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UAE builds new airstrip in occupied Yemeni island

The Cradle | March 28, 2024

Satellite imagery has revealed what appears to be a new UAE airstrip being constructed on the Yemeni island of Abd al-Kuri.

The island is part of the Socotra Archipelago, which has been subjected to an Emirati military and intelligence expansion in recent years.

Satellite images obtained by AP show the phrase “I LOVE UAE” spelled out in the dirt near the new airstrip site.

The imagery obtained on 26 March shows increased work is being carried out on the Abd al-Kuri Island. Images from earlier in March, which showed trucks grading the airstrip, also confirmed this.

The UAE has repeatedly denied its military and intelligence presence on the Socotra Archipelago – which includes the island of Socotra, which has been revealed to be the site of a joint Emirati–Israeli occupation.

“Any presence of the UAE on Socotra Island is based on humanitarian grounds that is carried out in cooperation with the Yemeni government and local authorities. The UAE remains steadfast in its commitment to all international endeavors aimed at facilitating the resumption of the Yemeni political process, thereby advancing the security, stability, and prosperity sought by the Yemeni populace,” the UAE said in response to questions from AP.

In February last year, the Ansarallah resistance movement released a statement condemning the UAE’s eviction of residents from Abd al-Kuri, the Socotra archipelago’s second-largest island. The resistance movement accused Abu Dhabi of carrying out a long-planned operation to transform the archipelago, which includes Abd al-Kuri, into an Israeli-Emirati military and intelligence hub.

An in-depth investigation released by The Cradle in March 2023 details the Emirati–Israeli presence on the Socotra archipelago.

Expansion of the Emirati presence on the Abd al-Kuri comes as Ansarallah and the Armed Forces of Yemen’s Sanaa government – which are militarily aligned with one another – have stepped up their naval operations against vessels linked to or bound for Israel as part of a campaign launched in solidarity with the people of Gaza at the start of the war.

Since January, Yemen’s naval forces have also been targeting US and British vessels in response to London and Washington’s brutal aerial campaign launched against the country that month, which aimed to deter Sanaa’s campaign against Israeli interests in the Red and Arab seas.

As Washington continues its unsuccessful attempts to deter Sanaa, reports have emerged that the US plans to establish a presence on Socotra.

The US Department of Defense (DOD) denied on 26 March a report from Sky News Arabia released last week that Washington was sending troops and missile defense batteries to Socotra Island.

A Pentagon spokesperson told Responsible Statecraft that there is no US presence on Socotra Island or anywhere else in Yemen, contradicting the confirmations made by President Joe Biden in 2022.

March 28, 2024 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Houthis Thwart the US-UK Military Dictatorship on Global South

By Simon Chege Ndiritu – New Eastern Outlook – 28.03.2024 

A multipolar world is taking shape even in the military realm, as can be inferred from Houthi’s ability to curtail the US and UK goal of propping up Israeli genocide in Gaza at all cost. Houthis persistence and continued ability to inflict damage on Israeli, American, and British vessels transiting through Bab el Mandeb until Israel lifts its medieval blockade on Gaza shows that the western empire’s military dictatorship can be resisted by small countries. Meanwhile, the western empire desperately seeks diversion from its failure in the Red Sea.

Diversion; from Military Operation to Humanitarian Concern

The US and UK’s ill-fated “Operation Prosperity Guardian” is turning out so awfully wrong that the western media prefers to ignore it, hoping the rest of the world will forget. A passing view of the main western media outlets, France 24, CNN, and BBC on the 19th and 20th March 2024 shows that they did not display the exploits of the western empire’s military, either in Ukraine or the Red Sea like they cheered the destruction of all former victims of the empire. Instead, the European section of this propaganda machine; France 24, and BBC attempted to assume a moral high ground, by hypocritically raising the awareness of the dire food situation in Gaza, which is caused by their governments’ blind arming of Israel. France 24, featured a report by UNICEF stating how it was wrong to let children in Gaza to starve, and accentuated the story with a photo of a starving African child; for an extra boost of sympathy. Similarly, the BBC’s homepage in extreme right column carried a story of how the entire Gaza now faces starvation, something that could not be published in such a position just a few weeks ago. The CNN steered clear of Gaza and Ukraine and could not even popularize Biden’s botched campaign to airdrop a few food packages to Gazans (here), which ended awfully with some packages falling in the sea, others in Israel, and others killing Gazans. Noteworthy, the US provides millions of times more bombs to Israel than food to Gaza, and none of its bombs have missed its target by the margin seen in the airdropped food packages. This comparison shows the strong determination of the US to aid Israel in exterminating Palestinians, and that its food airdrop is for public relations.

The main lesson that comes to the fore is that American and British commitment to eliminating Yemeni’s resistance to their sponsored genocide has not born fruits. Therefore, the days of the West achieving every narrow-minded goal using its military are over. It is also clear that western global dictatorship will not only be resisted by military superpowers like Russia and China but also by small countries with sufficient missile and drone technology. “Operation Prosperity Guardian” has spectacularly failed and its architects; Washington and London have proved unable to defend their merchant vessels and Israel’s in the Red Sea. Surprisingly, it appears that the security of vessels transiting through the area is inversely proportional to the military deployment by countries owning them (these vessels). The US and the UK, which have heavily deployed their naval forces in and around the Red Sea have faced the most significant attacks from the Houthis, while vessels from other countries have been transiting peacefully. The Houthis’ meticulous selection of targets has denied the US and UK propaganda impetus of portraying the group’s attacks as indiscriminate. It may be dawning on the Western Empire that it may have to force Israel to suspend its medieval blockade on Gaza. This realization can explain Biden’s mumbling a declaration to establish a floating pier for vessels to ‘deliver aid’ to Gazans (here). However, such a pier may be designed for smuggling Gazans out in what Israeli hypocrites call voluntary immigration. Nonetheless, Operation Prosperity Guardian has failed so badly that Lindsey Graham, the empire’s military windsock pointed back to Ukraine, appearing flaccid and demanding mobilization of more young Ukrainians to add wind to the west’s failing military campaign (here). However, Houthi’s are not yet done.

On March 19th, Houthis’ spokesman announced (here) about Yemeni’s attack on a US commercial vessel MADO, news that the US media ignored before the UK Maritime Trade Organization (UKMTO) confirming. The attack constituted a trend where US vessels have been targeted recently, one of which resulted in casualties. Earlier, the UK even lost a commercial ship, Rubymar, a bulk Carrier that was struck by Houthis on the 18th February (here) and received significant damages making the crew to abandon it. The vessel sank several days later. Later, a US owned vessel, Gibraltar eagle, was also struck by Houthis in the recent past (here). Meanwhile, the US and UK navies have failed to lift the Houthis’ blockade on the Israeli port of Eilat which, reported, losing over 85% of its revenue since the Yemeni group started operations (here). The simple message that should be clear now is that the US and UK must abandon their hegemonic arrogance of trying to achieve haughty goals like militarily advancing Israeli genocide and others. The Houthis remind that a new world order is here, in which diplomacy is needed to balance the legitimate interests of all.

Houthi attacks also have desirable secondary effects in global geopolitics, especially in freeing long-term US hostages and isolating the latter. The Houthis have capabilities to inflict significant damage to participants, which has dissuaded some and limited the US ability to diplomatically mobilize vassals, relative to earlier campaigns against Iraq and Afghanistan. The past US imperial wars of plunder saw many countries joining, including Germany, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, and Poland as there was no risk of meaningful retaliation, but the Houthis are different. For instance, Australia declined to send its vessel to Operation Prosperity Guardian (here) for fear of losing them. However, the same (Australia) sent it thuggish Special Forces to Afghanistan to kill Afghans and drink beer from their prosthetic limbs (here). Other US allies declined to participate or only gave marginal support (here), while Germany’s participation came later, and entailed an embarrassing maneuver involving trying to shoot down US drones. Participants of the current operation are cautious of the risks involved, and the Houthis have repeatedly reported targeting US and UK naval vessels, statements that cannot be ignored. Also, navies involved are primarily securing their shipping vessels as opposed to helping the US military posturing, even when the American contingent is stretched thin and unable to provide meaningful protection to American shipping vessels (here).

The US Central Command, which is not in charge of the central US, but the Middle East, has been reduced to issuing threats and statements that have not deterred Houthis, after several months of military deployment and savage bombing of Yemen. As things stand, the pentagon can either continue its military posturing and risk even more attacks, or urge Israel to meet the Houthis’ demands and halt the Genocide in Gaza. Houthis have reminded the US that it cannot always get its way in the global south, and needs to take demands from smaller countries seriously.

March 28, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

China Opposes US Practice of Creating Enemies Out of Thin Air

Sputnik – 28.03.2024

BEIJING – The US practice of artificially creating enemies out of thin air for the sake of boosting its military budget is strategically extremely dangerous, and China firmly opposes it, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said on Thursday.

The United States had repeatedly used China as a pretext for increasing its military budget, inflating a non-existent “Chinese military threat,” Wu said at a briefing.

“This practice of artificially creating enemies out of thin air is extremely dangerous from a strategic point of view, and China is firmly opposed to it,” the spokesman added.

He also said that China did not wish to threaten anyone, but it was also not afraid of anyone’s threats, and no amount of force can stop the development of the Chinese army.

On Saturday, US President Joe Biden signed into law an appropriations package that includes the $825 billion defense spending bill for fiscal year 2024. The act doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan. The United States would counter China by maximizing its production of critical munitions and by spending more than $66 billion for the US Indo-Pacific Command capabilities, including $42 million to bolster its military capabilities in the region, the House Appropriations Committee said in a summary of the package.

March 28, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment

US threatens sanctions if Pakistan continues gas pipeline project with Iran

By Ahmed Adel | March 28, 2024

Despite Pakistan dealing with a crippling economic situation, the US has shown little concern for its strategic ally’s issues and, instead of offering support, has threatened tough sanctions if Islamabad decides to continue with the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project. Ironically, though, such an action will only push Pakistan closer to China, which the US views as a greater threat to its hegemony than Iran.

“We always advise everyone that doing business with Iran runs the risk of touching upon and coming in contact with our sanctions, and would advise everyone to consider that very carefully,” a US State Department spokesperson told reporters in a press briefing on March 26.

“We do not support this pipeline going forward,” the spokesperson added.

Washington continually emphasises that Pakistan is one of its closest allies and a partner in the fight against terrorism, making the sanctions threat a major development in their bilateral relations. For this reason, Pakistan Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik said on March 27 that Islamabad would seek an exemption from US sanctions over the gas pipeline project.

The Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline, known as the Peace Pipeline, will transport natural gas from Iran to Pakistan. Despite the pipeline’s several years of delays and funding challenges, Pakistan and Iran signed a five-year trade plan in August 2023 with a target of $5 billion. Tehran is evidently desperate for the project to be completed, which had an original deadline of 2015, since it signed the trade plan and overlooked Pakistan not laying the pipeline when Iran has already completed the laying of its 900-kilometre pipeline.

Islamabad claims it could not lay the pipe due to the US sanctions imposed on Iran, but Tehran rejects this excuse. Pakistan is now in a difficult position with the latest US sanction threat when recalling that Tehran issued a third notice in January to Islamabad and announced intentions to go to arbitration court to receive $18 billion for breach of contract.

The threat of US sanctions or paying a huge fine to Iran is only compounding Pakistan’s difficult economic situation, especially as the country is seeking a 24th bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on March 26 that his country needs another IMF loan programme to stabilise its fragile economy. An IMF mission that visited Islamabad for five days earlier this month said Pakistan had to meet IMF conditions, including revising its budget and raising interest rates, generating revenue through more taxes, and hiking electricity and gas prices.

Effectively, ordinary Pakistanis are going to suffer a lot more than they already are.

Islamabad and Washington have had longstanding relations rooted in their opposition to the Soviet Union. After the Cold War, the US became dependent on the South Asian country for supplies during its long occupation of Afghanistan. Due to the US’s double standard of using Pakistan as a security partner but also threatening to worsen the country’s economic situation, China has been able to fill the financial void.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar met with Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing on March 22 in Brussels, where the latter emphasised Beijing’s commitment to aiding Pakistan in addressing its financial challenges. However, just like the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline, Islamabad continues to stall the implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative launched in 2013 to link the Gwadar port in southwestern Pakistan with China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Worsening the situation for CPEC is the constant stream of terror attacks against Chinese workers and nationals.

In the latest attack, on March 26, a suicide bomber in the Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rammed an explosive-laden car into a vehicle, killing five Chinese workers and engineers and their Pakistani driver heading to the Dasu Dam, the biggest hydropower project in Pakistan. Less than a week before the suicide attack, Pakistani security forces killed eight Balochistan Liberation Army separatist militants who opened fire on a convoy carrying Chinese citizens outside Gwadar port in the southwestern Balochistan province.

Given that Pakistan is facing a dire economic situation and needs to turn to the IMF and seek more funding from China, US sanctions would be a devastating blow. Sanction threats are especially contradictory for the US since it not only considers Pakistan an ally but overlooks the fact that India invests in the Iranian port of Chabahar, located only 170 kilometres from Gwadar port. Washington overlooks this contradiction since Chabahar rivals the China-funded Gwadar, signalling that the US views China as a much larger threat to its hegemony than Iran, which makes sanction threats more confusing since it will only push Pakistan to be even closer and more aligned with China.

Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.

March 28, 2024 Posted by | Economics | , , , , | Leave a comment

Investigators establish link between Moscow terrorist attack suspects and Ukraine

RT | March 28, 2024

The suspects in last week’s Moscow terrorist attack were linked to Ukrainian nationalists, the Russian Investigative Committee stated on Thursday, citing preliminary findings. The perpetrators had received “significant sums of money” from Ukraine, the law enforcement agency said.

The investigators have obtained “substantiated evidence” that the suspected assailants received funding from Ukraine in the form of cryptocurrency, which was then used to prepare the terrorist attack, the statement read.

Law enforcement officers also identified and detained another suspect who was allegedly involved in financing the attack, the Investigative Committee said, without identifying the individual.

Earlier, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksandr Bortnikov, told reporters that the US, UK and Ukraine may have been behind the attack. The Ukrainians may have been preparing a “window” for them to cross back over the border, the official said. “On the other side, they were to be welcomed as heroes,” he added.

The four suspected perpetrators had previously been identified as radical Islamists, recruited through an online chat apparently operated by the Afghanistan-based offshoot of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). However, the investigators said at that time that, despite the group’s claim of responsibility for the terrorist act, another party, such as a Ukrainian intelligence agency, may have been involved in the plot.

Last Friday, a group of men armed with assault rifles stormed the Crocus City Hall music venue in the Moscow suburb of Krasnogorsk, just before a concert by the rock band Picnic. The attack and a subsequent blaze started by the perpetrators claimed the lives of 140 people and injured some 200 others.

The assailants were apprehended hours after the attack in Russia’s Bryansk Region, which borders Ukraine.

March 28, 2024 Posted by | War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

Ukraine Tortures Russian Prisoners of War in 2023-2024 – UNHRC

Sputnik – 28.03.2024

Russian prisoners of war have been tortured in Ukraine between December 2023 and February 2024, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said.

The employees of the OHCHR visited 44 Russian prisoners of war in Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Lvov, Nikolayev, Sumy, Vinnitsa and Zaporozhye regions of Ukraine from December 2023 to February 2024.

“While these Russian POWs did not make any allegations of torture occurring at these facilities, they provided credible accounts of torture or ill-treatment in transit places after their immediate evacuation from the battlefield,” the OHCHR said in a report on Tuesday.

Ukrainian authorities do not sufficiently prosecute those responsible for torture, violence against civilians and prisoners of war, the OHCHR said.

“OHCHR has documented arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, and the use of torture and ill treatment, including sexual violence, by Ukrainian authorities during the detention of conflict-related civilian detainees and Russian POWs, as well as the summary execution of at least 25 Russian servicemen hors de combat (all in 2022 and early 2023),” the report said, adding that “Ukrainian authorities have launched at least five criminal investigations into allegations of violations committed by their own security forces, involving 22 victims.”

These results show a lack of progress in the investigation and prosecution of such violations, the OHCHR said.

The Russian-speaking minority in Ukraine is subjected to discriminatory treatment in comparison to other linguistic minorities that speak EU languages, the OHCHR stressed.
OHCHR examined the law adopted by the Parliament of Ukraine on December 8, which amends a number of legislative acts related to the rights of national minorities.

“While the law is a significant step forward in improving the rights of national minorities, it maintains a discriminatory differential treatment between, on the one hand, national minorities speaking an official language of the EU, and on the other hand, national minorities whose languages are not official languages of the EU, such as Russian, Armenian or Romani. Although the first category of national minorities saw their rights broadened, as described above, national minorities whose language is not an EU language will not be able to enjoy the same rights,” the OHCHR highlighted.

Ukrainian authorities continued intimidating the priests and worshipers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from December 2023 to February 2024, the OHCHR pointrd out.

“Clergymen and parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) continued to experience intimidation during the reporting period. OHCHR recorded six cases across five regions where groups of people forcefully broke into UOC churches, justifying their actions with decisions from local authorities to register new religious communities of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) at the same address as existing UOC communities,” the OHCHR said.

March 28, 2024 Posted by | Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

Ukraine’s survival hangs in the balance

BY M. K. BHADRAKUMAR | INDIAN PUNCHLINE | MARCH 28, 2024 

A controversy arose needlessly over the advisory issued by the American embassy in Moscow on March 7 to the effect that “extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts” and warning US citizens to “avoid large gatherings.” It took the form of a diplomatic spat and momentarily at least, the American claim that they shared the ‘information’ with the Russians hinted at the ineptness of the security agencies in Moscow while the latter hit back saying there was nothing specific or actionable that the Americans conveyed.  

Clearly, Washington was in possession of some information which was at the very least credible enough in terms of its source but was not specific enough for Moscow. Interestingly, the UK embassy in Moscow also issued a similar advisory cautioning British citizens against visiting shopping centres. The US and British intelligence agencies work in tandem. 

However, in a strange pre-emptive move, as it were, the State Department also scrambled within two hours of the horrific attack on the mall in Moscow’s Crocus City Hall on March 22 with a statement declaring that Ukraine was not responsible for the attack. The US’s European allies also began parroting the same line. As can be expected, the Americans got a head start in the propaganda war and that in turn enabled them to craft a narrative — also in real time — naming the Islamic State as the culprit in the horrific crime. 

Yet, the very next day, President Vladimir Putin went on to reveal in his address to the nation that what happened was “a premeditated and organised mass murder of peaceful, defenceless people,” harking back to the Nazis “to stage a demonstrative execution, a bloody act of intimidation.”

Importantly, Putin disclosed that the perpetrators “attempted to escape and were heading towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary information, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border.” But he stopped short of finger-pointing as the investigation was a work in progress. 

That is to say, from Putin’s disclosure, it appears that the perpetrators’ mentors / handlers gave them instructions to exit Russian territory after their mission by using a particular route for border crossing into Ukraine where they were expected by people on the Ukrainian side of the border. What now remains in the realm of the ‘known unknown’ is really about the chain of command. This is the first thing.

Second, a storyline has been propagated by Washington that this was an ISIS attack. Indeed, it has been effectively propagated by the western media and was intended as a red herring to confuse dim-witted folks abroad. 

However, in reality, the perpetrators did not behave like ISIS killers on suicide missions who would have sought martyrdom but in this case behaved like fugitives on the run. Nor were they answering the call of ‘jihad’. They were reportedly ethnic Tajiks who admitted that they were hirelings lured by the money in it. 

The expert opinion from released videos is also that their movements inside the mall did not show battle skills attributed to well-trained fighters, and they had ‘poor muzzle discipline’, which means they had only minimal rifle training. In sum, theirs was quintessentially an act of motiveless malignity — that is, except the money part.  

That said, the US military has been ‘retooling’ erstwhile ISIS fighters lately. Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) alleged in a statement on February 13 that the US was recruiting the jihadist fighters to carry out terrorist attacks on the territory of Russia and the CIS countries.

The statement said, “Sixty such terrorists with combat experience in the Middle East were selected this year in January… they are undergoing a fast-track training course at the US base in Syria’s Al-Tanf, where they are being taught how to make and use improvised explosive devices, as well as subversive methods. Particular emphasis is paid to planning attacks on heavily guarded facilities, including foreign diplomatic missions… In the near future, there are plans to deploy militants in small groups to the territory of Russia and the CIS countries.”

The SVR also noted that “special attention was paid to the involvement of natives of the Russian North Caucasus and Central Asia.”

Significantly, on March 26, Alexander Bortnikov, Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) said in an interview with Rossiya TV channel that from the interrogation of the detainees so far, there is a political background to the incident. He said radical Islamists alone could not prepare such an action on their own, they were assisted from the outside.

Bortnikov stated: “The primary data that we received from the detainees confirm this. Therefore, we will continue to refine the information that should show us whether the participation of the Ukrainian side is real or not. But in any case, so far there is every reason to say that this is exactly the case. Since the bandits themselves intended to go abroad, it was to the territory of Ukraine, according to our preliminary operational information, they were waiting there.”   

Bortnikov added that the terrorist attack had the support of not only the special services of Ukraine, but countries such as Britain and the United States are also behind the massacre. According to him, the prime mover of the incident has not yet been identified, and the threat of a terrorist act in Russia still persists. 

Bortnikov’s remarks hint at a classic predicament: Russia possesses evidence of Ukrainian involvement but ‘proof’ remains inadequate as yet. This is a predicament that countries often face in countering the cross-border terrorism, especially when it happens to be state-sponsored terrorism. Of course, no amount of evidence will be accepted as proof by the adversary ultimately — while in Ukraine’s case, often there is an eagerness to claim credit for bleeding Russia by staging operations on its soil, such as assassinations. 

As for the US or the UK, Russians assess that without intelligence inputs, satellite imagery, and even logistical backing by the western powers, Ukraine does not have the capability to undertake operations deep inside Russia or the sort of complex attacks targeting Russian war ships of the Black Sea Fleet. But the western powers are invariably in a denial mode when confronted with such accusations by Russia. 

There is no question that the Crocus City Hall attack will have profound geopolitical consequences and will impact the trajectory of the Ukraine war. The incident has rallied world sympathy massively for Russia. It is a huge challenge of statecraft now for Putin to act decisively, as the Russian public will expect, to completely uproot the dark forces entrenched next-door. 

Conceivably, that may involve Moscow shaking up the very foundations of the house that Washington built in Kiev after the 2024 coup. The New York Times recently disclosed that the CIA keeps a string of intelligence outposts all along the Ukraine-Russia border regions. 

Make no mistake, the US is determined to hold on to the extensive infrastructure it created in Ukraine to mount covert operations and destabilise Russia, no matter what it takes. The bottom line in the western strategy is to weaken Russia and prevent it from playing an adversarial role on the global stage.  

TS Eliot’s lines from the play Murder in the Cathedral come to mind: ‘What peace can be found / To grow between the hammer and the anvil?’ The war is slated to escalate dramatically and it is a matter of time before western combat deployment takes place in Ukraine to salvage that country’s residual potential as a frontline state for NATO in the proxy war against Russia. On their part, Russia may have no alternative but to seek a total military victory. The multi-layered Russian reaction will unfold depending on the outcome of the ongoing investigation.

March 28, 2024 Posted by | Deception, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Ukrainian oligarch possibly involved in terrorist attack as GUR becomes CIA asset

By Lucas Leiroz | March 28, 2024

Investigations into those responsible for the attack on Crocus City Hall remain ongoing. Although it is known that the killers are Islamic radicals from Central Asia, there is still no confirmation as to who the real mastermind of the crime was. However, suspicions of involvement by Ukrainian and Western intelligence agencies are growing more and more. Additionally, there is the possibility that a prominent Ukrainian oligarch is financing such terrorist acts against Moscow.

As well known, there are complex corruption schemes and illicit activities in Ukraine involving local and international agents. Nevertheless, little is known on how deeply connected these criminal networks are with Kiev-sponsored terrorism. Ukrainian oligarchs not only commit tax crimes and money laundering, but use their personal profits to promote terror against the “enemies” of the neo-Nazi regime.

Recently, Russian authorities have been investigating the case of Nikolai Zlochevsky, the owner of the Ukrainian gas company “Burisma”. Zlochevsky has already become widely known around the world for his illicit activities, mainly due to his close relationships with the Biden family – even more especially, with Hunter Biden, son of the American president. Hunter worked at Burisma while living in Ukraine, where he participated in Zlochevsky’s illicit schemes.

Later, Zlochevsky passed a lot of sensitive data about Hunter Biden’s crimes to an FBI informant, generating a public scandal that went viral in the English-language media. The information also confirms that the Bidens’ involvement is not restricted to Hunter, with the American president and other public figures from the Democratic Party participating in illegal Ukrainian business.

However, little has been said in the media so far about the real reason why Zlochevsky and his American partners were protected by Ukrainian authorities despite violating local laws: in exchange for a carte blanche in corruption, Zlochevsky became a sponsor of the Ukrainian war machine. The oligarch has been sending large sums of money to institutions in the Ukrainian military and intelligence sectors for years. His work has been vital, especially in the purchase of drones for the Ukrainian armed forces, for example. The most controversial, however, is the financial support given by Zlochevsky to the secret activities of the GUR (Kiev’s military intelligence).

Zlochevsky has been identified by Russian investigators as one of GUR’s main backers. It is believed that he has already sent a total of 22.5 million US dollars to the agency. State agencies, in theory, should not receive this type of irregular funding, which leads us to believe that this cash is used for parallel, unofficial activities – which, in the Ukrainian case, means real terrorism.

Russian investigators believe, for example, that Zlochevsky’s money was used to finance the terrorist drone operation against Moscow in May 2023. Considering his involvement in the purchase of drones and intelligence networks, it is virtually a certainty for Zlochevsky be involved in the case. Other activities in which GUR is directly involved have also drawn the attention of Russian authorities regarding the possibility of direct financing by Zlochevsky. This is the case with the recent murders and attempted murders of civilians within the territory of the Russian Federation, for example.

The GUR is behind the attacks against journalists Daria Dugina, Vladlen Tatarsky, writer Zakhar Prilepin and other well-known Russian public figures. Certainly, the funding to pay for the complex operations behind these crimes did not come from official sources, but from irregular money, like that which Zlochevsky provides to the GUR. However, it is necessary to remember that the activities of Ukrainian intelligence have never been “autonomous”. Since 2014, the entire Ukrainian state apparatus, including its secret service, has been controlled by American agents. In practice, American intelligence uses its Ukrainian assets as proxies to commit crimes that are previously planned in Washington.

As mentioned, it is not yet known who ordered the terror attack on Crocus City Hall, but there are some points in the case that seem to indicate direct participation by the GUR. This possibility is so plausible that Moscow already reacted immediately to the attack by destroying the Ukrainian intelligence headquarters in Kiev. The attack on Crocus had a high operational cost. The assassins were hired as mercenaries and received their weapons from the hirers. Furthermore, someone paid for their trip to the border in Bryansk. If GUR was involved in this operation, it is very likely that Zlochevsky’s illicit money was used.

Considering that GUR is, in practice, a CIA asset and that it receives illegal funding from Biden-linked Ukrainian oligarchs to promote terror on Russian territory, then there appears to be a very deep international network to be investigated by Moscow in order to discover the real culprits for the Crocus massacre.

Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert. You can follow Lucas on X (former Twitter) and Telegram.

March 28, 2024 Posted by | Corruption, Deception, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

OREGON URGENTLY SHUTS DOWN SMALL FARMS IN MASS “TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE”

Yanasa TV | March 18, 2024

March 28, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Economics, Malthusian Ideology, Phony Scarcity, Video | , | Leave a comment

Secret documents reveal Germany’s public health agency warned lockdowns cause more harm than good

Germany is rocked by confidential RKI files showing the experts were warning against mandatory masks and mass lockdowns

By John Cody | Remix News | March 27, 2024

Following a long legal battle, Germany’s public health agency, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), has released the confidential protocols that show the RKI was aware that “lockdowns cause more harm than good” and evidence for “making masks mandatory was lacking.”

The RKI voiced concerns in 2020 that shutting down German society could lead to increased child mortality and other negative outcomes. The RKI experts also disagreed with the implementation of FFP2 face masks, saying there was a lack of data to support such a measure.

“Active communication would make sense in order to make clear why the RKI does not recommend this measure,” notes the minute regarding implementing FFP2 mask regulations. The agency even notes in the minutes that it would tell the public it did not support FFP2 mask regulations, but notably, the agency never did so despite mass protests against mandatory masks and other harsh measures.

The 2,500 pages of documents also contain a passage noting that experts warned that lockdowns could “do more harm than good,” with experts citing lockdowns in Africa and the negative outcomes seen there.

The documents have revealed that German politicians dramatized the situation, contrary to the opinions of experts. This was done presumably in order to implement coercive measures and restrict basic rights. There are now calls to release the rest of the documents, as more than a thousand passages are still redacted, representing a third of the total text dating from meeting notes from the “crisis unit” taken between February 2020 and April 2021.

The release of the documents has sent shockwaves through Germany and led even left-wing parties, such as the Greens, to call for a “comprehensive review” of coronavirus policy. Other parties, like the Alternative for Germany (AfD), are calling for more action, including a commission investigation.

Politicians are urging the RKI to lift the redactions and make all findings available to the public, and further court proceedings are pending. In the meantime, debate continues to rage, with the #RKIFiles tag on X already generating 45,000 posts.

An example of just a couple of posts shows the anger many Germans still feel towards the coronavirus-era policies put in place.

“The Bavarian state government tortured children with masks until spring 2022 — even in physical education classes. Not because there was scientific evidence for it, but because Markus Söder liked the role of coronavirus hardliner. #RKIFiles,” wrote one X user.

Another showed video of police brutalizing protesters demonstrating against Covid-19 measures, writing:

“It’s good that the RKI protocols are included in the broader discussion! But there can be no such thing as cheap forgiveness. With the coronavirus, 2/3 of Germans became massively aggressive against 1/3. The handcuffs must click on the main criminals.”

Virologist reacts to report

Virologist Klaus Stöhr, once the WHO pandemic commissioner, said the revealed protocols once again show that the “risk assessment was not based on data.” According to Stöhr, “his hair stood on end when it came to (Germany’s) pandemic plan.”

Stöhr also commented on the fact that the RKI protocols uncovered that experts were telling the government that there is little data to support widespread mask adoption for the public.

“And the fact that what was known about FFP2 masks was completely ignored is just two small building blocks.” There was “a lot more data available where it was seen that the work was not based on evidence,” he said.

The scientist referred to “curfews, border closures, 2G/3G (areas restricted based on vaccination status), and the side effects of lockdowns” as further examples of this. Stöhr noted that “these are all things that were known – including that the vaccines could not halt the spread of the virus.” He said that the vaccines could not end the pandemic, and it was “clear from the beginning that the vaccine couldn’t do that.”

He is now calling for a commission or review process to avoid the mistakes made by the government during the Covid-19 era in the future.

Virologist Hendrik Streeck, who was appointed to the RKI expert council, also stated: “I’m very surprised that entire pages about vaccinations, for example, were blacked out,” he said to Welt. “And I wonder what it says, why the public shouldn’t see it.”

Lauterbach in panic mode?

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) reacted with horror to the findings in the report. As federal health minister during a significant portion of the pandemic, he has often been the top target of criticism from those opposed to Germany’s Covid-19 policies.

“Enlightenment is good, but we must not allow conspiracy theories to arise on social media through the interference of foreign governments,” he wrote on the X platform. Why he referred to “foreign governments” remained unclear, but when cornered, left-wing politicians often resort to claims of “foreign interference” and “Russia.”

Despite calls for a review of policy, Lauterbach is desperate to avoid this outcome and is also openly rejecting a commission, as the AfD and BSW parties are calling for.

Lauterbach claims this would only benefit “a small group of politicians, but also people who perhaps represent radical ideas in other areas.” He claims they would use the findings “to politicize against the state.”

Some from the Greens also resorted to claims of “foreign influence” following the release of the RKI protocols.

Green health politician Janosch Dahmen, one of the most aggressive supporters of extreme Covid-19 policies, said: “It seems to me that the virulent spread of such untruthful rumors is also the result of the influence of foreign intelligence services on our society against the background of Russia’s war against Ukraine, to further divide and render politics incapable of action.”

The AfD, FDP and BSW want an investigation

The AfD, Free Democrats and BSW parties all want a more thorough investigation than a simple “review.”

“The public has a right to know what really happened back then,” said the health policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, Martin Sichert, regarding the redactions still in the report. He appealed to the other parliamentary groups: “Take a look at the protocols of the RKI crisis team and set up a coronavirus investigation committee with us.”

Even the FDP, which is in a governing coalition with the ruling government, is calling for a more thorough investigation. FDP vice-president Wolfgang Kubicki announced that he would “work to ensure that the entire basis for decision-making at this time becomes public.” He also said it is becoming increasingly clear “that the Robert Koch Institute for Health Policy served as a scientific façade for former Minister Jens Spahn and probably also Karl Lauterbach.”

Some Greens are conciliatory

Some left-wing politicians believe some kind of review is necessary to improve “social cohesion.”

“It would be good for social cohesion if there were a review of coronavirus policy with a little distance,” said the Green parliamentary group’s legal policy spokesperson, Helge Limburg, to Welt newspaper. “This could be a commission of inquiry, a commission of experts, or another form of debate that signals to people: We are not simply brushing aside the drastic measures of that time.”

Health and budget politician Paula Piechotta said: “Almost exactly four years after the first pandemic measures were introduced in Germany, it is now overdue to address the mistakes of pandemic policy in a wide range of areas, from health and education to financial policy, in a transparent and timely manner for everyone.”

Her party colleague, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, also said a review of the coronavirus era was necessary but was short on specifics.

“We should now initiate a phase in which we reflect on the difficult pandemic period with all its effects,” he told the Bild newspaper. The German government at the time had to make far-reaching decisions quickly in an unprecedented situation during the pandemic.

“Certainly mistakes were made, but it would also have been a mistake not to make a decision,” he continued. “I think we should have the courage to learn the lessons, review processes, and evaluate the impact.”

In retrospect, it is fair to ask “whether the advisory bodies for politicians really covered the diversity of perspectives in science,” said Green MP Dieter Janecek. “For example, some encroachments on fundamental rights were certainly questionable: Unvaccinated people were not allowed into restaurants or swimming pools, even though it was already clear that the vaccine did not prevent transmission. Children and young people were unduly disadvantaged.”

March 27, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception, Russophobia, Science and Pseudo-Science, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Germany: Foreigners responsible for 100% of serious sexual assault cases in Frankfurt, 57.4% of all crimes

By John Cody | Remix News | March 27, 2024

The new crime statistics from the German city of Frankfurt contain shocking figures regarding foreigners and major crimes, including one particular figure that shows they are responsible for 100 percent of all serious sexual assault crimes and 57.4 percent of all crimes.

The data shows that even for the worst crimes, well over half of all suspects are foreigners — those without a German passport. The rest of the suspects, 42.6 percent, are German citizens, but it is important to note that the data does not track whether these German suspects have a migration background, as Germany does not record this data.

When it comes to crimes against life, 54 percent of cases of murder were committed by foreigners, while they were responsible for 64.8 percent of cases involving manslaughter.

Sexual crimes

When it comes to serious sexual crimes, foreigners are also vastly overrepresented, with the data showing they were also responsible for 64.1 percent of all rape cases. In one of the most extreme data points from the new statistics, foreigners were responsible for 100 percent of serious sexual assault cases.

In cases of sexual harassment, foreigners were responsible for 64.4 percent of cases, while foreigners were responsible for 57.1 percent of cases involving abuse of minors

Responding to the crime statistics, Police Chief Stefan Müller said: “The fuse in conflicts is short, and mutual respect is increasingly being lost. People are prepared to get into physical confrontations very early on.”

Robbery, theft and trafficking

Foreigners were also vastly overrepresented in robbery cases, including 65.5 percent of robberies, 75.6 percent of aggravated robbery, 93 percent of car thefts, 87.5 percent of handbag thefts, 93 percent of pickpocketing cases, 87.5 of violent burglaries, 80 percent of daytime burglaries, and 72.9 percent of street thefts.

Foreigners also committed 75 percent of money counterfeiting crimes, and 62.5 percent of sexual blackmail cases.

Foreigners were additionally responsible for 83.3 percent of human trafficking cases and the same amount of forced prostitution cases.

A police spokesman for Frankfurt told Germany’s Bild newspaper: “We have the airport here. This is a gateway. If we exclude the violations of immigration law from the statistics, we have a proportion of 57.4 percent of non-German suspects.” This number is far above the national average of 35 percent.

Frankfurt has a higher proportion of foreigners than the rest of Germany, but as a result, it may showcase what awaits the rest of Germany should the foreign population continue to grow. It is also not the only state experiencing this troubling development.

Nationwide and state-level trend

Federal crime statistics also show that foreigners are vastly overrepresented in serious crimes such as murder, rape, robbery, and assault.

And last week, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann stated that foreigners are responsible for a vastly higher share of crime compared to their share of the population.

“We will not accept the increase in crime, even if it is a nationwide trend for which foreigners and immigrants are particularly responsible,” Herrmann said in a press release on Monday last week. “The crime statistics make it clear that uncontrolled immigration also has a negative impact on the security situation.”

“It is particularly important to take those foreigners who pose a threat to public safety out of the country as quickly as possible after serving their sentence. In addition, we finally need a fundamental change of course in asylum policy and, above all, an effective containment of illegal migration,” he added.

In regard to sexual assault and rape, women are increasingly victimized in Germany due to mass immigration. Data released earlier this year shows that 8,590 women and men were raped or sexually assaulted by foreigners since 2015.

Responding to the data, Christian Democrat (CDU) MP Christoph de Vries, who is also a member of the Interior Committee, said: “It is obvious that the risk of women becoming victims of rape or other sexual offenses in Germany has increased significantly in recent years due to asylum migration from Arab and Maghreb countries.”

The co-chair of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, told the NZZ that the numbers are “unbelievable” and that “behind every case there is a terrible personal fate.”

March 27, 2024 Posted by | Illegal Occupation | , | Leave a comment

Google Is Ordered To Identify Who Watched Certain YouTube Videos

By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | March 26, 2024

US federal law enforcement and courts have gone a step further in the extreme efforts they are making to surveil people’s activities online, including on Google’s vast platforms.

The latest is that the tech giant gets orders to identify all people who happen to be watching certain videos or livestreams on YouTube.

After directly censoring creators and channels, giving geolocation data of its users to the authorities in response to the controversial geofencing warrants, this is a new example of how Google can be used and abused in dragnet-style “investigations.”

Unmasking everyone who watched a particular video is similar to geofencing in that it makes everyone a suspect – and this, a number of experts and rights groups believe, is unconstitutional, i.e., in violation of the 4th Amendment, that protects from unreasonable searches.

Forbes writes that it has had access to several orders that name certain YouTube videos, citing one unsealed case originating in Kentucky and having to do with people viewing content posted by a user who law enforcement suspects of money laundering for selling bitcoin for cash.

Undercover agents had contacted the user, sending links to drone mapping and AR tutorials, to next turn to Google, asking to be told who watched the videos.

The videos had more than 30,000 views, and a court ordered that any user who did, between January 1 and 8, 2003, must be thoroughly unmasked.

The order wanted names, addresses, phone numbers, and account activity of each Google user, and IP addresses of everyone who watched the videos without an account.

“It’s fair to expect that law enforcement won’t have access to that (sensitive personal) information without probable cause,” commented Electronic Privacy Information Center’s John Davisson. “This order turns that assumption on its head.”

When the police asked for the order to be issued, they stated, “There is reason to believe that these records would be relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation.”

Although Google complied with the demand to keep silent about all this until the records were unsealed last week, according to Forbes, they “do not show whether or not Google provided data in the case.”

A separate case in New Hampshire concerned a bomb threat in a public place, and people watching a livestream of the police searching the area. The livestream was possible thanks to a camera on nearby business premises.

Next, the police wanted to know exactly who watched it, including on a YouTube channel belonging to Boston and Maine Live, which has 130,000 subscribers.

Again, no word if Google delivered.

March 27, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | | Leave a comment

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