Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 144
December 27, 2024
US could buy Nord Stream
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. © AP Photo/Geert Vanden WijngaertRT
The Serbian president has made the prediction following recent reports about an American investor’s bid for the pipeline
The sabotaged Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline could become the property of a US investor in a year, and gas supplies from Russia to the EU could be resumed through the connector, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has suggested.
Vucic shared his view about the future of the pipeline in an interview with the German news outlet Handelsblatt published on Friday.
“I dare to predict: In a year at the latest, Nord Stream will be owned by an American investor, and gas will flow from Russia to Europe through the pipeline,” the Serbian leader said. “Mark my words. One year until Nord Stream is up and running!”
Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that US financier and investor Stephen Lynch had asked permission from the US Treasury Department to buy the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, if it is put up for auction next year.
The pipeline, which was built to deliver Russian gas to Germany and the rest of Western Europe, was ruptured by explosions in the Baltic Sea in September 2022.
Lynch proposed that a deal for the Russian pipeline could be seen as a strategic opportunity for long-term US interests. Ownership of the pipeline would give the American government a tool to exert pressure in any peace negotiations with Russia to end the Ukraine conflict, he told the WSJ.Lynch reportedly said he could buy the Nord Stream 2, which has been valued at around $11 billion, for “pennies on the dollar,” adding that it would be a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” for the US to take control over the EU’s energy supply.
While no one has claimed responsibility for the 2022 attack on the pipeline, Western media outlets have reported that a special operations team linked to Ukraine were behind the operation. US reporter Seymour Hersh has claimed that the US Navy set explosives on the pipeline during NATO exercises in the Baltic, and that the order to destroy the gas connectors was given by President Joe Biden.Most recently, a Danish harbor master has told the Politiken outlet that he had sailed out to the site of the blast and encountered US warships in the area of the explosion, but with their transponders switched off.
Moscow claims that Western intelligence services, particularly those of the US, were directly involved in the sabotage. American firms have benefited from the attack due to their position as suppliers of liquefied natural gas to Europe.
The head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, said last month that his agency had information about the “direct involvement” of professionals from the US and British special services in the Nord Stream sabotage. London and Washington, as well as Kiev, have denied any involvement.
[…]
Via https://www.rt.com/news/610077-vucic-nord-stream-prediction/
December 26, 2024
Major Study: ‘Unvaccinated Are Healthiest People on the Planet’
A major peer-reviewed study has concluded that chronic illness and deadly diseases, such as cancer, are virtually non-existent in people “who’ve never received a vaccine in their life.”
The study compares rates of chronic disorders – such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, developmental disabilities, and autism – among unvaccinated Americans with those vaccinated with a varying number of vaccines.
The team of researchers, led by scientist Joy Garner, found that unvaccinated people have far lower rates of illness and death.
The study’s lead author also notes that vaccine trials use faulty baselines, as their control groups do not consist of wholly unvaccinated individuals.
“Because 99.74% of the U.S. population is vaccine-exposed, published national disease rates invariably reflect the frequency of observed negative outcomes arising from exposure to vaccines,” Garner explains.
In the “Abstract” section of the study, the author notes that “those refusing vaccines are thriving while those accepting them are being injured and met with a multiplicity of grave injuries as well as sudden unexpected death.”
The results of the bombshell study were published in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Vaccine Research.
However, the journal has scrubbed the study’s paper without explanation.
A copy of the study’s paper has now been published by Slay News here.
The apparent cover-up of the study has meant that the findings have gone unreported in the media.
However, renewed attention has been brought to the study following a recent interview between attorney Greg Glaser and Dr. Lee Merritt which highlights the findings.
Glaser, the general counsel for Physicians for Informed Consent, notes that the study shows “the unvaccinated are the healthiest people on the planet.”
The cohort study analyzed “unvaccinated” Americans.
The group of “unvaccinated” only included those who have never received a single “vaccine” in their lifetime.
The strict criteria also meant those whose mothers did not receive any “vaccines” while they were in the womb.
The study notes in the “Abstract” section:
“The null hypothesis, that no significant difference would be found between vaccinated vs. unvaccinated persons in heart disease, diabetes, digestive disorders, eczema, asthma, allergies, developmental disabilities, birth defects, epilepsy, autism, ADHD, cancers, and arthritis, is rejected with overwhelming statistical confidence and power in every single contrast.”
In fact, Glaser notes that “the unvaccinated today are as healthy as children were in the 1950s before all the shots.”
“I participated in a control group survey where we looked at the health of the genuinely unvaccinated children who’ve never received a vaccine in life and adults who’ve never received a vaccine,” Glaser says.
“There’s approximately 100,000 adults in America who’ve never received a vaccine in their entire life.”
“We looked at the unvaccinated and compared [them to vaccinated Americans and the] unvaccinated are virtually entirely healthy for life,” Glaser adds.
“Their chronic illness rate among [unvaccinated] children is approximately 2%.
“That means 98% of all children who are unvaccinated are healthy for life.
“Like, they don’t have anything,” he notes.
“They don’t have ADHD, diabetes, obesity, asthma, epilepsy, cancer.
“We found zero of these things, with the exception of some minor [ADHD].
“Like, you’d find, like, maybe a little bit of ADHD, but then it was just that one condition.
“Whereas in the vaccinated group, you find that multiple children have many conditions, and the conditions are severe.”
WATCH:
Partial transcript:
“I participated in a control group survey where we looked at the health of the genuinely unvaccinated children who’ve never received a vaccine in life and adults who’ve never received a vaccine.
“Can you believe it? They’re out there.
“There’s approximately 100,000 adults in America who’ve never received a vaccine in their entire life.
“Dr. Merritt, you have done your homework. That is correct.
“Yeah [that means even their mothers didn’t receive a ‘vaccine,’ including the vitamin K shot].
“And, and that’s very important.
“The vitamin K shot has benzyl alcohol, which a baby’s liver cannot handle, and it also has a spike of aluminum, which is also not good for a baby.
“And so what we did is we compared the health of these two groups.
“Our national data on just people’s illnesses, diabetes, heart disease, other forms of chronic illness that just make life really hard.
“And we looked at the unvaccinated and compared that, and the unvaccinated are virtually entirely healthy for life.
“Their chronic illness rate among the children is approximately 2 percent.
“That means 98 percent of all children who are unvaccinated are healthy for life.
“Like, they don’t have anything.
“They don’t have ADHD, diabetes, obesity, asthma, epilepsy, cancer.
“We found zero of these things, with the exception of some minor.
“Like, you’d find, like, maybe a little bit of ADHD, but then it was just that one condition.
“Whereas in the vaccinated group, you find that multiple children have many conditions, and the conditions are severe.
“And so the data was clear to us that the unvaccinated are the healthiest people on the planet.
“And the way it made sense to me was that I looked at our national data from the 1950s and it matched the unvaccinated.
“Like, basically, the unvaccinated today are as healthy as children were in the 1950s before all the shots.”
[…]
Via https://lionessofjudah.substack.com/p/major-study-unvaccinated-are-healthiest
Russian Defense Minister Reveals US African Biolab Complex, Sponsored by Gates and Clinton Foundations
By Nicolas Hulscher, MPH
“American specialists capable of enhancing the pathogenic functions of microorganisms are actively operating in Africa.”
Major General Aleksei Rtishchev, Deputy Chief of the Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops of the Russian Armed Forces, recently delivered a briefing highlighting U.S. biological activity in Africa. In the following excerpt, he states, “The US administration views the region as an unlimited natural reservoir of dangerous infectious agents and a testing ground for experimental medical drugs.”:
The following translated key statements and slides from the briefing were obtained from Sputnik on X:
The US military’s biological presence on the African continent is expanding rapidly, according to Major General Aleksey Rtishev, Deputy Chief of the Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Forces of the Russian Armed Forces.
The United States is conducting a project in 18 African countries to study the characteristics of infection occurrence and the resistance of pathogens to medical treatments.Washington is deliberately exploiting the economic challenges faced by African nations in healthcare to organize research schemes, the general cautions.Rtishev noted that the US fears Russia and China may expose American military and biological ploys. The United States often does not disclose the ultimate goals of its experiments to partners, who are frequently unaware of the associated risks.
In summary, the Biopharmaceutical Complex operates a large network of biolabs in Africa, where dangerous gain-of-function experiments are performed and novel drugs/injections are developed/tested. There must be an immediate and complete global moratorium on gain-of-function research, along with comprehensive investigations into the growing number of U.S. and international biolabs—including their funders—that may be conducting bioweapon research, to prevent another man-made pandemic.
[…]
Via https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/russian-mod-reveals-us-african-biolab
HTS militants launch attacks ‘every 10 minutes’ in Syrian minority cities amid media blackout
Press TV
The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militants, who seized control of Syria earlier this month, are launching unrelenting attacks on minority-populated cities amid rampant looting, kidnapping and assassination, according to a new report.
“Every 10 minutes, an attack is reported, including incidents of looting, kidnapping, assassination, or abduction,” a report by the Iraqi Almaalomah news agency revealed on Monday, citing unnamed sources.
“These attacks, perpetrated by armed groups, are targeting minorities, particularly along the coast,” it further noted.
The militant group seized control of Damascus on December 8, culminating a swift offensive that had began in Aleppo just two weeks prior to that and ultimately brought an end to Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule.
The report by Almaalomah noted that numerous violations committed by HTS militants under Abu Mohammad al-Julani’s leadership have been documented, with some instances being carried out as “acts of revenge.”
Militants set fire to a Christmas tree in Syria’s Suqaylabiyah
Additionally, it mentioned incidents of verbal abuse and harassment aimed at residents of Qardaha, Tartous, Latakia, and other areas.
It also revealed that media do not have access to approximately 90 percent of the facts on the ground in Syria due to the imposed information blackout.
“Over a span of just two days, six protests were recorded, indicating a potential rise in popular anger across Syria due to the significant violations committed by [so-called] al-Julani Brigades and their allied factions,” the report warned.
The HTS administration is facing mounting criticism as members of the militant group continue to disregard the group’s so-called pledge to respect minorities and their religious sites and sanctities within the country.
In recent days, disturbing videos have surfaced from Syria, revealing horrific acts of violence perpetrated by militants against minorities.
The acts include brutal shootings and throat-slashing, with those deemed to be close to Assad facing particular targeting.
On Thursday, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch in Syria announced the cancelation of Christmas and other New Year celebrations, citing “current security conditions” after the fall of Assad’s government.
The announcement came as gunmen opened fire at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Hama on Wednesday, and graves at a nearby cemetery were vandalized.
The attack followed the vandalism of Hagia Sophia Greek Orthodox Church of Suqaylabiyah on December 12.
[…]
Syrians take to streets nationwide against shrine desecration; HTS militants fire on protesters
Press TVProtests have erupted across Syria over militants’ desecration of an Alawite shrine in Aleppo, with armed groups belonging to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) opening fire on protesters.
Tens of thousands took to the streets in Latakia, Tartus, Homs, Hama, and Qardaha on Wednesday, resulting in violent confrontations.
Protesters came out after video was circulated on social networks showing a fire inside the shrine of Sheikh Abu Abdullah al-Hussein al-Khasibi in Aleppo, with armed men walking inside and killing the guards of the shrine, an incident that has drawn strong condemnation from the Alawite minority.
According to reports from local sources, the protests were spread after armed individuals opened fire on protesters in Homs, resulting in the death of one person and injury of five others.
Video footage circulating on social media captured the moment when the armed groups targeted peaceful demonstrators expressing their outrage over the attack on the historical Alawite figure’s shrine.
The violence continued in the coastal city of Tartus, where deadly clashes broke out between members of the HTS administration’s “interior ministry” and protesters.
In addition to the protests against the attack on the shrine, demonstrators in the city of Masyaf, located in the northwestern countryside of Hama, condemned the assassination of three Alawite judges, which occurred just a day before.
Some residents said the demonstrations were linked to pressure and violence in recent days aimed at members of the Alawite minority.
According to Syrian media outlets, a curfew was imposed from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. on Thursday in Homs while authorities in Jableh and two other cities also announced a nighttime curfew.
The new Syrian “Interior Ministr”y claimed on its Telegram account that video footage of the shrine’s destruction was outdated and related to earlier conflicts during the takeover of Aleppo in late November.
However, this assertion has not quelled the public anger, as thousands gathered in protests, demanding justice to be done for the perpetrators of the attacks on their religious heritage.
Alawites are increasingly concerned about potential reprisals against their community, stemming from their status as a minority religious group and their historical ties to the al-Assad family, including ousted President Bashar al-Assad.
Moreover, on Tuesday, hundreds of demonstrators protested in Christian areas of Damascus against the burning of a Christmas tree near Syria’s Hama. The HTS promised to restore it promptly.
The country’s new leaders have repeatedly pledged to hold accountable those responsible for the desecration of religious sites, claiming that they will respect the beliefs and rights of all sects and religions in Syria.
The situation remains very fluid and fragile, with potential risk for further clashes as sectarian sentiments continue to boil over amid the ongoing political instability and pressures on minority groups.
[…]
Via https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/12/26/739755/Syrian-public-anger-desecration-religious-shrine-
Lost Kingdoms of Africa: Asante Kingdom
The Lost Kingdoms of Africa: Assante Kingdom
BBC (2013)
Film Review
The Asante kingdom arose out of federation of Akan states. Dentye had the richest goldmines and was the most powerful. In the 15th century the Akan used primitive axes and slaves (most likely imported from modern day Nigeria) to clear their forests for agriculture. As the owner of one of the largest gold fields in the world, the Akan used gold to pay for their slaves, a well as textiles, brass, salt (from North Africa) and guns (from Portuguese traders). Asante slaves were allowed to own property and could marry into the families who owned them.
The Assante kingdom reached its zenith in the early 1800s, with over 2 million people and a geographic area 20 times the size of South Africa. The king ruled from a central palace in the capitol Kumasi and created a bureaucracy of administrators to implement his laws. Gold dust was the main currency, and nuggets and ingots were melted down to dust so they could be weighed accuracy. Taxation was used both to fund the government and to ensure no single individual became too wealthy.
As Asante’s power increased, Britain became more interested in the black slaves they captured in battle than their gold. During the 18th century. Asante was in a state of constant war* with inland neighbors and began selling their war captives to the British rather than killing them.
The Asante kingdom was significantly weakened in 1807 when the British abolished slavery. As trade in other commodities increased, traders moved away from the capitol to the southern coat. Gold became more scarce as people began burying it instead of paying taxes. In the second half of the 19th century, some of the southern provinces rebelled and turned to the British for support. In 1874, after British troops burned Kumasi to the ground, the southern provinces became British territory known as the Gold Coast.
In 1880, 16-year-old Prepe I became king and reestablished the gold trade. Determined to make the entire kingdom a British colony, the UK used military force to force Prepe I into exile and incorporate all of Assante into the Gold Coast. In 1924, Prepe returned from exile as a puppet king under British rule. In 1957, all the old Asante traditions were revived with Ghana’s independence.
Osei Tutu II (born Nana Barima Kwaku Duah May 6 1950) is the 16th Asantehene, enstooled** on 26 April 1999. He governs the Asante region of Ghana.
The Asante Mansa is a modern sacred ceremony celebrating the seven clans of Akan people who cleared forest to found the Assante kingdom. According to tradition, the seven clans emerged from holes in the ground.
*Asante had no standing army, but every village had reservists who were summoned by drums when needed to defend the king.
**In the Asante kingdom, a small stool was used to designate authority. Replicas are still sold in markets in southern Ghana.
December 25, 2024
Poland threatens to arrest Netanyahu at Auschwitz
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. © Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesRTIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be arrested if he attends next month’s ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in Poland, the EU country’s deputy foreign minister, Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, told newspaper Rzeczpospolita on Friday.
Warsaw’s top diplomat stated that Poland, as a signatory of the Rome Statute, is obligated to comply with the directives of the International Criminal Court (ICC). In November, ICC issued warrants for the arrests of Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant, citing alleged war crimes related to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
The court accused Netanyahu and Gallant of using starvation as a method of warfare, alleging they deliberately deprived civilians in Gaza of food, water, and medicine. There was “no obvious military necessity” for such actions, which amount to violations of international law, according to prosecutors.
Israel’s Education Minister Yoav Kisch is expected to be the only government representative at the Auschwitz commemoration, Jerusalem Post reports. The participation of President Isaac Herzog “seems unlikely.”
While all 27 European Union member states are parties to the Rome Statute and thus required to enforce ICC arrest warrants, responses to the court’s decision have varied. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has openly invited Netanyahu to visit, assuring him that Hungary would not enforce the arrest warrant.Conversely, countries like Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Lithuania, and Slovenia have indicated their intent to comply with the ICC’s directives, regardless of diplomatic immunity.
France initially expressed its intention to adhere to the arrest warrant but later cited diplomatic immunity protections for Netanyahu.
The ICC’s actions have elicited strong reactions from Israeli officials. Prime Minister Netanyahu has likened the arrest warrants to a “modern-day Dreyfus affair,” asserting that they are politically motivated.
Auschwitz was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp in occupied Poland during World War II. Over 1.1 million Jews were murdered there, alongside tens of thousands of others, including Poles and Soviet prisoners of war.
[…]
Covid-19 Vaccines White Clots Results – 2024
Medical Embalmers Across The Country
Former Air Force Major Thomas Haviland surveyed embalmers in 2024 about unusual clots being found in the bodies of vaccinated deceased.
NEW YORK – I’ve seen the clots vary from case to case, since the covid shot came around, we have had many young deaths i.e.: 50-60 year-olds with massive heart attacks and every one of them has had clots as discussed in this survey, seems many people just want to turn a blind eye to it all, it’s a shame. As someone who’s been around this for about 12 years, I have never seen anything like this.
VIRGINIA – I’m finding a lot of the white rubbery clots and had been taking pictures of them but it’s become the new normal… I don’t use a drain tube anymore because of all the clots. blood clots and the fibrous white ones. My angular forceps is my to go instrument to help remove them…
OHIO – The past few years I have seen a significantly larger percentage of clotting in almost all embalmings. These white fibrous clots are definitely unusual having never seen them before 2021. Although not seeing the white fibrous clots or micro clotting in a larger percentage of deceased, the number of grape jelly clots has significantly increased from years past in all decedents.
IDAHO – Sometimes I am given the information about if someone has had a certain vaccine. Sometimes I am aware they have had 5-6 doses of it. These are the people we are seeing with the abnormal clots or significant amount of clots.
FLORIDA – With many embalmings that I have seen these clots in, I have had to inject in multiple points. Both with case’s refrigerated and prep done within a couple of hours after death.
FLORIDA – Seems like traditional “chicken fat clots” are less frequent being replaced with Jelly, Fibrous, Micro-clotting.
IOWA – Very thick and large, I have had some the whole diameter of the arteries and longer than a foot long.
LOUISIANA – Some of these fibrous blots come out as a whole, if done carefully, that mimic the arterial system. These clots are clearly the cause of demise of these decedents, but were legally labeled as heart issues, which are not typically autopsied to fully determine actual cause of death.
NORTH DAKOTA – I have had SEVERAL cases in 2020-2023 of the white fibrous clots and most had COVID listed as a factor on their death certificates. However, in each case the family did not know if the decedent was vaccinated.
FLORIDA – Unusual clots has changed since COVID vaccine I only took 2 vaccine Pfizer refuse to take booster nor vaccine again.
Exclusive: 70% of Embalmers Report Finding Strange Blood Clots Beginning in Mid-2021 https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/blood-clots-embalmers-report-mid-2021-covid-vaccines
Covid Vaccine Injury Global Study: http://www.react19.org/study
Covid vaccine injury medical expense fund: http://www.react19.org/donate
Original: https://youtu.be/sVpFs2VTgf8
https://www.youtube.com/@Campbellteaching
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-john-campbell-5256223b
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Johnincarlisle
[…]
Via https://alethonews.com/2024/12/24/covid-19-vaccines-white-clots-results-2024/
National Security Archive Publishes Key Records on Infamous MKULTRA Program
At the urging of Dr. Geschickter, the CIA provided $375,000 toward the construction of a new medical facility at Georgetown University Hospital. In return, Geschickter agreed to let the CIA use one-sixth of the new “Gorman Annex” as its “hospital safehouse” and to provide “human patients and volunteers for experimental use.”
Edited by Michael Evans | National Security Archive | December 23, 2024
Today, the National Security Archive and ProQuest (part of Clarivate) celebrate the publication of a new scholarly document collection many years in the making on the shocking secret history of the CIA’s mind control research programs. The new collection, CIA and the Behavioral Sciences: Mind Control, Drug Experiments and MKULTRA, brings together more than 1,200 essential records on one of the most infamous and abusive programs in CIA history.
Under code names that included MKULTRA, BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE, the CIA conducted terrifying experiments using drugs, hypnosis, isolation, sensory deprivation, and other extreme techniques on human subjects, often U.S. citizens, who frequently had no idea what was being done to them or that they were part of a CIA test.
Today’s announcement comes 50 years after a New York Times investigation by Seymour Hersh touched off probes that would bring MKULTRA abuses to light. The new collection also comes 70 years since U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Company first developed a process to streamline the manufacture of LSD in late 1954, becoming the CIA’s chief supplier of the newly discovered psychoactive chemical central to many of the Agency’s behavior control efforts.
Highlights of the new MKULTRA collection include:
A DCI-approved plan in 1950 for the establishment of “interrogation teams” that would “utilize the polygraph, drugs, and hypnotism to attain the greatest results in interrogation techniques.” (Document 2)A 1951 memo that captures a meeting between CIA and foreign intelligence officials about mind control research and their shared interest in the concept of individual mind control. (Document 3)A 1952 entry from the daily calendar of George White, a federal narcotics agent who ran a safehouse where the CIA tested drugs like LSD and performed other experiments on unwitting Americans. (Document 5)A 1952 report on the “successful” use of ARTICHOKE interrogation methods that combined the use of “narcosis” and “hypnosis” to induce regression and later amnesia on “Russian agents suspected of being doubled.” (Document 6)A 1956 memo in which MKULTRA chief Sidney Gottlieb signs off a project that would “evaluate the effects of large doses of LSD-25 in normal human volunteers” on federal prisoners in Atlanta. (Document 13)The 1963 report from the CIA’s inspector general, which led CIA leadership to reexamine the use of unwitting Americans in their covert drug testing program. (Document 16)The 1983 deposition of MKULTRA chief Sidney Gottlieb in a civil case brought by Velma “Val” Orlikow, a victim of CIA-sponsored projects conducted by Dr. Ewen Cameron at the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal. (Document 20)The challenges facing this documentation project were considerable, as CIA director Richard Helms and longtime MKULTRA chief Sidney Gottlieb destroyed most of the original project records in 1973. It is a story about secrecy—perhaps the most infamous cover-up in the Agency’s history. It is also a history marked by near-total impunity at the institutional and individual levels for countless abuses committed across decades—not during interrogations of enemy agents or in wartime situations, but during ordinary medical treatments, inside prison hospitals, addiction clinics, and juvenile detention facilities, and in many cases led by top figures in the field of the behavioral sciences. Despite the Agency’s efforts to erase this hidden history, the documents that survived this purge and that have been gathered together here present a compelling and unsettling narrative of the CIA’s decades-long effort to discover and test ways to erase and re-program the human mind.
The bulk of these records were drawn from records compiled by John Marks, the former State Department official who filed the first Freedom of Information Act requests on the subject and whose 1979 book, The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate”: The CIA and Mind Control: The Secret History of the Behavioral Sciences (New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1979) remains the single most important source on this episode. Marks later donated his FOIA documents and other research papers to the National Security Archive. Many of the redactions in the documents have been effectively removed with the passage of time, as official investigations, civil depositions, and detailed histories have shed significant light on some of these episodes. In many cases, copies of declassified records donated by Marks to the National Security Archive bear his handwritten annotations.
The legacy of MKULTRA goes far beyond the various “subprojects” described in these documents and that were largely shut down by the mid-1970s. As author Stephen Kinzer points out, the CIA’s behavior control research programs “contributed decisively to the development of techniques that Americans and their allies used at detention centers in Vietnam, Latin America, Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, and secret prisons around the world.” MKULTRA techniques were cited in the CIA’s 1963 KUBARK interrogation manual that was the basis for prisoner interrogations in Vietnam and later in anti-communist dictatorships in Latin America.
While many of the MKULTRA projects were conducted in hospitals, laboratories, or other institutional settings, others were carried out in clandestine CIA safehouses staffed not by doctors or clinicians but by hard-nosed federal narcotics agents like George Hunter White. Under the direction of Gottlieb, White adopted the persona of a bohemian artist named “Morgan Hall” to lure unsuspecting victims to his “pad” where he and his CIA collaborators secretly experimented on them and recorded their behavior. An OSS veteran who had worked on “truth drug” development for the Army in World War II, White surreptitiously dosed many of his victims with LSD, a drug that the CIA had in abundance thanks to Eli Lilly, which had developed the capacity to produce the drug in “tonnage quantities” and had agreed to become the Agency’s supplier. Gottlieb, his deputy Robert Lashbrook, and CIA psychologist John Gittinger are among the CIA officials who frequently visited White’s safehouses.
Of particular interest is the mysterious 1953 death of Frank Olson, an Army chemist and aerosols specialist for the Special Operations Division (SOD) of the Army’s Chemical Corps, the CIA’s military partner in behavior control research. Officially ruled a suicide, Olson’s death from a 10-story fall in New York City came 10 days after Gottlieb and TSS staff spiked his cocktail with LSD during a CIA-SOD work retreat at Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. The drugging was later determined to have contributed to his death, but many, including members of his family, have questioned the conclusion that Olson—who was sharing a room with Lashbrook that night—threw himself out the window of the Statler Hotel.
At the center of it all was Sidney Gottlieb, the head of the Technical Services Staff (TSS) of the CIA’s Chemical Division and later director of the Technical Services Division (TSD). Gottlieb was “the CIA’s chief poison maker,” according to Kinzer, whose book, Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control (New York: Henry Holt, 2019), is the definitive work on the mercurial chemist. From his position deep inside the CIA’s secret corridors, Gottlieb led the Agency’s decades-long effort to find ways to use drugs, hypnosis, and other extreme methods to control human behavior and, it was hoped, turn them into usable tools for intelligence agencies and policymakers.
Stories about the CIA’s involvement in unsuccessful efforts to assassinate Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba of Congo and Cuban leader Fidel Castro, among others, are among the most legendary, if not the most successful, examples of the Agency’s efforts to operationalize the tricks and tools assembled by Gottlieb’s unit. Less well known is his role in drug experiments and “special interrogation” programs that left hundreds of people psychologically damaged and others “permanently shattered,” according to Kinzer.
Although MKULTRA was approved at the highest levels, it operated with virtually no oversight. As Marks notes, the initial MKULTRA budget authorization “exempted the program from the normal CIA financial controls” and “allowed TSS to start up research projects ‘without the signing of the usual contracts or other written agreements.’” With little accountability, boundless resources, and the backing of CIA covert operations chief Richard Helms, Gottlieb and his staff at TSS developed a series of bizarre experiments that they believed would enhance covert intelligence operations while at the same time improving the Agency’s defenses against the use of similar techniques by enemy forces.
By the time Gottlieb arrived at CIA in 1952, Project BLUEBIRD, which explored “the possibility of control of an individual by application of Special Interrogation techniques,” was already well underway. Led by Office of Security chief Morse Allen, the early BLUEBIRD experiments were performed by teams that included polygraph experts and psychologists and were conducted on detainees and suspected informants at secret U.S. interrogation facilities in Japan and Germany.
The elevation of Allen Dulles to deputy director of central intelligence in 1951 led to an expansion of BLUEBIRD programs under a new name, ARTICHOKE, and under the direction of Gottlieb at TSS. The new program was to include, among other projects, the development of “gas guns” and “poisons,” and experiments to test whether “monotonous sounds,” “concussion,” “electroshock,” and “induced sleep” could be used as a means to gain “hypnotic control of an individual.”
It was under ARTICHOKE that the Agency first began to more systematically recruit the top researchers and court the most prestigious institutions to collaborate in its mind control research. One of the first to participate was the deputy director of Boston Psychopathic Hospital, Dr. Robert Hyde, who in 1949 was the first American to “trip” on LSD after the hospital acquired samples of the drug from Sandoz laboratory in Switzerland. In 1952, the CIA began to fund the hospital’s LSD research, under which Hyde used himself, his colleagues, student volunteers, and hospital patients as his subjects. Hyde would work on four MKULTRA subprojects over the next decade.
Shortly after Dulles became DCI in 1953, he authorized MKULTRA, expanding the Agency’s behavior control research and refocusing it on the development of “a capability in the covert use of biological and chemical materials” in “present and future clandestine operations.” Many of the 149 MKULTRA subprojects were carried out through well-regarded universities like Cornell, Georgetown, Rutgers, Illinois, and Oklahoma. Dr. Carl Pfeiffer, the chairman of the Department of Pharmacology of Emory University, directed four MKULTRA subprojects, all of which involved the use of drugs, including LSD, to induce psychotic states. The horrifying series of experiments left many of his subjects—including prisoners at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary and juveniles housed at a detention facility in Bordentown, New Jersey—scarred for life.
Many other MKULTRA subprojects were established through grants from false foundations funded by the CIA. One of these, the Geschickter Fund for Medical Research, run by Dr. Charles Geschickter, a professor of pathology at Georgetown University, steered millions of CIA dollars into research programs at Georgetown and other institutions. As part of the agreement, the CIA gained access to a medical safehouse at the newly constructed Gorman Annex of Georgetown University Hospital along with a ready supply of patients and students to use as subjects for MKULTRA experiments.
Another prominent MKULTRA “cutout” foundation, the Human Ecology Society, was run by Cornell Medical Center neurologist Dr. Harold Wolff, who wrote an early study of communist brainwashing techniques for Allen Dulles and later partnered with the CIA to develop a combination of drugs and sensory deprivation that could be used to erase the human mind. Among the most extreme MKULTRA projects funded through Wolff’s group were the infamous “depatterning” experiments conducted by Dr. D. Ewen Cameron at the Allan Memorial Institute, a psychiatric hospital at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Cameron’s methods combined induced sleep, electroshocks, and “psychic driving,” under which drugged subjects were psychologically tortured for weeks or months in an effort to reprogram their minds.
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Chinese technology sows seeds of hope in combating desertification
People’s Daily Online
HOHHOT, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) — In the sparse, sandy grasslands of Jarud Banner in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, machinery is filling wind-eroded pits and laying sand barriers while workers are busy supporting the comprehensive management of Horqin Sandy Land.
“Our independently developed sand-fixing machine processes raw materials like reeds and straw into grass mats for sand barrier installation,” said Yu Dongjiang from M-Grass Ecological Environment (Group) Co., Ltd.
The sand-fixing machine is simple in structure, easy to operate, and highly adaptable to various terrains. It improves raw material utilization efficiency, enabling the installation of nearly 30,000 meters of sand barriers daily, according to Yu, who is also the project manager for the comprehensive management of the northern central Horqin Sandy Land.
Previously, the manual weaving of grass mats required significant labor and time.
Yu’s project shows China’s wider push to advance ecological restoration. In the arid landscapes of northern China, cutting-edge technology is transforming the fight against desertification into a story of hope and renewal.
From satellite monitoring systems to innovative tree-planting tools, the integration of advanced equipment has elevated traditional reforestation efforts.
In Inner Mongolia’s Kubuqi Desert, for example, drones have been employed to plant seeds across vast stretches of barren land, significantly improving efficiency and survival rates. These seeds, combined with specially developed nutrient packs, ensure saplings thrive in challenging environments.
While in northwest China’s Gansu Province, solar energy projects are being combined with afforestation programs at the southern edge of the Tengger Desert, creating a synergy that not only restores ecosystems but also boosts local economic development.
Local villagers are also finding employment in these initiatives, blending green technology with grassroots participation.
“I never would have imagined that as a farmer, I could find work in the sand dunes,” said Qin Zhaoping, a resident of Hengliang Township in Gansu’s Gulang County. His job involves adjusting the sprinkler irrigation systems beneath photovoltaic panels and tending to the thriving sand plants.
For Qin, photovoltaic-based desert control is a meaningful effort that benefits future generations. “It generates electricity, combats desertification, and provides me with an income from working here,” he said.
According to official data, 53 percent of China’s treatable desertified land has been restored, leading to a net reduction of approximately 4.33 million hectares of degraded land.
One of the country’s landmark ecological projects is the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program. Since 1978, China has expanded its afforestation area by 32 million hectares under the program.
Meanwhile, China’s desertification control technologies and equipment are making their way onto the global stage, sharing ecological restoration expertise with other countries and regions.
To join the efforts of the Global South, China has launched desertification control centers with Arab states and Mongolia, created demonstration sites in Central Asia and Africa, and provided satellite technology and big data support for Africa’s Great Green Wall initiative.
In December, Yu’s company signed a memorandum of understanding with the municipal government of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia to enhance the country’s ecological environment and promote practical cooperation.
The collaboration includes conducting ecological restoration in desert areas surrounding the city, and jointly developing, maintaining, and cultivating plant resources.
“Through smart machinery, innovative research on grass species, big data analysis, and seed packages, the company has developed a scientific and efficient path for ecological restoration,” said Yu.
“The integrated use of these technologies not only improves the success rate of ecological restoration but also significantly reduces the cost of restoration,” Yu added.
China’s global cooperation in combating desertification also won praise from experts and officials during the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) held in December.
“We’re incredibly proud to be a partner with China. China has been a pioneer in showing how to create prosperous areas in areas that were once desertified and degraded. And we are proud to partner with you (China) to bring those lessons to other countries,” said Valerie Hickey, global director for the environment at the World Bank, at the conference.
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