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Suspected Israeli hitman caught in Malaysia

RT | March 29, 2024

Malaysian police have apprehended a heavily armed Israeli national who investigators believe might be a Mossad hitman and a member of a larger spy ring. The suspect recently arrived in the country on a French passport and claims he had come to murder a fellow Israeli in a family dispute.

The arrest was announced by Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain during a press conference on Friday. The 36-year-old suspect entered Malaysia on March 12, and was staying at a hotel in the country’s capital of Kuala Lumpur at the time of his arrest.

“During questioning, the suspect produced another passport which was issued by Israel. The six guns were found in a bag in his hotel room,” Husain said.

The suspect reportedly told police he had come to the country to find and kill a fellow Israeli national, citing a “family issue” as his motive. However, Husain noted that the man refused to divulge information about his job, and said investigators could not rule out that the suspect was linked to Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.

“We don’t fully believe what this suspect is telling us, maybe he has another agenda because he has been here since March 12. We found that the weapons were bought using cryptocurrency,” the official said.

Police are now investigating how exactly the arsenal, which included various types of pistols, had been smuggled into the country. The police also seized some 200 rounds of ammunition, while three of the guns were loaded, the official noted.

The investigation also believes the suspected hitman likely had accomplices in the country and presumably was a member of a larger group. “We have not identified the others. We will also check the authenticity of his passport with the French embassy,” the inspector-general said.

Thus far, neither France nor Israel has made any public remarks on the affair.

March 29, 2024 Posted by | False Flag Terrorism, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Dozens killed by joint Israeli, HTS attack on Syria

The Cradle | March 29, 2024

Israeli warplanes carried out a large attack on the countryside of Syria’s northwestern Aleppo province early on 29 March, coinciding with attacks by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) extremist militant group, formerly known as the Nusra Front.

Dozens were killed in the simultaneous attack, including Syrian soldiers and civilians.

“At around 1:45 AM, the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of Athriya, southeast of Aleppo, targeting several points in Aleppo countryside, which coincided with a drone attack carried out by terrorist organizations from Idlib and the western countryside of Aleppo province, in an attempt to target civilians in Aleppo and its surroundings,” a military source told Syrian news outlet SANA.

According to security sources cited by Reuters, at least 38 people were killed. Five members of the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah were reportedly among the casualties.

Al-Mayadeen’s correspondent in Damascus confirmed that the Israeli strikes were launched simultaneously with the drone attacks by extremist militants. It added that the attack hit the Jibreen and Safira areas.

The attack came one day after Israeli jets struck a residential building in the Sayyida Zaynab neighborhood in the Damascus countryside, resulting in the injury of at least two civilians.

Extremist groups in Syria have long coordinated with Israel throughout the US-backed war on the country that began in 2011, particularly in the 2014 battles in Quneitra between the Nusra Front and the Syrian army.

Following an Israeli assault on Syria in late March 2023, which also coincided with attacks by extremist militants, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “These repeated attacks show the close coordination between … Israel and terrorist groups … The coordination proves beyond any doubt the deliberate intentions against Syria, which aim to prolong the crisis and deplete the country’s capabilities.”

March 29, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , | 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

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

Is America a Rogue Superpower?

By Ted Snider | The Libertarian Institute | March 27, 2024

“Unipolar” used to mean that the United States was, at least in theory, alone in leading the world. Now “unipolar” means that the United States is alone and isolated in opposition to the world.

In global affairs, a hegemon is a nation that leads because it has the consent of the other nations who believe in its goals and values. The United States has recently demonstrated, though, that it has given up any pretense of using its leadership to pursue the goals of the global community, and instead is openly using the global community to pursue its own goals.

In his new book, The Lost Peace, Richard Sakwa explains the distinction between the pursuit of hegemony and the pursuit of primacy. Primacy “entails predominance and the conscious attempt to thwart the ambition of others.” In its recent performance at the United Nations, the United States is performing, not out of hegemony as it usually described, but out of primacy.

As a hegemon, the U.S. wields the power to veto in the Security Council. But in the exercise of primacy, it has recently used that veto to supress the clearly expressed voice of the international community.

After repeated American vetoes of measures calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, in a desperate and seldom used move, on December 12, the General Assembly invoked Resolution 377A in an attempt to circumvent U.S. leadership. It was the response to what was perceived as America’s irresponsible use of its veto power as a permanent member of the Security Council.

It does not matter that the vote was on the war in Gaza, nor on whether you agree with the United States. What is significant is the assumption by Washington of the role of roadblock and not leader of the international will.

Article 377A first reminds the permanent members of the Security Council that they are obliged to “to seek unanimity and exercise restraint in the use of the veto” in pursuit of the maintenance of international peace and security. It then gives the General Assembly the right to make “appropriate recommendations to Members for collective measures… to maintain or restore international peace and security” when the Security Council “because of a lack of unanimity… fails to exercise its primary responsibility.”

The world saw the United States, not as a hegemon leading the world in the pursuit of unanimity, but as failing “to exercise its primary responsibility” as a leader on the Security Council.

On March 25, the U.S. went one step further and took a step toward becoming a rogue state who has supplanted international law with its rules-based order. International law is grounded in the charter system and the United Nations and is universally applicable. The rules-based order is composed of unwritten laws whose source, consent, and legitimacy are unknown. To the global majority, those unwritten laws have the appearance of being invoked when they benefit the U.S. and its partners and not being invoked when they don’t.

On March 25, the Security Council passed a resolution demanding “an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire.” The resolution was able to pass because the U.S. stood aside and let the other fourteen Security Council members pass it by abstaining instead of vetoing.

But in her explanation of the American abstention after the resolution passed, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield “surprisingly” said that “we fully support some of the critical objectives in this nonbinding resolution.”

Her claim that the Security Council resolution was nonbinding was not an off script, impromptu comment. It is the strategy of a country that enforces, not international law, but the U.S. led rules-based order.

In a March 25 press briefing following the vote and Thomas-Greenfield’s claim, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby called the resolution “nonbinding” no less than four times. “Number one,” he said, “it’s a nonbinding resolution. So, there’s no impact at all on Israel and Israel’s ability to continue to go after Hamas.”

When asked by a reporter, “on the binding thing, is it binding, nonbinding?” Kirby answered, “It’s a nonbinding resolution.” When asked “a technical question” a second time to clarify if the resolution was nonbinding, Kirby again said, “My understanding is it’s a nonbinding resolation—resolution.”

At a State Department press briefing the same day, department spokesperson Matt Miller also called the resolution “nonbinding” three times.

All UN Security Council resolutions are legally binding and have the status of international law. That is why UN Secretary General António Guterres said, “This resolution must be implemented. Failure would be unforgivable.” UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq explained that, “All the resolutions of the Security Council are international law. They are as binding as international laws.”

Others responded the same way to the U.S. claim. On behalf of the ten elected members of the Security Council who drafted the resolution, Pedro Comissario, Mozambique’s envoy to the United Nations, said, “All United Nations Security Council resolutions are binding and mandatory.” He then added, “It is the hope of the 10 that the resolution adopted today will be implemented in good faith by all parties.”

The United Kingdom also did “not share” the U.S. claim, prompting their envoy to the UN to say, “we expect all Council resolutions to be implemented. This one is not any different. The demands in the resolution are absolutely clear.” China, too, did not share the U.S. evaluation. “China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun said Security Council resolutions are binding.”

By judging Security Council resolutions to be nonbinding and denying their status as being as binding as international law, the United States has taken the next step from hegemony to primacy to a rogue state that has undermined the foundational role of the Security Council in the international order.

March 27, 2024 Posted by | Book Review, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel executed 13 children in Gaza in front of their families, says human rights NGO

MEMO | March 27, 2024

Documented testimonies have been collected regarding the execution of Palestinian children in Gaza by the Israeli occupation forces in and around Al-Shifa Hospital, at a time when a UN expert has confirmed her belief that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor confirmed that it has “documented the execution of 13 children by the Israeli occupation forces in Al-Shifa Hospital and its surroundings.”

The NGO also confirmed that it had received “identical statements and testimonies regarding the crimes of executing Gaza children between the ages of 4 and 16.” Two of the children, named as Ali Islam Salouha. 9, and Saeed Mohammad Sheikha, 6, are said to have been killed “in cold blood in front of their families and residents of the area having been targeted deliberately using live bullets.”

Some of the children were killed while surrounded by the occupation army inside their homes with their families, said Euro-Med. Others were displaced and following routes that the occupation army had specified as “safe” for them to use.

“The documented cases of the execution of Gazan children embody a flagrant violation of international law, including international humanitarian law, and constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity in and of themselves,” the NGO pointed out, “and have been committed in the context of the crime of genocide to which the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip have been subjected for six months.”

It also emphasised that the occupation army has committed and continues to commit horrific crimes systematically during its military operations lasting for more than a week inside and around Al-Shifa Hospital. “These crimes include premeditated killings and extrajudicial executions of Palestinian civilians.”

March 27, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

UN Rapporteur Says Received Threats since She Started Mission on Palestine

Al-Manar | March 27, 2024

UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Palestine Francesca Albanese said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that ‘Israel’ is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

She was speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, where she presented her latest report, entitled ‘Anatomy of a Genocide’, during an interactive dialogue with Member States.

“Following nearly six months of unrelenting Israeli assault on occupied Gaza, it is my solemn duty to report on the worst of what humanity is capable of, and to present my findings,” she said.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the crime of genocide has been met.”

Citing international law, Albanese explained that genocide is defined as a specific set of acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

“Specifically, Israel has committed three acts of genocide with the requisite intent, causing seriously serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent birth within the group,” she said.

Albanese said denial of the reality and the continuation of Israeli impunity and exceptionalism is no longer viable, especially in light of the binding UN Security Council resolution, adopted on Monday, which called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Meanwhile the UN special rapporteur revealed that she has been attacked and received numerous threats since she began her mission.

March 27, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

China says Security Council Gaza ceasefire resolution binding on Israel

MEMO | March 27, 2024

China yesterday reiterated that “UN Security Council resolutions are binding” on Israel, rejecting US claims to the contrary, Anadolu reported.

China “calls on the parties concerned to fulfil their obligations under the UN Charter and to take due action as required by the resolution,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in response to a question about comments by the top US envoy to the UN who claimed the resolution passed on Monday was “non-binding” on parties to the conflict in Gaza, which has been under an onslaught by Israel since 7 October.

More than 32,333 Palestinians have since been killed and over 74,694 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The UN Charter stipulates that all Security Council resolutions are legally binding under international law.

The Council passed a resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza for the remainder of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which began on 11 March and is set to end on 9 April.

Fourteen countries on the 15-member Council voted in favour of the resolution. The US abstained.

The resolution demanded an “immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire.”

It also insisted on the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access to address their medical and other humanitarian needs.” No mention was made of the thousands of Palestinians disappeared by Israel from the Gaza Strip since it launched its ground offensive at the end of October. After the resolution passed, the Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, told the Council: “If fully and effectively implemented, [the resolution] could still bring long-awaited hope. Security Council resolutions are binding.”

Lin said Beijing “expects the state with significant influence to play a positive role on the party concerned, including by using all necessary and effective means at their disposal to support the implementation of the resolution.”

The Council “must continue to closely follow the situation in Gaza and get ready for further actions when necessary to ensure the timely and full implementation of the resolution,” said Lin.

March 27, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Why is NATO’s cover-up for terrorist attacks in Russia so sloppy?

By Drago Bosnic | March 27, 2024

The diabolical massacre of over 300 people (nearly half of whom are dead now) at the Crocus City Hall is the worst terrorist attack in Russia in the last 20 years and one of the worst in the world in the last half a decade. And yet, many in the mainstream propaganda machine called it a “shooting”, possibly a “mass shooting” or simply an “attack” and similar terms that show just how little empathy there is for Russian civilians. The terrorist attack in and of itself was horrible enough, but the monstrous glee that was coming from the Neo-Nazi junta and its supporters made things far worse. What’s more, Russian intelligence found disturbing evidence pointing to the political West, particularly the United States, as the true organizer of the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack.

On the other hand, Washington DC insists that it has “undeniable evidence” that ISIS is behind it. Rather interesting how the US could claim this mere hours after the terrorist attack, when not even Russian services who were on the ground had all the details, but it “doesn’t really know” who destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines, except that it was a “mysterious deep-diving Ukrainian group”. Even worse, Washington DC is yet to conclude the 9/11 investigation 23 years after the attacks that were a defining moment of America’s 21st-century history. It’s “almost as if” the political elites are hiding something. But, for some reason, they “immediately know” who’s behind a terrorist attack 10,000 km away and insist their favorite puppet regime “most certainly had nothing to do with it”.

What’s more, the US started defending the Neo-Nazi junta before Russia came out with any official statements about its involvement. And while the troubled Biden administration, including vice president Kamala Harris, is fighting tooth and nail to “prove” the Kiev regime’s “innocence”, the latter’s on the brink of throwing parties to celebrate the brutal massacre of hundreds of unarmed Russian civilians. There are at least two such disturbing cases, one where a Ukrainian restaurant included something called “the Crocus City set” in its menu and another where Ukrainian gamers created a map of the Crocus City Hall concert hall in the globally popular Counter Strike FPS game, where they can shoot and set fire to virtual hostages or even plant explosives to blow them up.

However, while dealing with such behavior should be left to psychiatrists and clinical psychologists, the reactions of the Neo-Nazi junta’s top-ranking officials clearly demonstrate who’s really behind the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack. Apart from the (now former) Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov, who not only praised the terrorist attack, but also mocked the victims and Russia as a whole and threatened with more such massacres, there’s also the SBU head Vasyl Malyuk who openly boasted about organizing terrorist attacks that killed a number of Russian public figures, including Darya Dugina and Maxim Fomin (aka Vladlen Tatarsky), clearly implying that he’s also involved in the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack.

Earlier this year, GUR (Kiev regime’s military intelligence) head Kyrylo Budanov also threatened to go “deeper and deeper” with terrorist attacks in Russia. When top-ranking officials of the Neo-Nazi junta’s two most important intelligence services (SBU and GUR) say such things, it instantly incriminates the entire NATO-backed puppet regime. However, as it’s rather dangerous for Volodymyr Zelensky to fire either Malyuk or Budanov, the Neo-Nazi junta frontman is forced to cover his tracks by dismissing lower-ranking officials such as Danilov. One of Zelensky’s closest associates, Danilov has been extremely hawkish since day one and has openly insisted on launching as many sabotage and terrorist attacks as possible, all coordinated with the US-led NATO.

This brings us to another similar episode that happened in the US when the infamous neocon warmonger Victoria Nuland used the opportunity to threaten Russia on the second anniversary of its special military operation (SMO). Namely, she said that the so-called “military aid” provided by Washington DC to the Kiev regime will ensure that “Putin faces some nasty surprises on the battlefield this year”. Days later, she left the State Department. It seems the Neo-Nazi junta isn’t the only one trying to cover their tracks, although Nuland appears to have been a bit more cunning by leaving before the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack. But Nuland is not the only one. Last year, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, made similar threats.

“There should be no Russian who goes to sleep without wondering if they’re going to get their throat slit in the middle of the night,” Washington Post quoted Milley, who also added: “You gotta get back there, and create a campaign behind the lines.”

What happened with Milley soon after this? You guessed it – he retired. But terrorist attacks across Russia keep escalating. In the meantime, the political West is further exposing its monstrous hypocrisy by condemning the treatment of the terrorists who committed the Crocus City Hall massacre. American journalist Julia Davis is “worried” about their well-being, while the former chief of the CIA’s Russia ops Steve Hall stated that this demonstrates the supposed “difference in values between what is happening in Russia and what is happening in the West”. Yes, there’s a clear difference, because Russia didn’t run the infamous Abu Ghraib prison where American occupation forces tortured countless Iraqi soldiers and civilians.

Russia also doesn’t run the brutal Guantanamo Bay detention camp where hundreds (if not thousands) have been illegally incarcerated, some of whom have been in solitary confinement for decades without ever being charged with a crime. Thus, while Russia is punishing actual terrorists, the US is “worried” about these mass murderers who killed and wounded over 300 people. At the same time, the belligerent thalassocracy is torturing and imprisoning people who were fighting a foreign invader, or worse, those who haven’t done anything. In that regard, Mr Hall is certainly right, there’s a gaping difference between values held in Moscow and Washington DC. All this clearly indicates that the political West and its Neo-Nazi puppets are engaged in a cover-up.

However, the question is – why is it all so sloppy and too obvious? If analysts and journalists noticed all this so easily, Russian intelligence and state services certainly know far more. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently pointed out this hypocrisy, referring to the offer by so-called “international institutions” to supposedly “help” with the investigation regarding the latest terrorist attack, but ignored similar Russian requests regarding the Nord Stream sabotage. It should be noted that this terrorist attack was also previously announced by the US, which pledged to ensure that the pipeline becomes “a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea”. In other words, the true terrorists aren’t even bothering to hide anymore (and haven’t been for quite some time now).

All this clearly indicates that NATO wants war with Russia. It recently sent French President Emmanuel Macron to test this with pompous announcements of direct involvement. However, as most of Europe said it won’t take part in this madness, NATO now needs a way to push Russia to attack first. The only way to do so is to provoke a reaction, which is why the world’s most aggressive military cartel organized the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall. In that way, NATO is pushing Russia to retaliate and then present it as the “aggressor”, giving the political West a perfect pretext to wage a “defensive war”. That’s the only way to ensure the participation of the entire (or at least most of) NATO. However, once the Pandora’s Box is opened, there won’t be any going back.

Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst.

March 27, 2024 Posted by | Deception, War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

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