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Best of the Web: Iran warns it could cut off Mediterranean Sea as France, Spain and Italy pull out of Red Sea Op - Israeli vessel hit off India's coast


Asharq Al Awsat
Sat, 23 Dec 2023 14:45 UTC
Galaxy Leader Israel ship
© ReutersThe cargo ship "Galaxy Leader" after being hijacked by Houthi boats in the Red Sea
An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said the Mediterranean Sea could be closed if the United States and its allies continued to commit "crimes" in Gaza, Iranian media reported on Saturday, without explaining how that would happen.

Iran backs Hamas against Israel and it accuses the United States of backing what it calls Israeli crimes in Gaza, where weeks of bombardment have killed thousands of people and driven most of the population from their homes.

"They shall soon await the closure of the Mediterranean Sea, (the Strait of) Gibraltar and other waterways," Tasnim quoted Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, coordinating commander of the Guards, as saying.

Comment: gCaptain reports:
Spain, Italy, France Decline US Command Of Red Sea Operation Prosperity Guardian

The United States is assembling a multinational naval coalition to help safeguard commercial traffic from attacks by Yemen's Houthi movement. On Thursday, the Pentagon said more than 20 countries had now agreed to participate in the group, known as Operation Prosperity Guardian.

Some countries have not confirmed their participation, however, while others have said their efforts to help protect Red Sea commercial traffic will be as part of existing naval agreements rather than the new U.S.-led operation.

The lack of details and clarity over what countries are doing has added to confusion for shipping companies, some of which have been re-routing vessels away from the area after the attacks, which the Houthis say are a response to Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.

WHAT HAS THE UNITED STATES ANNOUNCED?

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced on Tuesday plans to set up a multinational coalition to safeguard Red Sea shipping called Operation Prosperity Guardian.

During a trip to the Middle East, he said the operations would be joined by Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.

On Thursday, Austin said Greece and Australia had also joined the grouping, taking it to a total of 20, but added that at least eight countries taking part have declined to be publicly named.

WHAT ARE OTHER NATIONS SAYING? - FRANCE

France's Defence Ministry said it supported efforts to secure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and surrounding area and said it already operated in the region but it said its ships would stay under French command and did not say if it would deploy more naval forces.

France has a naval base in the United Arab Emirates and 1,500 troops in Djibouti. Its frigate Languedoc is now in the Red Sea.

- ITALY

Italy's Defence Ministry said it would send naval frigate Virginio Fasan to the Red Sea to protect its national interests in response to specific requests made by Italian shipowners.

It said this was part of its existing operations and was not part of Operation Prosperity Guardian.

- SPAIN

Spain's Defence Ministry said it would only participate in NATO-led missions or EU-coordinated operations. "We will not participate unilaterally in the Red Sea operation," it said.

- BRITAIN

Britain said destroyer HMS Diamond would join Operation Prosperity Guardian. Britain's defense ministry said the coalition would operate as part of the U.S.-led CMF.

- GREECE

Greece said on Thursday it would send a naval frigate to the Red Sea and that it would participate in Operation Prosperity Guardian.

- OTHER COUNTRIES

The Netherlands said it would send two staff officers and Norway said it would send 10 naval officers to Bahrain, the headquarters of CMF. Denmark said on Wednesday that it would take part in the operation, sending one officer.

WHAT EXISTING NAVAL COALITIONS OPERATE IN THE AREA?

Several navies are already part of international operations to protect shipping lanes in the region, including protecting vessels from pirates who for several years disrupted shipping off the coast of Somalia.

The missions include:

- Operation Atalanta, set up by European Union Naval Force Somalia (EUNAVFOR), operates off the Horn of Africa and in the Western Indian Ocean to support U.N. resolutions to protect the seas from piracy. Its headquarters is in Spain.

- Operation Agenor is a European-led operation which aims to guarantee freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping lane for oil exports from Gulf states.

- Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) is a multinational maritime partnership led by the U.S. from Bahrain, the based for the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet. CMF has 39 members, including NATO and European states, regional countries and other nations. One of its missions is the Combined Task Force 153 (CTF 153), which operates in the Red Sea.
Meanwhile, Al Manar reports:
Israeli-linked Merchant Vessel Hit by Drone Strike off India's Coast

An Israeli-affiliated merchant vessel in the Arabian Sea off India's west coast was struck by an unmanned aerial vehicle, causing a fire, British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Saturday.

The fire on the Liberian-flagged chemical products tanker was extinguished without crew casualties in the incident 200 km (120 miles) southwest of Veraval, India, it said.

"Some structural damage was also reported and some water was taken onboard. The vessel was Israel-affiliated. She had last called Saudi Arabia and was destined for India at the time," the firm said on its website.

It said the Indian navy was responding. The navy did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.

The incident follows drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea by Iran revolutionary forces in support of the Palestinian people and resistance who have been subjected to brutal Israeli aggression since October 7th.
In US 'builds trap for itself' in Red Sea, Scott Ritter writes:
[...]

the Houthis have made it clear that if attacked, they will expand the conflict to include Saudi and UAE oil production, threatening global energy supplies

[...]

The United States has long maintained that it could guarantee that if Iran ever sought to close the strategic Straight of Hormuz, the US Navy would be able to reopen it in a very short period. Operation Prosperity Guardian puts a lie to that claim. The fact is, the world balance of power has changed dramatically, and legacy systems like the carrier battlegroup are no longer the dominant means of power projection they once were. The US has, in effect, put all its eggs in one basket through its over-reliance upon the carrier battlegroup when it comes to force projection.
The US is 'hamstrung', for now. Besides the political optics of its vassal states pulling out of 'Operation Guardians of Prosperity', the Pentagon has probably gamed this out and realized the Houthis would survive a 'blitzkrieg', and likely sink a US warship or two in the process. Also, Iran may not be bluffing when it claims that its allies in Western Sahara could take aim at Israeli and Israel-destined cargo ships entering the Med at the Strait of Gibraltar. This could easily grind up global shipping and indirectly affect the US economy, which is teetering as things stand.

The elephant in the room, however, is Israel. Is its leadership capable enough, and mad enough to say 'to hell with the global balance of power', then force Uncle Sam's hand somehow?...

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Brain

Best of the Web: The Year of The Mindfuck

CJ Hopkins
Consent Factory, Inc.
Thu, 21 Dec 2023 08:16 UTC
elon musk laugh
Well, that's pretty much it for 2023 ... which I'm officially dubbing The Year of The Mindfuck.

I am doing that against the advice of my attorney, who is (a) trying to keep me out of German prison for as long as possible, and (b) trying to stop me from gratuitously alienating whatever remains of my former readership and going totally broke.

I'm not making that particularly easy for him.

The thing is, no one wants to hear that they have been mindfucked. People want to hear that other people have been mindfucked. Which ... they have. Other people have been thoroughly mindfucked. But that doesn't mean that other people — i.e., the people who want to hear that other people have been mindfucked, but not that they, themselves, have been mindfucked — haven't also been mindfucked, which is what I've been mostly writing about in 2023, which, as Matt Taibbi put it in a blurb for one of my books, "probably this is not a profitable life choice."

So it goes in the political satire racket. Sometimes you are hailed as a "prophet," other times you're scorned as a "dissension-sowing asshole," censored into Internet oblivion by beloved billionaire free-speech defenders, and prosecuted for trumped-up "hate crimes." It depends which way the wind is blowing.

It hasn't been blowing my way this year.
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Syringe

Best of the Web: Study finds COVID vaccines DO integrate into human DNA

Igor Chudov
Igor's Newsletter
Thu, 21 Dec 2023 22:27 UTC
study covid vaccine integrate human dna
© K. Dhuli, M.C. Medori, et al
The much-ridiculed "antivax trope" proved to be true

Summary: a study of humans suffering from Long Covid analyzed their cellular DNA. The authors unexpectedly found genes uniquely specific to the Pfizer COVID vaccine in human blood cells. This finding proves that mRNA COVID vaccines permanently integrate into the DNA of some COVID-vaccinated people.

A newly published study analyzed human DNA isolated from volunteers' blood samples. Authors looked for matches between blood cells's DNA and genetic sequences unique to the Pfizer COVID vaccine BNT162b2. After using sensitive tests, scientists found genes that could only come from the Pfizer COVID vaccine in the genomes of blood samples analyzed.

Comment: There were plenty of studies shouting the truth early on. The major medical journals and the media chose (were instructed?) to ignore and/or ridicule the notion:

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Putin

Best of the Web: Western leaders should 'stop playing the fool' - Putin


RT
Thu, 21 Dec 2023 14:48 UTC
VPutin
© Mikhail KlimentyevRussian President Vladimir Putin • December 21, 2023
Russia will not collapse, so it would be better if the US and its allies changed their policy, the president has said...

Western nations that expect Russia to collapse are misguided and should instead let their economies benefit from cooperation, President Vladimir Putin said at a government meeting on Thursday.

The US and its allies have targeted Russia with unprecedented sanctions in a bid to punish Moscow for the Ukraine conflict. The country has largely adapted to the pressure however, according to the Russian government and Western analysis.

Putin raised the issue during a meeting of the Council on Strategic Development and National Projects, during which he described Russia's booming commercial ties with non-Western nations. He noted, however, that Moscow is not closing the door on the West.
"It's time for them [Western leaders] to stop playing the fool and waiting for us to collapse. Everyone realizes by now that if they want to benefit from cooperation with Russia, they should do so."

"Western nations have a choice between following 'ephemeral considerations' motivating them to seek Russia's destruction and 'the interests of their own nations and peoples,' which require cooperation based on a new foundation of a multipolar world."
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Robot

Best of the Web: Anne and Joe argue about the Child-Killing Murder Robot

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnst.one
Wed, 20 Dec 2023 00:00 UTC
robot
© UnknownChild-Killing Murder Robot in action
"I'm not so sure about the Child-Killing Murder Robot," Joe said after a sip of coffee while reading the morning paper.

"What??" his wife Anne exclaimed, visibly shocked.

"It's killed thousands of kids in its latest murder rampage," Joe said. "I'm starting to think maybe the Child-Killing Murder Robot isn't such a great thing after all."

"Well of course it's on a murder rampage!" said Anne. "Some people tried to turn it off!"

"Yeah the Child-Killing Murder Robot does that whenever anyone tries to turn it off," replied Joe. "And you know what? I'm starting to think that maybe they're trying to turn off the Child-Killing Murder Robot because they're sick of the way it keeps killing children and murdering people!"

"It's acting in self-defense!" Anne protested. "The Child-Killing Murder Robot has a right to defend itself!"

"It's been killing people constantly ever since that team of mad scientists invented it back in the forties, Anne! After a certain amount of child-killing and murder, eventually you've got to figure that maybe the blame is on the Child-Killing Murder Robot. At the very least I think our government should stop sending it batteries and ammunition."
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Attention

Best of the Web: 'Lethal combination' ravaging Gaza - WHO


RT
Thu, 21 Dec 2023 08:21 UTC
Palestinians line up for food in Rafah, Gaza, December 21, 2023
© AP / Fatima ShbairPalestinians line up for food in Rafah, Gaza, December 21, 2023
The Palestinian enclave is on the brink of famine, the organization has warned.

Almost everybody in Gaza is facing "crisis levels" of hunger, and rates of disease among children have skyrocketed, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. Amid the declining humanitarian situation, both Hamas and Israel have vowed to keep fighting.

Around 93% of Gaza's 2.28 million people are facing "crisis" or worse levels of hunger, the WHO stated in a post to X (formerly Twitter). Citing a joint report compiled by the UN and other international bodies, the WHO warned that 17% of the strip's residents face "catastrophic" levels of food insecurity, defined by the report as imminent danger of starvation and death.

Comment: See also:

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Boat

Best of the Web: The U.S. Navy is Unprepared for a Prolonged war With Yemen

Larry Johnson
sonar21.com
Tue, 19 Dec 2023 20:46 UTC
us ship aegis
Aegis Missile Defense System
It looks like the United States, along with 9 allies — Great Britain, Italy, Bahrain, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain — are on the verge of entangling itself in a new Middle East quagmire as an international armada assembles in the international waters around Yemen. The mission? Stop Yemen from threatening cargo and oil tankers headed to Israel.

Tiny Yemen has surprised the West with its tenacity and ferocity in attacking ships trying to ferry containers and fuel to Israel. Yes, this is a violation of international law and the West is fully justified in trying to thwart Yemen. On paper it would appear that Yemen is outnumbered and seriously outgunned. A sure loser? Not so fast. The U.S. Navy, which constitutes the majority of the fleet sailing against Yemen, has some real vulnerabilities that will limit its actions.

Before explaining the risks, you must understand that the U.S. Navy is configured currently as a "Forward-Based Navy" and is not an "Expeditionary Navy." Anthony Cowden, writing for the Center for International Maritime Security in September, examined this issue in his article, REBALANCE THE FLEET TOWARD BEING A TRULY EXPEDITIONARY NAVY.

Comment: If Russia could sneak her Neptune-equivalent anti-ship missile into Yemen, she'd get even for the Moskva. All kinds of possibilities open up by the US regime sending its imperial fleet amidst people who daily chant "Death to America!"

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Bizarro Earth

Best of the Web: 10 dead after shooting at university in Prague, assailant shot dead by police - Update: 15 people now confirmed dead, including shooter's father


Sky News
Thu, 21 Dec 2023 15:38 UTC
prague
Alleged footage of the shooter
Several people have been killed and dozens have been injured in a shooting in central Prague, according to Czech police.

The incident place took place in the area of Jan Palach Square in the city's Old Town.

"There are several dead and dozens of injured," police said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Comment: Update @ 20:42 GMT: RT now reports that 15 people were killed by the shooter and that the killer also murdered his father before going on the shooting spree.

The number of incidents like this, in countries not known for such violent attacks, and particularly in Europe, is rising. Some have been shown to have links to the intelligent agencies, and are likely intended to sow discord and foment fear and hatred in society, and to justify draconian state measures, whilst it seems that others seem to be unstable people susceptible to the general unrest and malaise polluting societies (which is also engineered by the establishment).

Further details of the incident in Prague have yet to be revealed, but sometimes recent developments within the country effected can help provide insight: UPDATE @ 17:28 GMT: If the following is correct, it appears the perpetrator was known by the authorities, and, if previous incidents are anything to go by, it would be reason to suspect intelligence agencies were involved in today's events:




See also:

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Binoculars

Best of the Web: The 'Greater Israel' scheme and its global power play: A delusional recipe for Armageddon

Matthew Ehret
The Last American Vagabond
Tue, 05 Dec 2023 00:00 UTC
Netanyahu
In 1996, a nest of American-born imperialists revolving around Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Richard Perle created a new think tank called "The Project for a New American Century."

While the principled aim of the think tank ultimately hinged on a new "Pearl Harbor moment" that would justify a new era of regime-change wars in the Middle East, a secondary but equally important part of the formula involved the dominance of "Greater Israel" Likud fanatics then taking power over the murdered body of Yitzhak Rabin.

It was toward the start of the new regime of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Richard Perle wrote the report "Clean Break: A Strategy for Securing the Realm," which outlined a series of goals that would govern the strategic vision of Washington and Tel Aviv for the next two decades. It called for:
  • Canceling the foundations for the Oslo Accords that threatened to bring about a climate of peace through economic cooperation in the Middle East under a two-state solution
  • Launching a new doctrine of "right of hot pursuit" justifying armed incursions into Palestinian territories
  • Inducing the United States to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq
  • Armed incursions into Lebanon and possible strikes against Syria and Iran
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TV

Best of the Web: Lavrov interviewed on Great Game program again

Karl Sanchez
karlof1.substack.com
Mon, 18 Dec 2023 00:00 UTC
Lavrov
© unknownRussian FM Sergey Lavrov interview with Dimitri Simes, Channel One's Great Game
On this episode of Channel One's Great Game program, Lavrov is one-on-one with the senior Dimitri Simes as opposed to his previous encounter on 28 December 2022 when he faced a duo of questioners, the translation of that event is available at my VK here. The questions revolve around two intertwined topics: Ukraine and relations with the West. Now that Putin has expressed Russia's naivete regarding the West's attitude toward it, Lavrov is now free to add his view to that story, which is really the only really new revelation for those closely following Lavrov, although there're a few additional items revealed as you'll see:
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