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650,000 conscription-aged men left Ukraine for Europe since February 2022 - BBC

Dmytro Basmat
Kyiv Independent
Sat, 25 Nov 2023 17:57 UTC
ukraine train

FILE PHOTO
Approximately 650,000 Ukrainian men aged 18-60 have left Ukraine for Europe since the start of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, BBC Ukraine reported on Nov. 24.

Citing data provided by Eurostat, the official statistical record-keeping agency of the EU, the report notes over half a million male refugees are currently residing in the 27 EU member states, as well as Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, many of whom are undocumented.

In Germany, it is estimated that 100,000 unregistered individuals are residing in the country, while in Austria at least 14,000 Ukrainian men arrived using forged documents or the services of smugglers.


Comment: Russia is estimated to have taken in at least 2 million people.


Under martial law, Ukrainian men between the ages of 18-60, with some exceptions, are not allowed to leave the country because they could be called up for military service.


Comment: And so it's possible that the number that managed to escape is even higher that that, because these are the Kiev-junta's numbers. Furthermore, these are the men that successfully left either through bribes or other means of escape, but the number that wanted to leave was likely much, much higher.

And, tellingly, it wasn't just the general public, because over half of Ukrainian diplomats that left the country for official business simply never returned.


Comment: The Voice of Ukraine reports:
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees previously reported that since the start of the full-scale war, approximately 6.3 million people have fled Ukraine. BBC Ukraine, referring to an analysis of Eurostat information, writes that according to open-source data, 4.2 million Ukrainians have received temporary protections in the EU, with 18.3% (768,000) being men aged 18 to 64. BBC Ukraine reports Exxpress obtained data on men aged 18 to 60.

Previously, the BBC reported, citing data from Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary, and Slovakia, that between February 2022 and August 31, 2023, 19,740 men had illegally crossed the Ukrainian border.
Evidently a huge number of men do not feel that the Ukraine the Kiev-junta is overseeing is worth risking their life for. This is reasonable, because the Ukraine that they were living under for a decade and more, prior to the Western fomented escalation, was considered to be the most corrupt country in Europe, and the nefarious goings on in the country have gotten unfathomably worse since:

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Document

Another Epstein victim sues Ghislaine Maxwell


RT
Sat, 25 Nov 2023 00:22 UTC
epstein accuser elizabeth stein sarah ransome
© Getty Images / Lev Radin
Elizabeth Stein (L) leaves the courtroom with fellow Epstein accuser Sarah Ransome after Ghislaine Maxwell's sentencing
A self-described victim of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operation sued Epstein's estate and his partner-in-crime, convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, on Wednesday in the Supreme Court of New York.

Elizabeth Stein, who first came forward in 2021, alleged years of abuse, stalking and manipulation by the pair that culminated in suicide attempts, multiple hospitalizations and a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Stein became part of what the suit describes as Epstein and Maxwell's "decades-long organized scheme to procure young females for their own sexual pleasure and that of their friends and acquaintances, many of them high government officials and corporate titans" between 1994 and 1997, according to the filing.
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Pirates

'Alive with rats': north Queensland town of Karumba overrun by plague of swimming rodents


The Guardian
Thu, 23 Nov 2023 08:44 UTC
rats queensland
© Supplied: Tia Boo
Thousands of rats washed up on the Karumba foreshore.
The north Queensland town of Karumba is home to saltwater crocs, brolgas and black swans and, more recently, hundreds of swimming rats.

A sea of rodents has been washing up dead on the beach in recent days, with others scurrying across the boat ramps into garden sheds and homes.

Yvonne Tunney is one of about 500 residents who lives in the small coastal town. The Gulf suburb is a fisherman's paradise known for its barramundi spoils, prawning and crabbing but recently it has become more famous for its rodent problem.

Comment: See also:



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Quenelle - Golden

Russia's economy growing three times faster than Eurozone - Guardian


RT
Sat, 25 Nov 2023 23:25 UTC
eurozone
© Incamerastock / Alamy
GDP is forecast to expand 1.5% in 2024 against the euro area's 0.5%
Western sanctions have so far failed to halt Russia's economic growth, which is now projected to outpace that of the Eurozone, the Guardian reported on Thursday, citing investment firm Amundi.

According to the company's forecast, Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) will grow by 1.5% in 2024. In contrast, the Eurozone economy is set to expand by mere 0.5% next year, according to Amundi, Europe's largest fund manager in terms of assets.

"It means that the United States, Europe, Japan, Australia - the major developed countries - are unable to sanction a country effectively... We can deplore it, but it's a reality," Amundi CIO Vincent Mortier said at a news conference in Paris.

Comment: It's perhaps no surprise that, as the West faces total defeat with its proxy-war in Ukraine; with Winter coming amidst yet another burgeoning energy crisis; and considering the ominous economic and political situation, that the West is shamelessly and wholeheartedly backing Israel's genocide in Gaza, and their overall destabilisation campaign in the Middle East:


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HAL9000

OpenAI researchers warned board of AI breakthrough ahead of CEO ouster

Anna Tong, Jeffrey Dastin and Krystal Hu
Yahoo! News
Sat, 25 Nov 2023 22:30 UTC
OpenAI new board of directors
© Yahoo! Finance
OpenAI's reconstituted Board of Directors after Sam Altman's return
Ahead of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's four days in exile, several staff researchers wrote a letter to the board of directors warning of a powerful artificial intelligence discovery that they said could threaten humanity, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The previously unreported letter and AI algorithm were key developments before the board's ouster of Altman, the poster child of generative AI, the two sources said. Prior to his triumphant return late Tuesday, more than 700 employees had threatened to quit and join backer Microsoft in solidarity with their fired leader.

The sources cited the letter as one factor among a longer list of grievances by the board leading to Altman's firing, among which were concerns over commercializing advances before understanding the consequences. Reuters was unable to review a copy of the letter. The staff who wrote the letter did not respond to requests for comment.

Comment:

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Oil Well

Shell faces trial over Nigeria oil spills


RT
Fri, 24 Nov 2023 15:00 UTC
crudespill
© Modest Franco/Getty Images
Crude oil spilling in Nigeria
More than 13,000 people in the West African nation can bring claims against the company, a UK court has ruled...

British energy multinational Shell can be sued by thousands of Nigerians for oil spills, the High Court in London has ruled.

Earlier this year, more than 13,000 farmers and fishers from the Ogale and Bille communities in Nigeria filed claims against the oil major, seeking compensation for infringing their right to a clean environment under the Nigerian constitution.

Law firm Leigh Day, representing the plaintiffs, said on Thursday:
"If the case succeeds at trial, it will be the first time in legal history that a UK multinational will have been found to have breached a communities' right to a clean environment. Importantly, such claims have no limitation period, meaning Shell would not be able to evade liability on the grounds the communities did not bring their claims within a narrow time frame."
The court ruling was made public on Wednesday, in a case that has been ongoing for eight years.

Comment: Angola and Nigerian requests to up oil production denied:
Two African members of the OPEC+ group of oil-producing countries, Angola and Nigeria, have defied the organization's plans to cut output and demanded that their production quotas be raised.

An ensuing dispute forced OPEC+ member states to postpone a scheduled meeting at which they were expected to discuss further output cuts, a development that sent oil prices sliding. Both benchmarks, WTI and Brent, dropped dramatically on Wednesday after the meeting was delayed. As of Friday, WTI was trading at around $76.8 per barrel and Brent at roughly $81.8 per barrel.

Angola and Nigeria are each aiming for higher oil outputs, with Angola's OPEC+ governor Estevao Pedro saying that his country was "fighting" to increase production.

In recent years, the two countries were failing to meet their quotas and at OPEC+'s last meeting, in June, they were given lower production targets as part of the bloc's broad deal to limit supply into 2024.

However, the African countries now reportedly want to have their production quotas raised from those agreed levels. According to Angola's OPEC+ representative, investment was now "being made" to enable the country to raise its oil output.

The OPEC+ meeting about next year's production policy will now take place next Thursday. Several analysts polled by the news agency have predicted that the group will most likely extend or even deepen oil-supply cuts into next year.

OPEC+ members, including major producers Saudi Arabia and Russia, have pledged to cut their oil output, in a series of steps that started in late 2022. This was done in order to stabilize the global oil market, which had a volatile year due to sanctions against major oil producer Russia, and to support crude prices.


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Hammer

'Become other than white' - Ireland and radical Jewish activism

Andrew Joyce
Occidental Observer
Fri, 30 Aug 2019 11:32 UTC
"Five Jews came from over sea with gifts to Tairdelbach [King of Munster], and they were sent back again over sea."

Annals of Inisfallen, 1079 A.D.

"I propose an interrogation of how the Irish nation can become other than white (Christian and settled), by privileging the voices of the racialised, and subverting state immigration, but also integration, policies."

Ronit Lentin (Israeli academic), From racial state to racist state: Ireland on the eve of the citizenship referendum, 2007.
ireland 2040 immigration
Prelude

Tairdelbach of Munster (Turlough O'Brien 1009-86), who was, by 1079, effectively the High King of Ireland, probably holds the world record for the fastest expulsion of Jews. He dominated the Irish political scene, had crushed the Viking leadership of Dublin, and possessed "the standard of the King of the Saxons." His son had even commenced raids into Wales and the British coast. Unfortunately, we can only surmise the nuances of the 70-year-old warlord's reaction to the sudden arrival of a handful of gift-bearing Jews, because the Annals of Inisfallen are thin on detail.

The delegation almost certainly originated in Normandy, where Jews thrived under a symbiotic financial relationship with William the Conqueror. William, of course, had introduced Jews to Anglo-Saxon England thirteen years before the approach to Tairdelbach, leaving open the possibility they could have travelled directly to Ireland from one of these new Jewish enclaves in England. In any event, it is almost certain that they arrived seeking permission to settle in Ireland's urban centers, forge a relationship with the Irish elite (Tairdelbach himself), and engage in exploitative moneylending among the lower social orders. This was a pattern that had hitherto been witnessed throughout Europe.

And yet Tairdelbach's reaction was to reject the gifts and immediately expel the Jews. They would not be able to form a community in Ireland for several centuries.
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Smoking

New Zealand backs off on smoking diktat: Dials back radical tobacco plans


RT
Fri, 24 Nov 2023 18:35 UTC
Cigarettes
© ESM Magazine
The new center-right coalition plans to scrap laws aimed at curbing cigarette sales

New Zealand's new coalition government has signaled plans to scrap the previous administration's anti-smoking policies, and will instead support age-appropriate access to nicotine products.

Health organizations in the country have called the move "extremely disappointing" and have urged the new government to stick with smoke-prevention policies.

New Zealand's Labour-led government had introduced amendments that from 2027 would have made it illegal to sell tobacco to anyone born after 2008. It would also have significantly reduced the number of retail outlets permitted to sell tobacco, starting from 2024. Additionally, the policies aimed at the 'de-nicotization' of cigarettes, with plans to ban the sale of high-nicotine smoking tobacco products from 2025.

Comment: Nice to see at least a speed bump thrown in the way of completely dumbing down NZ's population, though jab did go a long way towards that goal.

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Arrow Down

Royal profits on dead citizens' money a 'remnant of feudal Britain' - mayor


RT.com
Sat, 25 Nov 2023 18:32 UTC
The official's comment follows a media report claiming that the royal family appropriates deceased people's assets.
Royal Scumbags
© Jonathan Brady / POOL / AFP
Britain's Camilla, Queen Consort (L)reacts as Britain's King Charles III smiles during a meeting of the Accession Council inside St James's Palace in London on September 10, 2022, to proclaim Charles as the new King.
Britain must do away with the last vestiges of feudalism that have supposedly allowed the royal family to line their pockets at the expense of dead people, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham argued in a statement on Friday.

His comment came after a report by The Guardian claimed that King Charles III and his relatives have been appropriating money left behind by deceased individuals who had made no will or had no known next of kin, and are doing so to refurbish their properties.

Under a system known as bona vacantia, the assets of such individuals in most of England and Wales go to the Treasury, which then spends them on public services. However, as per an old custom dating back to the Middle Ages, people who die near two hereditary royal estates in England have their money collected by the monarch and their relatives.

These two estates are located in the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall, the first traditionally belonging to the reigning king or queen and the other to their heir. The royals have maintained that while they take in bona vacantia, the money is donated to local charities.
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Life Preserver

Video shows Israeli-owned ship ablaze after suspected drone attack


Al Jazeera
Sat, 25 Nov 2023 17:10 UTC
israel cargo
© Manuel Hernandez Lafuente via AP
The Israeli-owned CMA CGM Symi is seen at port in Valencia, Spain, on October 22, 2023. The vessel reportedly had its tracker turned off, a sign that crew members likely expected a threat in the region.
A suspected drone attack has hit a container ship owned by an Israeli businessman in the Indian Ocean, according to a United States defence official.

The attack was likely carried out using an Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone on Friday, an unnamed US defence official told The Associated Press news agency on Saturday.


Comment: It may, or may not, be an Iranian drone, but the operators were likely Yemen's Houthis.


Pan-Arab satellite channel Al Mayadeen also reported that an Israeli ship had been targeted in the Indian Ocean.

The drone targeted the Malta-flagged, French-operated CMA CGM Symi vessel while in international waters. The ship reportedly suffered damage after the drone exploded, but no crew members were injured.

Comment: Footage from the ship seizure that occurred earlier this week:



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