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Bad Guys

The big Pentagon internet mystery now partially solved

pentagon
© AP Photo/Charles DharapakThis March 27, 2008, file photo, shows the Pentagon in Washington. After weeks of wonder by the networking community, the Pentagon has now provided a very terse explanation for why it hired a shadowy company residing at a shared workspace above a Florida bank to manage a colossal, previously idle chunk of the internet that it owns. Many basic questions remain unanswered, beginning with why it chose for the task a company that seems not to have existed until September.
A very strange thing happened on the internet the day President Joe Biden was sworn in. A shadowy company residing at a shared workspace above a Florida bank announced to the world's computer networks that it was now managing a colossal, previously idle chunk of the internet owned by the U.S. Department of Defense.

That real estate has since more than quadrupled to 175 million addresses — about 1/25th the size of the current internet.

"It is massive. That is the biggest thing in the history of the internet," said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik, a network operating company. It's also more than twice the size of the internet space actually used by the Pentagon.

Comment: To call this mystery 'partially solved' seems like a misnomer. Nothing about this mystery is solved.


Cloud Lightning

The shocking 2025 "Deagel" forecast... War, population reduction and the collapse of the West

Deagel projection
International Man: Deagel is a private online source for the military capabilities of the world's nation-states. It recently released a shocking five-year forecast.

The report analyzes countries by projected population size, GDP, defense budget, and more.

In it, they predict a 70% reduction in the size of the United States population. This is a bold prediction. What are your thoughts on this?

Doug Casey: I've got to say that I wasn't familiar with Deagel — it keeps a low profile. Deagel is in the same business as Jane's — which has been in the business of analyzing weapons systems for many decades.

A look at the Deagel website, which is quite sophisticated, makes it clear we're not dealing with some blogger concocting outrageous clickbait. It seems to be well-connected with defense contractors and government agencies like the CIA.

Comment: On this point:

"What if the real problem is the new vaccines. What if, after X number of months or years, they turn out to have very deadly effects?" - Don't miss the following:




Russian Flag

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova: 'the collective West is living in fantasy land,' amid new wave of anti-Moscow hysteria

Maria Zakharova
© RTMaria Zakharova speaks with RT Germany's Thomas Fasbender
Western countries are living in a grim "fantasy land" they've created through years of anti-Russian propaganda, the outspoken Maria Zakharova told RT DE, with any initiative by Moscow - even on Covid-19 - becoming politicised.

Such behavior on the West's part is hardly surprising, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman explained to Thomas Fasbender in an exclusive interview, given the efforts that Western counties have put into painting Moscow as an "aggressor" over the years.

The consistently cold relations between the West and Russia have been heightened by a series of major scandals recently, she outlined, despite these being based on imaginary grounds. For instance, military drills in Russia's southeast have prompted hysteria in multiple NATO countries and a fresh wave of doomsday predictions regarding an impending war between Russia and Ukraine - which, again, did not happen.

Comment:


Yoda

How to take back control of your mind

the deviant path
© Jasinai/DeviantArtFalse Memory and the Deviant Path
"Politicians, Priests, and psychiatrists often face the same problem: how to find the most rapid and permanent means of changing a man's belief...The problem of the doctor and his nervously ill patient, and that of the religious leader who sets out to gain and hold new converts, has now become the problem of whole groups of nations, who wish not only to confirm certain political beliefs within their boundaries, but to proselytize the outside world."
-William Sargant, Battle of the Mind
It is rather ironic that in this "age of information", we are more confused than ever...

It had been commonly thought in the past, and not without basis, that tyranny could only exist on the condition that the people were kept illiterate and ignorant of their oppression. To recognise that one was "oppressed" meant they must first have an idea of what was "freedom", and if one were allowed the "privilege" to learn how to read, this discovery was inevitable.

If education of the masses could turn the majority of a population literate, it was thought that the higher ideas, the sort of "dangerous ideas" that Mustapha Mond for instance expresses in The Brave New World, would quickly organise the masses and revolution against their "controllers" would be inevitable. In other words, knowledge is freedom, and you cannot enslave those who learn how to "think".

However, it hasn't exactly played out that way has it?

Briefcase

Texas AG sues Biden administration over COVID-19 risk at southern border amid migrant surge

Paxton
© Nick Wagner/Austin American StatesmanTexas AG Ken Paxton
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday sued the Biden administration for allegedly encouraging the spread of COVID-19 at the border by allowing large numbers of migrants into the U.S., often into overcrowded facilities. In a statement announcing the legal challenge, Paxton stated:
"President Biden's outright disregard of the public health crisis in Texas by welcoming and encouraging mass gatherings of illegal aliens is hypocritical and dangerous. This reckless policy change stifles the reopening of the Texas economy at a time when businesses need it the most and when our children need to get back to in-person learning as soon as possible."
The Biden administration has been facing a spike in migrant encounters at the border, particularly in Texas. Shocking images have emerged of overcrowded facilities in places like Donna, Texas, where migrants were pictures packed together side-by-side, often without masks. Texas officials have also protested about instances where COVID-positive migrants were released into the U.S.

Critics have accused Biden of inflaming the situation by rolling back Trump-era border protections like the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and not applying Title 42 public health protections to unaccompanied children -- whose numbers have increased rapidly in recent months. They say that has encouraged migrants to make the treacherous journey north and indicated to migrants that the border is open.


Radar

Flashpoint Ukraine: Don't poke the bear

Russian Bear
The Russian Bear is a peaceful animal that is not easily aroused. But once it is provoked, it is deadly.
Question 1 — For the last 4 years, Democrat leaders have blamed Russia for allegedly meddling in the 2016 elections. Now the Democrats - who control all three branches of government — have the power to reset US foreign policy and take a more hostile approach to Moscow. But will they?

At present, there are roughly 40,000 US-NATO troops massed along the Russian border conducting military exercises while scores of Russian tanks, artillery and an estimated 85,000 Russian troops are now located about 25 miles from Ukraine's eastern border. Both armies are on hair-trigger alert and prepared for any sudden provocation. If the Ukrainian Army invades the Russian-speaking region of Ukraine (Donbas), Moscow will likely respond.

So, will there be a conflagration in the Ukraine this spring and, if so, how will Putin respond? Will he limit the scope of his campaign to the Donbas or push onward to Kiev?

Israel Shamir
- If the Russian army crosses the Ukrainian border, it won't stop in the Donbas. The war will be brief and the Ukraine will be split into pieces. But will it happen?

Stormtrooper

Canada reveals it paid White Helmets $4 million annually after it cut ties

White Helmets
White Helmets member waving al-Qaeda/Nusrah flag
In another stunning revelation concerning the self-styled "independent" Syrian rescue and aid organization the White Helmets, Canada this week revealed that it has ended all funding for the controversial group yet without detailing why.

A bombshell new report in The Globe and Mail says only that the government of Canada, dubbed "one of the staunchest backers of the White Helmets", ended support "shortly after the death of the group's British co-founder, James Le Mesurier, who committed suicide in November, 2019."

Comment: See also:


Bizarro Earth

Moscow expels 5 Polish diplomats after Warsaw joins Baltic states in expelling Russian diplomats

Polish flag
FILE PHOTO: The Polish flag flies by Warsaw's embassy in Moscow.
Russia has expelled five staff members at Poland's embassy in Moscow in a tit-for-tat move after Warsaw declared three Russian diplomats in Poland personae non gratae for violating their diplomatic status.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on April 23 it had summoned Poland's ambassador to Russia, Krzysztof Krajewski, to the ministry in Moscow where he was informed of the decision.

It said the move, which gives the Polish diplomats until May 15 to leave Russia, was made because Warsaw was "consciously pursuing a course toward the further degradation and destruction of our bilateral relations."

Comment: See also: Russia BANS FBI & DNI directors in new tit-for-tat sanctions blacklist, US 'laments' escalation - despite Biden starting it


Mail

Amid increased tensions in Donbass, Putin invites Zelensky to Moscow for discussions on 'bilateral relations'

PutinZelensky
© Sputnik/Alexei Druzhinin/Kremlin via Reuters/Ukraine Presidential Press Service/AFPRussian President Vladimir Putin • Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky
Russian President Vladimir Putin has revealed that he is ready to welcome his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky "at any convenient time in Moscow." The suggestion comes after Kiev offered to meet in war-torn Donbass.

Speaking before talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday, Putin said Zelensky should first discuss the problems of Donbass with the heads of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics before speaking with representatives of third countries. He included Russia in this category.
"And if we are talking about the development of bilateral relations, then, please, we will receive the president of Ukraine in Moscow at any time convenient for him. If President Zelensky wants to start restoring relations, Russia will only welcome it."
The Russian leader's statement comes after Zelensky, earlier this week, suggested a summit:
"anywhere in the Ukrainian Donbass where the war is going on. Ukraine and Russia, despite their shared past, look to the future in different ways. We are us. You are you. But this is not necessarily a problem; it is an opportunity. At the very least, an opportunity, before it is too late, to stop the murderous mathematics of future war losses."

Comment: Following a convincing show of force, many are breathing a sigh of relief that misinterpretations didn't lead to irretrievable actions and a rapid escalation of hostilities. The Russians are departing:
A number of Russian military units which were deployed near the tense Ukrainian frontier over recent weeks have now started to return to their regular deployments elsewhere in the country, Moscow's army chiefs revealed on Friday.

Footage released by the Ministry of Defense showed tanks being loaded onto amphibious landing ships after taking part in exercises on the Crimean coast. Other shots featured soldiers loading armored vehicles for transport.

On Thursday, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced that personnel deployed in the west and south of the country had passed a series of readiness checks after being deployed. According to him, "the goals of the sudden inspection have been fully achieved. The troops demonstrated their ability to ensure reliable defense of the country."

As a result, he has since ordered commanders to "plan and begin the return of the soldiers to their places of regular deployment, beginning from April 23. The personnel of the 58th Army of the Southern Military District, the 41st Army of the Central Military District, the 7th, 76th Air Assault and 98th Airborne Divisions of the Airborne Forces" will return to their normal bases.

Fighting between Kiev's forces and soldiers loyal to two breakaway republics in the east has escalated in recent weeks, and Moscow has warned it could intervene to prevent a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe.
See also:


Bandaid

US gives examples of possible sanctions relief to Iran

Money/sanctions
© DW/Christian Ohde/KJN
The U.S. has given Iran examples of sanctions it could lift as part of efforts to return to compliance with the 2015 Obama-era nuclear agreement that former President Trump withdrew from in 2018, a senior State Department official said Wednesday in a briefing with reporters.

The step by the U.S. is part of indirect discussions between Washington and Tehran taking place in Vienna. In the talks, the two sides are discussing incremental steps each could take to bring them both into compliance with the international agreement, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran has called for the Biden administration to lift all sanctions imposed by the Trump administration when it withdrew from the international agreement.

But the U.S. team, led by President Biden's special envoy for Iran Rob Malley, have said that they are likely only considering sanctions inconsistent with the JCPOA, and are not likely to lift a vast array of other punitive measures the previous administration imposed targeting Iranian sectors that are deemed to be supporting terrorism.

Comment: Iran knows exactly what it is doing. Can the Biden administration say the same?