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Flashback Best of the Web: Pentagon testing mass surveillance balloons across the US

Mark Harris
The Guardian
Fri, 02 Aug 2019 18:20 UTC
Ravenstar facility research balloon
© Google EarthThe Raven Aerostar facility research balloon launchpad in South Dakota.
The high-altitude balloons promise a cheap monitoring platform

The US military is conducting wide-area surveillance tests across six midwest states using experimental high-altitude balloons, documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reveal.

Up to 25 unmanned solar-powered balloons are being launched from rural South Dakota and drifting 250 miles through an area spanning portions of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri, before concluding in central Illinois.

Travelling in the stratosphere at altitudes of up to 65,000ft, the balloons are intended to "provide a persistent surveillance system to locate and deter narcotic trafficking and homeland security threats", according to a filing made on behalf of the Sierra Nevada Corporation, an aerospace and defence company.

Comment: 'Disturbing': Pentagon launches mass surveillance balloons across US

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Fireball 3

Best of the Web: Spectacular meteor fireball seen from northern France and southern UK on February 13


American Meteor Society
Mon, 13 Feb 2023 10:47 UTC
mmmmm
© Christophe C.
We received 84 reports about a fireball seen over Île-de-France, Bruxelles, Centre-Val de Loire, Cymru, England, Esch-sur-Alzette, Flanders, Grand Est, Hauts-de-France, Limburg, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Normandie, Normandy, North Rhine-Westphalia, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Pays de la Loire, Vlaams Gewest, Wales and Zeeland on Monday, February 13th 2023 around 02:58 UT.

For this event, we received 17 videos and 6 photos.


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Windsock

Best of the Web: Canada shoots down 'unidentified object', US 'tracking fourth object' over Montana - UPDATE: China reports 'UFO', prepares to shoot it down

Paula Newton
CNN
Sat, 11 Feb 2023 17:29 UTC
US F-22 jet
© South Korean Defence Ministry/AFP/Getty ImagesCanada said a US F-22 was used to shoot down the object.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that an "unidentified object" had been shot down over Canadian airspace on his orders.

"I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. @NORADCommand shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object," Trudeau said on Twitter.

Trudeau said that he spoke with US President Joe Biden on Saturday and that Canadian forces will lead the object recovery operation.

Comment: As noted above, this follows the US shoot down of a Chinese weather balloon, but, more significantly, just yesterday US jets also shot down an as of yet unidentified 'high altitude' object off the coast of Alaska. In a White House press conference that object was described as follows: "It did not appear to have maneuverability capability [...] It was virtually at the whim of the wind." So, just what is going on? Whatever it is, there certainly is the flavor of a coordinated and contrived campaign by the governments involved.


CNN recently provided more details on the Alaska incident:


UPDATE: 12th February 2023 @ 12:30 CET

A fourth similar 'incident' of an 'object being tracked' was being reported above Montana. NORAD have since called off the air space ban:


UPDATE @ 13:15

According to Global Times - 'China's national English language newspaper, under the People's Daily. ' - which tweeted 31 minutes ago, China's maritime authorities have spotted an 'unidentified flying object' and are 'preparing to shoot it down':


See also: Russia strikes key Odessa bridge with first use of drone boat

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Bullseye

Best of the Web: Russia strikes key Odessa bridge with first use of drone boat

James Kilner
Telegraph
Sat, 11 Feb 2023 16:48 UTC
drone boat
A video widely circulated on social media shows the moment the remote weapon appeared to detonate
Russia attacked a key bridge in southern Ukraine, deploying a drone boat for the first time since the war began.

Western analysts warned that Russian drone boats now posed a "major new threat" to Ukrainian supply lines and the control of the Black Sea.
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Magnify

Best of the Web: Here's what's wrong with the Hersh report on the Nord Stream attacks

John Helmer
Dances With Bears
Fri, 10 Feb 2023 21:55 UTC
sy hersh
© John Helmer
Seymour Hersh's (lead image) report on President Joseph Biden's decision to destroy the Nord Stream gas pipelines on the Baltic seabed on September 26, 2022, and the involvement of the US Navy in preparing the explosives, has been based on a single anonymous US source with what Hersh calls "direct knowledge of the process".

From the full text of the Hersh report, it appears that neither the source nor Hersh has "direct knowledge" of the history of US-led operations to sabotage and destroy the pipelines which became public more than a year before; they directly involved the Polish government and the Danish government. In fact, by error of omission Hersh and his man are ignorant of those operations and of that history.

Also, the two of them are ignorant of the British government's role in this history, and in the final destruction, which was revealed publicly by then-Prime Minister Elizabeth Truss to Secretary of State Antony Blinken sixty seconds after the detonation; and by the Russian government when it announced its knowledge of the British involvement.
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Heart - Black

Best of the Web: Western sanctions will mean that more Syrians die after the earthquakes

Eva Bartlett
RT
Fri, 10 Feb 2023 15:42 UTC
Syrian quake survivors
© Muhammed Said/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesSyrian quake survivors stay at tents following 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes centered in Turkiye's Kahramanmaras, in Salqin district of Idlib, Syria on February 09, 2023
Following the devastating earthquakes that rocked Türkiye, Syria and their neighboring countries on February 6, leaving more than 20,000 dead, Damascus is struggling to deal with this unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe as it remains under brutal Western sanctions that have brought the country to its knees.

The West's war on Syria that began in early 2011 failed to topple its elected president, but the subsequent years of increasingly cruel sanctions - all in the name of 'helping the Syrian people' - have succeeded in rendering life miserable and near impossible, with most unable to afford to properly feed their families, much less heat their homes.

Now, in a time of crisis, the Syrian people cannot even receive donations or emergency support from abroad. One supporter set up a GoFundMe campaign, only to have it taken down due to the sanctions. Type the word "Ukraine" into the search field on PayPal or GoFundMe and you'll see countless appeals for sending money to Ukraine. But for Syrians, Western platforms like these are off-limits, and have been for years.
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Bad Guys

Best of the Web: Illegal organ market is a lucrative business in war-torn Ukraine


SouthFront
Thu, 09 Feb 2023 20:19 UTC
aftermath shelling donetsk bomb
© Sputnik / Sergey BaturinFILE PHOTO: Residents are seen outside a residential building damaged as a result of shelling by Ukrainian troops in the course of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, in Donetsk, Donetsk People's Republic, Russia.
Any military conflict provides the most lucrative opportunities for so-called black transplantologists. This criminal business particularly thrived in Kosovo, from where there was a prodigious flow of organs to Europe. Today, Ukraine is the number one base for black transplantology.

The illegal organ market was created in Ukraine long before the outbreak of hostilities. After Kiev unleashed a war in the Donbas in 2014, this criminal business began to flourish, and today the war-torn country has become "a gold mine". Years ago, OSCE representatives confirmed that dozens of military and civilian bodies with the organs cut out had been found in the war-torn territories of Donbass.

During a war, a huge number of people go missing, get injured and often end up on the operating table, where organs can be extracted from them without any legal procedures. Their bodies are then sent to the crematorium and these persons are reported missing. Often, dying soldiers become unwitting donors, but also their wounded comrades whose lives could have been saved. Civilians are not exempt from this practice.

Comment: Ukraine's infamy as one of Europe's organ trafficking capitals was known about since at least 2011 - because Ukraine's government was considered by official observers as incredibly corrupt even then - and there are further reports from 2014. It is also notorious for being a child trafficking hub.

As South Front's video report reveals, the war itself seems to have provided the criminals the ideal cover for their nefarious activities. And, with this in mind, it's highly likely that this isn't the first time wars have served as cover for all manner of criminality, but particularly the most heinous.


See also: Top doctor for Planned Parenthood caught on camera describing selling fetal organs on black market

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Biohazard

Best of the Web: Ukraine accused of chemical warfare against Russian troops in Donbass - alleged footage of the war crimes appear online


RT
Tue, 07 Feb 2023 14:33 UTC
ukraine soldiers training spain
© Thomas Coex / AFPUkrainian soldiers at a shooting range in Toledo, Spain, December 2, 2022
Russian military commanders have reported that Ukrainian troops deployed a type of chemical weapon against their units in Donbass, according to a local official.

Speaking to Russian television on Monday, Denis Pushilin, the acting governor of the Donetsk People's Republic, said his office has been receiving reports about possible chemical warfare "for at least two weeks." Ukrainian troops have reportedly been deploying "chemical compounds that make our military service members ill," he said.

Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Kremlin, declined to discuss the allegation with journalists, saying that his office didn't have accurate information about the issue.

Comment: The alleged footage:





South report have a video report on the matter here.

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Seismograph

Best of the Web: Turkey hit by second major earthquake, magnitude 7.5 - UPDATE: Turkey/Syria rocked by third quake, magnitude 6.0

Chris Jewers
Daily Mail
Mon, 06 Feb 2023 12:10 UTC
Turkey has been hit by a second huge earthquake
The Turkish city of Hatay is seen after Monday morning's quake, February 6, 2023, levelled buildings across the region
Thousands are feared dead after Turkey was hit by a second massive earthquake, just hours after an earlier catastrophic quake killed more than 1,900 people and plunged the region into an unfolding humanitarian crisis.

The initial 7.8-magnitude night-time tremor, followed hours later by a slightly smaller one, wiped out entire sections of major Turkish cities in a region filled with millions of people who have fled the civil war in Syria and other conflicts.

The later 7.5 magnitude quake struck at 1.24pm (1024 GMT) two-and-a-half miles southeast of the town of Ekinozu and around 60 miles north of the first quake that has wrought devastation across Turkey and Syria.


Comment: About 9 hours earlier: Devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake hits Turkey, numerous aftershocks including a 6.7 - at least 2,300 killed

Aftershocks continue to cause damage:



UPDATE 23/02/06: The Republican World.com reports:
A powerful earthquake of 6.0 magnitude hit Turkey at 12:02 UTC, marking the third major jolt in 24 hours, according to the US Geological Survey. The latest quake hit Turkey's central region just when the middle eastern nation was only beginning to pick up the pieces of the long trail of destruction left behind by a 7.8 earthquake that hit earlier in the day and claimed the lives of over 1,500 people.

The earthquake, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called the "biggest disaster since the 1939 Erzincan earthquake", was quickly followed by major aftershocks of 7.7 magnitude and 6.0, the latest.

At least 1,014 people have died and 7,003 people were injured following the earthquake in Turkey, as per Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD).

Earthquake knocks out power and internet connectivity

Following the series of calamities striking Turkey, the country has been pushed into widespread power and internet outages, thus affecting crucial communications.

"A 7.8 magnitude earthquake has knocked out power and internet connectivity in parts of southern #Turkey; the impact to communications may affect the public's ability to seek assistance, with hundreds of casualties reported," tweeted NetBlocks, a cybersecurity watchdog.

Addressing a press conference shortly after the first earthquake hit, Erdogan urged the people of Turkey to unite to overcome the calamity that has reduced the southeastern regions to rubble.

"Everyone is putting their heart and soul into efforts, although the winter season, cold weather and the earthquake happening during the night make things more difficult," he said.

"We do not know how high the casualty numbers will go as efforts to lift the debris continue in several buildings in the earthquake zone. Today is a day for 85 million to be together as one heart," he added.


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Bad Guys

Best of the Web: 'US sets bad precedent': China expresses dissatisfaction and protest over US shooting down civilian airship

Chen Qingqing and Liu Xuanzu
Global Times
Sun, 05 Feb 2023 20:15 UTC
china usa chess board global politics
© VCG
China expressed strong dissatisfaction and protest on Sunday against the US' move to shoot down a non-threatening Chinese airship for civilian use, calling the US' move an overreaction and vowing to reserve the right to take necessary actions. By turning an unintentional accident into an incident that has been hyped by the US officials and media, Washington is adding new uncertainties into the already-intense relations with China, creating a bad precedent for blurring the line between civilian and military uses, experts said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed strong dissatisfaction and protested against the US' use of force to shoot down a Chinese civilian unmanned airship, urging the US to properly handle the incident.

The Chinese side has verified the situation and communicated with the US side multiple times, saying the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace was due to force majeure and the incident was totally an accident, the ministry said.

Comment: The West is sinking ever deeper into Clown World.

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