Finian Cunningham
The NATO-backed Kiev regime is enacting new draconian laws that will banish all dissenting free speech. Any views not aligned with the regime are to be deemed treasonous and outlawed, even subject to persecution and violent repression.
Prisoners of war in Ramla 1948 – Benny Morris: “We deciphered the development of the operation and its stages, we found out who authorized, organized and controlled the operation, and how it was carried out in the field” The collection of photographs by his son Rothenberg.Two articles have recently been published in Haaretz. As they are both behind a paywall I will share much of the information here and add some further context.
The moment that Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was ousted by his own former military colleague, Captain Ibrahim Traore, pro-coup crowds filled the streets. Some burned French flags, others carried Russian flags. This scene alone represents the current tussle underway throughout the African continent.
It might not look much, but the impact drones are making is causing a revolution on the battlefield.We have all become familiar with the drones and UAVs that have been used by the US over recent years that have caused such death and hardship across the Middle East and elsewhere, but current hostilities in the Ukraine have highlighted the value of smaller aircraft and brought the advent of a new form of warfare. This article will examine what these new drones are and how they will impact both this conflict as well as warfare in general.
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In early September Gallup did a survey in Ukraine:
More than six months into a war that many around the world (including Russia) thought Ukraine would lose quickly, most Ukrainians are resolved to keep fighting.
A clear majority — 70% of all Ukrainians interviewed in early September — say their country should continue fighting until it wins the war with Russia. Just over one in four (26%) favor negotiating to end it as soon as possible.
That 70% poll number is likely the high point as it came at a time that promised Ukrainian successes.
The situation for Ukraine has since gotten worse. Much worse.
Documents Chart Critical Contribution of U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson in Missile Crisis Management and Resolution
Washington D.C., October 17, 2022 – In a secret “eyes only” memorandum for John F. Kennedy, written 60 years ago today at the outset of the Cuban Missile Crisis, U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson admonished the president to abandon his initial plan to attack Cuba and to consider, instead, the diplomatic option of dismantling U.S. missile bases in Europe in return for the withdrawal of the Soviet missiles in Cuba. Air strikes against Cuba would “have such incalculable consequences,” he argued, “that I feel you should have made it clear [to your advisors] that the existence of nuclear missile bases anywhere is negotiable before we start anything.”
In part one of my analysis of China’s economic future, I dealt with the claims that China would slow towards stagnation because its investment rate was too high, the working population was falling fast and the economy needed to become like mature Western capitalist economies based on consumption-led growth. I argued that the Western capitalist model was hardly great shakes, given its regular and recurring crises and the much lower levels of consumption growth. Anyway, in an economy, consumption does not lead investment and national output. On the contrary, it is investment that leads in capitalist economies just as much as in China.
by Jorge Vilches for the Saker blog
The sitting US Secretary of State very recently declared in an official press conference that the NS1 and NS2 pipeline sabotage will have “no impact on European energy resilience”…
We should assume that Secretary Antony Blinken was referring to the timely supply of US LNG substitute equivalent to pipeline nat-gas now theoretically available (not) which would save the European day. With a clear smile, Blinken considered it to be a “tremendous opportunity” for the US to help Europe wean off of Russian energy… with the USA ready to be “the leading supplier (of dirty fracked seaborne LNG) to Europe”. And all of it despite the great ripoff “mondepreise” moon-high prices charged by US vendors according to the German Minister of Economics Robert Habeck who is now sorrowfully surprised by the very market dynamics that he actively contributed to establish.
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(The New Atlas) – Update for Russian military operations against Ukraine for October 17, 2022.
Two massive terrorist strikes misfired spectacularly and a terrible beauty is born in the Ukraine war. These two carefully planned attacks in quick succession — on Nord Stream gas pipelines and Crimean Bridge — were intended as a knockout blow to Russia. According to President Vladimir Putin, people ‘who want to finally sever ties between Russia and the EU, weaken Europe’ are behind the Nord Stream blasts. He named the US, Ukraine and Poland as ‘beneficiaries’.
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China’s Congress of the Communist Party takes place this week. This is an important event not only for China, but globally. The Western media have concentrated on the fact that current party leader Xi Jinping will be confirmed for an unprecedented third term as party leader and thus also continue as President of China when the National Congress meets next March.
Raul Castro wanted detailed Soviet security assurances, expected U.S. interventionWashington, D.C., October 14, 2022 – Today the National Security Archive publishes for the first time in any language a translation of the first meeting between Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro on July 18, 1960. The newly available transcript helps explain Khrushchev’s 1962 determination that defending Cuba from U.S. intervention would require a massive Soviet military base in Cuba, together with the deployment of nuclear weapons. The Cuban leader asks for details of how the USSR could protect Cuba, but Khrushchev insists on restraint and flexibility, saying that he does not want a “big war.”
14 October (Issue 17/22, also available as a PDF)
Welcome to the latest edition of Statewatch News, featuring:
And reports on the externalisation of migration controls, police exploitation of software vulnerabilities, and a joint statement on the Egyptian government’s brutal treatment of Eritrean refugees.
Mary Elizabeth Truss, currently UK’s prime ministerWhen an ugly power play marks the end of the career of a phenomenally successful politician, it presents a painful sight. From all accounts in the British press in the most recent weeks, it was clear that the night of the long knives was approaching for the most photogenic prime minister Great Britain and Northern Ireland ever produced — Liz Truss.
Over the last weeks there were some riots in Iran. At first there were protest about the falsely reported death of a young women, Mahsa Amini, who had suddenly collapsed (video) while waiting in a police station. She died a few days later. Mahsa Amini had previously had brain surgery and her collapse and death were related to that, not to police action.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman shares a laugh with Russian President Vladimir Putin after giving the Russian leader a high-five that morphed into a handshake, on the opening day of G20 Summit, Buenos Aires, Nov. 30, 2018. USA Today described it as ‘a car alarm blaring in a library… closely parsed for meaning’.Saudi Arabia has politely but firmly rebutted the threats and calumnies levelled by the US political elites in the past week since the OPEC decided to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day. On Thursday, a Foreign Ministry official in Riyadh forcefully pushed back the allegation that the OPEC decision was at Saudi initiative and was politically motivated against the US, and, worse still, to help Russia.
By Felix Abt
[Source: theatlantic.com]By now, everyone in the West should know that there is mass slave labor in the Chinese province of Xinjiang, where Muslim Uyghurs live. The slaves have to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and without pay. Worse, they are not even Uyghurs, but foreigners, and Americans at that. The inhumane owners of the cotton farms, most of whom are Uyghurs themselves, force American John Deere machines to do unlimited slave labor on their 90% automated farms.
A 19th century painting of Konstantinovksy Palace, St. PetersburgThere was something profoundly meaningful that the President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan undertook a visit to Russia amidst the gathering storms in Ukraine. Conscious of the symbolism, Russian President Vladimir Putin received Sheikh Mohammed on Tuesday in a grand setting befitting a monarch — at the gorgeous Konstantinovksy Palace in St. Petersburg whose heritage dates back to Peter the Great, a symbol of the revival of Russia and its cultural heritage.
The New Dark Age 