year.

But you wouldn’t know it by reading mainstream media headlines about the skyrocketing rates of measles with millions at risk.

Florida, in particular, has received a disproportionate amount of negative media attention with disparaging headlines such as:

“Florida is swamped by disease outbreaks as quackery replaces science” and “Florida: Come for the Sunshine, Leave With the Measles” and “Measles? So On-brand for Florida’s Descent Into the 1950s.”

Apparently, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo is to blame for the outbreaks.

After several measles cases were reported in a Florida school, Ladapo allowed parents to choose whether they wanted their healthy children to attend school during that time, even if they were unvaccinated against the disease.

In a letter to parents, Ladapo wrote “Due to the high immunity rate in the community, as well as the burden on families and educational cost of healthy children missing school, DOH is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance.”

The advice sparked outrage because it contradicted the CDC’s official advice which recommends a 21-day ‘quarantine’ for individuals who have not been vaccinated against measles or do not have prior immunity.

Ladapo was labelled “anti-vax,” accused of being the Governor’s “lap dog” making maverick proclamations that would pose “an unacceptable danger to the health of Florida residents” and fuelling the growing distrust in vaccines across the board.

Criticism of Ladapo escalated after he appeared on a podcast in late 2023 and called the covid-19 vaccines “the Anti-Christ of all products.”

And when the FDA failed to adequately address his concerns that billions of DNA fragments found in the vaccines might lead to cancer, he called for the halt of their use in Florida.

Recently, I spoke with Ladapo about his reaction to the measles outbreaks, covid-19 vaccines and the diminishing trust in public health. His calm, candid and authentic approach shone through.

DEMASI: Dr Ladapo, thanks for your time today.

LADAPO: You too Dr Demasi. Hey, can you call me Joe? Then I can call you Maryanne.

DEMASI: No problem, Joe. You’ve been blamed for the measles outbreaks across America. What do you say about that?

LADAPO: Oh, it’s completely political Maryanne. When I tell people that, all in all, we had maybe 10 or 11 cases of measles, they’re shocked because based on the news articles, you’d think that we had thousands of cases of measles. I just saw some over-the-top, completely ridiculous titles to news articles about this. Ultimately, I guess what really ticked off people in the media was that we said that parents could make the decision about whether their healthy kids could go to school. We weren’t suggesting kids who were sick with measles go to school, it was only if they were not sick.

DEMASI: But you said unvaccinated kids could return to school if their parents wanted then to… that’s what caused the upset…

LADAPO: You know, vaccination rates at the school were very high, so there was a lot of protection against measles already. Therefore, you let the parents choose. Giving parents the choice is what people really couldn’t handle.

DEMASI: And it was because your advice contradicted CDC’s advice to quarantine unvaccinated kids for 21-days…

LADAPO: Yes, it did go against CDC guidelines, but it’s in sync with Florida guidelines, which is, that if a kid is healthy, they can go to school.

DEMASI: Why was this all so triggering?

LADAPO: Honestly, that’s what I struggle with. I do hear people say that if a kid is unvaccinated and there is a measles outbreak, then they should stay home. But keeping healthy kids home from school puts an enormous burden on the families. It’s obviously bad for the kids. It’s bad for their education, it’s bad for their mental health and wellbeing. Those lessons were apparently not learned during the pandemic. We’re in this state of mind where people reflexively want to isolate healthy people. It was rampant during the pandemic and caused tremendous harm. Those policies never really took a foothold here in Florida, but in other states, it was very common for whole classrooms to go home just because one kid had covid.

DEMASI: That’s the difficulty in public health, weighing up the pros and cons…

LADAPO: Right, you have to make a judgement call. There was a high rate of vaccination against measles already in the school and a kid who maybe hasn’t had a measles vaccine should be allowed to go to school if the parents have all the information about their options. Measles is very contagious and the chances their kid will catch it is high if they’re exposed to it. But that’s a choice the parents should make, it’s not for public health officials to make for families. That’s my opinion.

DEMASI: You said there were only 10 or 11 cases. It seems as if public health officials like frightening people… Do you think there is some disease-mongering happening?

LADAPO: Oh, definitely. Absolutely there is. Measles certainly can be serious and sometimes you can get very sick. But by and large, historically, it’s not something that was abnormal to catch. Many recover but nowadays it has been transformed into something that signals the end of days. It’s just not realistic. Again, it’s not to say that measles cannot be serious, because it can be, but for most healthy kids, they’re going to get over it. That’s just the reality. All the pandemonium about casting it as if its the plague or Ebola, well, no, it’s not. Unfortunately, some public health officials, at least the ones that make it on TV, have a warped vision of health. They equate things like vaccines with health, but vaccines are not health. Health is health – when you’re sleeping, you’re eating and you’re exercising. It’s not a medical product. Medical products can help people, but they’re not the definition of health. I think ‘disease mongering’ is equating medications and vaccines with health – it’s actually a sick way of thinking about health and wellness.

DEMASI: Do you think people’s trust in vaccines more broadly has been damaged since COVID?

LADAPO: Oh, it definitely has. And frankly, I think it will only get worse. I, myself, have learned so much about some of the clinical trials that were used to approve other vaccines. Ever since seeing how corrupt the scientific approach to the safety and efficacy of mRNA covid-19 vaccines has been, more people are looking at other vaccines now. And it’s really appropriate to do that because vaccines do not have the same type of critical scrutiny as other medications. Just for example, one of the things that has come out during the pandemic is the work by Dr Christine Stabell Benn. It’s very clear that some vaccines can be very effective against the condition that they’re targeted against, but have other effects on people’s health outside of the condition.

DEMASI: That’s right, her work found that vaccines can have ‘off-target’ effects that are unintended.

LADAPO: Right, and you never really hear any discussion about things like that. But that’s clearly part of a critical analysis of any medication you’re putting into someone’s body. And some people just want to exempt vaccines from that type of scrutiny… I think that’s hogwash.

DEMASI: You know about the discovery of DNA fragments contaminating the mRNA vaccines. What has happened since you called for the halt of their use in Florida?

LADAPO: The FDA wrote us back, I think, in December last year with a long letter where they didn’t answer directly our question of whether DNA integration studies had been performed with the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines… which I interpreted to mean that those studies had not been done. And that was last correspondence from them. Since then, we’ve seen FDA and CDC officials continue to prop up the COVID-19 vaccines.

DEMASI: What’s your reaction to how the FDA handled the safety concerns about the COVID vaccines?

LADAPO: Honestly, it makes me sick to my stomach, It’s so sad. And there really should be much stiffer consequences for when people knowingly choose to prioritise the reputation of an institution above the health and wellbeing of human beings. The FDA and the CDC, they just care about their own reputations.

DEMASI: You commented that covid shots were the work of the devil. I can’t imagine that went down well….

LADAPO: They are, Maryanne. Covid-19 mRNA vaccines are evil products…

DEMASI: It’s extraordinary to hear a physician in public office say that. Vaccines are considered the “holy grail’ of medicine… is it just covid-19 vaccines that concern you?

LADAPO: The mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, yes, and it’s all tied together with the inhumane lockdowns, the harms to kids, the separation of people, the inability to say goodbye to people you love, who were dying. Give me a break — saying goodbye to people over zoom when they’re dying, that’s bullshit. All that stuff where they were firing nurses and doctors or firemen who didn’t want to take the vaccine. It has just been a series of anti-human and… well, evil behaviours. And the fact that many people weren’t conscious of how inhumane their actions were was part of the hypnotic environment that was created to allow those behaviours to occur and to be sustained. The fact that so many people have been injured by the vaccines, and people have been misled into taking them – people who were very low risk and manipulated – the whole thing’s evil, it’s totally all evil.

DEMASI: What drives you to say these things out loud?

LADAPO: I personally had an early life experience, a very traumatic experience, that affected me profoundly. As a little kid, I was molested by my babysitter when I was probably four years old or something like that. And I thought I was fine and normal. A few decades later, I fell in love with my wife and the effects of that traumatic experience came out like a volcano that erupted, and really presented the most challenging personal experience I’ve ever had in terms of dealing with it. That experience created intense fear and an inability of being able to connect with other people – almost a disassociation from reality. But I fell in love – accidently – we met on a plane, she was living in California, I was in Boston at graduate school at the time and we end up continuing to talk on the phone. I had no idea I fell in love with her on the phone from our conversations. Eventually, I ended up working with a guy named Christopher Maher, who’s a former Navy SEAL, and he helped me really overcome the effects of my early traumatic experience and that changed everything for me. Now, it’s easy to recognise truth, but also to say it out loud.

DEMASI: Thank you for sharing that story Joe. It sounds like your experience also instilled a strong sense of social justice?  

LADAPO: I would call it love and appreciation for who we are as humans. So, when there are forces that undermine people’s sovereignty, that undermine people’s ability for autonomy, to make decisions for themselves with full information, that will rub me the wrong way. So, I would actually say it’s that, yeah.

DEMASI: We’ve lost trust in public health. How do we get it back?

LADAPO: I think it’s going to be a long road. Unfortunately, we still have leaders who are not forthcoming about information and risks. I think you need new leadership, and whether it’s head of CDC or head of FDA, they’re just clearly incapable of being honest with Americans, they are way more interested in preserving the reputation of institutions. You’re never going to be able to really earn people’s trust back, when you have people that don’t prioritise people’s health. So, yeah, we need new leadership.

DEMASI: All right. I think I’ll leave it there, Joe. It’s been lovely speaking with you.

LADAPO: Cool, Maryanne. Great to speak with you too.

The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

June 19, 2024 Posted by | Science and Pseudo-Science, Timeless or most popular | , , | Leave a comment

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