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FBI Memo Linking Catholic Faith to ‘Extremists’ Drafted by Several Offices – GOP Lawmakers

By Fantine Gardinier – Sputnik – 10.08.2023

House GOP lawmakers have blasted the FBI director for “inconsistencies” in his testimony after he claimed that a report from the bureau’s Richmond, Virginia, field office identifying “radical traditionalist Catholic ideology” as a potential source of “violent extremism” was an isolated incident. They say that new evidence suggests otherwise.

In a Wednesday letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray that was published by US media, US Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), who chairs the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, requested a slew of bureau documents related to communications between FBI field offices in Richmond, Virginia; Portland, Oregon; and Los Angeles, California.

“From information recently produced to the Committee, we now know that the FBI relied on information from around the country – including a liaison contact in the FBI’s Portland Field Office and reporting from the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office – to develop its assessment,” they wrote.

“This new information suggests that the FBI’s use of its law enforcement capabilities to intrude on American’s First Amendment rights is more widespread than initially suspected and reveals inconsistencies with your previous testimony before the Committee,” they lawmakers said. “Given this startling new information, we write to request additional information to advance our oversight.”

They noted that in his testimony before the committee last month, Wray claimed that a January 2023 memo on the potential of right-wing activists motivated by “radical traditionalist Catholic ideology” to pose a violent threat to certain minority groups had been the sole product of the field office in Richmond, the Virginia state capital.

The memo, which was leaked to the press in February, said the office had received a tip from a local informant leading them to believe in an “increasingly observed interest of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) in radical-traditionalist Catholic (RTC) ideology.” This, they said, was especially associated with the sect of Catholics who rejected the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in 1965 and with “white supremacist ideology.”

This threat, they said, “presents opportunities for threat mitigation through the exploration of new avenues for tripwire and source development.”

Notably, the unredacted parts of the document do not contain the words “potential terrorists,” as reported in some parts of the American press.

In response to the lawmakers’ letter, the FBI gave a statement to US media on Wednesday doubling down on Wray’s testimony, saying the lawmakers had become confused by similar terminologies used by multiple FBI field offices.
“Director Wray’s testimony on this matter has been accurate and consistent. While the document referred to information from other field office investigations of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremist (RMVE) subjects, that does not change the fact the product was produced by a single office,” the statement said.

“To be clear, the document was a domain perspective which is an intelligence product designed to address potential threats in a particular area – in this case, the Richmond Field Office’s area of responsibility,” the bureau continued. “Because the product failed to meet FBI standards, it was quickly removed from all FBI systems and a review was launched to determine how it was produced in the first place.”

The situation has revived anger at the FBI for its wiretapping activities and profiling of religious groups, for which the bureau became notorious after spying on American Muslims in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

However, conservatives especially have accused the FBI of political bias for years, pointing to its investigation of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in the months preceding the 2016 presidential election and its August 2022 raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate to serve a search and seizure warrant for hundreds of classified files Trump did not return to the National Archives after leaving office. The former president is facing dozens of criminal charges related to alleged mishandling of the secret files.

August 10, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception, Islamophobia | , , | Leave a comment

Biden Asks Congress for $13 Billion in New Ukraine Military Aid as Opposition Grows

Sputnik – 10.08.2023

WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden in a letter to Congress has asked for an additional $13 billion in supplemental funding to continue military assistance to Ukraine next year.

“$9.5 billion for equipment for Ukraine and replenishment of [US Department of Defense] stocks; and $3.6 billion for continued military, intelligence, and other defense support,” the document said.

Biden is also asking for $7.3 billion for economic, humanitarian, and security assistance to Ukraine.

The proposal for additional Ukraine aid totals some $24 billion, including some $2.3 billion intended as leverage to gain more aid from other donors via the World Bank.

However, combined with an additional $2.65 billion in funding for border security, $12 billion in disaster relief efforts, and $416 million in combatting the fentanyl crisis, among other domestic matters, the congressional request totals upwards of $40 billion in supplemental aid.

The Thursday filing marks the first such request by the Biden White House since Republicans claimed control of the House of Representatives at the start of the year. While previous requests had been largely met with Congress’ backing, GOP members have grown increasingly hesitant toward continued aid.

In fact, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed in early June that any requests for supplemental Ukraine aid would not be taken up in the lower chamber – regardless of bipartisan efforts taken up in the Senate.

At the time, McCarthy explained that any additional funds would need to be cleared as part of an annual appropriations process, underscoring finances would have to be shifted elsewhere from the Pentagon’s funds.

“I think what we really need to do, we need to get the efficiencies in the Pentagon,” the House speaker told US media in June when referring to the Pentagon’s budget. “Think about it, $886 billion. You don’t think there’s waste? … I consider myself a hawk, but I don’t want to waste money. So I think we’ve got to find efficiencies.”

Shortly after the Thursday request was issued, US Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) told Sputnik that US President Joe Biden must focus on supporting efforts to improve security within the United States, rather than on spending more funding on a proxy war in Ukraine.

“Rather than spending a single penny more fighting a proxy war in Ukraine and killing more people, a more worthwhile effort would be if Biden would put America first by allocating resources in our country to secure the southern border,” Gosar said, touching on the US’ continued fight to combat illegal immigration.

He added that resources could also be better spent on “funding law enforcement efforts to combat the violent crime and drugs destroying cities across America, or aiding our homeless population, including countless veterans, who are sleeping on sidewalks.”

The hefty request also comes as the US public has grown increasingly cold toward such military aid.

A recent poll determined that 55% of surveyed Americans opposed Congress approving Ukraine aid, with only 45% disagreeing. Earlier Wednesday, the White House attempted to shoot down the sentiment, telling reporters that continued efforts were paramount to the “national security of the American people.”

US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby touched on the polling on Thursday and opted to reiterate the White House’s stance that the American people understand why Biden requested billions more in aid for Ukraine.

“The polls notwithstanding, I think the American people understand what is at stake here,” Kirby said.

To date, the US has provided Ukraine with more than $100 billion in aid since the start of the conflict, with the majority of the funds being designated specifically for military equipment.

August 10, 2023 Posted by | Corruption, Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

White House Steamrolls Over Poll Showing Americans Don’t Want to Fund Ukraine

By Ilya Tsukanov – Sputnik – 10.08.2023

The US has sent over $113 billion in military and economic support to Ukraine over the past 18 months, with NATO allies sending tens of billions more. The assistance, which includes nearly $100 billion in military aid, did not endow Kiev with the firepower necessary to mount a successful counteroffensive against Russia.

The White House has dismissed polling showing that a majority of Americans don’t want to send any more money to Ukraine to fund NATO’s proxy war against Russia, ruling out that assistance would stop in spite of public wishes.

“We have seen throughout this war solid support from the American people, solid support from the Congress in a bipartisan and bicameral way for continuing to support Ukraine and we’re going to stay focused on that,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

“It’s not just important to people of Ukraine, but it’s important to our European allies and partners, particularly our NATO allies, given that this fighting is on the doorstep of many of those NATO allies,” and to the “national security of the American people,” Kirby added.

The White House spokesman inserted the traditional ‘Vladimir Putin the bogeyman’ scare tactic, telling the Americans who don’t want to continue funding the proxy war that “if we just sit back and we let Putin win, we let him take Ukraine, where does it stop next?”

The White House is seeking Congressional approval to sneak tens of billions of dollars more in additional “supplemental funding” into next year’s defense budget, with the Pentagon coming up with new creative ways to scrounge additional cash from already approved outlays by using accounting tricks.

While most US media and most of the US political class in Washington continue to support funding Ukraine (apart from a handful of MAGA-leaning Republicans), a bombshell poll published last week revealed that 55 percent of Americans don’t want Congress to authorize any more funds for Ukraine. 51 percent said the US has already done enough to help. Nearly 8 in ten expressed concerns about the conflict dragging on, with 59 percent fearing that the Ukrainian crisis could unleash a wider war in Europe. 56 percent of respondents said they continue to see the Ukrainian conflict as a national security threat – down from 72 percent in February of 2022.

Ordinary Americans’ shifting attitudes toward the Ukrainian crisis have been picked up on by presidential candidates from both major parties, as well as independents, with major candidates calling for an end to the conflict, and pointing to the West’s role in starting it.

Former President Donald Trump, the leading candidate among Republicans by a long shot, has promised to end the Ukraine conflict within 24 hours of winning the 2024 election. Democratic Party hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promises to talk to Russia and has emphasized that the West has “no business putting NATO in Ukraine.” Leading independent candidate Cornel West has also called for a negotiated settlement to the crisis.

August 10, 2023 Posted by | Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

The Sino-Russo Naval Patrol Near Alaska’s Aleutian Islands Flipped The Tables On The US

BY ANDREW KORYBKO | AUGUST 10, 2023

Alaskan Senators were apoplectic after Russia and China just carried out a previously unreported joint naval patrol near their state’s Aleutian Islands last week. Those officials condemned what they claimed was an “incursion”, though the US Northern Command confirmed that the patrol “remained in international waters and was not considered a threat.” In any case, this was an interesting turn of events since it’s usually the US that conducts such exercises near those two’s borders.

The Sino-Russo Entente isn’t an alliance, but rather an unprecedentedly close strategic partnership focused on coordinating efforts to accelerate the global systemic transition to multipolarity. To that end and in the context of last week’s joint naval patrols, these Great Powers decided to signal to the world that they’ll reciprocally respond to similar such exercises by the US. Up until now, each reacted separately and largely restricted this to rhetoric, but now they’re reacting jointly in a tangible way.

Several of their interests were served in this way. First, the US now knows that the Sino-Russo Entente isn’t reluctant to sail flotillas as close to American shores as is legally possible. Second, they voluntarily complied with the terms laid out in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) regarding where foreign warships are allowed to sail despite the US not recognizing that framework. Third, this example demonstrated the sharp contrast between them and the US on the issue of international maritime law.

The fourth interest that was advanced through their joint naval patrol near the Aleutian Islands is that it made locals in that state, and likely also Americans elsewhere, experience how it feels when their geopolitical rivals conduct such exercises near their borders. Those drills won’t influence the formulation of US policy, but they can help shape some voters’ opinions about the wisdom of their leaders’ policies towards Russia and China considering that those two are merely responding to the US’ own such moves.

And finally, these drills importantly remained below the threshold of triggering an escalation, thus proving that it’s indeed possible to reciprocally respond to American provocations after both Great Powers were hitherto reluctant to do so. About that last-mentioned observation, they previously reacted separately and largely restricted this to rhetoric except on those rare occasions that they were accused by the US of flying or sailing their respective units too close to the latter’s.

Even so, those incidents took place near their own borders and not the US’, but this time they jointly sailed their warships near the Aleutian Islands in order to give America a taste of its own medicine. These plans were likely agreed to long ago but weren’t implemented until now since they each wanted to give the US the opportunity to stop making them feel uncomfortable by operating so closely to their shores. Russia and China’s patience has clearly run out, however, hence why they’re now jointly reacting.

This wasn’t their first joint naval exercise, but it’s the largest one near American shores thus far, which makes it a milestone. The Mainstream Media will predictably try to spin it as so-called “unprovoked illegal aggression” despite those two strictly abiding by international law per UNCLOS and carrying out their drills in response to the US’ earlier countless ones near their borders. By finally turning the tables on the US, the Sino-Russo Entente wants to show the world that the era of military unipolarity is over.

August 10, 2023 Posted by | Aletho News | , , | Leave a comment

Is America behind the massive surge in Kiev regime’s child trafficking?

By Drago Bosnic | August 10, 2023

Human trafficking is certainly one of the most monstrous mass criminal activities ever undertaken by other humans (although calling them “humans” is a bit of a stretch). And yet, there’s a special kind of this deeply repulsive crime that pushes it to diabolical proportions – child trafficking. Underage kids, particularly those who were abandoned, sold or have very poor/abusive family backgrounds, are by far the most vulnerable group. The depraved criminals who engage in such illicit activities specifically target unfortunate children and given there are millions of them all around the globe, particularly in war-torn areas, the “recruitment pool” is effectively endless. Unfortunately, the demand on the black market also seems to be constant and growing, making it a very lucrative and appealing prospect for criminals.

Children are usually forced into literal slavery that includes forced labor, sexual exploitation or prostitution, drug smuggling, forced begging, organ harvesting, etc. Many terrorist groups and narco-traffickers even use them as child soldiers, forcing them into dangerous firefights with rival groups or even official security forces such as the police and/or military. Although estimates vary significantly, as the exact data is incomplete at best, expectedly, the world’s most populous countries have the highest number of child trafficking victims. And yet, it seems the United States is the most profitable market for such criminal activities. Back in 2018, Tim Swarens of USA Today calculated that adults purchase children for sex at least 2.5 million times a year in the US alone. Worse yet, this is only based on available data.

In reality, this truly appalling number might be several times higher. It is estimated that up to half a million children are trafficked in the US every year, with another 300,000 at risk. Some are abducted, others are runaways, while some are sold by relatives, acquaintances and even closest family members. This is a massive business in America and it’s not only present in big cities and core urban areas, but virtually everywhere, around the entire country. Everyone from regular people to those in the highest positions of power take part in it. As recounted by authors John and Nisha Whitehead in a report published by the Rutherford Institute in late January this year, “sex trafficking (and the sexualization of young people) is a cultural disease that is rooted in the American police state’s heart of darkness”.

“It speaks to a sordid, far-reaching corruption that stretches from the highest seats of power (governmental and corporate) down to the most hidden corners and relies on our silence and our complicity to turn a blind eye to wrongdoing,” authors posit, further describing several deeply disturbing instances where American police were involved in horrendous sex crimes against underage children (including 4-year-olds) and teenagers.

In 2016, the US State of California, infamous for its extremist ultra-liberal policies, passed SB1322 which decriminalized prostitution for “sex workers under the age of 18” (i.e. children). This law, coupled with SB203 (passed in 2020), makes it virtually impossible for police officers to approach, arrest or engage in any way with “underage sex workers” (i.e. children forced into prostitution), meaning there’s nothing even law enforcement can do to prevent clearly evident child trafficking and sexual exploitation. Worse yet, in 2021, California passed SB357 that “repealed the law that makes it a crime to loiter with intent to commit prostitution and applicable evidence is no longer enforceable, including dress and geographical location as a reason to investigate acts of prostitution”.

In other words, police officers are effectively banned from investigating underage prostitution taking place in plain sight, as their expertise and experience in positively identifying children forced into sex slavery simply by observing their behavior is rendered obsolete. This strongly implies that the US political establishment is directly involved in soliciting child trafficking. In late April, whistleblower Tara Lee Rodas testified to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, revealing shocking details about this and warning that “the US government has become the middleman in a large-scale multibillion dollar child trafficking operation… … run by bad actors who are seeking to profit on the lives of children”.

In 2022, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received 31.9 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation — up from 29.3 million reports in 2021 and 21.7 million in 2020. This further implies that the black market has grown exponentially in recent years, meaning that more and more children are being trafficked into the country. And while kids from all over the world enter the US this way, recent reports indicate there’s a massive surge of Ukrainian child trafficking victims. However, what’s happening in Ukraine is even more astonishingly evil, as the traffickers are now trying to smuggle even infants to sell them for organ harvesting. Namely, in late June, the Daily Mail reported that an employee of a charity organization was detained for trying to take an 11-month-old baby out of Ukraine.

According to the British daily, the 43-year-old perpetrator was planning to sell the child for organ harvesting after paying $1,000 to the infant’s mother, a woman from Zhytomyr, while falsely claiming that the little boy would be adopted. In total, the mother was promised $5,000 for the baby, who the trafficker then intended to resell for $25,000. He is also suspected of trafficking at least three other infants under the same pretext. And yet, in late July, South Front reported that the same child trafficker, identified as Denis Varodi, a former teacher from the city of Uzhgorod in the Transcarpathian region of western Ukraine, was released only several weeks later. The decision was made by the judge of the Uzhgorod interdistrict court Natalya Shumilo after Varodi posted a 1,000,000 hryvnia (₴) bail.

The court could’ve easily denied this possibility to Varodi, but decided otherwise. Worse yet, Shumilo even reduced bail from ₴3,000,000 to ₴1,000,000 or approximately $27,000, which is just a bit more than the amount Varodi would’ve made had he succeeded in his diabolical intentions. Still, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to organized child trafficking from NATO-occupied Ukraine. Another group of perpetrators was recently detained while trying to smuggle newborns. According to reports by local media, the criminal group consisted of 12 child traffickers and included the heads of several medical institutions. They were looking for women who agreed to become surrogate mothers and sell their babies for €12,000, who would then be resold for up to €70,000.

Although the child traffickers are reportedly facing up to 15 years in prison, given how easily Varodi got away with his criminal activities, they have nothing to worry about. The complicity of the Neo-Nazi junta in this truly Mephistophelian scheme is implicit (no pun intended). And yet, as if the Kiev regime’s involvement wasn’t bad enough, the US Department of Justice (although its relation to actual justice is purely lexical) recently removed child sex trafficking information from its website. According to the Epoch Times, the updated version of the webpage completely erased all three sections that previously showed the data which was added during Donald Trump’s presidency. This was done quietly and without any explanation as to why such important information would be hidden from the public.

It’s worth noting that the crackdown on child trafficking awareness in the US is not only limited to corrupt officials and government institutions (as evidenced by numerous “unresolved mysteries”, both in the cases of Jeffrey Epstein and the Biden crime family’s illicit activities). Namely, the mainstream propaganda machine is now also looking to suppress any information about mass crimes against children, including through a witch-hunt aimed against movies and other media dealing with this issue. The case of “The Sound of Freedom” illustrates this perfectly, as even some formerly reputable media have joined the chorus of those trying to push a sort of crawling smear campaign against the movie. Luckily, there’s significant pushback against this, as proven by the film’s remarkable box-office success.

On the other hand, those attacking “The Sound of Freedom” should definitely have their hard drives investigated, albeit not by the people who were supposed to inspect the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, but “somehow” managed to “lose” it, obviously, in a similar manner to how the Neo-Nazi junta judge Shumilo “lost” her moral compass and credibility by releasing a child trafficker and murderer.

Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst.

August 10, 2023 Posted by | Corruption, War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

Judith Curry: How Climate “Science” Got Hijacked by Alarmists

John Stossel | August 8, 2023

Climate alarmists insist there’s a “scientific consensus” that says climate change is a crisis, and man causes it! Researcher Judith Curry tells me, “it’s a manufactured consensus.”

Curry was a department chair at Georgia Tech when she spread alarm about climate change.

The media loved her then. She claimed there was an increase in hurricane intensity.

But then some researchers pointed out gaps in her research: years with low levels of hurricanes.

“Like a good scientist, I went in and investigated.”

When she acknowledged a lack of evidence that hurricane intensity had increased, she was ruthlessly attacked by climate alarmists. Her career suffered.

Now Curry reveals nefarious ways “the science” about climate change has been corrupted.

John Stossel:

We are told climate change is a crisis, and that there is an “overwhelming scientific consensus”.

“It’s a manufactured consensus,” says climate scientist Judith Curry in my new video. She says scientists have an incentive to exaggerate risk to pursue “fame and fortune”.

She knows about that because she once spread alarm about climate change.

Media loved her when she published a study that seemed to show a dramatic increase in hurricane intensity.

“We found that the percent of Category Four and Five hurricanes had doubled,” says Curry. “This was picked up by the media,” and then climate alarmists realised, “Oh, here is the way to do it. Tie extreme weather events to global warming!” …

“I was adopted by the environmental advocacy groups and the alarmists and I was treated like a rock star,” Curry recounts. “Flown all over the place to meet with politicians.”

But then some researchers pointed out gaps in her research – years with low levels of hurricanes.

“Like a good scientist, I investigated,” says Curry. She realised that the critics were right. “Part of it was bad data. Part of it is natural climate variability.”

Curry was the unusual researcher who looked at criticism of her work and actually concluded “they had a point”.

Then the Climategate scandal taught her that other climate researchers weren’t so open-minded. Alarmist scientists’ aggressive attempts to hide data suggesting climate change is not a crisis were revealed in leaked emails.

“Ugly things,” says Curry. “Avoiding Freedom of Information Act requests. Trying to get journal editors fired.”

It made Curry realise that there is a “climate change industry” set up to reward alarmism.

“The origins go back to the… U.N. environmental programme,” says Curry. Some U.N. officials were motivated by “anti-capitalism. They hated the oil companies and seized on the climate change issue to move their policies along.”

The U.N. created the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

“The IPCC wasn’t supposed to focus on any benefits of warming. The IPCC’s mandate was to look for dangerous human-caused climate change.” …

The researchers quickly figured out that the way to get funded was to make alarmist claims about “man-made climate change”.

August 10, 2023 Posted by | Corruption, Science and Pseudo-Science, Video | | Leave a comment

Last Stop Before Willoughby

By William Schryver – imetatronink – August 9, 2023

“What the West has, and has had for some time now, is a single-shot military. One serious campaign, whether finally won or lost, would disarm the West for a decade.” — “Aurelien“

This, folks, is the simple truth of the matter.

The US simply could not, at this moment — nor at any time in even the medium-term future — mount and sustain a campaign the size, intensity, and duration of what we have seen in Ukraine for the past 18 months.

US logistical chains would have long-since broken down; losses in men and equipment — including LOTS of cargo ships and their warship escorts — would have been calamitous.

Oh, sure, there’s the huge chorus of people who are gung-ho convinced that US air and naval power would overcome all obstacles in a matter of days, bringing the presumptuous Russians to their knees.

That’s not what would happen, you dopes.

What would happen is that, despite a few spectacular successes to stuff the first 24-hour news cycle, the “full-spectrum dominance” everyone believes the US wields would suffer severe immediate losses across the entire military spectrum.

Dozens of US aircraft of all types would be shot down in the first 100 hours of war. Several US ships would be damaged or sunk. US bases in both Europe and around the globe would be struck. US airborne ISR assets would be aggressively targeted; military and communications satellite arrays would be disabled.

Within literally just a few days, the US would start to experience severe stand-off strike munitions shortages, greatly exacerbated by the high interception rate Russian air defenses would achieve.

The Russians have already demonstrated, over the past 18 months, that they can shoot down ANY manner of strike missile the US can field against them — not all of them all the time, but most of them most of the time.

No other military on the planet has previously attested this level of capability. The US does not have it, and is almost certainly at least a decade away from developing it.

And, make no mistake, if the US were to strike at targets on Russian soil, the Russians would strike back at targets on US soil. I do not believe they would launch a nuclear “first-strike” against the US, but I can guarantee they would use their submarine fleet and conventional long-range airstrike capability to hit strategic targets on US soil.

It would be a shocking exhibition of 21st century great power warfare.

Both sides would be hurt badly, but the Russians would not be even severely depleted, let alone defeated, whereas the US would be hurt in a fashion it has never experienced in its history, only to then look around and discover itself in a state of acute logistical crisis after only a fortnight of high-intensity combat operations.

That will be the moment of decision; the last stop before Willoughby, as it were.

And, if the scenario I have sketched were to actually develop, there will come a moment, fairly early on, when saner heads within the halls of empire — those who have, hitherto, acquiesced as this catastrophe unfolded — well, they will have to choose to finally act to stop the madness, or stand idly by as they and all the rest of us are acted upon by events that spiral out of control.

August 9, 2023 Posted by | Militarism, Timeless or most popular | , | Leave a comment

US Senate Candidate Says NATO ‘Dinosaur of an Institution,’ Should Be Dissolved

Sputnik – 09.08.2023

WASHINGTON – NATO is a relic and should have been abolished after German reunification, independent candidate for the US Senate from New York Diane Sare told Sputnik.

“I think NATO should be dissolved. I think it should have been dissolved when Germany was reunified,” Sare said. “I think frankly, it’s dead already. I mean, you know, there’s so much dissent within NATO already as it is. It is a dinosaur of an institution. So I don’t think it’s really going to be around that much longer.”

The future of the alliance depends on how long some of its members in Europe “who are bearing the brunt of the insanity of the current American and British leadership want to stick around and play that game having their economies destroyed,” she continued.

The candidate declined to speculate on how the alliance would fall apart, but expressed belief that “it’s simply not going to be able to continue” because “it’s really a dead institution.”

NATO has not stopped expanding since the dissolution of the rival Warsaw Pact and collapse of the Soviet Union, drawing the ire of Moscow. The relationship took a nosedive over a 2014 change of power in Ukraine and Crimea’s accession to Russia.

In December 2021, Russia requested guarantees that the alliance would not expand eastward to include Ukraine and Georgia, but was refused. In February 2022, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine.

NATO responded by deploying even more troops to the eastern flank. At the Vilnius summit in July this year, the alliance reaffirmed that Ukraine will become a NATO member and removed the requirement for a Membership Action Plan to accelerate its accession after the conflict with Russia ends.

August 9, 2023 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Biden family received money from Russia – Congress

RT | August 9, 2023

The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday published receipts showing Hunter Biden, the son of current US President Joe Biden, receiving money from Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan by trading on the family name.

The committee says it has identified $20 million in payments from foreign sources to Hunter Biden’s company, which they describe as a front to sell access to the “Biden network” while his father was Barack Obama’s vice-president (2009-2017).

“During Joe Biden’s vice presidency, Hunter Biden sold him as ‘the brand’ to reap millions from oligarchs in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. It appears no real services were provided other than access to the Biden network, including Joe Biden himself. And Hunter Biden seems to have delivered,” said committee chair James Comer, a Kentucky Republican.

The third bank memo Comer has published so far shows a February 14, 2014 wire transfer from “Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina” to Rosemont Seneca Thornton, a shell company run by Hunter Biden and his business partner Devon Archer. Of the $3.5 million wired by Baturina, $1 million was transferred directly to Archer, while the rest was used to start up Rosemont Seneca Bohai, a new account used to receive more funding from abroad, the committee said.

Another memo shows that Biden and Archer were both appointed to the board of directors of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas company run by Mykola Zlochevsky, for $1 million each per year. Burisma had previously paid Biden as counsel, but invited him and Archer to the board after a meeting hosted by Zlochevsky and Burisma corporate secretary Vadim Pozharsky in the spring of 2014 at Lake Como in Italy.

“Then-Vice President Joe Biden visited Ukraine soon after their first payments,” the committee noted, and Hunter claimed that the visit showed “value” that he provided to the company.

The third notable transaction took place in April 2014, when “Kazakhstani oligarch” Kenes Rakishev wired $142,300 to Rosemont Seneca Bohai. The very next day, the company paid Hunter Biden the same exact amount for a sports car. Hunter had met Rakishev at a Washington, DC hotel in February.

“Hunter Biden received millions of dollars in payments from Yelena Baturina, Burisma, and Kenes Rakishev. Vice President Biden had dinner with them in the spring of 2014 and 2015 in Washington, DC,” the committee pointed out.

Joe Biden was the Obama administration’s point man for Ukraine policy after the 2014 Maidan coup in Kiev, and famously bragged at a 2018 DC event about getting a prosecutor fired by threatening to withhold loan guarantees. The prosecutor in question had been investigating Burisma. When then-president Donald Trump brought the incident up in 2019 talks with Kiev, the House Democrats impeached him, claiming this somehow violated US laws.

August 9, 2023 Posted by | Corruption, Deception | , , , | Leave a comment

‘Woke’ extremist ideology in US military – danger or blessing for the world?

By Drago Bosnic | August 9, 2023

For decades, when referring to the US military, the mainstream propaganda machine has been parroting about “the most powerful force in human history”. And while that assertion might’ve held in the late 1990s/2000s, at the time when Russia was still suffering the consequences of Soviet dismantlement while China was far from its zenith, the situation is vastly different nowadays. Namely, the US-led political West has been taken over by what many Americans themselves call the “woke mind virus”. And while such terminology may sound harsh or even offensive, it’s exceedingly difficult to disprove it, as demonstrated by the current disastrous state of Western/pro-Western societies.

The forced proliferation of this truly depraved ideology has become virtually omnipresent, despite the fact that it destroys virtually anything it comes into contact with. In terms of economics, it ravaged so many companies that the catchphrase “go woke, go broke” has become an axiom of sorts. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, the “woke mind virus” keeps expanding. Its influence is so far-reaching that it’s even become the dominant ideology in the US military, effectively rebranding the catchphrase to “go woke, go weak”. During the so-called “pride month”, the US Army shared a story about a “transgender Major who now identifies as a woman after previously being suicidally depressed”. If you’re dumbfounded by this word salad, wait until you hear the rest of this bizarre story.

The US Department of Defense (DoD) tweeted that “Major Rachel Jones embraced authenticity” and that “this should inspire us all” after “she” became the head of the US Army Sustainment Command’s Cyber Division. Proponents of such policies usually (over)use the phrase “stunning and brave” to show their support, so much so that those opposing “wokeism” now regularly use it as a sarcastic remark. And this is certainly not an “isolated incident”, as the case of Major Jones is neither a rarity nor is “she” the highest-ranking “transgender” officer. Namely, Rachel Levine (for some reason, the name Rachel seems to be very popular in such circles) holds the rank of admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

In addition, Levine is also the Assistant Secretary for Health and is infamous for claiming that “puberty blockers” and “transition surgeries” are supposedly “necessary” to curb suicide rates among children. Apart from Levine, the US government employs other “transgender” people, even ignoring their criminal activities in order to fill its “woke quotas”. Last year, the Department of Energy (DoE) hired Sam Brinton as a “nuclear waste guru”. After months of attempts to conceal his scandalous behavior which also includes a kleptomaniacal tendency to steal women’s purses, the administration was forced to fire him. In May this year, he was even arrested after repeatedly dodging police due to his former high-ranking position.

And while the DoE is officially not part of the military command structure, its cooperation with the DoD is of prime importance for the US military. Namely, DoE’s subdivisions dealing with nuclear technologies are partially responsible for maintaining America’s strategic arsenal and Brinton was employed precisely by one such office. Having deeply mentally unstable individuals in charge of anything (much less nuclear facilities) casts serious doubt on the very mental capacity of those who hire them. And yet, “woke” extremists are adamant that raising such concerns is supposedly “transphobic”. Back in July, during testimony before Congress, Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard Clark declared his full support for the ideology.

When Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) asked him about this, Clark admitted that not even he could define many of the gender ideology terms the Air Force Academy officially endorses. This includes something called “demi-gender”, as Clark “doesn’t know what on Earth that even is”. The program includes other terms such as “cisgender, non-binary, a-gender, bi-gender, two-spirit”, etc. Clark also insisted that “inclusivity” and “diversity” are a “war-fighting imperative”. Apparently, having more “two-spirit” lesbians in the military will make it bulletproof. Maybe the US should test that theory on the battlefield and see how it goes. However, in all seriousness, the results of this obsession have been disastrous for the Pentagon. The already low interest to join the US military has now dwindled to almost nothing.

And yet, the political leadership doesn’t want to deal with this. On the contrary, it’s seeking culprits in others, including those who fought in America’s endless wars around the globe. Namely, the Wall Street Journal is now blaming the veterans for abysmal recruitment numbers, as they’re actively discouraging their family members from joining the military precisely because of “woke” extremism. Thus, on one hand, this obsession is certainly dangerous when people with obvious mental illnesses are placed in high-ranking positions (particularly those involving nuclear tech). On the other hand, disincentivizing participation in US aggression against the world is actually a net positive for everyone, including Americans themselves.

Why would anyone want to die in yet another pointless war halfway around the world for the sake of people with highly questionable mental health, only to then have their families be forced to pay for the repatriation of the remains? Worse yet, after it somehow managed to lose a horribly one-sided 20-year war against outnumbered and outgunned AK-wielding insurgents in sandals while wasting trillions of dollars, the US chose a virtually direct confrontation with a military superpower armed with the world’s most powerful thermonuclear arsenal and whose highly motivated and superbly armed/trained soldiers have been able to easily overcome even the best NATO-backed troops, as evidenced by the recent case of a single T-90M neutralizing an entire armored column of Kiev regime forces.

However, it should be noted that, most unfortunately for the Russians, each T-90M crew member reportedly has only one mom, meaning that the Russian military is sorely lacking in “war-fighting imperatives”. It seems Moscow’s generals and strategists are busy with “trivialities” such as postulating new unbeatable military doctrines and modernizing their arsenal with unstoppable missiles. That probably explains why even goats and pickle jar-wielding old ladies are “defeating Russia”.

Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst.

August 9, 2023 Posted by | Aletho News | | Leave a comment

Niger rejects rules-based order

BY M. K. BHADRAKUMAR | INDIAN PUNCHLINE | AUGUST 8, 2023 

The coup in the West African state of Niger on July 26 and the Russia-Africa Summit the next day in St. Petersburg are playing out in the backdrop of multipolarity in the world order. Seemingly independent events, they capture nonetheless the zeitgeist of our transformative era.

First, the big picture — the Africa summit hosted by Russia on July 27-28 poses a big challenge to the West, which instinctively sought to downplay the event after having failed to lobby against sovereign African nations meeting the Russian leadership. 49 African countries sent their delegations to St. Petersburg, with seventeen heads of states traveling in person to Russia to discuss political, humanitarian and economic issues. For the host country, which is in the middle of a war, this was a remarkable diplomatic success. 

The summit was quintessentially a political event. Its leitmotif was the juxtaposition of Russia’s long-standing support for Africans resisting imperialism and the predatory nature of western neo-colonialism. This works brilliantly for Russia today,  which has no colonial history of exploitation and plunder of Africa. 

While every now and then skeletons from the colonial era keep rolling out of the Western closet, dating back to the unlamented African slave trade,  Russia taps into the Soviet legacy of being on the ‘right side of history’ — even resurrecting the full name of Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia in Moscow.  

Yet, it wasn’t all politics. The summit deliberations on Russia-Africa partnership helping the continent achieve ‘‘food sovereignty,’’ alternatives to the grain deal, new logistics corridors for Russian food and fertilisers; enhancement of trade, economic, cultural, educational, scientific, and security cooperation; Africa potentially joining the International North–South Transport Corridor; Russia’s participation in African infrastructure projects; Russia-Africa Partnership Forum Action Plan to 2026 — these testify to the quantifiable outcome.  

Enter Niger. The most recent developments in Niger underscore the leitmotif of the Russia-Africa summit. Russia’s prognosis of the African crisis stands vindicated — the continuing ravages of Western imperialism. This is evident from the reports of Russian flags seen at demonstrations in Niamey, Niger’s capital. 

The rebels who seized power lost no time to denounce Niger’s military-technical cooperation agreements with France, which has been followed up with the demand that France withdraw its troops within 30 days. On its part, France has spoken ‘‘firmly and resolutely’’ in favour of foreign military intervention ‘‘to suppress the coup attempt.’’ The French authorities made it clear that they have no plan to withdraw their armed contingent of 1,500 people who are in Niger “at the request of the legitimate authorities of the country on the basis of signed agreements.” 

France’s stance comes as no surprise – Paris does not want to lose its position in Sahel region and the cheap source of resources, especially uranium. But France miscalculated that the coup didn’t enjoy the support of the Nigerien military or had a social base, and all that was needed to roll it back would be a limited demonstration of force that would compel the elite presidential guard to begin direct negotiations with France.   

France and the US coordinate their actions with the Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS]. The ECOWAS initially did some sabre-rattling but has piped down. Its deadline for intervention has passed. The ECOWAS simply does not have a mechanism for the rapid gathering of troops and the coordination of hostilities, and its powerhouse Nigeria has its hands full tackling internal security. The Nigerian public opinion feels wary about a blowback — Niger is a large country and has a 1500-kilometre long porous border with Nigeria. An unspoken truth is, Nigeria is hardly interested in increasing the French military presence in Niger or on being on the same side with France, which is extremely unpopular throughout the Sahel.  

The mother of all surprises is that the military coup enjoys a groundswell of popular support. Under the circumstances, the strong likelihood is that the French troops may be forced to leave Niger, its former colony. Niger is a victim of neo-colonial exploitation. Under the guise of fighting terrorism, which is, ironically, a spillover from the NATO intervention in Libya in 2011 spearheaded by none other than France into the Sahel region, France ruthlessly exploited Niger’s mineral resources.  

A noted Nigerian poet and literary critic Prof. Osundare wrote last week,  ‘‘Probe the cause, course, and symptoms of the present resurgence of military coups in West Africa. Find a cure for this pandemic. More important, find a cure for the plague of political and socio-economic injustices responsible for the inevitability of its recurrence. Remember the present brutish anarchy in Libya and the countless repercussions of the destabilisation of that once blooming country for the West African region.’’ 

The only regional state that can afford effective military intervention in Niger is Algeria. But Algeria has neither any experience in conducting such operations on a regional scale nor has any intention to depart from its consistent policy of non-interference in the internal politics of a sovereign country. Algeria has warned against any external military intervention in Niger. ‘‘Flaunting military intervention in Niger is a direct threat to Algeria, and we completely and categorically reject it… Problems should be solved peacefully,” said Algerian president Abdelmadjid Tebboune.   

At its core, without doubt, the coup in Niger Republic narrows down to a struggle between Nigeriens and the colonial powers. To be sure, the growing trend of multipolarity in the world order emboldens African nations to shake off neo-colonialism. This is one thing. On the other hand, the big powers are being compelled to negotiate rather than dictate. 

Interestingly, Washington has been relatively restrained. President Biden’s espousal of ‘’values’’ fell far short of the diktat on  ‘‘rules-based order’’ — although America reportedly has 3 military bases in Niger. In the multipolar setting, African nations are gaining space to negotiate. Russia’s pro activism will spur this process. China also has economic stakes in in Niger.

Notably, the coup leader Abdurahman Tchiani is on record that “the French have no objective reasons to leave Niger,” signalling that a fair and equitable relationship is possible. Russia has been cautious that the key task at the moment is “to prevent further degradation of the situation in the country.” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, ‘‘We consider it an urgent task to organise a national dialogue to restore civil peace, ensure law and order… we believe that the threat of the use of force against a sovereign state will not contribute to defusing tensions and resolving the situation in the country,” .

Clearly, Niamey will not succumb to pressure from outsiders. “Niger’s armed forces and all our defence and security forces, backed by the unfailing support of our people, are ready to defend the integrity of our territory,” a junta representative said in a statement. A delegation from Niamey went to Mali asking for Russian-affiliated Wagner fighters to join the fight in the event of a Western-backed intervention.

An early resolution of the crisis around Niger is not to be expected. Niger is a key state in the fight against the jihadi network and is linked strategically and structurally to neighbouring Mali. And the situation in the Sahel region is escalating. This has profound implications for the crisis of statehood in West Africa as a whole. 

American exceptionalism is not a universal panacea for existing ills. The Pentagon helped train at least one of the coup leaders in Niger — and those in Mali and Burkina Faso, which have promised to come to Niger’s defence. Yet, speaking from Niamey on Monday, the visiting US acting deputy secretary of state Victoria Nuland lamented that the coup leaders refused to allow her to meet with the ousted president Mohamed Bazoum and were unreceptive to US calls to return the country to civilian rule.

Nuland’s mission aimed at dissuading the coup leaders from engaging with the Wagner group but she was unsure of success. Nuland was not granted a meeting with General Tchiani.  

August 8, 2023 Posted by | Aletho News | , , , | Leave a comment

SDF ‘frustrated’ with US silence over repeated Turkish attacks

The Cradle | August 8, 2023

The US-backed Kurdish militia, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has become increasingly frustrated with Washington over its failure to condemn continued Turkish attacks against the group, Al-Akhbar daily reported on 8 August.

The Kurdish group has released several statements this month “denouncing the silence” of the US coalition in Syria, and “holding them responsible” for the surge in attacks against their leaders. 

According to the newspaper, Kurdish officials held a recent interview in which they, for the first time, explicitly condemned US silence on Ankara’s strikes. 

The widening of the gap between Washington and its Kurdish proxy can be attributed to three factors, Kurdish sources told Al-Akhbar. 

The first is that some in the SDF continue to see Washington as a permanent partner, while the US wishes to “limit” its relationship with the Kurdish group. The report explains it as Washington’s “keenness not to disturb its relationship with Turkiye.” 

The second is the US failure to help the SDF implement its goal of full self-determination and autonomy in northern Syria. 

The third factor is viewed by the SDF as the “most dangerous,” and is the US plan to forge new alliances with the Arab tribes of the region – which, according to earlier reports, may include merging SDF forces with Arab tribal troops organized by Washington. 

The SDF has long viewed such a plan as a threat to its Kurdish identity. 

According to the Al-Akhbar report, a leader in the Deir Ezzor Military Council – a council of Arab tribesmen organized by the US – recently launched a rebellion against the SDF with support from Washington. 

The Arab tribal leader, Abu Khawla, “would not have dared to rebel against the SDF had it not been for the implicit support of the US,” the report adds. 

On 3 August, a Turkish drone strike resulted in the killing of four SDF members. 

The following day, the SDF released a statement urging Washington to take a clear and final stance on Ankara’s continued strikes against its Kurdish ally. 

With this distance from the US, some have suggested that the SDF has been torn on who to depend on for its future in the country. 

As a result, it has recently held several rounds of talks with Damascus. While failing to reach any agreements regarding its wish to maintain autonomy, the SDF remains on the same page as Bashar al-Assad’s government when it comes to the Turkish occupation of Syria. 

In the past, the two sides have coordinated against the Turkish presence in Syria. 

SDF chief Mazloum Abdi in April expressed openness to potentially merging his forces with the Syrian army at some point in the future. 

August 8, 2023 Posted by | Aletho News | , , | Leave a comment

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