Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 124
February 3, 2025
Trump’s Tariff War
By Joe FriedThe leaders of Canada and Mexico are indignant because Trump slammed 25 percent tariffs onto their exports. In this dispute, most of the world will side with Canada and Mexico, and Trump will be viewed as mean, erratic and even racist. It is likely that Democrats will also blast Trump, but that will be a mistake — for Democrats.
For years, the nation has talked about massive numbers of fentanyl deaths, yet there has been little or no relief. Trump is taking the only action that is likely to alleviate the problem in a significant way.
[…]
President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico put the blame entirely on the United States, and promised her own 25 percent retaliatory tariffs. Sheinbaum declared that Americans can solve the fentanyl problem by combating “the sale of narcotics on the streets of their main cities, which they don’t do.”
[…]
The response of Canada’s prime minister is just as inadequate. Justin Trudeau indicated that Canada will issue its own 25 percent tariffs, targeted towards certain U.S. products. He then tried to sweet-talk Americans by claiming that the border and drug problems are not very significant (“…already safe and secure”), and that Canada has implemented a major plan to remedy the minor problem. Let’s examine Trudeau’s big plan.
Trudeau claimed that Canada has “launched a $1.3 billion border plan that is already showing results….” However, the Trudeau plan should be evaluated in light of these facts:
$1.3 billion in Canada dollars is only $900 million in U.S. dollars.The plan was outlined for the first time just six weeks ago (December 17, 2024), so it is very unlikely that it “is already showing results.”The components of the plan are quite vague. There will be $667M for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and $355M of the Canada Border Services Agency. Are those funds for hiring more people — or for giving bigger pensions? And why is $77M allocated to Health Canada?The funds are for a period spanning six years . On a yearly basis that is very small change.As noted, Trudeau suggested that the northern border is already safe and secure, but what are the facts?
In an article posted by CBC News on September 12, 2024, there are many quotations from Canadian officials, and they describe a problem that is spiraling out of control. Kelly Sundberg, of Mount Royal University stated:
“I hate to admit it, but I think that Donald Trump is right on this, that there is a need to focus north.”
Sundberg added:
“The Americans are well aware that Canada’s capacity to screen people is really limited, if at all even existent. I mean, we do screen, kind of, but we don’t do a proficient or effective job. The Americans are well aware of this, so they can’t trust our system.”
Despite the weaknesses in their ability to detect illegal crossings, our Canadian neighbors discovered 19,498 migrant crossings to the USA between October 2023 and July 2024 — twice as many as in the previous year. But that is probably the tip of an iceberg.
Having lived in a northern border state, I guarantee you that anyone wanting to cross without detection would have no problem. Indeed, it is often difficult to even know exactly where the border is, since there are endless miles without fencing.
The northern border was described this way in an article in Newsday:
“No fence. No barricade…. The U.S.-Canada border is the longest in the world at 5,525 miles — more than twice as long as the border with Mexico — and it’s pretty porous.”
For that reason, the serious criminals — drug runners, cartel operatives, sex traffickers, terrorists — are starting to cross into the USA from the north. Those criminals don’t want to be detected, so they are not in the official statistics.
Sgt. Charles Poirier of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) described the growing problem this way:
“There isn’t a day or night where there isn’t a crossing… For the past few months, what we’re seeing is a lot of people landing at international airports, at either Montreal or Toronto. And then within a few hours of their arrival, we catch them at the border, either attempting to cross or they’ve already successfully crossed.”
In all likelihood, it is far more difficult to detect illegal crossings at the northern border than at the southern border. However, there is an additional problem: Once they catch a migrant crossing into the USA, the Canadians don’t know what to do about it. The problem was outlined by Chief Supt. Mathieu Bertrand, head of Serious and Organized Crime and Border Integrity (RCMP):
“If we intercept individuals prior to them crossing the border, they’re in fact not committing any offence. We have no authority to ask questions or begin an investigation at that time. It’s very hard to identify elements of the offence to charge those individuals and bring them to court.”
All the problems outlined above explain why President Trump is playing hardball, with justification. Perhaps the price of avocados will increase, and maybe even the price of automobiles. But can’t we put up with those high prices in order to save thousands of young lives?
In any event, it won’t take too long because any pain we feel will be minor compared to that of Canada and, especially, Mexico. Their sales to the USA are vital to their economies. Our sales to them are important to us, but not vital.
[…]
Via https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/02/trump_s_tariff_war.html
Syria’s De Facto Authorities Execute ‘Sweeping’ Neoliberal Reforms
Via Reuters
Zero Hedge
The self-appointed transitional government in Syria is undertaking sweeping internal reforms, including privatizing state-run enterprises and laying off a third of the public sector, as authorities say they are shifting to “a competitive free-market economy.”
In an interview with Reuters, ex-officials of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) who are serving as cabinet ministers for transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa – former ISIS and Al-Qaeda commander Abu Mohammad al-Julani – say they have a “wide scope” of plans to shrink the state, including removing thousands of “ghost employees.”
“The goal is to balance private sector growth with support for the most vulnerable,” interim Minister of Finance Basil Abdel Hanan told the British outlet.
Hanan previously served as economy minister in Idlib’s HTS-led administration. During this time, the group financed its operations by imposing high taxes on citizens, including taxes on humanitarian aid delivered by the UN. Reports from Arabic media in 2022 disclosed that HTS authorities funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into Turkiye by confiscating humanitarian aid shipments and subsequently selling them on the black market.
The Syrian officials also told Reuters that they want Syrian factories to “serve as a launchpad” for global exports.
Nonetheless, discontent is growing throughout Syria due to the layoffs, despite the assurances from western-backed officials. “My salary helps me manage basic needs, like bread and yogurt, to sustain the household. If this decision goes through, it will increase unemployment across society,” stated Adham Abu al-Alaya, one of the many public sector workers currently on a three-month paid leave while their job status is evaluated.
The reforms also come as the country is gripped by a wave of sectarian killings and executions carried out by armed groups under the command of the transitional government’s Military Operations Department.
“[The killings are] normal and may continue for two or three years,” Sharaa said behind closed doors, according to Syrian sources who spoke with The Cradle.
On Wednesday, the Military Operations Department Syria’s constitution, the People’s Assembly, the national army, security services, and all armed factions—including HTS—and named Sharaa president during a “transitional phase.”
CIA doc: “US interests would be best served by a Sunni regime controlled by business-oriented moderates.”
Sharaa and his acolytes are expected to hand over power to a new government in March, but it is unclear how the transition will happen. Moreover, in an interview with Al Arabiya last month, Sharaa said that holding elections could take up to four years, and rewriting the country’s constitution could take three.
Despite the uncertainty, western nations are moving ahead at full steam to lift economic sanctions that have devastated Syria’s economy for over a decade. “We are closely monitoring the situation, and we stand ready to support the international community’s efforts to assist serious reconstruction as needed and when conditions allow,” the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said last month, just days after the Turkish-backed coup ousted president Bashar al-Assad.
[…]
February 2, 2025
American Indian Movement Leader Leonard Peltier Finally Freed from Prison in Last-Minute Move by Biden Administration
[Source: mprnews.org]By Jeremy Kuzmarov
Biden, however, refused to pardon Peltier despite evidence that he never shot and killed FBI agents whose murders he was charged withIn a last-minute move before his departure from office, President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of American Indian Movement (AIM) leader Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents, Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in June 1975.
In a statement, the White House said the commutation would enable Peltier to spend his remaining days in home confinement, “but will not pardon him for his underlying crimes.”
Peltier’s daughter, Kathy Peltier, said she was in shock after learning what Biden had done after past presidential requests for clemency were unsuccessful. “I’m just thankful that he had the balls and the guts to do it,” she said of Biden’s decision.
In a statement provided by the NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led advocacy organization, Peltier said he was ready to leave prison. “It’s finally over — I’m going home,” Peltier said. “I want to show the world I’m a good person with a good heart.”
CovertAction Magazine is happy that Peltier is going home. However, our investigation determined that Peltier was not the one who killed the two FBI agents (Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams) whose murder he was charged with, though he was present when they were killed.
Peltier’s trial, furthermore, was not fair, as the U.S. government withheld a ballistics report indicating that the fatal bullets did not come from his weapon. There is also strong evidence of witness intimidation by the FBI.
One prosecution witness, Michael Anderson, testified during cross-examination that he was threatened by an FBI agent, and said that he agreed to testify in exchange for criminal charges against him in another case being dropped.
Another witness, Myrtle Poor Bear, said that she had been coerced into signing a false affidavit implicating Peltier and that her life had been threatened. “They had the law in their hands, and could do anything,” she said of the FBI.
AIM and Pine RidgeA member of the Turtle Mountain band of Chippewa Indians from North Dakota, Peltier had been a leader of AIM, which staged an occupation of the Pine Ridge Reservation in the early 1970s in an effort to reclaim land that had been taken during the 19th century Indian Wars.
Pine Ridge was strategically located at the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre, where the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry regiment killed about 300 Lakota Sioux civilians in revenge for the killing of General George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn 14 years earlier.
Peltier had traveled to Pine Ridge in South Dakota in 1975 to help AIM members defend themselves against the head of the Oglala Sioux tribal council, Richard Wilson, who worked with the FBI and deployed his private militia, Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOON), against AIM.
GOON killings went unpunished as the homicide rate on the Pine Ridge Reservation became among the highest in the U.S.
Conflicting NarrativesOn June 26, 1975, Coler and Williams were on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to arrest a man, Jimmy Eagle, on a federal warrant for armed robbery in connection with the theft of cowboy boots, according to the FBI’s investigative files.
While they were there, the agents radioed that they had come under fire in a shootout that lasted ten minutes, the FBI said.
Peltier was fingered in part because his gun—an AR-15—matched the one that killed the agents (this evidence was put into dispute), and because he was found by an Oregon state trooper after he had fled with Agent Coler’s handgun in a bag with his fingerprint on it.
In Peltier’s version of events, he was in bed at 11:00 a.m. when he heard gunshots and fellow AIM members told him “Man, we’re being attacked. We’re being attacked.” Peltier then said “Oh, my God.” and grabbed an old rifle and started running up to the house and fired his gun after being fired upon.
The FBI has said the agents were shot without provocation, though AIM said that they triggered the shootout, and killed an Indigenous man, Joe Stuntz, whose death was never investigated.
In the FBI’s version, Peltier was stopped while driving in a red truck because he had an outstanding warrant for the attempted murder of a police officer. Peltier allegedly exited the vehicle along with Norman Charles and Stuntz, and began firing at the FBI agents.
Peltier says he knows that his shots did not hit the FBI agents and he was not the one who killed them. This assessment was corroborated by Bob Robideau, who was charged with Peltier but was exonerated in a separate trial. He said in 2004: “I am ‘Mr. X’ (which is no lie) and I did kill them [the FBI agents] with the honor befitting a warrior, but they died like worms.”
Robideau in turn stated that he had no remorse because it was a “defensive action” against “our enemies.”
Lingering InjusticeDuring a June 8, 2024, interview, Peltier’s serving attorney Kevin Sharp, a former U.S. District Judge in Tennessee, stated:
“Pine Ridge was a powder keg with the Goon Squad operating there with the government’s help. AIM was there to protect those who were not part of the Goon Squad. There were many murders and assaults in a three-year timeframe. When plain-clothed agents in unmarked cars arrived, a firefight ensued. Leonard did not shoot the agents, and the FBI knew this but withheld evidence. The court of appeals acknowledged this but couldn’t overturn the conviction due to legal standards. Judge Heaney, who wrote the opinion, later supported clemency for Leonard. Now, 38 of Judge Heaney’s former clerks support parole for Leonard, including three who worked on his case. The government admits they don’t know who killed the agents, but it wasn’t Leonard. It’s time to release Leonard and start the healing process.”
With Peltier’s release, perhaps the healing process that Sharpe spoke about can indeed begin.
Peltier’s case has for decades energized the activist community because Peltier has remained a symbol of the continued injustice done to Native Americans in the United States.
What is really needed is not just clemency but a full pardon. This would send a signal that the U.S. government did wrong by Peltier—just as it had done wrong to so many of his ancestors and comrades in the AIM.
[…]
Alberta Gov’t Calls for Immediate Halt of ‘Deadly’ mRNA Jabs
The Peoples VoiceThe Alberta government’s COVID-19 Response Review, commissioned by Premier Danielle Smith, has called for the immediate halt of mRNA jabs due to their ‘deadly side effects’
According to a report obtained by Rebel News, one of the most alarming findings from the review: Pfizer’s own post-authorization trial data. The report reveals that within just four days of vaccination, 1,223 deaths and 42,086 injuries were recorded. Notably, nearly half of these adverse events occurred in individuals aged 18-50—those at negligible risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes. This raises serious concerns about the overall safety profile of the vaccines, particularly for young and healthy populations (Rairfoundation.com reports: The full report can be accessed here).
So far, all available analysis is damning—not only for the injections but for the COVID-19 response in general. Outside of Florida, this may be the most significant official government report scrutinizing the nature and effects of mRNA injections.
Yet, the question of responsibility remains unanswered. Who will be held liable? For what crimes? And what safeguards will be put in place to ensure Alberta’s most basic civil liberties are never trampled like this again?
These crucial matters do not appear to be addressed in the report. However, it marks a critical shift—from narrative-driven coercion to a reality-based admission of the consequences of these policies, particularly the widespread push for mRNA gene therapy injections.
One of the most damning revelations is how Pfizer manipulated data to obscure adverse effects. The company reported vaccine effectiveness using relative risk reduction, making it appear more beneficial, while downplaying severe adverse effects with misleading statistical methods. A proper analysis shows that the vaccine arm experienced a 300% increase in adverse events compared to the placebo group. This is outright deception on a massive scale.
Additionally, among the most disturbing findings is Pfizer’s own pregnancy data: 87.5% of recorded pregnancies ended in fetal or neonatal death. Even worse, Pfizer failed to report outcomes for 238 out of 270 pregnancies—raising serious questions about potential data suppression. What happened to those missing pregnancy cases? What were they hiding?
Despite overwhelming evidence, those responsible for public health have dismissed critical concerns as misinformation—even though alarming data has been publicly available for years. Yet, only a handful of journalists in Canada have been relentless in exposing the truth about these novel pharmaceutical products.
This cannot be ignored. Will the Alberta government now take the next step and pull these shots from the market? Will they hold those responsible accountable? Public outrage and pressure will determine what happens next.
For an in-depth analysis of the effects of mRNA shots, as well as potential treatments for those harmed, see RAIR Foundation’s recent interview with Dr. Mark Trozzi.
[…]
Via https://thepeoplesvoice.tv/alberta-govt-calls-for-immediate-halt-of-deadly-mrna-jabs/
In Syria, the lunatics are running the asylum
Photo Credit: The Cradle[…]
On 29 January, the Military Operations Department of the de facto government in Syria announced that Ahmad al-Sharaa – previously known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani – would assume the presidency of the country during a “transitional phase.”
The announcement included the suspension of the country’s constitution and the dissolution of the previously ruling Baath Party, the People’s Assembly, the former national army, security services, and all armed factions – including Sharaa’s own Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria.
Giving a speech at this so-called “Victory Conference” was Ahmad al-Hayes, also known as Abu Hatem Shaqra, the leader of the Ahrar al-Sharqiya faction of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) force – an organization responsible for numerous war crimes.
With this, the world was forced to ask: Who are the key figures now ruling Syria, and what does this mean for its future?
To understand today’s events, it is necessary to rewind a decade. In 2015, the northwestern city of Idlib fell to the Nusra Front, which US official Brett McGurk once described as the “largest Al-Qaeda safe haven” in the world. While other parts of Syria saw different terror organizations come and go, lose ground and gain ground, and eventually get defeated by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies over the years – Idlib remained under the control of the Nusra Front.
In 2015, the Nusra Front was rebranded into Jaish al-Fatah. The following year, it was rebranded again into Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and severed relations with Al-Qaeda in an attempt to legitimize itself. It finally became known as HTS in 2017.
This was all done with Qatari support and with the help of the Syria-based Saudi Wahhabi cleric Abdullah al-Muhaysni, who sent teenagers on suicide missions and was responsible for the recruitment of thousands upon thousands of extremist militants. He is now roaming freely across Syria, giving speeches.
HTS set up a political administration in the ‘liberated’ Idlib governorate and began its rule – creating the prototype for the government that now rules the majority of the country, including Damascus.
In December 2024, the unthinkable happened. After an 11-day lightning offensive, HTS-led fighters stormed Damascus, toppling Assad’s government. With foreign backing, notably from Turkiye and, more recently, Ukraine, along with strategic deceit, the former Al-Qaeda offshoot achieved what no faction before it had: seizing control of Syria’s capital and claiming rule over the country.
[…]
The newly announced President of Syria, Ahmad al-Sharaa
In an earlier life, HTS’s leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, had studied medicine briefly at the Faculty of Medicine at Damascus University before leaving to join Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) following the 2003 US invasion.
His notorious resume includes being the former deputy to ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi back when the infamous terror group was known as the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). Sharaa was dispatched by Baghdadi in 2011 to enter the war against Assad’s government in Syria, where he took part in the launching of deadly suicide attacks against both security personnel and civilians before founding the Nusra Front in 2012.
The Nusra Front, which was Al-Qaeda’s official branch in the Levant, would go on to terrorize both the Syrian and Lebanese people for years under Sharaa’s leadership. During his days in Iraq, Sharaa started as a member of ISI’s precursor, AQI – itself responsible for many indiscriminate attacks, including bombings of religious sites and the killing of civilians and worshippers – in an effort to trigger a sectarian war.
After his release from the US-run Camp Bucca in 2008, where he had been detained alongside Baghdadi and many future ISIS leaders, Sharaa served as ISI’s Emir of Mosul – a period that witnessed many killings and kidnappings of Christians and Yazidis.
After assuming leadership of Syria in December 2024, the Iraqi judiciary issued an arrest warrant for Sharaa. Sources cited by Shafaq news agency said detainees in Iraq had confessed to crimes that involved him personally. Yet Sharaa is now sitting down with international leaders, including US and European officials. After he met with a delegation from Washington in Damascus last month, a US terror designation and $10 million dollar bounty for Sharaa’s capture was swiftly lifted.
The new unelected Syrian president has recently held meetings with the head of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati, and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani – the first head of state to meet with the former Nusra leader. His meeting with Mikati was a shock and disappointment to many Lebanese who remember the Nusra Front’s crimes against the country, such as deadly suicide attacks, kidnappings and executions of Lebanese soldiers, and the infiltration and occupation of the country’s territory near the Syrian border.
Extremists leading Syria’s new army
The so-called Syrian Armed Forces now include non-Syrian commanders, many of them veterans of Al-Qaeda and ISIS. Sharaa has declared that the foreign militants “should be celebrated” as “part of the movement that led to the downfall of Assad.” He has also said that the foreign fighters who remain in Syria could potentially be granted Syrian citizenship.
Abdulaziz Dawood Khudaberdi, a Chinese Uyghur militant from the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), has been appointed brigadier-general.
Chinese Uyghur militant, Abdulaziz Dawood Khudaberdi, from the Turkistan Islamic Party, who was appointed as brigadier-general in the new Syrian army.TIP is an Uyghur militant organization that has fought under HTS’s command for years. Its fighters illegally entered Syria post-2011, like the tens of thousands of other foreign fighters from numerous different nations who came to the country to fight against the former state.
TIP has called for the establishment of an Islamic state in parts of China and central Asia, and is seen by Beijing as a serious threat to its interests and security. Another two Uyghur fighters, Mawlan Tarsoun Abdussamad and Abdulsalam Yasin Ahmad, have been made colonels.
Turkish citizen Omar Mohammed Jaftashi and Jordanian citizen Abdul Rahman Hussein al-Khatib have also been made brigadier-generals.
Jordanian citizen Abdul Rahman Hussein al-Khatib (right) who was appointed as brigadier-general in the new Syrian army.Additionally, Tajik fighter Saifiddin Tojiboev, wanted in his home country, Tajikistan, for membership in terrorist organizations and the recruitment of extremist militants, according to an anonymous Tajik law enforcement source cited by Radio Free Europe (RFE), was appointed as a colonel.
Tajik fighter Saifiddin Tojiboev who was appointed as a colonel in the new Syrian army.Abdul Jashari, an Albanian extremist, now holds the rank of colonel. Omar Mohammed Jaftashi, a Turkish citizen, has been made a brigadier-general. And the list goes on.
Syrian Justice Minister, Shadi Mohammad al-Waisi
Shadi Mohammad al-Waisi, made justice minister in December, was formerly a judge in the Nusra Front and holds a degree in Islamic Sharia. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Islamic Studies. In 2011, he helped found the Sharia Authority in Aleppo’s Daharat Awad district, where he served as a judge before taking part in the creation of the Four-Party Sharia Authority in Aleppo in 2012.
Waisi continued to rise in rank, serving as a military penal judge, an appeals judge, and a public prosecutor. He also headed many courts in Aleppo during the years of the Nusra Front’s violent rule in the ancient city.
Newly appointed Justice Minister Shadi Mohammad al-Waisi.Recently, verified videos emerged of Waisi overseeing the public execution of women accused of prostitution and adultery in 2015, drawing nowhere near enough condemnation and going largely unnoticed in mainstream media.
An official from the new government told the news verification outlet Verify-Sy that the footage “documents the enforcement of the law at a specific time and place, where the procedures were carried out in accordance with the laws in effect at that time,” and that it “reflects a stage we have moved beyond, in light of the current legal and procedural transformations, which makes it inappropriate to generalize it or use it to describe the current stage, given the differing circumstances and references.” Of course, the justice minister will not be brought to justice for his crimes.
Syrian Defense Minister, Murhaf Abu Qasra
Murhaf Abu Qasra, also known as Abu Hassan 600, was appointed minister of defense after the fall of Assad’s government. He holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering, has been a top leader in HTS’s military wing for several years, and was responsible for the group’s drone unit, known as the Shaheen Brigades.
Newly appointed Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra.Upon assuming his role as defense minister, reports have emerged regarding Abu Qasra’s involvement in numerous crimes and atrocities: 20 premeditated murders, 15 armed robberies, 12 amputations, 150 executions of Shias, Christians, and atheists, 15 cases of stoning to death, and 10 cases of rape of female captives (HTS, under its different names over the years, has taken its fair share of captives – and has even kidnapped nuns).
[…]
Syrian Intelligence Chief, Anas Hassan Khattab
Anas Hassan Khattab, a co-founder of the Nusra Front alongside Sharaa and Syria’s new Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, has been appointed the head of Syrian intelligence. He studied architecture at the Damascus University before leaving for Iraq in 2008, where he went to “fight against the US occupation,” according to Syria TV.
Khattab, also known as Abu Ahmed Hudood, was blacklisted as a terrorist by the UN Security Council in September 2014 for his close association with Al-Qaeda – particularly AQI.
Anas Hassan Khattab, a co-founder of the Nusra Front and newly appointed Syrian Intelligence chief.According to the listing, he was for several years involved “in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of” and “otherwise supporting acts or activities of” the Nusra Front.
Khattab was also sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in 2012 for his ties to Al-Qaeda. Syria’s new intel chief served as the administrative Emir of the Nusra Front as of early 2014 and was part of its Shura Council by mid-2013. He was also tasked with selecting personal bodyguards for Sharaa.
In recent years, Khattab oversaw general security operations in Idlib. His involvement in intelligence gathering dates back to the period when HTS consolidated control over northern Syria with Turkish support.
During this time, he managed surveillance of covert networks along the borders of HTS-controlled areas. According to an investigative report by Enab Baladi last year, Sharaa used to rely on Khattab for “internal security files and the elimination of opponents.”
Women’s Affairs Chief, Aisha al-Debs
As part of efforts to foster inclusivity, Aisha al-Debs was appointed Women’s Affairs chief. She holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Damascus University. While not much is known about her, Debs – a dual Turkish-Syrian citizen who lived in Turkiye for ten years – proclaimed honestly during a recent interview with TRT how she plans to carry out her work, stating, “I will not allow space for those who differ with me ideologically.”
Aisha al-Debs, newly appointed Women’s Affairs chief.[…]
Sectarian carnage and zero ‘democracy’
Western diplomats and foreign delegation have been rushing to engage with HTS – which has touted its commitment to inclusivity and minority rights. Yet the reality on the ground is starkly different. Executions, sectarian purges, and desecration of religious sites have become routine.
In the first month of HTS rule, 150 Alawites were killed, hundreds of people arrested and subjected to torture, and Christians were expelled from the town of Maaloula. Christmas trees have been burned in public squares, and videos have circulated showing Alawites being humiliated and forced to bark like dogs.
Sharaa and other officials have promised to unify Syria, vowing to protect minorities and punish “individual” actors for any transgressions against Christians, Alawites, Shias, and others, but there are precious few indications that this is happening.
[…]
If the new Syria remains on this path – the HTS-led government may not last. Under such conditions, the Syrian people will not accept an administration of extremists, given its apparent inability to build a unified and diverse country.
People have already begun to take up arms, including former elements and supporters of the old Syrian army. There have also been reports of Christians fighting back against HTS.
[…]
Claims Childhood Vaccines ‘Saved Millions of Lives’ Based on Flawed Models
by Brenda Baletti, Ph.D.Claims by public health agencies and in top medical journals that childhood vaccination prevents millions of deaths annually are based on flawed epidemiological models, according to a paper published today by Correlation, a Canadian nonprofit research organization.
The author, all-cause mortality expert Denis Rancourt, Ph.D., argues these claims are based on “tentative and untethered models of epidemiological forecasting” that produce “unlikely results.”
The models depend entirely on invalid estimates of vaccine efficacy and disease prevalence and virulence, none of which are based on real-world data concerning actual deaths, according to Rancourt.
They also fail to account for other complex factors contributing to child mortality — particularly in low-income countries, where most of these millions of infant lives are purportedly saved. These factors include nutritional deficiency, toxic exposures and poverty.
Rancourt also found that, contrary to public health claims, there are no examples in all-cause mortality data of a drop in infant or child mortality temporally associated with the rollout of a childhood vaccination program.
On the contrary, he wrote, independent observational studies have tied vaccine rollouts to increased infant or child mortality and morbidity.
In the paper, Rancourt develops an alternative model using yearly all-cause infant mortality. He estimates that childhood vaccination campaigns since 1974 may have been associated with approximately 100 million vaccine-related deaths.
However, he emphasizes that any true estimate of mortality would also have to account for other factors, such as the shifting political and economic dynamics that drive poverty and its associated health problems.
Children’s Health Defense Senior Research Scientist Karl Jablonowski said, ”Rancourt points out serious flaws in mainstream debates over childhood vaccination that are premised on errors in generalization and lead to childlike black-and-white thinking when it comes to vaccine safety.”
Jablonowski said the paper clearly demonstrates that claims vaccines have saved millions of lives globally, “hang on a few impossible assumptions.” Those include:
That no human can die from a vaccine (directly or indirectly).That children who die from a “vaccine-preventable” pathogen were otherwise perfectly healthy.That we understand how diseases spread in all contexts.That all children have the same health, diet, exercise habits, access to clean water, toxin and environmental exposures, genetic disposition, etc., as the clinical trial participants.That clinical trials accurately represent the risks and benefits of the vaccine.That once a vaccine is developed, all other medical interventions suddenly stop working.Rancourt said he began writing the paper to demonstrate the “ludicrous theoretical modelling exercises” behind the spectacular claims of reduced infant mortality from mass vaccination programs.
“But what I discovered is that the longstanding industry of administering vaccination programmes to save infants in low-income countries from death is scientifically baseless and a fraudulent enterprise that removes resources and attention away from urgently needed development to correct ongoing mass neocolonial exploitation,” he said.
‘Garbage in, garbage out’
Many top researchers have raised public concerns about epidemic modeling, particularly in research that serves the pharmaceutical industry.
Dr. John Ioannidis has pointed out that “epidemic forecasting has a dubious track record,” which became particularly evident during the COVID-19 period. Models can easily be compromised or skewed if they use poor data, incorrect assumptions, lack epidemiological information or fail to consider all dimensions of a given problem.
This, combined with the fact — highlighted by former editors of both The Lancet and The BMJ — that medical journals have become “an extension of the marketing arm of pharmaceutical companies” has led to the proliferation of forecasting models that don’t meet even the most basic standards for modeling, Rancourt said.
In recent years, epidemiologic modelers have published many papers claiming to estimate mortality averted through childhood vaccination.
Rancourt argued these models share two fatal flaws: They are based on unreliable assumptions of vaccine efficacy and they “guesstimate” deaths avoided using disease models not anchored in real-world data.
The safety and efficacy numbers for these models always come from clinical trials, which he says are “systemically unreliable” in assessing efficacy and fail to evaluate safety.
The trials are, “overwhelmingly controlled by an industry making large profits from the vaccines, and this industry has amply, historically, consistently and repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to act fraudulently at the expense of endangering the public,” Rancourt wrote.
Also, the trials themselves introduce several biases. For example, trials are conducted with healthy children, but vaccines are administered to children with multiple vulnerabilities, particularly in low-income countries.
The trials also don’t test the vaccines against true placebos, don’t monitor children long-term for safety issues, and don’t test against disease prevention or safety in the real world.
Second, they rely on “guesstimates” of deaths averted — estimating how many children didn’t die because they got the vaccine — based on isolated models for disease contagion that aren’t validated by real-world research.
Most importantly, they fail to account for the fact that childhood mortality rates are affected by a wide range of factors — including underlying health conditions, poor nutrition and access to care — beyond simply whether a child is vaccinated or not.
“I argue that the proverbial computing term ‘garbage in, garbage out’ pre-eminently applies in these circumstances,” Rancourt said.
Breaking down claims that vaccination has saved 154 million lives since 1974
To illustrate his points, Rancourt analyzed a recent study funded by the World Health Organization (WHO) and published in The Lancet by Andrew J. Shattock, Ph.D., and colleagues.
The study concluded that “Since 1974, vaccination has averted 154 million deaths, including 146 million among children younger than 5 years of whom 101 million were infants younger than 1 year.”
Rancourt calculated this would be the equivalent of 5.7% of global deaths annually, or a 20% reduction in global infant mortality.
Rancourt said it would be a “fantastic” medical achievement. “Some might reasonably call it unbelievable.”
In addition to the WHO funding, the Vaccine Impact Modelling Consortium — funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Gates-backed Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance — provided the models. Members of the research team also receive funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Wellcome Trust and other organizations with financial and political interests in promoting mass vaccination.
For The Lancet study, Shattock estimated deaths avoided by vaccination using only theoretical models for how disease spreads — with no attention to context. And then used efficacy rates from vaccine clinical trials to estimate how many children who would have gotten sick and died don’t because vaccines are present.
The study repeats that model for each of the nine vaccines it considered to arrive at the number of lives saved.
The study also estimated the numbers based on the assumption that, otherwise, infant mortality would have remained constant between 1974 and 2024. However, in reality, infant mortality had been dropping before that, which the model should have accounted for.
The study “collapses on examination of its premises,” Rancourt wrote.
The problem of poverty
Perhaps the most glaring issue, Rancourt said, is that models touting high numbers of lives saved by vaccines fail to account for the reality that child mortality is influenced by many complex factors, particularly in low-income countries.
For example, the WHO states that the measles vaccine has the greatest impact on infant mortality, accounting for most lives saved from all vaccines. However, deaths from measles are typically related to malnutrition. Mortality and morbidity rates from infectious diseases like measles decline with improved living standards.
Malnutrition also makes children more vulnerable to environmental toxins — including vaccines, Rancourt noted.
In other words, malnutrition, including of the mother, makes a child highly vulnerable to death from a wide range of infections that don’t occur or aren’t fatal in well-nourished children living in healthy environments.
Low-income countries not only lack funding for public health, Rancourt said, but vaccination campaigns divert resources away from other health priorities like clean water and basic health services.
Vaccination programs increase infant and child mortality
Contrary to repeated claims that vaccines save millions of lives, Rancourt’s analysis of the relationship between vaccine rollouts and infant mortality rates suggests the opposite — that these programs have contributed to increased infant and child mortality.
Rancourt correlated changes in the global infant mortality rate with major vaccine rollouts between 1980-1999 and 1999-2015. During those periods, global infant mortality rates were declining, but the rate of decline slowed after the vaccine rollouts.
The deceleration became more marked in about 1992, when the hepatitis B and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines were introduced, even in low-income countries.
Had the decline in infant mortality continued at the same rate from the period before vaccine rollouts, there would have been 100 million fewer infant deaths. Instead, the rate of decline in mortality slowed precisely when the rollouts happened.
All researchers modeling the benefits of vaccination missed or disregarded this evident temporal correlation, Rancourt said.
Rancourt’s findings corroborate observational studies, including those showing the introduction of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine in low-income countries led to a spike in infant mortality among vaccinated babies.
However, Rancourt cautioned that he was presenting the simplest possible model. A true estimate would have to adjust for the benefits of improving living conditions. It would also have to account for the impacts of “aggressive so-called globalization” in the 80s and 90s that facilitated the global expansion of industry, global vaccination campaigns and industrial agriculture, which all had varied and significant impacts on low- and middle-income countries.
Rancourt concluded the overwhelming cause of high infant mortality is extreme poverty associated with severe malnutrition and exposure to toxic living environments.
[…]
Octopus Game Part VIII – The Hidden History of Palestine
Jabalia Refugee Camp
Octopus Game Part VIII
Press TV (2024)
Film Review
This episode continues the timeline of the Israel-Hamas war through December 2023:
December 12 – Israel announces 1 out of 10 Israel Defense Force (IDF) troops killed by friendly fire in Gaza. UN General Assembly calls for immediate ceasefire (150 yes, 10 no, 20 abstain).December 14 – Israeli ambassador to UK Tzipi Hotovely expresses anger at the global protest over Israel’s deliberate slaughter of civilian, announcing that Israel rejects the two state solution “giving” the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinians and intends to expel the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza by obliterating the infrastructure they relied on for basic needs. Other Netanyahu supporters express concern that West Bank and Gaza Palestinians block Israel’s expansion into the Egypt and JordaDecember 17 – British Petroleum officially halts all oil shipments via the Red Sea and Suez Canal, as Middle East Monitor reports Houthi attacks on freighters costing Israel’s economy billions of dollars. The US coalition on paper) declaring war on Yemen that includes Spain, Canada, France, Seychelles, UK Bahrain, Italy and Norway. UN cites Israel for violating international law with summary execution of 11 Palestinian civilians.December 20 – Biden opposes Israel’s proposal for an Israel/US war against Iran, (according to the filmmakers) out of fear of losing November 2024 elections. He blames concerns about protecting US bases against attacks from pro-Palestinian countries (Iraq, Syria, Yemen). Owing to stalemate in Gaza, Netanyahu expands war to southern Lebanon. Massive Israeli protests call for Netanyahu’s removal as prime minister.December 22 – Israel banned Muslims from entering the Al Axa Mosque in the West Ban and carried out the mass execution of 137 civilians in Gaza Jabalia refugee camp.December 25 – Israeli’s assassinates Syrian General Mousavi.December 29 – South Africa files suit with the International Court of Justice calling for an immediate ceasefire under Genocide Convention.December 30 – Israel bombs a town on the Iraqi/Syrian border.December 31 – Israel bombs Aleppo (Syria) and US launches missile attack on Houthis vessels, killing 22. In three months Israel has kiled 21,000 Palestinians, 1% of Gaza’s population
February 1, 2025
RFK Jr. Pushes Back on Chronic Disease, Autism and Agency Corruption
During his second day of confirmation hearings for HHS secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the U.S. “will sink beneath a sea of desperation and debt if we don’t change course and ask the fundamental question, ‘Why are healthcare costs so high in the first place?’ The obvious answer to that question is chronic disease.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hit back at Congress members who attacked his stance on vaccines and the chronic disease epidemic, suggesting today during his second U.S. Senate hearing to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that several members have accepted donations from Big Pharma.
One day after his first confirmation hearing in the Senate Finance Committee, which included an exchange with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) about onesies sold on the Children’s Health Defense (CHD) website, Kennedy testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, for which Sanders is a ranking member.
During an exchange with Sanders, Kennedy said, “Corruption is not just in the federal agencies, it is in Congress too. Almost all the members of this panel … including yourself, are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry.”
This was one of several contentious moments during today’s meeting, which also focused on vaccine safety, the chronic disease epidemic and conflicts of interest in scientific research.
Kennedy frequently questioned the effectiveness of U.S. public health agencies in addressing the chronic health epidemic, which he said has come at a great cost both in terms of fatalities and the epidemic’s economic burden.
“The focus is on infectious disease, and we almost altogether ignore chronic disease, which causes 92% of the deaths in this country,” Kennedy said. Noting that the U.S. had a disproportionate percentage of COVID-19-related deaths during the pandemic, Kennedy said it is because “we are the sickest people on earth.”
Kennedy pledged to reverse this trend, if confirmed as HHS secretary, by emphasizing transparency and “good science.”
‘I’m pro-good science’
Unlike yesterday’s hearing, today’s hearing focused extensively on Kennedy’s views on vaccines and vaccine safety. Kennedy responded to claims he is “anti-vaccine” and “anti-industry.”
“I’m neither. I’m pro-safety. I’m pro-good science,” Kennedy said. “We should always follow the evidence no matter what it says.” Kennedy said he wouldn’t “impose” his opinions on HHS scientists. Instead, he would support examining “all the data” by empowering HHS scientists to do their job.
“We will have the best vaccine standards, with safety studies,” Kennedy said.
Much of the discussion about vaccines centered on rising autism rates, with Kennedy noting that they have increased from 1 in 10,000 to as high as 1 in 34, calling this an “explosion” that public health agencies have long overlooked.
Kennedy referred to a recent peer-reviewed study of 47,000 9-year-olds to respond to claims by members of the committee that the link between autism and vaccines has been definitively debunked. The study found that autism rates were higher among vaccinated children and increased as the number of vaccinations grew.
“Why don’t we know what’s causing this epidemic?” Kennedy asked. “Why hasn’t CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] been looking at other hypotheses to determine the etiology of why we’ve had this dramatic 1,000% increase in this disease that is destroying our kids?”
Several members of the committee openly agreed with Kennedy’s stance on autism.
“1-in-36. If that’s not a pandemic, then what is?” asked Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.). “Can any of you guys with a straight face say that we shouldn’t look at every aspect to what we’re putting in our kids, be it from the food to the vaccines?”
“I just want to follow the science where it leads, without presupposition,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
[…] Via https://www.theburningplatform.com/2025/01/31/rfk-jr-pushes-back-on-chronic-disease-autism-and-agency-corruption/
Did the US Declare the End of the Unipolar World Order?
Glenn Diesen
Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave an interview with Megyn Kelly on 30 January 2025 which could signal the beginning of the end of America’s hegemonic security strategy. Rubio recognised that unipolarity, having one centre of power in the world, was a temporary phenomenon that has now passed:
“it’s not normal for the world to simply have a unipolar power. That was not – that was an anomaly. It was a product of the end of the Cold War, but eventually you were going to reach back to a point where you had a multipolar world, multi-great powers in different parts of the planet”.
Rubio suggested that the hegemonic position of the US resulted in a weakening of the Westphalian system based on sovereign states, and replaced it with a globalist system where the US claimed the role of a world policeman:
“And I think that was lost at the end of the Cold War, because we were the only power in the world, and so we assumed this responsibility of sort of becoming the global government in many cases, trying to solve every problem”.
Rubio is referring to the end of the unipolar world order that emerged after the Cold War, and the need for the US to adjust to multipolar realities.
What is multipolarity?
If unipolarity is over, what is the multipolar system that is returning? The modern world order since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 has been based on the principle of multipolarity and a balance of power to constrain expansionist and hegemonic ambitions of states. A multipolar distribution of power dictates what produces security and the purpose of diplomacy.
Security when there are many centres of power entails managing the security competition between states. Conflicts derive from security competition as the efforts by one state to enhance its own security by for example expanding its military power, will reduce the security of other states. “Indivisible security” is therefore the key principle in a multipolar system, which suggests that security cannot be divided – either it is security for all or there will be security for none. Any effort by a state to become dominant will therefore trigger great power conflicts as it compels other powers to collectively balance the aspiring hegemon.
Diplomacy in a multipolar system aims to enhance mutual understanding about competing security interests and reach a compromise that elevates the security of all states. It is imperative to put oneself in the opponent’s shoes and recognise that if the opponent’s security concerns are resolved, then that also enhances one’s own security.
Unipolarity
Unipolarity was celebrated after the Cold War as it was premised on some good intentions. The idea was that great powers would not engage in rivalry and security competition if the benign hegemon of the US could not be contested. US security strategy was based on global primacy, and it was expected that there was no possibility and need to compete with the benign hegemony of the US. Furthermore, US global primacy would also ensure that liberal democratic values would be elevated. Yet, unipolarity would depend on keeping down rising powers that would therefore have an interest to collectively balance the US. Liberal democratic values would be corrupted as they would be used to legitimise the sovereign inequality required to interfere in every corner of the world. Even Charles Krauthammer who coined and celebrated the term “unipolar moment”, recognised it was a temporary phenomenon that resulted from the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Security under the unipolar system did not entail managing the security competition. On the contrary, security was dependent on dominating to such an extent that no rivals could even aspire to challenge the US. In 2002, the US Security Strategy explicitly outlined that global dominance would “dissuade future military competition” and that the US therefore had to perpetuate “the unparalleled strength of the United States armed forces, and their forward presence”. The hegemonic strategy is why the West abandoned all agreements for an inclusive pan-European security architecture with Russia, and instead returned to bloc politics by expanding NATO toward Russian borders. It would threaten Russian security, but there would be no security competition as Russia would be too weak. The sentiment was that Russia would have to adjust to new realities or be confronted by NATO that had encircled it.
Diplomacy under unipolarity also came to an end. Diplomacy no longer meant to recognise mutual security concerns to find solutions for indivisible security. Rather, diplomacy was replaced with the language of ultimatums and threats as other states would have to accept unilateral concessions. In the past, Western politicians and media would discuss the security concerns of adversaries to mitigate security competition. After the Cold War, Western politicians and media largely stopped discussing the security concerns of adversaries, as there was no desire to “legitimise” the notion that Western hegemony as a “force for good” could be considered a threat. When the West placed its military forces on the borders of other countries, it was claimed to bring democracy, stability and peace. Furthermore, conflicts could not be resolved by diplomacy if they challenged the dominance of the West. For example, taking into account Russian security concerns about NATO’s incursion into Ukraine would represent a rejection of the hegemonic system. While NATO rejected diplomacy for three years as hundreds of thousands of men died on the front line, Rubio now suggests that diplomacy and negotiations must start as “We just have to be realistic about the fact that Ukraine has lost”.
A reason for optimism
In the late 1920s, Antonio Gramsci wrote about the troubling times as a period of interregnum. Gramsci wrote: “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear”.
The great power conflicts in the world today are largely a result of the world being in a transition between unipolarity and multipolarity. The West attempts to defeat its rivals to restore the unipolarity of the 1990s, while the vast majority of the world seeks to complete the transition to multipolarity. As the US worries about unsustainable debt, the collective balancing by adversaries and the rising possibility of nuclear war – it appears that there is a growing willingness to retire the temporary project of unipolarity.
[…]
Via https://glenndiesen.substack.com/p/did-the-us-declare-the-end-of-the
US Private Security Firm Now Manning Gaza Checkpoints
By L Todd Wood
Representatives of the American private military company UG Solutions have been deployed at the checkpoint in the Netzarim Corridor, which divides the Gaza Strip into southern and northern parts.
While Israeli hostages are being released, and the ink barely dry on the ceasefire agreements, American security company UG Solutions, staffed by U.S. Special Forces veterans, is now manning checkpoints in the Gaza Strip.
A small U.S. security firm is hiring nearly 100 U.S. special forces veterans to help run a checkpoint in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas truce, according to a company spokesperson and a recruitment email seen by Reuters, introducing armed American contractors into the heart of one of the world’s most violent conflict zones, reported Reuters.
UG Solutions’ role in the cease-fire deal has been reported, but the email disclosed previously unknown details, including the aim of recruiting 96 veterans exclusively with U.S. special operations forces backgrounds, as well as the pay and the types of weapons they will carry.
Reuters reported on January 7 that Emirati officials had suggested the use of private contractors as part of a post-war peacekeeping force in Gaza, and that the idea had caused concern among Western nations.
These are private companies, and not active-duty American soldiers; but, the risk of this deployment pulling the United States further into another Middle Eastern war remains.
[…]
Via https://armedforces.press/us-private-security-firm-now-manning-gaza-checkpoints/
The Most Revolutionary Act
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