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Hello !
Recent Appearances... Rantburg

-Lurid Crime Tales-
Haitian national who came to US with Biden 'parole' program indicted for child rape in Massachusetts
2024-05-27
[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] A Haitian national that was on President Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. The very model of probity....
’s "parole" program and was charged in a rape case that took place in Massachusetts at a Comfort Inn in Rockland has been indicted for child rape.

Cory Alvarez, 26, who was arrested in March has been indicted this week by a grand jury with charges of child rape of a disabled 15-year-old girl. He traveled to the US with the Biden administration's Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuela

...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
n parole processes.

According to a blurb from District Attorney Tim Cruz, "A Plymouth County grand jury returned indictments charging Cory B. Alvarez, 26, with one count each of Aggravated Rape of a Child with 10 Year Age Difference and Rape of a Child by Force."

"In March, Alvarez was found dangerous, and he currently remains held without bail," the release continued. After Alvarez was brought to the hotel-turned immigrant shelter, he was reported to authorities after a call to the police.

Alvarez reportedly brought the 15-year-old girl to his room through an app on a device and then committed the alleged crime.

The indictment blurb added, "Upon arrival, Rockland Police encountered the 15 year-old female victim, who was then transported to South Shore Hospital for treatment. As a result of their investigation, Rockland Police developed probable cause to arrest Alvarez, and he was taken into custody."

The case received national attention with politicians commenting on concerns over the background check process for those who are enrolled in the parole program and then brought into the country.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said that Alvarez passed two background checks. One was done by the state and the other for immigrants colonists specifically.

Alvarez will be arraigned on the indictment in a superior court at a later date.
Link


Government Corruption
Cop-attacking migrants get off easy because Bragg, Biden and Dems support lawlessness
2024-05-16
Responding to this story from yesterday.
[NYPOST] Incredibly, six of the illegal migrants colonists charged in that vicious Times Square attack on NYPD officers have been offered plea deals. The message: Progressives just don’t care about lawlessness.

That’s right: Illegally enter the country, illegally flee from the border to Gotham, openly assault cops and you’ll get no more than a slap on the wrist.

And you’ll likely get to stay in America, since New York City refuses to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on handing over illegals who commit crimes.

Three of the migrants colonists face a year — a year! — in prison for their literal assault on law and order.

One, Yohenry Brito, turns out to have been rearrested after a lefty priest bailed him out when he was initially nabbed; Brito then was let walk on the second crime, a Macy’s shoplift attempt.

Two of the vile crew face only six months in prison, despite allegedly being members of Venezuela

...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
’s feared Tren de Aragua gang.

Worst of all, this is the system working as progs intend.

Remember, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg
...Soros-owned and operated Manhattan DA. Putting vicious and blood-thirsty criminals in jail only makes them unhappy, and they've led such hard lives after all...
 dragged his feet on going after the migrant cop-beaters until after they’d left town — moving only when an outraged public began to make noise.

His philosophy means that violent mostly peaceful crooks get infinite free chances, even when they attack cops, and the deck is now so stacked against actual prosecutions that when a few do face any consequences, they’re meaningless consequences.

That the attack was against coppers only amplifies the horror.

New York’s prosecutorial system is signaling that it’s open season on cops.

And the picture is just as grim nationally as well.

The open-borders freaks driving federal immigration policy (or lack thereof) are ideological comrades of the moral morons behind New York’s criminal justice "reforms."

Witness the woke El Paso judge who let off the hook a migrant mob that bum-rushed border fences and guards.
Related:
Tren de Aragua: 2024-04-03 Here's how homeowners can fight against squatter insanity
Tren de Aragua: 2024-03-12 Long Island dismemberment victims whose remains were scattered in a park for children to find - as two more suspects are released under NY's soft bail laws to the dismay of victims' families
Tren de Aragua: 2024-03-07 Brother of illegal migrant suspected of brutally killing Laken Riley is revealed to have ties to violent Venezuela gang trying to gain a foothold in the US - as college student's parents turn down SOTU invitation so they grieve her death
Related:
Times Square: 2024-05-15 Outrage as migrants who beat up cops in Times Square are all offered plea deals
Times Square: 2024-05-08 Widow of slain NYPD cop Jonathan Diller cries after career criminal Guy Rivera charged with first-degree murder
Times Square: 2024-03-16 NYC subway rider 'who shot aggressive gunman with his own weapon on crowded train will NOT be charged because he acted in self-defense', as cops say man he shot may not survive
Link


Caribbean-Latin America
Guyana appeals to US and UN as Maduro advances annexation of territory
2023-12-07
See also here.
[THEGUARDIAN] Guyana has appealed for help from the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
 and the United States as the Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
n president, Nicolás Maduro, announced a series of measures intended to advance its annexation of two-thirds of the tiny South American nation’s territory.

A man walks in front of a mural of the Venezuelan map with the Essequibo territory included, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. Venezuelans will attempt to decide the future of the Essequibo territory, a large swath of land that is administered and controlled by Guyana but claimed by Venezuela, via a referendum that the Venezuelan government put forth in its latest attempt to claim ownership, saying it was stolen when a north-south border was drawn more than a century ago. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
’Despotic’ Maduro accused of risking Venezuela-Guyana conflict over oil-rich region
Read more
"I have spoken to the secretary general of the United Nations and several leaders, alerting them of these dangerous developments and the desperate actions of President Maduro," Irfaan Ali, president of Guyana, said in a television broadcast late on Tuesday, as he informed the nation of 800,000 of Maduro’s latest steps intended to create a new Venezuelan state in Guyana.

Ali’s comments came after Maduro announced a series of measures to formalise a referendum on Sunday evening in which voters overwhelmingly backed plans to recognise the 160,000km2 oil-rich swath of Guyanese jungle as its own.

The Venezuelan president said he had ordered a law to be drafted recognising a new state — the Guayana-Esequiba — where the English-speaking residents would be given Venezuelan national ID cards. He also ordered national companies to begin mining and oil extraction operations in the resource-rich region, and for a special military unit to be created for the region, alarming observers and causing Brazil to send armoured vehicles to its border.

Link


Africa Subsaharan
Burkina Faso: Partisans demonstrate in support to junta one year post coup
2023-10-01
[AFRICANEWS] One year after the coup that brought Captain Ibrahim Traore to power in Burkina Faso
...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president used to be Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and was chased out in 2014. Now it's the usual army officer type guy, Captain Ibrahim Traore, who's just doing a bang-up job of running things...
, people rallied in the streets of Ouagadougou, to show their support to the military leader.

When he seized power, Captain Traore set himself two to three months to improve security and regain control of the jihadist attack plagued west African nation.

"In this 1 year we've really seen a lot of change. There's been a lot of change. There have been fewer attacks, fewer displaced people, and he's taking a step that really goes to my heart. Opening factories for young people and Burkinabé, it's really incredible," rejoiced Aïcha Ouedraogo, demonstrator.

"One year on, a very satisfactory record, and no Burkinabè can say otherwise, because foremost we can see what the captain has already done, and put a lot of villages back in place. That's already an achievement for us, and we're proud of him, and we trust him, and we know we're going to win this war against the evildoers" added demonstrator Maxime Zongo.

Since taking power, the new regime has focused on a strong security response to the attacks by groups affiliated to al-Qaeda and Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
It has undertaken a massive recruitment drive for the Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland, a civilian volunteer force that supports the military.

It has also acquired drones and helicopters, sought to neutralise the jihadists and seen Traore out and about in the field, motivating the troops.

"We have hope for the future. We do not mean for ourselves, we are fighting for our children and our great-grandchildren. We are already here, already done, so it's for the next generation, that's it" defended Ange Geoffroy Kabore.

Under Traore, relations with La Belle France broke down, prompting the French forces to quit the country in February.

The junta has diversified its international partners, including contacts with Russia, Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
.

Link


Caribbean-Latin America
Fugitive drug lord 'Taliban' who stole cartel's 450lb cocaine shipment is tossed ALIVE into ocean with an anchor tied to his waist
2023-08-30
Damn! I'da paid good money to see that, and all I had to do was read the Daily Mail.
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] This is the moment a runaway Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
n narco known as Taliban
...Arabic for students...
 is dumped alive in the ocean with his hands zip-tied and an anchor around his waist in Dire Revenge for stealing 450 lbs of cocaine - and cash - from a cartel.

Reinaldo Fuentes is seen bound and gagged with blood stains on the back of his head before his killers struggle to heave him - and the anchor - over the side of a boat into the Caribbean Sea near Martinique.

The footage, shared to social media, shows Fuentes staring at the person recording the video. He is then dumped overboard and left to drown.

None of his kidnappers are identified but one is heard in the background of the video saying 'make sure none of our faces can be seen' and another later said 'he has no way to save himself'.
"Goodbye, Mister Bond."
In an elaborate - and poorly thought out - ruse, Fuentes, a middleman for the Venezuelan Clan del Cartel, earlier had dumped a shipment of narcotics worth $10 million at sea and fabricated a fake coasties pursuit to explain not bringing the drugs back to his bosses and kept the cash.



He then went back out on the water to collect the cocaine, repackaged it and took it to another Caribbean island.

But the scheme went awry when his henchmen snitched, leading to his watery demise on July 17 - the day he was invited to a cartel meeting.

Veteran journalism Rafael Tolentino revealed Monday on 'Esto No Es Radio,' a daily morning show in the Dominican Republic, that Fuentes obtained a fake national identification document that allowed him to live under the name of Miguel Fulcar in the Dominican Republic, making it impossible for him to be detected by authorities.

Fuentes was reportedly dating a prominent lawyer, caring for her daughter, in the Dominican city of Bonao.

He was a native of Sucre, and had three children from a prior relationship in Venezuela.

Fuentes allegedly controlled drug dealing in the Bonao neighborhood of Buenos Aires, where he picked up the 'Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
' nickname due to illicit dealings with Middle Eastern narcos.

Two members of his organization were previously killed in a shootout with the police in Buenos Aires. An investigation led cops to a home were a cache of weapons were recovered from a Bonao home. The weapons reportedly belonged to Fuentes.

Sources told Tolentino Fuentes entered the country July 14 and was there for two days before leaving.

Sources told Tolentino that Fuentes was murdered because he had been involved with stealing a multi-million-dollar cocaine shipment destined for Tortola, the largest of the British Virgin Islands.

Link


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexico sets up large tent shelter for hundreds of migrants in border city of Matamoros
2023-08-20
[AlAhram] The Mexican government said Saturday it has set up a large tent shelter for about 600 migrants colonists in the border city of Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas.

The large tents provide sun and rain shelter for dozens of smaller three- or four-person tents pitched inside.

Mexico’s National Immigration Service said that electrical outlets, portable bathrooms and cooking facilities would also be provided at the site, which is close to the Rio Grande, which marks the border.

Upon opening, the shelter had almost 600 occupants, many of whom were seeking appointments through a U.S. phone application to make their case for refuge or asylum.

There were about 120 Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
ns, 96 Mexicans, 88 Haitians, 66 Nicaraguans, 47 Ecuadorians and 35 Cubans at the camp, among other nationalities.
Link


Home Front: Politix
Erie County refuses NYC migrants after two sex assaults at Buffalo-area hotels
2023-08-14
[NYPOST] Upstate Western NY Democratic Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said he’s refusing to accept any more migrants colonists from New York City after two sexual assault incidents occurred at Buffalo-area hotels housing asylum seekers last week.

Poloncarz said his reversal came after learning the facilities are not safe, adding that Erie County’s "trust and good faith has been betrayed."
As is generally the case when the rest of the state deals with The City. Mostly it’s not malice aforethought, just colossal parochialism, as City folk fail to realize that they are not the center of the universe for anyone beyond their borders.
The county executive said DocGo, a contractor hired by the Adams Administration to provide services to the migrants colonists relocated upstate, "may have interfered" with the Cheektowaga police’s investigation in the second assault case.

DocGo had been the subject of complaints even before the latest incident.

"I demanded [New York City] Mayor [Eric] Adams pause all further transportation of asylum seekers to our community until such time as we can resolve all security issues," Poloncarz said during a Saturday presser posted by Spectrum News.

"He agreed and informed me they will not send any additional persons to Erie County at this time. We also discussed the need for a new and improved security plan."

About 540 asylum seekers have been brought to Erie County, and officials are now calling on the asylum seekers to be removed from the hotels.

Authorities said an asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
 was arrested Friday and is being charged with sex abuse and unlawful imprisonment after allegedly sexually assaulting an employee inside the Best Western hotel in Cheektowaga near Buffalo Airport.

The bust came just days after another migrant from Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
, who also arrived from New York City, was charged with raping a woman in front of a 3-year-old child, at another Cheektowaga hotel.

"Erie County opened its arms to try to welcome these new Americans. Unfortunately we believe we can’t make the program, as it is presently run, sustainable without significant changes," Poloncarz said.
Link


Caribbean-Latin America
500% more crossed Darién Gap in 2023 than year before, and many more with health issues
2023-06-29
[DoctorsWithoutBorders] Sam Antoine was born a migrant. His mother, Merlande was eight months pregnant when she embarked on a journey to cross the Darién Gap with her family, traveling for four days through dense jungle, rivers and cliffs on land controlled by gangs. Merlande was traveling by way of Chile, where she had lived as a domestic worker and found life unsustainable after fleeing violence in her home country, Haiti.

"The cost of living is very high there," she said. "Everything is expensive—food, rent. Without papers, you cannot get a good job and, although we tried to legalize our situation, it was impossible."

More than 127,000 migrants colonists crossed the Darién Gap between January and April 2023, five times more than in the same period in 2022. After Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
ns, Haitians are the second largest group migrating this route, with 28,610 crossing in the first three months of this year. They are joined by migrants colonists from countries both near and far, including Ecuadoreans, Chileans, Chinese, Indians, Afghans, Syrians, and others trying to reach the United States.

"In the jungle they stole $1,300 dollars from us. They left us without any money. But we were only robbed," she clarified, because robberies are often accompanied by kidnapping, rape and murder in the deadly Darién Gap.

Humanitarian organizations including MSF as well as government entities in Colombia and Panama have repeatedly denounced conditions along the Darién Gap route, where migrants colonists face violence and risks related to the harrowing journey itself, such as drowning, fractures, gastric and skin diseases. Despite repeated warnings about the dangers faced along the Darien, there is still no safe and dignified route for migrants colonists.

TRAVELING WHILE VULNERABLE
Merlande arrived in Panama with preeclampsia, a life threatening pregnancy complication which can cause dangerously high blood pressure and other symptoms. As a result, she had to give birth prematurely and by caesarean section. Between January and April 2023 alone, MSF carried out 499 prenatal consultations at the two temporary migrant reception centers for migrants colonists crossing the Darién Gap.

"We have seen an increase in diagnoses of chronic conditions that need special treatment," said Priscila Acevedo, an MSF field doctor. "People with heart disease, people who need insulin, people with blood pressure problems, and people who faint due to rising temperatures, lack of food, or severe dehydration." A person’s health condition does not seem to be a determining factor in their decision to embark on the route to the United States. "We have even received people without mobility in their legs, with cerebral palsy and with senile dementia," explained Acevedo.

Between January and April 2023, MSF treated 669 people with diagnoses of chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and asthma. During the same period in 2022, that number was 262.

Carlos*, a 62-year-old Colombian migrant, has diabetes and high blood pressure, as well as heart problems. For two days during his journey, he had only water, a couple of biscuits, and medication his wife had given him. He burst into tears describing the experience as he sat in the waiting room of a health post in Lajas Blancas. "I thought at various times that my heart was not strong enough to endure that path. It is something that I do not wish on anyone, not even on my worst enemy," he said.

Along with Carlos and Merlande, MSF met an Afghan man who lost his leg in the war, an Afghan family traveling with a blind woman, a Colombian woman with one hand recently operated on for a fracture, and several older adults.
Lots more of the same at the link. Skipping down to the end:
MSF reiterates the need for Colombian and Panamanian authorities to guarantee safe routes for migrants colonists for the expansion of services in temporary migrant reception centers. Moslem colonists Migrants must be guaranteed security, decent spaces for overnight stays, access to drinking water and food, appropriate hygiene and sanitation conditions, as well as access to justice.
Link


Home Front: Politix
Trump Critics Slam Looming Indictment as ‘Nonsense’, ‘Partisan,' Say It Will Help Him in 2024
2023-03-21
[BREITBART] As former President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons......
 is preparing to be indicted by the Democrat District Attorney of Manhattan Alvin Bragg, some of his critics are slamming the indictment as partisan politics.

Andrew McCarthy, former chief assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who has never been a fan of Trump’s, over the weekend blasted Bragg’s case against the former president as "nonsense" and a "blatantly partisan exercise of raw power."

"This is a classic, invidious selective prosecution. It is being launched strictly for political purposes," he wrote in a column for the National Review Online.

"It is hard to think of anything that will more rile up Trump’s base and anger other Republicans who, regardless of their distaste for Trump, will find this maneuver despicable," he argued.

Trump said on social media over the weekend that he believes he will be indicted this week by Bragg.

Alan Dershowitz, who is also not a fan of Trump’s but has slammed politicized investigations and impeachments of the former president, wrote recently in the New York Sun:

All decent people, whether politically opposed to Mr. Trump (as I am) or supportive of his candidacy, should be concerned about this weaponizing of the prosecutor’s office for the political purpose of preventing a potential candidate from running for office.

Nolte: Ben Carson Says Charges Against Trump ‘Absurd, Embarrassing’
[BREITBART] Dr. Ben Carson
... a neurosurgeon who was under the delusion that being brilliant qualifies him to be president....
 said the idea of arresting and filing charges against former President Donald Trump
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
 is "absolutely absurd" and "embarrassing."

Carson, who served as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Trump, was interviewed by Newsmax Sunday and did not hold back on the issue. He specifically pointed to Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
 and how quickly that once idyllic country collapsed under this kind of political corruption.

"Look how quickly Venezuela changed," he said. "That is high in my thinking because I’ve been there several times when it was a wonderful place to visit, with beautiful resorts and hotels." Carson pointed out that the "biggest thing that people argued about is whether they were the most beautiful people in the world." But once Venezuela’s government became corrupt, Carson said, "they went from ... number one economy in South America to the bottom almost overnight. This is what can happen when you allow these kinds of things."

The "these kinds of things" Carson is referring to is the likelihood of George Soros
...either Ernst Stavro Blofeld or Auric Goldfinger come true...
-funded Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg arresting and charging Trump with a campaign finance violation—a misdemeanor charge that in the past has almost always resulted in a fine.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Gallant says Iran in talks with 50 countries to sell missiles and drones
2023-02-18
[IsraelTimes] At Munich conference, defense minister warns the sales violate UN embargo set to expire in October: ‘Time is running out, while an evil regime traffics weapons’

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Friday accused Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites....
of advancing sales of missiles and drones to dozens of countries, in violation of a 2015 United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
 Security Council resolution.

"Iran is currently holding discussions to sell advanced weapons, including UAVs and PGMs (precision-guided missiles), to no less than 50 different countries," Gallant said at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

"Iran is no longer a ’local supplier,’ serving proxies in the Middle East. It is a ’multinational corporation,’ a global exporter of advanced weapons. From Belarus in Eastern Europe, to Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
 in South America, we have seen Iran delivering UAVs with a range of up to 1,000 kilometers," he said.

The sale of such drones, according to Western diplomats, violates UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six key nations — the US, Russia, China, Britannia, La Belle France and Germany — aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear activities and preventing the country from developing atomic weapons.

Resolution 2231 bans Iran from exporting ballistic missiles and drones with a range of over 300 kilometers and a payload of more than 500 kilograms until October 2023.

"All this takes place, while the missile embargo on Iran is still in effect, an embargo that will expire this year. Time is running out, while an evil regime traffics weapons," he said. "The international community must create an effective alternative to the dying embargo, a practical mechanism of deterrence and consequences."

A report by the UK’s Guardian newspaper Tuesday said US officials have been warning that Iran is utilizing the war in Ukraine as a springboard to position itself as a hub for cheap and lethal military-grade drones.

Israel has been closely monitoring Russia’s deadly launch of Iranian-made suicide drones in Ukrainian cities, fearing that similar weapons will be directed at the Jewish state in future wars, particularly via Hezbollah on its northern border.

The Guardian report said US officials believe Tehran is rapidly improving the effectiveness of its drones through real-world use in Ukraine.

The al-Monitor news outlet last week quoted an unnamed Iranian defense official to the effect that China has joined the queue for Iranian drones.

"Our power has grown to levels where China is waiting in line to buy 15,000 of our drones," the official boasted.

Iran maintains a foreign policy goal of developing stronger relations with countries in the global East, such as China and Russia, in an effort to balance against severe Western sanctions placed on it, due to its largely unmonitored nuclear program.

Speaking on the Iranian nuclear threat, Gallant said: "When we speak of preventing Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon, we must keep all the possible means, I repeat, all possible means on the table."
Link


Home Front: Politix
US Launches Private Refugee Sponsorship Prgram
2023-01-21
This should be interesting.
[KhaamaPress] The U.S. State Department announced Thursday, 19 January, the creation of a new Welcome Corps program that will allow private sponsorship of refugees to help them resettle in the United States, read the statement.

The Welcome Corps, established with the help of Health and Human Services, will enable private citizens to help refugees arriving through the U.S. Refugee admission program.
Mandatory assignments are not seen as necessary at this time.
The state department said the program would build on America’s generosity of spirit by creating a durable program for Americans in communities nationwide to privately sponsor refugees from unstable countries, including Afghanistan, Ukraine and Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
Blinken said, "Providing a haven and a new home for people fleeing war, violence, and persecution is one of America’s noblest traditions, dating back to our nation’s founding."

The program will start in two phases to identify, evaluate, and scale up the most successful elements of private sponsorship as an innovative, community-led resettlement model.

In the program’s first phase, private sponsors participating in the Welcome Corps will be matched with refugees whose cases are already approved for resettlement under the USRAP. The Department of State will facilitate matches between private sponsors and refugees arriving within the first six months of 2023.

In the program’s second phase, which will launch in mid-2023, private sponsors can identify refugees to refer to the USRAP for resettlement and support their identified refugees.

In the first year, the statement added that the program would mobilize more than 10,000 to step forward as private sponsors and offer a welcome hand to at least 5,000 refugees or more.
Link


Caribbean-Latin America
Maduro Mulls Creating New Regional Bloc Allied to Russia and China
2023-01-15
These would be countries that could have legitimately added Socialist to their names, no doubt.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
n President Nicolás Maduro
...Commie el presidente para la vida of Venezuela, successor to Hugo Chavez. Nick is his country's attempt at producing a Muammar Qadaffy, except that even though his country's sitting on an enormous puddle of oil, he can't manage to get it out of the ground. Unlike Qadaffy and Hugo Chavez, he's not dead yet...
 has proposed establishing a new international bloc involving Latin American and Caribbean countries that would have close ties to Russia and China.
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