Tag: perpetual war

Ukraine’s ‘terrorist nature’ on full display in Mali, where it supports rebels — MFA

Russia doesn’t want the world to forget that Kiev is supporting terrorism in Mali, so it will continue to shine a light on this in the international arena, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

“On August 4, the transitional government of Mali published an official statement about the ‘immediate’ severing of diplomatic relations with Ukraine. Precipitating this move were statements from Ukrainian officials (the spokesman for the Ukrainian military intelligence, Andrey Yusov, and Ambassador to Senegal Yury Pivovarov) about Kiev aiding terrorist forces that carried out an attack on a convoy of Malian servicemen in northern Mali in late July,” the diplomat pointed out. “We will continue to direct the world community’s attention, including at multilateral platforms, to Kiev’s barbaric behavior,” she underscored.

Zakharova emphasized that the terrorist nature of the Kiev regime is becoming more and more apparent to the whole world. “Having failed to defeat Russia on the battlefield, the criminal regime of Vladimir Zelensky decided to open a ‘second front’ in Africa. He and his accomplices are pampering terrorist groups in Moscow-friendly states of the continent,” she stressed.

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Israel’s admission that it targeted a journalist exposes crude attempt to control war narrative

Ismail Al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami Al-Refee were observing the conflict-zone-reporting best practice, as they motored back from their assignment on the last day of July. Having reported issues facing the displaced people of northern Gaza, they were leaving the scene of greatest danger. Blast vests bearing the insignia “PRESS” protected their bodies. Minutes earlier they had updated the Al Jazeera newsroom with their location.

None of this would save their lives when an Israeli drone strike blasted their car. The explosion blew off Al-Ghoul’s head – an image subsequently shared on social media. Al-Refee and Khalid Shawa, a boy who happened to be passing by on a bicycle, also died instantly.

Unusually, we know that the killing was deliberate – because the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has admitted as much.

The occupation army justified the assassination, arguing that the journalist’s name appears on a list of “senior Hamas officers” that it captured earlier in the conflict. This allegation is strenuously denied by Al-Ghoul’s family, his employer and his union. And Israeli “evidence” in similar cases has appeared questionable. Indeed, Al-Ghoul spent enough time “on camera” that his capacity outside journalism would have been limited.

Critically, however, he was arrested by Israeli soldiers in March and held for 12 hours before being released without a charge. Surely, if the evidence of his Hamas membership justified his killing, there must have been sufficient basis for his prosecution?

This admission of targeting confirms much of what have for months been swirling allegations about Israeli operations. We know that it has software – Pegasus – that secretly invades mobile phones and shares its user’s locations, communications and the identities of those who they meet.

We know that the Israeli army uses software called “Lavender” that deploys AI to sort operational intelligence and suggest targets for assassination. A further tool, “The Gospel”, uploads targets’ geo locations to killer drones dramatically faster than had been possible with manual programming.

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Israeli media publishes video of soldiers allegedly raping Palestinian detainee

Israeli media has published footage purportedly showing the moment soldiers in an infamous detention facility raped a Palestinian detainee.

Late last month, nine Israeli soldiers were arrested for the alleged rape of a Palestinian detained in Sde Teiman, a facility in southern Israel’s Negev desert.

Since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October, many Palestinians detained by Israeli forces have said they were sexually abused by troops at Sde Teiman.

However, no one had been arrested for the abuse until 29 July, when military police raided the facility, clashed with the soldiers and took them into custody.

The incident created a backlash in Israel, with a far-right mob, that included an MP and minister, storming the detention centre and a military court in protest against the arrests.

Israeli media has published footage purportedly showing the moment soldiers in an infamous detention facility raped a Palestinian detainee.

Late last month, nine Israeli soldiers were arrested for the alleged rape of a Palestinian detained in Sde Teiman, a facility in southern Israel’s Negev desert.

Since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October, many Palestinians detained by Israeli forces have said they were sexually abused by troops at Sde Teiman.

However, no one had been arrested for the abuse until 29 July, when military police raided the facility, clashed with the soldiers and took them into custody.

The incident created a backlash in Israel, with a far-right mob, that included an MP and minister, storming the detention centre and a military court in protest against the arrests.

On Tuesday, Channel 12 released a video reputedly of the moment the Palestinian was sexually abused.

He was taken to a field hospital at Sde Teiman with “a ruptured bowel, a severe injury to his anus, lung damage and broken ribs”, according to media reports.

The footage released by Channel 12, taken from evidence used in the investigation, shows detained Palestinians lying on the floor with their hands and eyes covered.

A group of reserve soldiers are then seen taking one of the detainees aside, then trying to hide their subsequent actions with riot shields.

The reservists are members of Force 100, a unit tasked with guarding the prisoners in Sde Teiman.

According to Channel 12, the suspects in the case were found to be lying on a polygraph test.

Two suspects were asked two identical questions: “Did you insert an object into the Palestinian’s anus during a search? and “Are you hiding the identity of the person who inserted an object into the Palestinian’s anus?”

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Soldiers Do Have a Choice

On August 6, 1945, the United States detonated an atomic bomb (“Little Boy”) over Hiroshima, Japan. Another atomic bomb (“Fat Man”) was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9. It was the first and only time that nuclear weapons were used as weapons of war.

The bombs did not drop themselves. The first bomb was dropped by an extensively modified B-29 (“Enola Gay”) with a crew of twelve and piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets (1915-2007). The second bomb was dropped by a similar B-29 (“Bockscar”) with a crew of ten and piloted by Major Charles Sweeney (1919-2004). Both planes were accompanied by other B-29s for observation and photography.

The result of the bombing, as succinctly summarized by historian Ralph Raico, was barbaric: “Probably around two hundred thousand persons were killed in the attacks and through radiation poisoning; the vast majority were civilians, including several thousand Korean workers. Twelve US Navy fliers incarcerated in a Hiroshima jail were also among the dead.”

Sweeney decried “cuckoo professors” and the “cockamamie theories” of those who believed the atomic bombing of Japan was unnecessary. He stated: “There’s no question in my mind that President Truman made the right decision.”

Many high-ranking military officers at the time disagreed.

Adm. William Leahy, Truman’s chief of staff, wrote in his 1950 memoir I Was There that “the use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender.… In being the first to use it, we…adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying women and children.”

Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz, the commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, stated in a public address at the Washington Monument two months after the bombings that “the atomic bomb played no decisive part, from a purely military standpoint, in the defeat of Japan.”

Gen. Dwight Eisenhower stated in his memoirs that when notified by Secretary of War Henry Stimson of the decision to use atomic weapons, he “voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives.” He later publicly declared, “It wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing.”

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Iran: A History of US and Israeli Jihad Using Terrorists

Israel is nervous.  Waiting.  Netanyahu wants a ‘pre-emptive strike’ inside Iran.  And we are still discussing whether this man is or isn’t absolutely insane.  Comparisons to Hitler are wasted on this vermin.  Hitler at least had a focus – the eradication of an ideology, communism.   Netanyahu’s focus is the eradication of people via Jihad.  Can the remaining secular Israeli’s convince Netanyahu to stop, or do they have the same glint in their eye every time they hear of more deaths?

Bunkers won’t save people from a nuclear strike.  Where the wind blows.  Death will follow. 

Peace talks.  Netanyahu has declared from his beginning that annihilating all Palestinians was his goal.  The 50,000 Christians are just more goyims going to their grave.  Their churches already decimated.  A two state solution will never be accomplished – it is over.  We have the Truth, and we still ignore it.  Why?  For the same reason lies are told, to protect us from knowledge.  Because knowledge will erase power.

Where is The Vatican?  Shouldn’t Pope Francis be involved in intense dialogue with the Israeli Rabbi’s foaming at the mouth as they gleefully dance on dead bodies?  Or is Pope Francis too busy filling his gluttonous girth with wine and meat?  The Church was silent during WWII.  The number of Christians killed is relatively equal to the ‘estimated’ number of Jews.  The Church’s justification?   They feared retaliation against Catholics.  The Church – was afraid.

Is that why Pope Francis won’t speak out against Israel or attempt to negotiate peace?  Because he is afraid?  Or is it because Francis is also a Mossad heretic?  The evangelical pastors are also oddly silent in this martyrdom of Palestinians on behalf of secularism.

CSIS ‘expert analysts’ believe that Israeli’s are comforted and overjoyed that 2 Hamas leaders have been assassinated – leaving the remaining Palestinians hopeful that they won’t be bombed as Netanyahu fulfills his claim that it is only about Hamas.  Yet the daily death toll of Palestinians remains a constant.   A constant that Truth cannot deny – although many are now projecting that the true death toll is likely closer to 200,000 vs the 40,000 estimate.

What is at the root of Israel’s abject hatred of Iran?   Why does the US support and incite this tension?  Which Terrorists incite Jihad?

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‘Do Not Fly’ Alert Over Iran Issued For Airlines During Oddly Specific Night Hours

Egypt has just issued a rare and oddly specific NOTAM, or Notice to Air Missions alert, instructing all of its airlines to avoid Iranian airspace for a 3-hour period in the overnight and early morning hours of Thursday. Some other countries have since followed in issuing similar do not fly alerts, including the UK.

“All Egyptian carriers shall avoid overflying Tehran. No flight plan will be accepted overflying such territory,” the notice says. Specifically the instructions are valid from 01:00 to 04:00GMT (or 9pm to 12am US Eastern). Will the big expected Iranian retaliation be tonight? Zero hour may be approaching fast.

NOTAMS alert aircraft pilots to potential hazards along flight paths, and are internationally recognized among aviation authorities.

Reuters has picked up on and reported the NOTAM as well, saying based on Egyptian government sources that Cairo was notified by Iranian authorities that airlines should avoid traversing Iranian airspace due to overnight “military exercises”. 

According to the citation in Reuters:

“Based on a report from Iranian authorities to all civil aviation companies, flights over Iranian airspace are to be avoided,” the unnamed official was quoted as saying.

Many airlines are revising their schedules to avoid Iranian and Lebanese airspace while also calling off flights to Israel and Lebanon as many fear a possible broader conflict after the killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

A flight risk monitor identified as OPSGROUP has further told the same publication that “Such a NOTAM from Egypt is very unusual.”

The aviation industry group explained further that “It is possible that this is an indicator of an Iranian response to Israel, and in turn a potentially large set of air space disruptions – at the same time, there may be another reason.”

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Ukraine Launches Incursion Into Russia’s Kursk Oblast

Russia said Wednesday that its forces were fighting off a Ukrainian ground incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast, an attack President Vladimir Putin called a “large-scale provocation.”

So far, Ukrainian officials have been quiet about the cross-border attack, which was launched from Ukraine’s Sumy Oblast.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that up to 300 Ukrainian troops with 11 tanks and 20 armored vehicles entered Kursk. Drone attacks were also reported, and Kursk Acting Governor Alexey Smirnov said one hit an ambulance, killing two paramedics.

In a meeting with his top officials, Putin said Ukrainian forces attacking Kursk were “firing indiscriminately from different types of weapons, including rockets, at civilian buildings, residential houses, ambulances.”

The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that the fighting in Kursk was ongoing and said it thwarted a breakthrough. The ministry said five residents of Kursk had been killed in the Ukrainian attack and claimed that it inflicted 260 casualties on the invading Ukrainian force.

Ukraine has supported cross-border raids into Russia launched by militias, including the neo-Nazi Russian Volunteer Corps, but the fighting in Kursk appears to be its biggest ground attack into Russian territory of the war.

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Arab tribes seize control of US-occupied Syrian towns in large-scale assault

A coalition of Syrian Arab tribes seized several towns from US-backed Kurdish forces in the countryside of eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor governorate on 7 August. 

Tribesmen launched the “largest” attack on Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) sites since the start of the Arab tribal rebellion against the US-backed militia last year, Sputnikreported, adding that the attack took place “under the cover of artillery and mortar shells.” 

“Violent clashes have been ongoing since the early morning hours between the forces of the SDF-linked Deir Ezzor and Hajin Military Councils on the one hand, and the attacking groups of the ‘Army of Tribes’ coalition on the other, in the vicinity of the towns of Abu Hamam, Dhiban, Al-Lattwa, Al-Kashkiya, and Gharanij,” the news outlet’s correspondent said.

The clashes were concentrated in the towns of Al-Sabha and Al-Tayana, east of Deir Ezzor, the correspondent added. 

The Arab tribes used RPGs and machine guns against the SDF during the onset of the attack, according to Al Mayadeen.

“SDF militants imposed a complete curfew in the towns under their control in the Deir Ezzor countryside, after the arrival of large military reinforcements from Hasakah and Raqqa, coinciding with a wide search operation in the villages surrounding the areas of clashes,” the Sputnik correspondent went on to say.

Residents told Sputnik that many people were displaced as a result and that three civilians were killed while seven others were injured due to the fighting. Local sources also told the outlet that at least 10 SDF militants were taken captive by tribal fighters, who also seized large amounts of light and heavy weapons. 

The SDF and the tribal coalition also took some casualties. 

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Israel lobby spends millions to unseat US lawmaker critical of Gaza war

The pro-Israel lobby in the US is pouring millions into a campaign to unseat an African-American Congresswoman from Missouri, Cori Bush, as part of a broader effort to replace critics of Israel’s war in Gaza with more Israel-friendly Democrats, The Washington Post reported on 6 August.

“It’s because I called for a cease-fire in Gaza,” Bush told a potential voter as she campaigned door-to-door in her district. “That’s where all of this started.”

Bush is facing a tight primary contest Tuesday against St Louis County Prosecutor and fellow African-American and Democrat Wesley Bell, who is supported by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the largest and most powerful pro-Israel group in the US.

Whoever wins the primary will run against the Republican party’s candidate for the congressional seat in November.

Outside groups have already spent over $15 million in Missouri’s 1st Congressional district race, with 80 percent of the funds going toward ads opposing Bush and supporting her AIPAC-backed opponent.

In June, AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups spent $17 million to help defeat another progressive African-American member of the US Congress who was critical of the Gaza war, Democrat Jamaal Bowman from New York.

The Washington Post adds that the National Black Empowerment Action Fund (NBEA), founded by AIPAC veteran Darius Jones, donated $1 million to the campaign against Bush last week.

Most of the voters in Bush’s district with whom the Washington Post spoke said they did not know that AIPAC and other Israel lobby groups were so involved in tipping the race.

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US troops return to oil-rich Kirkuk despite talks to withdraw from Iraq

Troops from the US-led international coalition have returned to the K-1 military base in the oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk for the first time since 2020, The New Arab (TNA) reported on 6 August.

An informed Kurdish source told TNA, “The force, comprising about 40 soldiers and 10 to 15 US-made armored Hummer vehicles, was sent from Erbil and deployed at the K-1 military base.”

The US-led coalition did not respond to requests for comment.

The reason for the new US deployment of troops to Kirkuk after four years is unclear.

The source suggested that it may be a response to increased ISIS activities in the disputed province, which leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) have long wished to annex to the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq (IKR).

Another source, also speaking on condition of secrecy, told TNA that ISIS has recently resumed its insurgency in and around the Diyala province in eastern Iraq.

The Iraqi armed forces have increased security along the country’s western border with Syria following the release of hundreds of ISIS fighters from prison camps controlled by the US-backed and Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

In mid-July, authorities from the SDF-controlled Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) issued a general amnesty that has so far secured the release of over 1,500 Syrian ISIS fighters convicted of terrorism-related offenses, provided they “did not participate directly in combat” against the SDF.

Informed Iraqi sources speaking with The Cradle stated the US military ordered the release of the ISIS prisoners.

The US-backed SDF holds thousands of ISIS fighters and their family members in around two dozen prison camps in occupied northeast Syria. These include 2,000 foreigners whose home countries have refused to repatriate them.

The deployment of US and coalition troops to Kirkuk follows the Iraqi government’s signing on 1 August of a deal with UK oil giant BP to develop oil and gas fields in Kirkuk. 

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