Haaretz | (archived) The
disaster that befell Israel on the holiday of Simchat Torah is the
clear responsibility of one person: Benjamin Netanyahu. The prime
minister, who has prided himself on his vast political experience and
irreplaceable wisdom in security matters, completely failed to identify
the dangers he was consciously leading Israel into when establishing a
government of annexation and dispossession, when appointing Bezalel
Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir to key positions, while embracing a foreign
policy that openly ignored the existence and rights of Palestinians.
Netanyahu
will certainly try to evade his responsibility and cast the blame on
the heads of the army, Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet security
service who, like their predecessors on the eve of the Yom Kippur War,
saw a low probability of war with their preparations for a Hamas attack proving flawed.
They
scorned the enemy and its offensive military capabilities. Over the
next days and weeks, when the depth of Israel Defense Forces and
intelligence failures come to light, a justified demand to replace them
and take stock will surely arise.
However,
the military and intelligence failure does not absolve Netanyahu of his
overall responsibility for the crisis, as he is the ultimate arbiter of
Israeli foreign and security affairs. Netanyahu is no novice in this
role, like Ehud Olmert was in the Second Lebanon War. Nor is he ignorant
in military matters, as Golda Meir in 1973 and Menachem Begin in 1982
claimed to be.
Netanyahu
also shaped the policy embraced by the short-lived “government of
change” led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid: a multidimensional effort
to crush the Palestinian national movement in both its wings, in Gaza
and the West Bank, at a price that would seem acceptable to the Israeli
public.
In
the past, Netanyahu marketed himself as a cautious leader who eschewed
wars and multiple casualties on Israel’s side. After his victory in the
last election, he replaced this caution with the policy of a
“fully-right government,” with overt steps taken to annex the West Bank, to carry out ethnic cleansing in parts of the Oslo-defined Area C, including the Hebron Hills and the Jordan Valley.
This
also included a massive expansion of settlements and bolstering of the
Jewish presence on Temple Mount, near the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as
boasts of an impending peace deal with the Saudis in which the
Palestinians would get nothing, with open talk of a “second Nakba” in
his governing coalition. As expected, signs of an outbreak of
hostilities began in the West Bank, where Palestinians started feeling
the heavier hand of the Israeli occupier. Hamas exploited the
opportunity in order to launch its surprise attack on Saturday.
Above
all, the danger looming over Israel in recent years has been fully
realized. A prime minister indicted in three corruption cases cannot
look after state affairs, as national interests will necessarily be
subordinate to extricating him from a possible conviction and jail time.
This
was the reason for establishing this horrific coalition and the
judicial coup advanced by Netanyahu, and for the enfeeblement of top
army and intelligence officers, who were perceived as political
opponents. The price was paid by the victims of the invasion in the Western Negev.
al-jazeera | Since World War II, the US has vied to achieve two main foreign policy objectives in the Middle East:
Control the region and its resources and prop-up its allies (often
dictators), while maintaining a degree of “stability” so that the US is
able to conduct its business unhindered.
Nevertheless, Israel remained on the warpath. Wars that Israel couldn’t fight on its own required American intervention on Israel’s behalf, as was the case in Iraq.
The outcome was disastrous for US foreign policy. Even hardened
military men began noticing the destructive path their country had
chosen in order to defend Israel.
In March 2010, General David Petraeus, then head of the US Central Command told
the Senate Armed Services Committee during a testimony that Israel had
become a liability for the US and that has become a challenge to
“security and stability”, which his country aimed to achieve.
He said: “Israeli-Palestinian tensions often flare into violence and
large-scale armed confrontations. The conflict foments anti-American
sentiment, due to a perception of US favouritism for Israel. Arab anger
over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of US
partnerships with governments and peoples in the AOR (Area of
Operations) and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab
World. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that anger
to mobilise support.”
Although speaking strictly from a US military interest, the Israeli
lobby attacked Petraeus almost immediately. Abe Foxman, Director of the
Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which often mischaracterises its role as
that of combating racism in the US lashed out at the top American commander calling his conclusions “dangerous and counterproductive.”
That spectacle alone demonstrated that Israel’s power in the US has grown tremendously through time.
In the US, no one is immune to Israeli criticism, including the
president himself, who is expected to accommodate Israeli whims, without
expecting any Israeli reciprocation.
A particularly telling episode revealed the degree of Israeli
influence in the US, when then-House Speaker John Boehner plotted with
then-Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer to arrange a visit
and a speech before Congress for Netanyahu, in defiance of President
Obama.
Netanyahu then raged and raved before a united Congress (with a few
exceptions) that repeatedly endowed the Israeli prime minister with many
standing ovations as he belittled their president and strongly
criticised US foreign policy on Iran.
Obama felt isolated as if a target of a political coup; a few Democrats fumbled in a disorganised press conference to respond to Netanyahu’s accusations, but they were certainly the tiny minority.
That spectacle alone demonstrated that Israel’s power in the US has
grown tremendously through time from a “client regime”, to a “partner”.
But how did Israel achieve such commanding influence over US foreign policy?
WSJ | Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas’s Saturday surprise attack on Israel
and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last
Monday, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, another
Iran-backed militant group.
Officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had worked with Hamas since August to devise the air, land and sea incursions—the most significant breach of Israel’s borders since the 1973 Yom Kippur War—those people said.
Details of the operation were refined during several meetings in Beirut attended by IRGC officers and representatives of four Iran-backed militant groups, including Hamas, which holds power in Gaza, and Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group and political faction in Lebanon, they said.
U.S.
officials say they haven’t seen evidence of Tehran’s involvement. In an
interview with CNN that aired Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken
said: “We have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind
this particular attack, but there is certainly a long relationship.”
“We don’t have any information at this time to corroborate this account,” said a U.S. official of the meetings.
A
European official and an adviser to the Syrian government, however,
gave the same account of Iran’s involvement in the lead-up to the attack
as the senior Hamas and Hezbollah members.
Asked
about the meetings, Mahmoud Mirdawi, a senior Hamas official, said the
group planned the attacks on its own. “This is a Palestinian and Hamas
decision,” he said.
How the Hamas Attack on Israel Unfolded
A
spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations said the Islamic
Republic stood in support of Gaza’s actions but didn’t direct them.
“The
decisions made by the Palestinian resistance are fiercely autonomous
and unwaveringly aligned with the legitimate interests of the
Palestinian people,” the spokesman said. “We are not involved in
Palestine’s response, as it is taken solely by Palestine itself.”
A
direct Iranian role would take Tehran’s long-running conflict with
Israel out of the shadows, raising the risk of broader conflict in the
Middle East. Senior Israeli security officials have pledged to strike at
Iran’s leadership if Tehran is found responsible for killing Israelis.
The
IRGC’s broader plan is to create a multi-front threat that can strangle
Israel from all sides—Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine in the north and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and
Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, according to the senior Hamas and
Hezbollah members and an Iranian official.
timesofindia | NEW DELHI: Israel carried out deadly air strikes and pounded hundreds of locations in Gaza on Sunday, a day after suffering its bloodiest attack in decades when Hamas fighters rampaged through Israeli towns, killing hundreds and abducting an unknown number of others, threatening a major new war in the Middle East.
Across the Middle East, there were demonstrations in support of Hamas while Iran and Hezbollah praised the attack.
Western countries, led by the United States, have denounced the attack by Hamas, while President Joe Biden issued a blunt warning to Iran and other countries: "This is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks."
Israel pounds Gaza after deadly Hamas raid as conflict threatens to spiral
Osama Hamdan, Hamas leader in Lebanon, said Saturday's operation should make Arab states realise that accepting Israeli security demands would not bring peace. Our guns and rockets are with you: Hezbollah tells Hamas
In a sign the conflict could quickly spread beyond Gaza, Israeli artillery responded to mortar fire from Lebanon and drone strikes hit a post of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia along Israel's northern border on Sunday.
Hezbollah said in a statement that it had carried out a rocket and artillery attack on three posts including a "radar site" in the Shebaa Farms, a slice of land occupied by Israel since 1967 that Lebanon claims. Israel responded with artillery fire on southern Lebanon. There were no reports of casualties.
Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine said his group's "guns and rockets" were with Hamas. "Our history, our guns and our rockets are with you. Everything we have is with you," Safieddine said at an event in the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahieh on Beirut's outskirts in solidarity with the Palestinian fighters.
Hezbollah and Israel exchange fire as Israeli soldiers battle Hamas on second day of surprise attack
Hezbollah fought a war with Israel in 2006 and tensions have regularly flared since.
"We recommend Hezbollah not to come into this and I don't think they will," Israel's army spokesperson said.
Taliban fighters to join Palestine conflict?
Meanwhile, some media reports also stated that the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has requested the Iranian and Iraqi governments to provide safe passage to its fighters so they can join the conflict in Palestine. Most of the reports have cited a social media account on X by the name 'Taliban Public Relations Department'. The authenticity of the social media account has not been verified.
Several media reports have cited a Taliban spokesperson who denied that any such request had been sent to Iran or Iraq.
Ever since storming to power in Kabul after US troops pulled out in August 2021, the Taliban has been attempting -- with little success -- to train its fighters to use US military hardware that has been left behind. The fighters are, however, well armed.
More than $7.1 billion in US-funded military equipment was in the possession of the Afghan government when it fell to the Taliban in August 2021, according to a Defense Department report. Though more than half of it was ground vehicles, it also included more than 316,000 weapons plus ammunition and other accessories.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, meanwhile, said the assault that began in Gaza will spread to the West Bank and Jerusalem. Gazans have lived under an Israeli blockade for 16 years, since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007.
Why is al-Aqsa at the centre of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
In a speech, Haniyeh highlighted what he called threats to Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque, a site that is also holy to Jews who know it as the Temple Mount, the continuation of Israel's blockade on Gaza and Israeli normalisation with countries in the region.
"How many times have we warned you that the Palestinian people have been living in refugee camps for 75 years, and you refuse to recognise the rights of our people?"
WSJ | As
explosions rang out and bullets flew over Tamir Erez’s home in Mefalsim
near the Gaza Strip border, he said he kept asking himself, “Where is
the Israeli military?” He fled town with his children holding their
heads down so they couldn’t see the bodies of dead Israelis killed by
Palestinian militants.
“It will take a long time for us to recover from this day,” Erez said.
Israel’s failure to anticipate an attack Saturday
that left hundreds of soldiers and civilians dead and militants
rampaging through villages punctured a sense of invincibility built on
its vaunted military and intelligence apparatus. It left the world
questioning what went wrong and Israel’s leaders facing pressure to
retaliate with overwhelming force.
The assault came as Israel faces its most difficult series of threats
in the decades since what remains the country’s greatest security
failure, the Yom Kippur War, the surprise attack launched 50 years ago
this week by Egyptian and Syrian forces.
Iran has provided unprecedented coordination
among the forces of several militant groups, including Hamas in Gaza
and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and stoked deadly conflict in the West Bank,
putting Israel at risk on three fronts.
Using
rockets, paragliders, motorcycles, pickup trucks, and boats, Hamas
militants from the Gaza Strip launched a coordinated attack that showed
an unexpected level of sophistication.
Israeli
forces appeared to be caught completely by surprise as Hamas militants
in Gaza used bulldozers to tear down the security fence with Israel and
streamed into the country.
How Israel’s Iron Dome works
Interception
The missile destroys the incoming rocket by exploding near it.
Launcher
Each has 20 interceptor missiles
with an in-built radar seeker
Mobile control Unit
Analyses trajectory, estimates impact point and commands launch of interceptor missile
Radar
Identifies rocket shell
Source: Rafael Advanced Defense Systems
“Clearly
this was a well-planned operation that didn’t just emerge overnight and
it’s surprising it was not detected by Israel or any of its security
partners,” said Brian Katulis, vice president of policy at the Middle
East Institute think tank in Washington. “It’s hard to think of a
security failure of this magnitude in Israel’s recent history.”
Israeli security leaders had played down the threat from Hamas
in recent months, as the group abstained from conflicts started by its
smaller ally in Gaza, Palestinian Islamic Jihad. There was a sense that
Israel, with its Iron Dome air defense systems, had rendered ineffective
Gaza’s main threat of short-range rockets.
Last
month, the Israeli military confidently characterized Gaza as being in a
state of “stable instability,” suggesting that the dangers posed by
Hamas militants were largely contained.
Recent
Israeli intelligence assessments of Hamas were that the militant group
had shifted its focus to trying to stoke violence in the West Bank and
that it was looking to avoid launching major attacks from Gaza in an
effort to avoid the kinds of punishing Israeli military responses that
have devastated the isolated area in the past.
kremlin.ru |President
of Russia Vladimir Putin: Participants in the plenary session, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
I am glad
to welcome you all in Sochi at the anniversary meeting of the Valdai
International Discussion Club. The moderator has already mentioned that this is
the 20th annual meeting.
In keeping
with
its traditions, our, or should I say your forum, has brought together
political
leaders and researchers, experts and civil society activists from many
countries around the world, once again reaffirming its high status
as a relevant intellectual platform. The Valdai discussions invariably
reflect the most important global political processes in the 21st
century in their entirety and complexity. I am certain that this will
also be the case
today, as it probably was in the preceding days when you debated with
each
other. It will also stay this way moving forward because our objective
is basically
to build a new world. And it is at these decisive stages that you,
my colleagues, have an extremely important role to play and bear special
responsibility as intellectuals.
Over the years of the club’s work, both Russia and the world have seen drastic, and even
dramatic, colossal changes. Twenty years is not a long period by historical
standards, but during eras when the entire world order is crumbling, time seems
to shrink.
I think you will agree that more events have taken place in the past 20
years than over decades in some historical periods before, and it was major changes
that dictated the fundamental transformation of the very principles of international relations.
In the early 21st
century, everybody hoped that states and peoples had learned
the lessons of the expensive and destructive military and ideological
confrontations of the previous century, saw their harmfulness
and the fragility and interconnectedness of our planet, and understood
that the global problems of humanity call for joint action
and the search for collective
solutions, while egotism, arrogance and disregard for real challenges
would
inevitably lead to a dead-end, just like the attempts by more powerful
countries
to force their opinions and interests onto everyone else. This should
have
become obvious to everyone. It should have, but it has not. It has not.
When
we met for the first time at the club’s meeting nearly 20 years
ago, our country was entering a new stage in its development. Russia was
emerging from an extremely difficult period of convalescence after
the Soviet
Union’s dissolution. We launched the process of building a new and what
we saw as a more just world order energetically and with good will. It
is a boon that our
country can make a huge contribution because we have things to offer
to our
friends, partners and the world as a whole.
Regrettably,
our interest in constructive interaction was misunderstood,
was seen as obedience, as an agreement that the new world order would be
created by those who declared themselves the winners in the Cold War. It
was
seen as an admission that Russia was ready to follow in others’ wake
and not to be guided by our own national interests but by somebody
else’s interests.
Over
these years, we warned more than once that this approach would not
only lead to a dead-end but that it was fraught with the increasing
threat of a military conflict. But nobody listened to us or wanted
to listen to us. The arrogance of our so-called partners in the West
went through the roof. This is
the only way I can put it.
The United
States
and its satellites have taken a steady course towards hegemony
in military
affairs, politics, the economy, culture and even morals and values.
Since the very
beginning, it has been clear to us that attempts to establish a monopoly
were doomed
to fail. The world is too complicated and diverse to be subjected to one
system,
even if it is backed by the enormous power of the West accumulated over
centuries of its colonial policy. Your colleagues as well – many of them
are absent
today, but they do not deny that to a significant degree, the prosperity
of the West has been achieved by robbing colonies for several
centuries. This is a fact. Essentially, this level of development has
been achieved by robbing the entire planet.
The history
of the West is essentially the chronicle of endless expansion. Western
influence
in the world is an immense military and financial pyramid scheme that
constantly needs more “fuel” to support itself, with natural,
technological and human resources that belong to others. This is why
the West simply cannot and is not going to stop. Our arguments,
reasoning, calls for common sense or proposals have simply been ignored.
I have
said this publicly to both our allies and partners.
There was a moment when I simply suggested: perhaps we should also join
NATO? But no, NATO does not need a country like ours. No.
I want to know, what else do they need? We thought we became part
of the crowd,
got a foot in the door. What else were we supposed to do? There was no
more
ideological confrontation. What was the problem? I guess the problem was
their geopolitical
interests and arrogance towards others. Their self-aggrandisement was
and is the problem.
We
are compelled to respond to ever-increasing military and political
pressure. I have said many times that it
was not us who started the so-called “war in Ukraine.” On the contrary,
we are
trying to end it. It was not us who orchestrated a coup in Kiev
in 2014 – a bloody and anti-constitutional coup. When [similar events]
happen in other
places, we immediately hear all the international media – mainly those
subordinate
to the Anglo-Saxon world, of course – this is unacceptable, this is
impossible,
this is anti-democratic. But the coup in Kiev was acceptable. They even
cited
the amount of money spent on this coup. Anything was suddenly
acceptable.
At that
time, Russia tried its best to support the people of Crimea
and Sevastopol. We did not try to overthrow the government or intimidate
the people in Crimea and Sevastopol, threatening them with
ethnic cleansing in the Nazi spirit. It was not us who tried to force
Donbass
to obey by shelling and bombing. We did not threaten to kill anyone who
wanted
to speak their native language. Look, everyone here is an informed
and educated
person. It might be possible – excuse my ‘mauvais ton’ – to brainwash
millions
of people who perceive reality through the media. But you must know what
was really
going on: they have been bombing the place for nine years, shooting
and using
tanks. That was a war, a real war unleashed against Donbass. And no one
counted
the dead children in Donbass. No one cried for the dead in other
countries,
especially in the West.
This
war, the one that the regime sitting
in Kiev started with the vigorous and direct support from the West, has
been
going on for more than nine years, and Russia’s special military
operation is
aimed at stopping it. And it reminds us that unilateral steps, no matter
who
takes them, will inevitably prompt retaliation. As we know, every action
has an equal opposite reaction. That is what any responsible state,
every sovereign,
independent and self-respecting country does.
Everyone realises that in an international system where arbitrariness reigns, where all decision-making is
up to those who think they are exceptional, sinless and right, any country can
be attacked simply because it is disliked by a hegemon, who has lost any sense
of proportion – and I would add, any sense of reality.
Unfortunately, we have to admit that our
counterparties in the West have lost their sense of reality and have crossed every
line. They really should not have done this.
The Ukraine crisis is not a territorial conflict, and I want to make that clear. Russia is the world’s
largest country in terms of land area, and we have no interest in conquering additional
territory. We still have much to do to properly develop Siberia, Eastern
Siberia, and the Russian Far East. This is not a territorial conflict and not
an attempt to establish regional geopolitical balance. The issue is much
broader and more fundamental and is about the principles underlying the new international
order.
Lasting
peace will only be possible
when everyone feels safe and secure, understands that their opinions are
respected, and that there is a balance in the world where no one can
unilaterally force or compel others to live or behave as a hegemon
pleases even
when it contradicts the sovereignty, genuine interests, traditions,
or customs
of peoples and countries. In such an arrangement, the very concept
of sovereignty is simply denied and, sorry, is thrown in the garbage.
livemint | Russian politician and former
intelligence officer Vladimir Putin, serving as the president of Russia
since 2012, has turned 71 years on 7 October.
Born on 7 October, 1952, in Leningrad, Soviet Union, Putin is the
youngest of three children of Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin and Maria
Ivanovna Putina.
Details say, his grandfather, Spiridon Putin, was a
personal cook to Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. His father was a
conscript in the Soviet Navy, serving in the submarine fleet in the
early 1930s. But during Nazi German invasion of Soviet Union, his father
served in the destruction battalion of the NKVD, but in 1942
transferred to the regular army and was severely wounded in 1942.
A graduate in law from the Leningrad State University -- now Saint
Petersburg State University -- in 1975, he also received his Ph.D. in
economics at the Saint Petersburg Mining University for a thesis on the
strategic planning of the mineral economy in 1997.
Apart from studies, he also studied German at Saint Petersburg High
School and speaks German as a second language. He practice sambo and
judo.
Career:
Putin joined
the KGB in 1975 and trained at the 401st KGB School in Leningrad's
Okhta. In his career, he was transferred to New Zealand, East Germany,
and other places.
He was appointed as
deputy chief of the Presidential Staff in 1997 by President Boris
Yeltsin and then chief of the Main Control Directorate of the
Presidential Property Management Department.
Putin was appointed First Deputy Chief of the Presidential Staff for
the regions in 1998 and was appointed head of the commission.
He was appointed one of three first deputy prime ministers in 1999
and was appointed acting prime minister of the Government of the Russian
Federation by President Yeltsin.
Putin
has held continuous positions as president or prime minister since 1999.
He served as prime minister from 1999 to 2000 and from 2008 to 2012,
and as president from 2000 to 2008 and since 2012.
Newsweek |Newsweek has also reviewed secret FBI and Department of Homeland Security
data that track incidents, threats, investigations and cases to try to
build a better picture. While experts agree that the current partisan
environment is charged and uniquely dangerous (with the threat not only
of violence but, in the most extreme scenarios, possibly civil war),
many also question whether "terrorism" is the most effective way to
describe the problem, or that the methods of counterterrorism developed
over the past decade in response to Al-Qaeda and other Islamist groups constitute the most fruitful way to craft domestic solutions.
"The
current political environment is not something that the FBI is
necessarily responsible for, nor should it be," says Brian Michael
Jenkins, one of the world's leading terrorism experts and senior adviser
to the president of the RAND Corporation.
In a statement to Newsweek,
the FBI said: "The threat posed by domestic violent extremists is
persistent, evolving, and deadly. The FBI's goal is to detect and stop
terrorist attacks, and our focus is on potential criminal violations,
violence and threats of violence. Anti-government or anti-authority
violent extremism is one category of domestic terrorism, as well as one
of the FBI's top threat priorities." The FBI further said, "We are
committed to protecting the safety and constitutional rights of all
Americans and will never open an investigation based solely on First
Amendment protected activity, including a person's political beliefs or
affiliations."
The White House declined to comment. The Trump campaign was given an opportunity to comment but did not do so.
What the FBI Data Shows
From
the president down, the Biden administration has presented Trump and
MAGA as an existential threat to American democracy and talked up the
risk of domestic terrorism and violence associated with the 2024
election campaign.
"Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans
are a threat to the very soul of this country," President Biden tweeted
last September, the first time that he explicitly singled out the
former president. "MAGA Republicans aim to question not only the
legitimacy of past elections but elections being held now and into the
future," Biden said.
Biden's Homeland Security Advisor Liz
Sherwood-Randall said: "The use of violence to pursue political ends is a
profound threat to our public safety and national security...it is a
threat to our national identity, our values, our norms, our rule of
law—our democracy."
For Attorney General Merrick Garland:
"Attacks by domestic terrorists are attacks on all of us collectively,
aimed at rending the fabric of our democratic society and driving us
apart."
Though the FBI's data shows a dip in the number of
investigations since the slew of January 6 cases ended, FBI Director
Christopher Wray still says that the breach of the Capitol building was
"not an isolated event" and the threat is "not going away anytime soon."
In a joint report to Congress
this June, the Bureau and the Department of Homeland Security say that
"Threats from...DVEs [domestic violent extremists] have increased in the
last two years, and any further increases in threats likely will
correspond to potential flashpoints, such as high-profile elections and
campaigns or contentious current events."
The FBI and DHS report
concludes: "Sociopolitical developments—such as narratives of fraud in
the recent general election, the emboldening impact of the violent
breach of the U.S. Capitol, conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic,
and conspiracy theories promoting violence—will almost certainly spur
some domestic terrorists to try to engage in violence."
The
threats listed in that paragraph are all clearly associated with
America's right and in particular with Trump's MAGA supporters. Right
after January 6, the FBI co-authored a restricted report ("Domestic
Violent Extremists Emboldened in Aftermath of Capitol Breach, Elevated
Domestic Terrorism Threat of Violence Likely Amid Political Transitions
and Beyond") in which it shifted the definition of AGAAVE
("anti-government, anti-authority violent extremism") from "furtherance
of ideological agendas" to "furtherance of political and/or social
agendas." For the first time, such groups could be so labeled because of
their politics.
It was a subtle change, little noticed, but a
gigantic departure for the Bureau. Trump and his army of supporters were
acknowledged as a distinct category of domestic violent extremists,
even as the FBI was saying publicly that political views were never part
of its criteria to investigate or prevent domestic terrorism. Where the
FBI sees threats is also plain from the way it categorizes them—a
system which on the surface is designed to appear nonpartisan. This
shifted subtly days after the events of January 6 when it comes to what
the Bureau calls AGAAVE.
"We cannot and do not investigate
ideology," a senior FBI official reassured the press after January 6.
"We focus on individuals who commit or intend to commit violence or
criminal activity that constitutes a federal crime or poses a threat to
national security."
RT | The McCarthy drama shows that a small band of representatives can actually change things in Washington – even if all it leads to is chaos.
Former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy just
got ousted from his post as the third-highest constitutional officer in
Washington after a contingent of Republican lawmakers joined Democrats
to remove him.
While the details of this situation are, to be
honest, pretty hilarious and indicate a lack of a serious plan by those
GOP members, it also reveals what’s possible if elected representatives
in America actually hold the establishment’s feet to the fire.
First, a word on what happened. In a nutshell, Florida Representative Matt Gaetz forced a vote on a motion to vacate the office of the speaker after threatening to do
so last week because McCarthy apparently acquiesced to Democrats by
passing a bipartisan temporary spending bill, funding the government
through November 17 and narrowly avoiding a government shutdown.
Where it goes from there is not fully detailed yet, but some emerging reports from the right-wing press, such as Fox News,
suggest that even the Republicans who joined Gaetz, first of all,
weren’t even sure of their own votes until the very moment they cast
them. They also don’t seem to have any sort of plan at all.
Acting Speaker Patrick McHenry adjourned the House, since pretty much
the only thing he can do is form a session to specifically vote for a
new speaker (this has never happened before and the rules are vague).
With the House adjourned, no congressional hearings can happen,
subpoenas can’t go through, and committees can’t convene. This is
telling because the same Republicans who ousted McCarthy are also
leading an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden. Without a
speaker, the impeachment process is halted.
Given this, it was
foolish for these lawmakers to vote out McCarthy. And that’s especially
the case when it took nearly two months of negotiations to install him
in the first place back in January. Now, there’s no telling where things
will go or how long it will take to cut deals and find a new speaker.
If it takes even the same amount of time as before, then a government
shutdown would be inevitable. That level of dysfunction from the GOP is
not only poor governance but also bad politics, since it would allow
Democrats to look good by contrast.
“Follow your heart, but
take your brain with you. The American people expect us to govern. I
also advise my House colleagues to be sure and take your meds,” Louisiana Senator John Kennedy, a Republican, said to the press after McCarthy was booted.
At
the same time, this situation demonstrates quite clearly that the
establishment – especially during a period of intense partisan divide –
is not truly safe. Even powerful figures such as McCarthy can be
dethroned by a small contingent of representatives. That shows that
people like Jimmy Dore, a well-known YouTube personality, are
unfortunately correct for once. The so-called comedian called on
progressives to refuse to vote for Nancy Pelosi as speaker when
Democrats controlled the House until a vote was taken on Medicare for
All. It turns out he was completely correct on that.
If ‘The Squad’ (a team of relatively young Democratic lawmakers who
got into the House on a super-progressive platform) had any backbone, as
Gaetz and his gang of rebels have shown, they could have forced a vote
on that important issue and many others. They certainly could have
squeezed out concessions from Pelosi and the political establishment,
making her understand that her position on the pedestal is contingent on
the support of progressives and not the other way around. The fact that
they, who are supposed to be more savvy and calculated than the MAGA
mutineers, didn’t do that indicates, at the very least, a lack of
commitment to the values that got them elected.
For their part,
the MAGA wing of the Republican Party is making waves: they have made
Ukraine funding a hot-button issue, censured Rep. Adam Schiff (a mortal
enemy of their cause), put ‘the border’ and fake allegations of election
fraud front and center, shouldered out establishment Republicans such
as Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney, and they’re building their own media
ecosystem. Even though their self-imposed speaker debacle clearly lacks
any serious intent, MAGA is flexing its muscles – even if, at times, for
nothing.
Will those who are supposedly fighting for the working
class in Congress ever exert the same pressure? Doubtful, and it’s also
doubtful if these people have any serious commitment to doing that in
the first place, since they have the very same tools as Gaetz and his
friends yet refuse to wield them. Undoubtedly, however, the political
situation in the US is getting a whole hell of a lot more interesting.
lewrockwell | In early April 2023, microbiologist Kevin McKernan — a former researcher and team leader for the MIT Human Genome project1 — posted a preprint paper2 detailing massive DNA contamination in Pfizer’s and Moderna’s bivalent COVID booster shots.3,4,5,6 As explained in the abstract:7
“Several methods were deployed to
assess the nucleic acid composition of four expired vials of the Moderna
and Pfizer bivalent mRNA vaccines. Two vials from each vendor were
evaluated …
Multiple assays support DNA
contamination that exceeds the European Medicines Agency (EMA) 330ng/mg
requirement and the FDAs 10ng/dose requirements …”
The highest level of DNA contamination found was 30%, meaning nearly
one-third of the content of certain vials was plasmid DNA, the presence
of which dramatically increases the likelihood of genomic integration
and cancer.
What this means, in plain English, is that the shots could
potentially alter your DNA, which is something vaccine makers, health
authorities and fact checkers have vehemently denied and written off as
“impossible.” Yet here we are, with inconvenient facts staring us in the
face yet again.
Regulatory Agencies Were Aware of the Problem
In a May 20, 2023, Substack article,8 McKernan
pointed out that regulatory agencies were clearly aware of this problem
early on, as Pfizer submitted documents to the European Medicines
Agency (EMA) showing sampled lots had a broad range of double-stranded
DNA (dsDNA) in them.
The EMA’s limit for dsDNA is 330 nanograms per milligram (ng/mg), and
Pfizer’s data show sampled lots had anywhere from 1 ng/mg to 815 ng/mg
of DNA. And, according to McKernan,9 the
EMA’s limit may be too high to begin with, as “lower limits should be
applied if the DNA is packaged in transfection ready lipid
nanoparticles,” as they are in the shots.
In a sane regulatory environment, this kind of contamination would
have resulted in a massive recall, considering the known and suspected
dangers of dsDNA contaminants. Yet nothing was done about it.
Since McKernan’s paper was posted, others have confirmed the presence
of dsDNA contaminants in the COVID shots. To be clear, DNA should not
be present in a commercial product that has been made under good
manufacturing practices.
Obviously, Pfizer and Moderna have not perfected their commercial
process, or have taken shortcuts they shouldn’t have. As a result,
countless millions have been injected with unnecessarily risky COVID
shots.
University of South Carolina professor Phillip Buckhaults has since
confirmed the presence of dsDNA in the COVID shots. September 13, 2023,
he testified10 to
this before the South Carolina Senate Medical Affairs Ad-Hoc Committee
on the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC).
Buckhaults is a molecular biologist and cancer geneticist with
extensive experience in DNA sequencing, and initially set out to debunk
McKernan’s claims. To his shock, he replicated McKernan’s findings
instead.
In his testimony, he explained how these DNA contaminants can
integrate into your genome and disrupt the function of other genes,
either long term or permanently, and may be passed on to offspring for
generations.
He told the senators he was “alarmed about this DNA being in the
vaccine,” as “there is a very real hazard” of the dsDNA integrating into
a person’s genome and becoming a “permanent fixture of the cell” that
can result in autoimmune problems and cancers.11
Buckhaults suspects high levels of DNA contaminants may also be
causing some of the more serious side effects of the jabs, such as
lethal cardiac arrest.12 Of
the two lots he analyzed, he found between 5 nanograms and 20 ng of
plasmid DNA — ranging from one to 200 base pairs long — per 300
microliter dose, and he points out that having a multitude of tiny
fragments is far riskier than having one big piece of DNA.13
The risk of genome integration by dsDNA has been known for decades,14 so
the individuals who decided to allow this contamination to remain
cannot claim they didn’t know public health would be put at risk.
vigilantnews | Soon, mRNA technology will be coming to flu vaccines.
Supporters tout that the adaptability of mRNA technology allows for
quicker response times in developing vaccines that can more accurately
target circulating influenza strains, potentially making yearly flu
shots more effective.
Furthermore, work is being done to apply
mRNA technology to “treat” various other diseases. It is being explored
as a potential treatment for sickle-cell disease and the autoimmune disorder, multiple sclerosis. Additionally, its application in cancer treatment is under investigation, with the aim of harnessing the immune system to combat malignancies.
The fight against HIV, a long-standing global health challenge, is also on mRNA’s radar. Currently, three experimental HIV vaccines, built on an mRNA design akin to the COVID-19 vaccines, are in the early stages of human clinical trials.
The award to Karikó and Weissman is not without controversy.
Dr. Robert Malone, a renowned scientist, medical doctor, and pioneer in mRNA vaccine technology, made some fiery comments on “X.”
He stated, “Kariko and Weissman get the Nobel, not for inventing mRNA vaccines (because I did that) but for adding the pseudouridine that allowed unlimited spike toxins to be manufactured in what could have been a safe and effective vaccine platform, if safely developed.”
Malone
further criticized the integrity of the award process, suggesting undue
influence from pharmaceutical giants. “Pfizer has been campaigning for
this since 2020 - at first, they even claimed (as did Kariko) that she
invented the mRNA vaccine platform technology. Pfizer donates heavily to the Karolinska Institute, which awards the Nobel. Science has been hijacked again by big pharma.”
The
decision to honor Karikó and Weissman while omitting key contributors
like Dr. Robert Malone raises questions about the narrative that’s being
pushed surrounding mRNA technology. One thing is sure: COVID is just
the beginning. And what will likely ensue will be subsequent campaigns
to get more mRNA injected into every man, woman, and child.
attorneycox | The
“they” is our government (federal and state). The “we” is you and me,
and the other 300+ million Americans across our country.
Alas,
here we are, entering the final quarter of 2023, and we have the United
States government, and many state governments (including New York’s
former Governor Andrew Cuomo, current left-wing Governor Kathy Hochul, and the super-majority Dem legislature) proclaiming for all to hear that they did not force anyone to do anything detrimental these past 3.5 years. UNBELIEVABLE!
Did you hear this? They are actually saying with straight faces that
they didn’t force you to wear a mask, or lockdown and shutter your
businesses, or choose between taking an experimental drug or losing your
job… Nope! They did none of that. And you - well, you are flat out crazy if you think they did. You are lying. You are exaggerating and totally overreacting.
Unfortunately
for Big Brother, ooops, I mean unfortunately for our 100% reliable,
never-lies-to-us government, we have actual documents (including lawsuits),
news stories, social media posts, and videos of the government at all
levels mandating and forcing us to do all of those things, and more.
Here’s just one example of Biden himself, the “Big Guy,” mandating the
C19 shot:
Biden is not alone. No, no. His entire administration is
right there with him. His head of OSHA, Douglas Parker, is also now
lying through his teeth about the OSHA mandate that REQUIRED
(not suggested) that all employers in the entire nation with 100 or
more employees force their employees to get the C19 shot, otherwise they
had to wear a mask and test constantly for C19. (That OSHA mandate was
struck down by SCOTUS
last year because it was unconstitutional, by the way). Then there’s
the head of HHS, Xavier Becerra, saying there was never a mask mandate.
What?! Another blatant lie.
Please take the 2 minutes to watch this Congressman Kevin Kiley clip.
You truly won’t believe your ears with the bullsh#* these Biden agency
heads are spewing! As Congressman Kiley says in the video, the
government is trying to tell us that “2 + 2 doesn’t equal 4.” You don’t
get much more Orwellian than that!
Why are they backtracking now?
Easy
answers: 1) they didn’t have the authority to do any of it (all of it
was unconstitutional) so they can’t justify and defend it now, and 2) if
they can convince you they didn’t do it before, then you won’t mind as
much when they do it again.
This should make your blood
boil. It’s particularly infuriating to those of us who were speaking
out from basically day one trying to tell people that the lockdowns, the
masking, the shots, the limited number of people at your wedding or at
your Thanksgiving table were all violations of the Constitution and our
basic human rights!
There isn’t a single working mRNA vaccine right now...,
How can you give a Nobel Prize for it?
Reduce transmission? – you seriously must be kidding at this point. I could never even dream to make that claim with a straight face at this point. Seriously, this is the kind of thing that is causing the damage to the reputation of medicine to be hyper-driven.
Morbidity – Given the number of instant severe problems that many patients had with the vaccine – even in the early days. Blood clots, pulmonary emboli, autoimmune and neurological issues…. And now that it is becoming obvious that it is the multiply boosted and vaxxed that seem to be having many more problems with getting infected over and over again – multiple studies are now showing this.
Again – if someone can please answer the question – If it seems that the multiply boosted are getting infected more often – and it seems that multiple infections increase the incidence of all kinds of problems – how are the vaccines helping?
Extreme morbidity and mortality – hospitalizations, etc. —– in the first year of the pandemic, this may have been so. However, as with any mitigation scheme, one must keep track over the entire event – and one also must keep track of those being harmed by the mitigation procedure.
The overwhelming majority of patients who are being admitted right now are vaxxed/boosted. I think the claim of improvement in morbidity early on was justified. I am not seeing this now. When taken in its entirety – I am not certain that we can make the claim that this vaccine program has been a success. It is going to take the entirety of the raw data over the entire country/world to really ascertain this. But yet, the authorities are completely unwilling to do so. Can you explain to me why that is? What about releasing all raw data is so problematic? Especially for “The Scientists”?
With regard to Nobel prizes. We all must remember that the Medicine Prize went to the gentleman who pioneered frontal lobotomies. The Peace Prize went to Obama who spent the next 8 years bombing weddings with drones. Sometimes Nobel prizes go pear-shaped.
It should truly be an award for those whose work has stood the test of time. I wonder what will be thought of this one awarded yesterday a generation from now.
It is significant that the Nobel recipients were not involved with the development of the mRNA spike protein vaccines. Their work was in developing a mechanism for repressing the immune system response to allow cells to absorb mRNA. This mechanism was then utilized by Moderna and BioNTech/Pfizer in their vaccines.
I think this was simply a way to award “The Nobel Prize” to the vaccines without actually giving it directly to Big Pharma. – i.e. it is a propaganda move. Heaven forbid we get into the DAPRA project with Moderna concerning the Pathogen Protection Platform, which was to use mRNA to spur antibodies to send soldiers into an environment where the pathogen of interest was used as weapon. That was 2013, and DARPA stopped.
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