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Britain to launch covert special forces operations against Russia & China, military chief tells media


RT
Sat, 17 Jul 2021 19:36 UTC
britain army flag
© Reuters / Ints Kalnins
FILE PHOTO.
The UK Special Forces are about to concentrate on some new covert counter-state tasks with a focus on Russia and China, Royal Marines Brigadier Mark Totten revealed to the Times.

The British Royal Marines are to take over some of the "traditional" roles of the nation's special forces units - the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS) - as they are preparing for some new "higher risk" counter-state tasks, Totten said.

The brigadier himself is in command of a 4,000-strong "future commando force" that is about to share the burden of the special forces such as in maritime counterterrorist missions or some "partnered operations" that involve some "higher risks."


Comment: Firstly, if they're telling us, it's likely they've been at it for a while now. Regardless, if Britain's recent incursion into the Black Sea is anything to go by these operations will probably be unimaginative and executed shockingly poorly.


Comment: A month or so after the Biden administration made the strange announcement that it would launch a series of cyberattacks against Russia, a number of high profile hacks against American businesses occurred. Notably, despite US media claiming that Russia was to blame, the source of attack likely came from within the CIA. And so, bearing that in mind, and the fact that Russia and China are already well aware of what the Brits have likely been up to for a while now, who is this warning really intended for?

See also: And check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Perfidious Albion: If Russia is a Rogue State, What is the UK?

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NPC

LA County supervisor defends reimposing mask mandate: 'It's not punishment, it's prevention'

Olafimihan Oshin
The Hill
Sun, 18 Jul 2021 21:17 UTC
cloth face masks
© Danilova Janna/Shutterstock
Pretty, but useless
Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis said in an interview on Sunday that a reimposed mask mandate in indoor public spaces is "not punishment," but "prevention."

"We still have 4 million people out of 10 million that haven't been vaccinated. And many of them are young people," Solis, a former House lawmaker from California and Labor secretary in the Obama administration, said on ABC's "This Week."


Comment: I.e., those least at risk?


"And we're seeing that this transmission is so highly contagious that it will cost more in the long run if we have to see our hospitals being impacted, our ICU units, as well as our health care workers."


Comment: Science says masks are just comfort blankets.



The mask mandate that went into effect in the county on Saturday night requires all people, regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not, to wear masks in public indoor settings.

The decision comes amid growing concerns about the delta variant of COVID-19, which has led to cases rising in every state in the country.

Comment: Translation: it's punishment.

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Handcuffs

French face 6 months in jail for entering a bar or restaurant without a COVID pass

Paul Joseph Watson
Summit News
Sun, 18 Jul 2021 21:06 UTC
macron mask
People in France who enter a bar or restaurant without a COVID pass face 6 months in jail, while business owners who fail to check their status face a 1 year prison sentence and a €45,000 fine.

Yes, really.

The punishments are part of a draconian effort by the French government to force citizens to get the coronavirus jab amidst multiple unruly protests across numerous major cities.

President Emmanuel Macron announced earlier this week that those unable to prove they're vaccinated or a negative COVID test (at their own cost) will be banned from using public transport, entering a cinema, shopping mall, bar, cafe, restaurant and other venues from August 1st.

"People unable to present a valid health pass risk up to six months in prison and a fine of up to €10,000 (£8,500), according to the draft text of the law, while owners of "establishments welcoming the public" who fail to check patrons' passes could go to jail for a year and be hit with a €45,000 fine," reports the Guardian.


The sanctions represent the most authoritarian move to force vaccine compliance in the west, and probably outstrip a lot of actual dictatorships in other parts of the world.

Comment: Macron the Mitey strikes again:

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Newspaper

Risk of Afghan instability 'overflowing' across region, Russian FM says, as Taliban insurgents gain ground following US withdrawal


RT
Fri, 16 Jul 2021 11:57 UTC
Taliban
© REUTERS/Abdul Khaliq Achakzai
People on vehicles, holding Taliban flags, gather near the Friendship Gate crossing point in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border July 14, 2021.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that intense fighting in Afghanistan risks destabilizing neighboring nations in Central Asia, as American troops pull out of the country and the Taliban take yet more territory.

Addressing a regional security conference on Friday, Moscow's top diplomat said that "the uncertainty of the development of the military-political situation in this country and around it has increased."

"Unfortunately, in recent days we have witnessed a rapid degradation of the situation in Afghanistan ... It is obvious that in the current conditions there are real risks of an overflow of instability to neighboring states, the threat of such a scenario is a serious obstacle to the involvement of Afghanistan in regional cooperation," he added.

Comment: It's notable that Sidorov of the CSTO states that there's no signs of aggression on the Taliban side, because Pepe Escobar recently reported similarly, that the current Kabul administration is mistrusted by a great many and that the Taliban hasn't taken areas by force, they were welcomed:
Mohammad Suhail Shaheen is the quite articulate spokesman for the Taliban political office. He's adamant that "taking Afghanistan by military force is not our policy. Our policy is to find a political solution to the Afghan issue, which is continuing in Doha." Bottom line: "We confirmed our commitment to a political solution here in Moscow once more."

That's absolutely correct. The Taliban don't want a bloodbath. They want to be embraced. As Shaheen has stressed, it would be easy to conquer major cities - but there would be blood. Meanwhile, the Taliban already control virtually the whole border with Tajikistan.

The 2021 Taliban have little in common with their 2001 pre-war on terror incarnation. The movement has evolved from a largely Ghilzai Pashtun rural guerrilla insurgency to a more inter-ethnic arrangement, incorporating Tajiks, Uzbeks and even Shi'ite Hazaras - a group that was mercilessly persecuted during the 1996-2001 years of Taliban power.

[...]

Shaheen points out that "it's not possible to take 150 districts in just six weeks by fighting," which connects to the fact that the security forces "do not trust the Kabul administration." In all districts that have been conquered, he swears, " the forces came to the Taliban voluntarily."
See also:

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Chess

New Great Game gets back to basics

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Tue, 13 Jul 2021 00:00 UTC
Shah
© Wikipedia
The Great Game: This lithograph by British Lieutenant James Rattray shows Shah Shuja in 1839 after his enthronement as Emir of Afghanistan in the Bala Hissar (fort) of Kabul. Rattray wrote: 'A year later the sanctity of the scene was bloodily violated: Shah Shuja was murdered.'
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is on a Central Asian loop all through the week. He's visiting Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The last two are full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, founded 20 years ago.

The SCO heavyweights are of course China and Russia. They are joined by four Central Asian "stans" (all but Turkmenistan), India and Pakistan. Crucially, Afghanistan and Iran are observers, alongside Belarus and Mongolia.

And that leads us to what's happening this Wednesday in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital. The SCO will hold a 3 in 1: meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers, the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, and a conference titled "Central and South Asia: Regional Connectivity, Challenges and Opportunities."

At the same table, then, we will have Wang Yi, his very close strategic partner Sergey Lavrov and, most importantly, Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar. They'll be debating trials and tribulations after the hegemon's withdrawal and the miserable collapse of the myth of NATO "stabilizing" Afghanistan.
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Attention

Dump the 'woke' or go broke: Will Dems finally heed strategist's warnings on left-wing madness?

Robert Bridge
RT
Thu, 15 Jul 2021 15:29 UTC
biden
© Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein
US President Joe Biden
Famed strategist James Carville has told Democrats to disassociate themselves from the radical left-wing fringe of their party if they want to continue winning elections. But is it too late to cancel 'cancel culture'?

In the presidential debates against Donald Trump, then-Democrat candidate Joe Biden, in an effort to prove he was a predictable moderate who would not be manipulated by the radical left-wing progressives in his party, remarked, "I am the Democratic Party!" That comment has not aged well. In fact, he may as well have said something equally preposterous, like, "Read my lips, no new taxes!"

Despite early pledges that he would keep the left-wing impulses of the Democratic Party in check, each day brings more proof that Biden is powerless to stop the weird social justice movement that has swept the nation like a pandemic. Yet as James Carville has warned - and not for the first time - unless Biden tames these 'woke' social experiments, the Democrats will continue to alienate their political base.

Comment: Distractions are manipulations set in motion to impede our ability to focus on the reality taking place. Washington DC has utilized this practice to its advantage for decades.

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Footprints

Iran FM insists prisoner swap deal agreed with US, says ready to proceed 'today'


Alarabiya News
Sun, 18 Jul 2021 11:44 UTC
Khatibzadeh
© AFP
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh
Iran insisted on Sunday that a prisoner swap deal has been agreed with the United States, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said, a day after Washington denied such an agreement had been reached.

"'Outrageous' - the US denying simple fact that there IS an agreed deal on the matter of the detainees. Even on how to announce it," Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a tweet.
"Humanitarian swap was agreed with US & UK in Vienna - separate from JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) - on release of 10 prisoners on all sides. Iran is ready to proceed TODAY."
The United States on Saturday accused Tehran of an "outrageous" effort to deflect blame for the impasse in the nuclear talks and denied that any deal had been reached on a prisoner swap.

Comment: Iran is right. The prisoner exchange should be completely separate from the nuclear deal conundrum.
On 18 July, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi accused Washington and London of holding prisoner exchange talks "hostage" after Tehran proposed to delay the nuclear talks until its new government comes into office in August.

According to Araghchi's tweet, the sides agreed on a humanitarian exchange, and 10 prisoners on all sides can be released on 18 July if the US and the UK fulfill their part of the deal.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price rejected the remarks as "an outrageous effort to deflect blame from the current impasse," saying there is no agreed deal yet.

Iran and the US, however, have admitted they are engaging in indirect talks brokered by Switzerland to finalise an exchange of prisoners. Both sides noted a progress in the negotiations last week.


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Eye 1

Facebook propaganda says 85% of US users are pro-vaccine as it rejects Biden's criticism of 'killing people' with Covid-19 misinformation


RT
Sun, 18 Jul 2021 19:17 UTC
vivek murthy covid facebook censor

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called on companies to purge more pandemic posts.
Facebook has patted itself on the back for encouraging vaccine acceptance among its US users, noting an increase of 10-15% since January, while firing back at President Joe Biden's claim of subverting the rollout.

"The data shows that 85% of Facebook users in the US have been or want to be vaccinated against COVID-19," Facebook VP of Integrity Guy Rosen said in a blog post on Saturday, rejecting Biden's charge that social media was to blame for the lack of enthusiasm among Americans towards the Covid-19 jabs.

On Friday, Biden tore into social media platforms such as Facebook, accusing them of "killing people" by not cracking down on non-conventional opinions about vaccination fervently enough.

Comment:

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Cult

Covid self-isolation ends in warp-speed U-turn as BoJo and Rishi Sunak realise just how bad trying to wiggle free from it looks

Damian Wilson
RT
Sun, 18 Jul 2021 17:53 UTC
Boris Johnson Rishi Sunak
© Reuters / Leon Neal / File
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak visit the headquarters of Octopus Energy, in London, Britain.
The bid by the PM and chancellor to use a pilot scheme exemption to avoid self-isolation after coming into contact with Covid-19 lasted 180 minutes - when it dawned on them how it looks if the rules "aren't the same for everyone."

The prime minister's horror show pandemic continues, as he was forced into a Fast & Furious-style handbrake turn - alongside Chancellor Rishi Sunak - over taking part in a Covid-19 pilot scheme that allows people to avoid self-isolation even after they come in contact with someone infected by the virus.

While nobody is pointing fingers at anyone, those high-level tete-a-tetes with Health Secretary Sajid Javid are probably responsible, after he announced on social media yesterday that he'd caught Covid-19 and was feeling "groggy."

Comment: A commendable essay except for the thing no one will say out loud: covid is a crock. It's a normal flu which has been ginned up with a mountain of false statistics into some monster threat to push the 'Great Reset' agenda. The fact that Boris and his cronies are having to suffer the consequences of the fraud is only just. He's only a bit player anyway.

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Stormtrooper

Biden's Vaccine "Strike Force" Plan Stinks Of Desperation

Brandon Smith
Alt-Market.us
Thu, 15 Jul 2021 00:00 UTC
Hazmat suited stormtroopers
If there is one rule liberty minded people need to remember, it is that the establishment does not like losing control of the narrative. And when they do, noticeably weird things start to happen. For example, it is becoming painfully obvious that the narrative on the experimental mRNA "vaccines" has slipped right through the fingers of the Biden Administration, and as a consequence they are now in a scramble to get millions of vaccines injected into as many skeptical arms as possible before the public organizes for a full push-back against the agenda. It seems to me that they are in a bit of a panic.

The issue became more evident since January when various government entities and the media began to openly complain about the number of vaccine doses that were being thrown in the garbage because of expiration. Why were the vaccines expiring before use? The media spin suggests that it was due to "government mismanagement", while officials at the state level have admitted that it has been due to a significant drop in demand.

In the meantime, Biden has shipped over 500 million covid vaccine doses overseas in June while at the same time claiming that the US was on track to meet his 70% vaccination goal by July 4th. Needless to say this never happened. The Biden admin now claims that the US population is now 67% vaccinated, and if this was actually true then it would be very close to meeting Anthony Fauci's original guidelines for herd immunity. So why all the frantic hype about unvaccinated people?
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