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Dozens of peacekeepers killed by militants - Ugandan president

Al-Shabaab
FILE PHOTO: Al-Shabaab
At least 54 African Union (AU) peacekeepers died in a late May assault by al-Shabaab extremists on a base in Somalia housing Ugandan troops, Uganda's president said on Saturday.

"We discovered the lifeless bodies of 54 fallen soldiers, including a commander," Yoweri Museveni said in a statement posted to social media, referring to the May 26 dawn raid. He admitted last week that there had been Ugandan casualties in the attack, but had not specified the numbers.

Al-Shabaab, a Somali-based Salafi-jihadist militant organization which has waged an insurgency for more than a decade against Somalia's western-backed government, has claimed responsibility for the assault. The group said it killed 137 soldiers in the attack, which involved a suicide-bombing.

Comment: See also: Uganda's President praises Russia's help in decolonization amidst Lavrov's tour of Africa


Magnify

Unverified Wagner video claims drunk Russian military chief launched attack on group

Prigozhin
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin poses in Bakhmut with two of his mercenary fighters on May 25.
In a sign of rising tensions between Russia's Wagner mercenary group and the country's official armed forces, the private company led by Yevgeny Prigozhin has released a video of a captured Russian officer where he "confesses" to ordering an attack on the mercenaries.

The video, released by Wagner's press service on June 4, shows the apparent interrogation of a person who calls himself Colonel Roman Venevitin, the commander of the Russian Army's 72nd motorized rifle brigade. During the questioning, he says he ordered an attack on Wagner troops due to "personal enmity."

Just prior to the publishing of the video, Wagner's press service released a military report about a shootout between the mercenary group's fighters and regular Russian armed forces that allegedly took place on May 17 near Ukraine's eastern city of Bakhmut, the epicenter of heavy fighting between Russian troops -- backed by Wagner forces -- and Ukrainian armed forces for months.

Padlock

SOTT Focus: Twenty Grim Realities Unearthed by Lockdowns

hydra-headed snake
It's common now to speak of the before times in contrast to the after times. The turning point was of course March 16, 2020, the day of 15 Days to Flatten the Curve, though authoritarian trends predate that. Rights were suddenly broadly throttled, even religious rights. We were told to conduct every aspect of our lives in accordance with the priorities of the bio-medical security state.

Very few people anticipated such a shocking development. It was the onset of a new state-conducted war and the enemy was something we could not see and hence could be anywhere. No one has ever doubted the omnipresence of potentially dangerous pathogens but now we were being told that life itself depended entirely on avoidance of them and the only guide going forward would be public-health authorities.

Everything changed. Nothing is the same. The trauma is real and lasting. The claim of "15 Days" was revealed to be a ruse. The emergency lasted three years and then some. The people and machinery that did this are still in power. The pick to head the CDC has a long track record of enabling and cheering the lockdowns and all that followed.

It's a helpful exercise to summarize the new things we've all discovered in these years. Together they account for why the world seems different and why we all feel and think differently now than we did just a few years ago.

Evil Rays

Troubling questions surround BBC 'disinformation correspondent' Marianna Spring

Marianna Spring
Little is known about the history of Marianna Spring, the BBC's first "disinformation correspondent." But her record of churning out disinfo of her own in the service of British government objectives sends a bright red flag up over the new Verify project.

The launch of BBC Verify, "a new brand to address the growing threat of disinformation and build trust with audiences by transparently showing how BBC journalists know the information they are reporting," has raised questions about whether the British state broadcaster is ramping up plans to manufacture consent for official objectives while maligning dissent.

The endeavor is said to be "a highly specialized team with a range of forensic and Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) capabilities that enable them to go beyond conventional newsroom techniques." In all, 60 BBC journalists are involved - including the "specialist disinformation correspondent" Marianna Spring.

The week after Verify's rollout was announced, the 27-year-old Spring took to airwaves to acquaint BBC Breakfast viewers with her new venture. She explained its mission was to "verify video, factcheck, counter disinformation, and analyze really complex stories so we can get to the truth of what's going on."

Comment: See: The BBC isn't exposing disinformation, it's peddling it

The UK gov't doesn't very much like Kit Klarenberg - the author of this article...




Take 2

Disney fires top execs after box-office flop

Angus MacLane and Galyn Susman
© AFP / Alberto E. RodriguezAngus MacLane and Galyn Susman attend the premiere of 'Lightyear' at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California, June 8, 2022
Disney's Pixar Animation Studios has slashed 75 jobs, including the top crew members of 2022's 'Lightyear', which was blocked from release in 17 countries because of its depiction of a homosexual kiss and ridiculed by conservatives in the West.

'Lightyear' director Angus MacLane and producer Galyn Susman were let go late last month, Reuters reported on Saturday. While MacLane was a relative newcomer to the studio, Susman had been at Pixar since the original 'Toy Story' movie in 1995. Including the two executives, a total of 75 positions were axed at Pixar.

Released last June, 'Lightyear' cost $200 million to produce, but only managed to pull in $226 million in worldwide ticket sales. Its depiction of a homosexual relationship between two female characters saw it banned in 16 Muslim countries and in China. These bans reportedly cost Disney $100 million in potential profits.

While the homosexual scene was initially cut from the movie several months before release, Disney's then-CEO Bob Chapek insisted that it be reinserted in response to Florida's Parental Rights in Education Bill. This legislation, signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis last March, prohibits teachers in Florida from discussing sexuality and gender identity with children in kindergarten through third grade.

Russian Flag

'Waging Peace': How a tour of Russia showed me that propaganda perverts reality in the minds of Americans

Ritter
© Andrey Bortko/SputnikFormer United Nations Chief Weapons Inspector on Iraq Scott Ritter talks to readers during the presentation of his book Disarmament Race, dedicated to nuclear security, at the Pobeda Culture and Leisure Centre on May 1, 2023, in Novosibirsk, Russia.
My month-long tour of the country was an eye-opening experience, and so was the hostility that met me back home...

At the end of April, my daughter Victoria and I departed New York City's JFK airport, ultimately bound for the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, the first destination of what would be a 26-day, 12-city tour of Russia.

While the official purpose of the visit was business (I was promoting my book, Disarmament Race, which has been published in the Russian language by the Komsomolskaya Pravda publishing house), the unofficial - and for me, most important - purpose of the visit was an opportunity to better understand today's Russia. To do this, I was going to dig deeper into Russian history, get a better grasp of the culture, and, in the process, try to understand the "Russian soul" in as precise a manner as possible.

Comment: Articles by Scott Ritter:


Attention

Harvard hires failed Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for teaching gig

lightfoot
© UnknownFormer Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot
Failed Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot will be taking a teaching role as a Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Lightfoot, the first Chicago mayor to lose re-election in 40 years, will teach a course titled "Health Policy, and Leadership."

Under Lightfoot's leadership, crime and poverty in the Windy City skyrocketed, while public school test scores plummeted.

In its announcement, Harvard claimed:
"Lightfoot led a coordinated, citywide response across government, business, and community organizations to safeguard public health and minimize economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic."
Lightfoot, who left office on May 15, received heavy criticism for her strict COVID policies and was slammed for violating them by getting a haircut at the height of pandemic lockdowns after telling residents to remain at home.

After her loss in the primary, Lightfoot attempted to blame her defeat on racism rather than her failed policies.

Comment: Harvard chose a winner:


Sherlock

Under-construction bridge collapses in India for second time in a year

Bridge india
© AFPThis photo taken on June 4, 2023, shows an under construction bridge collapsing into the river Ganges in Bhagalpur district in India's eastern state of Bihar.
An Indian state government on Monday ordered a probe into the collapse of a portion of an under-construction bridge over the Ganges River over the weekend, the second time the structure has crashed in a year.

No casualties were reported with no movement of people or vehicles on the bridge when nearly 250 meters (820 feet) of the concrete surface connecting pillars crashed into the river on Sunday.

Videos of the collapse spread on social media.

Comment: Whilst this may be the second time this has collapsed, just a few days ago there prior there was a significant rail disaster in the country: India train crash: at least 288 killed and 803 injured in Odisha state

See also:


Eye 1

Irish farmers revolt over gov'ts 'green' plan to cull 195,000 cattle, 'retirement scheme' offered to willing farmers

dairy farmer ireland
© Getty INUTAN/Gamma-Rapho via Getty ImagesmagesA dairy farmer tends to his herd on the Beara peninsula in West Cork
Irish farmers are rebelling against a proposal to cull tens of thousands of cattle a year to help Ireland meet its climate change targets.

The Irish government wants to reduce emissions from farming by a quarter by 2030. Media reports last week suggested that one option being considered was to reduce the national dairy herd by 10 per cent - meaning a cull of 65,000 cows a year for three years, at a cost of €200 million (£170 million) annually.

One Irish politician described the plan as "absolute madness" and there are warnings that some farmers will refuse, and others will leave the sector, if an order is introduced.

Comment: There shouldn't be a cull at all, because all signs point to an increasingly vulnerable food supply chain, with shortages and soaring prices making animal protein - which is critical for health - a luxury for an increasing number of people:


Black Magic

Terrified nurse catches 'naked witches eating carcass' in haunting CCTV after setting up cam in back garden

Corinea Stanhope witch
A nurse was left terrified after claiming to catch "naked witches eating a carcass" in haunting CCTV footage.

Corinea Stanhope found a dead deer at the bottom of her garden in Powell River, Canada, and decided to set up a trail camera to see if it would attract any animals at night.

witch ritual
© Kennedy Newsand MediaThe horrifying image greeting the two nature lovers when they checked the trail cam.
But what Corinea found was far more disturbing than anything she thought she would capture.

The 36-year-old claims she could not believe her eyes when her and granddad Bob, 76, reviewed the chilling footage the next day.

The shocked pair say they saw two half naked women appearing to "dine" on the deer's corpse.

Pictures show the pair with long, matted, black hair wearing just a piece of cloth covering their buttocks and standing over the dead deer.