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Alleged 'poisoning' of opposition figure Navalny was 'provocation' aimed at discrediting Russia in eyes of world, Moscow claims


RT
Thu, 19 Aug 2021 19:41 UTC
Navalny
The hospitalization of prominent opposition figure Alexey Navalny was a planned provocation aimed at discrediting Russia. That's according to the Foreign Ministry, in a text published a day before the incident's first anniversary.

Navalny, a well-known anti-corruption campaigner and protest leader, fell ill last August on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow. Following an emergency landing, he was immediately hospitalized in the Siberian city of Omsk. Two days later, after a request from his family and associates, the activist was flown to Germany for treatment at Berlin's Charité clinic.

Shortly after, German authorities announced that the opposition figure was poisoned with a nerve agent from the Novichok group, a finding later reportedly confirmed by laboratories in both Sweden and France. The medical team in Omsk denies that any poison was found in Navalny's body.
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USA

How America will collapse (by 2025)

Alfred McCoy
Salon
Mon, 06 Dec 2010 08:01 UTC
continental USA
© Unknown
Four scenarios that could spell the end of the United States as we know it in the very near future.

A soft landing for America 40 years from now? Don't bet on it. The demise of the United States as the global superpower could come far more quickly than anyone imagines. If Washington is dreaming of 2040 or 2050 as the end of the American Century, a more realistic assessment of domestic and global trends suggests that in 2025, just 15 years from now, it could all be over except for the shouting.

Despite the aura of omnipotence most empires project, a look at their history should remind us that they are fragile organisms. So delicate is their ecology of power that, when things start to go truly bad, empires regularly unravel with unholy speed: just a year for Portugal, two years for the Soviet Union, eight years for France, 11 years for the Ottomans, 17 years for Great Britain, and, in all likelihood, 22 years for the United States, counting from the crucial year 2003.

Future historians are likely to identify the Bush administration's rash invasion of Iraq in that year as the start of America's downfall. However, instead of the bloodshed that marked the end of so many past empires, with cities burning and civilians slaughtered, this twenty-first century imperial collapse could come relatively quietly through the invisible tendrils of economic collapse or cyberwarfare.

Comment: How close to these predicted scenarios we have come! Numerous junctures, prior to-and-post 2010, offered the potential for different choices and branching realities. It would seem we are heading that way again.

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Donut

Israel bars chocolate shipment 'meant for Hamas'


The New Arab
Tue, 17 Aug 2021 00:00 UTC
2 guys car chocolate
© Getty Images
Israel has blocked a 23-tonne shipment of chocolate bars, which they claim is part of Hamas' underground financial network.

A 23-tonne shipment of chocolate bars headed to the besieged Gaza Strip has been seized by Israel, which claimed the delivery was intended to finance Hamas' military wing. Israeli Tax Authority officials intercepted the shipment as it passed from Egypt into Israel at the Nitzana border crossing, before heading to the besieged enclave, local media said.

Israeli officials said the chocolate bars were being brought into the besieged enclave by importers working with two Gazan companies: Al-Mutahidun Currency Exchange and Arab Al-Sin, both of which reportedly belong to the Shamlakh family. Israel claims sales of imports made by Al-Mutahidun and Arab al-Sin in Gaza were intended to help finance Hamas' military wing.

Defence Minister Benny Gantz said in a statement, after signing a confiscation order for the chocolate bars:
"Israel will continue to act to prevent Hamas from growing stronger. Hamas is growing its military forces instead of caring for the residents of the Strip who are struggling economically. We will continue to pursue terrorism's funding no matter what form it takes."
"Business dealings with these companies are illegal, and will lead to severe penalties against those involved," an Israeli official told the Ynet news site on Monday.

Comment: Barring none, it doesn't get much more petty than this!

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Attention

Afghan pullout by US in total disarray, Pentagon still not sure how many Americans are stuck in Afghanistan

Nooman Merchant and Zeke Keller
Associated Press
Thu, 19 Aug 2021 19:09 UTC
marines
© U.S. Marine Corps/Sgt. Isaiah Campbell via Reuters
The warnings were clear: The Afghan government would likely fall once U.S. troops pulled out. But intelligence agencies and ultimately President Joe Biden missed how quickly it would happen, losing weeks that could have been used for evacuations and spurring a foreign policy crisis.

Without a sense that the country could collapse so quickly, the administration heard out Afghan President Ashraf Ghani when he met face-to-face with Biden in June. Biden says Ghani pressed him to hold off on any urgent evacuation of Americans, arguing that it would be inviting the Taliban to advance more quickly -- as it turned out they did anyway -- and telling the Afghan army to give up.

It was an ask that Biden heeded, despite more than a decade of deep-rooted skepticism of the competence of the Afghan government and military, marred by widespread corruption and mismanagement.

Comment: Former president Donald Trump has ripped the Biden administration to shreds over their handling of the Afghan evacuation, calling it "the greatest embarrassment, I believe, in the history of our country." He also pointed out the problem with turning the Afghani military into a de-facto mercenary force:
"The fact is, they're among the highest-paid soldiers in the world. They were doing it for a paycheck, because once we stopped, once we left, they stopped fighting ... The fact is, our country was paying the Afghan soldiers a fortune. So we were sort of bribing them to fight, and that's not what it's all about."
Once mercenaries stop getting paid, they stop doing their jobs. The American military was well aware of that, it's not them getting "caught by surprise."

Meanwhile, at a briefing on Thursday, a Pentagon spokesman admitted that they do not know how many Americans remain in Taliban-controlled territory. Imagine if the same story came out when Trump was president. He would be facing the wrath of the establishment media. It will be interesting to see if the same media is going to ask some tough questions to the Biden admin. That is, of course, if the administration ever takes a question from a reporter any time soon. Biden gave a disastrous press conference Wednesday, not once mentioning Afghanistan and walking out on reporters peppering him with questions. This image is a great picture of what the Biden Admin has done to the American people:
biden


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Arrow Up

Taliban want an 'inclusive' Afghanistan, British army chief claims

Rory Sullivan
Independent
Wed, 18 Aug 2021 00:00 UTC
Gen. Carter
© Sky News screenshot
British General Nick Carter
The Taliban want an Afghanistan that is "inclusive" for all, the head of the British army has claimed.

General Nick Carter, Britain's chief of defence staff, made the comment after the militant group promised to respect women's rights under its rule. However, the Taliban's charm offensive appears to be at odds with reports on the ground, which suggest some women have been beaten by Taliban fighters who disapproved of the clothes they were wearing.

Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday, General Carter suggested, despite evidence to the contrary, that the Taliban wanted an "inclusive" Afghanistan. He added that "you have to be very careful using the word enemy" when referring to the group.
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X

'Russia is not the enemy': After failure in Afghanistan, Czech president calls on NATO to focus on terrorism instead of Moscow

Jonny Tickle
RT
Wed, 18 Aug 2021 11:23 UTC
Zeman
© Reuters/David W. Cerny
Czech President Milos Zeman
The enemy of NATO is not Russia, but international terrorism. That's according to Czech President Milos Zeman, who spoke on Tuesday about the failure of the American-led military bloc to defeat Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

Zeman's comments, given to Prague-based newspaper Parlamentní listy, echo remarks given by French President Emmanuel Macron in November last year, when he urged NATO leaders to shift focus away from Russia and China, noting that terrorism is a "common enemy" for all nations.

The Czech leader also slammed NATO for failing "dramatically" in Afghanistan but noted that he supported the war and the mission to beat Islamic terrorism. He claimed he told both US Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden during NATO summits that troop withdrawal was "cowardice." The legitimacy of the bloc's existence is now in question, he said.

Comment: Islamic terrorism is the underlying and unifying touchstone - no matter what immediate and pertinent differences arise.

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Eagle

US protectorates getting nervous: Taiwan says it needs to be 'stronger, more united, more resolute' after Afghanistan


Hong Kong Free Press
Thu, 19 Aug 2021 18:53 UTC
Tsai Ing-wen.
© Taiwan Gov’t
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.
Afghanistan's return to Taliban rule following the withdrawal of US forces shows Taiwan needs to be "stronger and more united" in ensuring its own defence, President Tsai Ing-wen said Wednesday.

Democratic Taiwan's 23 million people live under the constant threat of invasion from authoritarian Beijing which views the island as its own territory and has vowed to one day seize it.

Washington remains Taiwan's most important unofficial ally and is bound by an act of Congress to sell it defence weaponry.

But the sudden departure of US troops from Kabul has sparked discussion in Taiwan as to whether the US can be relied upon to come to Taipei's defence.

Tsai addressed those concerns directly in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

"Recent changes in the situation in Afghanistan have led to much discussion in Taiwan," she wrote.

"It's not an option for us to do nothing on our own and just to rely on other people's protection," she said in the post.

Comment: The world is noticing. Here's Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia's Security Council, in comments to Moscow's Izvestiya on Thursday:
"The confidence of the military and political leadership of the Americans and their allies that they fully controlled the situation in Afghanistan led to ignorance and underestimation of the real situation," Patrushev said.

"Ordinary Afghans are paying the price for Washington's mistakes. American and European troops are evacuating military personnel and citizens of their states, while the Afghans who collaborated with them are mostly being left to their own devices."

He said the situation has parallels with the one Kiev finds itself in, "where Washington has brought [the government] to power and continues to find support for it."

"The US is pumping this country with weapons Americans themselves don't need and closing their eyes. But, in fact, they are supporting burgeoning neo-Nazism, the growth of extremism, crime, drug trafficking, interethnic and sectarian strife."

"At the same time, Kiev obsequiously serves the interests of overseas patrons, striving to enter NATO," he argued. "But was the ousted pro-American regime in Kabul saved by the fact that Afghanistan had the status of a US ally, while not being part of NATO?"

"A similar situation awaits supporters of the American choice in Ukraine. Where neo-Nazis are capable of coming to power, the country is heading for disintegration, and the White House at some point will not remember its Kiev supporters," Patrushev said.


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Network

Taliban acquires US military biometric devices that can identify Afghans who assisted coalition efforts - reports


RT
Wed, 18 Aug 2021 18:46 UTC
Afghan American ISAF solider
© AFP / Jose CABEZAS
An American ISAF solider from team Apache of Task Force Geronimo, 4th Platoon Delaware of the United States Army, collects biometric information from an Afghan villager in the village of Mans Kalay in Sabari, Khost district on August 4, 2012.
The Taliban has reportedly seized US military biometrics equipment that could expose Afghans who helped coalition forces - since they contain identifying data like iris scans and fingerprints as well as biographical information.

An unidentified Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) official told The Intercept that the Islamist group confiscated the Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment (HIIDE) devices during its offensive push last week. The report was backed up by three former US military personnel.

They told the news outlet that the portable devices could be used to access sensitive information from large, centralized military databases, but noted that it was still unclear how much of the biometric database collected on the Afghan population has been compromised.

According to a US Army Corps of Engineers presentation, HIIDE devices use the data collected to create a "portfolio" that can then be imported into Biometrics Automated Toolset (BAT) identification-processing software as a "digital dossier." This can be scanned against official watch lists for threats.

Besides tracking insurgents, the Pentagon was also reportedly keen to use the devices to gather unique data on 80% of the Afghan population to check for terrorist and criminal activity. Unnamed sources said biometric details of locals who helped the US were also collected and used in identification cards.

Comment: In addition to this gear, "a fair amount" of American weapons have fallen into the hands of the Taliban, according to the White House.





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Binoculars

Diplomat: "Not even tanks" can stop large wave of Afghan refugees heading to Europe - Can Merkel, Macron and other leaders avert crisis?

Paul Joseph Watson
Summit News
Wed, 18 Aug 2021 00:00 UTC
refugees welcome
Merkel and Macron scramble to prevent repeat of 2015.

Despite Europe heavily fortifying its borders since the 2015 crisis, a top diplomat warns that "not even tanks" can stop a potentially large wave of Afghan refugees heading to the continent.

Even before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, up to 30,000 people were fleeing the country every single week.

Humanitarian development worker Sybille Schnehage told German broadcaster WDR on Sunday, "We can assume that up to three million Afghans will make their way to Europe in the foreseeable future."

Schnehage explained how the refugees are intent on leaving the Middle East entirely and settling in European welfare havens where the state partially subsidizes their lives.

"I always ask people: Why don't you go to Saudi Arabia? They are Muslims. This is your culture. The answer is always: No, Germany is better."

Although many experts think that Europe's efforts to strengthen its ports of entry since 2015 will prevent a repeat of the 2015 invasion, others aren't so confident.
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Laptop

Hunter Biden is seen in unearthed footage telling prostitute that Russian drug dealers stole ANOTHER of his laptops

Josh Boswell
Daily Mail
Wed, 11 Aug 2021 19:24 UTC
hunter biden
© Daily Mail
Hunter Biden claimed Russians stole another one of his laptops for blackmail while he was close to overdosing in a Las Vegas hotel room, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The alleged incident would mean Hunter lost a total of three computers - the first abandoned at a Delaware computer store and the second seized by federal agents - each likely to hold sensitive information on President Joe Biden and the embarrassing pictures, videos and communications of his son.

The third laptop still appears to be missing - and was taken by Russian drug dealers after they partied with Hunter in Vegas, he told a prostitute in a conversation caught on camera.

Comment: The Gateway Pundit reports:
This is a national scandal like NOTHING this country has ever seen before.
Certainly, dirtbag Chris Wray and the FBI are on top of this?

And yet NOT ONE mainstream liberal outlet even ran the story!
NOT ONE!

Can you imagine the headlines and movies and books and harassing reporters if a Trump son or daughter ever did anything CLOSE to this?

This is really a defining moment in US history.
See also:

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