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Recycle

Best of the Web: Wave of top Ukrainian officials resign, huge corruption scandal reveals Western aid embezzled

Congress Zelensky Washington
FILE PHOTO: US newspaper, citing NATO and Ukrainian officials, claims Zelensky wants to first secure some military victories against Moscow
The Ukrainian government on Tuesday confirmed the resignation of multiple high ranking officials amid large-scale corruption allegations, in what's being called the biggest mass resignation and graft scandal since the Russian invasion began.

Some dozen officials have quit their posts after a huge political shake-up over allegations and probes into cases ranging from bribery, to mismanagement of aid funds for purchasing food, to embezzlement, to driving expensive cars while common people suffer under wartime conditions.

A top presidential adviser and four deputy ministers - among these two defense officials, along with five regional governors were forced out of their posts. And among the regional governors to step down included officials overseeing regions which have seen intense fighting, including the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, where Russian forces have lately reported gains.

Comment: There are a number of signs that point to something significant coming up for NATO's proxy war against Russia in Ukraine:

Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Germany Sending Tanks to 'Save Ukraine' - WEF Meets to 'Save The Planet'


As well as the following analysis from The Duran, and then Colonel Macgregor:






Snowflake Cold

Best of the Web: Polar freeze in Spain brings temperatures of -15°C and snow in Ibiza

Snow on the beach in Ibiza.
© Majorca Daily BulletinSnow on the beach in Ibiza.
Temperatures of -15°C were recorded in one part of Spain during the current polar freeze and it even snowed on the Balearic island of Ibiza.

As confirmed by AEMET, the State Meteorological Agency, the Balearic island of Ibiza has met with unusual weather conditions thanks to the polar freeze currently affecting Spain.

This morning, Monday, January 23, residents of the town of Talaia de Sant Josep - located 475 metres above sea level - woke up to a blanket covering of snow. The town of Sant Joan de Labritja recorded -1.8°C overnight.


Bug

Best of the Web: EU allows house crickets in food products

House cricket
The European Union recently allowed Acheta Domesticus, better known as the house cricket, to show up on European Union consumers' tables. The newly approved regulation will allow food producers to introduce the partially defatted powder of Acheta Domesticus to the E.U. food market.

The E.U. Commission passed the application presented in 2019 by the Cricket One Company. Now, food producers can use the powder in the production of several foods, including pizza and pasta-based products, nuts and oilseeds, snacks and sauces, meat preparations and soups, multigrain bread and rolls, crackers and breadsticks, cereal bars, dry pre-mixes for baked products, biscuits, processed potato products, legume- and vegetable-based dishes, whey powder, maize flour-based snacks, beer-like beverages and chocolate confectionery.

The go-ahead came on the heels of the scientific opinion expressed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which verified and approved the safety of the new powder.

EFSA also approved the powder production process, which includes a 24-hours fasting period for the insects before they are frozen, washed, thermally processed, have their oil extracted and, finally, transformed into dried-up powder.

The march of house crickets into European kitchens will not be completed alone. On January 6th, the E.U. Commission also approved the introduction of the frozen, paste, dried and powdered forms of Alphitobius diaperinus larvae, also known as the lesser mealworm, to the consumer food market.

Comment: Coerced bug-eating is part of a wider neo-Malthusian program that goes back a hundred years. The WEF is currently its biggest and most successful purveyor, following in the footsteps of the Rhodes roundtable groups, the CFR, and Trilateral Commission, among others. The basic overarching goal: undo the developed world, and keep the developing world from developing. Economic development is not "sustainable," you see.


Better Earth

Best of the Web: Earth's inner core seems to have stopped spinning, and may be in the process of changing direction, new study reveals

core
© Constantine Johnny/Getty Images
Few of us give much thought to Earth's swirling, spinning contents until some sudden movement, an earthquake or a volcanic eruption, jolts us to our senses.

Geoscientists, though, are a little more clued into the dynamics of Earth's guts, and have just discovered that Earth's solid inner iron core - which usually spins within a near-frictionless molten outer envelope - appears to have slowed to a grinding halt.

Before anybody panics and searches for a copy of a terrible 20-year-old science fiction movie predicting such an event in hopes of inspiring a solution, it's not the first time record of such an event. It's not even the first in recent history.

Comment: See also: Also check out SOTT radio's:


Attention

Best of the Web: The green revolution is fueling environmental destruction

rare earth mine
© Global WitnessA rare earth mine along Myanmar's border with China, an industry causing extreme environmental damage
Roughly 80 miles off the coast of Yorkshire, the new generation of offshore wind turbines being built at Dogger Bank will be taller than some skyscrapers.

Along with masses of solar panels and electric cars, these feats of human engineering will become the backbone of a new, green economy that will emerge as we abandon fossil fuels.

Yet as we embrace net zero carbon emissions in the name of saving the planet, growing tensions are emerging over what must be done to achieve this goal.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the World Bank, the switch to "cleaner" renewable energy sources is going to require an unprecedented surge in the extraction of precious minerals from the earth. Whether it is lithium and cobalt needed for batteries, or rare earth elements used for magnets that power wind turbines and electric car motors, we simply can't make the green technologies we need without them.

Yet campaigners and researchers warn that the mines producing these minerals raise troubling environmental questions of their own, with the worst examples ravaging landscapes, polluting water supplies and desolating crops. The industry also poses geopolitical challenges for Britain and its allies, with China currently dominating the supply chains.

It means that without drastic improvements to global standards and greater engagement by the West, the switch to clean power risks becoming very dirty indeed.

Bad Guys

Best of the Web: 'They just vanish': UK whistleblowers met by wall of complacency over missing migrant children

migrant shelter kids disappear britain hotels
© Andy Hall/The ObserverHove, where unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have been disappearing from hotels.
As scores of youngsters are disappearing from hotels run by the Home Office and being trafficked across the country, sources claims warnings over their safety were ignored

On the first day of April, 17-year-old Wassim Hamam* disappeared near the bustling centre of Hove. He was never seen again. Days later another teenager, Burim Markaj, 16, vanished nearby. Within hours, a 15-year-old was also reported missing.

The disappearances continued. Four days later Alban Berisha, a 17-year-old whose portrait suggests a pensive, wary character, suddenly vanished from the streets of the Sussex coastal city. The same day, a 5ft 5in 17-year-old, Khalid Muha, was last seen wearing a black bomber jacket and white trainers.

Another child went, then another. Detectives investigating the disappearances quickly identified two facts linking the lengthening caseload: all were unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. And all disappeared after staying at the same hotel. But this was no ordinary seaside hotel. The children were staying in a residence run by the Home Office, the government department whose mandate is keeping people safe.

Comment: The Home Office reaction to this horror is to be expected. British politics has been riddled with pedophiles for decades. Rooting them out will be a monumental task.


MIB

Best of the Web: Moscow: The US govt is covertly sponsoring ISIS

Members of the Islamic State
© AFP / Noorullah ShirzadaMembers of the Islamic State (IS) group stand alongside their weapons, following their surrender to Afghanistan's government.
Washington wants to take revenge on the Taliban for its defeat, the Russian Foreign Ministry says.

The US has been reaching out to armed groups that oppose the Taliban and secretly giving money to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), Zamir Kabulov, Russia's presidential envoy for Afghanistan, has said.

When asked if the US is in contact with the Afghan opposition in an interview with Russia 24 TV on Friday, Kabulov said, "Yes, there is such data."

The Americans have been acting this way "because they really want to avenge their shameful military-political defeat in Afghanistan, and in retaliation they do everything so that peace isn't established in this troubled land," he claimed.

"But worst of all is that, in addition to contacts with the armed opposition in Afghanistan, the Anglo-Saxons are covertly sponsoring Islamic State, who are aimed at undermining not only the stability of our Central Asian partners... but also the security of Russia," Kabulov added.

Comment: See also:


Eye 2

Best of the Web: Pedocracy: Scottish government to ask children if they "identify as transgender or non-binary" as part of "well-being study"

tik tok drag queen child
© Tik TokFILE PHOTO: Drag queen performs with child
Parents and conservatives in Scotland are outraged after the city council of Aberdeen launched what has been branded a "disgraceful" survey in 59 schools that asks pupils about their gender identity. The council is run by a coalition of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Liberal Democrats.

According to the Scottish Daily Mail, the survey, which is purported to be part of a sex and wellbeing study, asks schoolchildren to identify as "male, female, non-binary, transgender or other" and requires students to tick an answer before being allowed to proceed to the next page.

Critics of the survey have called it a blatant attempt to "indoctrinate" young children who do not know "if they want chicken nuggets or fish fingers for dinner."

Comment: Scotland seems to be the testing ground for ideological indoctrination - despite the fact that 60% of voters voted against it - and that will undoubtedly be rolled out across the UK soon enough:


Question

Best of the Web: How Can We Trust Institutions that Lied?

crumbling insititutions
Trust the Authorities, trust the Experts, and trust the Science, we were told. Public health messaging during the Covid-19 pandemic was only credible if it originated from government health authorities, the World Health Organization, and pharmaceutical companies, as well as scientists who parroted their lines with little critical thinking.

In the name of 'protecting' the public, the authorities have gone to great lengths, as described in the recently released Twitter Files (1,2,3,4,5,6,7) that document collusion between the FBI and social media platforms, to create an illusion of consensus about the appropriate response to Covid-19.

They suppressed 'the truth,' even when emanating from highly credible scientists, undermining scientific debate and preventing the correction of scientific errors. In fact, an entire bureaucracy of censorship has been created, ostensibly to deal with so-called MDM — misinformation (false information resulting from human error with no intention of harm); disinformation (information intended to mislead and manipulate); malinformation (accurate information intended to harm).

From fact-checkers like NewsGuard, to the European Commission's Digital Services Act, the UK Online Safety Bill and the BBC Trusted News Initiative, as well as Big Tech and social media, all eyes are on the public to curtail their 'mis-/dis-information.'

House

Best of the Web: Person-of-color, Democratic New York City Mayor says "no room" in his city for migrants

New York City Mayor Eric Adams
© REUTERS/Jose Luis GonzalezNew York City Mayor Eric Adams stands outside a shelter during his visit to discuss immigration with local authorities in El Paso, Texas, U.S., January 15, 2023.
The mayor of New York traveled to the Mexican border city of El Paso on Sunday and declared that "there is no room in New York" for busloads of migrants being sent to America's most populous city.

Eric Adams, a Democrat, was also critical of the administration of Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden, saying "now is the time for the national government to do its job" about the immigrant crisis at America's southern border.

The visit of a New York mayor to a southern border city about the issue of immigrants is unprecedented.

Comment: The racist! The bigot! The far-right fascist! The Trumpian! The Kremlin stooge!

Are we doing this right?

See also: