Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

-Land of the Free

Anduril Co-Founder Warns: U.S. Munitions Stockpile Would Last One Week In Hot Conflict

2025-04-25

The tariff war means we’re dealing with this now instead of waiting until we’re actually in the middle of a war to restart domestic manufacturing of the stuff.

[ZeroHedge] The United States would deplete its munitions stockpile if it entered into genetic warfare against a global superpower, Anduril co-founder Trae Stephens warns.

Stephens, who co-founded of the cutting-edge defense startup alongside Palmer Luckey, dropped the chilling warning on Auren Hoffman’s World of DaaS podcast.

“The reality is, if we got into a hot conflict with a great power, we would run out of munitions in a week,” Stephens told Hoffman. “We’ve built these capabilities that are incredibly exquisite, incredibly custom, with really complicated supply chains.”

Stephens, who is also a partner at Peter Thiel’s venture capital fund Founders Fund, pointed out that the U.S. is struggling to supply Saudi Arabia with enough Patriot missiles to counter daily Houthi attacks, leaving the the Middle East Kingdom to seek out additional inventories from other nations due to limited availability.

“What that means is, our partner nations, like Saudi Arabia, for example, which is fighting this ongoing conflict with the Houthis—they’ve got stuff being shot into their sovereign territory, creating havoc on a daily basis,” Stephens explained. “We cannot sell them enough Patriot missiles. They literally have to go to other partner nations and try to buy their inventory of Patriot missiles”

Stephens also highlighted that in cases like Ukraine, the U.S. is rapidly depleting both its own and available inventories of military capabilities to support the war effort, with limited resupply options, as manufacturers resort to calling retirees back to rebuild assembly lines.

“Then you see situations like Ukraine, where we deplete not only the available inventory but also our own inventory of the capabilities we’re sending to support the war effort, with no ability to actually resupply,” the technology executive said. “The Primes are literally calling people out of retirement to rebuild assembly lines to make some of these capabilities.”

The AP reported back in November 2024:

The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are eating away at critical U.S. weapons stockpiles and could hamper the military’s ability to respond to China should a conflict arise in the Indo-Pacific, the top U.S. commander for that region said Tuesday. Head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Adm. Samuel Paparo cautioned Tuesday that the U.S. providing or selling billions of dollars worth of air defenses to both Ukraine and Israel is now impeding his ability to respond in the Indo-Pacific, such as if China invades Taiwan.

“It’s now eating into stocks, and to say otherwise would be dishonest,” Paparo told the Brookings Institution last year.

Stephens’ stark warning echoes a recent interview with Luckey, who stressed that rebuilding the U.S. manufacturing base is not only feasible but critical to counter rising global volatility.

“If we can't make the things that we need to maintain our quality of life, then we are actually just subservient to our adversaries,” Luckey, who leads Anduril as CEO, told legendary music producer Rick Rubin on his Tetragrammaton podcast.

“Is there a possibility that over time America could get back its manufacturing base? Absolutely,” Luckey told Rubin. “The problem that we did, I mean there's a million problems, but what we did is hollowed out our country by allowing China into the World Trade Organization and allowing American companies to outsource manufacturing to China without penalty, without import tariffs, without any reason to not do it.”

“Why wouldn't you, if you're allowed to just send it to another country where everything's cheap, where it's dirt cheap and there's no environmental regulations and no labor laws, why wouldn't you do that? And we've been able to get a bunch of cheap shit over the last 50 years as a result,” the startup billionaire added. “That has helped the United States. Everyone's able to buy cheap TVs and cheap cars and cheap stuff because of China's rise. The flip side of that is that there's no more manufacturing in the United States.”

Link

-Land of the Free

Friday Kunstler-Deep Dive into Lawfare

2025-03-22

A taste:

Impeachment would be too mild for the claque of Woke-activist federal judges attempting to nullify the executive branch with hectoring writs against any and all sorts of executive actions. If simply bounced off their benches, they could just take up new careers as NPR legal commentators or transsexual pole-dancers. Rather, what you’ve got here is an obvious seditious conspiracy, plain for all to see, orchestrated by the same legal Nosferatus as RussiaGate, the 2020 election, and the J-6 witch hunt.

The catch is, this time it is discoverable and subject to prosecution because the party running this legal insurrection no longer has its hands on the levers of power in the DOJ and the FBI as it did when they ran the aforementioned ops. And so, the mighty silence emanating from those two agencies just now should tell you something: namely, that cases are being carefully constructed to finally bring these despicable caitiffs to real and chastening law.

If you want to know one paramount reason for institutional failure in our country, look to the evil enterprise that calls itself “Lawfare.” It originated as a blog launched on September 1, 2010, founded by three key figures: Benjamin Wittes, Jack Goldsmith, and Robert Chesney. Over time it evolved into an activist operation, The Lawfare Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to (cough cough) “Hard National Security Choices,” and run under the shady umbrella of the Brookings Institution.

The point of Lawfare is self-evident in its name: it is an instrument of warfare against a perceived enemy which, for the past decade, has been the political faction led by Mr. Trump, the once-and-current chief executive of the federal government. Mr. Trump is a danger to the bureaucratic arm of the federal government because he has defined it as a racketeering operation and moved decisively to end its depredations. Lawfare is the praetorian guard of the permanent DC bureaucracy, including especially its rogue intel actors, who function as enforcers for the Democratic party that largely staffs the bureaucracy.

Link

India-Pakistan

Will import duty war push India to open its markets?

2025-03-21

[BBC] India has usually turned to economic reforms in times of distress, with the most famous example being 1991, when the country embraced liberalisation in the face of a deep financial crisis.

Now, with US President Donald Trump's tit-for-tat tariff wars and the global trade upheaval that has followed, many believe that India finds itself at another crossroad.

Could this be a major opportunity for the world's fifth largest economy to shed its protectionism and further open up its economy? Will India seize the moment, just as it did more than three decades ago, or will it retreat further?

Trump has repeatedly branded India a "tariff king" and a "big abuser" of trade ties. The problem is that India's trade-weighted import duties - the average duty rate per imported product - are among the highest in the world. The US average tariff is 2.2%, China's is 3% and Japan's is 1.7%. India's stands at a whopping 12%, according to data from the World Trade Organization.

High tariffs increase costs for companies dependent on global value chains, hindering their ability to compete in international markets. They also mean that Indians pay more on imported goods than foreign consumers. Despite growing exports - primarily driven by services - India runs a significant trade deficit. However, with India's share of global exports at a mere 1.5%, the challenge becomes even more urgent.

The jury is out on whether Trump's tariff war will help India break free or double down on protectionism. Narendra Modi's government, often criticised for its protectionist stance, already seems to have shifted gears.

Getty Images India portGetty Images

Despite growing exports, India runs a significant trade deficit

Last month, ahead of Prime Minister Modi's meeting with Trump in Washington, India unilaterally lowered tariffs on Bourbon whiskey, motorcycles and some other US products.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has made two trips to the US to discuss a potential trade deal, following Trump's threatened retaliatory tariffs, looming on 2 April. (Citi Research analysts estimate India could lose up to $7bn annually from reciprocal tariffs, primarily affecting sectors like metals, chemicals and jewellery, with pharmaceuticals, automobiles and food products also at risk.)

Last week, Goyal urged Indian exporters to "come out of their protectionist mindset and encouraged them to be bold and ready to deal with the world from a position of strength and self-confidence", according to a statement from his ministry.

India is also actively pursuing free trade deals with several countries, including the UK and New Zealand, and the European Union.

In an interesting turn of events, homegrown telecoms giants Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have teamed up with Trump ally Elon Musk's SpaceX to launch satellite internet services via Starlink in India. The move surprised analysts, especially after Musk's recent clashes with both companies, and came as US and Indian officials negotiate the trade deal.

India's rapid growth from the late 1990s to the 2000s - 8.1% between 2004-2009 and 7.46% from 2009-2014 - was in large part driven by its gradual integration into global markets, particularly in pharmaceuticals, software, autos, textiles and garments, alongside a steady reduction in tariffs. Since then, India has turned inwards.

Many economists believe that protectionist policies over the past decade have undermined Modi's Make in India initiative, which prioritised capital- and technology-intensive sectors over labour-intensive ones like textiles. As a result, it has struggled to boost manufacturing and exports.

High tariffs have also fostered protectionism in several Indian industries, discouraging investments in efficiency, according to Viral Acharya, a professor of economics at New York University Stern School of Business.

This has allowed "cosy incumbents" to gain market power by consolidating their positions without facing much competition. As Mr Acharya, a former central banker, noted in a paper by Brookings Institution, restoring industrial balance in India requires "reducing tariffs to increase the country's share of global goods trade and reduce protectionism".

With India's tariffs already higher than those of most countries, further increases could be especially damaging.

"We need to boost exports and a tit-for-tat tariff war won't help us. China can afford this strategy due to its massive export base, but we can't, as we hold only a small share of the global market," Rajeswari Sengupta, an associate professor of economics at Mumbai-based Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, said. "A trade conflict could hurt us more than others."

Link

Southeast Asia

US presidential elections: Implications for Manila-Washington alliance, South China Sea

2024-10-06

[BenarNews] As Election Day nears, analysts assess how each candidate’s administration could affect security cooperation, territorial claims.

The outcome of next month’s presidential election in the United States could significantly influence Manila’s defense alliance with Washington and its territorial claims in the South China Sea, observers said.

With Kamala Harris
who got her start in politix between former Oakland mayor Willie Brown's' knees
and 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...
jostling to become the next occupant of the Oval Office, some analysts interviewed by BenarNews shared their perspectives on how a new administration in Washington might shape U.S.-Philippines relations and Manila’s territorial claim in the hotly disputed waterway.

A Harris administration would likely continue America’s robust support for the Philippines under a 73-year-old defense pact, analysts said, while a second Trump presidency could introduce uncertainty and what some observers described as a more "transactional" approach to bilateral relations.

On the 2024 campaign trail, neither of the candidates have articulated or talked directly about what their policy toward the South China Sea would be, if elected president, and have largely focused their speeches at rallies on the economy and other domestic issues. But in the past, both contenders have addressed the hot-button geopolitical issue of the South China Sea during official visits to the Philippines.

THE OUTLOOK UNDER A HARRIS PRESIDENCY
If Harris, the current U.S. vice president and Democratic Party nominee for the presidency, wins in November, expect to see her carry on with the Biden administration’s policies on the Philippines and South China Sea, some analysts told BenarNews.

"A Kamala Harris administration can be expected to give full support to the Philippines under the Mutual Defense Treaty and pursue continuity in the Biden administration’s national security and national defense strategies," said Carlyle Thayer, emeritus professor of politics at the University of New South Wales Canberra.

Signed in 1951, the treaty calls on both Manila and Washington to aid each other militarily in case either country is attacked by an external power. U.S. military leaders have said they are prepared to assist the Philippines if it invoked the treaty amid threats from other nations.

Amid tensions between rival claimants Beijing and Manila over the South China Sea, the Biden administration has indicated that it would help the Philippines defend itself in the event of an armed attack "anywhere in the South China Sea."

"A Harris administration would likely approve, subject to concurrence by the Philippines, the deployment of equipment, weapons and personnel to support the Philippines in a crisis involving China at Second Thomas Shoal and/or Sabina Shoal," Thayer told BenarNews via email.

Tense standoffs between the rival territorial claimants have occurred lately in disputed waters even after both sides agreed in July to dial down tensions in the South China Sea.

"If Kamala Harris comes to power, there will be a continuity of Biden’s foreign policy and she herself has advocated closer ties with Manila and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations," said Kumari Mansi, deputy director at the Indo-Pacific Studies Center, a policy think-tank.

"She has been the highest-ranking American official to visit the [Philippine] province of Palawan, a province facing the [South China Sea] amid tensions between Manila and Beijing," Mansi told BenarNews on Tuesday.

During a November 2022 visit to Palawan, an island on the frontline of the Philippines’ maritime dispute with China, Harris hit out at Beijing over its coercive tactics in the South China Sea and reiterated Washington’s full military support for Manila. Her office also announced millions of dollars in aid for Philippine maritime law enforcement agencies.

"The United States and the broader international community have a profound stake in the future of this region. America’s prosperity relies on the billions of dollars [of commerce] that flow through these waters every day, and we are proud to work with you in your mission," the U.S. vice president said then during a speech in Palawan aboard a Philippine Coast Guard ship.

"As an ally, the United States stands with the Philippines in the face of intimidation and coercion in the South China Sea."

On that trip to the Philippines, Harris also visited President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The two have met six times in their government roles and have formed a strong bond, said Mansi, an assistant professor at Amity University in India.

"This will certainly be reflected in American foreign policy toward the Philippines under Harris," he said.

Harris became the uncontested presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket after President Joe The Big Guy Biden
Joe <q>The Big Guy</q> Biden

...46th president of the U.S. The man who made Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter look competent, if only by comparison....
bowed out from the electoral race in July over concerns about his health and whether he could defeat Trump a second time at the polls.

THE OUTLOOK UNDER ANOTHER TRUMP PRESIDENCY
Trump, the Republican Party nominee for president, who was previously elected to the White House in 2016, traveled to Manila as U.S. commander-in-chief in November 2017. During that visit, he reaffirmed Washington’s defense alliance with Manila and support for a free and open Asia-Pacific.

Trump also hailed his "great relationship" with then-Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte.

Then-Philippine presidential front man Harry Roque later described President Trump’s meeting with Duterte as "very warm and very friendly."

Should Trump return to the White House for another term, he will likely maintain strong ties between the U.S. and the Philippines, said Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez, Manila’s envoy to Washington since 2017 — the year Trump took office.

"I don’t see any risk at all. We’ve had ups and downs with the U.S., but it has always endured," Romualdez told Bloomberg News in July, adding he expected that a Trump administration would continue with the current U.S. strategy of countering China’s activities in the South China Sea.

Still, some analysts predicted that a second Trump presidency could bring uncertainty to the alliance between the two nations and Manila’s claim in the South China Sea.

"What is worrisome is that Trump, during his first administration, seemed to be uninterested in the U.S.-Philippines alliance," wrote Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst at RAND Corp., a policy think-tank headquartered in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,.

"Perhaps the biggest loser in Southeast Asia from a second Trump administration would be the Philippines ... [which] has expanded and deepened its security alliance with Washington to help counter Beijing’s rising gray-zone tactics in the South China Sea."

"Without U.S. support, the Philippines would be mostly left to fend for itself against the growing Chinese encroachments into its exclusive economic zone," Grossman added.

Other analysts shared similar views.

"A Trump administration would be entirely unpredictable," Thayer said. "He has disdain for tiny rocks and islets and no appreciation of maritime strategy.

"[I]f tensions between China and the Philippines rise, increasing the threat of armed conflict, Trump is likely to personally intervene and conduct summit diplomacy with President Xi Jinping to seek a transactional solution," he said. "Trump will be inclined to seek a quid pro quo with China over the head of the Philippines."

A ’CORNERSTONE’ ALLIANCE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Meanwhile,
...back at the Alamo, Davy was counting their remaining cannon balls and not liking the results...
one analyst agreed that a new administration under Trump could cast doubt on the U.S. commitment — or it could play out the opposite way, bringing greater defense cooperation between Washington and Manila.

"A Trump administration might adopt a transactional approach, which could revisit past criticisms of allies ’free-riding,’ casting doubt on the U.S. commitment under the MDT and straining relations," said Lynn Kuok, the Lee Kuan Yew chair for Southeast Asia Studies at the Brookings Institution, using an acronym for the 1951 defense treaty.

"But a hawkish Republican administration could also double down on defending the Philippines," she wrote.

Link

-Land of the Free

Recruiting Shortfall Means Coast Guard ‘Can't Crew All Our Ships,' Says Vice Commandant- U.S. will have no icebreakers in the Arctic this summer,"

2024-08-11

[USNI] Coming up short 10 percent of its required enlisted force means the Coast Guard “can’t crew all our ships” and has had to “temporarily shutter some of our smaller stations,” the vice commandant said Wednesday.

Adm. Kevin Lunday, speaking at the Brookings Institution, added, “We had to lay up three of our major cutters because we don’t have enough enlisted personnel to crew them.” Since the action, the service has shifted funds from other parts of the budget to bolster recruiting and retention.

He described the “controlled parts exchanged,” borrowing from another vessel to get a cutter underway, as “the fancy term for cannibalization.” If it continues over time, “you’re eating your readiness.”

Lunday later added that USCGC Healy (WAGB-20) had an engine room fire that caused it to return to port for repair this year. The medium icebreaker “had just begun her summer patrol” in the Arctic. Repair will prove difficult because “much of the machinery aboard is antiquated” and parts may no longer be available.

“If Healy can’t continue that patrol, the U.S. will have no icebreakers in the Arctic this summer,” he said. This happened as the United States laid claim to an extended continental shelf, requiring more presence to assert sovereignty in that part of the Arctic.

Link

-Great Cultural Revolution

Bombshell study charts America's 'diversity explosion' of 3.2 million Hispanics since pandemic

2024-08-09

[Daily Mail, where America gets news] A respected think tank study has underscored America's massive demographic shift since the start of the pandemic, with millions more Spanish-speaking residents as the white population tumbled.

The Hispanic population grew by 3.2 million from April 2020 to July 2023, as the number of white people fell by 2.1 million — the result of immigration and birth and death rates, says a Brookings Institution study.

That means Hispanics accounted for 91 percent of US population growth in those three years.

At the same time, the black, Asian, and mixed-race populations grew by hundreds of thousands of people each, while the number of Native Americans expanded by a smaller 23,000.

William Frey, the demographer who wrote the report, says a 'diversity explosion' is reshaping the nation.

Frey urged policymakers to ensure schools, colleges and businesses were ready for these shifts.

While he welcomed the changes, they are a concern for some white and other Americans, who worry that the country is losing its character and becoming too diverse.

In social media responses to the study, critics said the US was 'quietly becoming a third-world country' and that the changes were due to 'mass illegal immigration' across the loose southern border.

Some, including tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, say Democrats want people flows from South America to outnumber whites and secure election victories over the coming decades.

But the administration seeks to expand the number of people who can apply for citizenship and is frequently accused of failing to secure the border with Mexico.

While America's demographic shift towards non-Hispanic white people becoming a minority has been projected for decades, the new Brookings research shows how the population has been reshaped in just a few years.

Overall, the US population grew by 3.4 million over the period, says Frey's analysis of US Census Bureau data.

At the same time, the white population dropped by 2.1 million, and the shrinking group of white youth drove a 1.6 million drop in the number of Americans under the age of 18.

The falling white population is mostly the result of more deaths than births.

Thanks to an aging population, there are proportionately fewer white women of childbearing age and fertility rates are lower than in other groups.

The fast-growing number of Hispanics and other minorities is down to natural increase — measured as births minus deaths — and immigration, the study found.

Looking ahead, Hispanic and other nonwhite groups are projected to make up 44 percent of the population in 2030, with Hispanic residents comprising one fifth of the total.

By 2050, one-quarter of the population will be Hispanic residents and more than half will be nonwhite groups.

Frey said the data reinforce his 'view that the nation's diversity explosion' represents an important part of its future.'

'The nation's labor force productivity and economic well-being will rely heavily on the success and integration of today's and tomorrow's increasingly multiracial younger population,' he said.

Overall, 15 states saw a decline in population, led by California and New York, which lost a combined 1.2 million residents over the three-year period.

Most states saw their youth population decline. In California there are close to 500,000 fewer children than pre-pandemic, and New York has 272,000 fewer.

Meanwhile, Florida and Texas each gained about 100,000 young people.

The population shrank in six of the 15 largest metro areas. The New York City metro area had the biggest overall drop, with fewer White, Black and Hispanic people, while the population of Asians and people of two or more races increased.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Misinformation about the Israel-Hamas war is flooding social media. Here are the facts

2023-10-26

[AFRICANEWS] In the days since Hamas
Hamas

...a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
faceless myrmidons stormed into Israel early Oct. 7, a flood of videos and photos purporting to show the conflict have filled social media, making it difficult for onlookers from around the world to sort fact from fiction.

While plenty of real imagery and accounts of the ensuing carnage have emerged, they have been intermingled with users pushing false claims and misrepresenting videos from other events.

Among the fabrications, users have shared false claims that a top Israeli commander had been kidnapped, circulated a false video imitating a BBC News report, and pushed old and unrelated clips of Russian President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
with inaccurate English captions.

Here is a closer look at the misinformation spreading online — and the facts.

CLAIM: A video shows North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
n leader Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
saying in a speech that he blames President Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. ‘This Is A Man That Does Not Seem Demented’...
for the latest Israel-Hamas war.

THE FACTS: The video is from 2020 and the version currently circulating online features incorrect English captions. The footage actually shows Kim celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean Workers' Party; he doesn't reference the conflict in the Middle East or Biden at any point.

In the misleading video circulating online, the English captions claim Kim says: "Under the Biden administration, conflicts erupt yearly. This year a war begins between Israel and Paleostine."

"I'm afraid that if the Biden admin does not cease to exist in the next election, World War 3 may begin," the captions continue. "Who knows what next year's war will be. I support Donald Trump
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
for President in 2024. Good Luck to Mr. Trump."

The video was shared on Instagram and TikTok, where one post garnered more than 223,000 likes.

However,
today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday...
the video is old and the captions are completely inaccurate.

Clips and images from the same speech can be seen in news reports from October 2020 about an event celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Korean Workers Party.

A transcript of the full speech translated to English by The National Committee on North Korea, a U.S.-based organization, does not mention anything about the Israel-Hamas war nor the 2024 U.S. presidential race.

Multiple Korean speakers and an expert who reviewed the portion of the speech circulating online also confirmed Kim says nothing of the sort in the footage.

Instead, Kim thanks his people and his military, saying: "The patriotic and heroic commitment shown by our People's Army soldiers on the unexpected frontlines of epidemic prevention and natural disaster recovery this year is something that evokes tears of gratitude from everyone."

Ji-Young Lee, a professor of Korean Studies at American University who confirmed the captions are inaccurate, noted that the surprise attack on Israel by Hamas faceless myrmidons did create concerns in South Korea about a similar assault from the North.

CLAIM: Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
has threatened to intervene in the latest Israel-Hamas war.

THE FACTS: The conservative Moslem president has said no such thing. A social media post he wrote recently about the ongoing conflict has been misquoted.

Social media users are sharing a quote they say is from Erdogan, in which the long serving leader warns his country will take decisive steps to end the conflict if the destruction of Hamas-controlled 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 an 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...
continues.

"Ottoman Turkish President Erdogan has THREATENED to intervene in the Israeli war on Gaza: 'I call on all humanity to take action to stop this unprecedented brutality in the Gaza Strip. If not, we will do it'," wrote one user on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, in a post that has been liked or shared more than 105,000 times.

But the posts are misquoting a comment Erdogan posted Oct. 17 on his personal account on X about the deadly conflict.

In the message, which was written in Ottoman Turkish, the president did "invite all humanity" to help stop the "unprecedented brutality in Gaza," as the posts claim.

But he doesn't write "If not, we will do it" or other threatening phrases suggesting a direct military intervention by ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
, according to native Ottoman Turkish speakers and other experts who reviewed Erdogan's social media posts for The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.

"President Erdogan did not threaten to intervene in the conflict," Steven Cook, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington think tank, wrote in an email. "He was speaking generally about getting the world to put pressure on Israel to stop its military campaign."

Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, a political science professor at Northwestern University who specializes in the Middle East, added that she hasn't seen any indication that Erdogan has made such a threat elsewhere.

Ottoman Turkish government spokespersons didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment, but Erdogan posted a lengthier statement on his personal account on X, also written in Ottoman Turkish, in which he denounced Israel's attacks on Gaza, criticized Western nations and media outlets and called for the international community to push for a ceasefire.

The official, English-language account for the Ottoman Turkish president's office echoed that sentiment in a post about a call between Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

"Underscoring that forcing the Paleostinians in Gaza to migrate from their homeland is unacceptable, President Erdogan stressed that Turkiye will continue to make every effort in order for peace to be ensured and for humanitarian aid

as well as healthcare services to be immediately delivered to Gaza," the office wrote.

— News Agency that Dare Not be Named writer Philip Marcelo in New York contributed this report.

___

CLAIM: The Israeli military confirmed it bombed a hospital in Gaza in a social media post written in Arabic.

THE FACTS: A screenshot circulating online shows a Facebook post from an account posing as the Israeli military. No such post exists on the military's actual social media pages and its top Arabic-speaking spokesperson confirmed his office has issued no such statement.

In the wake of the Oct. 17 deadly blast at al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, social media users shared the screenshot, claiming it is from a member of the Israeli military's Arabic-speaking media relations team.

The user's profile image bears the blue-and-white emblem of the spokesperson's office, which features radio waves atop the Israeli military's traditional symbol of an olive branch-wrapped sword.

The post, written in Arabic, suggests the Jewish nation said it bombed the hospital because the Gaza City medical facility lacked supplies and staff.

"Israeli official facebook post: 'Due to the lack of medical equipment and the lack of medical staff, it was decided to bomb the Baptist Hospital in Gaza and give them euthanasia'," wrote one user on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, in a post translating the screenshot. Similar posts were also widely shared on TikTok and other social media platforms.

But the purported statement wasn't penned by the Israeli military's press office, its top Arabic-speaking spokesperson confirmed this week.

"Just to clarify: I did not issue any statement or comment regarding the Baptist Hospital in Gaza," wrote Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab media branch of the Israeli military's Spokesperson's Unit, in a post on X from Oct. 17, when the blast occurred. "All the news circulating in my name comes from the Hamas media outlets and is completely false."

The office on Oct. 19 confirmed the post did not come from the military's official Arabic page, saying in an emailed statement: "The IDF has made it very clear that there was no IDF strike on the hospital."

What's more, the Israeli military's press office doesn't use its own logo on its actual social media accounts, unlike the fake account.

The unit's separate Facebook pages in English and Hebrew, as well as its X account written in Farsi, for example, all use the military's main symbol. That gold-colored emblem features the olive branch-wrapped sword with the Star of David in the background.

Meanwhile Adraee's social media accounts, which are the main channel for the Israeli military's messages in Arabic, feature his profile picture and a maroonlogo consisting of five swords with flames in the background as its cover photo.

The original fake account and post on Facebook also appear to have been deleted as of Oct. 19. Spokespersons for Meta, the parent company of Facebook, didn't reply to an email seeking comment.

There were conflicting accusations of who was responsible for the hospital blast, with Hamas officials in Gaza blaming an Israeli ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
...KABOOM!...
and Israel saying it was caused by a an errant rocket launched by Paleostinian Death Eaters. U.S. and French intelligence services also concluded it was likely caused by a misfired rocket. An AP analysis of video, photos and satellite imagery, as well as consultation with experts, showed the cause was likely a rocket launched from Paleostinian territory that mishad gun sex and crashed to the ground. However,
today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday...
a definitive conclusion could not be reached.

— News Agency that Dare Not be Named writer Philip Marcelo in New York contributed this report.

___

CLAIM: A video shows Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
's emir threatening to cut off the world's natural gas supply if Israel doesn't stop bombing Gaza.

THE FACTS: Qatar's ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, says no such thing in the widely circulating clip, which is more than 6 years old. A spokesperson for the Qatari government also confirmed that neither the emir nor any other government official has threatened to cut off exports in response to the conflict.

Many online are sharing the video of the Persian Gulf nation's ruler, falsely claiming it shows him saying in Arabic that he's willing to halt the distribution of its gas reserves to achieve his desired end to the latest Israel-Hamas war.

"BREAKING: Qatar is threatening to create a global gas shortage in support of Paleostine," wrote one user who posted the video on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. "If the bombing of Gaza doesn't stop, we will stop gas supply of the world."

But Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani says nothing of the sort in the video. The 7-second clip is actually a tiny snippet from his opening speech at the Doha Forum in 2017.

Marc Owen Jones, a professor of Middle East studies at Hamad bin Khalifa University in Doha, the capital of Qatar, confirmed that the emir touches briefly on Paleostinians in the widely shared clip, but doesn't make any threats related to the current conflict.

Instead the emir, in his remarks, urged the international community to take more steps to address the region's refugee crisis, news outlets reported at the time.

"The exact translation is: 'The issue of Paleostine, I'll begin by saying it's a case of a people uprooted from their lands, and displaced from their nation'," Jones wrote in an email.

Qatar's government on Oct. 16 confirmed the clip dates to 2017 and is being misrepresented.

"This is yet another case of an online disinformation against Qatar — such a statement has never been made and never would be," wrote the country's International Media Office in an email. "Qatar does not politicize its LNG supplies or any economic investment."

Qatar is one of the world's top natural gas producers. It controlled the third-largest natural gas reserves and was the second largest exporter of liquified natural gas, or LNG, in 2021, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

What's more, the country has been working in recent years to use its sizable resources to build ties with other nations, not antagonize them, according to experts.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, a Boston-based company that tracks gas prices nationwide, pointed to a deal Qatar's state energy company just announced to supply French energy company TotalEnergies with 3.5 million tons of natural gas annually for the next 27 years.

"Qatar has been securing investment since Russia's invasion of Ukraine pushed Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
to find new sources of natural gas and quickly," he wrote in an email. "They're making deals left and right."

— Philip Marcelo.

___ CLAIM: A video shows a BBC News report confirming Ukraine provided weapons to Hamas.

THE FACTS: The widely shared video clip is fabricated, officials with the BBC and Bellingcat, an investigative news website that is cited in the video as the source, confirm.

The clip, which includes the BBC's distinctive block-text logo, purports to show a story from the outlet about a recent report from Bellingcat on Ukraine providing arms to Hamas.

"Bellingcat: Ukrainian military offensive failure and HAMAS attack linked," reads the text over the video, which has more than 2,500 comments and 110,000 views on the messaging service Telegram. "The Paleostinians purchased firearms, ammunition, drones and other weapons."

But neither the BBC nor Bellingcat has reported any evidence to support the notion that Ukraine funneled arms to Hamas.

"We've reached no such conclusions or made any such claims," Bellingcat wrote Oct. 10 in a post on X that included screengrabs of the fake report. "We'd like to stress that this is a fabrication and should be treated accordingly."

Eliot Higgins, the Amsterdam-based organization's founder, noted in a separate post on X that the claims have been amplified by Russian social media users.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a New York University professor briefly shown near the end of the video, also disputed the clip's suggestion that he's said the U.S. might leave NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure....
if the arms claims prove true.

"Entirely fake. Never said that," the distinguished professor of risk engineering wrote in an email.

Spokespersons for the BBC didn't respond to emails seeking comment, but Shayan Sardarizadeh, a news hound with the organization's fact checking unit, confirmed in a post on X that the video is not real.

Ukrainian officials have similarly dismissed the notion that its country's arms have somehow found their way to Hamas. The country's military intelligence agency, in an Oct. 9 post on its official Facebook page, accused Russia of plotting a disinformation campaign around these claims.

Experts say there is also no evidence of Hamas making any claims about receiving arms from Ukraine, nor would it make sense for Kyiv to provide them.

"I see no reason Ukraine would do this," said Michael O'Hanlon, director of foreign policy research at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. "Starting with the fact that Kiev is in the business of obtaining weapons and not giving them away."

— News Agency that Dare Not be Named writers Philip Marcelo in New York and Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv contributed this report.

___

CLAIM: Video of a young actor being filmed lying in a pool of fake blood shows propaganda being created for use in the Israel-Hamas war.

THE FACTS: The video is behind-the-scenes footage from the making of "Empty Place," a short film focused on the story of Ahmad Manasra, a Paleostinian who was arrested at age 13 in 2015 in relation to the stabbing of two Israelis.

Social media users on both sides of the latest Israel-Hamas war are sharing the video, each falsely alleging that it's proof the other group is creating propaganda about their own.

In the clip, a young actor lies on a sidewalk covered in fake blood, his right leg bent backward, as a film crew works around him. Other actors mill about dressed as soldiers and in garb worn by many Orthodox Jewish men.

"See how Israelis are making fake videos saying that Paleostine Freedom Fighters killed children," reads one tweet that had received more than 5,600 likes and more than 4,400 shares as of Oct. 11.

An Instagram post claimed the opposite, stating: "These snuffies are dressing up as JEWISH soldiers to create fake videos about Israeli soldiers! Faking Propaganda!"

But neither allegation is correct. The video shows footage from the making of the 2022 short film directed by Awni Eshtaiwe, a filmmaker based in the West Bank. The scene being shot begins about 1 minute and 10 seconds into the approximately 2 minute film.

Mohamad Awawdeh, a cinematographer listed in the film's credits as a camera assistant, posted the behind-the-scenes footage to TikTok in April 2022, around the time the film was released. A caption on the post, written in Arabic, explains that the scene being filmed in the video shows Manasra being attacked. Awawdeh posted the same footage to Instagram on June 30.

— News Agency that Dare Not be Named writer Melissa Goldin in New York contributed this report.

___

CLAIM: Nimrod Aloni, a top general in the Israeli army, was captured by Hamas faceless myrmidons during a deadly incursion Oct. 7 into southern Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip.

THE FACTS: There's no truth to this claim, a spokesperson for the Israeli military confirmed. Aloni was seen Oct. 8 at a meeting of top Israeli military officials.

The erroneous claim that Aloni was one of the hostages taken by Hamas spread widely online after the Death Eater group attacked Israel.

"Paleostinian resistance fighters capture Israeli commander Nimrod Aloni along with dozens of other Israeli soldiers as the resistance fighters attacked neighbouring occupied towns and Israeli check posts near Gaza," stated one Instagram post that received more than 43,000 likes.

But Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military's chief military front man, told news hounds Oct. 7 that claims Aloni was captured are "not true."

Aloni clearly appears 10 seconds into a video posted to the Israeli military's official YouTube channel of brass hats discussing the war on Oct. 8. The date can be seen on a slide in the background. The military also published online four images from the meeting. The one on the lower right shows Aloni on the far right.

The Israeli army confirmed to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that Aloni is the man in the video and image.

— Melissa Goldin.

___

CLAIM: A video shows Hamas fighters parachuting onto a sports field before attacking Israeli citizens during the group's surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

THE FACTS: While Hamas did employ paragliders to get some fighters across the border between Gaza and southern Israel, the footage of the sports field shows parachute jumpers in Cairo and has been online since at least September.

The clip shows people strapped to multi-colored parachutes descending onto a crowded sports field complex filled with children and families, many in red sports jerseys.

"Hamas paraglided amongst Israeli citizens and proceeded to massacre them," text on the video clip reads. One post of the misleading footage on TikTok was viewed more than 38,000 times.

But this footage has been online since at least Sept. 27, when it was posted to TikTok with the location tag "Egypt."

Details of the video also point to Egypt as the location — a person is wearing a blue shirt that reads "El Nasr SC" on the back, the name of a sporting club in northeastern Cairo.

Images of the club on Google Maps match the scene of the video — as well as several other clips of the event from the same TikTok user — with both showing a bright blue fence around a sporting ground next to a paved area with green and blue plastic seats.

The parachuters land on a larger soccer pitch surrounded by tall field lights. The field matches photos posted to the club's Facebook page and footage of its soccer team's matches, including a distinctive red building with a blue fence on top at one end that can be seen in the TikTok clip at around 19 seconds.

Other TikTok users shared footage of a parachuting similar scene around the same time, with "El Nasr" in the caption in Arabic.

The crowd of onlookers in the clip circulating online also doesn't seem distressed by the arrival of the parachuters, as one might expect if they were an invading force. In fact, many women and kiddies are seen running towards them, phones in hand taking videos and photos of the aerial display.

___

CLAIM: Two videos show Russian President Vladimir Putin warning the U.S. to "stay away" from the latest Israel-Hamas war.

THE FACTS: Both videos circulating online are months-old clips of Putin speaking about the Russia-Ukraine war, not the conflict in the Middle East, which have been miscaptioned in English.

Both videos show Putin speaking in Russian, with false English captions saying he was warning the U.S. to refrain from helping the Jewish state.

"America wants to Destroy israel as we destroy ukraine In past," the captions on one video state. "I am warning America. Russia will help palestine and america can do nothing." One TikTok post that shared the clip had received approximately 11,600 views as of Oct. 9.

A caption on another video of Putin, filmed in a different location, similarly reads: "I am warning america to stay Away from palestine israel war."

But the two clips long predate the latest Israel-Hamas war and make no mention of Israel at all.

The first shows Putin at a meeting of Russia's Human Rights Council in December 2022, where, amid discussions about the war in Ukraine, he responded to a question about the country's potential use of nuclear weapons, as the AP reported at the time. The footage was featured by multiple other newsoutlets with similar translations.

In the second, Putin is speaking at a February 2023 event marking the 80th anniversary of the World War II Soviet victory over Nazi German forces in the battle of Stalingrad. In his remarks, he compared this threat to Germany's then-recent decision to supply Ukraine with tanks, the AP reported at the time. Several media outlets also featured the footage in similar reports.

Kremlin front man Dmitry Peskov told news hounds on Oct. 9 that Russia is "extremely concerned" by the "spiral of violence" in Israel. Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia's deputy foreign minister and former ambassador to Israel and Egypt, told the state Tass agency Oct. 7 that Moscow has been in touch with "all parties (of the conflict), including Arab countries" and was urging for "an immediate cease-fire and peace."

Link

Afghanistan

Tajikistan, Uzbekistan Should Return Former Govt’s Helicopters to NRF Fighters, Dostum Says

2023-02-12

[KhaamaPress] General Abdul Rashid Dostum
Dostum

...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier...
, leader of the Junbish-e Milli political party has called on Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to hand over the former government army’s helicopters to National Resistance® Front (NRF) fighters.

The leader of the Junbish-e-Milli party has said that these helicopters should be used by the NRF personnel in different provinces of Afghanistan.

General Dostum has expressed these comments in a ceremony in London commemorating the martyrdom of Khair Mohammad Khairkhaw, one of the key NRF commanders who was killed in the fight against the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
in Andarab valley in northern Baghlan province.

At least 40 helicopters of the former government’s army were transferred to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, according to Dostum. Prior to this, the Defense Ministry of the United States had announced that 46 flights had landed in Uzbekistan and 18 in Tajikistan until August 21, 2021.

In April, Uzbek authorities announced that helicopters and aircraft of Afghanistan’s former government will not be handed to the Taliban. Ismatullah Irgashev, Uzbekistan’s special representative for Afghanistan had said that the military equipment belongs to the U.S. and will be kept in Uzbekistan in collaboration with Washington.

Abdul Rashid Dostum says that the Taliban kills former Afghan National Army with no mercy — the group conducts door-to-door search operations, find former army personnel, tortures them in the worst possible manner, and eventually kills them.

Pointing to the death of NRF fighters, Dostum said that ’Andarabi and Panjshiris’ deaths will be avenged. He said that the Taliban will not sustain itself for much longer, and called on the opposition parties to regroup against the repressive regime.

Dostum further added that opposition groups should decisively stand against the Taliban, and carefully think about the future structure of Afghanistan, otherwise, there will be no escape from the continued tortures and killings of the ruling regime.

His remarks came days after the Brookings Institution based in the US released an investigative report, claiming that NRF’s resistance would not pose any immediate threats to the Taliban regime. The reports also added that they do not see any alternative group or power to replace the ruling regime in Afghanistan.

Link

Afghanistan

Engaging With Mullah Yaqoob is Easier, NRF’s Resistance not a Challenge: Brookings

2023-02-11

[KhaamaPress] Research findings of the Brookings Institution of the United States indicate that Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada is an irreconcilable leader, whereas Mullah Yaqoob is a pragmatic person, and it is easier to engage with him for the West.

It is also highlighted that the National Resistance® Front’s (NRF) military resistance does not pose any immediate threats to the country’s ruling regime.

Vanda Felbab-Brown author and political analyst in the foreign policy programs at Brookings say that serious disagreements exist among the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
leaders over the group’s policies.

After contacting reliable sources in Afghanistan and the West, Brown claims that pragmatic figures such as Mullah Yaqoob, and Sirajuddin Haqqani

...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network....
do not oppose the Taliban supreme leader’s decrees fearing death penalties and the group’s division.

Despite the Taliban’s negotiation team in Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
repeatedly emphasizing that the group’s policies towards political factions and women have changed, they have restricted women from participating in education and work as they seized power in August 2021. Brown says by forming a ’monopolistic Pashtun government’ the Taliban have kicked other political groups out of the government circle.

Brown belongs to those Western politicians and analysts who recently discuss ’moderate and extreme’ Taliban members. They believe that the moderate group of Taliban would take control of power in Afghanistan and revise the group’s policies and engagement with the western world.

The political analyst reiterates that the Taliban council based in Kandahar led by Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada exclusively issues the implementation of murderous Moslem decrees in Afghanistan. This comes as the moderate branch of the Taliban believes that the introduction of such policies will weaken the current regime and lead to losing control of power in the long term.

Pragmatic Taliban want the group to sustain power in Afghanistan. As per their analysis, if the economic challenges and the international isolation of the ruling regime are not resolved, and the foreign cash aid ended, the group will not sustain itself in power for longer.

According to Brown, Mullah Yaqoob, Defense Minister, Mullah Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister, and Sirajuddin Haqqani, Interior Minister are among the pragmatic Taliban Leaders.

She further adds that the three senior Taliban leaders including Mullah Yaqoob, Sirajuddin Haqqani, and Mullah Baradar are not united and do not trust each other. Therefore, it is difficult for them to bring most of the Taliban commanders with them.

Meanwhile,
...back at the mall, Clarissa suddenly spied Mr. Bartlett at the checkout counter. He was buying Grecian Formula!...
the chances are high that these senior Taliban leaders might even lose their lives due to deep intergroup disagreements, which may lead to the division of the group.

Link

Government Corruption

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Is Funding Biden Admin Jobs

2022-12-26

[Breitbart] The former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, who has acquired a reputation for his incessant attempts to extend his influence into the U.S. federal government, particularly in the areas of science and defense, is helping fund the salaries of several employees in the Biden administration, according to reporting by Politico.

Breitbart News has reported extensively on Schmidt’s attempts to influence successive presidential administrations, beginning with Barack Obama.

Via Breitbart News:

Google has deeper ties to the Democrat party than perhaps any other technology company, which is perhaps why some executives were caught on camera tearing up after Hillary Clinton failed to win the presidency in 2016.

An investigation by the Intercept found that hundreds of individuals either moved from Google to the White House or from the White House to Google during the Obama administration.

Eric Schmidt, who was executive director of Alphabet Inc during the presidential campaign, pitched himself as “head outside adviser” to the Clinton campaign in 2014, according to emails leaked by WikiLeaks. Schmidt — then still executive director of Google-parent Alphabet — was also pictured at Hillary Clinton’s NYC “victory” party wearing a badge marked “campaign staff.”

Schmidt is deeply tied to the Department of Defense, a relationship that began during the Obama administration. He is currently Chairman of the DoD’s Defense Innovation Advisory board. Schmidt’s relationship with top U.S. politicians has also paid off in New York, where Governor Andrew Cuomo has asked him to “re-imagine” the state post-coronavirus.

Earlier this year, another Politico report exposed Schmidt’s attempts to influence the Biden administration’s science policy. According to the latest report, those efforts are ongoing, with Schmidt indirectly funding the salaries of “more than two dozen” Biden administration officials via an external group, the Federation of American Scientists.

Via Politico:

A POLITICO investigation found that members of the administration are well aware that a significant amount of the money for the salaries of FAS’s fellows comes from Schmidt’s research and investment firm, Schmidt Futures, and that the organization was critical to the program to fund administration jobs. In fact, the influence of Schmidt Futures at FAS is such that they are sometimes conflated.

Thus, some close observers of AI policy believe that Schmidt is using the program to enhance his clout within the administration and to advance his AI agenda.

“Schmidt is clearly trying to influence AI policy to a disproportionate degree of any person I can think of,” said Alex Engler, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who specializes in AI policy. “We’ve seen a dramatic increase in investment toward advancing AI capacity in government and not much in limiting its harmful use.”

In statements to Politico, both the White House and Eric Schmidt denied any impropriety in the relationship.

“Neither Eric Schmidt nor the Federation of American Scientists exert influence on policy matters,” said a White House spokesperson. “Any suggestion otherwise is false. We enacted the most stringent ethics guidelines of any administration in history to ensure our policy processes are free from undue influence.”

A spokesperson for Schmidt did not deny that the former Google boss’s motivations are tied to his interests in the future of American AI, but framed this goal in a positive light.

“Eric, who has fully complied with all necessary disclosure requirements, is one of many successful executives and entrepreneurs committed to addressing America’s shortcomings in AI and other related areas,” the Schmidt representative told Politico.

“While it is appropriate to review the relationship between the public and private sectors to ensure compliance and ethics oversight, there are people with the expertise and experience to make monumental change and advance our country, and they should have the opportunity to work across sectors to maintain our competitive advantage for public benefit.”

Link

Government Corruption

FBI Hired Steele Dossier Source as Secret Informant, Court Filings Say

2022-09-14

[Free Beacon] The Russia analyst charged with lying to the FBI about his role in crafting the infamous Steele dossier was on the bureau’s payroll as a confidential informant, according to an explosive new court filing released Tuesday.
Paid = incentive to lie so the Bureau could use those lies as predicate for warrants
Special Counsel John Durham revealed the FBI hired Igor Danchenko in March 2017, months after the bureau first interviewed him about his work on the dossier. Durham charged Danchenko last year with repeatedly lying to the FBI about his work on the dossier, and his sources for the discredited document. Durham alleges that Danchenko "fabricated" allegations in the dossier that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Danchenko worked at the time for dossier author Christopher Steele, who investigated Donald Trump on behalf of the Clinton campaign.

The filing is likely to raise questions about the FBI’s relationship with Danchenko, which ended in October 2020. The FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation against Danchenko in 2009, when he worked as an analyst at the Brookings Institution, a liberal think tank in Washington, D.C. One of Danchenko’s colleagues claimed that Danchenko asked whether he would be willing to sell him classified information. The FBI closed the investigation after Danchenko left the United States in 2011 but did not reopen the probe when he returned.

Danchenko began working for Steele’s private intelligence firm, Orbis, after leaving the Brookings Institution. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Steele, a former British intelligence officer, used Danchenko to collect information about Trump’s possible links to Russia. Steele compiled 17 memos based on Danchenko’s claims in what is now known as the dossier. He provided some of the information to the Clinton campaign, the FBI, the State Department, and numerous media outlets.

It is unclear whether the FBI used Danchenko to provide information about the Steele dossier, or as part of the investigation into the Trump campaign. The FBI first interviewed Danchenko in January 2017, shortly after BuzzFeed News published the dossier. Danchenko downplayed the allegations in the salacious document, telling FBI agents that Steele had embellished claims that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia.

Though Danchenko undermined aspects of the dossier in those interviews, the FBI failed to disclose the information to the federal court that granted surveillance warrants against the Trump campaign.

The Justice Department’s inspector general blasted the FBI for failing to verify the dossier before relying on it to obtain the surveillance warrants. The inspector general also found that FBI agents withheld exculpatory evidence that undercut the collusion theory.

The FBI did not return a request for comment.

Link

Caribbean-Latin America

Mexican cartels expanding production of fentanyl at rapid rates, experts say

2022-09-02

[FoxNews] One expert says the Mexican cartels are run just like a Fortune 500 company.

Mexican drug cartels are rapidly expanding fentanyl production, pushing more of the deadly drug into the United States and profiting markedly from an easily produced, highly addictive substance.

"Even seeing just one lab in Mexico pressing pills was something unique that we were seeing. And this was only a few years ago," said Uttam Dhillon, the former acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"Now we're seeing literally a million pills being seized in Los Angeles, for example, just a few months ago. So the growth has been massive."

The Sinaloa Cartel and its rival the Jalisco Carte are responsible for much of the fentanyl manufacturing and smuggling into the U.S., according to former officials and analysts.

In 2019, the United States successfully lobbied the Chinese government to bring fentanyl under a stronger regulatory regime. That cut fentanyl shipments from China to North America and opened an opportunity for Mexican cartels to manufacture the drug themselves.

"The Mexican cartels run a global enterprise. They run it like a Fortune 500 company right now," Derek Maltz, a former DEA special agent, said on Fox News’ "America’s Newsroom." "They implemented a strategic, deceptive marketing plan to drive addiction and to drive profits."

"All they need are the precursor chemicals," said Dhillon. "Once they have those chemicals, they can manufacture those on an industrial scale."

Unlike cocaine and heroin, fentanyl is manufactured synthetically with chemicals produced largely in China and without crops grown in fields. The drug is acutely powerful in small doses, meaning smugglers can feed a market in the U.S. with far smaller shipments.

"If production costs a few hundred dollars, the sales in the United States will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars or potentially even more, depending how it is cut," said Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown, director of the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors at the Brookings Institution.

"The profitability is also higher because the means of smuggling and transportation are greater, and the ease of evading law enforcement is great."

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada allegedly leads the Sinaloa Cartel. The U.S. government is offering up to $15 million for his capture and $10 million for alleged Jalisco boss Nemesio "El Mencho" Cervantes.

In 2016, the U.S. government successfully partnered with Mexican counterparts to capture Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the former head of the Sinaloa Cartel, after his years of successful escapes and evading law enforcement. Since then, that bilateral relationship has changed dramatically.

"The current administration in Mexico of President Andres Lopez Obrador has really eviscerated the cooperation," said Felbab-Brown.

"Mexico's decision not to cooperate effectively with DEA anymore is definitely frustrating," added Dhillon. "DEA and our law enforcement efforts — that cooperation is cooperation that we've had with Mexico for decades — it's critical to aggressively attack the cartels where they live in Mexico."

President Lopez Obrador has embraced a policy of "hugs, not bullets" in dealing with the cartels, arguing that combating the criminal groups only creates more violence.

The DEA refused to comment for this story.

"CBP has made unprecedented investments in surveillance systems at our borders, deployed new nonintrusive inspection technology at POEs, and we leverage enhanced intelligence analysis and information sharing with other federal agencies and foreign partners," a spokesperson from the Department of Homeland said in a statement released to Fox News.

A record 107,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 70,000 of those victims were killed by synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

Link

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