Israel expands Netzarim corridor to include ‘permanent outposts’
The Cradle | August 26, 2024
Israeli forces have expanded the Netzarim corridor in the Gaza Strip to include four large “outposts” designed to permanently house troops, according to satellite imagery reviewed by Hebrew news site Ynet.
“The IDF has been working to expand the corridor … Four large outposts were established in the corridor, for the permanent stay of hundreds of fighters,” the Israeli outlet reported on 26 August.
Ynet explains that Israel recently launched an operation in Gaza City’s Zaytoun neighborhood, where Israeli troops have operated several times since the start of the war, failing to root out Hamas’ Qassam Brigades.
Four reservist soldiers have been killed in the operation, including one on Sunday by an explosive device planted by the Palestinian resistance. The ongoing operation in Zaytoun was launched specifically “to expand” the Netzarim corridor, which lies in close proximity to the Gaza City neighborhood, the report said.
“In the raid, the forces were required to locate tunnels, terrorist infrastructures and weapons of Hamas. The brigade raid continues, and includes hitting the terrorists and destroying munitions stocks that threaten the forces in Netzarim.”
The Netzarim corridor was established by Israeli forces during the early months of the war on Gaza. The corridor, which runs through the former grounds of the old Netzarim settlement, splits the strip in two and prevents the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza.
“The corridor was established … to prevent the return of armed terrorists to the north of the Gaza Strip, and to generally prevent the return of Palestinians to the north of the Gaza Strip. Palestinians can move south – but not in the opposite direction,” Ynet explains, reinforcing the Israeli narrative that displaced Gazans returning to the north as part of any agreement are actually militants.
Israeli forces have set up a “newly constructed operational route … and a drainage point” along the corridor to prevent displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza from returning to their homes in the north, Ynet goes on to say.
The report further confirms Israel’s plan for a permanent presence in the Gaza Strip. Israeli defense officials who spoke with the Wall Street Journal in February said the corridor is part of Tel Aviv’s “plans to maintain security control over the enclave for some time.”
Israeli forces stationed at Netzarim have come under numerous attacks by Palestinian resistance factions since the corridor was established.
Satellite imagery analyzed by the Forensic Architecture research group last week revealed that Israeli forces are also working on a new east-to-west land corridor near Gaza City’s Beit Hanoun. Over the past several months, Israeli troops have destroyed Palestinian homes and farmlands to establish this new corridor, according to Forensic Architecture.
A photo that circulated on social media on 25 August shows that Israeli forces have built an asphalt road on the Philadelphi corridor on the Gaza–Egypt border in the southern strip.
The Netzarim corridor, as well as the Philadelphi corridor and Rafah crossing on the Gaza–Egypt border, are two of the main topics that have complicated ceasefire talks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is insisting on keeping troops in these areas despite Hamas’ demands for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Netanyahu insists on a screening and inspection mechanism at the Netzarim corridor to inspect Gazans returning to the north as part of any agreement.
The premier also insists that any captive exchange be followed by a continuation of the war. As a result, ceasefire talks have yielded no results.
Ukrainian MP claims kidnappers targeted his family over pro-church stance
RT | August 26, 2024
Ukrainian MP Artyom Dmitruk has claimed from exile that he is a victim of political persecution due to his support for the largest Christian church in the country. Kiev has accused him of violent crimes and illegally crossing the country’s border.
Last week, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky signed a bill into law which threatens to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), over allegations that it may be controlled by Moscow. Dmitruk stood out among his fellow lawmakers for his vocal opposition to the legislation. He is now considered a fugitive in Ukraine and says his family is in danger.
”They tried to abduct my family. They tried to kidnap my mother, wife and two small kids from a hotel in Europe,” the MP claimed on his Telegram channel on Monday. Dmitruk said private security had thwarted the plot and that he knows who was behind it.
Last week, Ukrainian authorities announced criminal charges against an unnamed MP. He was accused of assaulting two people – a law enforcement officer and a military service member. Separately, they announced a criminal investigation into alleged illegal crossing of the border by the same person. Dmitruk is understood to be the suspect, according to Ukrainian media.
The lawmaker is a professional powerlifter and entrepreneur who runs fitness clubs in the city of Odessa. He went into politics in 2019 on the wave of Zelensky’s surprise presidential campaign, getting elected as an MP for his Servant of the People party.
Dmitruk dismissed the allegations against him as fabricated for political reasons. One of the charges is apparently related to a conflict he had last year with what he called a scam call center.
The politician claims that Zelensky’s office is after him over his support of the UOC. The church has been subjected to law enforcement raids on its monasteries, arrests of senior bishops and the seizure of property by supporters of the rival Kiev-backed Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Last week, armed men showed up at various properties associated with Dmitruk and his family, he told his attorney Robert Amsterdam, who voiced his client’s criticism of Kiev’s infringement of religious freedoms.
Dmitruk has alleged that his foes intended to have him killed while supposedly resisting arrest. His current whereabouts are unclear, with Tatryana Sapyan, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian investigative agency DBR, claiming on Sunday that he had fled the country via Moldova.
Durov’s arrest represents a new level of desperation from western elites
By Martin Jay | Strategic Culture Foundation | August 26, 2024
The arrest of Pavel Durov marks a new low point on the scumline of the side of the bath – the tub being western democracies and the line being their desperation to stay in power at the costs of controlling social media. Durov, who owns Telegram and lives in Dubai, could be in jail for months and possibly years on the trumped-up charges which the French state has conjured up simply because he refuses to allow any government to have a back door into Telegram. He has fought this tooth and nail for years with the west, in particular the U.S., playing every dirty trick in the book to get access to the platform for its own nefarious purposes – to destroy opposition figures, their strategies etc. – rather than what it is dressed up to be, identifying terrorists and international criminals.
As the UK ponders how its own state has sunk to a new totalitarian level in recent days with the arrest of its citizens who merely like a posting on a social media platform, the West has arrested this French Russian dual national genius who is charged with the crimes of those criminals active on Telegram. And so charges of terrorism and trafficking in minors, drugs and whatever else they can find on the platform will be made against him as someone abetting in the crimes. Of course, the same rules will not be levelled against Elon Musk who surely has criminals on his platform or for that matter any of the other social media platforms.
But how many of these platforms are also taking the same stand as Durov? We are led to believe that most of them aren’t but in light of his arrest we should assume that many of them have already allowed some sort of access to them for the deep state. Elon Musk likes to brag about his refusal to comply with the EU’s demands that he “moderates” who he allows onto X, adding that other social media platforms accepted the deal offered to him by Brussels: comply with our requests and we grant you some leniency on future antitrust fines. This offer, which he claims was happily accepted by other platforms is as close as you can get to the EU offering a brown envelope stuffed full of cash to a man in a pub. It’s a bribe and gives a clue as to how anti-democratic the EU is and how it operates in the shadows.
The French arrest however goes deeper in that we can assume that it was not France operating alone to nab Durov. We can assume that the FBI and CIA had probably pushed Macron to do this appalling dirty work but perhaps also Israel had a hand in it. Just recently, Netanyahu complained that data which was stolen from the government was being exchanged on Telegram and asked Durov to step in and retrieve it. He got no reply. Did Mossad have a hand in the arrest of Telegram’s boss? It seems credible given that it is hard to believe that Durov would fly into French airspace eyes wide open. Was it a kidnapping operation to get his plane and his pilot to land in Paris? French TV channel TF1 said Dubai-based Durov had been travelling from Azerbaijan and was arrested at around 8 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Saturday 24th of August but did not state whether the plane’s ultimate destination had been France.
The details around the arrest are very sketchy, but according to Reuters, Durov, whose fortune was estimated by Forbes at $15.5 billion, said some governments had sought to pressure him but the app should remain a “neutral platform” and not a “player in geopolitics”.
Another question which arises from the arrest is whether it is an international effort by western countries led by the U.S. – with Israel very much part of it – to test the waters for other arrests. Pundits have been dismissed as conspiracy theorists for weeks now suggesting Elon Musk will be arrested at some point, or charged in his absence, by UK authorities for some of the more controversial posts he has made about the political situation in the UK, or even by the EU which appears to have started a legal battle with him after he refused to respond to two letters sent to him by a French European Commissioner. Perhaps even the Democrats in the U.S. might play the same card given that Musk has lost all credibility as a neutral player in U.S. politics after he has so openly supported Trump who has promised him a position in a new government if he were to enter the Oval Office. There is no such thing really as free speech. It comes at a very high price for those who want to protect and cherish it and now France will test the political landscape to see how the arrest of Durov will affect Macron’s ratings. The French president has used outstandingly poor judgment in the past in calling for parliamentary elections immediately after EU ones which gave so much power to far-right groups, so he seems to be good at falling on his own sword. He may well have factored that Durov does not have the popularity of say Assange who didn’t stir so much political anger when he was banged up for years in a filthy, dank cell in the UK on trumped up charges from the U.S.
What is especially worrying is that locking up powerful people who have huge followings on the internet is becoming a trend which people are getting used to. The war between those who want to control the perceived truth and those who hold the actual one is hotting up. Scott Ritter, Andrew Tate, Richard Medhurst all arrested within days of one another, while Musk himself shuts down Egyptian comedian Bassem Youseff who had 10m followers on X. What we are witnessing is a new level of desperation that western elites are more afraid than ever after wasting hundreds of billions of dollars in Ukraine and starting a world war in the Middle East that voters have no confidence any more in their decision-making, as they, the public, struggle more and more to pay for groceries or even heat their houses. It’s a new milestone in the blind dogma of elites to resort to tactics which we would have scorned China or North Korea for using just a few years ago. It’s a new level of panic which we haven’t seen before.
Telegram comments on founder’s arrest
RT | August 25, 2024
Telegram abides by EU laws and its founder, Pavel Durov, “has nothing to hide,” the company said after Durov was arrested in Paris. Telegram said that it is “awaiting a prompt resolution” of the situation.
Durov was taken into custody at Paris-Le Bourget Airport on Saturday, immediately after arriving from Azerbaijan by private jet. According to French media, prosecutors in Paris plan to charge the 39-year-old with complicity in drug trafficking, pedophilia offenses, and fraud, arguing that Telegram’s insufficient content moderation, its strong encryption tools, and its alleged lack of cooperation with police allow criminals to flourish on the app.
Telegram dismissed these arguments on Sunday, stating that the company follows EU laws and that its content-moderation policies are “within industry standards.”
“Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe,” the statement continued, calling it “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”
“Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information,” the company concluded. “We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation.”
Telegram is headquartered in Dubai, although the company appointed a Belgian legal representative earlier this year to manage its compliance with EU law. Telegram has also complied with the bloc’s anti-Russian sanctions by blocking access to Russian news outlets, including RT.
However, Durov has consistently refused to hand over user data to law enforcement agencies, or to install so-called ‘backdoors’ so that these agencies can surveil conversations on the app. Speaking to RT on Sunday, Durov’s former spokesman suggested that French authorities could have made the arrest on behalf of the US, after Durov publicly accused American intelligence agencies of pressuring him into giving them access to Telegram user data.
The IDF Uses Palestinian Civilians As Human Shields to Inspect Gaza’s Tunnels
Richard Medhurst | August 24, 2024
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Richard Thomas Medhurst (1992) is an independent journalist, political commentator, and analyst from the United Kingdom with a focus on international affairs, US politics, and the Middle East.
Medhurst is known for his coverage of the Julian Assange extradition case in London, as one of the only journalists to report on the trial of the WikiLeaks founder from inside the court.
He has also covered the Iran nuclear deal talks on the ground in Vienna. Medhurst was born in Damascus, Syria.
His father is English and mother is Syrian. Both his parents served in United Nations Peacekeeping and Observer missions and were among the UN Peacekeepers awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988. Owing to his parents’ professional mobility, he has lived in Syria, Pakistan, Switzerland, and Austria.
He speaks four languages fluently: English, Arabic, French, and German. As an independent journalist, Medhurst regularly hosts live broadcasts and video reports on his YouTube channel.
Previous guests include the Foreign Minister of Venezuela, the Dep Foreign Minister of Iran; the Palestinian, Russian and Cuban ambassadors to the United Nations in Vienna; the former British Ambassador to Syria; and various UN officials, journalists, and more.
Medhurst’s reports and analysis on Yemen, Ukraine, Syria, Niger, Lebanon, Iran, the Israeli occupation in Palestine and its genocide in Gaza have gone viral countless times, racking up millions of views.
Richard Medhurst has a combined following of roughly one million people online, and appears regularly on international news outlets including Al Jazeera, WikiLeaks, Black Agenda Report, Al Mayadeen, The Times, LBC, and others.
Richard Medhurst on Twitter: 
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Richard Medhurst on Substack: https://richardmedhurst.substack.com/
Durov arrest exposes ‘tyrannical face’ of France – party leader
RT | August 25, 2024
Florian Philippot, the leader of France’s Patriots (Les Patriotes) party, has slammed the government of French President Emmanuel Macron as “lunatics” over the detention of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov.
According to French media, the Russian entrepreneur, who also has French and UAE citizenship, was detained at Paris-Le Bourget Airport on Saturday and is set to appear in court on Sunday evening. The French authorities had reportedly issued an arrest warrant for Durov, arguing that insufficient moderation allows for Telegram to be widely used by criminals.
“France offers its tyrannical face to the world,” Philippot said of Durov’s arrest in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday. “We must free ourselves from these lunatics,” he added, referring to Macron’s government.
The politician also wondered if X owner and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX “Elon Musk is [also] thrown in jail if he sets foot in France, for disobeying the European DSA (Digital Services Act) censorship regulations.”
The head of Russia’s Safe Internet League, Ekaterina Mizulina, suggested earlier that the French authorities hadn’t acted independently in their decision to detain Durov. “It is obvious that the arrest is an attack on TON (a blockchain-based platform originally developed by Telegram’s creators) in which major Russian companies have invested. That is, in part, a continuation of the US sanctions policy” against Russia, she said.
Also on Sunday, the deputy speaker of the Russian parliament, Vladislav Davankov, called upon the French authorities to release Durov. The tech entrepreneur’s arrest “could be politically motivated and used to gain access to the personal information of Telegram users,” which Moscow cannot allow, he warned in a post on Telegram.
US trampling on free speech – David Sacks on Durov’s arrest
RT | August 25, 2024
The US has violated its own constitutional freedoms by forcing its NATO ally France to arrest Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, American investor David Sacks has suggested.
Writing on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, Sacks slammed the detention of Durov at a Paris airport, reportedly on charges related to his alleged complicity in fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, and promoting terrorism.
In an apparent nod to the rumored US role in the arrest, Sacks wrote: “Using allied countries to circumvent First Amendment protections is the new Rendition.” The US Constitution expressly protects freedom of speech and makes no distinction between citizens and people from other countries.
In April, Sacks denounced a US law that would ban the video-sharing platform TikTok if its China-based developer ByteDance refused to sell it within 12 months. At the time, the investor suggested that after the crackdown on TikTok, Telegram, X and the video platform Rumble could end up in Washington’s crosshairs.
Meanwhile, the French move to arrest Durov was also criticized by Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk, who launched the hashtag #FreePavel, suggesting that the pressure on freedom of speech could worsen. “POV: It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re being executed for liking a meme,” he quipped. He also agreed with a user who wondered if X could be the next to come under fire.
In an interview with conservative American journalist Tucker Carlson which was released several months ago, Durov recalled that he had been getting “too much attention” from US law enforcement agencies while he was in the country. He said that while he was not under any legal scrutiny, he had to regularly deal with US authorities eager to get more insight into how Telegram worked.
The tech entrepreneur also claimed that law enforcement had attempted to recruit one of his employees to install a backdoor in the messenger that would allow them, or any other government, to spy on Telegram users.
Telegram CEO Durov’s Arrest Shows West Unleashing Witchhunt Against Truth-Tellers
By Ekaterina Blinova – Sputnik – 25.08.2024
Pavel Durov’s arrest is part of a broader crackdown on truth-seekers and freedom of speech in the West. According to Hong Kong-based political analyst Angelo Giuliano, Western elites are attempting to exert total control over the media narrative, as he explained to Sputnik.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested shortly after landing at Bourget airport near Paris late on Saturday and taken into custody by the French authorities.
“There is actually an oppression of journalists and freedom of speech in the West and especially in the EU,” Angelo Giuliano, a Hong Kong-based political and financial analyst, told Sputnik, commenting on Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest in France.
Giuliano also pointed to the FBI’s raid on the home of Scott Ritter, a former United States Marine Corps intelligence officer, and mentioned that late Chilean-American journalist Gonzalo Lira died while in Ukrainian custody.
The analyst also drew attention to the arrest of independent journalist Richard Medhurst by British police on August 15 at London’s Heathrow Airport. The journalist known for his critical coverage of the US, British and Israeli role in the ongoing bloodshed in Gaza, was arrested under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act (2000).
When it comes to Durov, the Telegram founder is accused of allegedly enabling criminal activities through insufficient moderation of the platform, the French press claims, adding that he faces up to 20 years behind bars.
In his April interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson, Durov suggested that he is a target for Western intelligence services. He said that US cybersecurity officials previously attempted to create a backdoor in his app. Durov stressed that such a backdoor would enable tighter government control over social media platforms.
“I wouldn’t be surprised that they would try to get their hands on Telegram, to strike a deal with Telegram saying, well, we release you, you give us a price and maybe we can buy you,” Giuliano said, presuming that the arrest serves as a sort of “bargaining chip.”
Freedom of speech has become very “inconvenient” for the West, according to the pundit: “What they say clearly at the EU is that they need to control the narrative, because that’s everything. The narrative you control controls the mind of the people.”
Giuliano noted that just three years ago, Durov became a French citizen, indicating that the Telegram founder was in good standing with the French government. In 2023, French media reported that Paris had chosen “an exceptional and highly political procedure” to grant Durov citizenship.
This abrupt shift in the French authorities’ stance has raised questions, Giuliano pointed out.
The pundit suggests that Durov’s arrest rings alarm bells for people like Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk: “Keep in mind that Elon Musk hasn’t actually complied with EU regulation, and in reality he would be de facto also another target.”
The arrest of the Telegram CEO is “really a red flag overall for journalists and for whoever is actually spilling the truth, inconvenient truth,” Giuliano concluded.
Top Russian MP urges France to release Telegram founder Durov
RT | August 24, 2024
Russia must demand the immediate release of Telegram founder Pavel Durov who has been reportedly detained in France, Deputy Speaker of the Russian State Duma Vladislav Davankov has said.
According to French media, the 39-year-old dual Russian-French national was detained on Saturday at the Paris-Le Bourget airport. The French authorities reportedly believe that the lax moderation rules and encryption technology had allowed the widespread use of the Telegram messager by criminals.
Writing on Telegram in the early hours of Sunday, Davankov defended Durov’s record. “Hardly anyone else has done more for the development of digital services in Russia and the world,” he argued.
“We need to get him out of there. I have urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to appeal to the French authorities to release Pavel Durov from custody,” the politician wrote on Telegram. “His arrest could be politically motivated and used to gain access to personal information of Telegram users. We cannot allow this.”
In case Paris refuses to release Durov, “everything must be done to transport him to the UAE or Russia – if he agrees, of course,” the politician said.
He dismissed the allegations against Durov, saying that illicit activity can be found on all messaging platforms. “But nobody arrests or jails their owners. And it shouldn’t happen this time.”
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday that the Russian Embassy in Paris was working on a response to the situation with Durov.
Durov was born in St. Petersburg. In 2006, he founded the social media platform VK, often described as ‘Russia’s Facebook.’ In 2013, he launched Telegram, which currently has more than 950 million monthly active users.
Durov left Russia in the mid 2010s and has mostly lived in the UAE. He became a French national in 2021.
Australian Government blocks Covid inquiry ‘with teeth’
Once again, Labor characterised its foes as ‘conspiracy theorists’, ‘cranks,’ ‘kooks’ and ‘far right extremists’ rather than engaging in rational debate
By Rebekah Barnett | Dystopian Down Under | August 22, 2024
The Australian Government has voted down a bill to establish a Covid Commission of Inquiry, which would have essentially the same powers and independence as a Royal Commission.
The bill was supported by a small coalition of senators from minor parties and the Opposition (conservative), but was rejected by the Labor Party(left-wing) in a vote today.
To date, Australia has had plenty of Covid inquiries, but none with teeth.
The siloing of inquiries to deal only with states and territory and federal governments on an individual basis has allowed for a lot of finger pointing with very limited accountability.
The scope of the federal Covid Inquiry excludes the policies of state and territory governments, which enacted vaccine mandates, lockdowns and inter-state border restrictions, leading politicians and media to call it “toothless.”
In turn, states and territories have focused on how well they implemented policies heavily influenced by the Federal Government and national advisory bodies without actually considering whether the policies were any good.
The patchwork nature of these inquiries allows the Federal Government to blame states and territories for implementing the harshest measures, and the states and territory governments pass the buck to the federal agencies and departments for influencing them to do so.
More holistic independent reviews like the Fault Lines report have resulted in talk of ‘lessons learned’ about “ill-conceived policies, politically driven health orders and excessive use of lockdowns,” but no meaningful attempts to hold anyone to account or guarantees that the lessons will inform future pandemic policy making.
Another problem with inquiries to date is that federal, state and territory governments have played hide the ball with important documentation and data required to properly assess their performance. As yet, no Australian government has released the health advice that draconian measures were based upon.
A Royal Commission or similar, taking the entire Covid response – at federal, state and territory levels – and with aggressive powers to command access to information that governments don’t want to release, would be required for real accountability.
The only ways to bring this about are for the executive to call a Royal Commission, or for the Senate to call a Commission of Inquiry.
However, despite the recommendation of the Senate Select Committee on COVID-19 in 2022 that a Royal Commission into Australia’s Covid response be established, the Labor Government has resisted calls to do so.
The Committee, led by senior Labor Party member Katy Gallagher (now Minister for Finance, for Women and for the Public Service) criticised the then Liberal Government’s lack of transparency and accountability around pandemic decision making by the National Cabinet.
Emergency law making had “challenged the Australian Parliament’s capacity to provide meaningful scrutiny of proposed laws, particularly in identifying and addressing the impact of emergency powers on the rights of individuals,” the Committee stated in its recommendations.
Leader of the Opposition at the time, Anthony Albanese, sort of promised a Covid Royal Commission. But after being elected to government in May 2022, Prime Minister Albanese has resolutely dodged the issue, throwing his support behind the limited federal inquiry instead.
Hence, a group of concerned senators tabled the COVID-19 Response Commission of Inquiry Bill 2024 in a bid to open up option B, an inquiry initiated by the Senate.
The bill, prepared by Senator Matt Canavan (Liberal), was co-sponsored by Senators Malcolm Roberts (One Nation), Alex Antic (Liberal), Gerard Rennick (Liberal), Ralph Babet (United Australia Party) and Matt O’Sullivan (Liberal), all of whom have been vocal critics of Australia’s pandemic response.
Source: Senator Alex Antic on X
During speaking time, senators who sponsored the bill argued that a Covid Commission of Inquiry is needed so that Australia can finally move on from Covid with a good plan in place for future pandemics. A proper inquiry would get to the bottom of what went wrong (and what went right) to restore trust in public health, they said.
Senator Roberts also said that in light of the fact that multiple U.S. states are now suing Pfizer for misleading about its Covid vaccine, if an inquiry found that Pfizer was indeed guilty of fraudulent behaviour, this could shift the financial burden of injuries and deaths associated with Pfizer’s product from Australian tax payers to the pharmaceutical giant.
Australian tax payers have coughed up more than $20 million on compensation for Covid vaccine injuries, but they will have to pay a lot more if a Covid vaccine injury class action is successful. The action, which was filed in the Federal Court last year, has enrolled over 1,500 injured Australians (or families of the deceased).
However, only ten senators supported the bill when it went to a vote in Parliament today. The bill was supported by the above mentioned senators (with the exception of Senator Antic, who is on leave), some members of the Coalition, One Nation, and independent Senator David Pocock.
Despite Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John stating that his party supports the establishment of a “frank” and “transparent” inquiry with the powers of a Royal Commission, the Greens abstained from the vote. Labor voted against the bill.
Source: Dynamic Red, 22 August 2024
I am told by the office of one of the senators who sponsored this bill that they have no intention of dropping the matter.
Previously, Senator Babet brought five separate motions to establish the world’s first government Excess Mortality Inquiry, which is now in progress thanks to Senator Babet’s persistence.
An inquiry into proposed terms of reference for a Covid Royal Commission has already been conducted, which will prove helpful in the event that either a Royal Commission or a Commission of Inquiry into Australia’s Covid response are eventually established.
Nonetheless, such efforts will face stiff opposition from the Albanese Government, if Labor Senator Tim Ayres’ speech in Parliament today is representative of his party’s position.
In speaking time before the vote, Senator Ayres said that the Government did not support the bill because “there’s already a public inquiry,” before launching into an astonishing diatribe of ad hominem attacks on the senators who proposed the bill.
Senator Ayres used the term ‘conspiracy theories’ or ‘conspiracy theorist’ more than twenty times, likened the efforts of senators to bring about a thorough Covid inquiry to movements motivated by “anti-semitism,” and called these same senators “cranks,” and the “nastiest, extreme, kooky elements of politics.”
Senator Ayres referred to ‘conspiracy theorists/theories’ more than 20 times in Parliament, 22 August 2024. Source: Australian Parliament House Streaming Portal, YouTube.
Senator Rennick called Senator Ayres’ speech “disgusting,” stating, “all we’re recommending today and supporting is that we have a thorough inquiry.”
In a statement after the vote, Senator Canavan said that more disheartening than Australia’s damaging pandemic response was “the response to the response.”
“Those Australians hurt during Covid deserve to have the accountability of proper public hearings, the publication of all the health advice and an open, transparent attempt to recognise mistakes as well as put in processes to prevent such things ever happening again.
“Why can’t the Government accept that if it is given immense power to lock people in their homes and force people out of work, that there should be an equal and corresponding obligation for them to be accountable to the people hurt by their decisions?”
Senator Babet took to X to express his dissatisfaction with the outcome, calling the decision of the Senate “weak.”
“Is it too much for Australians to ask for governments and the bureaucrats advising them to be held to account for the advice and actions they took during the pandemic?”
Apparently, yes.
Telegram founder Durov arrested by French police
RT | August 24, 2024
The founder of the messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, has been detained after he arrived in Paris on a private jet, local broadcaster LCI has reported.
Durov, who obtained a French passport in 2021, was arrested at Paris-Le Bourget Airport at around 8pm local time, the outlet said on Saturday.
His jet arrived in the French capital from Azerbaijan. The 39-year-old had been accompanied by a woman and his bodyguard, it added.
According to LCI, the French authorities issued an arrest warrant for the tech entrepreneur as part of a preliminary investigation. Paris believes that Telegram’s insufficient moderation, its encryption tools and alleged lack of cooperation with police could make Durov complicit of in drug trafficking, pedophilia offenses and fraud, it said.
Broadcaster TF1 claimed that Durov is going to appear before a judge tonight. He could be facing up to 20 years in prison, it added.
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Book Review
The Voters’ Self-Induced Matrix
By Jeb Smith | The Libertarian Institute | April 20, 2026
In Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions, Professor Todd Rose explains that to belong to a group, people “keep twisting [themselves] into pretzels, trying to conform to what we falsely believe everyone else expects of us.” Seeking acceptance from the group, we conform in language, behavior, beliefs, and practices. As a result, we lose our individuality and aggregate into herds. Within our group we create an alternate reality to fit whichever collective mindset we attach ourselves to, and interpret the world through those lenses—our innate desire to belong overrides reality.
Rose says these illusions “have become a defining feature of our modern society.” In other words, the collectivist mindset is a great conduit for spreading illusions; thus, it is the politician’s favored form of governance.
Rose points to studies in psychology and neuroscience showing we delude ourselves into believing what the majority does, even if it is not what we desire or know to be accurate. … continue
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- Iran’s judiciary rejects Trump’s claim on ‘planned execution’ of 8 women
- Israeli army blows up school in southern Lebanon in violation of ceasefire
- If Americans Knew
- Final Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment
- Zionist Doxxing Campaigns Upended Their Lives. Now They’re Suing for Damages.
- Eyes on Gaza, as trends reveal increased Israeli violence – Daily Update
- Israeli soldiers using sexual assault to force Palestinians out of West Bank, report says
- Top Biden Official Supports Trump Iran Attack, Says Biden May Have Done The Same
- A history of Israel’s invasions of Lebanon
- How the powerful pro-Israel lobby keeps controlling Democrats in the US
- Replay: Israel’s slow ethnic cleansing of Christians from the Holy Land
- 5 times Israelis desecrated Christian sites in the past two years
- US running out of weaponry for Israel’s war; Iran has plenty – Daily Update
- No Tricks Zone
- New Study: The Climate May Be 5 Times More Sensitive To Solar Forcing Than Commonly Assumed
- EV Industry Reached $70 Billion In Losses In 2024 Due To Delusional Green Ideologies
- Reality Check: Maldives Have Actually Grown In Size Or Remained Stable Over Recent Decades
- Abrupt Climate Change Also Occurred NATURALLY In The Past …25 Times During Last Ice Age
- Cave Discovery Reveals Today’s Desert Climates Were Recently Far Warmer, Wetter, Teeming With Life
- German Expert: Heat Dome Led To Record Temps In Western USA…Warmer In 1934, 1936
- New Study: No Linear Warming Or Glacier Retreat Along Northern Antarctic Peninsula Since 1980s
- An Inconvenient Tree: Uncovered In Alps… Europe Much Warmer Than Today 6000 Years Ago
- New Study Reports A 60% Slowdown In Greenland’s Ice Loss Rate In The Last Decade
- Low Intensity Tornado Wrecks Major Solar Farm, Creating A Potential Toxic Dump
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