Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 85

Father of Israeli captive says Netanyahu prolonging Gaza war for political survival

Three Israeli captives are paraded on a stage before being handed over to the members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the city of Deir al-Balah, the central Gaza Strip, on February 8, 2025.

Press TV

The father of an Israeli soldier held in Gaza has accused the regime’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of abandoning the captives in favor of prolonging the war for his political survival. 

Speaking to Hebrew-language Maariv daily, Hagai Angrest, the father of the Israeli captive, said Netanyahu was stalling the deal with Hamas that could lead to the return of his son from Gaza.

“It seems Netanyahu is choosing his political survival over the lives of those in captivity,” Angrest was quoted as saying.

“We were told this war would not end without them. But now it seems Netanyahu is choosing his political survival over the lives of those in captivity,” he said.

Angrest further accused the premier of endangering the lives of captives, soldiers, and civilians for personal reasons.

“Across the world, everyone is saying that a ceasefire and the return of the captives should be the top priority. Yet we see a prime minister who is abandoning the soldiers and sending more into battle.”

The remarks came hours after Netanyahu said in a televised speech that there was “no choice” but to continue the war on the blockaded Palestinian territory.

He claimed that a ceasefire deal with Hamas would “undermine the gains of the war.”

The Israeli prime minister also alleged that Hamas rejected a proposal that included the release of half the living Israeli captives and many of the dead, in exchange for ending the war.

This is while Khalil al-Hayya, the Palestinian resistance group’s chief negotiator and head of Hamas in Gaza, has made clear that Hamas was willing to engage in comprehensive negotiations that would secure the release of all Israeli captives in exchange for a full ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, reconstruction efforts, and the lifting of the siege.

The forum representing the families of Israeli captives on Thursday blasted Netanyahu’s cabinet for choosing to occupy more territory over releasing the captives.

Netanyahu cabinet ‘choosing to seize territory’ instead of releasing captives, families say

The forum representing the families of Israelis held in Gaza says Netanyahu

Over 350 Israeli literary figures recently signed an open letter urging Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza and secure the return of the 59 remaining Israeli captives.

“Hamas has offered a deal for returning hostages, prisoner release, and a ceasefire. The prime minister outlined a phased deal but has done everything possible for the past seventeen months to thwart the agreement, fearing the war’s end would mean the end of his rule — and his freedom as a criminal defendant,” the letter stated.

More than 51,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, most of them women and children.

In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and the former Israeli minister for military affairs, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.

[…]

Via https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/04/20/746523/Israel-US-Benjamin-Netanyahu-Hagai-Angrest–;

Pfizer faces legal backlash: Texas, Kansas, and more states begin to challenge Prep Act Immunity Shield

Bu Lance D Johnson

In a bold move to hold pharmaceutical giants accountable, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has taken his fight against Pfizer to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. The appeal, filed on Wednesday, challenges the federal court’s dismissal of a lawsuit that accuses Pfizer of making false and misleading claims about its COVID-19 vaccine. This legal battle is not just about one state; it is a broader challenge to the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act), which has shielded vaccine makers from liability for years, allowing them to operate with impunity.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appeals a federal court ruling, arguing that state consumer protection laws should supersede the federal PREP Act’s liability shield.Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach files a lawsuit alleging Pfizer violated previous consent judgments by making misleading claims about its COVID-19 vaccine.Similar lawsuits in Utah and North Carolina challenge the PREP Act’s broad immunity, with some courts ruling that certain claims fall outside the act’s protections.Texas appeals, challenging Prep Act immunity

Texas sued Pfizer in state court in November 2023, alleging that the company violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) by misleading the public about the efficacy and safety of its COVID-19 vaccine. The state claims that Pfizer capitalized on the public’s fear and uncertainty, touting the vaccine as a “miracle cure” and leading consumers to make choices they would not have otherwise made. This, the state argues, resulted in billions of dollars in profits for Pfizer at the expense of public trust and health.

In January 2024, Pfizer successfully moved the case to federal court, where it was dismissed in December 2024. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Lubbock Division, accepted Pfizer’s argument that the PREP Act’s liability shield protected the company from such claims. However, Texas is now appealing this decision, arguing that the PREP Act’s protections do not extend to consumer protection cases brought by the state.

Texas’ brief to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals asserts that the PREP Act’s liability shield “only extends to claims ‘for loss’” and does not shield against consumer protection cases filed by the state. The state argues that the PREP Act’s immunity shield blocks claims involving the “administration” of a covered product to an individual but does not extend to “sovereign consumer protection suits.” Ray Flores, senior outside counsel for Children’s Health Defense (CHD), supports Texas’ position, stating, “The Texas District Court’s one-page dismissal is a prime example of the outmoded knee-jerk reaction that anything goes under PREP.”

Kansas lawsuit: a stronger case with historical context

Meanwhile, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach has filed a similar lawsuit in state court, alleging that Pfizer violated the Kansas Consumer Protection Act by making misleading claims about the safety and effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccine. What sets the Kansas case apart is the inclusion of three previous consent judgments from 2008, 2012, and 2014, in which Pfizer agreed not to make misleading claims about its products. These agreements, Flores argues, form the “centerpiece” of Kansas’ case and provide a stronger legal foundation.

Kobach’s lawsuit alleges that Pfizer used “denial and delay” tactics, confidentiality agreements, and an extended study timeline to conceal significant safety concerns and critical data about the vaccine. The lawsuit states, “Pfizer must be held accountable for falsely representing the benefits of its COVID-19 vaccine while concealing and suppressing the truth about its vaccine’s safety risks, waning effectiveness, and inability to prevent transmission.”

Pfizer has sought to affirm its immunity under the PREP Act and dismiss the Kansas case, but Flores is confident that the state’s arguments will prevail. “Kansas v. Pfizer has an extra added benefit of three consent judgments, where Pfizer promised not to mislead the citizens of Kansas,” Flores said. “Astonishingly, Pfizer claims these three consent judgments entered more than a decade ago are unrelated settlements that did not involve a vaccine subject to the PREP Act. I don’t buy it.”

Other challenges to the Prep Act

The legal challenges to the PREP Act are not limited to Texas and Kansas. In Utah, a clinical trial participant, Brianne Dressen, sued AstraZeneca for breach of contract after the company failed to provide medical treatment for injuries sustained during the trial. In November 2024, a federal court ruled that the PREP Act’s liability shield does not extend to breach-of-contract claims, a decision that could have far-reaching implications for other vaccine-related lawsuits.

In North Carolina, the Supreme Court of North Carolina overturned lower court decisions, ruling that the PREP Act does not preempt state law requiring parental consent for vaccination. This case, filed by the mother of a 14-year-old boy who was vaccinated without consent, will now return to the North Carolina Court of Appeals to address questions of state law and the state Constitution.

The legal battles against Pfizer and the PREP Act are more than just a series of lawsuits; they are a call to action for transparency and accountability in the pharmaceutical industry. As Ray Flores of CHD put it, “The all-consuming reach of the PREP Act’s tentacles is being challenged once again.” The outcomes of these cases could set important precedents, potentially stripping away the immunity shield that has protected vaccine makers from liability for years. The question remains: Will the courts finally hold these corporations accountable, or will the PREP Act continue to shield them from the consequences of their actions?

[…]

Via https://www.naturalnews.com/2025-04-18-texas-kansas-begin-to-challenge-prep-act-immunity-shield.html

Did White House Just Declare War on Covid Co-conspirators?

el gato malo

i had been wondering about the odd uptick in “claims the covid vaxx saved lives” and the “we did the best we could with what we knew” justification over the last week or two.

now we know.

the white house just blew the war trumpets on the covid conspirators.

oh man do i hope that this is what it looks like…

i have not yet been through this in detail, but in the interest of “let’s get many eyes on it ASAP,” you guys need to go check out whitehouse.gov right now.

this is quite a seismic changing of the guard.

and after what we all endured in the time covdian and the corrupt “public health” agencies, even if this is not new news to those of discerning cattitudes, it’s still a moment to savor and a sign of how far we have come.

let’s see what’s on the menu:

well, that’s an interesting start

and then they have a go right at teflon tony:

among others

there is (super long) video

and fun for the whole family

and as you can imagine, some topics near and dear to by black little feline heart.

and there is a link to the 500 page house subcommittee report.

lots to work through and many to work on.

tony baloney may have gotten a pass (assuming a pre-emptive pardon holds, which is a questionable idea) but the rest of the rogues did not.

collins, debbie “the scarf” birx, daszak, baric, health hobbit hotez, and many others at FDA, CDC, NIH, WHO, EHA, CIA, CISA and who knows how many NGOs and other shady government funded orgs who sought to silence so many of us.

as these networks roll up, the role of china, the WEF, the brandon administration, gates, the WHO, and an absolute laundry list of alleged academics is going to come out.

and won’t that be fun?

time to dig and to hold to account.

so here we go again.

as ever, proud to have stood with so many of you on rational ground.

i have neither forgotten nor forgiven those who did this, only become more adamant in my desire to ensure that they may never do it again.

time to finish the work.

[…]

Via https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/breaking-news-here-it-comes?publication_id=323914&post_id=161632176&isFreemail=false&r=1ggdo&triedRedirect=true

Appeals court halts Boasberg’s contempt proceedings against Trump administration

By Zach Schonfeld

A divided federal appeals court panel on Friday temporarily halted U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s contempt proceedings against the Trump administration over its deportation flights to El Salvador last month.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit indicated its order is intended to provide “sufficient opportunity” for the court to consider the government’s appeal and “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion.”

But for now, it prevents Boasberg from moving ahead with his efforts to hold administration officials in contempt. The judge on Wednesday  found probable cause for contempt, calling the government’s refusal to turn around the March 15 deportation flights “a willful disregard” for the court’s order.

The three-judge D.C. Circuit panel split 2-1. The two Trump appointees, Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao, ruled for the administration. Judge Cornelia Pillard, an appointee of former President Obama, dissented.

“In the absence of an appealable order or any clear and indisputable right to relief that would support mandamus, there is no ground for an administrative stay,” Pillard wrote in a brief explanation.

Boasberg, an Obama appointee, has drawn Trump’s ire ever since the judge last month blocked the president from using the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used, wartime law, to swiftly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members to an El Salvador megaprison.

Last week, the Supreme Court lifted the judge’s order, ruling the migrants must be afforded judicial review but that they need to file their legal challenges where they are physically detained. Boasberg has still endeavored to press ahead with contempt proceedings, since his order was in effect for some time before the high court lifted it.

And the D.C. Circuit’s ruling on Friday came just as Boasberg was thrust back into a new deportation flight battle.

The ruling landed within seconds of Boasberg wrapping an emergency hearing on a request from the American Civil Liberties Union to block what it says is a new, imminent wave of deportations to El Salvador. 

At the hearing, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign insisted no flights are planned through Saturday but cautioned, “I have also been told to say that they reserve the right to remove people tomorrow.”

“We feel stuck, and I don’t know that the government has provided a satisfactory answer to how we won’t be continuously stuck,” responded Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney.

Boasberg declined to intervene, saying the Supreme Court’s ruling meant he had no authority to step in.

“I’m sympathetic to your conundrum. I understand the concern. I think they’re all valid,” Boasberg told Gelernt. “But at this point, I just don’t think I have the power to do anything about it.”

The ACLU still has pending requests with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court for an immediate intervention.

[…]

Via https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5256814-appeals-court-boasberg-trump-contempt/

Supreme Court halts latest wave of Alien Enemies Act deportations

By Zack Schonfeld

The Supreme Court early Saturday halted the administration’s ability to use the Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport migrants to El Salvador who are being detained in portions of Texas, for now.

The emergency order temporarily blocks the deportations until the high court resolves the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) emergency appeal, which was filed hours earlier over concerns that more deportation flights were imminent.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, two of the court’s leading conservatives, dissented.

The ACLU simultaneously asked several courts to immediately intervene Friday, warning that the Venezuelan migrants could otherwise be given life sentences in a notorious Salvadoran megaprison without the opportunity for judicial review.

“The Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court,” the Supreme Court’s order reads.

The class extends to any migrant detained in the Northern District of Texas who is being removed under the 18th century Alien Enemies Act. It does not apply elsewhere, though judges overseeing separate cases have temporarily blocked deportations for those detained in the Southern District of New York, the District of Colorado and the Southern District of Texas.

The 1798 law enables migrants to be summarily deported amid a declared war or an “invasion” by a foreign nation. The law has been leveraged just three previous times, all during wars, but Trump contends he can use it because the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is effectively invading the U.S.

The administration first invoked the law last month to deport more than 100 migrants to a Salvadoran megaprison. On Friday, the ACLU pulled out all the stops as it raised alarm that another wave of deportations was actively underway, saying the administration was already busing migrants to the airport.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign pushed back at a lower court hearing, however, saying no deportation flights were scheduled for Friday or Saturday.

“But I have also been told to say that they reserve the right to remove people tomorrow,” Ensign cautioned.

The ACLU took an aggressive approach once it became aware of the deportations, giving U.S. District Judge James Hendrix, a Trump appointee in Texas who is overseeing the case, just minutes to act before the civil rights group began appealing Friday afternoon.

Criticizing that short window, a three-judge 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously denied the group’s appeal as premature early Saturday.

“We do not doubt the diligence and ability of the respected district judge in this case to act expeditiously when circumstances warrant,” the 5th Circuit’s unsigned ruling reads. “Petitioners insist that they tried to proceed before the district court in the first instance, and that the district court simply ‘refus[ed]’ to act. But the district court’s order today indicates that Petitioners gave the court only 42 minutes to act.”

The 5th Circuit panel comprised of Trump appointees Judge James Ho and Judge Cory Wilson, and Judge Irma Carillo Ramirez, an appointee of former President Biden.

Separately, the ACLU had unsuccessfully asked U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, an appointee of former President Obama who serves in the nation’s capital, to block the deportations. Boasberg oversees the ACLU’s challenge to the original wave of March 15 deportations when Trump first invoked the Alien Enemies Act.

At the end of an emergency hearing Friday evening, Boasberg ruled he had no jurisdiction following the Supreme Court’s ruling last week that the migrants must challenge their removals where they are physically detained.

ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt, the lead counsel in the case, responded to the Supreme Court ruling in a statement shared with The Hill on Saturday.

[…]

Via https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5256983-supreme-court-halts-alien-enemies-act-deportations/

From Oakland to Tehran Part II – The US Embassy Occupation

News presenter Marzeh Hashim

From Oakland to Tehran Part II

Press TV (2024)

Film Review

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/02/15/742840/Oakland-to-Tehran-US-Iran-Revolution-1979-Abbas-Muntaqim-colonialism-Imam-Khomeini-Documentary-PressTV

In Part II, University of Berkeley instructor Abbas Muntaqim speaks with a freedom fighter named Mohammad Reza Herkat-Toutuochi, who spent three years in the Shah’s prisons, a professor at  Tehran University named Foad Izali and Marzeh Hashim, an African American woman and news presenter who emigrated to Iran in 2008.

Mohammad lays out the history and background of Iman Ruhallah Khomeini and Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution:

The latter first came to pubic attention on March 21, 1963 when he publicly denounced a proposal by the Shah to privatize Iran’s state owned industries. The Shah’s secret police responded by invading the seminary at Qom where Khomeini taught and killing several students and clerics. This in turn triggered major popular protests in several Iranian cities.

On June 5, 1963 Khomeini was arrested for making a speech blaming Israel for Iran’s repressive regime. His arrest triggered three days of major riots.

Following an October 26, 1964 speech in which he condemned the Shah for granting US  personnel diplomatic immunity for any crimes they committed in Iran, Khomeini was arrested and secretly exiled to Turkey. A year later he moved to Iraq, until Saddam Hussein (under pressure from the Shah) deported him to Paris.

Ten days after the Shah allowed him to return on February 1, 1979, he launched the Islamic revolution and overthrew the Shah was overthrown.*

Foad Izali explains the decision by Iranian students to violently occupy the US embassy in November 1979. According to Izali:  1) revolutionary leaders were concerned about the US launching a CIA coup out of the embassy, as they had against Mossadegh in 1953 (see From Oakland to Tehran Part I: The History of Iran/American Emnity) and 2) they wanted to return the the Shah to Iran to recover all the money he had stolen.

They invaded the embassy just as diplomatic staff were shredding heaps of documents, and the student occupiers meticulously reassembled all of them.

African American new presenter Marzeh Hashim subsequently explains the students’ decision to release the eight female and African American hostages. Their goal was to emphasize the students opposed the US government, not the American people. During the US embassy occupation, the revolutionary government also changed the Israeli embassy to the Palestinian embassy (the first in the world). The Islamic Republic of Iran was also the first country to take an official stand against apartheid in South Africa.

*The actual history is a little more complicated. Owing to growing economic problems and political unrest, in late December the Shah, fearing an impending military coup, approached leaders of the opposition National Front about forming a civilian government. On January 6 Shapour Bakhtiar was appointed interim prime minister and on January 16, the shah left Iran at Bakhtiar’s request. The government overthrown by the Islamic Revolution on February 11, 1979 was actually the caretaker government of Shapour Bakhtiar.

Fake Contagions and the Egg Shortage

By Joel Salatin

When I was on Joe Rogan’s podcast in early 2020, his medical people pricked my finger for a blood sample to find out if I had Covid. Or if I had had Covid. About 30 minutes later, they said I didn’t have the antibodies. I asked if that meant I’d had it, been exposed to it – what does the test show?

They said they couldn’t tell if I’d been exposed because we have two levels of immune function: internal and external. They said if my external was strong enough, it would repel Covid and never get in far enough to be detected in the blood. I never had Covid – still haven’t (remember, I drink out of cow troughs), and their fancy blood tests couldn’t tell me whether I’d been exposed. All they said was it hasn’t gotten inside. If it had, supposedly they’d be able to detect broken pieces of viruses and antibodies.

I talked yesterday with a farmer whose family for years raised 40,000 turkeys a year in the commercial industry. “We always had bird flu. Sometimes it would cycle up, and you’d lose 10 percent of the flock, but never more than that. Most of the time it just never expressed itself. Now they’re checking cows to see if they have bird flu. It’s like ‘Wow, this is a healthy herd; let’s test them for bid flu and see how many are sick.’”

We’re back to the Russians: “Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.” In other words, if we want to pin something on someone, if we look hard enough, we can find some infraction and put him away. That’s the way Bird flu seems to be right now.

With the USDA now giving $50 gift cards to veterinarians for every cow they test for Bird flu, they’re turning over every rock, with a fraudulent PCR test at 45 cycles, by the way, to find Bird flu detritus in healthy cows. Wild ducks and geese, the narrative says, are spreading this contagion. Folks, these wild critters have had this for years. And if you leave it alone, this thing, whatever it is trying to kill, encounters animals that adapt and morph their immunity to counteract it.

Like Dr. Zach Bush so eloquently says, this unseen world wages an ongoing fight; both sides try to outdo the other. To think that animals are defenseless against a viral bogeyman is simply to deny the magical adaptive capacity of immunological function within living things. The adaptation toward virulence happens on one side; the adaptation toward defense happens in the attacked critter. Guns, Germs and Steel verified this on a macro civilizational scale.

Our responsibility is to provide a habitat to give immunological defenses a fighting chance. That’s why we start chicks on deep, composting bedding, not wire mesh or concrete. It’s why we keep our animals sanitary and hygienic, not living in their poop or constantly inhaling fecal particulate to create abrasions in their tender respiratory mucous membranes. It’s why we feed non-GMO feedstocks and compost-fertilized forages. It’s why we move animals to a fresh spot routinely and even daily.

Killing survivors, which is the current USDA policy, is certifiably insane. But it whips the nation into a fearful frenzy, ready to buy eggs from Turkey so we won’t starve to death. The conventional narrative reeks of anti-science and fraud. Sounds like Covid to me. And new Sec. of Ag. Brooke Rollins appears to be completely owned by the pharmaceutical-industrial complex. I predicted she’d be a lightweight. Turns out, she is. Owned by the drug cartel – the legal drug cartel. What a shame.

Interestingly, Brooke Rollins is the only secretary Trump didn’t name Tuesday night in his joint speech to Congress. He named all the others: Marco, Bobby, Pete, Tulsi, etc. What buttons got pushed to get an industry shill in there? Hmmmmm?

Here’s my newest wish for policy: let the owners of the poultry determine their treatment. Right now, government agents with guns can come onto any farm without a warrant and kill all your chickens. We’re back to mandated Covid jabs. Same playbook. Same boat crossing the same river. What if I have a chicken that tests positive for Bird flu? What if I say, “No, don’t kill the survivors. Let it run its course; I’ll absorb the cost and risk of how many it gets, thank you very much. Nobody has to pay me for anything. Now leave.”

At least that would give those of us who have chickens some freedom of treatment. Anybody for informed consent? The two words go hand in hand – informed and consent. It doesn’t do any good to be informed but not have consent. I think before government agents kill my healthy chickens, I should be able to consent to their prescription.

[…]

Via https://brownstone.org/articles/fake-contagions-make-real-survivors/

Somaliland: British Colony, Palestinian Concentration Camp

Gavin Willaimson heroised in Somaliland

Kit Klarenberg

In recent months, Somaliland has become a subject of intense, unprecedented interest for the Western media. As Israeli and US officials scramble to find a destination to forcibly relocate Gaza’s population from their shattered homeland, the little-acknowledged, unrecognised breakaway statelet is increasingly viewed as an attractive option. Multiple mainstream media reports indicate officials in Tel Aviv and Washington are making discrete overtures to Hargeisa on the topic. On March 14th, the Financial Times revealed:

“A US official briefed on Washington’s initial contacts with Somaliland’s presidency said discussions had begun about a possible deal to recognise the de facto state in return for the establishment of a military base near the port of Berbera on the Red Sea coast.”

Somaliland’s President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi has made international recognition a major priority, and the prospect of a permanent US military presence insulating the breakaway territory from violent instability that regularly engulfs Somalia is also no doubt enormously attractive. From Washington’s perspective too, such an arrangement offers profuse geopolitical gains well-beyond the involuntary relocation of millions of Palestinians, to make way for Trump’s fantasised ‘Gaza-Lago’. For one, Somaliland’s proximity to the Arabian peninsula makes the territory an ideal staging ground for strikes on Yemen.

This would represent a vital new strategic foothold for the Empire in Africa, at a time French and US occupation forces are being evicted from countries across the continent with ever-increasing rapidity. Moreover, it could serve as a counterweight to constantly growing Chinese and Russian influence locally. In 2017, Beijing established its very first overseas military base in Somaliland’s neighbouring Djibouti. Ever since, the country has been a pugnacious critic of Western policy in the region, and allowed Iranian ships to dock at its ports.

The geopolitical and military utility of Somaliland’s recognition as a state has long-been understood in Washington. Project 2025, a lengthy “mandate for leadership” drawn up by the right-wing Heritage Foundation think tank, widely-perceived as a blueprint for Donald Trump’s second term in office, contained a dedicated section on “[countering] malign Chinese activity” in Africa. It specifically recommended “the recognition of Somaliland statehood as a hedge against the US’ deteriorating position in Djibouti.”

Trump’s readiness to recognise Somaliland was furthermore advertised in November 2024, long before the would-be country became a potential candidate for the resettlement of Palestinians. Former British defence secretary Gavin Williamson revealed he had been engaged in “really good meetings” with the President’s “policy leads” on the issue, and expressed confidence the White House would act accordingly. Williamson has long-been an ardent advocate of Somaliland’s independence, regularly undertaking all-expenses paid trips to the breakaway territory, and receiving honourary citizenship for his lobbying efforts.

 Williamson’s pronounced interest in Somaliland is a uniquely rare public manifestation of a little-known truth. While formally granted independence by London in 1960, and having claimed to be a sovereign, autonomous region of Somalia since 1991, Somaliland is a modern day British colony. Were Palestinians uprooted there against their will, they would be entombed in yet another open air concentration camp, under the watchful eye of British-trained local security forces with a propensity for extreme violence.

‘ASI Management’

In April 2019, prolific British government contractor Aktis Strategy declared bankruptcy, leaving scores of staff unpaid, and overseas suppliers owed vast sums. The company’s abrupt disintegration came despite reaping tens of millions of pounds from the Foreign Office for “development” projects throughout Africa and West Asia. While largely ignored by the Western media, the Somaliland Chronicle published a detailed investigation into the scandal – for Aktis was at the time of its collapse engaged in a “justice and security sector reform project” in the statelet.

Official records indicate London earmarked over £18 million for this effort alone in Somaliland, 2017 – 2022. It is just one of many British-bankrolled projects in the breakaway territory, which results in Somaliland’s entire state structure – including its government, military, judiciary, prisons, police, security and intelligence apparatus – being managed, trained, and directed by London. Britain’s pervasive hidden influence in these sensitive areas is amply exposed by the contents of numerous leaked British intelligence files.

For example, one document discusses how notorious British intelligence cutout Adam Smith International provides “ongoing training and mentoring” to “build the capacity” of Somaliland’s National Intelligence Agency and Rapid Response Unit, while overseeing the territory’s “forensics service”, a “Personal Identification and Recording System” that “captures data at border posts,” and “prosecution procedures managed by the Attorney General’s Office.” Somaliland’s dedicated Counter-Terrorism Unit was moreover created in 2012 with Foreign Office funding, “under ASI management.”

Elsewhere, ASI boasts of its “proven history of establishing close professional relationships” with senior government, armed forces, police, “security sector”, and Ministry of Defence officials in Somaliland. One file notes the contractor “deployed specialist ex-UK military advisers” to run a program to “improve the capability” of “military intelligence units” in the army and coastguard. ASI “also assisted with the development” of Somaliland’s Officer Cadet course, “[mentoring] senior officers in leadership, management and military doctrine.” The contractor has even drafted laws subsequently adopted by the government.

Meanwhile, Albany, another British contractor, was charged with tutoring Somaliland authorities in the art of propaganda and information warfare. This entailed “structured training and mentoring of key government ministers…and other senior figures in working with the media,” helping them “produce a steady flow of information detailing the government’s work” and “engage proactively with journalists.” It was noted that “unsatisfied public demand for information” from the government “on nationally significant events” gave independent information sources significant influence locally, which was to be countered at all costs.

Public distrust of the government was moreover exacerbated by the regular “arrest of journalists and the closure of independent media outlets” in Somaliland. By providing extensive media training to key government ministries and state organs, and appointing “spokesmen and media officers”, Albany would help authorities “to use the media to better communicate their reform agenda” with “one voice”, thus dominating the breakaway territory’s information space, and silencing dissenting local elements.

‘International Law’

For all ASI’s boasts of professionalising and reforming Somaliland’s armed forces and police, other leaked files related to the activities of contractor Coffey paint a very different picture. For instance, one document notes the statelet’s military “is the largest and most costly institution of state,” but its chiefs “resist oversight by the Ministry of Defence,” and it is “likely [army] funds are being used for purposes other than national defence and security.” Moreover, capacity for holding the military accountable for abuses is “limited”.

Elsewhere, Coffey noted that Somaliland police have “a history of applying disproportionate force to contain disorder,” and the territory lacks a “dedicated public order unit.” The contractor suggested creating such an entity in the ranks of the Special Protection Unit, a paramilitary force created to protect foreign organisations operating in the aspiring country, and individuals they employ. At time of writing, it had no remit to professionally or proportionately respond to “planned and spontaneous events, peaceful protests and outbreaks of serious public disorder.”

That document was authored in July 2015. It called for Somaliland law enforcement to be “trained and assessed by UK National Police” in Britain. There, they would learn “first aid”, how to “engage effectively with crowds or protesters”, and gain “understanding [of] human rights…according to international law.” Tutoring officers in constructive, peaceful methods of dealing with public disturbances would, Coffey pledged, ensure “proportionality, lawfulness, [and] accountability” throughout Somaliland’s police forces.

If such training was conducted, it evidently had no tangible impact whatsoever. In late 2022, mass protests broke out in the contested Somalian city of Las Anod. Somaliland security forces crushed the upheaval using lethal force, leaving dozens dead. Unrest only intensified thereafter, leading to Somaliland’s military savagely shelling the city the next year. An April 2023 Amnesty International report branded the assault “indiscriminate” in the extreme, with civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and mosques struck, hundreds killed and injured, and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Protests in Las Anod, January 2023, call for Somalian reunification

Given this context, Somaliland’s appeal to Israel and its Western puppet masters as a dumping ground for Gazans is obvious. A well-armed repressive domestic security apparatus stands ever-ready to brutally quell any and all local resistance. Meanwhile, if the US used the territory to strike Yemen, displaced Palestinian could be exploited as hostages and human shields, to deter AnsarAllah counterattacks. We can only hope this deplorable scheme crumbles as quickly as prior plans to shunt Gazans into Egypt and Jordan.

[…]

Via https://www.kitklarenberg.com/p/somaliland-british-colony-palestinian

US proposes leaving former Ukrainian territories under Russian control

FILE PHOTO. Mariupol, Donetsk People’s Republic, Russia. ©  Sputnik/Alexander Sukhov

RT

Washington’s offer also reportedly envisions easing sanctions on Moscow and ending Kiev’s NATO aspirations

The US has presented its allies with details of its peace plan to bring the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to an end, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing European officials familiar with the matter.

The proposal, outlined during a meeting in Paris on Thursday, reportedly includes easing sanctions on Russia, as well as terminating Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO. The roadmap would effectively freeze the conflict and leave former Ukrainian territories that are part of Russia under Moscow’s control, the sources suggested.

One of the officials told Bloomberg that the proposal still had to be discussed with Kiev, adding that the plan would not actually amount to a definitive conflict settlement. Kiev’s European backers would not recognize the territories as Russian, the source suggested.

The US delegation at the Paris meetings, which involved senior officials from several countries, was led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House special envoy Steve Witkoff. They met with French President Emmanuel Macron and also held discussions with top officials from France, Germany, the UK, and Ukraine.

Earlier on Friday, Rubio signaled Washington was ready to “move on” if a way to end the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev could not be found “within days.”
“We need to figure out here now, within a matter of days, whether this is doable in the short term. Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” Rubio told reporters before departing from France.

Moscow has signaled a full ceasefire with Ukraine was highly unlikely, citing Kiev’s violations of previous deals. Speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters on Thursday, Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia said there are “big issues with the comprehensive ceasefire,” recalling the fate of the now-defunct Minsk agreements, which were “misused and abused to prepare Ukraine for the confrontation.”

The diplomat also cited repeated Ukrainian violations of a US-brokered 30-day moratorium on energy infrastructure strikes, implemented on March 18.

“How close we are to the ceasefire is a big question to me personally, because, as I said, we had an attempt at a limited ceasefire on energy infrastructure, which was not observed by the Ukrainian side. So, in these circumstances, to speak about a ceasefire is simply unrealistic at this stage,” Nebenzia said.

[…]

Via https://www.rt.com/news/615961-russia-ukraine-peace-us/

U.S.-born man held for ICE under Florida’s new anti-immigration law

Sebastiana Gomez-Perez sits at a table in the cafeteria in the Leon County Courthouse, weeping after finding out that her son could be picked up by immigration officials despite being a U.S. citizen. (Photo by Jackie Llanos/Florida Phoenix)

By Jackie Lanos

Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen, was being held in the Leon County Jail Thursday, charged with illegally entering Florida as an “unauthorized alien” — even as a supporter waved his U.S. birth certificate in court.

A Florida Highway Patrol trooper arrested Lopez-Gomez after a traffic stop in which he was a passenger. The 20-year-old is set to remain in jail for the next 48 hours, waiting for federal immigration officials to pick him up despite his first-degree misdemeanor charge being dropped.

His mother, Sebastiana Gomez-Perez, burst into tears at the sight of her son, who appeared virtually for his first hearing at the Leon County Courthouse. She left the courtroom distraught because she could do nothing to help her son, who was born and lives in Grady County, Georgia.

“I wanted to tell them, ‘Where are you going to take him? He is from here,’” his mother told the Phoenix in Spanish moments after exiting the courtroom. “I felt immense helplessness because I couldn’t do anything, and I am desperate to get my son out of there.”

She continued through tears: “It hurts so much. I’m sorry, I can’t.”

A lieutenant working in the Leon County Jail didn’t allow the mother to see Lopez-Gomez on Thursday and told her officials were working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on how to proceed. A Phoenix reporter accompanied Gomez-Perez to the jail.

Leon County Judge LaShawn Riggans held Lopez-Gomez’s birth certificate up to the light after community advocate Silvia Alba silently waved the document in the courtroom.

“In looking at it, and feeling it, and holding it up to the light, the court can clearly see the watermark to show that this is indeed an authentic document,” Riggans said.

Based on her inspection of his birth certificate and Social Security card, Riggans said she found no probable cause for the charge. However, the state prosecutor insisted the court lacked jurisdiction over Lopez-Gomez’s release because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had formally asked the jail to hold him.

“This court does not have any jurisdiction other than what I’ve already done,” Riggans said.

Riggans said she was very sorry as Lopez-Gomez’s mother left.

‘I can’t do anything for their brother’

The 20-year-old’s first language is Tzotzil, a Mayan language, and he took a long pause when he was asked if he wanted to hire a private attorney or obtain a public defender. He lived in Mexico from the time he was 1-year-old until four years ago, when he returned to Georgia, his mother told the Phoenix.

The Homeland Security Investigations Office in Tampa issued the 48-hour ICE detainer on Thursday. An ICE officer whose name and phone number appear in the detainer refused to speak with the Phoenix.

“He hasn’t committed a crime for them to hold him, that’s what I don’t understand. I’m feeling bad because my daughters are asking me how their brother is. It hurts because I can’t do anything for their brother,” she said.

At issue is a recently passed law that a federal judge has temporarily barred the state from enforcing, further calling into question the validity of his arrest, the charge, and detention. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 4-C into law on Feb. 13, and U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Williams blocked its enforcement on April 4.

The law makes it a misdemeanor for undocumented immigrants over age 18 to “knowingly” enter Florida “after entering the United States by eluding or avoiding examination or inspection by immigration officers.”

Two other men who were in the car with Lopez-Gomez, the driver and another passenger, also had their first appearances on the same charges on Thursday. The driver was also charged with driving without a license.

The state trooper pulled over the car Lopez-Gomez was in because the driver was going 78 mph in a 65 mph zone, according to the arrest report. Lopez-Gomez gave his Georgia state ID to the trooper, who wrote in his report that Lopez-Gomez said he was in the country illegally.

Wednesday marked the second time Lopez-Gomez has been arrested. The Grady County Sheriff’s office took him into custody on Sunday and charged him with driving under the influence, his mother said. ICE also requested that the Georgia jail hold Lopez-Gomez, but he won release after his family showed officials his birth certificate and Social Security card, Gomez-Perez said.

Thomas Kennedy, a policy analyst for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, met Gomez-Perez at the courthouse. He said Lopez-Gomez’s case is exactly what his organization has been warning lawmakers would happen.

“It was just really sad seeing the mother distraught over her son, and the fact that she acknowledged that this is very likely a case of racial profiling against a U.S. citizen who can’t speak English,” he said in a phone interview with the Phoenix.

[…]

Via https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/04/17/u-s-born-man-held-for-ice-under-floridas-new-anti-immigration-law/