Seeking Insights,
Enigmatic statements: LA fires worse than nuclear strike – Trump
In an interview with Newsmax, Trump predicted that rescuers would find “many more dead” and expressed bewilderment at the scale of destruction. “I believe it’s greater damage than if they got hit by a nuclear weapon. I’ve never seen anything like it. Vast miles and miles of houses just burned to a crisp. There’s nothing standing,” Trump told the outlet.
He added that he had seen “very guarded pictures” of the destruction, claiming that the catastrophe is “far worse than you even see on television, if that’s believable.”...
..Trump is considering paying a personal visit to southern California to survey the damage caused by the fires, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with his plans. In his interview with Newsmax, the president-elect also expressed interest in taking part in the rebuilding of the area, stating that “we’re gonna do things with Los Angeles. You know, I’m already putting my developer cap on.” https://swentr.site/news/610868-trump-la-fires-nuke/
Governor Gavin Newsome says these words as a spontaneous movement of joyful delight flows through his body. What exactly was he thinking? Look at 1:18 minute mark.
"I was just talking to Josh Green, the Governor down in Hawaii, who had some ideas around some land use concerns he has around speculators coming in, buying up properties. So we're already working with our legal teams to move those things forward and we'll be presenting those in a matter of days, not just weeks."
Newsom Displays Body Language of DELIGHT Talking About a TRAGEDY! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FEgF4oS5Z0 From July 29, 2021 How Los Angeles Plans to Become a “Smarter City” by the 2028 Olympics
LA recently released a smart city roadmap that envisions a highly digital and connected future. https://www.globalresearch.ca/los-angeles-smarter-city-2028-olympics/5876967 Pepe Escobar, I’m Gonna MAGA You, Baby
It’s the greatest show on earth – unleashing a double bill of New Paradigm and Manifest Destiny on crack. We are the greatest. We will rock you – in every sense. We will crush you. We will take whatever we want because we can. And if you wanna walk away from the U.S. dollar, we will destroy you. BRICS, we’re coming to get ya. Trump 2.0 – a mix of professional wrestling and MMA played in a giant planetary cage – is in da house starting next Monday.
Trump 2.0 aims to be on the driving seat on the global financial system; on control of the world’s oil trade and LNG supply; and on strategic media platforms. Trump 2.0 is gearing up to be an extended exercise in the capacity to hurt The Other. Any Other. Hostile takeovers – and blood on the tracks. That’s how we “negotiate”...
..The Empire of Chaos faces a humongous debt, owed to usual suspect loan sharks, that may only be – partially – repaid by selected export surpluses. That would imply re-industrialization – a long, costly affair – and securing smooth military supply chains.
Where the resource base will be for this Sisyphean task? Washington simply cannot rely on Chinese exports and rare earths. The chessboard needs to be rejigged – with trade and tech unified under U.S. unilateral, monopoly control.
Plan A, so far, was to simultaneously confront Russia and China: the two top BRICS, and key vectors of Eurasia integration. China’s strategy, since the start of the millennium, has been to trade resources for infrastructure, developing Global South markets as China itself keeps developing.
Russia’s strategy has been to help nations recover their sovereignty; actually helping nations to help themselves on the sustainable development front.
Plan A against the concerted geoeconomic and geostrategic strategies of the Russia-China strategic partnership miserably failed. What has been attempted by the ghastly, exiting U.S. administration generated serial, massive blowbacks.
So it’s time for Plan B: Looting the allies. They are already dominated chihuahuas anyway. The – exploitation – show must go on. And there are plenty of chihuahuas available to be exploited...
Where the resource base will be for this Sisyphean task? Washington simply cannot rely on Chinese exports and rare earths. The chessboard needs to be rejigged – with trade and tech unified under U.S. unilateral, monopoly control.
Plan A, so far, was to simultaneously confront Russia and China: the two top BRICS, and key vectors of Eurasia integration. China’s strategy, since the start of the millennium, has been to trade resources for infrastructure, developing Global South markets as China itself keeps developing.
Russia’s strategy has been to help nations recover their sovereignty; actually helping nations to help themselves on the sustainable development front.
Plan A against the concerted geoeconomic and geostrategic strategies of the Russia-China strategic partnership miserably failed. What has been attempted by the ghastly, exiting U.S. administration generated serial, massive blowbacks.
So it’s time for Plan B: Looting the allies. They are already dominated chihuahuas anyway. The – exploitation – show must go on. And there are plenty of chihuahuas available to be exploited...
..When it comes to the Arctic as a crucial, evolving battlefield, there may be a vague allusion to the Northwest Passage. But never a mention of what really matters; the Northern Sea Route – the Russian denomination; the Chinese call it the Arctic Silk Road. That’s one of the key connectivity corridors of the future.
The Northern Sea Route encompasses at least 15% of the world’s unexplored oil and 30% of the world’s unexplored natural gas. Greenland is smack in the middle of this New Great Game – capable of supplying years of uranium, as much oil as Alaska (bought from Russia in 1867), plus rare earths – not to mention providing useful real state for missile defense and offense.
Washington has been trying to grab Greenland from Denmark since 1946. There’s a deal with Copenhagen in place guaranteeing military control – mostly naval. Now Greenland is being revamped as the ideal U.S. entry point into the Arctic Great Game against Russia.
At the St. Petersburg forum last June, I had the privilege to follow an exceptional round table on the Northern Sea Route: that’s an integral part of Russia’s 21st century development project, focused on commercial navigation – “We need more icebreakers!” – and bound to surpass Suez and Gibraltar in the near future.
Slightly over 50,000 Greenland residents – which already enjoy autonomy, especially vis a vis the EU – would more than accept a full Danish exit; Copenhagen actually abandoned them since 1951. Greenlanders will love to profit from vast U.S. investments...
Washington has been trying to grab Greenland from Denmark since 1946. There’s a deal with Copenhagen in place guaranteeing military control – mostly naval. Now Greenland is being revamped as the ideal U.S. entry point into the Arctic Great Game against Russia.
At the St. Petersburg forum last June, I had the privilege to follow an exceptional round table on the Northern Sea Route: that’s an integral part of Russia’s 21st century development project, focused on commercial navigation – “We need more icebreakers!” – and bound to surpass Suez and Gibraltar in the near future.
Slightly over 50,000 Greenland residents – which already enjoy autonomy, especially vis a vis the EU – would more than accept a full Danish exit; Copenhagen actually abandoned them since 1951. Greenlanders will love to profit from vast U.S. investments...
..What Trump 2.0 actually wants from Greenland is crystal clear: total militarization; privileged access to rare earths; and commercially excluding Russia and Chinese companies.
Chinese military expert Yu Chun noted that “soon, the long-desired ‘golden waterway’ of the Arctic Ocean is expected to open, allowing ships to traverse the Pacific Ocean and sail along the northern coasts of North America and Eurasia into the Atlantic Ocean.”
As the Northern Sea Route is “a key element of Sino-Russian cooperation”, it’s inevitable that the U.S.’s “strategic vision is to prevent the establishment of a ‘golden waterway’ between China, Russia, and Europe by controlling Greenland.”
On the wider chihuahua front, activity is frantic. Assorted Davos/ Deep State-linked elites across NATOstan – from Europe to Canada – are in the process of being replaced by new, Trump 2.0-affiliated elites.
That’s indissociably linked to the Looting the Allies strategy: the further destruction of the vassal EU economy to strengthen the heart of the Empire.
In Germany, the Afd’s Alice Weidel – pragmatic, intellectually capable – offers a quite intriguing perspective. She is stressing on the record that Germany needs to restart importing raw materials and cheap natural gas – let’s reopen Nord Stream – from Russia. That opens the tantalizing possibility that Trump and his factotum Elon Musk fully realize that Germany is worthless to the U.S. as a de-industrialized backwater – even under the overall framework of a hardcore neoliberal asset stripping offensive. Of course Trump 2.0 will extract a hefty price for Germans to get a revitalized nation back.
Trump 2.0 at least holds the – dubious – merit of a relatively realistic reading of the chessboard; Russia, India, China – the Primakov triangle – as well as Iran have become too powerful to be looted. So the next best option is Plunder the Chihuahuas. The blowing up of Nord Stream as ordered by the Biden crime family – as detailed by Sy Hersh – was a gleaming starter.....In the event of a double NATOstan annexation of Canada and Greenland, the U.S. may be even able to match Russia’s resource base. Arguably that’s the key rationale for unleashing this New Great Game. Forget “multipolarity”. BRICS, take note.
The most intriguing side plot is, of course, Elon Musk. Trump badly needs Musk’s massive social media/propaganda digital megaphone. Simultaneously, on the chihuahua front, the platinum sidekick wants to profit from a Europe capable of assessing enough energy, raw materials and loads of consumers with solid purchasing power.
The facts on the ground already spell out the “rules-based international order” being replaced in a flash by a no-rules international disorder. After all, international law has already been abolished by the Empire of Chaos itself (that’s bipartisan) – when it comes to illegal, unilateral sanctions, theft of financial assets or legitimization of genocide and head-chopping “moderate rebels”. https://www.unz.com/pescobar/im-gonna-maga-you-baby/
Chinese military expert Yu Chun noted that “soon, the long-desired ‘golden waterway’ of the Arctic Ocean is expected to open, allowing ships to traverse the Pacific Ocean and sail along the northern coasts of North America and Eurasia into the Atlantic Ocean.”
As the Northern Sea Route is “a key element of Sino-Russian cooperation”, it’s inevitable that the U.S.’s “strategic vision is to prevent the establishment of a ‘golden waterway’ between China, Russia, and Europe by controlling Greenland.”
On the wider chihuahua front, activity is frantic. Assorted Davos/ Deep State-linked elites across NATOstan – from Europe to Canada – are in the process of being replaced by new, Trump 2.0-affiliated elites.
That’s indissociably linked to the Looting the Allies strategy: the further destruction of the vassal EU economy to strengthen the heart of the Empire.
In Germany, the Afd’s Alice Weidel – pragmatic, intellectually capable – offers a quite intriguing perspective. She is stressing on the record that Germany needs to restart importing raw materials and cheap natural gas – let’s reopen Nord Stream – from Russia. That opens the tantalizing possibility that Trump and his factotum Elon Musk fully realize that Germany is worthless to the U.S. as a de-industrialized backwater – even under the overall framework of a hardcore neoliberal asset stripping offensive. Of course Trump 2.0 will extract a hefty price for Germans to get a revitalized nation back.
Trump 2.0 at least holds the – dubious – merit of a relatively realistic reading of the chessboard; Russia, India, China – the Primakov triangle – as well as Iran have become too powerful to be looted. So the next best option is Plunder the Chihuahuas. The blowing up of Nord Stream as ordered by the Biden crime family – as detailed by Sy Hersh – was a gleaming starter.....In the event of a double NATOstan annexation of Canada and Greenland, the U.S. may be even able to match Russia’s resource base. Arguably that’s the key rationale for unleashing this New Great Game. Forget “multipolarity”. BRICS, take note.
The most intriguing side plot is, of course, Elon Musk. Trump badly needs Musk’s massive social media/propaganda digital megaphone. Simultaneously, on the chihuahua front, the platinum sidekick wants to profit from a Europe capable of assessing enough energy, raw materials and loads of consumers with solid purchasing power.
The facts on the ground already spell out the “rules-based international order” being replaced in a flash by a no-rules international disorder. After all, international law has already been abolished by the Empire of Chaos itself (that’s bipartisan) – when it comes to illegal, unilateral sanctions, theft of financial assets or legitimization of genocide and head-chopping “moderate rebels”. https://www.unz.com/pescobar/im-gonna-maga-you-baby/
World War III, like all 21st century wars, is not being fought over ideologies. It’s being fought over energy and natural resources. Because he who controls the world’s resources will be free to impose whatever ideology he wants...
The warm Gulf Stream is much weakened, also. Britain freezes amid severe gas shortage https://en.topcor.ru/55545-britanija-zamerzaet-na-fone-ostrogo-deficita-gaza.html
..The modern technocratic state is going to be based on energy and carbon credits. Fiat currencies will become a thing of the past if these global predators succeed in their plans for a one-world surveillance state, where freedom of movement becomes a distant memory. Our healthcare and even our diets will also be tightly controlled by the elitist globalist predator class, whose interests are exemplified by the World Economic Forum and other elitist organizations.
With an understanding of the ongoing war over who controls the global food and energy supplies, it becomes easy to see how the NATO-Russia war (with Ukraine as NATO’s proxy) will blow up into World War III. https://leohohmann.substack.com/p/the-war-behind-the-war-what-world
With an understanding of the ongoing war over who controls the global food and energy supplies, it becomes easy to see how the NATO-Russia war (with Ukraine as NATO’s proxy) will blow up into World War III. https://leohohmann.substack.com/p/the-war-behind-the-war-what-world
James O'Keefe snags a blabbermouth potential traitor on video:
“I’ve been in conversation with a couple of retired generals to explore what we can do,” Jamie Mannina, advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, former FBI Special Agent, and self-proclaimed “spy hunter,” disclosed to an undercover OMG Journalist his plans to utilize irregular strategies to undermine Donald Trump’s presidency. Mannina also described his “ghost writing” with a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization, National Security Leaders for America, saying, "What we were doing was we were trying to explain to the American people the national security consequences of another Trump presidency." He elaborated on his recent activities, saying, “Since the spring, I was working with these retired generals, retired ambassadors,” adding, “They're like one, two, or three-star generals and admirals. You probably know maybe four stars." He acknowledged the organization's ultimate goal, emphasizing, "This organization tried to defeat Donald Trump." Mannina further revealed that he was participating in a “huge meeting with military leaders; in a very secure room called ‘The Tank.’” The Tank is a nickname for the Joint Chiefs of Staff Conference room which is a (SCIF), a Compartmentalized Information Facility. https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/1879322336601530816
“I will have Elon Musk run out of here by Inauguration Day,” Bannon said, in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
“He will not have a blue pass to the White House, he will not have full access to the White House, he will be like any other person.”
“He is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy. I made it my personal thing to take this guy down,” Bannon continued. “Before, because he put money in, I was prepared to tolerate it; I’m not prepared to tolerate it anymore.” https://discernreport.com/i-made-it-my-personal-thing-to-take-this-guy-down-bannon-vows-to-keep-musk-out-of-white-house/
“He will not have a blue pass to the White House, he will not have full access to the White House, he will be like any other person.”
“He is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy. I made it my personal thing to take this guy down,” Bannon continued. “Before, because he put money in, I was prepared to tolerate it; I’m not prepared to tolerate it anymore.” https://discernreport.com/i-made-it-my-personal-thing-to-take-this-guy-down-bannon-vows-to-keep-musk-out-of-white-house/
Pick Serbia, Don. Switzerland, Serbia Offer To Host Trump–Putin Ukraine Peace Talks https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/switzerland-serbia-offer-host-trump-putin-ukraine-peace-talks
Glenn Diessen presents useful facts and perspective. War is unpredictable: Why NATO’s Plan to Conscript Ukraine’s Youth Will Fail
While there is seemingly bipartisan support in the US for sacrificing Ukraine’s youth, the plan is deeply flawed. The Ukrainians are overwhelmingly in favour of immediate negotiations, the Ukrainian government resists the pressure from NATO, and there is very little chance that the new recruits will significantly improve the situation. NATO’s argument is seemingly reasonable: More Ukrainian soldiers are necessary to pressure Russia to the negotiation table and to negotiate from a position of strength. However, the need to pressure Russia to the negotiation table is based on lies as Russia has been open to negotiations over the past three years. NATO has rejected negotiations... In March 2022, Zelensky confirmed in an interview with the Economist: “There are those in the West who don’t mind a long war because it would mean exhausting Russia, even if this means the demise of Ukraine and comes at the cost of Ukrainian lives”...
..The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians want negotiations to start immediately, not to sacrifice their youth in a lost war. Newsweek reports that “Over 6 million Ukrainians of conscription age haven't complied with legislation introduced last year to boost dwindling troop numbers fighting Russia”. The public wants an end to the war, not send their teenagers to die.
Conscription of Ukraine’s youth will cause great social upheaval in a society that is already fed up with watching their men being snatched from the streets and thrown into vans by “recruiters”...
Conscription of Ukraine’s youth will cause great social upheaval in a society that is already fed up with watching their men being snatched from the streets and thrown into vans by “recruiters”...
..NATO should offer Russia what it wants the most – a pan-European security agreement based on indivisible security that replaces the zero-sum bloc politics. This is the best option for the West, Russia and Ukraine. https://glenndiesen.substack.com/p/why-natos-plan-to-conscript-ukraines
Multiple factors: The window of opportunity for a possible rehabilitation of Nord Stream is closing https://www-nachdenkseiten-de.translate.goog/?p=127213&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Andrew Korybko says, "more carrot; less stick", How Trump can break China’s tightening grip on Central Asia
Trump 2.0 must make compromises on Russia, Iran and India if it wants to contain China’s rising influence in strategic region https://asiatimes.com/2025/01/how-trump-can-break-chinas-tightening-grip-on-central-asia/Ice Silk Road, aka Northern Sea Route, mitigating China’s risk of US blockade of Malacca Strait chokepoint in a war scenario
A Shanxi-based columnist says the US finally recognized that China and Russia have joined forces to launch the Northern Sea Route, or Ice Silk Road, which among other things, will mitigate China’s Malacca Strait dilemma, but it’s too late now.
“The Northern Sea Route has been ignored by many people but it is now attracting China’s attention with its unique geographical advantages,” the writer says.
“This route meanders along the Russian Arctic coastline from East Asia to Europe, which can shorten the traditional route through the Strait of Malacca and the Suez Canal by one-third,” he adds. “This is undoubtedly a great benefit for China as a shorter voyage means lower costs.”
“The Northern Sea Route has been ignored by many people but it is now attracting China’s attention with its unique geographical advantages,” the writer says.
“This route meanders along the Russian Arctic coastline from East Asia to Europe, which can shorten the traditional route through the Strait of Malacca and the Suez Canal by one-third,” he adds. “This is undoubtedly a great benefit for China as a shorter voyage means lower costs.”
”If one day the US attempts to block the Strait of Malacca through military means, China’s oil supply will instantly face a severe challenge. Therefore, developing the Northern Sea Route is not only to save time and costs, but more importantly, to open up another lifeline for China’s energy security.” https://asiatimes.com/2025/01/why-chinas-ice-silk-road-has-trump-up-in-arctic-arms/
Yoon Suk Yeol has become South Korea's first sitting president to be arrested after investigators scaled barricades and cut through barbed wire to take him into custody. Yoon, 64, is being investigated on charges of insurrection for a failed martial law order on 3 December that plunged the country into turmoil.
He has also been impeached by parliament and suspended - but will only be removed from office if the Constitutional Court upholds the impeachment.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg45zqz225vo
He has also been impeached by parliament and suspended - but will only be removed from office if the Constitutional Court upholds the impeachment.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg45zqz225vo
John Helmer on the final dance between Assad, Putin, Erdogan and Iran: WRITING ON THE KREMLIN WALL – IS IT STRATEGY OR ALIBI?
This line appeared in the Kremlin-funded security analysis platform Vzglyad on January 3; there was no mention of Syria. In case the significance was missed, Vzglyad added the editorial line in italics: “In a long confrontation with the West, it is important to skillfully combine the economy and military. Judging by the first results of the activities of the economist Belousov as Minister of Defense, this is exactly what we see.”
A political source in Moscow concurs. “Russia has to fight all of NATO head-on within the next ten years. So if a deal can be made now to earn some time to rearm, then that’s a strategic choice that is going to have to be made.”...
..There is an eyewitness — this is Kamel Saqr who has given his detailed account of what happened, in what sequence and with what meaning. Saqr is exceptional because he was present as a senior member of Assad’s staff at the meeting Assad held in secret with Putin in Moscow on November 29; he listened to Putin’s telephone call with General Valery Gerasimov during the meeting; and he continued negotiating with Putin’s subordinates through the Friday evening and Saturday morning, November 29-30, before Assad and his staff flew from Moscow at 4 pm that day.
Nothing comparable to this account has appeared in public from any other source to speak credibly. Saqr’s interpretation of what he calls “the state of disavowal” is disputable; the facts, less so. Saqr says that Assad told him directly that when he was at his Moscow residence in the Four Seasons Hotel, Putin had sent him the message that he wanted the visit kept secret, canceling Saqr’s negotiations with the Kremlin press office on a joint communiqué for public release.
Also, Putin’s message to Assad, according to Saqr, was that “the [Russian] military was not in a position to wage war, neither psychologically nor logistically.” In retrospect, Saqr interprets Putin as having decided before the fall of Aleppo to the Turkish-led forces of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on December 2 not to prevent their southward advance to Damascus, and also to have decided not to accept Iranian reinforcements through the Khmeimim airbase. From Saqr’s record of the last meetings in Damascus between Assad and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi on December 5-6, he admits he doesn’t know how coordinated the Russian and Iranian decision-making had been, and for how long...
..On the evening of Tuesday, December 3, after Saqr claims Assad’s call had been rejected, Putin spoke by telephone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Erdogan had initiated the call. In their discussion, according to the Kremlin release, Putin asked the Turkish president to “stop radical groups’ terrorist aggression against the Syrian state and provide comprehensive assistance to the legitimate authorities’ efforts to restore stability and constitutional order across the country, including using Ankara’s capabilities in the region.” Erdogan reportedly agreed on “strengthening cooperation both bilaterally and within the framework of the Astana process. The key importance of further close coordination between Russia, Turkiye and Iran to normalise the situation in Syria”. Nothing comparable to this account has appeared in public from any other source to speak credibly. Saqr’s interpretation of what he calls “the state of disavowal” is disputable; the facts, less so. Saqr says that Assad told him directly that when he was at his Moscow residence in the Four Seasons Hotel, Putin had sent him the message that he wanted the visit kept secret, canceling Saqr’s negotiations with the Kremlin press office on a joint communiqué for public release.
Also, Putin’s message to Assad, according to Saqr, was that “the [Russian] military was not in a position to wage war, neither psychologically nor logistically.” In retrospect, Saqr interprets Putin as having decided before the fall of Aleppo to the Turkish-led forces of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on December 2 not to prevent their southward advance to Damascus, and also to have decided not to accept Iranian reinforcements through the Khmeimim airbase. From Saqr’s record of the last meetings in Damascus between Assad and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi on December 5-6, he admits he doesn’t know how coordinated the Russian and Iranian decision-making had been, and for how long...
Erdogan was misleading. According to Saqr’s record of what Assad had been told by the Iraqi prime minister, Mohammed al-Sudani, Erdogan had declared the time for mediation was over. https://johnhelmer.net/writing-on-the-kremlin-wall-is-it-strategy-or-alibi/#more-90872
That General Joseph Aoun is the U.S. and Israel’s man is not in doubt. This is another defeat for Hezbollah following its disastrous ceasefire agreement, which led to the same-day start of the assault on their ally Assad. https://consortiumnews.com/2025/01/14/craig-murray-us-pet-now-president-of-lebanon/
He is living in a tent with his children, but his relationship with them is completely different than 15 months ago, when he was energetic and funny. “His children deal with him as if he was a stranger,” his wife, Salma, says. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250114-torture-testimonies-that-netanyahu-and-us-leaders-do-not-want-people-to-know/
Dozens of women report being sexually assaulted during the Kamal Adwan hospital raid last month
Before anything else happened, Maryam al-Muqayad says male Israeli troops told her to take off her clothes.Then, the soldiers took the 13-year-old Palestinian girl, dragged her by her hair and made her kneel down. When they had stopped abusing her, they forced her to leave northern Gaza, her home, and make her way south. https://www.theinteldrop.org/2025/01/14/jewish-rape-gangs-palestinian-women-detail-sexual-assaults-in-kamal-adwan-raid/
The report by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics at the beginning of the new year, 2025, regarding the reverse immigration of Jews was like fuel poured on the fire of political conflicts in Israel, because the bleak number appearing in the headlines of the Israeli media represented the balance of reverse immigration of Jews outside the Occupation state. 82,000 were removed from the population figure, which was bad news for its political and security circles.
This shocking statistic immediately turned into a new political debate among Israelis, added to their series of endless debates, especially since the available data indicated that this immigration was concentrated on professionals, doctors and technicians due to their despair over the conditions of the state. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250114-data-on-the-rise-in-reverse-jewish-immigration-shocks-israelis/
This shocking statistic immediately turned into a new political debate among Israelis, added to their series of endless debates, especially since the available data indicated that this immigration was concentrated on professionals, doctors and technicians due to their despair over the conditions of the state. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250114-data-on-the-rise-in-reverse-jewish-immigration-shocks-israelis/
Last Friday evening, Steven Witkoff, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, called from Qatar to tell Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's aides that he would be coming to Israel the following afternoon. The aides politely explained that was in the middle of the Sabbath but that the prime minister would gladly meet him Saturday night.
Witkoff's blunt reaction took them by surprise. He explained to them in salty English that Shabbat was of no interest to him. His message was loud and clear. Thus in an unusual departure from official practice, the prime minister showed up at his office for an official meeting with Witkoff, who then returned to Qatar to seal the deal.
A week before Trump's inauguration, Jerusalem already sees a change in the rules of the game that has broken the deadlock in the hostage negotiations. Unusually, the outgoing Biden administration has let Witkoff lead the process, on the grounds that any obligations the United States undertakes will be incumbent on Trump, not on Biden.
Witkoff is a Jewish real estate investor and developer who is close to Trump. He doesn't have the background of the kind of people who usually fill diplomatic roles. "Witkoff isn't a diplomat. He doesn't talk like a diplomat, he has no interest in diplomatic manners and diplomatic protocols," says a senior Israeli diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He's a businessman who wants to reach a deal quickly and charges ahead unusually aggressively."
In fact, Witkoff has forced Israel to accept a plan that Netanyahu had repeatedly rejected over the past half year. Hamas has not budged from its position that the hostages' freedom must be conditioned on the release of Palestinian prisoners (the easy part) and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza (the hard one). Netanyahu rejected this condition and thus was born the partial deal proposed by Egypt.
I assumed last week that Trump had shared that video of Jeffrey Sachs calling Netanyahu a "deep, dark son of a bitch" inadvertently but it's looking like that was actually a shot across the bow. https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=64807
Witkoff's blunt reaction took them by surprise. He explained to them in salty English that Shabbat was of no interest to him. His message was loud and clear. Thus in an unusual departure from official practice, the prime minister showed up at his office for an official meeting with Witkoff, who then returned to Qatar to seal the deal.
A week before Trump's inauguration, Jerusalem already sees a change in the rules of the game that has broken the deadlock in the hostage negotiations. Unusually, the outgoing Biden administration has let Witkoff lead the process, on the grounds that any obligations the United States undertakes will be incumbent on Trump, not on Biden.
Witkoff is a Jewish real estate investor and developer who is close to Trump. He doesn't have the background of the kind of people who usually fill diplomatic roles. "Witkoff isn't a diplomat. He doesn't talk like a diplomat, he has no interest in diplomatic manners and diplomatic protocols," says a senior Israeli diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He's a businessman who wants to reach a deal quickly and charges ahead unusually aggressively."
In fact, Witkoff has forced Israel to accept a plan that Netanyahu had repeatedly rejected over the past half year. Hamas has not budged from its position that the hostages' freedom must be conditioned on the release of Palestinian prisoners (the easy part) and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza (the hard one). Netanyahu rejected this condition and thus was born the partial deal proposed by Egypt.
I assumed last week that Trump had shared that video of Jeffrey Sachs calling Netanyahu a "deep, dark son of a bitch" inadvertently but it's looking like that was actually a shot across the bow. https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=64807
Moon of Alabama, Trump's Action Demonstrates Biden's Failure In Stopping The Genocide
The deal, about a hostage exchange and ceasefire, is similar to one that has been on offer since many, many month ago. That deal had been agreed to by Hamas but was sabotaged again and again by Netanyahoo and his coalition allies:
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir sparked outcry Monday when he claimed he had repeatedly foiled a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas over the past year, while calling on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to join him in thwarting an emerging agreement.... In a post on X, together with a video in which he called on far-right ally Smotrich to join him in telling Netanyahu that they would bolt the coalition if the current hostage deal proposal went through, Ben Gvir said that they have managed to stop previous efforts to reach an agreement.
“In the last year, using our political power, we managed to prevent this deal from going ahead, time after time,” he wrote.
However, Ben Gvir said he now lacks the power to stop what he termed the “surrender deal” because Netanyahu expanded the coalition by bringing in Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party in September last year.
Aside from Ben Gvir's and Smotrich's resistance to a deal, it was Netanyahoo personally who was blocking a deal with the hope of assuring his own political survival.
Over fifteen months the Biden administration falsely claimed that it was Hamas which was blocking a deal over Gaza. It falsely claimed that it could not use any pressure against Netanyahoo to finally accept an agreement.
That was of course nonsense as it is the U.S. which was and is financing Netanyahoo's war. It only took a few hours and some brashness from Donald Trump to push Netanyahoo towards concessions. https://www.moonofalabama.org/2025/01/trumps-action-demonstrates-bidens-failure-in-stopping-the-genocide.html
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has informed relatives of hostages kidnapped by Hamas that the end of the war in Gaza is near, amid reports that a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal has been reached. A formal deal could be announced within hours, he has said...
.."There is a breakthrough in the hostage deal negotiations in Doha. Hamas' military leader in Gaza Mohammed Sinwar gave his OK," one Israeli official was cited as saying. And importantly, a statement from Trump's team: 'We have a deal': Trump hails Gaza peace accord...
..The impending deal reportedly lays out an initial six week ceasefire phase which includes gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Central Gaza as well as the return of displaced Palestinians to North Gaza..."There is a breakthrough in the hostage deal negotiations in Doha. Hamas' military leader in Gaza Mohammed Sinwar gave his OK," one Israeli official was cited as saying. And importantly, a statement from Trump's team: 'We have a deal': Trump hails Gaza peace accord...
Of the some 100 hostages still held by Hamas, at least one-third are believed already deceased. Dozens were released upon an initial deal struck early in the conflict.
Like with the first hostage exchange, dozens of Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released under this new agreement in return for each Israeli hostage.
Status quo: Trump’s HUD Secretary and Our Reverse Robin Hood Housing System https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/01/trumps-hud-secretary-and-our-reverse-robin-hood-housing-system.html
For years, the UK and Sweden stymied Freedom of Information requests to hide why prosecutors under Keir Starmer pursued the Wikileaks founder.
After nine years of legal battles, a British judge has finally challenged the wall of secrecy erected by British and Swedish authorities around the legal abuse of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
Judge Foss, sitting at the London First-Tier Tribunal, has ruled that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) must explain how it came to destroy key files that would have shed light on why it pursued Assange for 14 years. The CPS appears to have done so in breach of its own procedures...
Judge Foss, sitting at the London First-Tier Tribunal, has ruled that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) must explain how it came to destroy key files that would have shed light on why it pursued Assange for 14 years. The CPS appears to have done so in breach of its own procedures...
..The CPS files relate to lengthy correspondence between the UK and Sweden over a preliminary investigation into rape allegations in Sweden that predate the US extradition case.
A few CPS emails from that time were not destroyed and have been released under Freedom of Information rules. They show that it was the UK authorities pushing reluctant Swedish prosecutors to pursue the case against Assange. Eventually, Swedish prosecutors dropped the case after running it into the ground.
In other words, the few documents that have come to light show that it was the CPS – led at that time by Keir Starmer, later knighted and now Britain’s prime minister – that waged what appears to have been a campaign of political persecution against Assange, rather than one based on proper legal considerations. https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/judge-threatens-to-break-the-uks
A few CPS emails from that time were not destroyed and have been released under Freedom of Information rules. They show that it was the UK authorities pushing reluctant Swedish prosecutors to pursue the case against Assange. Eventually, Swedish prosecutors dropped the case after running it into the ground.
In other words, the few documents that have come to light show that it was the CPS – led at that time by Keir Starmer, later knighted and now Britain’s prime minister – that waged what appears to have been a campaign of political persecution against Assange, rather than one based on proper legal considerations. https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/judge-threatens-to-break-the-uks
A Long-Overdue Step, Yet Dangerous COVID-19 Genetic Injections and Other Synthetic Dyes Remain on the Market https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/fda-finally-bans-cancer-linked-red
Spike protein expression observed in critical organs, including the liver, spleen, lungs, heart, head, and kidneys. https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/breaking-study-intramuscular-mrna
Avoiding Artificial Ingredients (pictured with winter vegetable garden)
