Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !
Recent Appearances... Rantburg

-Land of the Free
SecDef Hegseth Announces Plans to Reopen Elite, Cold War-Era Military ‘Jungle School' in Panama.
2025-04-09
[NationalPulse] What Happened: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announces plans to partially reopen the “Jungle School” in Panama, a former U.S. jungle warfare training site in the Panama Canal Zone, dormant since 1999.

Where & When: Panama, during Hegseth’s trip for the Central American Security Conference (CENTSEC), April 8, 2025.💬 Key Quote: “I should never put you in a fair fight. My job is to put you in a fight where you are overwhelming.” – Pete Hegseth⚠️ Impact: Signals a U.S. military push to revive jungle training and reassert influence over the Panama Canal Zone, once American territory.
IN FULL:

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has said he intends to partially reopen the “Jungle School,” where up to 9,000 troops a year trained in jungle warfare from the 1950s to 1999 in the former Panama Canal Zone. Secretary Hegseth made the announcement to U.S. troops in Panama amid an ongoing trip to the Central American country, where he will attend the Central American Security Conference (CENTSEC).

Thanking the troops for their service, Hegseth said, “We will have your back; President Trump has asked me to share that with all the groups of troops I talk to,” stressing the importance of the military’s “warrior ethos” to the administration and its determination to rebuild the military.

“I should never put you in a fair fight. My job is to put you in a fight where you are overwhelming… First of all, hopefully, deterring the enemy, [but] if it comes to conflict, overwhelmingly closing with and destroying the enemy,” said Hegseth, himself a decorated former infantry officer.

The Defense Secretary is joined on his Panama trip by Raheem Kassam, Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse, providing exclusive coverage and commentary to Pulse+ members as the trip unfolds.

The Panama Canal Zone was under U.S. sovereignty in perpetuity until its surrender to Panama in 1979 under the late Democratic President Jimmy Carter. The canal was largely American-built and funded, and incumbent President Donald J. Trump has expressed a desire to regain control over it, lamenting its handover as one of his predecessors’ worst-ever deals.

“The purpose of our deal [with Panama] and the spirit of our treaty has been totally violated,” he said during his inaugural address, noting Chinese involvement in the canal now and vowing, “We’re taking it back.”
Link


Arabia
Houthi missile triggers sirens in central Israel, is downed en route
2025-03-31
[IsraelTimes] Iran-backed rebel group says it clashed with US aircraft carrier 3 times in past day, as round of airstrikes said to target rebel-held districts in western Yemen

A ballistic missile launched at Israel by the Iran-backed 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 in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
was successfully intercepted by air defenses Sunday morning, hours after the rebels claimed they had targeted an American aircraft carrier in the Red Sea.

The Israel Defense Forces said the missile aimed at Israel was shot down before crossing the country’s borders.

Sirens had sounded across central Israel, in several towns near Jerusalem, and in some West Bank settlements.

Medics said a 42-year-old woman was moderately injured when she fell from a significant height into a ditch at the side of the Route 1 highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem while seeking shelter during the alert.

She was taken to a hospital in Tel Aviv with injuries to her limbs and back, the Magen David Adom emergency service said.

It was at least the eighth Houthi attack on Israel since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
in the 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...
Strip. All of the missiles fired since then have been intercepted without causing significant damage.

Earlier, in a statement Sunday morning, Houthi front man Yahya Saree said the group clashed with the USS Harry S. Truman three times in the preceding 24 hours, using missiles, drones, and naval forces. The Houthis vowed to keep "supporting the oppressed Paleostinian people until the aggression against Gaza is stopped."

The statement did not mention Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s reported some seven hours earlier by the Houthi-owned al-Masirah network. According to the network, at least four US airstrikes hit the Saada governate, in the country’s northwest, minutes before 1 a.m. Some 30 minutes later, the network reported three US airstrikes on the Bani Matar district, just west of the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, in the country’s west.

The network did not report on casualties or the extent of the damage. The US Central Command has not issued a statement on social media about either the statement or the reported airstrikes.

US airstrikes had pounded Yemen overnight between Friday and Saturday, reportedly killing at least one person as the US military acknowledged having bombed a major military site in the heart of Sanaa.

An News Agency that Dare Not be Named review has found the new American operation under US President Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
appears more extensive than those under former president Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. The man who made Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter look competent, if only by comparison....
, as the US moves from solely targeting launch sites to firing at ranking personnel as well as dropping bombs in cities.

The attacks on shipping greatly raised the Houthis’ profile as they contended with economic problems and launched a crackdown targeting any dissent and aid workers at home amid Yemen’s decade-long stalemated war, which has torn apart the Arab world’s poorest nation.

The Houthis have begun threatening both Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
and the United Arab Emirates, two American allies in the region, over the US strikes. That’s even as the nations that have sought a separate peace with the Houthis have stayed out of the new US airstrike campaign.

The renewed airstrike campaign has become a source of controversy in domestic US politics after a journalist, inexplicably added to a chat group of Trump’s national security team, reported that top White House officials had used a commercial application to discuss a March 15 strike, two hours before it took place.

The Houthi view of events:
Yemeni forces fire ballistic missile at ‘Israel’, confront USS Harry Truman in Red Sea

[HodhodYemenNews] Despite the continuous US aggression against Yemen, Yemeni Armed Forces fired a ballistic missile towards the Zionist entity and confronted the USS Harry Truman US aircraft carrier in the Red Sea.

The Yemeni Armed Forces Issued the following statements:

First Statement:
“With the help of Allah Almighty, our armed forces continue, for the third consecutive week, their responsible and effective response to the ongoing American aggression against our country where they clashed with hostile warships, foremost among them the American aircraft carrier “Truman”, in the Red Sea three times during the past 24 hours.

The confrontation and engagement operation was carried out by the Missile Force, the Drone Air Force, and the Naval Forces, using a number of cruise missiles and drones.

The Armed Forces salute their heroic fighters across all branches, formations, and weapons systems as they perform their religious, humanitarian, and moral duty in defense of a free, independent Yemen and in support of the oppressed Palestinian people. On their behalf, they extend every greeting to the leader, Sayyed Abdul-Malik Badr El-Din Al-Houthi (may Allah protect him), and to all our steadfast and struggling Yemeni people in various governorates and regions. Greetings are also extended to the heroic fighters in the Gaza Strip, to the free and proud Palestinian people, and to all the free people of our dear nation.

They affirm that, relying on Allah, they are continuing to develop their defensive operations and confront escalation with escalation, and will not retreat from supporting the oppressed Palestinian people until the aggression against Gaza ceases and the siege upon it is lifted.”

Second Statement:
“In support of the oppressed Palestinian people and in backing their noble and valiant resistance, the missile force has carried out a military operation targeting Ben Gurion Airport in the occupied Yaffa area, using a ballistic missile of the Thulfiqar type. The operation successfully achieved its objective, by the grace of Allah.

Through this operation, the Yemeni Armed Forces affirm the failure of the American aggression in preventing Yemen from continuing its support operations for the oppressed Palestinian people. The dozens of daily airstrikes will not deter the armed forces from fulfilling their religious, moral, and humanitarian duties. With the help of Allah, operations against the “Israeli” enemy will continue until the aggression on Gaza ceases and the siege is lifted.”
Link


Government Corruption
NASA spent $20M in Biden DEI push that brought ''anti-racist'' trainings to agency: report
2025-03-13
[NYPOST] NASA forked over more than $20 million in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) grants and contracts during the Biden administration, shelling out for ''implicit bias'' trainings, talks with so-called ''anti-racist'' authors, ''gender-affirming'' workplace guidelines and an aggressive, left-wing media presence.

Prodded by executive action from former President Joe The Big Guy Biden
The Big Guy Biden" valign=top style="float:right;padding:5px;border:0px solid silver;" />...46th president of the U.S. The man who made Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter look competent, if only by comparison....
, NASA officials also implemented a strategic plan to suffuse all agency operations with DEI, altering criteria for recruitment, performance evaluations and promotions.

The taxpayer-watchdog group Open The Books revealed the politicization of the space agency in a report published Wednesday, which shares a trove of documents obtained from various public records requests.

''NASA's mission is too risky to get distracted by identity politics,'' Open The Books CEO John Hart told The Post. ''Newtonian physics and atmospheric re-entry do not care about antiracism talks and gender 'affirmation' policies. NASA has an opportunity to take one small step toward fiscal responsibility and one giant leap toward common sense.''
Link


Home Front: Politix
RUMINT? Trump to tear down America's education system in just hours with bombshell executive order targeting the DOE
2025-03-06
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Donald Trump could make a drastic move to reshape American classrooms within the next 24 hours by shuttering the Department of Education.

The president is expected to sign an executive order as soon as Thursday which would bring about abolishing the federal agency, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon will be tasked with taking 'all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department,' the publication reported, citing a draft of the order.

This will be done to 'the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.'

According to the publication, the draft order reads: 'The experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars - and the unaccountable bureaucrats those programs and dollars support - has failed our children, our teachers, and our families.'

McMahon on Monday was confirmed to lead the doomed 4,200-person federal agency.

She sent a company-wide email to staff on Monday in which she lauded her mission to dismantle the agency, describing it as a 'momentous final mission.'

She said she had been 'tasked... with accomplishing the elimination of the bureaucratic bloat here at the Education Department - a momentous final mission - quickly and responsibly.'

'I want Linda to put herself out of a job,' Trump said of McMahon in February.

Established by President Jimmy Carter in 1980, the department provides essential funding to children with disability and low-income students around the country.

National Education Association President Becky Pringle said last month that cutting the department would ‘steal resources for our most vulnerable students, explode class sizes, cut job training programs, make higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle class families, take away special education services for students with disabilities, and gut student civil rights protections.’

The Department of Education has been low hanging fruit for Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative.

Already DOGE has celebrated cutting billions of dollars from the agency, over half a billion of which came from canceling DEI grants.

And last month, Trump said the Education Department was 'a big con job' and that 'I'd like to close it immediately.'

During her confirmation hearing in February, McMahon lauded the work of the Musk-led group.

'So DOGE, there are a couple of implants at the Department of Education as there are with agencies throughout the district,' McMahon said. 'They're doing an audit.'

During the session she claimed the department was guilty of 'excessive consolidation of power,' and called for 'education freedom, not government-run systems.'
Related:
Department of Education: 2025-03-05 Trump threatens to cut federal funds for universities that allow ‘illegal protests’
Department of Education: 2025-03-02 Elon Asked What Govt Workers Did... NSA Overshared
Department of Education: 2025-03-02 The Jew hate-Black Bloc nexus in American universities 2/23-3/1: The feds take an interest
Related:
Linda McMahon 02/12/2025 DOGE slashes nearly $1 billion at Education Department: 'Win for every student'
Linda McMahon 01/26/2025 NEA Promotes World Hijab Day, Ignores Women Brutalized and Killed for Not Wearing Hijab
Linda McMahon 12/18/2024 ABC News Publishes False Information About Linda McMahon

Link


Arabia
Trump administration again designates Houthis as ‘foreign terrorist organization’
2025-03-05
[IsraelTimes] US State Department restores proscription — revoked by Joe Biden — of Iran-backed Yemen group that launched attacks on Israel, hundreds of ships after outbreak of Israel-Hamas war

The US State Department on Tuesday reinstated the "foreign terrorist organization" designation for Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s Iran-backed 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...
group, fulfilling an order announced by US President Donald Trump
...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down...
shortly after he took office.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
announced the department had restored the designation, which carries with it sanctions and penalties for anyone providing "material support" for the group.

"Since 2023, the Houthis have launched hundreds of attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, as well as US service members defending freedom of navigation and our regional partners," Rubio said in a statement. "Most recently, the Houthis spared Chinese-flagged ships while targeting American and allied vessels."

The Houthis — whose slogan calls for "Death to America," "Death to Israel," and a "curse on Jews" — have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships off Yemen since November 2023 in support of Paleostinian Lions of Islam fighting Israel, disrupting global shipping.

In January, the group signaled that it will limit its attacks in the Red Sea corridor to only Israeli-affiliated ships after a ceasefire began in the 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...
Strip but warned wider assaults could resume if needed.

During the war in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis also repeatedly fired ballistic missiles and drones at Israel, in what eventually became nearly daily assaults. While most were intercepted, the attacks sent millions scrambling to bomb shelters, often in the middle of the night.

Some drones and rockets hit the country, killing a man in Tel Aviv on one occasion and causing extensive damage to a school on another, as well as other damage including in the southern resort city of Eilat.

Trump’s first Republican administration similarly designated the Houthis in its waning days, but the designation had been revoked by President Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. The man who made Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter look competent, if only by comparison....
’s Democratic administration over concerns it would badly affect the delivery of aid to Yemen, which was considered to be facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Rubio suggested in his statement that such a concern was not an issue anymore, saying that the US would no longer "tolerate any country engaging with terrorist organizations like the Houthis in the name of practicing legitimate international business."

US STATE DEPT. OFFERING $15M FOR INFO ON HOUTHI FINANCING
Besides the "foreign terrorist organization" announcement, the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program announced that it would pay up to $15 million for information that leads to the disruption of Houthi financing.

The United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
said last month that it suspended its humanitarian operations in the stronghold of Yemen’s Houthi rebels after they detained eight more UN staffers.

The rebels in recent months have detained dozens of UN staffers, as well as people associated with aid groups, civil society and the once-open US Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital. None of the UN staffers has been released.

The Houthis have been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, since 2014, when they descended from their stronghold in Saada and took control of Sanaa and most of the north.

The Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015, backed at the time by the US, in an effort to restore the internationally recognized government to power.

The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including civilians and combatants, and in recent years it has tanked largely into a stalemate.

The UN has projected that more than 19 million people across Yemen will need humanitarian assistance this year as many deal with climate shocks, malnutrition, cholera and the economic effects of war.
Link


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Not the First Time. Why the US Is Right to War for the Panama Canal
2025-02-01
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

In many ways, the appearance of this article underscores Russian Federation president Vladimir Putin's adaptation of the "Zhirinovsky Doctrine", which states the US holds sway over the Americas in the western hemisphere without interference from Russia, while Russia holds away over south Asia, again without opposition from the US and NATO.

by Artemy Sharapov

[REGNUM] In his “throne speech,” US President Donald Trump repeated his frequent promise to make the Panama Canal American again—to return the main artery of the Western Hemisphere to the ownership of the United States.

Trump said that the authorities of the Republic of Panama (under whose sovereign control the canal, previously owned by the United States, has been since 1999) are not fulfilling their management responsibilities. Therefore, the United States must return what is its own, the newly elected owner of the White House is sure.

It is significant that Trump is sending his newly appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio on his first foreign trip to Panama.

"The most important thing is that China controls the canal. We didn't give the canal to China, we gave it to Panama, and we're giving it back," Trump said.

Newly appointed Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, nicknamed "The Crusader," clarified on January 30 that the United States is prepared to use force to "ensure freedom" of navigation through the canal. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino has issued more than one "decisive response" to threats from Washington. But it is ironic that Mulino did so on the X social network owned by Elon Musk, who recently astonished the world with an ambiguous gesture. If it was a "Roman salute," then it is quite consistent with the neo-imperial sentiments of the creators of the "new golden age of the United States": with plans to absorb Canada, Greenland, and take back the Panama Canal.

However, the question of ownership of this 80-kilometer sea route has been a “sore subject” for the American administration over the past 150 years, so Trump is not original in his attempts to resolve this issue by force.

By a curious coincidence, today, January 31, marks exactly 35 years since the last (at least, for now, the last) attempt to resolve the Panama issue by armed means.

But before we recall in detail Operation Right Cause (which is what the American intervention of 1989 was called, without a hint of irony), let us recall the stage on which this action unfolded.

THE CHANNEL AND THE SCANDAL
Plans to build a canal through the narrow Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean (so that ships would not have to travel thousands of miles around Cape Horn), were first developed during the years of Spanish colonial rule in South America - but at that time such a project was practically impossible to implement.

The benefits of building a waterway were obvious to everyone in Europe and the New World. As early as 1827, none other than Johann Wolfgang von Goethe predicted, “I shall be surprised if the United States does not take up such an undertaking.”

But the French were the first to take up the matter.

Colombia, which had owned the Isthmus of Panama since the 1830s, brought the Panama Canal Company, founded in Paris, into the project in the late 1870s. Construction dragged on for a decade. And as a result, the word panama entered the French language, and then all the languages ​​of the world, meaning “a large and brazen scam.”

The company, having "given a bribe" to ministers and hundreds of deputies, received permission to collect money from citizens under a winning loan, and then... went bankrupt. It turned out that half of the 1.3 billion francs invested in the project "disappeared".

It was after this that the United States took over the initiative.

The prediction of the author of "Faust" came true in 1903, when Theodore Roosevelt (also known as Teddy and Rough Rider) was president. The United States, rapidly gaining economic and military power, was actively expanding throughout Latin America - from the Rio Grande to Cape Horn. They were quite capable of implementing a project that promised to shorten the route from New York to San Francisco from 23 thousand to 9.5 thousand km.

In 1903, a deal was made whereby the United States leased a strip of territory ten kilometers wide from Columbia for a period of 100 years.

However, the process of ratifying the deal in the Colombian parliament stalled. The country had just ended another civil war (its events formed the basis for Gabriel García Márquez's novella "Nobody Writes to the Colonel"). The winners and losers were unable to reach a compromise on the canal issue, so the US decided to move on to plan "B" - separating the department of Panama from the Republic of Colombia by force.

SEPARATION AND REVOLUTION
In the fall of 1903, unrest and demonstrations began in Panama demanding independence for the region. Attempts by the Colombian authorities to suppress the protests were stopped by direct intervention by the United States. Teddy Roosevelt called this the Big Stick Policy, that is, “resolving conflicts” with the help of American military power. Trump clearly likes this approach as well.

The Republic of Panama was proclaimed on November 3, and 10 days later the new state was recognized by the United States, after which the act of transferring the territory of the future canal to American control was ratified. After the completion of construction in 1914, the States established a de facto monopoly on its use.

The state of Panama was essentially an American protectorate. In particular, local authorities were prohibited from having their own armed forces for fear that the strategic maritime trade route would be captured. Over time, the United States decided to create the Panama National Guard, whose tasks included fighting communist rebels. This decision played a cruel joke on Washington.

In 1969, a group of National Guard soldiers, who had by then become a real force, overthrew the country's government. Colonel Omar Efraim Torrijos came to power, promoted himself to brigadier general and proclaimed himself the leader of the revolution.

The junta led by Torrijos began to put pressure on the United States, demanding that it transfer control of the canal to the Panamanian Republic.

In 1977, Líder Máximo de la Revolución - Supreme Leader of the Revolution Torrijos and US President Jimmy Carter signed an agreement on the neutrality of the canal territory and its subsequent transfer to Panama's control. However, on July 31, 1981, the Supreme Leader's plane crashed under unclear circumstances, and Torrijos himself died.

But the process of nationalization continued under his successor.

The new head of the republic was Colonel Manuel Antonio Noriega, one of the commanders of the National Guard of Panama. Coming from the lower classes, Noriega received the nickname "Pineapple Face" due to the consequences of smallpox he suffered. As an officer of the National Guard, he acted together with American intelligence services in the fight against Marxist movements. In this field, he earned the status of "Our Son of a Bitch" and could lead Panama without fear.

Some may ask why the United States even entered into negotiations with some juntas and ceded the Panama Canal, which was so important to them.

However, there is nothing surprising about this. By the early 1980s, the United States seemed to be losing ground around the world, losing its status as a superpower. The defeat in Vietnam in 1975, the anti-American revolution in Iran with the seizure of the American embassy hit the country's image very hard.

The situation is somewhat similar to the situation in the United States today: an incompetent democratic government, failures in key areas of domestic and foreign policy, and a despondent mood in the White House. It seemed that the United States was close to defeat in the Cold War.

AN EXEMPLARY FLOGGING IN THE NAME OF DEMOCRACY
In this environment, a new administration came to power, led by Republican Ronald Reagan.

The future president went to the elections with a set of slogans that were repeated in our time by another eccentric leader - Donald Trump. In fact, the slogan "Make America Great Again" was put forward specifically for Reagan's election campaign. The new president announced the beginning of a "Crusade" against communists.

In 1983, for the first time since Vietnam, the United States decided to undertake a large-scale intervention.

In late October, the United States launched a military operation in Grenada, overthrowing the country's leftist government, which was oriented toward the USSR and Cuba. "We could not allow the specter of Vietnam to hang over the country forever and prevent us from protecting our legitimate national security interests... We did not ask anyone's permission, but did what we thought was right," Reagan later wrote in his memoirs.

However, the Noriega regime in Panama seemed to be under no threat so far.

"Colonel Pineapple Face" remained in good standing in Washington and was considered an ally in the crusade against the "Reds." For a while, the United States even turned a blind eye to Panama's involvement in the Colombian drug trade, which by the mid-1980s had reached unprecedented proportions. However, Noriega committed a more "grave sin" in Washington's eyes.

He was caught collaborating with the left.

In 1988, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) accidentally discovered that Noriega's regime had colluded with the governments of Cuba and Nicaragua, which also had a stake in the Colombian drug trade. Once this became known in Washington, Panama's fate was effectively sealed.

In January 1989, Reagan was replaced as US President by another Republican, George H.W. Bush.

Bush, not distinguished by the odiousness of his predecessor, continued Reagan's policy, but used a fundamentally new strategy. In April 1989, the United States imposed tough economic sanctions against Panama. A month later, the country held presidential elections, which were won by the opposition candidate. Noriega did not recognize the election results.

After that, the CIA organized an attempted coup in the country, which, however, was suppressed. Thus, the US tried out a model for changing undesirable regimes: economic pressure, attempts at an internal coup, and if that didn’t work, a direct military invasion.

After the CIA's involvement in the coup was revealed, Noriega demanded that the US withdraw its troops from Panama. The next day, a provocative incident occurred: Panamanian National Guard soldiers killed an American soldier and raped his wife. The US government sanctioned the military operation "Operation Just Cause", which was to become a "show flogging".

It was during the preparation of military actions in Panama that the United States first conducted an information campaign, justifying its actions by the need to “protect human rights” and “restore democracy.” This model was subsequently used to justify aggression against Iraq, Yugoslavia, Somalia, and a number of other countries.

HARD ROCK FOR A DICTATOR
A contingent of 26,000 people was formed to carry out the operation — mainly special forces fighters, supported by 100 armored vehicles and more than 200 military aircraft and helicopters. At the same time, there were only 11,000 people in the ranks of the Panamanian self-defense forces. The national guard had virtually no air defense, aviation, or armored vehicles at its disposal.

On the night of December 19-20, 1989, the United States launched a massive air strike on Panama. The targets of the attacks were the bases of the self-defense forces, most of the military did not even have time to take up organized defense. After that, 84 transport aircraft dropped a large landing force of the 75th Special Forces Regiment in Panama, which captured military and civilian airfields. After that, planes landed with personnel and armored vehicles of the 82nd Airborne Division.

Security forces loyal to the Noriega regime attempted to organize pockets of resistance, taking up defensive positions in government buildings and hastily constructed firing positions. However, the forces were initially unequal. By the end of the first day of the operation, the American military had captured the headquarters of the National Defense Forces, after which any organized resistance ceased.

During the fighting, the American special forces lost 23 people killed and about 300 wounded. As a result of the aggression, 500 Panamanian citizens died, including 50 self-defense forces. Noriega tried to hide in the Vatican embassy, ​​but the American military installed powerful speakers around the building playing heavy rock music. Three days later, the former dictator left the embassy and was arrested. Noriega subsequently died in a Panamanian prison, having served time in the United States and France.

The out-of-control "son of a bitch" was punished - and this decision by Ronald Reagan, from the point of view of the current US administration, was correct. But - alas - Reagan did not reverse the decision, which Trump did not hesitate to call "stupid". The Torrijos-Carter Treaty remained in force, from 1979 to 1999 the Panama Canal Zone was under joint administration by the US and the Republic of Panama, with the prospect of being handed over to the Panamanians.

This is what happened in 2000, when the United States handed over control of the canal to the country's government, concluding an agreement on the neutrality of the waterway.

DREAMS OF REVENGE
Trump also addressed the issue of “returning Panama” during his first presidential term – even then he was concerned about the contacts of the small but strategically important Central American state with China, with which Trump was waging trade wars.

However, it is precisely now that the new president’s threats should be taken seriously. As in the late 1980s, the United States is experiencing an internal crisis associated with a loss of direction and failures in foreign policy. In this regard, the populism of Trump, who managed to win the election under the slogans of returning to “former greatness,” is becoming dangerous for its neighbors.

During Trump's last term, the slogan "Make America Great Again" was discredited because it was not backed up by real action.

So the US may well go for a small, demonstrative military operation to prove to other countries and to itself: we are still strong and ready to achieve our goals.

Related:
Panama Canal: 2025-01-26 Davos Discomfort: Globalists Nervous Ahead of West-West War
Panama Canal: 2025-01-19 Erik Prince: Chinese Influence on Panama Canal a ‘National Security Problem'
Panama Canal: 2025-01-18 Squid Game: Why Denmark Doesn't Want to Sell Greenland to Trump
Link


Government Corruption
'Gigantic Rat's Nest': Taibbi Hints FBI Communications With COVID Scientists Will Be Exposed
2025-01-28
[ZERO] Award-winning independent journalist Matt Taibbi revealed in an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson that communications between FBI officials and scientists related to gain-of-function research and the origins of COVID-19 is expected to one day be made public.

MATT TAIBBI: There are so many different areas where they are going to have to investigate and reinvestigate that. We just went through a period where there was mass stonewalling of Congress when it was trying to investigate what happened with COVID. There were key people like Peter Daszak from the EcoHealth Alliance, who just didn’t answer subpoenas, right? There are documents that we know exist that we’re going to get now with FBI communications between the bureau and a lot of these scientists dating back ten years. And it’s going to tell a crazy story, a really interesting story. There’s a reason why Fauci’s pardon is backdated to 2014, because that’s the time period they are going to have to start looking, which is, when did we start defying the ban on gain of function research. We clearly did. That’s pretty established at this point.

Why were we doing it? What connection did that have to the Wuhan thing? What kind of advanced notice did we get? What kind of lies were told about it? Who were responsible for those lies? What information did we get about the inefficacy of the vaccine and how did that connect to statement by the CDC and the White House? This also connects to the censorship issue in a major way because there was a massive effort to control the public conversation about this that went through the health agencies. We know they’re looking at that. And that’s another executive order, by the way, the free speech order. It directs the Department of Justice to come up with a comprehensive review of all the censorship stuff, so we’re going to find out about that. I just think COVID is a gigantic rat’s nest of stuff. Every direction they look there’s going to find something revelatory.

TUCKER CARLSON: The question is: will that information reach the public? There is these intermediaries like the media. Congressional brand investigators, executive brand investigators like DOJ, inspector generals, they are always constantly releasing reports and no one reads them because no one picks them up in the media. Do we have enough interested reporters to designate what they find?

MATT TAIBBI: I think we do because what we think of as the media is dead. They no longer really matter. The media that matters right now are people like you, Joe Rogan and other independent podcasters out there. There’s this gigantic, thriving independent media out there that turned the last election. It was abundantly clear that the old media no longer had any ability to control the narrative about anything. They’re totally discredited.

Related:
Matt Taibbi 12/31/2024 Jimmy Carter the terrible, distorting reality in Gaza and other commentary
Matt Taibbi 12/27/2024 State Department's 'Global Engagement Center' accused of censoring Americans shuts its doors
Matt Taibbi 11/04/2024 Brits advising Harris must register as 'agents of a foreign principal,' election watchdog tells DOJ

Related:
Gain-of-function 01/25/2025 Trump cuts off security detail for Dr. Anthony Fauci
Gain-of-function 01/18/2025 HHS bans EcoHealth Alliance and group's ex-prez from receiving federal funding for 5 years after Wuhan virus experiments
Gain-of-function 12/27/2024 Fauci loses his $15 million taxpayer-funded security detail

Link


Home Front: Politix
Trump Pardons 1,500 J6'ers in Executive Order, and much more
2025-01-21
[Rumble]

[X] The same information for those who prefer to read rather than watch and listen:
…His order directs the Bureau of Prisons to release everyone tonight.



Courtesy of Skidmark:
Trump pardons ALL Jan 6 rioters and declares Mexican drug cartels 'terrorists' in first White House press conference
I don't know if anybody watched ABC News Live this afternoon, but if you did I hope you saw what I saw.

President Trump was reading and signing Executive Orders, listening to a reporter's question, context switching to conversationally answer another question and directing the stage staff, "... give me another one". Simultaneously. In realtime. Establishing eye contact with everyone.

We haven't seen that in a looong time. If ever.

A prime example of the busy executive doing all the things at once. Multitasking, they call it.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Donald Trump spent his first session back in the Oval Office signing executive orders to pardon all January 6 defendants and declare dangerous Mexican drug cartels as 'terrorists' while finding a letter written to him by Joe Biden.

Trump said he was pardoning about 1,500 defendants and issuing six commutations. He also directed the attorney general to seek dismissal of about 450 pending criminal cases against Jan. 6 defendants.

The pardons fulfill Trump's promise to release supporters who tried to help him overturn his election defeat four years ago.

'These are the hostages,' he said while signing the paperwork in the Oval Office.

After hours spent celebrating his new administration, Trump invited the press to his first Oval Office appearance.

Trump found a letter from Biden in the Resolute desk, but only after a journalist reminded him to look for it.

While signing a series of executive orders, a reporter asked Trump if he'd received a letter. Trump said he didn't know and checked the desk drawers, holding up the letter for the cameras.

'Maybe we should all read it together,' Trump said before setting it aside. He said he'll read it himself before sharing it publicly.

He signed an initial flurry of executive orders at Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, where thousands of his supporters gathered to celebrate an inaugural parade that was moved indoors due to the cold.

The president signed several other orders, including one overhauling the refugee admission program to better align with American principles and interests and another declaring a 'national emergency' at the U.S.-Mexico border, while designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

Trump said he favored legal immigration as he signed orders declaring a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border, suspending refugee resettlement and ending automatic citizenship for anyone born in the U.S.

He acknowledged an imminent legal challenge to overturning birthright citizenship, which has been enshrined in the U.S. Constitution since 1868.

Trump said automatic citizenship was 'just ridiculous' and that he believes he was on 'good (legal) ground' to change it.

'That's a big one,' he bantered with reporters while signing an order declaring the border emergency.

Trump said immigrant labor was needed for investment that he anticipates will accompany higher tariffs.

Trump has also signed an executive order beginning the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization.

It was the second time in less than five years that he's ordered the country to withdraw from the organization, despite it being a move many scientists fear could roll back decades-long gains made in fighting infectious diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

Experts also warn it could weaken the world's defenses against dangerous new outbreaks capable of triggering pandemics.

Trump continued to riff and answer questions from reporters in the Oval Office as he signs another round of executive action.

The president said he could place 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting Feb. 1. He declined to give a date on China tariffs.

Trump has talked extensively about his tariff plans and his affection for the levies on imported goods during his multiple public remarks today.

He then revoked protections for transgender troops set by Biden.

The number of transgender troops known to be serving is possibly from around 9,000 to potentially as many as 14,000.

The Department of Defense has referred queries on the number of transgender troops to the individual services, and because of the different ways transgender troops can identify and whether or not they have received medical procedures, there is no one database that tracks them.

As he sat down to sign executive orders, Trump was asked which former president he would call for advice.

He responded that Bill Clinton was a 'very interesting politician' and said he had a 'great political sense.'

Trump said Clinton was 'disrespected' and 'not used properly.'

Trump was also asked about his friendly chat with former President Barack Obama during former President Jimmy Carter's state funeral.

'We were having some crazy conversations,' he said.

Trump discussed the war between Russia and Ukraine and says he'll talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin soon.

Earlier, Trump turned his rally at a downtown Washington arena into a signing ceremony as he grabbed his pen and issued multiple executive actions to institute major policy changes.

Trump officially halted over 78 Biden-era executive orders, announced a regulatory freeze preventing bureaucrats from issuing regulations until the Trump administration has full control of the government and a freeze on all federal hiring except for military and a few other essential areas.

He also ordered a requirement that federal workers return to full-time in-person work, a directive to every department and agency to address the cost of living crisis, and announced withdrawal from the Paris climate treaty.

Trump also signed a government order restoring freedom of speech and preventing censorship of free speech and one ending the 'weaponization of government against the political adversaries of the previous administration'

Some of the orders he signed first including a Biden border bill, a regulatory freeze and a freeze on federal hiring.

On his first day, Trump rescinded 78 orders and actions signed by Biden. Among Trump's rescissions was a Biden order that canceled some of the orders signed by Trump during his first term.

As the American Bar Association notes, the orders do not require congressional approval and can't be directly overturned by lawmakers. Still, Congress could block an order from being fulfilled by removing funding or creating other hurdles.

Trump orders 90-day pause in foreign development assistance, likely impacting Palestinians
[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump has ordered a 90-day pause in foreign development assistance pending assessments of efficiencies and consistency with his foreign policy.

“All department and agency heads with responsibility for United States foreign development assistance programs shall immediately pause new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds,” reads the executive order signed by Trump just hours after he took office for a second term.

It is not immediately clear how broad the order is and what programs, countries, non-governmental organizations and international organizations would be affected by the move. It is also unclear what funding could be cut given the US Congress sets the federal US government budget.

The move would likely impact US aid to the Palestinians, which was cut by Trump during his first term. The executive order echoes a return to the approach Trump took during his first term in office between 2017 and 2021.

Another Trump order targets foreign nationals who ‘support designated terrorists’
[IsraelTimes] An executive order signed by US President Donald Trump appears to target, among others, foreign nationals participating in anti-Israel protests that have swept throughout the country since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught. The Executive Order Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Threats states that the government must be “vigilant” in issuing visas to foreign nationals and ensure that those approved “do not intend to harm Americans or our national interests.”

The order requires the US government to ensure that foreign nationals “not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security.”

Trump campaigned on cracking down on the anti-Israel protests, particularly those on college campuses, but it is not yet clear how exactly he’ll go about doing it, given free speech laws in the US.
Related:
January 6 01/18/2025 Hopefully the last of the January 6ers to be sentenced
January 6 01/18/2025 Squid Game: Why Denmark Doesn't Want to Sell Greenland to Trump
January 6 01/17/2025 Moment Miami woman's parking lot s3x with man ends in disaster

Link


Fifth Column
About the US attorney who used ‘lawfare’ to force $700K settlement from Jewish Voice for Peace
2025-01-20
[IsraelTimes] David Abrams makes a living off hunting alleged fraud by groups critical of Israel; in JVP’s case, the group allegedly misrepresented itself when applying for COVID relief funds

One of the most reviled adversaries of the pro-Israel community was just dealt a major blow in a fraud complaint brought by an activist attorney.

The anti-Zionist advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace, which accuses Israel of genocide 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...
and wants the US to end military aid to the country, agreed to pay a penalty of nearly $700,000 to settle an allegation of financial fraud, according to a Wednesday announcement from the US Justice Department.

The resolution of the case, which centers on JVP’s application for COVID-19 relief funds in 2020, puts a significant strain on the group’s financial health — the group’s annual budget has hovered a little below $3 million for the past several years — and gives the group’s many critics a potent new weapon against it.

"Who would have imagined that an antisemitic group would also engage in fraud," tweeted Andrés Spokoiny, a Jewish nonprofit executive, in one representative example of the sentiment unleashed by the Justice Department’s announcement.

But JVP’s legal trouble was not just a lucky gift for its detractors — it was the direct result of one enterprising attorney’s strategy of weaponizing the law against critics of Israel. JVP is the latest in a string of left-wing and pro-Paleostinian groups he has succeeded in damaging.

David Abrams sics prosecutors on his targets using a law that allows private citizens to become whistleblowers when they discover alleged government fraud. The law also lets him collect a portion of the penalty paid to the government. He’s built a one-man business around the enterprise, called the Zionist Advocacy Center or TZAC.

"I’m a passionate Zionist and I’m also an attorney," Abrams told Politico in an article published last year. "And so it’s natural to say, ’Well, how can I combine those two things?’ And that’s what I started doing about 10 years ago."

His earnings in this work as of last year are at least $1.7 million, according to a tally based on court records by The New York Times

...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...

. Abrams is one of several attorneys making money by hunting for pandemic fraud, but Abrams is in it for more than just the earnings.

"We’re in America," Abrams told Politico. "People have an absolute right to attack Israel unfairly, to slander Israel and so on. However,
today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday...
from my perspective, they don’t have the right to take government money to support their work that they’re not entitled to."

He refers to his solo act as "lawfare" on behalf of Israel.

Now, a major voice on the right is calling on the incoming Trump administration to make lawfare the central tactic of a national crackdown on antisemitism. The idea appears in Project Esther, a proposal from the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, which urges the federal government to target groups it deems supportive of the Paleostinian terrorist group Hamas
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
, including Jewish Voice for Peace.

In this case, Abrams found that JVP had received $340,000 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. He believed the group should have been ineligible for funding — money that millions of American companies and nonprofits had also received during the pandemic — due to rules excluding entities "primarily engaged in political or lobbying activities."

He filed a lawsuit in late 2021 accusing JVP of lying on its application form, citing the group’s stated mission of campaigning to change US policy on Israel. The federal prosecutors who looked at the case agreed with Abrams’ assessment and decided to move forward with it. If the matter had gone to trial and prosecutors had prevailed, JVP would have had to pay back in damages triple the amount it received.

Instead, a settlement limits the penalty to only double the amount, with no admission of liability by JVP. The group maintains that "any misstatements in this application were inadvertent," according to the Justice Department. JVP’s leadership did not respond to a request for comment.

Abrams, who also did not respond to a request for comment, is owed about $68,000, or 10% of the penalty, according to a copy of the settlement agreement from the Justice Department. He will also collect about $1,800 from JVP, an amount representing his fees and expenses in filing the initial whistleblower lawsuit.

The JVP settlement comes several months after the resolution of another Abrams-instigated case against a Jewish group that is critical of Israel. In September, Americans For Peace Now, the US fundraising arm of a progressive Israeli group that advocates for the two-state solution, reached a deal with federal prosecutors to pay $262,000 over an identical allegation.

The group’s president and CEO, Hadar Susskind, told The New York Times it settled to avoid the cost of litigation but that the group genuinely didn’t consider itself a political organization when it applied for the pandemic relief money.

Abrams is also behind two earlier pandemic fraud settlements signed by left-leaning Washington think tanks: the Middle East Institute and the Institute for Policy Studies.

Before the pandemic, when Abrams had just started his Zionist Advocacy Center work, he waged lawfare with a focus on humanitarian groups working in Gaza, such as Norwegian People’s Aid, that had received contracts from the American government through USAID. He alleged that his targets had lied when certifying to USAID they had no links to terrorists. Norwegian People’s Aid paid a penalty of $2 million to settle the matter.

Not all of the cases Abrams brings are successful. In 2020, he brought a case against the New Israel Fund — a group supporting left-wing causes in Israel — in which he alleged the group had abused its tax-exempt status. That case was dismissed by mutual agreement without any penalty to the organization.

And, in 2015 he sued the humanitarian group founded by the late president Jimmy Carter'>Jimmy Malaise Carter

...only the second worst president ever. Now the third worst, after Obama and Biden...
, accusing the Carter Center of support for hard boyz over a gathering for Paleostinian politicians in which it served them "physical assets of fruits, cookies, bottled water, and presumably other foods and drinks." Government prosecutors dropped the case.
Related:
Jewish Voice for Peace: 2025-01-19 NY’s anti-Zionist protesters celebrate ceasefire as victory, hail the ‘resistance’
Jewish Voice for Peace: 2025-01-17 Anti-Israel Fake ‘Jewish Voice For Peace’ to Repay $677K For Cheating On PPP Loan.
Jewish Voice for Peace: 2025-01-12 Anti-Israel activists renew BDS referendum effort in Pittsburgh after first one fails
Related:
David Abrams 08/10/2020 Lawfare: Activist targets New Israel Fund for ‘electioneering’ via anti-racism groups
David Abrams 06/03/2005 Gunmen Kill City Official in Kirkuk

Related:
TZAC 01/17/2025 Anti-Israel Fake ‘Jewish Voice For Peace’ to Repay $677K For Cheating On PPP Loan.

Link


Caribbean-Latin America
Erik Prince: Chinese Influence on Panama Canal a ‘National Security Problem'
2025-01-19
[Breitbart] Chinese efforts on the Panama Canal are a "national security problem," Erik Prince, veteran and founder of Unplugged Technologies, said during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday.

"The Chinese have done the soft power move and taken over management, effectively, of the Panama Canal that the United States built more than a century ago, and then it was unwisely given up by Jimmy Carter in ’78 or ’79," Prince began, describing this as a "national security problem."

"Because if you have any kind of naval conflict, you have to be able to move our fleets from the Atlantic, Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. And the way you do that is through the Panama Canal. It saves you almost a month of transit time from going around the southern tip of Chile," he continued.

Prince said it is "absolutely essential" that the United States have security overwatch of the canal for these very reasons.
Link


Home Front: WoT
'Victim of justice'': Dr Aafia Siddiqui seeks US presidential pardon before Biden hands over to Trump
2025-01-19
[GEO.TV] Dr Aafia Siddiqui
...American-educated Pak cognitive neuroscientist who was convicted of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. In September 2010, she was sentenced to 86 years in jug after a three-ring trial. Siddiqui, using the alias Fahrem or Feriel Shahin, was one of six alleged al-Qaeda members who bought $19 million worth of blood diamonds in Liberia immediately prior to 9-11-01. Since her incarceration Paks have taken her to their heart and periodically erupt into demonstrations, while the government tries to find somebody to swap for her...
, a Pak neuroscientist currently serving an 86-year sentence at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, has sought presidential pardon ahead of power transfer in the US, terming her jail term as ''a blatant miscarriage of justice''.

Her lawyer was of the view that the US intelligence "got the wrong end of the stick in the beginning" as agencies thought Siddiqui was a nuclear physicist working on a radioactive bomb "when she really did her PhD in education".
Siddiqui, who has been languishing in US prison for over 14 years, hoped she would be freed after "new evidence" emerged which may suggest her innocence, Sky News reported.

She has maintained her innocence and hopes ''the tide could now be turning''.

"I hope I am not forgotten, and I hope that one day soon I will be released," she told the British news channel through her lawyer.

"I am... a victim of injustice, pure and simple. Every day is torture... it is not easy. One day, Inshallah (God-willing), I will be released from this torment."

In a 76,500-word dossier, her counsel Clive Stafford Smith urged outgoing US President Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. The man who made Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter look competent, if only by comparison....
to issue a pardon for her client.

Her lawyer claims a catalogue of intelligence errors led to her initially becoming a suspect, citing witness testimonies that were unavailable at the time of her trial.

He alleges that, while Siddiqui was visiting Pakistain in 2003, she was kidnapped with her three children and handed to the CIA, which took her to Bagram air base in Afghanistan.

At the time of her trial in 2010, the judge stated: "There is no credible evidence in the record that the US officials and/or agencies detained Siddiqui" before her 2008 arrest, adding there is "no evidence in the record to substantiate these allegations or to establish them as fact".

Her lawyer was of the view that the US intelligence "got the wrong end of the stick in the beginning" as agencies thought Siddiqui was a nuclear physicist working on a radioactive bomb "when she really did her PhD in education".
Related:
Aafia Siddiqui 01/03/2025 With the West excusing terrorism, who needs Islamists?
AafiaSiddiqui 12/03/2024 PM okays financial support for delegation tasked with Dr Aafia''s release, IHC told
Aafia Siddiqui 06/03/2023 Legal team working on expediting efforts to bring Aafia home

Link


Home Front: Politix
Dem Rep. Jim Clyburn Says Biden is One of the Greatest Presidents in American History (VIDEO)
2025-01-18
[THEGATEWAYPUNDIT] Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn
...Democratic Representative-for-Life from South Carolina. He has been warming his safe seat since 1993...
believes Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. Former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body....
will go down as one of the greatest presidents in American history.

In an interview on MSNBC's Chris Jansing Reports, the South Carolina congressman said that history will judge Biden kindly.

''Given everything that was in place when he took office, Covid the economic challenges, do you think that this was in some ways inevitable?'' Jansing asked.

''And how do you think history will judge this presidency?''

Clyburn responded:

I think that he will go down as one of the greatest presidents we ever had. I think the same thing about Jimmy Malaise Carter

...only the second worst president ever. Now the third worst, after Obama and Biden...
, who we just funeralized. Jimmy Carter left the presidency with very, very low ratings. Harry Truman, the same thing.

People who do big things, people who break with the status quo. These people do not get judged well in the currency.

But when history gets a chance to look back to read the things he said and did, rather than to respond to the way he said them.''

I heard people this morning or last night talking about him not being a great communicator.

Well, some people are good speakers, other people are great doers, and some people just know how to write. And that is what it is all about.

We are judging people on substance when we look back on them, not on style.

If you're looking for style, Joe Biden is not your guy. On substance, he's everybody's person.
Related:
Jim Clyburn 07/25/2024 Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu mocks campus protesters as 'Iran's useful idiots'
Jim Clyburn 04/26/2023 Biden, Harris officially announce their 2024 re-election campaign - to serve full 8 years per spox
Jim Clyburn 11/06/2022 Top Dem Says US Could Become Nazi Germany If the GOP Wins

Link



Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More