[BBC] After outfoxing Egypt on the diplomatic stage for more than a decade, Ethiopia is set to officially inaugurate one of the world's biggest dams on a tributary of the River Nile, burying a colonial-era treaty that saw the UK guarantee the North African nation the lion's share of its water.
The dam - built on the Blue Nile at a cost of about $5bn (£3.7bn), with a reservoir roughly the size of Greater London - has led to a surge in Ethiopian nationalism, uniting a nation often polarised along ethnic lines and mired in conflict.
"Ethiopians may disagree on how to eat injera [their staple food], but they agree on the dam," Moses Chrispus Okello, an analyst with the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies think-tank, told the BBC.
"They do not see it as a pile of concrete in the middle of a river, but as a monument of their achievement because Ethiopians, both at home and in the diaspora, funded the dam's construction. There were waves and waves of appeals for contributions when construction started in 2011.
"The government also issued bonds that were bought by companies and workers. So, the sense that all Ethiopians own the dam has grown exponentially, and its inauguration is a source of great pride for the nation," Mr Okello said.
Named the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd), it is Africa's largest hydro-electric plant, raising hopes that not only will it meet the 135 million-strong population's energy needs but it will also give the country "energy hegemony" and boost its foreign currency earnings, the analyst added.
Ethiopia was planning to increase the sale of electricity to neighbouring countries such as Kenya and Djibouti, with ambitions of building a transmission network to cross the Red Sea to sell to Middle Eastern states like Saudi Arabia, he said.
[TheNines] To take in the actual, you cannot do better than to listen to Vladimir Putin,
The next question is about peace settlement. You said earlier that you basically see a certain potential in this regard and even invited Vladimir Zelensky to Moscow. However, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has officially declined it. Do I take it right – or maybe I am wrong – that we cannot speak about any steps towards peace settlement in the nearest future?
Vladimir Putin: I would like you to stick closer to the topics of the Asia-Pacific economic cooperation. But I realise that without solving such acute problems, cooperation as a whole is burdened, so these are legitimate questions.
What can I say?
First, just recently the leadership of the Kiev regime spoke unflatteringly of us, to put it mildly, and excluded any possibility of direct contacts. Now we see that they are asking for such contacts, at least they are suggesting having them.
I have repeatedly said that I am ready for such contacts. At the news conference in Beijing that you mentioned I said that I do not see much sense in them. Why? Because it will be impossible to come to terms with the Ukrainian side on the key issues. Even ifthey have political will – which I doubt – there are legal and technical difficulties which are related to the fact that any agreements on territories must be confirmed, under the Ukrainian constitution, in a referendum.
To hold a referendum, a martial law must be lifted, as referenda are not held under martial law. If martial law is lifted, presidential elections must be held right away. After the referendum, if it is held, regardless of its results, it must be endorsed by a Constitutional Court’s ruling. But the Constitutional Court is not functioning because, as I see it, after it received enquiries on the legitimacy of the incumbent authorities, the court dodged rulings while the head of the regime ordered the security guards not to let the Constitutional Court Chairman to his office.
[NYPOST] President Donald Trump ...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania... ’s greatest achievement within six months was simply ending illegal immigration as we had once known it — without "general amnesty" or any other rhetorical trickery.
It remains difficult to find, much less deport, the 10 million to 12 million illegal aliens who entered in the last four years.
Those who helped break the law, by design or indifference, now believe it was moral to destroy federal immigration law but immoral to uphold it.
And it is still unclear whether former President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. This Is A Man That Does Not Seem Demented... ’s handlers deliberately sabotaged their own border for political and demographic purposes out of sheer orneriness or utter incompetence.
Many of the left’s cherished totems — massive Green New Deal subsidies, the diversity/equity/inclusion industry, biological males competing in women’s sports and the USAID revolving door — are either comatose or in their death throes.
The historic drop-off in military recruitment reversed shortly after Trump took office.
Republican voter registration is up, and Democratic registration is down.
Abroad, Trump finds remarkable successes.
For now, there are pauses in the fighting between India and Pakistain, Egypt and Somalia, Cambodia and Thailand, Rwanda and Congo, Serbia and Kosovo and Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Much credit is due to Trump for brokering ceasefires.
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 JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... will not get a bomb in the next four years — as seemed likely when Biden left office.
The Middle East’s current most grotesque terrorist cadres and states — Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... and the Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s — are far weaker than they were when Trump entered office in January.
There is at least some engagement in envisioning the outlines of a cease-fire in Trump’s inherited Ukraine War. The rub is finding the degree of ordnance necessary to convince Putin that increasing Russia’s casualties to more than 1 million will endanger his own dictatorship sooner than destroy Ukraine.
Breaking up the new 3 billion-person China/India/Russia nexus hinges on ending the war.
The economy is still strong. Gas prices are at historic lows. Increases in all types of energy production proceed full bore. GDP, inflation, unemployment and the stock market — all at one time or another said to be in a crisis state — remain strong. Talk of an impending recession or hyperinflation is mostly muted.
No one quite knows either the full effects of Trump’s tariffs — especially given the injunctions issued by left-wing district justices — or of the promised $10 trillion-plus in foreign investments.
Much of Trump’s agenda will hinge on whether interest rates are lowered, Republicans survive the midterms and the degree to which unelected left-wing lower-court justices can be stopped from hijacking the Constitution and de facto running the country.
As for the Democratic opposition, there is no counter agenda, no shadow government of responsible leadership and no willingness to craft bipartisan legislation. Instead, the left’s strategy is that of the kamikaze: to destroy Trump at the cost of destroying the Democratic Party. Otherwise, Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... seek to prove so obnoxious in demonizing Trump that they create such mass hysteria that the weary electorate figuratively lies down, closes its eyes, covers its ears and screams nonstop, "Make them all go away!"
Former foul-mouthed vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz ...Kamala's smarmy-looking VP running mate, governor of Minnesota and self-admitted knucklehead, who decided to retire rather than to deploy with his National Guard unit, then claimed to have been in Iraq and Afghanistan. One man's socialism is another man's neighborliness.... is now reduced to a ghoulish status. He recently boasted to an audience that rumors of Trump’s death — who survived two liquidation attempts last summer — will thankfully one day prove true.
The top of the failed ticket, Kamala Harris What can be, unburdened by what has been , wanders aimlessly without an office, constituency, audience or ideas. To remain viable, she knows she must continue touring and speaking. But Harris accepts that the more anyone hears her word salads, the more they will remember her 2024 train wreck.
The head of the Democratic Party, Ken Martin, now screams that Trump is a fascist ...anybody you disagree with, damn them... . But by what standards does he judge? Did Trump try to take his rivals off state ballots? Does he advocate for destroying the filibuster, the Electoral College and the 156-year-old nine-justice Supreme Court, or packing the Senate by admitting two new states?
Are local, state and federal prosecutors — a la 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... , Letitia James, Jack Smith and Fani Willis — coordinating with the White House and DOJ to indict Trump’s current chief adversaries, such as Gavin Governor Hair Gel Newsom ...mayor of San Franciscoas it transformed itself into Poopville, currently governor of Californiaas it transforms itself into Cinderland... , Kamala Harris or Josh Shapiro? Did Trumpers hire a foreign spy to concoct a fake hit dossier on Democratic grandees? Are his subordinates now spreading it to the media? Are 51 conservative former CIA contractors and retired spooks swearing that Newsom or Harris is working with the Russians, Chinese or any of our enemies?
Democrats’ greatest fear? That they have so institutionalized excessive executive orders, ad hominem lawfare, lower-court usurpation, state nullification of federal law and federal intervention in higher education, the energy industry and the nation’s open spaces that their own legacies empowered Trump and now will boomerang upon themselves — as the public applauds the karma.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2025 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1773 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
They are on the back foot. Time to put them on their back and your heel on their throat. Then crush that trachea.
[NYP] Of all Donald Trump’s cabinet picks, it’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who attracts the most vitriol, which is saying something.
You could see just how much the Health and Human Services secretary is despised last week at a Senate committee hearing when Democrat after Democrat abused him with slurs like "charlatan" and demanded he resign. There is an orchestrated campaign to force him out that includes the overplayed political ploy of an "open letter from nine former CDC leaders" and another letter from 1,000 current and former HHS employees calling on him to step down.
Thanks, guys, for giving him a list for the next round of pink slips.
But why would he resign? He’s only just getting started on Trump’s Make America Healthy Again agenda, which is popular with Americans of all stripes, especially Republicans, 73% of whom rated it favorably in the latest Insider Advantage poll.
It addresses public concern that transcends party lines about chronic disease, food safety and vaccine skepticism, the latter of which can be blamed on the lies we were told during the COVID-19 pandemic, not on RFK Jr.’s six months in office.
MAHA is a threat to powerful entrenched interests, and RFK Jr. is under siege from all sides as he tries to implement his plans to solve chronic disease in the United States.
#1
Did somebody say Froot Loops? Remember when the advertising mascot for Camel cigarettes was Joe Camel? Remember how Big Tobacco caught hell for using a cartoon character to get kids hooked on tobacco?
I would argue that, when you count the cost of Type II Diabetes and morbid obesity, Froot Loops is every bit as bad and yet it's legal to feed the stuff to children.
As crooked as most congress critters are, I doubt if even RFK Jr can do anything about it. But I'd like to see these pompous, self-righteous senators exposed for stopping him.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
09/08/2025 15:49 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Having got POTS from the pfe shot, i am cheering him on.
[PJ] During World War II, bomber crews flying over Germany were experts in anti-aircraft ordnance. I've read accounts where pilots and crew were able to predict their location by the amount and variety of flak they were receiving.
Accounts such as these gave rise to popular idioms we use today. In this case, if flak lit up the sky, you knew you were over the target. Nobody wasted shells on empty skies; the closer you were to hitting a high-value target, the heavier the fire.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's secretary of health and human services, is facing such intense anti-aircraft flak that he could walk from New York City to Washington, D.C. without his feet touching the ground. Regardless of the party, senators from both parties shredded him; the media turned his strained voice into a punchline, and worst of all for anybody, his own family publicly demanded he resign, immediately, all in unison.
Whenever we see such coordinated verbal assaults, we know Kennedy is circling something explosive, something Washington elites are desperate to keep buried.
A Hearing That Was Never About Questions
The Senate Finance Committee meeting, on paper, was supposed to cover topics that were nothing more than an ordinary meeting.
The reality, however, was (paraphrasing Hillary Clinton) a mass suspension of belief. Kennedy was grilled by senators who definitely felt as though they might be having their career-defining moment in front of the camera.
Kennedy was grilled hard for firing CDC Director Susan Monarez, tearing down the vaccine advisory board, canceling $500 million in mRNA contracts, and restricting shots for children and pregnant women.
Questions dripped with contempt. Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy, a doctor, accused Kennedy of denying people vaccines.
An important point on a subject we’ve been discussing here for a while, courtesy of Grom the Affective.
[Jpost] Israel is being attacked from within by organizations funded from abroad, without real legal restrictions and without meaningful security intervention, Moshe Fuzaylov told Maariv in an interview published Sunday.
The result is that foreign states are able to shape both Israeli and international discourse without paying a price, while Israelis argue among themselves about the so-called "freedom of action" of NGOs.
Fuzaylov, a senior researcher at the Misgav Institute for National Security and a former senior Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) official, discussed Israel’s ongoing cognitive and legal battle over the narrative and legitimacy of the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... since October 7.
"On October 7, 2023, Israel found itself the victim of a brutal massacre, the hardest day in its history," Fuzaylov said.
"It was only natural to expect that at that moment, human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... organizations, in Israel and abroad, would stand by the victim. After all, this was not a border clash, but crimes against humanity: massacre, rape, kidnapping, arson. And yet, most of those organizations’ arrows were directed against us."
He argued that the event exposed a painful truth: "For years, we educated ourselves to believe that international coalitions are built on shared values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. But at the moment of truth, those values collapsed. What holds coalitions together are not shared values but shared interests. That is why in the West, seemingly paradoxical alliances have emerged - progressive LGBT movements marching hand in hand with Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... supporters. Clearly, there are no shared values here, since Hamas brutally oppresses LGBT people, women, and minorities. But there is a shared interest: to turn Israel into a symbol of ’occupation’ and ’apartheid.’ Israel has become a political bargaining chip, with no cost to harming it."
Israeli law and European funding
According to Fuzaylov, Israeli law has also enabled the problem. "The Associations Law requires transparency regarding foreign funding, but it does not limit the receipt of such funds. Unlike in the United States, where anybody funded by a foreign state is defined as a foreign agent and placed under strict supervision, here the field is wide open. The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... has learned to exploit this very well. Instead of confronting Israel directly, it channels funding to local NGOs that file petitions, produce ’apartheid’ reports, and lead campaigns in the international arena. In this way, Israel becomes a target of legal and cognitive attrition, funded by European public money but carrying the stamp of an ’Israeli NGO.’"
Fuzaylov also leveled criticism at the Shin Bet: "Since Rabin’s liquidation, the service has invested enormous resources in monitoring the far-right. This is a real threat that requires attention, but the result is a long-standing distortion: within the Shin Bet, there is no dedicated body dealing with the radical Left, anarchist groups, or NGOs funded by foreign governments operating under the banner of ’human rights,’ and which may even be working to undermine an elected government. In practice, the Shin Bet shut the door on the Left more than twenty years ago. This has left an entire front exposed - a front where the battle over world public opinion is being waged almost without any security oversight."
STEPS FOR DECISION MAKERS
Fuzaylov called for fundamental change: "Israel requires a clear law, one that defines any NGO funded by a foreign government as a foreign agent, with binding restrictions and transparency. It also needs a balanced Shin Bet, one that recognizes that threats to democracy can come from both the Right and the Left, especially when it involves foreign funding intended to weaken Israel’s resilience."
He added that "the next Shin Bet chief will face a historic mission: to restore balance. He must rebuild the division that deals with the Right, establish a division to also address threats from the Left and from NGOs operating with foreign funding, recommend protective legislation, and ensure that the service is not captive to past traumas but faithful to one principle - the defense of the State of Israel, its illusory sovereignty, and the legitimacy of its existence."
"Israel’s struggle is not only military against Hamas or Iran. It is also being fought in the legal, cognitive, and political arenas. To win it, we must understand that shared values no longer hold. Only shared interests, protective legislation, and a balanced security service will ensure that we can withstand the international industry working to undermine our legitimacy," he concluded.
They just don’t get it… 🤣🤣🤣 At second 36, the FLOTILLA guy says he admires Palestinians for always—miraculously—having clean hair, clean clothes, and looking great, even in war.
The boats were planned to launch Sunday, but organizers say they have rescheduled the departure from Tunis to Wednesday, September 10, due to “technical and logistical reasons beyond management’s control.”
The Maghreb Sumud Flotilla, which aims to join boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla that have already left from Spain and Italy, had already been delayed by bad weather. Other parts of the flotilla have also faced delays due to weather and other malfunctions.
[FoxNews] America could lose strategic industry to Beijing without embracing driverless technology.
Until the programs can see African-American pedestrians as well as Caucasians, it won’t be ready for prime time. Useful learnings to be got from the research, but it appears a while before it will be useful in the real world.
"The story is set in the near future, when "roadtowns" (wide rapidly moving passenger platforms similar to moving sidewalks, but reaching speeds of 100 mph) have replaced highways and railways as the dominant transportation method in the United States."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Kamala's smarmy-looking VP running mate, governor of Minnesota and self-admitted knucklehead, who decided to retire rather than to deploy with his National Guard unit, then claimed to have been in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
