| To: Les H who wrote (42511) | 6/15/2024 3:50:50 PM | | From: Les H | | | | A Pentagon-approved bot attack attempted to thwart global COVID-19 vaccinations, report finds
Social media bots sought to discredit China-made vaccines in the Philippines.
By Chase DiBenedetto on June 15, 2024
According to a new investigative report by Reuters, the Pentagon ran a year-long vaccine disinformation campaign using social media bots — all part of an anti-China political play built on problematic COVID-19 disinformation.
One part of a larger, locally-targeted anti-vax campaign around the world, the propaganda efforts sought to discredit the validity of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine among internet users in the Philippines, where the vaccine had been deployed. Messaging included the phrase #Chinaangvirus, reportedly Tagalog slang for "China is the virus."
Reuters reports that the campaign was reportedly run to "undermine China’s growing influence in the Philippines," after the vaccines and other public health interventions were made readily available. The efforts "aimed to sow doubt about the safety and efficacy" of such aid. The strategy was greenlit by a secret order signed by then-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper — elevating China and Russia to the priority of "active combat" and allowing for non-State Department-sanctioned psyops.
At least 300 fake accounts impersonating Filipinos were active on X/ Twitter between spring 2020 and mid-2021, right before a period of record deaths in the country — the platform later removed all of the accounts after being asked about their existence by Reuters.
mashable.com
Not to mention that the US also ran a program to deny vaccines and medicines to countries faced with Covid-19 surge while at the same time falsely claiming the virus was "created" at the Wuhan laboratory as a bioweapon. |
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| To: Les H who wrote (42522) | 6/15/2024 3:54:29 PM | | From: Les H | | | | Horrific moment police ram runaway cow with patrol car twice on Surrey street as appalled commentors slam force 'brutality' and Chris Packham demands officers be prosecuted
Police said the animal was 'in distress' while running around Staines last night
By RYAN PROSSER
PUBLISHED: 10:04 EDT, 15 June 2024
dailymail.co.uk |
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| To: Les H who wrote (42523) | 6/16/2024 9:51:19 AM | | From: Les H | | | | Israeli military announces daily ‘tactical pause’ in southern Gaza to allow in aid
Eleven-hour window to allow in aid via Kerem Shalom crossing will take place every day until further notice, military says
The Israeli army has said it will observe a limited daily “tactical pause” along one of the main roads in the Gaza Strip to allow delivery of increased quantities of humanitarian aid, as UN agencies have suspended deliveries from a US-built pier.
The Israel Defense Forces, however, added that the pause should not be seen as a “cessation of hostilities in the southern Gaza Strip”.
theguardian.com
The army later backed off its announcement after war cabinet was obviously unaware.
No one can trust Israelis not to use the aid drops as bait stations where they can target missiles or gunfire, but the starvation continues and assists the Israelis in these types of tactics. |
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| To: Les H who wrote (42524) | 6/16/2024 10:03:12 AM | | From: Les H | | | | Netanyahu and the IDF Top Brass Fight Over Gaza Cease-fire While Spiraling Towards Total War With Hezbollah
The deaths of eight IDF soldiers on Saturday demonstrate the difficulty in facing Hamas' adaptive tactics, turning it into a loose organization of guerrilla forces ¦ Netanyahu continues to market the 'total victory,' once again delegating others to deliver the bad news
archive.ph
Army wants a temporary ceasefire, also IDF spokesperson General Daniel Hagari's statement that "Israel won't be able to recover the hostages through military means". |
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| From: Don Green | 6/16/2024 10:04:39 AM | | | | | | Military Draft Coming? House Passes Measure To Automatically Register Men For Selective ServiceThe House of Representatives on Friday approved its version of the annual defense policy bill, effectively clearing the $883.7 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to move forward in a 217-199 vote which largely fell along party lines. Only three Republicans opposed it.
A number of 'controversial' amendments are part of it, setting up a further fight with Democrats as it moves forward, including a measure empowering the National Guard to crack down on the southern border.
But among the most interesting aspects to the bill for Fiscal Year 2025 is an amendment to the NDAA which automatically registers all draft-age male U.S. residents with the Selective Service System.
[url=]File image via Fox News [/url]This means that all able-bodied males in the country age 18-26 could potentially be drafted in the scenario of a future war declaration by Congress. The selection would be based on information from Federal databases.
While there has been a Selective Service program in effect for decades, it has long previously only been voluntary, but this new amendment will make registration automatic. The merely 'voluntary' system had been in effect since 1980 - but critics have said that leaving it up for young men to decide for themselves whether to register has resulted in a weak and ineffective system with not enough numbers.
According to more background for this new Congressional push:
The automatic draft registration proposal was instigated by the Selective Service System (SSS) as part of its annual budget request to Congress, introduced by Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), “wholeheartedly” endorsed by HASC Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), and approved by voice vote of the full committee without audible opposition. The text of Rep. Houlahan’s proposal can be read here. Her office’s press release on the proposal can be read here.
Rep. Houlahan had been one of the leading advocates of proposals in previous years to expand draft registration to women as well as men. Her latest proposal for automatic registration of men only for a military draft indicates that she is more deeply committed to militarization than to any purported feminism.
There's been a rising number of military papers and reports calling for the reinstatement of a more robust draft system of late, especially in relation to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
For example, last year the US Army War College’s academic journal included a highly disturbing essay on what lessons the US military should take away from the continuing war in Ukraine.
By far the most concerning and most relevant section of that War College essay for the average American citizen is a subsection entitled “Casualties, Replacements, and Reconstitutions” which directly states, “Large-scale combat operations troop requirements may well require a reconceptualization of the 1970s and 1980s volunteer force and a move toward partial conscription.” |
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| To: Les H who wrote (42526) | 6/16/2024 10:15:13 AM | | From: Les H | | | | Ukraine-Russia Peace Is as Elusive as Ever. But in 2022 They Were Talking.
Representatives from the warring nations held peace talks in the early weeks of the Russian invasion. They fizzled. Documents from those talks show why any new ones will face major obstacles.
By Anton Troianovski, Adam Entous and Michael Schwirtz June 15, 2024
archive.ph
Ukraine didn't reject Russian sovereignty over the Donbass. It rejected changing its constitution to allow the oblasts to hold referendums on their autonomy (not unlike what the US imposed in Iraq with Kurdistan). The key to Ukraine's rejection of the Minsk treaties is the refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the Donbass partisans who comprise the other party to the agreement.
Russia isn't likely to achieve military control over those four regions till the end of 2025 according to Putin's update on the SMO.
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| To: Don Green who wrote (42527) | 6/16/2024 10:15:58 AM | | From: Don Green | | | | Germany Could Soon Be Screening 18-Year-Olds To Boost Military Recruits Authored by Dénes Albert via ReMix News,
The war in Ukraine has Europe on edge, and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is proposing a new model of military service.
[url=] [/url]
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, talks to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius prior to the weekly cabinet meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Wednesday, June 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
He wants compulsory screening of potential recruits to strengthen the army in a context of heightened risk.
Under the draft, presented by Boris Pistorius to the defense committee of the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany’s parliament, young people who have reached the age of 18 will be required to answer a questionnaire on their willingness and ability to serve in the army.
Young women will also receive it, but without the obligation to complete it, sources said.
The idea of this screening is both to increase the possible interest of young people and, for the army, to select the most suitable or motivated ones for an interview. According to AFP information, the decision whether or not to perform military service will remain voluntary.
The model will involve basic training for six months, with the option of extending it to 17 months. The minister will present the new formula to the public on Wednesday afternoon on June 12. Young people who have completed their military service will join the reserves.
This plan is “exclusively about the ability to accelerate and strengthen the reserves for global defense,” said one participant at the parliamentary meeting. The long-term goal is to bring the Bundeswehr’s strength to 460,000 soldiers: about 200,000 permanently active in the army, the rest in reserve.
Despite a recruitment drive, the number of active military personnel in Germany fell to 181,500 last year. Boris Pistorius, now Germany’s most popular political figure, has for months been insisting on the need to make the army “war worthy” in order to defend the country and fulfill its role in NATO
After cutting its funding at the end of the Cold War, Germany has been investing heavily for two years to bring it back up to par, but the minister is calling for more resources. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, along with the Social Democrats (SPD) and Green majority allies in the governing coalition, are advocating for an all-volunteer army. |
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| To: Les H who wrote (42528) | 6/16/2024 10:23:09 AM | | From: Les H | | | | Intermediaries make crazy money selling weapons to Ukraine
Oleksandr Petrov
The list of weapons received from representatives of Ukraine shows the authors of the material that the cost of many key types of weapons increased almost six times during the war.
In particular, at the beginning of the war, middlemen sold 122-mm Soviet Grad rockets for $900 per projectile, and now they are asking for $6,000, while Ukraine receives $4,700 of them.
Other ammunition, such as 152-mm shells for howitzers D20, long-range artillery, jumped from 1.2 thousand to 5.7 thousand dollars.
news.online.ua |
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| From: Don Green | 6/16/2024 10:32:58 AM | | | | | | | Trump copies DeSantis |  | | Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
| | | Donald Trump used to trash Ron DeSantis. Now, he copies him, Axios' Sophia Cai writes.
- Why it matters: Since their bitter wrangling during the GOP primaries, Trump and the Florida governor have largely aligned on issues ranging from sex education to digital currency and property rights.
?? Trump last year revealed an education plan with a proposal for a "Parental Bill of Rights." It calls for more federal influence in how public schools are run, and for cutting funds to schools that teach "gender ideology."
- Months earlier, DeSantis signed a "Parental Rights in Education" bill with provisions that banned talk about gender and sexuality in schools.
- Today, "defund schools" is one of Trump's go-to phrases when he talks about his plans for a second term, an Axios analysisfound.
?? Last year, Florida became the first stateto ban central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) when DeSantis signed legislation that revised the state's definition of money.
- Months later, Trump pledged to prohibit the Federal Reserve from creating a CBDC. More recently he's made favorable comments about cryptocurrencies, which typically aren't regulated by a central bank.
?? In March, DeSantis signed a bill revoking squatters' rights in Florida. Videos of squatters refusing to leave homes had become a staple of right-wing social media, often cast as examples of chaos in Democrat-run cities.
- At a campaign rally five days after DeSantis signed the bill, Trump promised to do the same on the federal level.
?? Reality check: A notable exception is abortion.
- DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban in Florida and supported a 15-week national ban.
- Trump opposes a national ban and says regulating abortion should be left to the states rather than the federal government.
Go deeper: Trump's "Agenda47" ... Share this story.
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