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Chess

Best of the Web: Serbia thanks Russian spies for warning about color revolution attempt

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic.
© Filip Filipovic / Getty ImagesSerbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic.
Moscow shared vital intelligence with Belgrade, according to Prime Minister Ana Brnabiс.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabiс has expressed gratitude to the Russian security services, which alerted Belgrade to plans for riots in the capital.

Pro-Western demonstrators attempted to break into government buildings in Belgrade on Sunday evening, in what Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called an attempted color revolution. While Vucic initially thanked unnamed "foreign services" for letting his security services "know exactly what the thugs were preparing," Brnabiс later revealed that Belgrade was tipped off by Moscow.
"I feel that it is important, especially tonight, to stand up for Serbia and to thank the Russian security services who had that information and who shared it with us," Brnabic told TV Pink on Sunday night.

Comment: See also:



Bullseye

Spanish company UC Global and the CIA found guilty of violating rights of Julian Assange's visitors

assange ecuador embassy london 2016
© Carl Court/Getty ImagesJulian Assange at the window of the Ecuadorian embassy in London; 2016.
A court in New York has ruled that UC Global and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) violated the constitutional rights and privacy of U.S. citizens when they met with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at Ecuador's embassy in London. Four U.S. citizens — two lawyers and two journalists — had sued former CIA Director Mike Pompeo, the CIA and David Morales, a former Special Forces soldier in the Spanish military who owned a Spanish surveillance firm that was contracted to provide security for the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

Judge John G. Koeltl's decision acknowledged the violation of the plaintiffs' rights by the employees of UC Global, who unlawfully photographed mobile phone passwords and contents when the four plaintiffs were visiting Assange in the embassy. However, the judge also ruled that UC Global's recordings of conversations and photographs of passports at the embassy were not illegal because there is "no expectation of privacy [by the plaintiffs] in that embassy," which is considered a public place.

Comment: Kudos to El Pais for staying on top of this shameful targeting of Julian Assange.


Handcuffs

Flashback Assange judge is 40-year 'good friend' of minister who orchestrated his arrest

Ian Burnett
© Peter Summers/Getty ImagesLord Chief Justice Ian Burnett
Lord Chief Justice Ian Burnett, the judge that will soon decide Julian Assange's fate, is a close personal friend of Sir Alan Duncan, who as foreign minister arranged Assange's eviction from the Ecuadorian embassy.

The two have known each other since their student days at Oxford in the 1970s, when Duncan called Burnett "the Judge". Burnett and his wife attended Duncan's birthday dinner at a members-only London club in 2017, when Burnett was a judge at the court of appeal.

Now the most powerful judge in England and Wales, Burnett will soon rule on Assange's extradition case. The founder of WikiLeaks faces life imprisonment in the US.

In his recently published diaries, In The Thick of It, Duncan wrote in July 2017:
"My good friend and Oxford contemporary Ian Burnett is announced as the next Lord Chief Justice. At Oxford we always called him 'the Judge' and they always called me 'Prime Minister', but Ian's the one who's got there."
In an emailed response to Declassified, Lord Chief Justice Burnett confirmed he and Duncan have been "friends since university days".

Comment: Assange never stood a chance against the interconnected PTB - a warning to those who would reveal inconvenient truths. This is the message: there is no justice and no reprieve.


Document

UN approves watered-down resolution on aid to Gaza without call for suspension of hostilities

Mansour
© Yuki Iwamura/APPalestinian Ambassador to the U.N. Riyad Mansour
UN Security Council Meeting • UN Headquarters • December 22, 2023
The U.N. Security Council adopted a watered-down resolution Friday calling for immediately speeding aid deliveries to hungry and desperate civilians in Gaza but without the original plea for an "urgent suspension of hostilities" between Israel and Hamas.

The long-delayed vote in the 15-member council was 13-0 with the United States and Russia abstaining. The U.S. abstention avoided a third American veto of a Gaza resolution following Hamas' surprise Oct. 7 attacks inside Israel. Russia wanted the stronger language restored; the U.S. did not.

Still, "It was the Christmas miracle we were all hoping for," said United Arab Emirates Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, who sponsored the resolution. She said it would send a signal to the people in Gaza that the Security Council was working to alleviate their suffering.

The resolution culminated a week and a half of high-level diplomacy by the United States, the UAE on behalf of Arab nations and others. The vote, initially scheduled for Monday, was pushed back each day until Friday.


A relieved U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council, "This was tough, but we got there."


Comment: LTG's announcement of the resolution includes a sales pitch on US support and involvement, chock full of bias and tear jerks. There is no mention of Israel's genocide. It is cringeworthy.


Comment: How many died while the UN was mulling its resolution wording for over 75 days? What needlessly transpired because US vetoes crashed the process? How effective is the UN?


Must See: A short intro cuts to the Palestinian envoy to UN for a powerful speech to 18:30, then followed by the predictable Representative of Israel.


Life Preserver

Tanker hit off India coast by drone from Iran, says US

chem ship
© File PhotoThe strike hit a chemical products tanker such as shown here
A chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean was hit by a drone launched from Iran on Saturday, the US military says.

A fire on board the Chem Pluto was extinguished. There were no casualties.

Iran has not commented. Houthi rebels in Yemen - who are backed by Iran and support Hamas in its war with Israel - have recently used drones and rockets to target vessels in the Red Sea. But this event is the first of its kind so far away from there, according to maritime security firm Ambrey.

The same company also said the vessel was heading from Saudi Arabia to India, and was linked to Israel. The Houthis have claimed to be targeting Israel-linked vessels over the conflict in Gaza.

The US said the Chem Pluto was hit by "a one-way attack drone fired from Iran". It is believed to be the first time the US has publicly accused Iran of targeting a ship directly.

It has previously accused Iran of being "deeply involved" in planning operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea - a charge Tehran has denied.

However, Iran's Revolutionary Guards have warned they could force the closure of waterways other than the Red Sea if "America and its allies continue committing crimes" in Gaza.

Comment: Sometimes non-actions speak louder than 'words'.


Arrow Down

Supreme Court declines to issue expedited ruling on Trump immunity case

SmithTrump
© Drew Angerer/Getty Images/Eduardo Munez Alvarez/APSpecial Counsel Jack Smith • Former US President Donald Trump
The Supreme Court on Friday declined to issue an expedited ruling on whether former President Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution related to the 2020 election interference case.

Appellate courts are hearing the immunity case, but the Supreme Court ruled Friday that it would proceed as normal.

Trump's criminal trial in Washington, D.C. was scheduled to begin on March 4, but it's unclear if the Supreme Court ruling will force a delay. Special Counsel Jack Smith initially asked the Supreme Court to expedite arguments in the presidential immunity case.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has already indicated it would expedite its consideration of the immunity case.

Trump's legal team earlier this week filed a written response to Smith's request, urging the Supreme Court not to rush things.

The brief stated:
"This appeal presents momentous, historic questions. An erroneous denial of a claim of presidential immunity from criminal prosecution unquestionably warrants this Court's review. The Special Counsel contends that '[i]t is of imperative public importance that respondent's claims of immunity be resolved by this Court.'

"That does not entail, however, that the Court should take the case before the lower courts complete their review. Every jurisdictional and prudential consideration calls for this Court to allow the appeal to proceed first in the D.C. Court."

Comment: Court contagion? States are beginning to line up and take a number!
The FBI said on Friday that it is looking into threats made against the Colorado Supreme Court after the higher court deemed former President Donald Trump ineligible for the state's 2024 Republican primary ballot.

A non-profit research organization discovered a wave of online threats against the four justices who ruled in favor of keeping the former president off the ballot this week, deeming him ineligible to run for president because he allegedly violated section three of the 14th Amendment.

Vikki Migoya, spokeswoman for the FBI Denver Field Office, told NBC News:
"The FBI is aware of the situation and working with local law enforcement. We will vigorously pursue investigations of any threat or use of violence committed by someone who uses extremist views to justify their actions regardless of motivation."
The non-profit said the threats were made against the justices in the aftermath of Tuesday's ruling, including some social media users releasing the contact information and office building addresses of the four justices. Three other justices voted against removing Trump from the ballot.

The Colorado State Patrol, which provides security for the justices, said it would assist with the FBI's investigation as necessary but did not comment on any additional security measures they were putting in place.

The news comes as threats against public officials are spiking to record levels, according to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. She claimed that the department this week is already investigating threats to kill FBI agents, a Supreme Court justice, and three presidential candidates. Monaco told ABC News:
"What we've seen is an unprecedented rise in threats to public officials across the board: law enforcement agents, prosecutors, judges and election officials. And we are seeing that and responding to it,"
The ruling makes Colorado the first state to declare Trump ineligible to seek the presidency, but several other states are attempting to make the same case, including New York, Arizona, and Michigan.

Colorado's case is expected to go to the United States Supreme Court for a final ruling. Trump is also facing a total of 91 charges across four criminal indictments.



Airplane Paper

Biden emailed son's business associate 54 times - Republicans

Biden
© Mandel Ngan/AFPPresident Joe Biden • Mitchell International Airport
Milwaukee, Wisconsin • December 20, 2023
The email exchanges reportedly coincided with Hunter Biden's appointment to the board of a Ukrainian energy firm...

US President Joe Biden exchanged dozens of emails with his son Hunter's business associate while he was vice president, according to a Republican-led committee investigating alleged influence-peddling. The president has denied any involvement in his son's overseas dealings.

Files released by the House Ways and Means Committee this week show Biden using aliases and private email addresses to communicate with Eric Schwerin, Hunter Biden's accountant, 54 times. The bulk of these exchanges took place either side of Biden's two 2014 trips to Ukraine, with Hunter Biden appointed to the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy firm, after the first trip.

The committee did not publish the contents of the emails, only describing when they were sent. Nevertheless, the messages "directly refute previous public statements the president has made that he had no knowledge of his son's business dealings," the committee said in a press release.

Candle

Assange's final appeal against extradition to US set for February

Royal Courts of Justice britain assange
© (Nick Garrod/FlickrInside the Royal Courts of Justice
Julian Assange's wife Stella Assange confirmed that the hearing will take place at the Royal Courts of Justice in the middle of February.

Imprisoned publisher Julian Assange will face two High Court judges over two days on Feb. 20-21, 2024 in London in what will likely be his last appeal against being extradited to the United States to face charges of violating the Espionage Act.

Assange's wife Stella Assange confirmed that the hearing will take place at the Royal Courts of Justice. Assange had had an earlier request to appeal rejected by High Court Judge Jonathan Swift on June 6.

Assange then filed an application to appeal that decision and the dates have now been set. Assange is seeking to challenge both the home secretary's decision to extradite him as well as to cross appeal the decision by the lower court judge, Vanessa Baraitser.

Comment: Consortium News, published July, 2023:




Bullseye

Best of the Web: Ukraine proxy war "didn't work, Russia is NOT on its knees, West prevented TWO chances for peace" - Slovakia's PM Fico


Comment: Slovakia's new PM is, as the kids say, based.


Robert Fico
© Petr David Josek / APPrime Minister Fico

Comment: Rough transcription and editing by SOTT:
There were 2 chances to achieve peace soon after the conflict in Ukraine began, but the statesman and other adventurers from the West prevented Ukraine signing the first one with the Russians.

Since the prevailing belief was that if you give the Ukrainians weapons and money, the Russians will be on their knees, be powerless and destroyed.

This strategy didn't work. Russia is not on its knees.

It is clear that Russia will set the pace in the future negotiations.

And i know everyone doesn't like to hear this, but the real truth needs to be acknowledged.

The West is convinced that we must fight until the last Ukrainian, and it's convinced that this should weaken the Russian Federation internationally and economically, but this didn't work, and Orban, and probably one or two other prime ministers are saying the same thing: that we need to change this, force [Ukraine] to agree to peace talks.




Comment: This is just the latest condemnation of the collapsing West from Slovakia's PM:

Rounding up those who've refused to join the meat grinder continues:


Meanwhile those that remain are fleeing:






Eye 2

IDF tells Egypt to evacuate its forces from Rafah border, Israel will not be 'responsible' safety of Cairo troops

border israel egypt
© REUTERS/IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFAUN-flagged fuel trucks move towards border crossing, amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, October 16, 2023.
The IDF has allegedly informed Egypt of its intention to occupy the Rafah border area and asked Egyptian soldiers to evacuate the area, Arab media reported.

The IDF informed Egypt of its intention to occupy the border area on the "Philadelphi" Rafa route and asked the Egyptian soldiers to clear the border, as reported on Saturday in the Arab media.

The report also stated that the IDF emphasized to the Egyptians that from now on the IDF would not be responsible for the security of Egyptian forces in the area, while the IDF is attempting to occupy the border area, and emphasized that the military operation in the area will continue whether Egypt agrees or rejects it.

Comment: See also: 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