55 Undeclared Chemical Elements — Including Heavy Metals — Found in COVID Vaccines
By Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. | The Defender | October 15, 2024
A group of Argentine scientists identified 55 chemical elements — not listed on package inserts — in the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, CanSino, Sinopharm and Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines, according to a study published last week in the International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice, and Research.
The chemical elements include 11 heavy metals — such as chromium, arsenic, nickel, aluminum, cobalt and copper — which scientists consider systemic toxicants known to be carcinogenic and to induce organ damage, even at low exposure levels.
The samples also contained 11 of the 15 lanthanides, or rare earth elements, that are heavier, silvery metals often used in manufacturing. These chemical elements, which include lanthanum, cerium and gadolinium, are lesser known to the general public than heavy metals but have also been shown to be highly toxic.
“The detection of multiple undeclared toxic elements, including heavy metals and lanthanides, in COVID-19 vaccines raises a dual and multiplied concern for human health,” James Lyons-Weiler, Ph.D., a member of the journal’s editorial board who was not involved in the research, told The Defender. “Individually, these chemicals are known to cause neurological, cardiovascular and immunological damage.”
“Together, their synergistic toxicity could exacerbate these risks far beyond what regulators and manufacturers have disclosed or studied,” Lyons-Weiler added.
The research builds on a series of studies conducted since 2021 using different analytic techniques to analyze COVID-19 vaccine vials from major manufacturers. Previous studies also identified significant numbers of chemical elements not listed on vaccine labels.
Research efforts included a 2022 study by a German working group, including the late pathologist Arne Burkhardt, submitted to the German government; a 2021 study by scientists in England; a 2022 study by Canadian Dr. Daniel Nagase; and a 2023 Romanian study by Dr. Geanina Hagimă.
Across those global studies, by the end of 2023, researchers had identified 24 undeclared chemical elements in the COVID-19 vaccine formulas.
Marcela Sangorrín, Ph.D., co-author of the Argentine study, told The Defender these different international studies are important because there is “a significant gap in the quality control of biological products by the national regulatory authorities of each country.”
“This situation is even more urgent and concerning when we consider the rapid advancements observed in cutting-edge biotechnological developments, the complexity of which requires a more thorough legislative and regulatory framework to ensure the safety of individuals who choose to use these therapies,” Sangorrín said.
CDC makes vaccine excipient information ‘almost impossible to find’
For the Argentine study, researchers aimed to corroborate the previous findings of undeclared elements and to detect and measure any elements not identified in those studies.
They analyzed 13 vials from different lots of six brands of the COVID-19 vaccines at a lab at the National University of Córdoba. They used a highly sensitive analytic technique — inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry — which makes it possible to measure elements at trace levels in biological fluids.
The researchers analyzed at least two vials of each vaccine, except for CanSino, a viral vector vaccine made in China, for which they analyzed only one vial.
Their paper included a long list of COVID-19 vaccine components declared by the manufacturers. The components vary by vaccine maker. The researchers obtained the lists through public information requests.
With the exception of Sputnik V and Sinopharm, manufacturers don’t declare the quantities of the named excipients in their vaccines, which the researchers flagged as a “very serious omission at the regulatory level.”
Vaccines often include excipients — additives used as preservatives, adjuvants, stabilizers or for other purposes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), substances used in the manufacture of a vaccine but not listed in the contents of the final product should be listed somewhere in the package insert.
Listing excipients is important, researchers argue because excipients can include allergens and other “hidden dangers” for vaccine recipients.
OpenVAERS reports that the CDC has made publicly available vaccine excipient information “almost impossible to find.” OpenVAERS offers a comprehensive list of vaccine of excipients by type and by vaccine.
However, the OpenVAERS website also notes that independent tests of vaccine vials have found “contaminants that go well beyond those publicly disclosed by the manufacturers,” as identified in this study.
The researchers found the results of their chemical analysis varied by vaccine and also by vial tested. In some cases, the vials were subjected to repeated testing on different dates and produced slightly different results.
In one lot of the AstraZeneca vaccine, researchers identified 15 chemical elements, of which 14 were undeclared. In the other lot, they detected 21 elements of which 20 were undeclared. In the CanSino vial, they identified 22 elements, of which 20 were undeclared.
The three Pfizer vials contained 19, 16 and 21-23 undeclared elements respectively. The Moderna vials contained 21 and between 16-29 undeclared elements. The Sinopharm vials contained between 17-23 undeclared elements and the Sputnik V contained between 19-25 undetected elements.
82% of vaccines tested contained undeclared arsenic
Overall, researchers identified 55 different undeclared elements across the 17 samples analyzed.
All of the heavy metals detected are linked to toxic effects on human health, the researchers wrote. Although the metals occurred in different frequencies, many were present across multiple samples.
“There are undeclared chemical elements in common, such as boron, calcium, titanium, aluminum, arsenic, nickel, chromium, copper, gallium, strontium, niobium, molybdenum, barium and hafnium in all of the brands” of COVID-19 vaccines, the researchers wrote.
Others, such as chromium and arsenic, which increase the risk of serious cancers and skin diseases, were present as undeclared elements in 100% and 82% of the samples respectively. The researchers also found the lanthanide cerium, which can damage the liver and cause lung embolisms, in 76% of the samples.
These chemical elements are just a few examples of the 62 undeclared chemical elements identified by this study and previous studies combined, the researchers wrote.
They concluded that given the “diversity and notable presence in all brands, along with the peculiar characteristics of the elements found,” is unlikely the findings are due to contamination or accidental adulteration.
‘Utmost urgency’ that governments investigate these products
The researchers, who said the exploratory study was limited by the small sample size, called for a broader analysis of a larger number of samples. They suggested the broader analysis would confirm the trends they identified.
Sangorrín said this should be the work of government researchers.
“It is of utmost urgency that governments around the world conduct relevant investigations into these products, as is typically done in response to quality complaints identified through pharmacovigilance,” she said.
Those seeking justice, she added, must call on the World Health Organization, the pharmaceutical companies and governments to take urgent action, “in accordance with the severity of the situation, given the rise in global mortality rates, recorded adverse effects and the clear demonstration that these products were not developed with the intention of providing immunity.”
The authors underscored the high rates of serious adverse events, including deaths, associated globally with the COVID-19 vaccines. They suggested the adverse events and deaths, which are likely substantially undercounted, could be linked to the toxins they identified.
Lyons-Weiler also called for regulatory action to protect public health.
“Regulatory agencies must take immediate action to halt the use of these vaccines, thoroughly investigate how these toxins were missed, and ensure that the full spectrum of ingredients is transparently declared and the public duly and fully warned,” he said.
“The public’s health can no longer be gambled with in the face of such profound uncertainties.”
This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.
Fired for Free Speech: Alison Morrow’s Battle Against Government Censorship
By Dan Frieth | Reclaim The Net | October 19, 2024
Alison Morrow (formally Westover), an accomplished journalist, found herself in the throes of a legal battle over her right to free speech. Represented by the Silent Majority Foundation, Morrow has filed a lawsuit against the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and its top officials, citing wrongful termination after she was dismissed for airing an interview on her YouTube channel. The channel, a personal project crafted during her tenure as an environmental reporter at KING 5 in Seattle, became the subject of controversy following her post featuring a highly censored doctor, Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, and his views on COVID-19.
We obtained a copy of the lawsuit for you here.
Morrow’s career at KING 5, which spanned from 2013 to 2019, was marked by significant accolades, including two Emmy awards. Recognized for her independent journalism, DNR was fully aware of her YouTube activities when they recruited her as a communications specialist. Initially, her independent media pursuits were supported by DNR, but the tide turned with her decision to feature Dr. Kheriaty. DNR’s leadership warned Morrow that her continued interviews could lead to termination, a threat she met with a staunch refusal to abandon her First Amendment protections.
Determined to uphold her freedoms of speech, press, and association, Morrow chose to defy DNR’s directive to adhere to approved narratives. This act of resistance ultimately led to her dismissal, prompting her to seek legal assistance from the Silent Majority Foundation, which took up her case to safeguard these fundamental rights.
“The 1st Amendment is one of the most sacred rights of Americans. It is what differentiates our country from most others, that we have the freedom to question our government. It is also central to a free press. I was willing to lose my job – and all that it provided for our family – in order to stand up against the encroaching erosion of this right that I was witnessing at the time, not just in my case but in thousands of others across the country during the pandemic,” Morrow stated. “There was no way to do science or journalism, in the culture of censorship that was driven by our government at the time. That meant millions of people made decisions without informed consent. Given my commitment to seeking truth wherever it leads, I was unwilling to acquiesce to a demand that I remain silent.”
US, Canada and European countries suppressing Pro-Palestine protests: UN rapporteur
Palestinian Information Center – October 19, 2024
NEW YORK – The UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression has accused the United States, Canada, France, Germany, and Belgium of suppressing the right to protest in support of the Palestinian cause. She also condemned Israeli authorities for carrying out dangerous attacks on media personnel in Palestinian territories, criticizing the assassination of journalists.
In a report submitted to the UN General Assembly and the press on Friday, the special rapporteur, Irene Khan—an “independent” expert with the UN since 2020—accused several European countries of imposing measures to restrict freedom of expression and suppress protests against the massacre in Gaza, as well as banning pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Khan, a Bangladeshi lawyer working in human rights, referred to “demonstrations at universities in the United States that were violently suppressed,” mentioning the intervention of riot police in New York at the end of April to disperse dozens of pro-Palestinian activists occupying part of Columbia University.
Regarding European countries, Khan specifically mentioned “Germany, which has imposed a complete ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations since October of last year, along with restrictions on such protests in various regions of Germany since then.” She added that these restrictions have never been imposed on demonstrations in support of Israel, but always on those supporting Palestinians.
She continued that “France attempted to take similar measures, but the courts rejected them, and evaluations are now made on a case-by-case basis,” noting that “Belgium and Canada have adopted similar stances.”
At the beginning of the Israeli extermination war on Gaza over a year ago, the French Interior Ministry called for a ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations for fear of public disorder. However, the Council of State, the highest administrative court, urged the French government to make decisions on a case-by-case basis.
Khan also criticized Israel for “assaults on media in the occupied Palestinian territories—Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem—targeted assassinations of journalists, arbitrary arrests, and numerous cases of destruction of infrastructure and journalistic equipment in Gaza, as well as refusing to allow international press access.”
The independent rapporteur concluded that “the tightening of censorship in Israel and the occupied territories indicates that Israeli authorities have a strategy to silence critical journalism.”
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation, with unlimited American support, has been waging an extermination war on Gaza, resulting in over 142,000 dead and injured, the majority of whom are women and children, 10,000 missing, massive destruction of infrastructure, and a deadly famine.
50 Palestinians martyred in northern Gaza, hospitals under bombardment and siege
Palestinian Information Center – October 19, 2024
GAZA – For the fifteenth consecutive day on Saturday, northern Gaza, particularly Jabalia refugee camp, is enduring an Israeli siege and starvation amidst intense aerial and artillery bombardment, along with a complete isolation of the healthcare system and internet.
In a new massacre in Jabalia, the occupation army carried out an attack after cutting off communications and internet in northern Gaza.
Eyewitnesses reported that a large massacre occurred after homes belonging to the Al-Hawajri and other families near the Nasar junction in Tal Al-Zaatar to the northeast of Jabalia camp were bombed. Several homes were targeted, but the Al-Hawajri house was occupied by many residents, including a significant number of displaced relatives.
They confirmed that this house and the neighboring homes were directly targeted, resulting in 30 martyrs and more than 70 injured arriving at Al-Awda Hospital, with many missing.
The Gaza Government Media Office (GMO) said that 21 women and children were among the martyrs. It pointed out that the massacre committed by the occupation due to the bombing of Tal Al-Zaatar coincides with the collapse of the healthcare situation in northern Gaza.
Additionally, 4 citizens were martyred, and more than 15 others were injured due to Israeli shelling that targeted a home in the Al-Touba area of Jabalia camp.
With this toll, the number of martyrs resulting from Israeli airstrikes in northern Gaza since dawn on Friday has risen to 49, while the total number of martyrs since the siege was imposed on the northern sector has reached 450.
Moreover, the occupation’s artillery shelled the Indonesian hospital with several shells and imposed a siege on it, while the upper floors of Al-Awda Hospital in Tal Al-Zaatar were also targeted, with reports of injuries resulting from the attacks.
Since dawn on Saturday, Israeli occupation forces have besieged the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahiya, targeting anyone moving in its vicinity. Artillery fired two shells towards it, and the electricity was cut off.
Dr. Marwan Sultan, the hospital director, issued an urgent distress call as Israeli military vehicles are surrounding the hospital and four shelters nearby, posing severe risks to medical staff and patients. He noted that Israeli tanks fired three direct shells at the hospital, and military bulldozers began demolishing parts of the hospital after cutting off its electricity.
He emphasized that 15 medical staff members and 30 injured patients in the hospital face real dangers due to the direct targeting of the hospital and the risk of suffocation from gases emitted by explosive shells nearby, pointing out that the lives of patients needing special care are threatened due to lack of oxygen.
He clarified that artillery shells targeted the second and third floors of the hospital, indicating that the occupation aims to destroy what remains of the healthcare system to force residents to leave.
The director of the Indonesian hospital, Dr. Marwan Sultan, called on the international community to intervene to save what remains of the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip.
The hospital had previously been subjected to a similar siege in November 2023, during which it was directly targeted by the occupying forces, leading to the death and arrest of several injured patients.
Meanwhile, the director of Al-Awda Hospital, Dr. Mohammed Saleh, described the healthcare situation as catastrophic due to the shortage of medical supplies, noting that the situation in northern Gaza is “indescribable.” He expected the number of martyrs to rise in the coming hours due to the lack of medical resources.
A medical source reported that the medical teams at Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda hospitals are unable to cope with the numerous injuries resulting from the bombardment by the occupying forces.
In the meantime, the director of health in Gaza, Munir Al-Bursh, described the condition of hospitals in northern Gaza as catastrophic. In statements to Al Jazeera, he mentioned that the bodies of over 450 martyrs have arrived at hospitals, and “our estimates indicate 500 martyrs,” confirming that the Israeli occupation is committing massacre after massacre in northern Gaza.
He added that the Israeli occupation is deliberately displacing the population from northern Gaza through bombardment and siege, rendering the healthcare system in northern Gaza non-functional.
A health ministry official in Gaza said that several civilians have died of hunger and thirst in their homes in Jabalia due to the ongoing siege, and the bodies of dozens of martyrs are scattered in the streets of Jabalia as a result of the continuous bombardment.
GMO condemned the moral decline of countries around the world that silently watch and monitor the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people, especially what is currently happening in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza.
In a press statement, the GMO held the Israeli occupation, the US administration, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the countries participating in the genocide fully responsible for the continuation of this crime.
The Israeli genocide against the Gaza Strip continues for the 379th consecutive day, with the pace of bombardment escalating in all areas of the Strip, particularly intensifying in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza, on a night described as the most difficult since the beginning of the genocide, which has resulted in over 142,000 martyrs and injured, mostly women and children, since October 7, 2023.
Hezbollah drone hits Netanyahu’s home as rocket barrage pummels Haifa
The Cradle | October 19, 2024
A Hezbollah drone launched from Lebanon targeted the private home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 19 October, the prime minister’s office said.
Saudi news outlet Al-Hadath first reported the drone attack, which targeted Netanyahu’s residence in the coastal city of Caesarea, located 60km north of Tel Aviv, early on Saturday.
The prime minister and his wife were not present at the time of the attack, and no injuries were reported.
Caesarea resident Yaheli Karbi told Haaretz that she saw a helicopter flying above the area near the Prime Minister’s residence around 7:30 am.
“I saw [the helicopter] hovering over Bibi’s house,” she said. “I then saw the drone arrives and heard it hit. There was a very strong smell of smoke,” she added.
The Israeli military said Saturday morning that some 55 rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel within an hour, causing sirens to be activated in several cities and towns across the Upper, Western, and Central Galilee areas.
Some of the rockets were intercepted, while others landed in open areas, the military stated.
A short time later, Israel targeted a vehicle traveling on the Jounieh highway just north of Beirut, killing two people and injuring two others.
It was the first such Israeli strike in the area since the start of the war.
On Friday, Hezbollah launched several attacks on Israeli military targets.
The Lebanese resistance movement announced it launched a barrage of precision-guided missiles targeting the Kiryat Eliezer air base, located west of Haifa.
It also launched a swarm of assault drones at the Ein Shemer base, a missile defense and regional brigade base located east of the city of Hadera.
Israel has intensified its attacks on Hezbollah targets and Lebanese civilians and civil defense workers across the country, including two large massacres earlier this week.
An Israeli airstrike on Wednesday killed the mayor of Nabatieh, one of the largest cities in southern Lebanon. He and 16 others were killed at the municipal headquarters while in a meeting to coordinate aid deliveries to residents and those displaced by war.
On Monday, an Israeli strike massacred at least 24 people from the same family, 12 women, ten men, and two children, in Aitou, a village in the mountainous Zgharta district in northern Lebanon.
The family had rented a home in the Christian-majority town after being displaced from their home in the south by Israeli bombing.
Palestine-Israel: what the last year has shown
By Viktor Mikhin – New Eastern Outlook – October 19, 2024
The level of calmness of the Palestinians has cast doubt on what once seemed like the predestined fate of the Palestinian struggle.
A year has passed since Netanyahu, who considered himself the dictator of the entire Middle East, began to destroy its peoples first in Gaza and then in Lebanon, engaging periodic murderous operations against Syria, Yemen and Iran. No one expected that one year would be sufficient in returning to the Palestinian cause its priority on the world stage and that millions of people globally would unite again in the struggle for Palestinian freedom.
The past year has seen the Israeli genocide in Gaza and unprecedented violence in the West Bank, as well as legendary displays of Palestinian ‘sumud’ (Arabic for ‘resilience’). It is not the scale of the Israeli bloodbath, but the degree of Palestinian resilience that has called into question what once seemed the predestined fate of the Palestinian struggle. However, it turned out that the last chapter on Palestine was not yet ready to be written and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not be its author.
The ongoing war has exposed the limits of Israeli military capabilities. The typical policy of Israel’s relations with the occupied Palestinians was based on unhindered Israeli violence, unconditional Western assistance and the ’deafening silence’ of the international community. To a large extent, only Netanyahu determined the timing and objectives of the war. Until recently, his opponents seemed to have no say in the matter. This is, though, not the case anymore. Israel’s war crimes are now being met by Palestinian unity, Arab, Muslim and international solidarity and the first – and quite serious –signs of legal responsibility.
This is not likely what Netanyahu had hoped for. Just a few days before the aggression against Lebanon began, he stood in the UN General Assembly hall with a map of the ‘New Middle East’, a map on which Palestine and Palestinians were completely erased. “We should not give the Palestinians the right to veto new peace agreements with Arab states”, he said, “since Palestinians make up only 2% of the Arab world”. His arrogance was not long-lasting, as this ‘triumphant’ moment was brief.
Battered by numerous troubles inside and outside Israel and being unsuccessful in the war against the Arab world, Netanyahu is now most concerned about his own political survival. He is waging war to avoid humiliating his army in Gaza, and he is terrified by the prospect of an arrest warrant being issued by the International Criminal Court. While the International Court of Justice continues to examine the ever-growing dossier accusing Israel of deliberate genocide in the Gaza Strip, the UN General Assembly has decided that Israel must end its illegal occupation of Palestine within a year.
Netanyahu, who has worked tirelessly to normalise the Israeli occupation of Palestine, must be extremely disappointed that he has faced complete and deafening international rejection of his plans. The advisory opinion of the UN International Court of Justice, issued in July, stating that the Israeli occupation is illegal, was another blow to Tel Aviv, which, despite the unlimited support of the United States, could not change the international consensus on the illegality of the occupation.
What awaits the Palestinians?
In addition to relentless Israeli violence, the Palestinian people have also found themselves on the side-lines of political life. Since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, their fate has largely been entrusted to the generally unelected Palestinian leadership, which has over time monopolised the Palestinian cause for its own financial and political gain. The resilience of Palestinians in Gaza, who have endured a year of mass killings, deliberate starvation and the total destruction of all aspects of life, helps in confirming the political significance of the long-marginalised nation. This shift is fundamental, as it contradicts everything Netanyahu has tried to achieve. In the years leading up to the war, Israel seemed to be writing the final chapter of its colonial project on Palestine. It subdued or co-opted the Palestinian leadership, tightened the blockade of Gaza, and was ready to annex most of the West Bank.
Gaza was the least of Israel’s problems; any discussions about it were limited to the hermetic Israeli blockade and the humanitarian – but not political – crisis caused by it.
While the Palestinians in Gaza relentlessly called on the world to pressure Israel into ending the protracted siege that began in 2007, in the Gaza Strip Tel Aviv continued to pursue a policy in accordance with the infamous logic of former senior Israeli official Dov Waisglass, who explained the purpose of the blockade as putting the Palestinians on a diet, but not letting them starve to death.
But a year after the start of the war, the Palestinians, thanks to their resilience, have become the centre of any serious discussion about the peaceful future of the Middle East. The collective courage and strength of the Palestinians have neutralised the ability of the Israeli military to achieve political results through violence. However, the number of dead, missing or wounded in Gaza has likely already exceeded 150,000 people. The Gaza Strip, which was already poor and dilapidated, lies in ruins. All mosques, churches and hospitals have been destroyed or severely damaged. Most of the educational infrastructure has been destroyed. However, Israel has not achieved any of its strategic objectives, which ultimately fall under one goal: to permanently silence the Palestinians in their quest for freedom.
Despite the incredible pain and loss, there is now a powerful force uniting the Palestinians around achieving their freedom, also uniting Arabs and the whole world around Palestine. The consequences of this will last for many years, even after Netanyahu and like-minded extremists have left. Here a difficult question arises: in the future, how will the Israelis be able to peacefully coexist with the Palestinians, when, previously, the essence of the Israeli leadership’s policy was aimed at seizing the entirety of Palestine, killing or at least expelling the Palestinian people from their homeland?
Putin says Gaza war must end with establishment of Palestinian State
MEMO | October 18, 2024
Russian President, Vladimir Putin, said on Friday that the war in the Gaza Strip must end with the establishment of a “full-fledged” Palestinian State, urging the Middle East Quartet to be reactivated in order to resume mediation efforts in the region, Anadolu Agency reports.
“The primary solution to the Palestinian problem is the establishment of a fully-fledged Palestinian State. The Russian side has upheld this position since the Soviet era,” he remarked during a meeting with BRICS media managers in Moscow.
Putin stressed reactivating the Middle East Quartet, a group of international organisations that includes the UN, US, UN and Russia, to resume efforts to mediate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and initiate a peace process.
“It was a mistake by the US to disrupt the work of the Quartet […] It would have been easier to coordinate all the positions. The US took over, monopolised the peace efforts, assuming full responsibility and, in the end, it failed,” Putin said.
He stressed that Palestinians “will not leave” the Gaza Strip, warning that the region’s humanitarian crisis will only increase the number of those determined to “defend their interests”.
The upcoming BRICS summit in Kazan, from 22-24 October, will include discussions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as it remains a significant global issue, he added.
Israel dramatically escalated its massive bombing campaign across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since 23 September, killing at least 1,437 people, injuring over 4,123 others, and displacing more than 1.34 million people.
The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip. More than 42,400 people, most of them women and children, have been killed since the war began in the wake of Hamas’s 7 October, 2023 cross-border attack on Israel.
Israel further expanded the escalation, invading Lebanon on 1 October.
US-Russia trade expected to fall to lowest level since 1992 under Biden regime
Sputnik – 19.10.2024
MOSCOW – The trade between Russia and the United States is expected to decline to $3.7 billion by the end of this year, the lowest level since 1992, according to Sputnik’s calculations based on data of the US statistical service.
Russian exports to the US from January to August amounted to $2.26 billion, down from $3.4 billion the previous year. Based on current trends, annual shipments may reach approximately $3.12 billion, which would be a third lower than previous year’s volumes and the lowest level since 1993.
Meanwhile, US business sales to Russia fell by 16% over eight months, totaling $334 million. For the year, they are expected to reach a record low of $539.3 million, down by 10% compared to 2023, according to Sputnik’s calculations.
During Joe Biden’s presidency, trade between the two countries has decreased sixfold. In 2020, the last year of Donald Trump’s term, trade was at $21.8 billion. This figure was slightly lower in 2016 under Barack Obama, who initiated the first wave of sanctions against Russia, at $20.4 billion.
Will the US go ahead with nuclear subcritical experiments?
By Oleg Burunov – Sputnik – 19.10.2024
Washington in May conducted another subcritical experiment to allegedly provide essential data on the materials used in nuclear warheads.
The US’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has published a plan for the country’s nuclear-weapon production complex for the next 25 years.
The 40-page document singles out the Nuclear Security Enterprise’s (NSE) variety of tasks and missions due to be conducted between 2025 and 2050, including:
- Reestablishment of plutonium pit manufacturing at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico (with annual production capacity of 30 pits) and Savannah River Site in South Carolina ( with a capacity of 50) to replace the capability after the closure of the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant in Colorado.
- Modernization of uranium and lithium processing capabilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee.
- Improvement of nuclear subcritical experiments-related diagnostics at the Nevada National Security Site “to better understand aging performance to certify the stockpile without nuclear explosive testing and collect data on nuclear materials and newly manufactured components.”
- Establishment of insensitive high explosive synthesis and formulation capability at the Pantex Plant in Texas to meet capacity requirements and resilience goals.
- Recapitalization of spent nuclear fuel handling and examination capabilities at the Naval Reactors Facility in Idaho.
The release of the NNSA blueprint comes amid tensions between the US and Russia over nuclear testing, with Moscow warning that it “will immediately respond in kind” if Washington moves towards resuming the tests. Russia de-ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty last year, while the US signed but never ratified the document.
US to pay $20 billion into loan for Ukraine – FT
RT | October 19, 2024
The US is set to provide up to $20 billion to Ukraine as part of a G7 loan, which will then be repaid using proceeds generated by the Russian assets immobilized by the West as part of Ukraine-related sanctions, Financial Times has reported, citing sources.
Kiev’s backers have been trying to accelerate negotiations over the loan in an effort to secure funding to Ukraine before the end of the year, due to mounting concern that Washington’s aid to the country could be cut off if Donald Trump wins the upcoming US election, FT noted, in an article posted on Friday. The former US president has repeatedly threatened to scale back assistance to Kiev if he were elected.
The US and its allies have frozen an estimated $300 billion in assets belonging to the Russian state after the Ukraine conflict broke out in 2022. The bulk of the money, nearly €197 billion ($214 billion) is being held by Brussels-based clearinghouse Euroclear. The immobilized funds have generated €3.4 billion ($3.7 billion) in interest as of mid-July, according to the depository.
Moscow has denounced the freeze as “theft” and said that any seizure of its funds would be against the law and would further undermine global trust in the Western financial system.
In June, G7 members agreed to grant Kiev a $50 billion loan to be financed by interest from the frozen Russian assets. The US and the EU were initially expected to provide $20 billion each as Canada, Japan and the UK were set to jointly lend the rest of the massive loan.
Later, to reassure allies that the bloc’s sanctions regime on the funds is not lifted, Brussels proposed a three-year extension of the EU’s mandate to freeze Russian assets. EU lawmakers have been renewing their sanctions every six months by unanimous decision, meaning that each vote may bring about a break in restrictions. Hungary opposed the proposal, and announced plans to postpone the decision until the US presidential elections on November 5.
Last week, the EU approved its own contribution of up to €35 billion to the G7 loan, but the bloc would need to contribute less if Washington provided the full $20 billion, Reuters reported last week. The funds, which will be managed by the World Bank, will be used for several purposes, including defense or humanitarian needs.
US senior officials, however, told FT that Washington would provide the full agreed $20 billion, even if the EU failed to convince Hungary’s premier Viktor Orban to drop his veto on extending EU sanctions, which had previously been voiced among the US demands. According to two sources cited by the paper, G7 finance ministers will make a statement on the distribution and structure of the loan on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings on October 25.
Beware of War Hawks in “America First” Clothing
By Connor O’Keeffe • Mises Wire • October 16, 2024
For the past eight years, the two major political parties have been gripped by a messy and ongoing realignment. It began with the election of Donald Trump in 2016, which was a major repudiation of the neoconservative-establishment coalition that had dominated the Republican Party since the presidency of George W. Bush.
Trump’s condemnation of the war in Iraq—which he correctly said was sold on lies—and his skepticism of continuing to fund radical Islamists in a misguided attempt to overthrow the government in Syria drove some of the staunchest Bush-era neoconservatives to leave the Republican Party and do everything they could to keep Trump out of power. It didn’t work.
Trump’s four years in office only accelerated the realignment. By the time the 2020 election rolled around, the political establishment had awakened and thrown its entire weight behind Joe Biden. Of course, Donald Trump stuck around after leaving office and is now, for the third time, the Republican nominee for President.
This election cycle has seen the same establishment support for Trump’s opponents that we’ve seen previously, along with “defections” from former high-level Republicans like W. Bush’s own Vice President Dick Cheney. Whether we’re seeing a permanent change in the Republican Party or a temporary coalition against one candidate will rest on what happens on and after election day next month. But it’s clear that, at least for the time being, the neoconservative domination of the American Right has dissipated.
Given how damaging the neoconservatives were to the well-being and security of the American people, this is a very positive development. But critics of Washington’s hyper-aggressive foreign policy need to understand that the flight of many of the worst war hawks from the Republican Party does not mean the GOP has returned to its non-interventionist roots. In fact, as many interventionists have fled, others have remained. And those interventionist elements are working hard to bring back the same old neoconservative foreign policy under the guise of a new “America First” doctrine.
Over the summer, former national security advisor Robert O’Brien penned a lengthy feature in Foreign Affairs that aimed to do just that. O’Brien was a representative to the UN during the George W. Bush presidency, and he worked at the State Department under both Bush and Barack Obama before leaving to work as an advisor on Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign. He’s an establishment creature if there ever was one. Still, he was appointed as Trump’s National Security Advisor in 2019 and is now seen as a contender for a cabinet position if Trump wins again.
O’Brien presents his article as “making the case for Trump’s foreign policy.” But despite being dressed up in some new language, the agenda he presents is largely the same old establishment interventionism.
In O’Brien’s view, Iran, China, and Russia are the three great enemies that can only be dealt with through a more aggressive stance from Washington. American taxpayers need to be forced to pay more for sharp increases in military hardware, especially for the Navy, to put pressure on Iran and China. Heavy sanctions and crackdowns on trade are prescribed to isolate and denigrate the regimes in Tehran and Beijing. O’Brien also calls for the US to more aggressively support foreign dissident movements that threaten these rival governments.
Even the war in Ukraine, on which Trump has been relatively good, is framed as having only happened because the US was not intervening enough in Eastern Europe in recent years. O’Brien does quickly mention that Trump wants a negotiated end to the war, but quickly moves on to celebrate all the lethal aid that’ll be sent to Ukraine and all the American military units that will be moved closer to Russia.
And O’Brien isn’t alone. Many right-wing commentators and influencers have tried to capitalize on all the populist energy driving the Trump movement to bolster their careers while sneaking in a standard establishment foreign policy. That could be seen at the so-called National Conservatism conference back in July, where a number of these figures got together and framed Iran and China as the chief threats facing the American public.
For decades, the American people have been forced to pay an enormous amount of money and to divert a tremendous amount of resources to counter a superpower that collapsed because communism cannot work, build a country from the top down in Afghanistan, overthrow the government of Iraq, and to try to topple several other countries to correct for the destabilizing effects of overthrowing that government in Iraq, all while militarizing the countries around Iran, Russia, and China in a vain attempt to get those governments to calm down.
These ventures have made the political establishment very wealthy, but all at the expense of the economic well-being and general safety of the rest of us. In recent years, many Americans on the right have finally begun to wake up to all this. The same old establishment lies cannot be allowed to lull them back to sleep.
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Noam Chomsky, Kevin Barrett and Academic Freedom
The Kevin Barrett-Chomsky Dispute in Historical Perspective – Ninth part of the series titled “9/11 and the Zionist Question”
By Prof. Tony Hall | American Herald Tribune | August 7, 2016
Noam Chomsky has been much worse than hypocritical in the role he has chosen for himself in the study of 9/11. Chomsky treats the subject of 9/11 as if he’s some sort of master of analysis on the subject of what happened. He presents his conclusions without showing the due diligence of going through the relevant primary and secondary sources in a balanced and scholarly fashion. The primary sources Chomsky chooses to disregard include passenger lists, video and photographic evidence in the public domain, eyewitness accounts, original news coverage on the day of 9/11 and the like. … continue
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