Society's ChildS


Eye 1

France doubles New Year's security forces in Paris due to 'terrorist' threat


France24
Fri, 29 Dec 2023 14:19 UTC
Champs-Elysees paris
© ERIC FEFERBERG / AFPUp to a million people are expected on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday
Paris alone, where up to one million revellers are expected on the Champs-Elysees Sunday night -- twice as many as last year -- will get 6,000 security forces to keep order.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters that Sunday's deployment was motivated by "a context of a heightened terrorist threat due to the conflict in Israel and Palestine".


Comment: However terror attacks have occurred across Europe, over much of this year, with a number of them linked to the security services: 1 tourist dead after Paris knife attack, assailant was known by authorities for terrorist plans & radical Islam views


More people were expected in the streets of the capital than last year because of additional celebrations to mark 2024 as the year of the Paris Summer Olympics and Paralympics, Darmanin said.

Comment: Similar precautions are underway in Germany, however Berlin said they were concerned that there would be a repeat of the riots seen the year prior. And yet, just a week earlier, over the Christmas period, they ramped up security measures around Cologne Cathedral over concerns of a possible terror attack:

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Arrow Down

Australian government is coming for your Utes, SUVs and cheap fuel

Jo Nova
joannenova.com
Sat, 30 Dec 2023 01:46 UTC
Boots on Cars
© joannenova.com
We elect an Australian government but get the EU rules

Just before Christmas the government quietly put out new emissions rules they know Australians won't like. "Tis the season for dropping press release bombs.
Australia will adopt 'Euro 6' fuel standard by late 2025

Jacob Greber, The Australian Financial Review

Tough new petrol standards will be introduced at the end of 2025, potentially increasing the cost of fuel while expanding consumer access to leading-edge, mostly European, ultra-efficient vehicles.
By forcing Australians to buy expensive, unreliable cars prone to exploding, the government will stop families going on holidays, burn down a few homes, and keep friends from visiting each other, unless the nation of petrol-heads keep driving their old cars and Utes, Cuba style. For all this pain, the new rules will "slash 18 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions" which is equivalent to taking 280,000 imaginary cars off the road, or cutting 0.15% of annual emissions from China. i.e. nothing.

All Peter Dutton, the opposition leader in Australia needs to do to win the next election is to stand up for drivers in Australia.

Apparently Australians need to import more EU cars to save German industry or something:
...the government aims to spur greater imports of vehicles that car makers currently do not sell in Australia because the fuel is too dirty for their highly calibrated engines.
The press release reads like it was written by the EU aristocratic snobs, not the Australian Labor Party.

This is no place for an EV.
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Star of David

Who funds Canary Mission? Inside the doxxing operation that targets anti-Zionist students and professors

James Bamford
The Nation
Fri, 29 Dec 2023 18:59 UTC
pro palestinian protest harvard
© Pat Greenhouse / The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesA pro-Palestinian protest of Harvard students and their supporters, ends on the lawn behind Klarman Hall, at Harvard Business School, after starting in the Old Yard by Massachusetts Hall.
Americans who give money to Canary Mission are potentially committing a serious crime by acting as agents of a foreign power.

It was a scene reminiscent of the Red Scare days, of grainy black-and-white television images of political witch hunts by the old House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). But rather than hunting for disloyal communist sympathizers, committee members at early December's hearing before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce were instead hunting for university presidents disloyal to Israel. "Are you now, or have you ever been, an anti-Zionist?" quipped New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg. "You can see the trap."

What is missing from Congress are hearings into the decades of illegal anti-Palestinian espionage, covert action, and blacklisting of Americans within the United States by the Israeli government and its domestic collaborators — actions far more serious and damaging than campus semantics. As noted in my earlier articles for The Nation, they range from dispatching a secret agent to interfere in a presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump; to launching a covert operation within the US targeting academics and others who support a boycott of Israel; to conducting a massive operation to spy on and "crush" pro-Palestinian students throughout the country; to establishing a secret Israeli-run troll farm across the US to harass anyone critical of Israel; to hiring Americans to secretly spy on American students and report back to Israeli intelligence. And then there is Canary Mission, a massive blacklisting and doxxing operation directed from Israel that targets students and professors critical of Israeli policies, and then launches slanderous charges against them — charges designed to embarrass and humiliate them and damage their future employability. All secretly funded by wealthy Jewish Americans and Jewish American foundations.

Comment: Further reading:

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Telescope

Unidentified object entered Poland's airspace from Ukraine, military reports


RFE/RL
Fri, 29 Dec 2023 14:52 UTC
poland ukraine
The incident coincided with a massive overnight air attack by Russia on Ukraine.
An unidentified aerial object entered the airspace of Poland from the direction of the border with Ukraine early on December 29, the Polish Army's Operational Command said. "In the morning, an unidentified aerial object entered the airspace of the Republic of Poland from the side of the border with Ukraine, and from the moment it crossed the border until the signal disappeared, it was observed by the radars of the country's air-defense system," the operational command said on X, formerly Twitter.

It said that "In accordance with applicable procedures, the operational commander of the armed forces mobilized the available forces and resources at his disposal." The incident coincided with a massive overnight air attack by Russia on Ukraine.

Comment: One recalls this incident from November 2023: 'Russian missiles crossed into Poland, killing 2', US official claims - Update: Ukraine admits firing missile, no evidence Russia was responsible

Then again, there was also this from Jan 2023: 'Russia shoots down unknown object' in Rostov - Newsweek

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Hourglass

Israeli troops in Gaza infected by deadly fungi, 1 dead & 10 severely affected


The New Arab
Tue, 26 Dec 2023 12:00 UTC
gaza
© GettyIsrael's war on Gaza has caused an environmental catastrophe, with Israeli soldiers themselves affected
Dangerous fungi in the soil of the Gaza Strip have caused the death of an Israeli soldier and the hospitalisation of at least 10 others earlier this month, Israeli media reported on Monday.

The Israeli soldier who was taking part in the ground assault on the besieged Gaza Strip was battling an infection in hospital for several days before succumbing to "serious injuries" resulting from different fungi infections, KAN News reported.

Comment: It may be that Gazans are also suffering from these infections but they don't have the adequate resources to test for them, and they have much more pressing emergencies to deal with.

However, there's also the possibility that, what with Israel previously proclaiming itself to be a 'Pfizer laboratory' for the experimental covid injections, that these soldiers are in fact seriously immunocompromised and are thus more susceptible to infections and diseases, as has been shown to be the case with the surge in STD/STI data elsewhere.

One scientific paper reports that just 30% of Palestinians, and only 14.5% of Palestinian professionals, received at least 1 dose, compared with an overall vaccination rate of over 90% of Israelis: Australia joins rest of world in dramatic spike in STIs, even with a lower rate of testing compared to previous years

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Map

Far-right extremists stage rural land grab across Germany

Kate Connolly
The Guardian
Wed, 27 Dec 2023 10:45 UTC
reich citizens movement germany
© AlamyMembers of the Reich Citizens' Movement organize a lift at the Lustgarten in the city of Berlin.
Reichsbürger movement aims to establish parallel societies by infiltrating schools, clubs and public offices.

A strategic rural land grab by rightwing extremists is taking place across Germany with the concerted aim of creating communities independent of the state, according to the domestic intelligence agency and government ministries.

Authorities and NGOs monitoring far-right groups say the members of the Reichsbürger movement who reject the post-1945 German state are making a targeted effort to establish parallel societies and infiltrate existing structures including schools, clubs and public offices.

Comment: It's hard to determine from a mainstream news article what's truth and what's smearing. Labeling anyone a 'right-wing extremist' should immediately activate one's BS detector. Growing organic food, taking kids out of public education, alternative medicine, and general rejection of mainstream society doesn't sound all that extreme in the current state of the world - it actually seems like a sane reaction and isn't anything beyond what prepper communities across the US are doing. However, having designs on overthrowing the current government is where they may be crossing the line.

See also:

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Dollar

Israeli occupation forces steal $2.76 mln from West Bank shops, banks


Al Mayadeen
Thu, 28 Dec 2023 13:49 UTC
box of euros
An Israeli occupation soldier carrying a box of cash stolen from the occupied West Bank, occupied Palestine, during a raid on December 28, 2023.
The Israeli occupation forces stole cash from the West Bank amounting to about $2.76 million, during a large-scale raid that targeted multiple cities at once.

The Israeli occupation forces raided multiple cities in the West Bank at once, and stormed banks and currency exchange shops, seizing from them large amounts of cash, according to reports from the West Bank and the Quds News Network.

In Jenin, QNN revealed that the Israeli occupation stormed the Arab Bank and the Al-Quds Bank, as well as the Al-Khaleej Exchange and Fakhr al-Diín Exchange Company, and seized their contents.

Comment: We suppose Hamas is hiding their base of operations in the cash drawers of West Bank currency exchanges.

See also:

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Book 2

Best of the Web: Russian textbooks say Trump lost in rigged election

Jon Jackson
Newsweek
Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:33 UTC
russian history textbook
A new textbook for Russian students claims former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election due to voter fraud committed by the Democrats.

Images from the history book, which is reportedly used by students in the 11th (graduating) grade, have circulated on social media in recent days. Marc Bennetts, foreign correspondent for The Times (U.K.), posted a page from the book on Monday onto his X (formerly Twitter) account, translating that the book said Trump lost the election "as a result of obvious electoral fraud by the Democratic Party."

Trump and some of his allies are facing criminal charges, accused of attempting to interfere with the results of the 2020 election that President Joe Biden handily won, and Trump's claims of the election being rigged against him have been widely debunked in courts of law and elsewhere.

Trump has also been criticized for dishing out compliments to Russian President Vladimir Putin, though he has condemned Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Still, some Russian analysts have suggested that the Kremlin may prefer Trump winning in 2024 over Biden.
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Boat

Because of Israel's war against Palestine, there are no innocent ships at sea

John Helmer
Dances with Bears
Wed, 27 Dec 2023 07:26 UTC
blow the gaff
Since the start of Israel's genocide of Gaza, it has been the claim of the Israelis, their lawyers, and allies that there are no innocent civilians in Gaza, so they say that killing them all is neither a genocide nor a war crime.

Israel's President Isaac Herzog said it in India in October. US Congressman Brian Mast said it, following the Israeli lead. The US Navy analyst who spied for Israel and served half a life in US prison for his treason has declared it in print. A French-Israeli lawyer has argued the legality on French television.

The reply the Arab militaries fighting against Israel have made is that there is no innocent oil tanker or container ship moving within missile or drone range of Israel, the Red Sea or the Indian Ocean unless it can prove it. This answer by the Ansar Allah government of Yemen, aka the Houthi military, is that they will attack any vessel which they know to be owned or controlled by Israel through its shipping families, companies, and their cutouts.

As a result, Houthi drone and missile attacks have exposed the elaborate scheme of corporate camouflage and false-flagging which Israel has been employing to conceal the vessel identities and movement of its international shipping operations. The Anglo-American maritime industry media, privy to these secrets, have not published them. The mainstream western press remains in the dark.

In today's Gorillla Radio podcast, this isn't dark any longer. Not genocide in Gaza but money in shipowner pockets is blowing the gaff.
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Quenelle

Iran, Russia agree to ditch dollar, trade in national currencies


IRNA
Thu, 28 Dec 2023 22:27 UTC
iran rusia
© Sputnik/ Russian Presidency Press ServiceFILE:
The establishment of new financial and banking platforms has opened a "new chapter" in banking relations between Iran and Russia, with the two countries agreeing to ditch the US dollar and instead trade in local currencies.

Platforms such as non-SWIFT messaging systems and establishing bilateral brokerage relations using national currencies are now being used by banks and businesses in Iran and Russia, Fars News reported on Wednesday, citing information from the Central Bank of Iran.

In a recent meeting, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Mohammad-Reza Farzin and his Russian counterpart finalized an agreement to use national currencies in bilateral trade.

Comment: Oil Price reports:
"Banks and economic actors can now use infrastructures including non-SWIFT interbank systems to deal in local currencies," Iran's state media has declared.

Moscow has lately been cozying up to Tehran, with Iran revealing in November it will provide Russia with Su-35 fighter jets, Mi-28 attack helicopters and Yak-130 pilot training aircraft.

The global de-dollarization drive has been going on for years with BRIC countries and the so-called pariah states trying to ditch the American dollar in favor of other currencies.

Back in 2019, Putin declared that time was ripe to review the dollar's role in trade. At that time, Russia and China considered switching to the euro, the world's second most dominant currency, as an acceptable stalemate, with the ultimate goal being to use their own currencies.


It just goes to show how quickly the unipolar world is losing its position because China has since replaced the Euro as the World's 2nd top trade currency.


Earlier in the current year, Russia paid dividends from the Sakhalin 1 and 2 oil projects in Chinese yuan instead of the dollar. Last year, Russia was cut off from the US dollar-dominated global payments systems following sweeping sanctions off the Ukraine war.

Russia has declared it will no longer accept the American currency as payment for its energy commodities but will instead switch to Chinese and Emirati currencies.

However, global de-dollarization efforts have borne little fruit with the vast majority of cross-border transactions involving BRICS members continuing to be invoiced in dollars. Indeed, exchanging BRICS members' local currencies with each other and with other emerging market currencies frequently requires using the dollar as an intermediary.

Further, a large share of public and private debt in these economies is dollar denominated. The relative stability of the dollar compared to many local currencies makes it more attractive as a medium of payment in cross-border trade. The dollar's widespread use in these cases has become self-reinforcing, thus preserving its dominant global role and impeding efforts to de-dollarize.
The multipolar world may, in some respects, be struggling to shake dollar dominance, but it's clear that preparations are in the works to ditch it once and for all:

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