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BREAKING: A UGANDA 🇺🇬 prison Van transporting suspect Christopher Okelle Onyum has rammed into journalists Ghana community church after break failure 😨 Africa ankasa ong 😭😂

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JUST IN: A Uganda Prisons vehicle transporting suspect Christopher Okello Onyum reportedly suffered brake failure and rammed into members of the media at Ggaba Community Church Grounds in Makindye Division, where his trial is ongoing. One journalist, identified as Ronald Mulwana, has been injured in the incident and rushed to hospital for medical attention. #MonitorUpdates 📹: Lubowa Abubaker
0:49

JUST IN: A Uganda Prisons vehicle transporting suspect Christopher Okello Onyum reportedly suffered brake failure and rammed into members of the media at Ggaba Community Church Grounds in Makindye Division, where his trial is ongoing. One journalist, identified as Ronald Mulwana, has been injured in the incident and rushed to hospital for medical attention. #MonitorUpdates 📹: Lubowa Abubaker

Daily Monitor

226,811 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten

⚠️Viewer discretion is advised: The following content may contain disturbing scenes. VIDEO: A vehicle transporting murder suspect Christopher Okello Onyum reportedly failed to brake and rammed into members of the media at Ggaba Community Church Grounds in Makindye Division, injuring Ronald Mulwana, also known as PL Online, a blogger. #NTVNews 📹Lubowa Abubaker
0:49

⚠️Viewer discretion is advised: The following content may contain disturbing scenes. VIDEO: A vehicle transporting murder suspect Christopher Okello Onyum reportedly failed to brake and rammed into members of the media at Ggaba Community Church Grounds in Makindye Division, injuring Ronald Mulwana, also known as PL Online, a blogger. #NTVNews 📹Lubowa Abubaker

NTV UGANDA

43,069 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten

🚨 TEXAS - REMEMBER THE ISLAMIC SUPREMACIST RAISING MILLIONS TO TAKE YOUR CHURCH? Last year we exposed the Sachse Muslim Society’s push to convert a 56,000-square-foot former Christian mega-church - gym, classrooms, nearly 300 parking spaces, 4 acres - into one of the largest Islamic centers in Texas. Their own fundraiser called that church a “gift from Allah.” The price tag: about $5.3 million. Now meet the Islamic "activist" front and center in their fundraising video... Faizan Syed, the director at A Continuous Charity, and a top CAIR Texas official. Executive director of CAIR’s Austin and DFW chapter. Not only is he tied to the network trying to plant Islamic centers where Christian sanctuaries stood. He is repeating, almost word for word, the institutional-capture plan laid out by CAIR founder, the grand wizard himself, Nihad Awad. Awad’s blueprint, delivered from an American mosque: “Twenty years from now, the Muslim community will have 50,000 attorneys, 50,000 journalists, 50,000 filmmakers, 50,000 professors… We will write our own history. We will write our own narrative.” “We may have 50 members of Congress, five senators, and potentially a Supreme Court judge.” Now listen to Syed: “We can use that money to invest in our students and our kids, who are going to become the changemakers of tomorrow … go into these positions of power and break the hold that Zionists hold on this country.” “It is a systematic approach. It is a long-term approach. But once it has been started there is no way to stop it.” “Let’s get our kids in political science, government, media, journalism, and other fields, and over time replace the people in power. Replace the people in the news. Replace the people at universities. That is my intention. That is the goal that we are gonna take.” Church today. Newsroom tomorrow. Legislature after that. Court after that. This is the same playbook. Same organization Texas already designated a foreign terrorist organization. What good is that designation if it can't be enforced!? They are openly bragging about their takeover on film! The church was never the finish line - the plan is to bring our whole country under Islam. ENOUGH already! Texans MUST demand an immediate federal investigation into these charities, mosques, and organizations. FOLLOW THE MONEY, expose their Muslim Brotherhood ties, audit every dollar, and revoke their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. This would be a great start!
1:43

🚨 TEXAS - REMEMBER THE ISLAMIC SUPREMACIST RAISING MILLIONS TO TAKE YOUR CHURCH? Last year we exposed the Sachse Muslim Society’s push to convert a 56,000-square-foot former Christian mega-church - gym, classrooms, nearly 300 parking spaces, 4 acres - into one of the largest Islamic centers in Texas. Their own fundraiser called that church a “gift from Allah.” The price tag: about $5.3 million. Now meet the Islamic "activist" front and center in their fundraising video... Faizan Syed, the director at A Continuous Charity, and a top CAIR Texas official. Executive director of CAIR’s Austin and DFW chapter. Not only is he tied to the network trying to plant Islamic centers where Christian sanctuaries stood. He is repeating, almost word for word, the institutional-capture plan laid out by CAIR founder, the grand wizard himself, Nihad Awad. Awad’s blueprint, delivered from an American mosque: “Twenty years from now, the Muslim community will have 50,000 attorneys, 50,000 journalists, 50,000 filmmakers, 50,000 professors… We will write our own history. We will write our own narrative.” “We may have 50 members of Congress, five senators, and potentially a Supreme Court judge.” Now listen to Syed: “We can use that money to invest in our students and our kids, who are going to become the changemakers of tomorrow … go into these positions of power and break the hold that Zionists hold on this country.” “It is a systematic approach. It is a long-term approach. But once it has been started there is no way to stop it.” “Let’s get our kids in political science, government, media, journalism, and other fields, and over time replace the people in power. Replace the people in the news. Replace the people at universities. That is my intention. That is the goal that we are gonna take.” Church today. Newsroom tomorrow. Legislature after that. Court after that. This is the same playbook. Same organization Texas already designated a foreign terrorist organization. What good is that designation if it can't be enforced!? They are openly bragging about their takeover on film! The church was never the finish line - the plan is to bring our whole country under Islam. ENOUGH already! Texans MUST demand an immediate federal investigation into these charities, mosques, and organizations. FOLLOW THE MONEY, expose their Muslim Brotherhood ties, audit every dollar, and revoke their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. This would be a great start!

Amy Mek

28,886 Aufrufe • vor 4 Tagen

Can Cardinal Sarah shake the Vatican like Bernadette Did? Say what you will about Field Marshal Alhaji Doctor Idi Amin Dada (and most history books have), but in 1975, the man did something that shocked both the diplomatic corps and the cassocked corridors of the Vatican: he sent a woman. Yes, a woman -27-year-old Bernadette Olowo -to represent Uganda at the Holy See. In doing so, he shattered a 900-year-old tradition of male-only diplomacy to the Vatican. And not with a whisper, but with all the audacity of a man who once gave himself every military title short of Archangel. Rome gasped. The Curia blinked. Cardinals likely clutched their rosaries. But Pope Paul VI -perhaps foreseeing that the Holy Spirit is not a respecter of patriarchies -welcomed her. On January 24, 1975, Bernadette, cloaked in black and gold elegance, stepped into the #Vatican’s ornate halls and into history, becoming the first woman ambassador to the Holy See. The Vatican’s official response? “She will be held to the same rules as men.” Which is ecclesiastical code for: “We weren’t ready, but here we are.” Now, nearly 50 years later, the question is flipped. With the death of #PopeFrancis , eyes are on the conclave. And this time, Africa isn’t sending a woman to shake the Vatican - it’s offering three princes of the Church who might just lead it: Cardinal Peter Turkson (#Ghana), Cardinal Robert Sarah (#Guinea), and Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo (#DRC). Can #CardinalSarah, known for his unshakable orthodoxy and quiet fire, be the Vatican’s next great disruptor -not by breaking windows, but by opening doors long thought sealed? After all, it wasn’t stilettos that made Bernadette formidable -it was her presence, her dignity, her ability to walk into the world’s most patriarchal enclave and act like she belonged. (And yes, sometimes history wears heels. Even if the Devil wears Prada.) Unlike Bernadette, Sarah wouldn't need papal permission to enter the #Vatican -he already lives inside its spiritual engine room. But like her, he would have to embody disruption, grace, and a courage that doesn't simply break rules, but resets expectations. Perhaps having a Pope who understands hunger -not just metaphorically -but in the flesh, who knows what it means to pray in a thatched chapel while dodging real rain, not just metaphorical doubt, is the spiritual reckoning the Church needs. Because Bernadette’s journey showed us that change doesn’t always come dressed in dogma. Sometimes, it arrives in high heels and confidence. Now, it may come in red robes and an African accent. Either way, history is watching. And this time, it just might say “AMEN!” #Conclave2025 #PopeFrancis
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Can Cardinal Sarah shake the Vatican like Bernadette Did? Say what you will about Field Marshal Alhaji Doctor Idi Amin Dada (and most history books have), but in 1975, the man did something that shocked both the diplomatic corps and the cassocked corridors of the Vatican: he sent a woman. Yes, a woman -27-year-old Bernadette Olowo -to represent Uganda at the Holy See. In doing so, he shattered a 900-year-old tradition of male-only diplomacy to the Vatican. And not with a whisper, but with all the audacity of a man who once gave himself every military title short of Archangel. Rome gasped. The Curia blinked. Cardinals likely clutched their rosaries. But Pope Paul VI -perhaps foreseeing that the Holy Spirit is not a respecter of patriarchies -welcomed her. On January 24, 1975, Bernadette, cloaked in black and gold elegance, stepped into the #Vatican’s ornate halls and into history, becoming the first woman ambassador to the Holy See. The Vatican’s official response? “She will be held to the same rules as men.” Which is ecclesiastical code for: “We weren’t ready, but here we are.” Now, nearly 50 years later, the question is flipped. With the death of #PopeFrancis , eyes are on the conclave. And this time, Africa isn’t sending a woman to shake the Vatican - it’s offering three princes of the Church who might just lead it: Cardinal Peter Turkson (#Ghana), Cardinal Robert Sarah (#Guinea), and Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo (#DRC). Can #CardinalSarah, known for his unshakable orthodoxy and quiet fire, be the Vatican’s next great disruptor -not by breaking windows, but by opening doors long thought sealed? After all, it wasn’t stilettos that made Bernadette formidable -it was her presence, her dignity, her ability to walk into the world’s most patriarchal enclave and act like she belonged. (And yes, sometimes history wears heels. Even if the Devil wears Prada.) Unlike Bernadette, Sarah wouldn't need papal permission to enter the #Vatican -he already lives inside its spiritual engine room. But like her, he would have to embody disruption, grace, and a courage that doesn't simply break rules, but resets expectations. Perhaps having a Pope who understands hunger -not just metaphorically -but in the flesh, who knows what it means to pray in a thatched chapel while dodging real rain, not just metaphorical doubt, is the spiritual reckoning the Church needs. Because Bernadette’s journey showed us that change doesn’t always come dressed in dogma. Sometimes, it arrives in high heels and confidence. Now, it may come in red robes and an African accent. Either way, history is watching. And this time, it just might say “AMEN!” #Conclave2025 #PopeFrancis

Patrick Oyulu

27,614 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr

Ethiopia on the Brink of Full-Fledged Civil War: Ethiopia is on the verge of a full-fledged civil war as ethnic Oromo soldiers march towards the Amhara region, chanting slogans of aggression and targeting the ethnic Amhara population. This alarming development marks a significant escalation in the country's ethnic tensions, which have been fueled by inflammatory rhetoric from leaders within the ethnically Oromo-dominated Ethiopian government. On several occasions, leaders of the Oromo Prosperity Party have made statements inciting violence against the Amhara community. In one particularly instance, a party leader proclaimed that Oromo youth would no longer be sent to destroy the "Neftegna" (a derogatory term for ethnic Amharas) with mere sticks, but with full military backing, including drones. This rhetoric has been matched by actions, with the Ethiopian government's military resources increasingly being deployed as an ethnic tool against the Amharas. Video footage from Oromiya Bale shows Oromo youths, fully equipped and chanting "we will break Neftegna," heading towards the Amhara region with the apparent support of their local population. These videos have also captured Ethiopian military forces declaring their intent to target Amharas, showcasing the clear and dangerous intent of the state apparatus against this ethnic group. The Amhara Fanos, are fighting back against what they perceive as state-sponsored genocide. They have garnered the full support of the Amhara population, who see their actions as a necessary defense against an existential threat. This war is rapidly evolving into an ethnic civil war with a state-sponsored dimension. The Ethiopian military, security, and government structures, heavily dominated by ethnic Oromos, are utilizing all available resources to arm Oromo youths, effectively transforming a political struggle into a civil war. The situation is exacerbated by the government’s explicit endorsement of these actions, as evidenced by the hateful and violent statements made by its leaders. The international community must recognize the dire dynamics unfolding in Ethiopia. The clear shift towards a state-sponsored ethnic war requires urgent intervention. The world cannot afford to ignore the clear signs of impending genocide and must take necessary measures against the Ethiopian regime . The global response will be crucial in determining whether Ethiopia can avert a descent into further genocidal chaos and bloodshed. Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - ኢሰመኮ Orthodox Church OCA Amnesty International Human Rights Watch Al Jazeera English BBC News (UK) CNN AFP News Agency UN Human Rights UNESCO Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - ኢሰመኮ U.S. Embassy Addis Muslim World League CPJ Asia CPJ Europe and Central Asia Meaza Ashenafi PEN International Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ Africa CPJ Américas Abiy Ahmed Ali 🇪🇹 Genocide Prevention In Ethiopia Amhara Association of America (AAA) U.S. Embassy Addis UK in Ethiopia 🇬🇧 @EthiopiaEU Mike Hammer Tibor Nagy Herman J. Cohen Ana Gomes Josep Borrell Fontelles Daniel Bekele FRANCE 24 BBC News Africa Al Jazeera English The Washington Post AFP News Agency U.S. Embassy Addis Department of State #WarOnAmhara #AmharaGenocide #FreeMeskeremAbera #FreeAmharaDetainees
1:10

Ethiopia on the Brink of Full-Fledged Civil War: Ethiopia is on the verge of a full-fledged civil war as ethnic Oromo soldiers march towards the Amhara region, chanting slogans of aggression and targeting the ethnic Amhara population. This alarming development marks a significant escalation in the country's ethnic tensions, which have been fueled by inflammatory rhetoric from leaders within the ethnically Oromo-dominated Ethiopian government. On several occasions, leaders of the Oromo Prosperity Party have made statements inciting violence against the Amhara community. In one particularly instance, a party leader proclaimed that Oromo youth would no longer be sent to destroy the "Neftegna" (a derogatory term for ethnic Amharas) with mere sticks, but with full military backing, including drones. This rhetoric has been matched by actions, with the Ethiopian government's military resources increasingly being deployed as an ethnic tool against the Amharas. Video footage from Oromiya Bale shows Oromo youths, fully equipped and chanting "we will break Neftegna," heading towards the Amhara region with the apparent support of their local population. These videos have also captured Ethiopian military forces declaring their intent to target Amharas, showcasing the clear and dangerous intent of the state apparatus against this ethnic group. The Amhara Fanos, are fighting back against what they perceive as state-sponsored genocide. They have garnered the full support of the Amhara population, who see their actions as a necessary defense against an existential threat. This war is rapidly evolving into an ethnic civil war with a state-sponsored dimension. The Ethiopian military, security, and government structures, heavily dominated by ethnic Oromos, are utilizing all available resources to arm Oromo youths, effectively transforming a political struggle into a civil war. The situation is exacerbated by the government’s explicit endorsement of these actions, as evidenced by the hateful and violent statements made by its leaders. The international community must recognize the dire dynamics unfolding in Ethiopia. The clear shift towards a state-sponsored ethnic war requires urgent intervention. The world cannot afford to ignore the clear signs of impending genocide and must take necessary measures against the Ethiopian regime . The global response will be crucial in determining whether Ethiopia can avert a descent into further genocidal chaos and bloodshed. Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - ኢሰመኮ Orthodox Church OCA Amnesty International Human Rights Watch Al Jazeera English BBC News (UK) CNN AFP News Agency UN Human Rights UNESCO Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - ኢሰመኮ U.S. Embassy Addis Muslim World League CPJ Asia CPJ Europe and Central Asia Meaza Ashenafi PEN International Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ Africa CPJ Américas Abiy Ahmed Ali 🇪🇹 Genocide Prevention In Ethiopia Amhara Association of America (AAA) U.S. Embassy Addis UK in Ethiopia 🇬🇧 @EthiopiaEU Mike Hammer Tibor Nagy Herman J. Cohen Ana Gomes Josep Borrell Fontelles Daniel Bekele FRANCE 24 BBC News Africa Al Jazeera English The Washington Post AFP News Agency U.S. Embassy Addis Department of State #WarOnAmhara #AmharaGenocide #FreeMeskeremAbera #FreeAmharaDetainees

Yuri Tadesse

11,915 Aufrufe • vor 2 Jahren

Head of Ethiopian Human Rights Commission Highlights Grave Human Rights Conditions on ethnic Amharas. Ethnic Amhara prisoners, according to Daniel Bekele, are subjected to relentless physical abuse and coerced into confessing crimes they never committed. In a recent press conference held by the Head of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, Daniel Bekele, alarming details regarding the deteriorating human rights situation in Ethiopia were brought to light. Bekele shed light on the ongoing crackdown on ethnic Amharas, emphasizing the prevalent practice of arbitrary arrests without court orders carried out by security personnel, which has tragically become a distressing norm. One particularly distressing aspect that Bekele highlighted was the targeting of children and elders among the victims. Security personnel, often without proper uniforms, forcibly abduct these innocent individuals. Shockingly, instead of being taken to a designated police station or prison facility, the victims are transported to a clandestine torture site in Gelan, located in the new Sheger subcity of Oromia. Regrettably, Gelan has emerged as a notorious hub for the brutal mistreatment of ethnic Amhara prisoners. The abduction of children from the streets of Addis Ababa remains a grave concern, with numerous cases still unresolved. The whereabouts of many of these forcibly abducted individuals, taken from their homes, workplaces, or public spaces, remain unknown. Daniel Bekele further disclosed that within the illegal prison camp in Gelan, situated in Oromia, prisoners endure beatings and torture, perpetuating the cycle of abuse. Ethnic Amhara prisoners, according to Bekele, are subjected to relentless physical abuse and coerced into confessing crimes they never committed. The inhumane treatment and repeated beatings they endure further exacerbate their suffering. Tragically, this crackdown on ethnic Amhara individuals extends beyond Oromia and Amhara, reaching political opposition members and activists. Dr. Kassa, a member of the Addis Ababa City Council, corroborated this assertion, revealing that there are currently over ten thousand political prisoners and prisoners of conscience from the ethnic Amhara community. The revelations made during the press conference paint a disturbing picture of the human rights crisis gripping Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, under the leadership of Daniel Bekele, appeals for urgent attention to address these atrocities, calling for an immediate end to the crackdown on ethnic Amharas and the release of political prisoners. Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - ኢሰመኮ Orthodox Church OCA Amnesty International Human Rights Watch Al Jazeera English BBC News (UK) CNN AFP News Agency UN Human Rights UNESCO Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - ኢሰመኮ U.S. Embassy Addis Muslim World League CPJ Asia CPJ Europe and Central Asia Meaza Ashenafi PEN International Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ Africa CPJ Américas Abiy Ahmed Ali 🇪🇹 Genocide Prevention In Ethiopia Amhara Association of America (AAA) U.S. Embassy Addis UK in Ethiopia 🇬🇧 @EthiopiaEU Mike Hammer Tibor Nagy Herman J. Cohen Ana Gomes Josep Borrell Fontelles Daniel Bekele #WarOnAmhara #AmharaGenocide #AmharaUnderAttack
3:07

Head of Ethiopian Human Rights Commission Highlights Grave Human Rights Conditions on ethnic Amharas. Ethnic Amhara prisoners, according to Daniel Bekele, are subjected to relentless physical abuse and coerced into confessing crimes they never committed. In a recent press conference held by the Head of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, Daniel Bekele, alarming details regarding the deteriorating human rights situation in Ethiopia were brought to light. Bekele shed light on the ongoing crackdown on ethnic Amharas, emphasizing the prevalent practice of arbitrary arrests without court orders carried out by security personnel, which has tragically become a distressing norm. One particularly distressing aspect that Bekele highlighted was the targeting of children and elders among the victims. Security personnel, often without proper uniforms, forcibly abduct these innocent individuals. Shockingly, instead of being taken to a designated police station or prison facility, the victims are transported to a clandestine torture site in Gelan, located in the new Sheger subcity of Oromia. Regrettably, Gelan has emerged as a notorious hub for the brutal mistreatment of ethnic Amhara prisoners. The abduction of children from the streets of Addis Ababa remains a grave concern, with numerous cases still unresolved. The whereabouts of many of these forcibly abducted individuals, taken from their homes, workplaces, or public spaces, remain unknown. Daniel Bekele further disclosed that within the illegal prison camp in Gelan, situated in Oromia, prisoners endure beatings and torture, perpetuating the cycle of abuse. Ethnic Amhara prisoners, according to Bekele, are subjected to relentless physical abuse and coerced into confessing crimes they never committed. The inhumane treatment and repeated beatings they endure further exacerbate their suffering. Tragically, this crackdown on ethnic Amhara individuals extends beyond Oromia and Amhara, reaching political opposition members and activists. Dr. Kassa, a member of the Addis Ababa City Council, corroborated this assertion, revealing that there are currently over ten thousand political prisoners and prisoners of conscience from the ethnic Amhara community. The revelations made during the press conference paint a disturbing picture of the human rights crisis gripping Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, under the leadership of Daniel Bekele, appeals for urgent attention to address these atrocities, calling for an immediate end to the crackdown on ethnic Amharas and the release of political prisoners. Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - ኢሰመኮ Orthodox Church OCA Amnesty International Human Rights Watch Al Jazeera English BBC News (UK) CNN AFP News Agency UN Human Rights UNESCO Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - ኢሰመኮ U.S. Embassy Addis Muslim World League CPJ Asia CPJ Europe and Central Asia Meaza Ashenafi PEN International Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ Africa CPJ Américas Abiy Ahmed Ali 🇪🇹 Genocide Prevention In Ethiopia Amhara Association of America (AAA) U.S. Embassy Addis UK in Ethiopia 🇬🇧 @EthiopiaEU Mike Hammer Tibor Nagy Herman J. Cohen Ana Gomes Josep Borrell Fontelles Daniel Bekele #WarOnAmhara #AmharaGenocide #AmharaUnderAttack

Yuri Tadesse

19,541 Aufrufe • vor 3 Jahren

A Cry for Justice: Teenager's Heart-Wrenching Plea Amidst the Tragedy in Amhara region of Ethiopia. In a heart-wrenching video that has recently surfaced, a young ethnic Amhara teenager stands amidst the ruins of his brother home, tears streaming down his face, shouting to the heavens, and desperately pleading with God to end the nightmare that has befallen his family and his nation. The video captures the raw anguish and despair of a teenager whose world has been shattered by a brutal murder, a murder that occurred within the sanctity of his own home through a drone strike, a painful reminder of the dire situation in the war-torn Amhara region of Ethiopia. With a trembling voice, the teenager cries out, "Nobody can live in peace while Abiy Ahmed is still in power." His anguished words are a stark indictment of the more than two years of war that have plagued the region, leading to man-made starvation and unimaginable suffering for its inhabitants. The teenager's voice cracks as he mentions his brother, Belete, known as the honest farmer, who had struggled throughout his life to survive and provide for his family. Belete was tragically killed, leaving a void that can never be filled. In his plea to God, the teenager expresses his deep agony, claiming that he lost not just one but two brothers due to the actions of the Nobel Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. He repeatedly cries out "Egziabher," the Amharic name for God, while wishing for the end of Abiy Ahmed's rule for the pain he has caused. The teenager recounts the horrors of the air strike, describing how one brother was burned along with their home, while the other was brutally murdered. In the backdrop of the video footage, a scene of devastation unfolded. The remnants of a demolished house testified to the brutal air strike that had befallen the teenager's family. The roof and significant portions of the house lay in ruins, a grim reminder of the tragedy that had unfolded. The teenager's sister, carrying a picture of the deceased, followed a solemn Ethiopian tradition to express her profound grief and the grim reality of an air strike that had claimed her brother's life. This video is just a glimpse into the unimaginable suffering that has unfolded in the Amhara region. Reports from local sources suggest that the tragedy captured in this video is only the tip of the iceberg. Atrocities, war crimes, and massacres that amount to genocide have allegedly been committed by government forces, with full knowledge and complicity of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The plea of this grief-stricken teenager and the harrowing scenes captured in the video highlight the urgent need for the world to break its silence and take decisive action against the brutal regime in Ethiopia. The suffering of the people in the Amhara region demands a response from the global community, a response that acknowledges the immense human cost of the ongoing war and seeks to bring an end to the cycle of genocide and destruction that has gripped this troubled nation. Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - ኢሰመኮ Orthodox Church OCA Amnesty International Human Rights Watch Al Jazeera English BBC News (UK) CNN AFP News Agency UN Human Rights UNESCO Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - ኢሰመኮ U.S. Embassy Addis Muslim World League CPJ Asia CPJ Europe and Central Asia Meaza Ashenafi PEN International Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ Africa CPJ Américas Abiy Ahmed Ali 🇪🇹 Genocide Prevention In Ethiopia Amhara Association of America (AAA) U.S. Embassy Addis UK in Ethiopia 🇬🇧 @EthiopiaEU Mike Hammer Tibor Nagy Herman J. Cohen Ana Gomes Josep Borrell Fontelles Daniel Bekele FRANCE 24 BBC News Africa Al Jazeera English The Washington Post AFP News Agency U.S. Embassy Addis Department of State #WarOnAmhara #AmharaGenocide #FreeMeskeremAbera #FreeAmharaDetainees
1:40

A Cry for Justice: Teenager's Heart-Wrenching Plea Amidst the Tragedy in Amhara region of Ethiopia. In a heart-wrenching video that has recently surfaced, a young ethnic Amhara teenager stands amidst the ruins of his brother home, tears streaming down his face, shouting to the heavens, and desperately pleading with God to end the nightmare that has befallen his family and his nation. The video captures the raw anguish and despair of a teenager whose world has been shattered by a brutal murder, a murder that occurred within the sanctity of his own home through a drone strike, a painful reminder of the dire situation in the war-torn Amhara region of Ethiopia. With a trembling voice, the teenager cries out, "Nobody can live in peace while Abiy Ahmed is still in power." His anguished words are a stark indictment of the more than two years of war that have plagued the region, leading to man-made starvation and unimaginable suffering for its inhabitants. The teenager's voice cracks as he mentions his brother, Belete, known as the honest farmer, who had struggled throughout his life to survive and provide for his family. Belete was tragically killed, leaving a void that can never be filled. In his plea to God, the teenager expresses his deep agony, claiming that he lost not just one but two brothers due to the actions of the Nobel Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. He repeatedly cries out "Egziabher," the Amharic name for God, while wishing for the end of Abiy Ahmed's rule for the pain he has caused. The teenager recounts the horrors of the air strike, describing how one brother was burned along with their home, while the other was brutally murdered. In the backdrop of the video footage, a scene of devastation unfolded. The remnants of a demolished house testified to the brutal air strike that had befallen the teenager's family. The roof and significant portions of the house lay in ruins, a grim reminder of the tragedy that had unfolded. The teenager's sister, carrying a picture of the deceased, followed a solemn Ethiopian tradition to express her profound grief and the grim reality of an air strike that had claimed her brother's life. This video is just a glimpse into the unimaginable suffering that has unfolded in the Amhara region. Reports from local sources suggest that the tragedy captured in this video is only the tip of the iceberg. Atrocities, war crimes, and massacres that amount to genocide have allegedly been committed by government forces, with full knowledge and complicity of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The plea of this grief-stricken teenager and the harrowing scenes captured in the video highlight the urgent need for the world to break its silence and take decisive action against the brutal regime in Ethiopia. The suffering of the people in the Amhara region demands a response from the global community, a response that acknowledges the immense human cost of the ongoing war and seeks to bring an end to the cycle of genocide and destruction that has gripped this troubled nation. Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - ኢሰመኮ Orthodox Church OCA Amnesty International Human Rights Watch Al Jazeera English BBC News (UK) CNN AFP News Agency UN Human Rights UNESCO Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - ኢሰመኮ U.S. Embassy Addis Muslim World League CPJ Asia CPJ Europe and Central Asia Meaza Ashenafi PEN International Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ Africa CPJ Américas Abiy Ahmed Ali 🇪🇹 Genocide Prevention In Ethiopia Amhara Association of America (AAA) U.S. Embassy Addis UK in Ethiopia 🇬🇧 @EthiopiaEU Mike Hammer Tibor Nagy Herman J. Cohen Ana Gomes Josep Borrell Fontelles Daniel Bekele FRANCE 24 BBC News Africa Al Jazeera English The Washington Post AFP News Agency U.S. Embassy Addis Department of State #WarOnAmhara #AmharaGenocide #FreeMeskeremAbera #FreeAmharaDetainees

Yuri Tadesse

160,343 Aufrufe • vor 2 Jahren

Illegal Alien Who Firebombed Two NYC Churches Was Arrested and Released Twice Last Month for Armed Threats Reporting by Dr. Antonio Graceffo, PhD The New York church firebombing suspect was an illegal alien with pending cases involving armed threats and a prior firebombing, and is also a suspect in at least seven other arson investigations. He was arrested twice in June on the armed threat charges, then released under Zohran Mamdani’s anti-law enforcement policies, compounded by his refusal to cooperate with ICE. Yogesh Sayrange, 36, was arrested Thursday after allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails at two Queens churches and an ambulette company late Wednesday night, according to the NYPD. Sayrange targeted Iglesia Bautista El Mesias Baptist Church in Ozone Park just before midnight, where surveillance video showed him speaking with three men before lighting a Molotov cocktail and throwing it over the front gate toward the entrance. Sayrange then walked less than a mile to a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, where he allegedly threw a second Molotov cocktail at the front entrance at 12:08 a.m. Thursday. Investigators determined he also threw a third Molotov cocktail at the Exclusive Ambulette Service Transportation Corp. Officers arrested Sayrange at a nearby deli at approximately 12:10 a.m. Thursday and recovered two additional Molotov cocktails from his backpack. According to prosecutors, he told investigators, “I had two more in my bag. I was going to finish the job.” Federal authorities had already identified Sayrange before the church attacks in connection with a June 25 firebombing of a smoke shop on Fulton Street in Brooklyn. Prosecutors allege he threw an incendiary device, described in the criminal complaint as a green glass bottle wrapped with screws and containing hair, rocks, an ignitable liquid, and other materials, into the store while wearing a Guy Fawkes mask. The device was attached to two black plastic bags with gray tape. The NYPD used facial recognition software to match Sayrange to a photograph taken during an unrelated arrest on June 16. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashlyn Miranda said he is linked to at least seven other acts of arson over the past two weeks. Near the Kingdom Hall, Sayrange allegedly asked a group of men, “Do you want this institution to be turned into a mosque?” He also faces two pending state cases: one in Manhattan, alleging he threatened someone with a metal-knuckle knife on June 12, and one in Queens, alleging he waved an ax at a man and threatened to cut his head off on June 16. Magistrate Judge Lara Eshkenazi ordered Sayrange held without bail. Miranda described him as a citizen of Guyana living in the United States illegally; Sayrange disputed this in court, saying he has a DACA renewal case in progress. Detectives are also investigating whether Sayrange is connected to a string of thefts of religious statues in the area. Mamdani’s lack of support for the police became evident shortly after he took office. On January 26, 2026, NYPD officers responding to a 911 call for medical assistance during a mental health crisis encountered 22-year-old Jabez Chakraborty advancing toward them with a kitchen knife inside his Queens home. An officer opened fire, shooting Chakraborty multiple times before the knife made contact. Mayor Zohran Mamdani visited Chakraborty in the hospital and spoke with his family. Critics, including commentator Scott Jennings, said Mamdani had visited the man who charged an officer with a knife instead of the officer involved. Mayor Mamdani has proposed a Department of Community Safety, a civilian-led agency intended to shift responsibility for mental health, homelessness, and outreach calls away from the NYPD and toward unarmed crisis response teams. Critics, including the Heritage Foundation, argue the plan diverts resources from law enforcement and relies on unarmed community outreach workers who lack the authority to deter or respond to violent situations. Mamdani has also reversed a planned 580-officer NYPD expansion in the city’s FY2027 budget. The Police Benevolent Association said the decision would worsen officer burnout amid a staffing crisis, while liberal allies criticized him for not cutting the NYPD budget further to fund the new department instead. During the first six months of Mamdani’s administration, the Department of Homeland Security repeatedly condemned New York City and New York State for refusing to honor ICE detainers. DHS said New York’s failure to honor detainers since January 20 had resulted in the release of nearly 7,000 criminal illegal aliens statewide, including murderers, sex offenders, and violent assailants. As of its February statement, 7,113 aliens with active detainers remained in New York custody, facing charges that included 148 homicides, 717 assaults, 134 burglaries, 106 robberies, 235 dangerous drug offenses, 152 weapons offenses, and 260 sexual predatory offenses. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Mamdani’s policy would make New Yorkers less safe and urged the city to turn over criminal aliens in its custody before their release. DHS named several individuals it said the policy had shielded from deportation. They included a Dominican national convicted of sexual assault, an Ecuadorian national convicted of rape, a Chinese national convicted of kidnapping a minor for ransom, an Israeli national convicted of child sex offenses, an Indian national convicted of homicide, a Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang member convicted of assault, and a Guatemalan national convicted of assault. DHS also cited the case of Jose Posada-Hernandez, a four-times-deported Honduran national with 15 prior charges who was arrested for attempted murder after allegedly shoving an 83-year-old veteran onto subway tracks. —Antonio Graceffo
1:32

Illegal Alien Who Firebombed Two NYC Churches Was Arrested and Released Twice Last Month for Armed Threats Reporting by Dr. Antonio Graceffo, PhD The New York church firebombing suspect was an illegal alien with pending cases involving armed threats and a prior firebombing, and is also a suspect in at least seven other arson investigations. He was arrested twice in June on the armed threat charges, then released under Zohran Mamdani’s anti-law enforcement policies, compounded by his refusal to cooperate with ICE. Yogesh Sayrange, 36, was arrested Thursday after allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails at two Queens churches and an ambulette company late Wednesday night, according to the NYPD. Sayrange targeted Iglesia Bautista El Mesias Baptist Church in Ozone Park just before midnight, where surveillance video showed him speaking with three men before lighting a Molotov cocktail and throwing it over the front gate toward the entrance. Sayrange then walked less than a mile to a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, where he allegedly threw a second Molotov cocktail at the front entrance at 12:08 a.m. Thursday. Investigators determined he also threw a third Molotov cocktail at the Exclusive Ambulette Service Transportation Corp. Officers arrested Sayrange at a nearby deli at approximately 12:10 a.m. Thursday and recovered two additional Molotov cocktails from his backpack. According to prosecutors, he told investigators, “I had two more in my bag. I was going to finish the job.” Federal authorities had already identified Sayrange before the church attacks in connection with a June 25 firebombing of a smoke shop on Fulton Street in Brooklyn. Prosecutors allege he threw an incendiary device, described in the criminal complaint as a green glass bottle wrapped with screws and containing hair, rocks, an ignitable liquid, and other materials, into the store while wearing a Guy Fawkes mask. The device was attached to two black plastic bags with gray tape. The NYPD used facial recognition software to match Sayrange to a photograph taken during an unrelated arrest on June 16. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashlyn Miranda said he is linked to at least seven other acts of arson over the past two weeks. Near the Kingdom Hall, Sayrange allegedly asked a group of men, “Do you want this institution to be turned into a mosque?” He also faces two pending state cases: one in Manhattan, alleging he threatened someone with a metal-knuckle knife on June 12, and one in Queens, alleging he waved an ax at a man and threatened to cut his head off on June 16. Magistrate Judge Lara Eshkenazi ordered Sayrange held without bail. Miranda described him as a citizen of Guyana living in the United States illegally; Sayrange disputed this in court, saying he has a DACA renewal case in progress. Detectives are also investigating whether Sayrange is connected to a string of thefts of religious statues in the area. Mamdani’s lack of support for the police became evident shortly after he took office. On January 26, 2026, NYPD officers responding to a 911 call for medical assistance during a mental health crisis encountered 22-year-old Jabez Chakraborty advancing toward them with a kitchen knife inside his Queens home. An officer opened fire, shooting Chakraborty multiple times before the knife made contact. Mayor Zohran Mamdani visited Chakraborty in the hospital and spoke with his family. Critics, including commentator Scott Jennings, said Mamdani had visited the man who charged an officer with a knife instead of the officer involved. Mayor Mamdani has proposed a Department of Community Safety, a civilian-led agency intended to shift responsibility for mental health, homelessness, and outreach calls away from the NYPD and toward unarmed crisis response teams. Critics, including the Heritage Foundation, argue the plan diverts resources from law enforcement and relies on unarmed community outreach workers who lack the authority to deter or respond to violent situations. Mamdani has also reversed a planned 580-officer NYPD expansion in the city’s FY2027 budget. The Police Benevolent Association said the decision would worsen officer burnout amid a staffing crisis, while liberal allies criticized him for not cutting the NYPD budget further to fund the new department instead. During the first six months of Mamdani’s administration, the Department of Homeland Security repeatedly condemned New York City and New York State for refusing to honor ICE detainers. DHS said New York’s failure to honor detainers since January 20 had resulted in the release of nearly 7,000 criminal illegal aliens statewide, including murderers, sex offenders, and violent assailants. As of its February statement, 7,113 aliens with active detainers remained in New York custody, facing charges that included 148 homicides, 717 assaults, 134 burglaries, 106 robberies, 235 dangerous drug offenses, 152 weapons offenses, and 260 sexual predatory offenses. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Mamdani’s policy would make New Yorkers less safe and urged the city to turn over criminal aliens in its custody before their release. DHS named several individuals it said the policy had shielded from deportation. They included a Dominican national convicted of sexual assault, an Ecuadorian national convicted of rape, a Chinese national convicted of kidnapping a minor for ransom, an Israeli national convicted of child sex offenses, an Indian national convicted of homicide, a Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang member convicted of assault, and a Guatemalan national convicted of assault. DHS also cited the case of Jose Posada-Hernandez, a four-times-deported Honduran national with 15 prior charges who was arrested for attempted murder after allegedly shoving an 83-year-old veteran onto subway tracks. —Antonio Graceffo

Tony Seruga

21,017 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten

Churches, protests, and bribes: Hichilema’s triple power play to secure Edgar Lungu’s body By Sishuwa Sishuwa So committed to telling lies is President Hakainde Hichilema that he seemingly either cannot help himself or experiences a “high” when deceiving others. I know that politicians are generally perceived to be liars, but such is Hichilema’s uncontrollable urge to lie, often compulsively and without any apparent reason or benefit, that one can be forgiven for thinking that delivering lies was one of his major campaign promises in the last general election. In countries with robust oversight institutions, the President would have already been subjected to a thorough evaluation by professional experts to determine if he has pseudologia fantastica, also known as mythomania – a condition in which individuals frequently tell lies, often for no clear reason. The latest in the long running series of the President’s constant deviation from the truth occurred on 17 July 2025 when he told journalists that his administration is “quietly” holding negotiations with the family of late former president Edgar Lungu aimed at resolving the impasse between the two parties regarding Lungu’s burial. This is the second time in the preceding two weeks alone that Hichilema has made this claim. The first was on 9 July when he met US Ambassador to Zambia Michael Gonzales at State House. On both occasions, the President has been untruthful. I have spoken with the Lungu family, and they have confirmed that there have been no discussions whatsoever between the two parties since Hichilema's administration initiated the court case that stopped Lungu's burial nearly a month ago, on 24 June 2025. Why then does the President keep telling lies on this matter? What prevents him from telling the truth even on straightforward issues where his lies can more easily be uncovered? In search of answers, I reached out to different sources in government and at State House for insights. The sources, who spoke to me on condition of anonymity and provided irrefutable evidence in support of their insights, revealed that the President, fearful that the Pretoria High Court might rule against the Zambian government because the South African law is on the side of a deceased’s family, has devised a strategy consisting of three elements aimed at preventing this outcome and securing the elusive access to his predecessor’s body. The first element of this plan is to persuade the influential Catholic Church to release a statement urging the Lungu family to agree to a mediated settlement that would allow the former president to be buried in Zambia. While some religious and civic groups have already been pressured to make similar appeals, the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) has not yet done so. Hichilema believes that a statement from the ZCCB would carry more weight. To achieve this goal, the President sent a four-member, high-ranking government delegation to meet with the ZCCB in Lusaka on 18 July 2025. The presidential delegation, consisting of Minister of Defence Ambrose Lufuma, Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Jack Mwiimbu, Minister of Community Development and Social Services Doreen Mwamba, and Special Assistant to the President for Legal Affairs Christopher Mundia – all practising Catholics – met with three representatives of the ZCCB, namely Ignatius Chama (Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kasama and President of ZCCB), George Lungu (Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Chipata), and Valentine Kalumba (Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Livingstone). During the meeting, Hichilema's representatives expressed concern that the Catholic Church had not issued a statement on the impasse between his administration and the Lungu family. Embracing the pathological lying disposition of their boss, the delegation also mentioned that negotiations between the State and the Lungu family were progressing, and the government hoped the Catholic Church would participate in the discussions. One or two members of Hichilema’s delegation in the meeting reportedly said: “since Archbishop Alick Banda appears to be close to the Lungu family, how can we get him to intervene in this matter and help us?” To be clear, Banda is the Archbishop in charge of Lusaka Archdiocese whom the ruling party has previously called a “thief”, the “Lucifer of Zambia”, and a man with no credibility. In addition, the Catholic Church has itself been the subject of regular attacks and harassment from both State actors and ruling party officials. In response, the Bishops explained that they have stayed away from the matter because they do not have sufficient knowledge of the underlying facts and only comment on issues they fully understand. The Bishops also expressed hope that the issue would be resolved conclusively since it is now before a competent authority – the South African High Court. Given the despicable attacks that Hichilema’s administration has repeatedly unleashed on both Archbishop Banda and the Catholic Church in general, and in the absence of any public apology or atonement for this State harassment, it was unlikely that the Bishops would be deceived. However, one cannot blame Hichilema for trying his luck. The timing of this State-orchestrated meeting with representatives of the ZCCB was not coincidental. For much of this week, the Catholic Bishops have been meeting in Lusaka to, among other things, look at various issues affecting the membership of the church and the nation. Such meetings usually culminate in the release of a pastoral letter that is read out in parishes across the country. The sources disclosed that Hichilema’s fear is that a rebuke from the ZCCB on how his administration has handled Lungu’s funeral would be politically damaging, especially when one considers the other two elements of the strategy that the President has devised to secure access to his predecessor’s body. In dispatching his officials to meet the Catholic Bishops, Hichilema is not only lobbying the influential religious organisation to publicly support his cause based on the false impression that negotiations with the Lungu family have reached an advanced stage; he is also seeking to pre-empt the ZCCB’s possible criticism of his failure to provide leadership on a matter that has seen him use taxpayers’ money to sue a grieving family and halt a funeral that was underway. The second element of Hichilema’s strategy is to carefully orchestrate State-financed public protests in Lusaka, on the Copperbelt, in Eastern Province (Lungu's home area) and in other parts of Zambia to create the false impression of widespread public outrage against the decision by the Lungu family to lay the former president to rest in South Africa. The sources revealed that Hichilema has already set this plan in motion and is closely working with Robert Chabinga, a renegade member of parliament belonging to the main opposition Patriotic Front (PF) party. Chabinga, who is guarded by State police, is the MP that Hichilema’s administration – using the office of the Registrar of Societies which falls under Mwiimbu’s ministry – has installed as the government-recognised leader of the PF in the absence of an election. He has also been installed as Leader of the Opposition in Parliament by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Nelly Mutti, Hichilema’s former personal lawyer, though he was elected by no one. According to insiders, Hichilema had initially wanted Chabinga to join the court case in South Africa as Leader of the Opposition. After the President received advice against the move, he and his allies then hatched the plan to organise “mass public protests” across the country by placard-carrying ruling party supporters masquerading as PF members and Zambian nationalists demanding the return of Lungu’s remains so that he could be buried at home. The objective of these demonstrations would be to manufacture evidence of popular anger against the Lungu family's position, fabricate visible proof of “public interest” in Lungu’s funeral, and create the pretext that the government hopes it can use to persuade the South African judge to rule in its favour. These acts of “nationalism” would not be as they would seem, however. What would appear to be spontaneous demonstrations of widespread outrage would be carefully orchestrated by Hichilema as part of his power play to wrestle Lungu from exile in death and bolster his beleaguered presidency. For Chabinga, who remains at the helm of Zambia’s main opposition party because of the complicit role of the judiciary, delivering on this presidential aspiration would cement his State-backed illegal leadership of the PF and reduce the political costs that might befall Hichilema in next year’s election should Lungu be buried abroad. The third and final element of Hichilema’s strategy is to attempt to bribe the South African judge who is handling the legal case between the Zambian government and the Lungu family. Hichilema and his allies have resigned themselves to the possibility of losing the case. In private conversations, they admit that the law in South Africa favours the Lungu family and that if the Pretoria Court is allowed to decide the case based on the facts and law, the Zambian government is likely to lose. To avoid this almost certain outcome, Hichilema and his supporters have considered the option of bribing the judge presiding over the case. There is no evidence yet that an approach has been made, but Chabinga, who was recently in South Africa on a State-facilitated trip, has privately expressed confidence that the judge might be amenable to bribery. "The judge needs to eat", Chabinga was heard saying. If the planned mass demonstrations are successful, Hichilema's proxy added, "the judge will make a ruling based on the public outcry in Zambia...to support the Attorney General". The renegade PF MP further conceded that there is "a possibility that the judge can rule in favour of the Lungu family because the laws of South Africa give too much power to a deceased's family than to the government". He however reiterated his belief that if the judge is "pressured", aided with cooked up public protests, and made to "consider the fact that Lungu was a former president", the judicial official can rule in favour of the Zambian government. Chabinga and his backers know that attempting to bribe, in any way, a judge of a foreign country would be a major scandal that could adversely affect diplomatic relations between Zambia and South Africa. However, they seem determined to try their luck at implementing what Chabinga, in private conversations, calls a "special operation". Earlier, Chabinga had complained to his associates that he had been woken up by Hichilema at an ungodly hour to undertake, at short notice, the trip to Johannesburg but felt the need to sacrifice for the man he calls "ba boss". After briefing him about Hichilema's agenda for the "special operation", State actors had originally hoped to book Chabinga a seat on the first flight out of Lusaka, but he ended up traveling on a 10am Airlink flight. This followed a discovery that there were many prominent PF members on the earlier flight also traveling to South Africa. Ironically, even on the 10am flight, Hichilema's representative met several PF prominent figures such as Chanda Katotobwe, Nakiwe Simpungwe, and Christopher Shakafuswa who all greeted him and to whom he lied that he was traveling to Cape Town. It is important to clarify that the confidence of Hichilema's team that the affected judge might be open to bribery does not come from any personal knowledge of the justice handling the legal case. Rather, and as one of the sources stated, it stems from the knowledge that they have done similar things with some Zambian judges, particularly on matters involving the resolution of PF leadership wrangles, and got away with it. In private, Chabinga, for instance, acknowledges that a questionable judgement by the Pretoria High Court in favour of the Zambian government is likely to be reversed on appeal by a superior court. Nevertheless, the President's proxy is optimistic that the Lungu family will become fatigued by the time the verdict is delivered and ultimately consent to the return of the former president's body to Zambia rather than pursuing an appeal in the event of a dubious loss. The unfolding saga surrounding the burial of former president Lungu reveals more than a mere dispute over a final resting place. It exposes the depths to which political ambition can drive deception, manipulation, and ethical compromise. President Hichilema’s persistent falsehoods about negotiations, the planned orchestration of State-sponsored protests, and the alarming prospect of judicial bribery involving a foreign judge paint a troubling picture of governance undermined by desperation and duplicity. This strategy not only disrespects a grieving family but also erodes public trust in the institutions meant to uphold justice and truth. What began as a matter of state dignity and national closure has morphed into a volatile mix of political manoeuvring, public mobilisation, and devious ecclesiastical diplomacy. President Hichilema’s reported three-pronged strategy — courting the Catholic Church, rallying public protests, and attempting to sway a foreign court — suggests that the battle over Lungu’s body is about far more than burial rights. It is a symbolic struggle for control over Zambia’s political memory and moral authority. Whether these efforts succeed or backfire, they highlight a deeper crisis: the lingering divisions of Zambia’s political landscape and the extent to which historical rivals still cast long shadows over the present. In life and now in death, Lungu continues to provoke conflict, and President Hichilema appears determined to ensure that even in the afterlife, the final word belongs not to the Lungu family but to Hichilema himself. In a country that is yearning for transparency and integrity, such actions as the ones initiated by Hichilema highlight the urgent need for accountability at the highest levels of leadership. The true cost of this political theatre extends beyond the burial dispute; it threatens the moral fabric of Zambia itself. As citizens, observers, and custodians of democracy, we must demand honesty, respect for due process, and, above all, compassion in honouring – both in life and in death – those who have served the nation. No amount of spin or scheming can bury the truth forever. The nation watches and waits.
1:09

Churches, protests, and bribes: Hichilema’s triple power play to secure Edgar Lungu’s body By Sishuwa Sishuwa So committed to telling lies is President Hakainde Hichilema that he seemingly either cannot help himself or experiences a “high” when deceiving others. I know that politicians are generally perceived to be liars, but such is Hichilema’s uncontrollable urge to lie, often compulsively and without any apparent reason or benefit, that one can be forgiven for thinking that delivering lies was one of his major campaign promises in the last general election. In countries with robust oversight institutions, the President would have already been subjected to a thorough evaluation by professional experts to determine if he has pseudologia fantastica, also known as mythomania – a condition in which individuals frequently tell lies, often for no clear reason. The latest in the long running series of the President’s constant deviation from the truth occurred on 17 July 2025 when he told journalists that his administration is “quietly” holding negotiations with the family of late former president Edgar Lungu aimed at resolving the impasse between the two parties regarding Lungu’s burial. This is the second time in the preceding two weeks alone that Hichilema has made this claim. The first was on 9 July when he met US Ambassador to Zambia Michael Gonzales at State House. On both occasions, the President has been untruthful. I have spoken with the Lungu family, and they have confirmed that there have been no discussions whatsoever between the two parties since Hichilema's administration initiated the court case that stopped Lungu's burial nearly a month ago, on 24 June 2025. Why then does the President keep telling lies on this matter? What prevents him from telling the truth even on straightforward issues where his lies can more easily be uncovered? In search of answers, I reached out to different sources in government and at State House for insights. The sources, who spoke to me on condition of anonymity and provided irrefutable evidence in support of their insights, revealed that the President, fearful that the Pretoria High Court might rule against the Zambian government because the South African law is on the side of a deceased’s family, has devised a strategy consisting of three elements aimed at preventing this outcome and securing the elusive access to his predecessor’s body. The first element of this plan is to persuade the influential Catholic Church to release a statement urging the Lungu family to agree to a mediated settlement that would allow the former president to be buried in Zambia. While some religious and civic groups have already been pressured to make similar appeals, the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) has not yet done so. Hichilema believes that a statement from the ZCCB would carry more weight. To achieve this goal, the President sent a four-member, high-ranking government delegation to meet with the ZCCB in Lusaka on 18 July 2025. The presidential delegation, consisting of Minister of Defence Ambrose Lufuma, Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Jack Mwiimbu, Minister of Community Development and Social Services Doreen Mwamba, and Special Assistant to the President for Legal Affairs Christopher Mundia – all practising Catholics – met with three representatives of the ZCCB, namely Ignatius Chama (Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kasama and President of ZCCB), George Lungu (Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Chipata), and Valentine Kalumba (Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Livingstone). During the meeting, Hichilema's representatives expressed concern that the Catholic Church had not issued a statement on the impasse between his administration and the Lungu family. Embracing the pathological lying disposition of their boss, the delegation also mentioned that negotiations between the State and the Lungu family were progressing, and the government hoped the Catholic Church would participate in the discussions. One or two members of Hichilema’s delegation in the meeting reportedly said: “since Archbishop Alick Banda appears to be close to the Lungu family, how can we get him to intervene in this matter and help us?” To be clear, Banda is the Archbishop in charge of Lusaka Archdiocese whom the ruling party has previously called a “thief”, the “Lucifer of Zambia”, and a man with no credibility. In addition, the Catholic Church has itself been the subject of regular attacks and harassment from both State actors and ruling party officials. In response, the Bishops explained that they have stayed away from the matter because they do not have sufficient knowledge of the underlying facts and only comment on issues they fully understand. The Bishops also expressed hope that the issue would be resolved conclusively since it is now before a competent authority – the South African High Court. Given the despicable attacks that Hichilema’s administration has repeatedly unleashed on both Archbishop Banda and the Catholic Church in general, and in the absence of any public apology or atonement for this State harassment, it was unlikely that the Bishops would be deceived. However, one cannot blame Hichilema for trying his luck. The timing of this State-orchestrated meeting with representatives of the ZCCB was not coincidental. For much of this week, the Catholic Bishops have been meeting in Lusaka to, among other things, look at various issues affecting the membership of the church and the nation. Such meetings usually culminate in the release of a pastoral letter that is read out in parishes across the country. The sources disclosed that Hichilema’s fear is that a rebuke from the ZCCB on how his administration has handled Lungu’s funeral would be politically damaging, especially when one considers the other two elements of the strategy that the President has devised to secure access to his predecessor’s body. In dispatching his officials to meet the Catholic Bishops, Hichilema is not only lobbying the influential religious organisation to publicly support his cause based on the false impression that negotiations with the Lungu family have reached an advanced stage; he is also seeking to pre-empt the ZCCB’s possible criticism of his failure to provide leadership on a matter that has seen him use taxpayers’ money to sue a grieving family and halt a funeral that was underway. The second element of Hichilema’s strategy is to carefully orchestrate State-financed public protests in Lusaka, on the Copperbelt, in Eastern Province (Lungu's home area) and in other parts of Zambia to create the false impression of widespread public outrage against the decision by the Lungu family to lay the former president to rest in South Africa. The sources revealed that Hichilema has already set this plan in motion and is closely working with Robert Chabinga, a renegade member of parliament belonging to the main opposition Patriotic Front (PF) party. Chabinga, who is guarded by State police, is the MP that Hichilema’s administration – using the office of the Registrar of Societies which falls under Mwiimbu’s ministry – has installed as the government-recognised leader of the PF in the absence of an election. He has also been installed as Leader of the Opposition in Parliament by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Nelly Mutti, Hichilema’s former personal lawyer, though he was elected by no one. According to insiders, Hichilema had initially wanted Chabinga to join the court case in South Africa as Leader of the Opposition. After the President received advice against the move, he and his allies then hatched the plan to organise “mass public protests” across the country by placard-carrying ruling party supporters masquerading as PF members and Zambian nationalists demanding the return of Lungu’s remains so that he could be buried at home. The objective of these demonstrations would be to manufacture evidence of popular anger against the Lungu family's position, fabricate visible proof of “public interest” in Lungu’s funeral, and create the pretext that the government hopes it can use to persuade the South African judge to rule in its favour. These acts of “nationalism” would not be as they would seem, however. What would appear to be spontaneous demonstrations of widespread outrage would be carefully orchestrated by Hichilema as part of his power play to wrestle Lungu from exile in death and bolster his beleaguered presidency. For Chabinga, who remains at the helm of Zambia’s main opposition party because of the complicit role of the judiciary, delivering on this presidential aspiration would cement his State-backed illegal leadership of the PF and reduce the political costs that might befall Hichilema in next year’s election should Lungu be buried abroad. The third and final element of Hichilema’s strategy is to attempt to bribe the South African judge who is handling the legal case between the Zambian government and the Lungu family. Hichilema and his allies have resigned themselves to the possibility of losing the case. In private conversations, they admit that the law in South Africa favours the Lungu family and that if the Pretoria Court is allowed to decide the case based on the facts and law, the Zambian government is likely to lose. To avoid this almost certain outcome, Hichilema and his supporters have considered the option of bribing the judge presiding over the case. There is no evidence yet that an approach has been made, but Chabinga, who was recently in South Africa on a State-facilitated trip, has privately expressed confidence that the judge might be amenable to bribery. "The judge needs to eat", Chabinga was heard saying. If the planned mass demonstrations are successful, Hichilema's proxy added, "the judge will make a ruling based on the public outcry in Zambia...to support the Attorney General". The renegade PF MP further conceded that there is "a possibility that the judge can rule in favour of the Lungu family because the laws of South Africa give too much power to a deceased's family than to the government". He however reiterated his belief that if the judge is "pressured", aided with cooked up public protests, and made to "consider the fact that Lungu was a former president", the judicial official can rule in favour of the Zambian government. Chabinga and his backers know that attempting to bribe, in any way, a judge of a foreign country would be a major scandal that could adversely affect diplomatic relations between Zambia and South Africa. However, they seem determined to try their luck at implementing what Chabinga, in private conversations, calls a "special operation". Earlier, Chabinga had complained to his associates that he had been woken up by Hichilema at an ungodly hour to undertake, at short notice, the trip to Johannesburg but felt the need to sacrifice for the man he calls "ba boss". After briefing him about Hichilema's agenda for the "special operation", State actors had originally hoped to book Chabinga a seat on the first flight out of Lusaka, but he ended up traveling on a 10am Airlink flight. This followed a discovery that there were many prominent PF members on the earlier flight also traveling to South Africa. Ironically, even on the 10am flight, Hichilema's representative met several PF prominent figures such as Chanda Katotobwe, Nakiwe Simpungwe, and Christopher Shakafuswa who all greeted him and to whom he lied that he was traveling to Cape Town. It is important to clarify that the confidence of Hichilema's team that the affected judge might be open to bribery does not come from any personal knowledge of the justice handling the legal case. Rather, and as one of the sources stated, it stems from the knowledge that they have done similar things with some Zambian judges, particularly on matters involving the resolution of PF leadership wrangles, and got away with it. In private, Chabinga, for instance, acknowledges that a questionable judgement by the Pretoria High Court in favour of the Zambian government is likely to be reversed on appeal by a superior court. Nevertheless, the President's proxy is optimistic that the Lungu family will become fatigued by the time the verdict is delivered and ultimately consent to the return of the former president's body to Zambia rather than pursuing an appeal in the event of a dubious loss. The unfolding saga surrounding the burial of former president Lungu reveals more than a mere dispute over a final resting place. It exposes the depths to which political ambition can drive deception, manipulation, and ethical compromise. President Hichilema’s persistent falsehoods about negotiations, the planned orchestration of State-sponsored protests, and the alarming prospect of judicial bribery involving a foreign judge paint a troubling picture of governance undermined by desperation and duplicity. This strategy not only disrespects a grieving family but also erodes public trust in the institutions meant to uphold justice and truth. What began as a matter of state dignity and national closure has morphed into a volatile mix of political manoeuvring, public mobilisation, and devious ecclesiastical diplomacy. President Hichilema’s reported three-pronged strategy — courting the Catholic Church, rallying public protests, and attempting to sway a foreign court — suggests that the battle over Lungu’s body is about far more than burial rights. It is a symbolic struggle for control over Zambia’s political memory and moral authority. Whether these efforts succeed or backfire, they highlight a deeper crisis: the lingering divisions of Zambia’s political landscape and the extent to which historical rivals still cast long shadows over the present. In life and now in death, Lungu continues to provoke conflict, and President Hichilema appears determined to ensure that even in the afterlife, the final word belongs not to the Lungu family but to Hichilema himself. In a country that is yearning for transparency and integrity, such actions as the ones initiated by Hichilema highlight the urgent need for accountability at the highest levels of leadership. The true cost of this political theatre extends beyond the burial dispute; it threatens the moral fabric of Zambia itself. As citizens, observers, and custodians of democracy, we must demand honesty, respect for due process, and, above all, compassion in honouring – both in life and in death – those who have served the nation. No amount of spin or scheming can bury the truth forever. The nation watches and waits.

Sishuwa Sishuwa

69,471 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr

🚨 BREAKING: A psychiatrist who read all 15,000 pages of declassified MKUltra documents at a secure CIA facility in northern Virginia exposes connections between top-secret cleared CIA psychiatrists and the assassinations of JFK, RFK, John Lennon, the Manson murders, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the creation of verified Manchurian candidate operatives using hypnosis, LSD, brain electrode implants, and sensory deprivation 🚨 Dr. Colin Ross is a psychiatrist whose specialty is dissociative identity disorder. In 1992, he physically traveled to a classified reading room in northern Virginia, passed through keyed submarine doors and secure corridors full of uniformed military personnel, and spent a full day reviewing all 149 MKUltra subprojects. He ordered all 15,000 pages. Then he cross-referenced every named researcher against published medical journals, pulling papers from library shelves one volume at a time in the pre-internet era. The result is CIA Doctors, one of the most thoroughly sourced books on mind control ever written. He also presented new research on human electromagnetic extramission that has implications for medicine, agriculture, and surveillance. 1) The CIA Started Offensive Mind Control Before the Korean War The standard cover story is that MKUltra was a defensive reaction to Chinese brainwashing during the Korean War. The documents say otherwise. The Director of the CIA signed Project Bluebird into operation in April 1950, three months before the Korean War started in June. Offensive and defensive programs were already in place. Bluebird and Artichoke were precursors to MKUltra, which ran into the early 1960s and rolled over into MKSearch, which ran into the early 1970s. The U.S. Army admitted to 1,500 LSD test subjects and released a list of over 120 drugs used in mind control testing at congressional hearings in 1975. 2) A Colgate Professor Built a Working Courier System Using Hypnosis G.H. Estabrooks, a professor at Colgate College in upstate New York, published a book on hypnotism in 1943 and a paper in 1971 describing the creation of the "super spy." Ross has copies of Estabrooks' contract with the War Department, his correspondence with top-secret cleared MKUltra contractors, and his invitations to FBI leadership including J. Edgar Hoover spanning three decades. Estabrooks described implanting a hypnotic code phrase, "the moon is clear," that would switch an Army courier into an artificially created identity. The courier would deliver a secret message, receive a response, switch back, and have no memory of the exchange. This operational system is described in both published material and MKUltra documents. 3) A Danish Court Convicted a Handler, Not the Assassin Palle Hardrup was hypnotized by his cellmate in a Scandinavian prison in the late 1940s. After release, he committed a bank robbery under the control of that cellmate. The case went through several levels of court. The legal finding was that Hardrup was not criminally responsible. His handler in prison was held legally liable. A court of law recognized mind control as the operating mechanism. This is not a CIA operation. It is a civilian case that proved the concept independently. 4) Lee Harvey Oswald could have been programmed Ross has a document from the Bluebird-Artichoke files in which one intelligence officer writes to another stating that Oswald's mother contacted them because she believed someone had been impersonating her son in Europe. Oswald defected to the Soviet Union as a Marine, was allowed back into the United States with no apparent surveillance, and worked at 544 Camp Street in New Orleans in a building owned by FBI investigator Guy Bannister. Pierre Lafitte, a figure with roughly 20 known aliases listed in published sources, used the last name Heidel for one alias. That was also Lee Harvey Oswald's alias. Both Lafitte and Oswald worked at the Riley Coffee Company in the same period, 1960 to 1963. Ross states plainly that Oswald could easily have been an MKUltra subject. 5) Jolly West Showed Up at Every Major Crime Scene for Three Decades Louis Jolyon West was a top-secret cleared MKUltra contractor, head of psychiatry at UCLA, and personally connected to an extraordinary number of high-profile cases. He killed an elephant with LSD at the Oklahoma City Zoo. He interviewed Timothy McVeigh after the Oklahoma City bombing. McVeigh stated publicly that military personnel removed a computer chip from his body at Tinker Air Force Base. West visited Jack Ruby in his jail cell after Ruby shot Oswald. Ruby then claimed he had shot Oswald during an epileptic seizure and had no memory of it. West had an office at the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic in San Francisco in 1967, the same clinic Charles Manson visited repeatedly before his transformation from petty criminal to cult leader. West also sat on the board of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation alongside Martin Orne, another top-secret cleared MKUltra contractor, whose stated purpose was to discredit and eliminate the diagnosis of multiple personality disorder just as therapists were beginning to hear patient reports of being taken to military bases and laboratories for experimental procedures. 6) Sirhan Sirhan Still Claims Amnesia and the Bullet Count Doesn't Make Sense Sirhan Sirhan has maintained amnesia for the shooting of Robert F. Kennedy from the day it happened to the present. He was positioned four to six feet in front of RFK. The fatal shot came from close range behind. The Los Angeles County coroner photographed and measured bullet entry wounds in RFK, in another victim, and in the door frames and walls of the room. The total exceeds the number of chambers in Sirhan's gun. RFK fell backward onto a Lockheed Skunkworks security guard named Eugene Thane Caesar. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has publicly stated he believes Caesar killed his father. 7) Patty Hearst Was Kidnapped by an Asset Run by a Military Psywar Expert Donald DeFreeze was a petty criminal who could not read. He was transferred within the prison system to a facility where he walked out into the public. A psychological warfare expert who had served with the Army in Vietnam then met with him repeatedly under cover of the Black Cultural Association, gave him the codename Cinque, and DeFreeze subsequently kidnapped Patty Hearst. Her boyfriend, who was present during the kidnapping and portrayed as an innocent bystander, had been observed at Jim Jones' People's Temple location in Ukiah, California months earlier. Hearst was held in sensory deprivation, developed a new identity called Tanya, and participated in a bank robbery. At trial, Louis Jolyon West testified that she had been mind controlled. She was later pardoned. 8) Brain Electrode Implants Were Used on Humans and Animals Jose Delgado, a neurosurgeon at Yale, published a book called Towards a Psycho-Civilized Society in which he proposed implanting electrodes in the brains of the entire civilian population, excluding top military and political leaders, to control behavior. His technical advance was a remote transmitter that could activate implanted electrodes without wires. Published photographs show a 16-year-old girl with a brain implant cycling between normal behavior, violent episodes, and catatonia depending on which electrode was activated. Robert Heath at Tulane University, funded by the CIA and multiple military branches, used brain electrode implants to attempt to convert a gay man to heterosexuality by pairing electrode-induced arousal with heterosexual pornography. This was published in a mainstream medical journal. CIA documents also describe using brain electrode implants to remotely guide dolphins carrying explosives toward target vessels. 9) Dr. Ross Thinks Electromagnetic Signals Emit From the Human Eye Ross conducted an experiment using a standard brain electrode suspended in front of his eye with no physical contact to his body. One eye was shielded with tinfoil and copper mesh. A control electrode hung in open space. The electrode in front of his unshielded eye picked up a physiological signal visually similar to the frontal EEG leads on his scalp. The control showed only background noise. The paper was published in an electrical engineering journal. Mainstream electrical engineers have separately demonstrated the ability to take a clinical-quality EKG from one meter away with no body contact. Extremely low frequency signals, which operate at brainwave level, do not decay according to the inverse square law and propagate for hundreds to thousands of kilometers with minimal signal loss. Ross argues this is the measurable basis for the "sense of being stared at" and proposes developing antenna-based diagnostic tools that could scan the body's electromagnetic output without any radiation input, detect disease at the electromagnetic level before it manifests biologically, and eventually fit inside a phone. 10) The Documents We Have Are the Ones They Failed to Destroy. What else is going on? Richard Helms and Sidney Gottlieb ordered all MKUltra records destroyed. Seven boxes survived in a storage facility and were eventually declassified. Ross calls this a limited hangout, which is the CIA's own term for releasing a small amount of information to conceal the larger truth. The Church Committee hearings in 1975 led to reforms, but the trail of documentation ends there. Ross has no insider knowledge of current programs. He states clearly that based on what is documented, the intelligence community would be guilty of dereliction of duty if they were not continuing this research. The operational methods are proven. The personnel networks are mapped. The only thing missing is visibility into what came after 1975. What Ross has assembled is not a theory. It is a exposed network of named psychiatrists, named intelligence officers, named operations, published papers, court findings, and declassified documents that together describe a systematic program to fracture human identity and weaponize the result. The fact that the same psychiatrist appears at the intersection of the Manson murders, the JFK assassination, the RFK assassination, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Patty Hearst kidnapping, and the institutional effort to discredit the very diagnosis his work produced is not a coincidence that can be waved away. It is a pattern that demands the same investigative seriousness we would apply to any other exposed criminal network. Full conversation covers all of this and more. This is the show the YouTube algorithm is most likely to suppress. Live now.
2:00

🚨 BREAKING: A psychiatrist who read all 15,000 pages of declassified MKUltra documents at a secure CIA facility in northern Virginia exposes connections between top-secret cleared CIA psychiatrists and the assassinations of JFK, RFK, John Lennon, the Manson murders, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the creation of verified Manchurian candidate operatives using hypnosis, LSD, brain electrode implants, and sensory deprivation 🚨 Dr. Colin Ross is a psychiatrist whose specialty is dissociative identity disorder. In 1992, he physically traveled to a classified reading room in northern Virginia, passed through keyed submarine doors and secure corridors full of uniformed military personnel, and spent a full day reviewing all 149 MKUltra subprojects. He ordered all 15,000 pages. Then he cross-referenced every named researcher against published medical journals, pulling papers from library shelves one volume at a time in the pre-internet era. The result is CIA Doctors, one of the most thoroughly sourced books on mind control ever written. He also presented new research on human electromagnetic extramission that has implications for medicine, agriculture, and surveillance. 1) The CIA Started Offensive Mind Control Before the Korean War The standard cover story is that MKUltra was a defensive reaction to Chinese brainwashing during the Korean War. The documents say otherwise. The Director of the CIA signed Project Bluebird into operation in April 1950, three months before the Korean War started in June. Offensive and defensive programs were already in place. Bluebird and Artichoke were precursors to MKUltra, which ran into the early 1960s and rolled over into MKSearch, which ran into the early 1970s. The U.S. Army admitted to 1,500 LSD test subjects and released a list of over 120 drugs used in mind control testing at congressional hearings in 1975. 2) A Colgate Professor Built a Working Courier System Using Hypnosis G.H. Estabrooks, a professor at Colgate College in upstate New York, published a book on hypnotism in 1943 and a paper in 1971 describing the creation of the "super spy." Ross has copies of Estabrooks' contract with the War Department, his correspondence with top-secret cleared MKUltra contractors, and his invitations to FBI leadership including J. Edgar Hoover spanning three decades. Estabrooks described implanting a hypnotic code phrase, "the moon is clear," that would switch an Army courier into an artificially created identity. The courier would deliver a secret message, receive a response, switch back, and have no memory of the exchange. This operational system is described in both published material and MKUltra documents. 3) A Danish Court Convicted a Handler, Not the Assassin Palle Hardrup was hypnotized by his cellmate in a Scandinavian prison in the late 1940s. After release, he committed a bank robbery under the control of that cellmate. The case went through several levels of court. The legal finding was that Hardrup was not criminally responsible. His handler in prison was held legally liable. A court of law recognized mind control as the operating mechanism. This is not a CIA operation. It is a civilian case that proved the concept independently. 4) Lee Harvey Oswald could have been programmed Ross has a document from the Bluebird-Artichoke files in which one intelligence officer writes to another stating that Oswald's mother contacted them because she believed someone had been impersonating her son in Europe. Oswald defected to the Soviet Union as a Marine, was allowed back into the United States with no apparent surveillance, and worked at 544 Camp Street in New Orleans in a building owned by FBI investigator Guy Bannister. Pierre Lafitte, a figure with roughly 20 known aliases listed in published sources, used the last name Heidel for one alias. That was also Lee Harvey Oswald's alias. Both Lafitte and Oswald worked at the Riley Coffee Company in the same period, 1960 to 1963. Ross states plainly that Oswald could easily have been an MKUltra subject. 5) Jolly West Showed Up at Every Major Crime Scene for Three Decades Louis Jolyon West was a top-secret cleared MKUltra contractor, head of psychiatry at UCLA, and personally connected to an extraordinary number of high-profile cases. He killed an elephant with LSD at the Oklahoma City Zoo. He interviewed Timothy McVeigh after the Oklahoma City bombing. McVeigh stated publicly that military personnel removed a computer chip from his body at Tinker Air Force Base. West visited Jack Ruby in his jail cell after Ruby shot Oswald. Ruby then claimed he had shot Oswald during an epileptic seizure and had no memory of it. West had an office at the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic in San Francisco in 1967, the same clinic Charles Manson visited repeatedly before his transformation from petty criminal to cult leader. West also sat on the board of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation alongside Martin Orne, another top-secret cleared MKUltra contractor, whose stated purpose was to discredit and eliminate the diagnosis of multiple personality disorder just as therapists were beginning to hear patient reports of being taken to military bases and laboratories for experimental procedures. 6) Sirhan Sirhan Still Claims Amnesia and the Bullet Count Doesn't Make Sense Sirhan Sirhan has maintained amnesia for the shooting of Robert F. Kennedy from the day it happened to the present. He was positioned four to six feet in front of RFK. The fatal shot came from close range behind. The Los Angeles County coroner photographed and measured bullet entry wounds in RFK, in another victim, and in the door frames and walls of the room. The total exceeds the number of chambers in Sirhan's gun. RFK fell backward onto a Lockheed Skunkworks security guard named Eugene Thane Caesar. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has publicly stated he believes Caesar killed his father. 7) Patty Hearst Was Kidnapped by an Asset Run by a Military Psywar Expert Donald DeFreeze was a petty criminal who could not read. He was transferred within the prison system to a facility where he walked out into the public. A psychological warfare expert who had served with the Army in Vietnam then met with him repeatedly under cover of the Black Cultural Association, gave him the codename Cinque, and DeFreeze subsequently kidnapped Patty Hearst. Her boyfriend, who was present during the kidnapping and portrayed as an innocent bystander, had been observed at Jim Jones' People's Temple location in Ukiah, California months earlier. Hearst was held in sensory deprivation, developed a new identity called Tanya, and participated in a bank robbery. At trial, Louis Jolyon West testified that she had been mind controlled. She was later pardoned. 8) Brain Electrode Implants Were Used on Humans and Animals Jose Delgado, a neurosurgeon at Yale, published a book called Towards a Psycho-Civilized Society in which he proposed implanting electrodes in the brains of the entire civilian population, excluding top military and political leaders, to control behavior. His technical advance was a remote transmitter that could activate implanted electrodes without wires. Published photographs show a 16-year-old girl with a brain implant cycling between normal behavior, violent episodes, and catatonia depending on which electrode was activated. Robert Heath at Tulane University, funded by the CIA and multiple military branches, used brain electrode implants to attempt to convert a gay man to heterosexuality by pairing electrode-induced arousal with heterosexual pornography. This was published in a mainstream medical journal. CIA documents also describe using brain electrode implants to remotely guide dolphins carrying explosives toward target vessels. 9) Dr. Ross Thinks Electromagnetic Signals Emit From the Human Eye Ross conducted an experiment using a standard brain electrode suspended in front of his eye with no physical contact to his body. One eye was shielded with tinfoil and copper mesh. A control electrode hung in open space. The electrode in front of his unshielded eye picked up a physiological signal visually similar to the frontal EEG leads on his scalp. The control showed only background noise. The paper was published in an electrical engineering journal. Mainstream electrical engineers have separately demonstrated the ability to take a clinical-quality EKG from one meter away with no body contact. Extremely low frequency signals, which operate at brainwave level, do not decay according to the inverse square law and propagate for hundreds to thousands of kilometers with minimal signal loss. Ross argues this is the measurable basis for the "sense of being stared at" and proposes developing antenna-based diagnostic tools that could scan the body's electromagnetic output without any radiation input, detect disease at the electromagnetic level before it manifests biologically, and eventually fit inside a phone. 10) The Documents We Have Are the Ones They Failed to Destroy. What else is going on? Richard Helms and Sidney Gottlieb ordered all MKUltra records destroyed. Seven boxes survived in a storage facility and were eventually declassified. Ross calls this a limited hangout, which is the CIA's own term for releasing a small amount of information to conceal the larger truth. The Church Committee hearings in 1975 led to reforms, but the trail of documentation ends there. Ross has no insider knowledge of current programs. He states clearly that based on what is documented, the intelligence community would be guilty of dereliction of duty if they were not continuing this research. The operational methods are proven. The personnel networks are mapped. The only thing missing is visibility into what came after 1975. What Ross has assembled is not a theory. It is a exposed network of named psychiatrists, named intelligence officers, named operations, published papers, court findings, and declassified documents that together describe a systematic program to fracture human identity and weaponize the result. The fact that the same psychiatrist appears at the intersection of the Manson murders, the JFK assassination, the RFK assassination, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Patty Hearst kidnapping, and the institutional effort to discredit the very diagnosis his work produced is not a coincidence that can be waved away. It is a pattern that demands the same investigative seriousness we would apply to any other exposed criminal network. Full conversation covers all of this and more. This is the show the YouTube algorithm is most likely to suppress. Live now.

Jesse Michels

348,494 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten

🇩🇪🔴Fact Check: German far-left leader claims most high-profile gang rape suspects are all White men. “Let’s start with gang rape. So the most prominent cases we know of are all white men. Epstein, gang rape, Gisele Pelicot in France, gang rape, all by white men,” said Jan van Aken, the co-leader of the German Left Party. His claims about Gisele Pelicot being “gang raped” by “all by white men” is rated as FALSE. According to analysis of names in the case, 12 have a Middle Eastern/North African names plus the 3 names associated with sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific Islands. This means 27.5% of the 51 suspects are likely non-White. Not only is this far from “all” the suspects, but Middle Eastern and North Africans are estimated to be only 10% of the French population, which means they were significantly overrepresented in the rape of Pelicot. Regarding Epstein, while the charges in the case are reprehensible, nobody has been specifically convicted of gang rape in the case. There are numerous allegations that Prince Andrew committed gang rape but his case remains under investigation. The case involving Sean Diddy Combs, while not as prominent as the Epstein affair, also involved numerous allegations of gang rape as well, all involving African American suspects. Van Aken further states: “Gang rape exists, it’s a huge problem. But to pretend that this is a migration problem, I would put a big question mark over that.” The German statistics paint an entirely different story. Germany-wide, approximately 50% of all gang rape arrests involve foreign nationals, which predominately come from non-White regions like North Africa, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan African countries. Going further, if we examine only high-profile gang rape cases in Germany, it is clear that non-White suspects dominate. Cologne New Year’s Eve 2015/16 Approximately 2,000 men participated in mass sexual assaults on over 1,200 women across multiple German cities. The perpetrators were predominantly men from North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) and the Middle East who had recently arrived as part of the 2015 migrant wave. Many of the women were forcibly gang raped by large crowds of non-White males. The scale of the attacks and the initial reluctance of police and media to report on them caused a massive political storm and directly led to Germany rewriting its sexual assault laws in 2016 Freiburg 2018 An 18-year-old woman was drugged inside a discotheque by a 22-year-old Syrian Kurd and then raped outside the building by a series of men. Eight perpetrators were convicted — seven Syrians and one German — while two additional men were convicted for failing to aid the victim. The case intensified the national debate over migration and deportation of criminal asylum seekers.The defendants comprised one German citizen, eight Syrians, two Algerians and one Iraqi. The main suspect, a 22-year-old Syrian Kurd, was already the subject of unenforced arrest warrants for other crimes at the time of the attack. Emma S., 2019 A 15-year-old girl was lured into bushes on a September night and raped by 11 men, two of whom also filmed the attack in September 2019. Two of the named perpetrators, Arsen K. and Fares L., filmed the attack. Based on available reporting the group was predominantly of migrant background, consistent with the broader Freiburg-area cases of that period. Hamburg Stadtpark, 2020 Nine men and boys gang-raped a 15-year-old girl in a Hamburg park over several hours in September 2020. All were under 20 at the time, meaning they were subject to juvenile law. Only one — an Iranian national who was 19 at the time — spent any time in jail. The case later made headlines again when a 20-year-old woman was sentenced to a weekend in jail for calling one of the rapists a “disgraceful rapist pig” on WhatsApp — a harsher punishment than most of the perpetrators received. All nine convicted men reportedly hailed from Afghanistan, Armenia, Egypt, Iran, Kuwait, Libya and Poland. Four of the defendants were German nationals, while four others held Armenian, Afghan, Kuwaiti and Montenegrin citizenship.. Only one, the Iranian national, received a prison sentence. Görlitzer Park, Berlin 2023 Three African men were charged with the rape, grievous bodily harm and aggravated robbery of a 27-year-old Georgian tourist. One of the suspects was a 21-year-old Somali man who had been traveling illegally in Germany since 2016 under eleven different identities. A second was a 22-year-old man from Guinea-Bissau said to have had four other identities and a criminal record across nine cases. Mallorca rape, 2023 In 2023, after the international media loudly trumpeted that five German men were arrested for raping an 18-year-old Spanish girl, it was quickly revealed that all of the men have a “migration background.” Nevertheless, the vast majority of news outlets referred to the men as “Germans” and most made no mention of the fact that the men had a migration background, with many outlets even referring to them as a “German pack.” While Spanish news outlet Ultima Hora reported that the 21- to 23-year-old suspects were of Turkish origin, much of the Spanish press was fixated on the “German” aspect of the crime, which the men allegedly filmed on their smartphones. Even the German press was quick to claim the men were Germans with no context, with Welt, one of the most popular conservative papers in the country, running the headline “Five German vacationers on Mallorca have to be remanded in custody.” At no point in the piece does Welt mention the migration background of the suspects. The same story was told throughout the international press, with Associated Press, Deutsche Welle, and the Daily Mail making no mention of the men’s migration background. Heinsberg, 2025 A 17-year-old girl was lured by her ex-boyfriend to an apartment where five Syrian men between 17 and 26 were waiting. She was raped while threatened with a Taser. A pistol was also found during the subsequent search. The investigation later expanded to three separate rape cases after more victims came forward. Dresden gang rape, 2025 Three Syrian men allegedly raped a 27-year-old woman on the hood of a car in Dresden, with one of the defendants subsequently complaining about being assigned a female interpreter during proceedings. Herford, 2024 In 2024, a drugged 18-year-old was raped by seven suspects inside a parked vehicle in a fast food restaurant car park. The suspects included two Iraqi nationals — considered the main suspects — one German-Syrian, and four others with German citizenship (migration background unknown). The two Iraqis were remanded in custody. Police investigated the use of knockout drugs administered to the girl inside a nearby dance hall before the attack. Berlin, 2026 Just days after van Aken's podcast interview, a case made national headlines after it was revealed that nine suspects sexually assaulted and even raped a Turkish-Kurdish schoolgirl at the Gropiusstadt youth centre in Neukölln. Nine boys of Arab descent took turns molesting the same girl in a back room while one boy stood guard in the doorway. Instead of going to the authorities, staff kept quiet, reportedly to avoid having the young people immediately labeled “typical Muslims.“ These are just a small sampling of cases involving foreign nationals and gang rape.
0:45

🇩🇪🔴Fact Check: German far-left leader claims most high-profile gang rape suspects are all White men. “Let’s start with gang rape. So the most prominent cases we know of are all white men. Epstein, gang rape, Gisele Pelicot in France, gang rape, all by white men,” said Jan van Aken, the co-leader of the German Left Party. His claims about Gisele Pelicot being “gang raped” by “all by white men” is rated as FALSE. According to analysis of names in the case, 12 have a Middle Eastern/North African names plus the 3 names associated with sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific Islands. This means 27.5% of the 51 suspects are likely non-White. Not only is this far from “all” the suspects, but Middle Eastern and North Africans are estimated to be only 10% of the French population, which means they were significantly overrepresented in the rape of Pelicot. Regarding Epstein, while the charges in the case are reprehensible, nobody has been specifically convicted of gang rape in the case. There are numerous allegations that Prince Andrew committed gang rape but his case remains under investigation. The case involving Sean Diddy Combs, while not as prominent as the Epstein affair, also involved numerous allegations of gang rape as well, all involving African American suspects. Van Aken further states: “Gang rape exists, it’s a huge problem. But to pretend that this is a migration problem, I would put a big question mark over that.” The German statistics paint an entirely different story. Germany-wide, approximately 50% of all gang rape arrests involve foreign nationals, which predominately come from non-White regions like North Africa, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan African countries. Going further, if we examine only high-profile gang rape cases in Germany, it is clear that non-White suspects dominate. Cologne New Year’s Eve 2015/16 Approximately 2,000 men participated in mass sexual assaults on over 1,200 women across multiple German cities. The perpetrators were predominantly men from North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) and the Middle East who had recently arrived as part of the 2015 migrant wave. Many of the women were forcibly gang raped by large crowds of non-White males. The scale of the attacks and the initial reluctance of police and media to report on them caused a massive political storm and directly led to Germany rewriting its sexual assault laws in 2016 Freiburg 2018 An 18-year-old woman was drugged inside a discotheque by a 22-year-old Syrian Kurd and then raped outside the building by a series of men. Eight perpetrators were convicted — seven Syrians and one German — while two additional men were convicted for failing to aid the victim. The case intensified the national debate over migration and deportation of criminal asylum seekers.The defendants comprised one German citizen, eight Syrians, two Algerians and one Iraqi. The main suspect, a 22-year-old Syrian Kurd, was already the subject of unenforced arrest warrants for other crimes at the time of the attack. Emma S., 2019 A 15-year-old girl was lured into bushes on a September night and raped by 11 men, two of whom also filmed the attack in September 2019. Two of the named perpetrators, Arsen K. and Fares L., filmed the attack. Based on available reporting the group was predominantly of migrant background, consistent with the broader Freiburg-area cases of that period. Hamburg Stadtpark, 2020 Nine men and boys gang-raped a 15-year-old girl in a Hamburg park over several hours in September 2020. All were under 20 at the time, meaning they were subject to juvenile law. Only one — an Iranian national who was 19 at the time — spent any time in jail. The case later made headlines again when a 20-year-old woman was sentenced to a weekend in jail for calling one of the rapists a “disgraceful rapist pig” on WhatsApp — a harsher punishment than most of the perpetrators received. All nine convicted men reportedly hailed from Afghanistan, Armenia, Egypt, Iran, Kuwait, Libya and Poland. Four of the defendants were German nationals, while four others held Armenian, Afghan, Kuwaiti and Montenegrin citizenship.. Only one, the Iranian national, received a prison sentence. Görlitzer Park, Berlin 2023 Three African men were charged with the rape, grievous bodily harm and aggravated robbery of a 27-year-old Georgian tourist. One of the suspects was a 21-year-old Somali man who had been traveling illegally in Germany since 2016 under eleven different identities. A second was a 22-year-old man from Guinea-Bissau said to have had four other identities and a criminal record across nine cases. Mallorca rape, 2023 In 2023, after the international media loudly trumpeted that five German men were arrested for raping an 18-year-old Spanish girl, it was quickly revealed that all of the men have a “migration background.” Nevertheless, the vast majority of news outlets referred to the men as “Germans” and most made no mention of the fact that the men had a migration background, with many outlets even referring to them as a “German pack.” While Spanish news outlet Ultima Hora reported that the 21- to 23-year-old suspects were of Turkish origin, much of the Spanish press was fixated on the “German” aspect of the crime, which the men allegedly filmed on their smartphones. Even the German press was quick to claim the men were Germans with no context, with Welt, one of the most popular conservative papers in the country, running the headline “Five German vacationers on Mallorca have to be remanded in custody.” At no point in the piece does Welt mention the migration background of the suspects. The same story was told throughout the international press, with Associated Press, Deutsche Welle, and the Daily Mail making no mention of the men’s migration background. Heinsberg, 2025 A 17-year-old girl was lured by her ex-boyfriend to an apartment where five Syrian men between 17 and 26 were waiting. She was raped while threatened with a Taser. A pistol was also found during the subsequent search. The investigation later expanded to three separate rape cases after more victims came forward. Dresden gang rape, 2025 Three Syrian men allegedly raped a 27-year-old woman on the hood of a car in Dresden, with one of the defendants subsequently complaining about being assigned a female interpreter during proceedings. Herford, 2024 In 2024, a drugged 18-year-old was raped by seven suspects inside a parked vehicle in a fast food restaurant car park. The suspects included two Iraqi nationals — considered the main suspects — one German-Syrian, and four others with German citizenship (migration background unknown). The two Iraqis were remanded in custody. Police investigated the use of knockout drugs administered to the girl inside a nearby dance hall before the attack. Berlin, 2026 Just days after van Aken's podcast interview, a case made national headlines after it was revealed that nine suspects sexually assaulted and even raped a Turkish-Kurdish schoolgirl at the Gropiusstadt youth centre in Neukölln. Nine boys of Arab descent took turns molesting the same girl in a back room while one boy stood guard in the doorway. Instead of going to the authorities, staff kept quiet, reportedly to avoid having the young people immediately labeled “typical Muslims.“ These are just a small sampling of cases involving foreign nationals and gang rape.

Remix News & Views

117,456 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten

//The Wire//2300Z August 18, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: KINETIC TARGETING CONTINUES WITHIN MIDDLE EAST AS HOUTHIS LAUNCH MISSILES TOWARD DUBAI. TONGAN CRIP THREAT REMAINS SIGNIFICANT IN SALT LAKE CITY.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Middle East: Iran struck two more ships in the Strait of Hormuz last night, continuing the trend of the past couple of weeks. This morning, the UKMTO retroactively admitted to a merchant vessel being struck on August 15th, with the ship sustaining damage and one crew casualty. This afternoon, Houthi forces conducted a ballistic missile strike on the UAE, with missile warnings being issued in Dubai, for the first time since May. No locals reported witnessing any interception, and government officials stated that one missile splashed down in the Gulf, and another landed outside their territory. Analyst Comment: On the rhetoric front, this morning President Trump continued claiming control of the Strait of Hormuz, posting a graphic which claims the Strait is now U.S. territory. Even though waterways traditionally can't be claimed as land territory, and while this may just be a more lighthearted meme, at the other end of the spectrum this could be more serious. If the White House is indeed serious about making a territorial declaration of some kind, this could be an effort to move the goalposts to allow for the use of more substantial weapons. If Hormuz is America, then the US can claim that Iran is attacking the homeland. Of course, this logic is a stretch at best, but it's exactly the kind of reasoning that would make sense for the White House to rely on at this stage in the war. -HomeFront- Utah: One suspect has been arrested in conjunction with yesterday's events in Salt Lake City. Afuhia Masiu Manatau was arrested for his role in yesterday's shooting at the Tongan funeral in Kearns. During the funeral, a fight broke out among the congregation, between his 17-year-old son, and several others. During the fight, Manatau gave a firearm to his son, which resulted in the son attempting to murder the others. Manatau's son (the shooter) was shot in the chest during the engagement, and Manatau himself has been arrested. Analyst Comment: Concerning casualties, so far one fatality was reported as a result of the funeral shooting. The victim has been identified as Vilisoni (Soni) Angilau, a confirmed Tongan Crip who was recently released from prison after murdering a member of a rival gang in 2013. Soni Angilau's immediate relative, Naisa Angilau, was also recently released from prison for a completely different shooting as well, after he attempted to kill a gas station clerk in 2009. Of note, Soni's brother Siale also met a violent end as he was also shot and killed during a high-profile shooting that took place inside the courtroom during his trial. Siale Angilau was shot and killed by federal Marshals after attempting to stab a witness to death during his trial for racketeering back in 2014. All of these family members have an extensive presence on social media, and all self-identify as Tongan Crips. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: In Utah, additional details are helpful for understanding how serious yesterday's shooting actually was, especially considering the long history of similar murders. Despite assurances to the contrary, Intermountain Medical Center remained locked down throughout the evening last night, as the threats to the hospital remained constant. Many non-essential employees were escorted out of the hospital by SWAT, and patients' medical procedures were canceled due to the security threat. Intermountain Public Relations officials issued statements claiming that everything was fine and that there was no threat to the hospital, however employees within the hospital confirmed that these statements were not true. Intercepted radio traffic from 911 dispatch also confirms that the reason for the overwhelming police response at the hospital, was due to the Tongan Crip Gang attempting to breach the entrance to the Emergency department. At least one employee was assaulted and wounded in the ER, and a large crowd of Tongans also attempted to break through the Emergency Room entrance on the south side of Unit 4. After this breach attempt, local authorities responded in force, with SWAT officers responding immediately to reinforce the hospital and prevent the facility from being overrun. Snipers were deployed to the rooftops, and at least two Bearcat armored vehicles were posted at the Emergency Department to secure a perimeter around the facility. Concerning future threats, the circumstances of yesterday's funeral shooting are still unclear, with much of the eyewitness testimony being verifiably false as gang members seek to cover up the crime. The main question is whether or not this will result in a wider gang war, and right now the answer to that question is not so clear. The Tongan Crip Gang is known to engage in mutual combat within the gang itself, as rival factions settle internal disputes with violence and murder. Funerals are a common way for hostile TCG factions to meet up, and tensions flare. However, the Tongans also have many rivals locally which might also be inclined to stoke up a gang war. The TCG originally had a foothold in Inglewood, California, where the gang achieved it's extremely brutal reputation. After expanding this foothold to Salt Lake City, the TCG became one of the most legendarily violent gangs in the entire nation. Though small in numbers, they make up for their lack of footsoldiers with sheer violence. Even so, many locals prefer to call them "nice" and ignore this brutality, due to the affiliation this gang has within facilities owned by the LDS Church. This gang is known to murder people randomly without a second thought, and despite Tongans being less than one percent of the population of Utah, they make up over 13% of all gang member affiliation in the region. For those who want to make the argument that "not all Tongans" are causing problems, unfortunately in Salt Lake City specifically, this does not appear to be the case based on the case history and preponderance of evidence. During the Tongan Crip funeral murder at an LDS Ward back in January...not a single churchgoer came forward to name the killer. 100% of the congregants at the Ward where the murder took place, refused to speak to the police or provide a statement regarding what they saw. Police set up an anonymous hotline to protect witnesses, but among the hundreds of Tongans that witnessed that shooting, not a single person came forward to testify and the shooters were eventually charged based on evidence of the murder plans being found on their phones. Even the small handful of Tongans who are not documented gang members are extremely loyal to tribal allegiances; quite literally every single Tongan with a social media presence in Salt Lake County has expressed support for their guy who attempted to murder a gas station clerk with a shotgun. No one within this diaspora has condemned the actions of the man who's funeral even resulted in further bloodshed. The Tongan community has not tried to distance themselves from the frequent murders that are conducted within their areas, and most of the Tongan Wards within Salt Lake close ranks around those who commit violent murders. Concerning yesterday's shootings, posts on social media indicate that other family members of yesterday's deceased have been observed flashing Tongan Crip Gang signs and generally confirming their gang affiliation, specifically within the Tongan Wards. On Facebook, most of the Salt Lake Tongans don't wish each other a "Happy B-Day"...they change it to "C-Day" because the letter "B" is too closely affiliated with their arch rivals...the Bloods. This is a callback to their Inglewood origins...many of the TCG's rivals are much the same as in California. The Rose Park Bloods are their main external adversary within Salt Lake, as both gangs have been expanding into each other's turf. In the same area, the Rose Park Taliban (a gang formed from the children of refugees from the Middle East) also maintains some presence, and is allied with the Bloods. Back in March, a Rose Park Taliban member tried to murder a liquor store employee in Taylorsville (near Tongan Crip territory), so gang violence in southwest Salt Lake specifically from these gangs is a constant. As yesterday's "victim" had previously killed a member of the Baby Regulators gang, it's possible that this was a revenge killing that was unrelated to the other Angilau who's funeral was being held at the time. As a result of this complicated web of alliances and relationships between extremely violent gangs, more violence is expected. Despite the grass skirts, barbeques, and disarming smiles, most of these people are killers, and the killing is only likely to escalate. Since one person was killed during the funeral shooting, the funeral for that person will undoubtedly be another opportunity for another shooting, as the cycle of violence and vengeance continues. Analyst: S2A1 Research: NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//
8:04

//The Wire//2300Z August 18, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: KINETIC TARGETING CONTINUES WITHIN MIDDLE EAST AS HOUTHIS LAUNCH MISSILES TOWARD DUBAI. TONGAN CRIP THREAT REMAINS SIGNIFICANT IN SALT LAKE CITY.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Middle East: Iran struck two more ships in the Strait of Hormuz last night, continuing the trend of the past couple of weeks. This morning, the UKMTO retroactively admitted to a merchant vessel being struck on August 15th, with the ship sustaining damage and one crew casualty. This afternoon, Houthi forces conducted a ballistic missile strike on the UAE, with missile warnings being issued in Dubai, for the first time since May. No locals reported witnessing any interception, and government officials stated that one missile splashed down in the Gulf, and another landed outside their territory. Analyst Comment: On the rhetoric front, this morning President Trump continued claiming control of the Strait of Hormuz, posting a graphic which claims the Strait is now U.S. territory. Even though waterways traditionally can't be claimed as land territory, and while this may just be a more lighthearted meme, at the other end of the spectrum this could be more serious. If the White House is indeed serious about making a territorial declaration of some kind, this could be an effort to move the goalposts to allow for the use of more substantial weapons. If Hormuz is America, then the US can claim that Iran is attacking the homeland. Of course, this logic is a stretch at best, but it's exactly the kind of reasoning that would make sense for the White House to rely on at this stage in the war. -HomeFront- Utah: One suspect has been arrested in conjunction with yesterday's events in Salt Lake City. Afuhia Masiu Manatau was arrested for his role in yesterday's shooting at the Tongan funeral in Kearns. During the funeral, a fight broke out among the congregation, between his 17-year-old son, and several others. During the fight, Manatau gave a firearm to his son, which resulted in the son attempting to murder the others. Manatau's son (the shooter) was shot in the chest during the engagement, and Manatau himself has been arrested. Analyst Comment: Concerning casualties, so far one fatality was reported as a result of the funeral shooting. The victim has been identified as Vilisoni (Soni) Angilau, a confirmed Tongan Crip who was recently released from prison after murdering a member of a rival gang in 2013. Soni Angilau's immediate relative, Naisa Angilau, was also recently released from prison for a completely different shooting as well, after he attempted to kill a gas station clerk in 2009. Of note, Soni's brother Siale also met a violent end as he was also shot and killed during a high-profile shooting that took place inside the courtroom during his trial. Siale Angilau was shot and killed by federal Marshals after attempting to stab a witness to death during his trial for racketeering back in 2014. All of these family members have an extensive presence on social media, and all self-identify as Tongan Crips. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: In Utah, additional details are helpful for understanding how serious yesterday's shooting actually was, especially considering the long history of similar murders. Despite assurances to the contrary, Intermountain Medical Center remained locked down throughout the evening last night, as the threats to the hospital remained constant. Many non-essential employees were escorted out of the hospital by SWAT, and patients' medical procedures were canceled due to the security threat. Intermountain Public Relations officials issued statements claiming that everything was fine and that there was no threat to the hospital, however employees within the hospital confirmed that these statements were not true. Intercepted radio traffic from 911 dispatch also confirms that the reason for the overwhelming police response at the hospital, was due to the Tongan Crip Gang attempting to breach the entrance to the Emergency department. At least one employee was assaulted and wounded in the ER, and a large crowd of Tongans also attempted to break through the Emergency Room entrance on the south side of Unit 4. After this breach attempt, local authorities responded in force, with SWAT officers responding immediately to reinforce the hospital and prevent the facility from being overrun. Snipers were deployed to the rooftops, and at least two Bearcat armored vehicles were posted at the Emergency Department to secure a perimeter around the facility. Concerning future threats, the circumstances of yesterday's funeral shooting are still unclear, with much of the eyewitness testimony being verifiably false as gang members seek to cover up the crime. The main question is whether or not this will result in a wider gang war, and right now the answer to that question is not so clear. The Tongan Crip Gang is known to engage in mutual combat within the gang itself, as rival factions settle internal disputes with violence and murder. Funerals are a common way for hostile TCG factions to meet up, and tensions flare. However, the Tongans also have many rivals locally which might also be inclined to stoke up a gang war. The TCG originally had a foothold in Inglewood, California, where the gang achieved it's extremely brutal reputation. After expanding this foothold to Salt Lake City, the TCG became one of the most legendarily violent gangs in the entire nation. Though small in numbers, they make up for their lack of footsoldiers with sheer violence. Even so, many locals prefer to call them "nice" and ignore this brutality, due to the affiliation this gang has within facilities owned by the LDS Church. This gang is known to murder people randomly without a second thought, and despite Tongans being less than one percent of the population of Utah, they make up over 13% of all gang member affiliation in the region. For those who want to make the argument that "not all Tongans" are causing problems, unfortunately in Salt Lake City specifically, this does not appear to be the case based on the case history and preponderance of evidence. During the Tongan Crip funeral murder at an LDS Ward back in January...not a single churchgoer came forward to name the killer. 100% of the congregants at the Ward where the murder took place, refused to speak to the police or provide a statement regarding what they saw. Police set up an anonymous hotline to protect witnesses, but among the hundreds of Tongans that witnessed that shooting, not a single person came forward to testify and the shooters were eventually charged based on evidence of the murder plans being found on their phones. Even the small handful of Tongans who are not documented gang members are extremely loyal to tribal allegiances; quite literally every single Tongan with a social media presence in Salt Lake County has expressed support for their guy who attempted to murder a gas station clerk with a shotgun. No one within this diaspora has condemned the actions of the man who's funeral even resulted in further bloodshed. The Tongan community has not tried to distance themselves from the frequent murders that are conducted within their areas, and most of the Tongan Wards within Salt Lake close ranks around those who commit violent murders. Concerning yesterday's shootings, posts on social media indicate that other family members of yesterday's deceased have been observed flashing Tongan Crip Gang signs and generally confirming their gang affiliation, specifically within the Tongan Wards. On Facebook, most of the Salt Lake Tongans don't wish each other a "Happy B-Day"...they change it to "C-Day" because the letter "B" is too closely affiliated with their arch rivals...the Bloods. This is a callback to their Inglewood origins...many of the TCG's rivals are much the same as in California. The Rose Park Bloods are their main external adversary within Salt Lake, as both gangs have been expanding into each other's turf. In the same area, the Rose Park Taliban (a gang formed from the children of refugees from the Middle East) also maintains some presence, and is allied with the Bloods. Back in March, a Rose Park Taliban member tried to murder a liquor store employee in Taylorsville (near Tongan Crip territory), so gang violence in southwest Salt Lake specifically from these gangs is a constant. As yesterday's "victim" had previously killed a member of the Baby Regulators gang, it's possible that this was a revenge killing that was unrelated to the other Angilau who's funeral was being held at the time. As a result of this complicated web of alliances and relationships between extremely violent gangs, more violence is expected. Despite the grass skirts, barbeques, and disarming smiles, most of these people are killers, and the killing is only likely to escalate. Since one person was killed during the funeral shooting, the funeral for that person will undoubtedly be another opportunity for another shooting, as the cycle of violence and vengeance continues. Analyst: S2A1 Research: NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

S2 Underground

68,279 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat

“Totalitarian” Powers, Fear, And Psychopathy Behind CIA’s Secret Rule Over U.S. The agency remains out of control, beyond the law, and a direct threat to democracy and freedom, including in the U.S. by Michael Shellenberger Last week, we published two stories about a senior CIA whistleblower who was one of four CIA analysts who helped write a January 2017 “Intelligence Community Assessment” (ICA) that falsely claimed, with high confidence, that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help elect President Donald Trump in 2016. The person said that the CIA Director under Obama, John Brennan, had a “pathological need for control” and put the writers of the ICA “under duress” to include a mention of a fraudulent dossier, commissioned by the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. The CIA also included in the classified version of the ICA an annex consisting of the dossier written by a former British spy, which went to roughly 200 people in Washington, some of whom leaked related information to journalists. Unfortunately, the CIA employee said, his employer remains corrupted by “systemic rot” and that crucial steps “have not been put in place" to prevent a Russiagate-like abuse of power from happening again, since the arrival of its new director, John Ratcliffe, in January of this year. “Two critical steps that have not been put in place are,” said the senior analyst turned whistleblower, “to first, formalize expectations about the delivery timeline for sensitive intelligence analyses, and second, to remove the CIA Director from the review process of intelligence reporting or finished analysis.” In response to questions from Public, the CIA said it was taking necessary reforms. “Director Ratcliffe has overhauled the Agency senior ranks and revoked clearances from bad actors and even created a mission center to better execute on Presidential priorities like the Southern Border. The notion that he’s not making significant reforms or holding people and the Agency accountable is not just ridiculously false but beyond absurd.” But the CIA’s revoking security clearances and creating a mission center do not address either of the whistleblower’s recommendations, much less the “systemic rot” within the CIA. The whistleblower called for the removal of the Director of the CIA from review and writing of intelligence analysis, and taking a step to avoid rush jobs, like the kind Brennan used to create a deliberately misleading ICA in January 2017. The whistleblower’s credibility is high. They were one of just four CIA analysts chosen to help write a major ICA. That might make them seem biased toward Brennan, but Ratcliffe has retained the person, rather than fired them, which suggests that the Director or the direct reports he trusts view the person as valuable. Our sense was that the person was loyal to the CIA, wants to engage in objective apolitical analyses, and wants to remain at the CIA. Their two modest proposed reforms are consistent with loyalty to the CIA. As such, the person is precisely the kind of professional the CIA, Congress, and the American people should want to have in our institutions. If a legitimate criticism is to be made of the person it would be that they didn’t turn whistleblower earlier, which is the same criticism that could be made against hundreds and perhaps thousands of people involved in the Russiagate hoax. One might hope that it was just a bad day for the PR people at the CIA, and that Ratcliffe will be out with a new statement this week announcing new reforms, but we are not hopeful. The CIA appears to be following its informal motto, “Admit nothing, deny everything, and make counteraccusations.” That was the advice that former CIA Director Porter Goss said he would give to “a graduating class of CIA case officers” in 2006. The Russiagate hoax is hardly an unusual scandal in the history of the CIA. The agency has “long gone beyond the borders of American values,” noted Tim Weiner in his 812-page history, Legacy of Ashes. The CIA has murdered its employees, overthrown democracies, propped up dictatorships, tortured innocent people, trained death squads, induced mental illness in illegal medical experiments, spied illegally on law-abiding Americans, and may have been behind the assassination of an American president. All of these illegal behaviors required cover-ups, many of them elaborate. “Fundamentally, the founding fathers of U.S. intelligence were liars,” said James Angleton, one of the CIA’s founders, and its Director of Counterintelligence for two decades, on his deathbed in 1987. “If you were in a room with them, you were in a room full of people that you had to believe would deservedly end up in hell. I guess I will see them there soon.” The CIA’s record is poor when evaluated on its own terms. “The CIA was established to prevent unanticipated disasters, such as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor,” noted John Judis in 2005, “but it has repeatedly failed to warn the White House of looming threats. It missed the North Korean invasion of the South in 1950, and the Chinese entry into the war that fall; Israel, France, and Great Britain's attack on the Suez Canal and Egypt in 1956; the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968; the Shah of Iran's ouster in 1979; the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan that year; the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990; the Indian nuclear tests in 1998 (‘We didn't have a clue,’ CIA director George Tenet remarked afterwards); the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993; the bombing of American military barracks in Saudi Arabia in 1996 and of U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998; the attack on the USS Cole in 2000; and of course the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in September 2001.” The truth, admitted a CIA station chief, “was that the agency at the height of its powers had a great reputation and a terrible record.” It never had a single Soviet spy “who had deep insight into the workings of the Kremlin,” and thus didn’t know communism was collapsing. “The one crime of lasting consequence has been the CIA’s inability to carry out its central mission: informing the president of what is happening in the world,” writes Weiner. Its record in the real world is one of “fleeting successes and long-lasting failures.” The politicization and weaponization of the CIA for ideological aims has occurred for decades. The CIA’s charter prevents it from spying on Americans and yet it has done so repeatedly, from opening mail to spying on students. Between 1947 and 1963, the CIA was “a dark and invasive force — at home and abroad — violating citizens’ privacy, kidnapping, torturing, and killing at will,” concluded David Talbot in his 686-page history of the CIA, The Devil’s Chessboard. There were many reforms proposed in the 1970s. In 1975, Congress held hearings, revealing CIA misdeeds around the world, including assassinations using a heart attack gun, and efforts at mind control. Congress then took steps to provide greater oversight of the CIA and more protections for whistleblowers. Calls for reforms began again in the 1990s after a decade of CIA scandals in the 1980s, which included selling weapons to the Iranian government and illegally diverting the money to an equally illegal war in Central America. In 1991 and 1996, the US Senator from New York, Patrick Moynihan, who had been one of America’s most influential public intellectuals for thirty years, proposed abolishing the CIA entirely and reassigning its various functions to the State Department. The proposal never came up for a vote. In 1998, America’s intelligence leaders warned the White House that America would suffer “a catastrophic, systemic failure,” unless the U.S. dramatically changed how it gathered and analyzed intelligence. That didn’t happen. Then, in 2001, the CIA failed to communicate with the FBI and thus played a central role in allowing the 9/11 attacks to happen. In 2002, the CIA manipulated intelligence that led to the catastrophic invasion of Iraq. In response to these failures, Congress in 2004 sought to reform the agency and the broader Intelligence Community. The intent of Congress in passing new legislation was to reduce the power of the CIA, and its Director, and increase the power of a new intelligence coordinator role, which it called the Director of National Intelligence. That didn’t happen. The “CIA is broken,” wrote John Judis one year later. The 2004 reform act didn’t address the “historical problems with the CIA.” “To repair it,” he concluded, “we may need to start from scratch.” That didn’t happen either. In 2016 and 2017, the CIA manipulated intelligence to falsely frame the democratically elected U.S. president as a puppet for a foreign power, and from 2016 to 2020, individuals who worked at the CIA oversaw various efforts to control what people are allowed to say on social media. Neither the Russiagate hoax scandal nor the CIA’s role in creating a Censorship Industrial Complex resulted in reform or even serious calls for it by Congress. Multiple sources tell Public that the CIA remains both the dominant agency of the 18 total in the IC, and the one most resistant to reforms. The Washington Post reported last week that the CIA resisted efforts for greater transparency led by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. And now the CIA has said we should ignore the whistleblowing by one of its most trusted senior analysts, and their demands for reform. None of this is new. In 1947, the year Congress created the CIA, the Secretary of State at the time, Dean Acheson, said he “had the gravest forebodings” about it and “warned the President that neither he” nor anyone else would be able “to control it.” Between 1947 and 2005 there were 14 major studies by various bodies into how to reform the IC. The CIA “has had an almost perfect record of resisting fundamental changes,” noted Weiner in his 2006 book. Meanwhile, Congress has failed its Constitutional duty to provide oversight. “The CIA has tried to assassinate foreign leaders, mined harbors, and most recently, tortured prisoners,” wrote Judis in 2005. “If Congress had openly debated these actions, they would not have been approved.” They didn’t and have never much demanded to be able to. Members of Congress “have been derelict in this work for much of the past three decades,” noted Weiner two years later, “but their conduct since 9/11 has bordered on criminal negligence.” Looking at the full historical record, it is hard not to conclude that the American people only partially govern themselves, that we are burdened with a rogue and violent intelligence agency that continuously interferes not only in foreign elections and governments but also our own, and that many on the Right and the Left who appear to be in a position to change that refuse to do so. Why is that? Why have Congress and the American people failed for 80 years to reform a rogue intelligence agency that is not only ineffective but also destructive to the point of undermining national security? And what, if anything, can be done about it? If you're not already a subscriber, please subscribe now to support Public's defense of free speech and democracy, watch the rest of the video, and read the rest of the article!
7:37

“Totalitarian” Powers, Fear, And Psychopathy Behind CIA’s Secret Rule Over U.S. The agency remains out of control, beyond the law, and a direct threat to democracy and freedom, including in the U.S. by Michael Shellenberger Last week, we published two stories about a senior CIA whistleblower who was one of four CIA analysts who helped write a January 2017 “Intelligence Community Assessment” (ICA) that falsely claimed, with high confidence, that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help elect President Donald Trump in 2016. The person said that the CIA Director under Obama, John Brennan, had a “pathological need for control” and put the writers of the ICA “under duress” to include a mention of a fraudulent dossier, commissioned by the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. The CIA also included in the classified version of the ICA an annex consisting of the dossier written by a former British spy, which went to roughly 200 people in Washington, some of whom leaked related information to journalists. Unfortunately, the CIA employee said, his employer remains corrupted by “systemic rot” and that crucial steps “have not been put in place" to prevent a Russiagate-like abuse of power from happening again, since the arrival of its new director, John Ratcliffe, in January of this year. “Two critical steps that have not been put in place are,” said the senior analyst turned whistleblower, “to first, formalize expectations about the delivery timeline for sensitive intelligence analyses, and second, to remove the CIA Director from the review process of intelligence reporting or finished analysis.” In response to questions from Public, the CIA said it was taking necessary reforms. “Director Ratcliffe has overhauled the Agency senior ranks and revoked clearances from bad actors and even created a mission center to better execute on Presidential priorities like the Southern Border. The notion that he’s not making significant reforms or holding people and the Agency accountable is not just ridiculously false but beyond absurd.” But the CIA’s revoking security clearances and creating a mission center do not address either of the whistleblower’s recommendations, much less the “systemic rot” within the CIA. The whistleblower called for the removal of the Director of the CIA from review and writing of intelligence analysis, and taking a step to avoid rush jobs, like the kind Brennan used to create a deliberately misleading ICA in January 2017. The whistleblower’s credibility is high. They were one of just four CIA analysts chosen to help write a major ICA. That might make them seem biased toward Brennan, but Ratcliffe has retained the person, rather than fired them, which suggests that the Director or the direct reports he trusts view the person as valuable. Our sense was that the person was loyal to the CIA, wants to engage in objective apolitical analyses, and wants to remain at the CIA. Their two modest proposed reforms are consistent with loyalty to the CIA. As such, the person is precisely the kind of professional the CIA, Congress, and the American people should want to have in our institutions. If a legitimate criticism is to be made of the person it would be that they didn’t turn whistleblower earlier, which is the same criticism that could be made against hundreds and perhaps thousands of people involved in the Russiagate hoax. One might hope that it was just a bad day for the PR people at the CIA, and that Ratcliffe will be out with a new statement this week announcing new reforms, but we are not hopeful. The CIA appears to be following its informal motto, “Admit nothing, deny everything, and make counteraccusations.” That was the advice that former CIA Director Porter Goss said he would give to “a graduating class of CIA case officers” in 2006. The Russiagate hoax is hardly an unusual scandal in the history of the CIA. The agency has “long gone beyond the borders of American values,” noted Tim Weiner in his 812-page history, Legacy of Ashes. The CIA has murdered its employees, overthrown democracies, propped up dictatorships, tortured innocent people, trained death squads, induced mental illness in illegal medical experiments, spied illegally on law-abiding Americans, and may have been behind the assassination of an American president. All of these illegal behaviors required cover-ups, many of them elaborate. “Fundamentally, the founding fathers of U.S. intelligence were liars,” said James Angleton, one of the CIA’s founders, and its Director of Counterintelligence for two decades, on his deathbed in 1987. “If you were in a room with them, you were in a room full of people that you had to believe would deservedly end up in hell. I guess I will see them there soon.” The CIA’s record is poor when evaluated on its own terms. “The CIA was established to prevent unanticipated disasters, such as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor,” noted John Judis in 2005, “but it has repeatedly failed to warn the White House of looming threats. It missed the North Korean invasion of the South in 1950, and the Chinese entry into the war that fall; Israel, France, and Great Britain's attack on the Suez Canal and Egypt in 1956; the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968; the Shah of Iran's ouster in 1979; the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan that year; the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990; the Indian nuclear tests in 1998 (‘We didn't have a clue,’ CIA director George Tenet remarked afterwards); the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993; the bombing of American military barracks in Saudi Arabia in 1996 and of U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998; the attack on the USS Cole in 2000; and of course the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in September 2001.” The truth, admitted a CIA station chief, “was that the agency at the height of its powers had a great reputation and a terrible record.” It never had a single Soviet spy “who had deep insight into the workings of the Kremlin,” and thus didn’t know communism was collapsing. “The one crime of lasting consequence has been the CIA’s inability to carry out its central mission: informing the president of what is happening in the world,” writes Weiner. Its record in the real world is one of “fleeting successes and long-lasting failures.” The politicization and weaponization of the CIA for ideological aims has occurred for decades. The CIA’s charter prevents it from spying on Americans and yet it has done so repeatedly, from opening mail to spying on students. Between 1947 and 1963, the CIA was “a dark and invasive force — at home and abroad — violating citizens’ privacy, kidnapping, torturing, and killing at will,” concluded David Talbot in his 686-page history of the CIA, The Devil’s Chessboard. There were many reforms proposed in the 1970s. In 1975, Congress held hearings, revealing CIA misdeeds around the world, including assassinations using a heart attack gun, and efforts at mind control. Congress then took steps to provide greater oversight of the CIA and more protections for whistleblowers. Calls for reforms began again in the 1990s after a decade of CIA scandals in the 1980s, which included selling weapons to the Iranian government and illegally diverting the money to an equally illegal war in Central America. In 1991 and 1996, the US Senator from New York, Patrick Moynihan, who had been one of America’s most influential public intellectuals for thirty years, proposed abolishing the CIA entirely and reassigning its various functions to the State Department. The proposal never came up for a vote. In 1998, America’s intelligence leaders warned the White House that America would suffer “a catastrophic, systemic failure,” unless the U.S. dramatically changed how it gathered and analyzed intelligence. That didn’t happen. Then, in 2001, the CIA failed to communicate with the FBI and thus played a central role in allowing the 9/11 attacks to happen. In 2002, the CIA manipulated intelligence that led to the catastrophic invasion of Iraq. In response to these failures, Congress in 2004 sought to reform the agency and the broader Intelligence Community. The intent of Congress in passing new legislation was to reduce the power of the CIA, and its Director, and increase the power of a new intelligence coordinator role, which it called the Director of National Intelligence. That didn’t happen. The “CIA is broken,” wrote John Judis one year later. The 2004 reform act didn’t address the “historical problems with the CIA.” “To repair it,” he concluded, “we may need to start from scratch.” That didn’t happen either. In 2016 and 2017, the CIA manipulated intelligence to falsely frame the democratically elected U.S. president as a puppet for a foreign power, and from 2016 to 2020, individuals who worked at the CIA oversaw various efforts to control what people are allowed to say on social media. Neither the Russiagate hoax scandal nor the CIA’s role in creating a Censorship Industrial Complex resulted in reform or even serious calls for it by Congress. Multiple sources tell Public that the CIA remains both the dominant agency of the 18 total in the IC, and the one most resistant to reforms. The Washington Post reported last week that the CIA resisted efforts for greater transparency led by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. And now the CIA has said we should ignore the whistleblowing by one of its most trusted senior analysts, and their demands for reform. None of this is new. In 1947, the year Congress created the CIA, the Secretary of State at the time, Dean Acheson, said he “had the gravest forebodings” about it and “warned the President that neither he” nor anyone else would be able “to control it.” Between 1947 and 2005 there were 14 major studies by various bodies into how to reform the IC. The CIA “has had an almost perfect record of resisting fundamental changes,” noted Weiner in his 2006 book. Meanwhile, Congress has failed its Constitutional duty to provide oversight. “The CIA has tried to assassinate foreign leaders, mined harbors, and most recently, tortured prisoners,” wrote Judis in 2005. “If Congress had openly debated these actions, they would not have been approved.” They didn’t and have never much demanded to be able to. Members of Congress “have been derelict in this work for much of the past three decades,” noted Weiner two years later, “but their conduct since 9/11 has bordered on criminal negligence.” Looking at the full historical record, it is hard not to conclude that the American people only partially govern themselves, that we are burdened with a rogue and violent intelligence agency that continuously interferes not only in foreign elections and governments but also our own, and that many on the Right and the Left who appear to be in a position to change that refuse to do so. Why is that? Why have Congress and the American people failed for 80 years to reform a rogue intelligence agency that is not only ineffective but also destructive to the point of undermining national security? And what, if anything, can be done about it? If you're not already a subscriber, please subscribe now to support Public's defense of free speech and democracy, watch the rest of the video, and read the rest of the article!

Michael Shellenberger

49,338 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr

About a month ago, a clip of mine went viral⁽¹⁾ talking about the Current State of Twitch (3rd thumbnail in this tweet). It resonated w/ people outside my community, so lemme elaborate (as a 10yr+ Twitch Veteran). Current State of Twitch isn't great and haven't been for a while. I've been passionate about Twitch since inception (I joined in April 2011 in the JTV days, a few months before Twitch debuted in July 2011), and been trying to instill positive change but I'm only a cog in the machine compared to where influence can impact — likely via Amazon-appointed Executives to help "oversee things" at decade-old-acquisition-that-has-still-generated-zero-profit Twitch⁽²⁾. ------------------------------------------------ Twitch's Muddled Identity ------------------------------------------------ Describing Twitch 10 years ago was easy: "Youtube, except always live, for gamers". Now, it's more muddled & fluid, at best: "Always live broadcasters who aim to connect with their viewers and foster communities(?)" — that, in itself, isn't problematic; but how it's accomplished, what methods are most effective, and how certain directories accumulate higher viewership is, I think (I may elaborate further on that in a future tweet). The most common reactive bark I've heard following TwitchCon 2025 is "Ban Politics" or "Make it Gaming-Only Again!" — People forget, but Pokemon GO (June 2016) going worldwide-viral was the crack-in-the-dam that lead to IRL as a directory because of the impracticality of continuing Twitch's "games-only" era as the site was increasing in popularity, reach, and cultural significance. IRL was a band-aid solution for the core function of Directories⁽³⁾ (which was to let would-be-browsers make better-informed decisions on what to watch based on their interest). It's too broad and encompassing, which led to an unintended dopamine-producing⁽⁴⁾ psuedo-ChatRoulette where you "never know what you're gonna see" browsing there. Without a better tool to migrate users or aggregate topical content, this problem exacerbated continuously. Just Chatting was supposed to be the solution, as it came with 11-12 other directories⁽⁵⁾ to attemptedly split the IRL monolith, but failed to inspire Social Behavioral Change tremendously. Just Chatting is more popular than ever, discoverability — like in the broad, functional sense — is busted cuz every genre of content stuffed within it and fails to disincentivize streamers from opting-out of the most popular directory. So, how do you stand-out in the overcrowded field where a fuckton of the viewership goes for a Roulette Pull on something entertaining to watch? ... ------------------------------------------------ The Era of Clout-Farming Content (and the fact it works, ugh) ------------------------------------------------ Once IRL directory came in Sept 2016, so did the meta of skirting the ToS (Terms of Service) to maximize views or push the limits of what was tolerated on Twitch. Fundamentally, the social dynamic of receiving a suspension (everyone generally refers to them colloquially as "bans") earns notoriety and "free vacation/marketing", that when coinciding with a comeback event, open the possibility of a net-positive from the boost in viewership or metrics. This isn't as relevant now because the ToS Enforcement has gotten significant buffs to be more transparent and structural in the last half-decade. I can't speak on the nuance of this now, but "Full-Time IRL Streamers" and "Sweaty IRL Affiliates" were unbearable at TwitchCons until TC Policy cracked down on requiring consent by those they bumrush'd into (while live of course), so I assume they're probably equally as intrusive everywhere else ... then Kick came along in 2022 and dominated the headlines for mischief within this realm, for the most part; but that's a different topic altogether. The burden of an authentic collab can be too much friction, slow moving — and honestly, too much work for a streamer to do — compared to the efficacy of blowing up Streamer x Streamer Conflict via self-commentary-reacts for sensationalism and maximizing parasocial viewers' worst tendencies. Effectively, ragebaiting. I'm not advocating to abolish this as a policy. I'm pointing out how this is a very effective way to garner views within the social constructs — and it shouldn't be, nor always was. Something changed at some point. I don't wanna bore you with a timeline of the last decade of controversy on Twitch, so I'll fast-forward to when I definitively see evidence that Clout-Culture is failing upward: In March 2025, the unbanning of Adin Ross⁽⁶⁾ (on Twitch) I saw as a huge moral failure that reeks of desperation for his views/clout/relevance at the direct expense of the integrity of Twitch Culture. Not sure if that was a Clancy-specific decision or what, but it encompasses "neo-Twitch" or a disconnect if there ever was one. ------------------------------------------------ Twitch Culture is diluting at the expense of recouping revenue ------------------------------------------------ A decade ago, Twitch Plays Pokemon broke news across insular-livestreaming gossip and was celebrated as a pinnacle of internet fandom⁽⁷⁾ (Feb 2014). This event was a testament to the value of Twitch because it reinforced the undeniable power of CULTURE present in Twitch Chats. I don't think the event could've worked on a YouTube Livestream (remember YouTube Gaming, introduced in 2015?). There's a certain aura present in Twitch Chat that makes it feel captivating to interact and engage with compared to a YouTube Live Chat Box. One feels like a close relative of bot-spam'd yt comments and the other feels ... real. I think that value is the culture — what could keep Twitch afloat for a long time, even if YouTube were to hypothetically obsolete Twitch in every way for delivering live broadcasted video content. I've noticed that as the meta has shifted towards revenue-maxxx'ing with the proliferation of Spectacle Events, typically marathons, that are engineered to paywall as many things as possible, at the expense of the content. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but the culture has shifted. I also do think most of the marathon content isn't good; they're carried by being experiences with strong FOMO-factors to compel your participation by viewing. I do suspect there's a saturation point where the combination of the waning niches of livestreaming, 4th-wall-breaking, and manufactured spectacles can keep an audience seduced. Like, the content (in aspects) has less substance and I wonder what that means for the welfare of Twitch Culture and its content in another 5 years. Perhaps Twitch could foresee this and become proactive on the manner?... ------------------------------------------------ Twitch's Conduct & Repetitive Incompetence ------------------------------------------------ Twitch has prioritized generating revenue over addressing the needs of the already-active users for years. Emmett Shear (previous CEO; 2011-2023) probably was a huge reason for sluggish changes overall to the platform as from what I hear but I can't say for certain. Regardless, we got Dan Clancy as CEO and, while there has been lots of positive changes under his reign, it really does feel like "too little, too late" with the pressure looming from Amazon's 2015 acquisition; increased competition and marketshare decline; and declining revenues, active users & monthly streamers"⁽⁸⁾. Here's a brief timeline of features implemented that I feel helped build the culture. Before COVID, I believe the biggest obstacle was helping migrate streamers from being part-time to capable full-time content creators. So, at the time, revenue-generating products were revolutionary to help there, including me at that time: ✅ 2016 — Bits/Cheers & Prime Subs (!!!) ✅ 2017 — Gift Subs (to a specific user) ✅ 2018 — Gift Subs (to randos in Community); Super Subs & Ultra Subs ✅ 2018 — Twitch Mobile App v2 (original mobile app was a constantly broken mess) ✅ 2018 — Twitch Prime no longer adblocks (I will agree how they did it was stupid, but ultimately, it was a necessary; I can defend this in the replies if needed) Comparatively, here's the hostile changes that came at the expense of the Twitch Populous supporting said-change: ❌ 2017 — Communities⁽⁹⁾ (DOA cuz it wasn't streamlined enough and vulnerable to Popularity Bias; I can elaborate in replies if needed) ❌ 2018 — Tags for Channels (DOA cuz anyone can use any tag, diluting the effort of broad categorization or filtering in any capacity) ❌ 2022 — Twitch kills Hosting⁽¹⁰⁾ (also new "craptacular" Offline Page w/ Suggested Channels idea instead) ❌ 2024 — Twitch Mobile App v3⁽¹¹⁾ (Tiktok clone dogshit) ❌ 2024 — Stories (who asked for this?) ❌ 2025 — 100hr Video Storage Limit (going back against Collections & cementing Twitch isn't an evergreen platform; also SHORT NOTICE) ❌2025 — Live Rewind ... paywall'd to Twitch Turbo & Channel Subscribers only (this is free sitewide on yt's livestreams)⁽¹²⁾ ❌ 2025 — Ability to gift 1000 subs at once (already shelved from backlash) Post-COVID, I see a pattern of prioritizing revenue-generating products at the expense of what creators need or ask for. I understand Twitch needs to appease Amazon eventually with profit, but with a half-decade passed, all the buffs I can recall are 2K Resolution Streaming*, Portrait & Dual-Canvas Streaming*, and Stream Together / Shared Chat. *Both of these sortta don't count cuz they're invite-only betas that aren't site-wide and don't apply to non-Partners 🤷‍♂️ While more features arrive that ask for more of your money to partake in the Twitch Experience, I feel like the users (both Streamers & Viewers) continue to be neglected. 10 years ago, I thought YouTube Gaming was DOA; now I anticipate when more people bail on Twitch because the functionality will decay without a compelling reason to stay if the culture dminishes. I'll conclude with the 4th thumbnail included in this tweet — a supercut of a portion from the TwitchCon 2025 Keynote from Dan Clancy, with the youtube dislikes superimposed-over for your enjoyment. Let me know what you think of what I shared today! 🎉🥳 I'm considering also breaking down the specific causes (not symptoms) of why Twitch is where it is, and my 999 IQ Pragmatic Solutions that are tenfold better than what I've seen suggested after this morale fallout following TwitchCon 2025 👀
0:46

About a month ago, a clip of mine went viral⁽¹⁾ talking about the Current State of Twitch (3rd thumbnail in this tweet). It resonated w/ people outside my community, so lemme elaborate (as a 10yr+ Twitch Veteran). Current State of Twitch isn't great and haven't been for a while. I've been passionate about Twitch since inception (I joined in April 2011 in the JTV days, a few months before Twitch debuted in July 2011), and been trying to instill positive change but I'm only a cog in the machine compared to where influence can impact — likely via Amazon-appointed Executives to help "oversee things" at decade-old-acquisition-that-has-still-generated-zero-profit Twitch⁽²⁾. ------------------------------------------------ Twitch's Muddled Identity ------------------------------------------------ Describing Twitch 10 years ago was easy: "Youtube, except always live, for gamers". Now, it's more muddled & fluid, at best: "Always live broadcasters who aim to connect with their viewers and foster communities(?)" — that, in itself, isn't problematic; but how it's accomplished, what methods are most effective, and how certain directories accumulate higher viewership is, I think (I may elaborate further on that in a future tweet). The most common reactive bark I've heard following TwitchCon 2025 is "Ban Politics" or "Make it Gaming-Only Again!" — People forget, but Pokemon GO (June 2016) going worldwide-viral was the crack-in-the-dam that lead to IRL as a directory because of the impracticality of continuing Twitch's "games-only" era as the site was increasing in popularity, reach, and cultural significance. IRL was a band-aid solution for the core function of Directories⁽³⁾ (which was to let would-be-browsers make better-informed decisions on what to watch based on their interest). It's too broad and encompassing, which led to an unintended dopamine-producing⁽⁴⁾ psuedo-ChatRoulette where you "never know what you're gonna see" browsing there. Without a better tool to migrate users or aggregate topical content, this problem exacerbated continuously. Just Chatting was supposed to be the solution, as it came with 11-12 other directories⁽⁵⁾ to attemptedly split the IRL monolith, but failed to inspire Social Behavioral Change tremendously. Just Chatting is more popular than ever, discoverability — like in the broad, functional sense — is busted cuz every genre of content stuffed within it and fails to disincentivize streamers from opting-out of the most popular directory. So, how do you stand-out in the overcrowded field where a fuckton of the viewership goes for a Roulette Pull on something entertaining to watch? ... ------------------------------------------------ The Era of Clout-Farming Content (and the fact it works, ugh) ------------------------------------------------ Once IRL directory came in Sept 2016, so did the meta of skirting the ToS (Terms of Service) to maximize views or push the limits of what was tolerated on Twitch. Fundamentally, the social dynamic of receiving a suspension (everyone generally refers to them colloquially as "bans") earns notoriety and "free vacation/marketing", that when coinciding with a comeback event, open the possibility of a net-positive from the boost in viewership or metrics. This isn't as relevant now because the ToS Enforcement has gotten significant buffs to be more transparent and structural in the last half-decade. I can't speak on the nuance of this now, but "Full-Time IRL Streamers" and "Sweaty IRL Affiliates" were unbearable at TwitchCons until TC Policy cracked down on requiring consent by those they bumrush'd into (while live of course), so I assume they're probably equally as intrusive everywhere else ... then Kick came along in 2022 and dominated the headlines for mischief within this realm, for the most part; but that's a different topic altogether. The burden of an authentic collab can be too much friction, slow moving — and honestly, too much work for a streamer to do — compared to the efficacy of blowing up Streamer x Streamer Conflict via self-commentary-reacts for sensationalism and maximizing parasocial viewers' worst tendencies. Effectively, ragebaiting. I'm not advocating to abolish this as a policy. I'm pointing out how this is a very effective way to garner views within the social constructs — and it shouldn't be, nor always was. Something changed at some point. I don't wanna bore you with a timeline of the last decade of controversy on Twitch, so I'll fast-forward to when I definitively see evidence that Clout-Culture is failing upward: In March 2025, the unbanning of Adin Ross⁽⁶⁾ (on Twitch) I saw as a huge moral failure that reeks of desperation for his views/clout/relevance at the direct expense of the integrity of Twitch Culture. Not sure if that was a Clancy-specific decision or what, but it encompasses "neo-Twitch" or a disconnect if there ever was one. ------------------------------------------------ Twitch Culture is diluting at the expense of recouping revenue ------------------------------------------------ A decade ago, Twitch Plays Pokemon broke news across insular-livestreaming gossip and was celebrated as a pinnacle of internet fandom⁽⁷⁾ (Feb 2014). This event was a testament to the value of Twitch because it reinforced the undeniable power of CULTURE present in Twitch Chats. I don't think the event could've worked on a YouTube Livestream (remember YouTube Gaming, introduced in 2015?). There's a certain aura present in Twitch Chat that makes it feel captivating to interact and engage with compared to a YouTube Live Chat Box. One feels like a close relative of bot-spam'd yt comments and the other feels ... real. I think that value is the culture — what could keep Twitch afloat for a long time, even if YouTube were to hypothetically obsolete Twitch in every way for delivering live broadcasted video content. I've noticed that as the meta has shifted towards revenue-maxxx'ing with the proliferation of Spectacle Events, typically marathons, that are engineered to paywall as many things as possible, at the expense of the content. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but the culture has shifted. I also do think most of the marathon content isn't good; they're carried by being experiences with strong FOMO-factors to compel your participation by viewing. I do suspect there's a saturation point where the combination of the waning niches of livestreaming, 4th-wall-breaking, and manufactured spectacles can keep an audience seduced. Like, the content (in aspects) has less substance and I wonder what that means for the welfare of Twitch Culture and its content in another 5 years. Perhaps Twitch could foresee this and become proactive on the manner?... ------------------------------------------------ Twitch's Conduct & Repetitive Incompetence ------------------------------------------------ Twitch has prioritized generating revenue over addressing the needs of the already-active users for years. Emmett Shear (previous CEO; 2011-2023) probably was a huge reason for sluggish changes overall to the platform as from what I hear but I can't say for certain. Regardless, we got Dan Clancy as CEO and, while there has been lots of positive changes under his reign, it really does feel like "too little, too late" with the pressure looming from Amazon's 2015 acquisition; increased competition and marketshare decline; and declining revenues, active users & monthly streamers"⁽⁸⁾. Here's a brief timeline of features implemented that I feel helped build the culture. Before COVID, I believe the biggest obstacle was helping migrate streamers from being part-time to capable full-time content creators. So, at the time, revenue-generating products were revolutionary to help there, including me at that time: ✅ 2016 — Bits/Cheers & Prime Subs (!!!) ✅ 2017 — Gift Subs (to a specific user) ✅ 2018 — Gift Subs (to randos in Community); Super Subs & Ultra Subs ✅ 2018 — Twitch Mobile App v2 (original mobile app was a constantly broken mess) ✅ 2018 — Twitch Prime no longer adblocks (I will agree how they did it was stupid, but ultimately, it was a necessary; I can defend this in the replies if needed) Comparatively, here's the hostile changes that came at the expense of the Twitch Populous supporting said-change: ❌ 2017 — Communities⁽⁹⁾ (DOA cuz it wasn't streamlined enough and vulnerable to Popularity Bias; I can elaborate in replies if needed) ❌ 2018 — Tags for Channels (DOA cuz anyone can use any tag, diluting the effort of broad categorization or filtering in any capacity) ❌ 2022 — Twitch kills Hosting⁽¹⁰⁾ (also new "craptacular" Offline Page w/ Suggested Channels idea instead) ❌ 2024 — Twitch Mobile App v3⁽¹¹⁾ (Tiktok clone dogshit) ❌ 2024 — Stories (who asked for this?) ❌ 2025 — 100hr Video Storage Limit (going back against Collections & cementing Twitch isn't an evergreen platform; also SHORT NOTICE) ❌2025 — Live Rewind ... paywall'd to Twitch Turbo & Channel Subscribers only (this is free sitewide on yt's livestreams)⁽¹²⁾ ❌ 2025 — Ability to gift 1000 subs at once (already shelved from backlash) Post-COVID, I see a pattern of prioritizing revenue-generating products at the expense of what creators need or ask for. I understand Twitch needs to appease Amazon eventually with profit, but with a half-decade passed, all the buffs I can recall are 2K Resolution Streaming*, Portrait & Dual-Canvas Streaming*, and Stream Together / Shared Chat. *Both of these sortta don't count cuz they're invite-only betas that aren't site-wide and don't apply to non-Partners 🤷‍♂️ While more features arrive that ask for more of your money to partake in the Twitch Experience, I feel like the users (both Streamers & Viewers) continue to be neglected. 10 years ago, I thought YouTube Gaming was DOA; now I anticipate when more people bail on Twitch because the functionality will decay without a compelling reason to stay if the culture dminishes. I'll conclude with the 4th thumbnail included in this tweet — a supercut of a portion from the TwitchCon 2025 Keynote from Dan Clancy, with the youtube dislikes superimposed-over for your enjoyment. Let me know what you think of what I shared today! 🎉🥳 I'm considering also breaking down the specific causes (not symptoms) of why Twitch is where it is, and my 999 IQ Pragmatic Solutions that are tenfold better than what I've seen suggested after this morale fallout following TwitchCon 2025 👀

trihex

17,788 Aufrufe • vor 10 Monaten

Absolutely masterful interview on Gaza of Dominique De Villepin, former Prime Minister of France, who famously led France's opposition to the Iraq war and who, IMHO is the best diplomat the West has produced in decades. This is so important, so incredibly well argued, that I decided to translate it in full: "Hamas has set a trap for us, and this trap is one of maximum horror, of maximum cruelty. And so there's a risk of an escalation in militarism, of more military interventions, as if we could with armies solve a problem as serious as the Palestinian question. There's also a second major trap, which is that of Occidentalism. We find ourselves trapped, with Israel, in this western bloc which today is being challenged by most of the international community. [Presenter: What is Occidentalism?] Occidentalism is the idea that the West, which for 5 centuries managed the world's affairs, will be able to quietly continue to do so. And we can clearly see, even in the debates of the French political class, that there is the idea that, faced with what is currently happening in the Middle East, we must continue the fight even more, towards what might resemble a religious or a civilizational war. That is to say, to isolate ourselves even more on the international stage. This is not the way, especially since there's a third trap, which is that of moralism. And here we have in a way the proof, through what is happening in Ukraine and what is happening in the Middle East, of this double standard that is denounced everywhere in the world, including in recent weeks when I travel to Africa, the Middle East, or Latin America. The criticism is always the same: look at how civilian populations are treated in Gaza, you denounce what happened in Ukraine, and you are very timid in the face of the tragedy unfolding in Gaza. Consider international law, the second criticism that is made by the global south. We sanction Russia when it aggresses Ukraine, we sanction Russia when it doesn't respect the resolutions of the United Nations, and it's been 70 years that the resolutions of the United Nations have been voted in vain and that Israel doesn't respect them. [Presenter: Do you believe that the Westerners are currently guilty of hubris?] Westerners must open their eyes to the extent of the historical drama unfolding before us to find the right answers. [Presenter: What is the historical drama? I mean, we're talking about the tragedy of October 7th first and foremost, right?] Of course, there are these horrors happening, but the way to respond to them is crucial. Are we going to kill the future by finding the wrong answers... [Presenter: Kill the future?] Kill the future, yes! Why? [Presenter: But who is killing whom?] You are in a game of causes and effects. Faced with the tragedy of history, one cannot take this 'chain of causality' analytical grid, simply because if you do you can't escape from it. Once we understand that there is a trap, once we realize that behind this trap there has also been a change in the Middle East regarding the Palestinian issue... The situation today is profoundly different [from what it was in the past]. The Palestinian cause was a political and secular cause. Today we are faced with an Islamist cause, led by Hamas. Obviously, this kind of cause is absolute and allows no form of negotiation. On the Israeli side, there has also been a development. Zionism was secular and political, championed by Theodor Herzl in the late 19th century. It has largely become messianic, biblical today. This means that they too do not want to compromise, and everything that the far-right Israeli government does, continuing to encourage colonization, obviously makes things worse, including since October 7th. So in this context, understand that we are already in this region facing a problem that seems profoundly insoluble. Added to this is the hardening of states. Diplomatically, look at the statements of the King of Jordan, they are not the same as six months ago. Look at the statements of Erdogan in Turkey. [Presenter: Precisely, these are extremely harsh statements...] Extremely worrying. Why? Because if the Palestinian cause, the Palestinian issue, hasn't been brought to the forefront, hasn't been put on stage [for a while], and if most of the youth today in Europe have often never even heard of it, it remains for the Arab peoples the mother of all battles. All the progress made towards an attempt to stabilize the Middle East, where one could believe... [Presenter: Yes, but whose fault is it? I have a hard time following you, is it Hamas's fault?] But Ms. Malherbe, I am trained as a diplomat. The question of fault will be addressed by historians and philosophers. [Presenter: But you can't remain neutral, it's difficult, it's complicated, isn't it?] I am not neutral, I am in action. I am simply telling you that every day that passes, we can ensure that this horrific cycle stops... that's why I speak of a trap and that's why it's so important to know what response we are going to give. We stand alone before history today. And we do not treat this new world the way we currently do, knowing that today we are no longer in a position of strength, we are not able to manage on our own, as the world's policemen. [Presenter: So what do we do?] Exactly, what should we do? This is where it is essential not to cut off anyone on the international stage. [Presenter: Including the Russians?] Everyone. [Presenter: Everyone? Should we ask the Russians for help?] I'm not saying we should ask the Russians for help. I'm saying: if the Russians can contribute by calming some factions in this region, then it will be a step in the right direction. [Presenter: How can we proportionally respond to barbarism? It's no longer army against army.] But listen, Appolline de Malherbe, the civilian populations that are dying in Gaza, don't they exist? So because horror was committed on one side, horror must be committed on the other? [Presenter: Do we indeed need to equate the two?] No, it's you who are doing that. I'm not saying I equate the faults. I try to take into account what a large part of humanity thinks. There is certainly a realistic objective to pursue, which is to eradicate the Hamas leaders who committed this horror. And not to confuse the Palestinians with Hamas, that's a realistic goal. The second thing is a targeted response. Let's define realistic political objectives. And the third thing is a combined response. Because there is no effective use of force without a political strategy. We are not in 1973 or in 1967. There are things no army in the world knows how to do, which is to win in an asymmetrical battle against terrorists. The war on terror has never been won anywhere. And it instead triggers extremely dramatic misdeeds, cycles, and escalations. If America lost in Afghanistan, if America lost in Iraq, if we lost in the Sahel, it's because it's a battle that can't be won simply, it's not like you have a hammer that strikes a nail and the problem is solved. So we need to mobilize the international community, get out of this Western entrapment in which we are. [Presenter: But when Emmanuel Macron talks about an international coalition…] Yes, and what was the response? [Presenter: None.] Exactly. We need a political perspective, and this is challenging because the two-state solution has been removed from the Israeli political and diplomatic program. Israel needs to understand that for a country with a territory of 20,000 square kilometers, a population of 9 million inhabitants, facing 1.5 billion people... Peoples have never forgotten that the Palestinian cause and the injustice done to the Palestinians was a significant source of mobilization. We must consider this situation, and I believe it is essential to help Israel, to guide... some say impose, but I think it's better to convince, to move in this direction. The challenge is that there is no interlocutor today, neither on the Israeli side nor the Palestinian side. We need to bring out interlocutors. [Presenter: It's not for us to choose who will be the leaders of Palestine.] The Israeli policy over recent years did not necessarily want to cultivate a Palestinian leadership... Many are in prison, and Israel's interest - because I repeat: it was not in their program or in Israel's interest at the time, or so they thought - was instead to divide the Palestinians and ensure that the Palestinian question fades. This Palestinian question will not fade. And so we must address it and find an answer. This is where we need courage. The use of force is a dead end. The moral condemnation of what Hamas did - and there's no "but" in my words regarding the moral condemnation of this horror - must not prevent us from moving forward politically and diplomatically in an enlightened manner. The law of retaliation is a never-ending cycle. [Presenter: The "eye for an eye, tooth for tooth".] Yes. That's why the political response must be defended by us. Israel has a right to self-defense, but this right cannot be indiscriminate vengeance. And there cannot be collective responsibility of the Palestinian people for the actions of a terrorist minority from Hamas. When you get into this cycle of finding faults, one side's memories clash with the other's. Some will juxtapose Israel's memories with the memories of the Nakba, the 1948 catastrophe, which is a disaster that the Palestinians still experience every day. So you can't break these cycles. We must have the strength, of course, to understand and denounce what happened, and from this standpoint, there's no doubt about our position. But we must also have the courage, and that's what diplomacy is... diplomacy is about being able to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. And that's the cunning of history; when you're at the bottom, something can happen that gives hope. After the 1973 war, who would have thought that before the end of the decade, Egypt would sign a peace treaty with Israel? The debate shouldn't be about rhetoric or word choice. The debate today is about action; we must act. And when you think about action, there are two options. Either it's war, war, war. Or it's about trying to move towards peace, and I'll say it again, it's in Israel's interest. It's in Israel's interest!"
10:25

Absolutely masterful interview on Gaza of Dominique De Villepin, former Prime Minister of France, who famously led France's opposition to the Iraq war and who, IMHO is the best diplomat the West has produced in decades. This is so important, so incredibly well argued, that I decided to translate it in full: "Hamas has set a trap for us, and this trap is one of maximum horror, of maximum cruelty. And so there's a risk of an escalation in militarism, of more military interventions, as if we could with armies solve a problem as serious as the Palestinian question. There's also a second major trap, which is that of Occidentalism. We find ourselves trapped, with Israel, in this western bloc which today is being challenged by most of the international community. [Presenter: What is Occidentalism?] Occidentalism is the idea that the West, which for 5 centuries managed the world's affairs, will be able to quietly continue to do so. And we can clearly see, even in the debates of the French political class, that there is the idea that, faced with what is currently happening in the Middle East, we must continue the fight even more, towards what might resemble a religious or a civilizational war. That is to say, to isolate ourselves even more on the international stage. This is not the way, especially since there's a third trap, which is that of moralism. And here we have in a way the proof, through what is happening in Ukraine and what is happening in the Middle East, of this double standard that is denounced everywhere in the world, including in recent weeks when I travel to Africa, the Middle East, or Latin America. The criticism is always the same: look at how civilian populations are treated in Gaza, you denounce what happened in Ukraine, and you are very timid in the face of the tragedy unfolding in Gaza. Consider international law, the second criticism that is made by the global south. We sanction Russia when it aggresses Ukraine, we sanction Russia when it doesn't respect the resolutions of the United Nations, and it's been 70 years that the resolutions of the United Nations have been voted in vain and that Israel doesn't respect them. [Presenter: Do you believe that the Westerners are currently guilty of hubris?] Westerners must open their eyes to the extent of the historical drama unfolding before us to find the right answers. [Presenter: What is the historical drama? I mean, we're talking about the tragedy of October 7th first and foremost, right?] Of course, there are these horrors happening, but the way to respond to them is crucial. Are we going to kill the future by finding the wrong answers... [Presenter: Kill the future?] Kill the future, yes! Why? [Presenter: But who is killing whom?] You are in a game of causes and effects. Faced with the tragedy of history, one cannot take this 'chain of causality' analytical grid, simply because if you do you can't escape from it. Once we understand that there is a trap, once we realize that behind this trap there has also been a change in the Middle East regarding the Palestinian issue... The situation today is profoundly different [from what it was in the past]. The Palestinian cause was a political and secular cause. Today we are faced with an Islamist cause, led by Hamas. Obviously, this kind of cause is absolute and allows no form of negotiation. On the Israeli side, there has also been a development. Zionism was secular and political, championed by Theodor Herzl in the late 19th century. It has largely become messianic, biblical today. This means that they too do not want to compromise, and everything that the far-right Israeli government does, continuing to encourage colonization, obviously makes things worse, including since October 7th. So in this context, understand that we are already in this region facing a problem that seems profoundly insoluble. Added to this is the hardening of states. Diplomatically, look at the statements of the King of Jordan, they are not the same as six months ago. Look at the statements of Erdogan in Turkey. [Presenter: Precisely, these are extremely harsh statements...] Extremely worrying. Why? Because if the Palestinian cause, the Palestinian issue, hasn't been brought to the forefront, hasn't been put on stage [for a while], and if most of the youth today in Europe have often never even heard of it, it remains for the Arab peoples the mother of all battles. All the progress made towards an attempt to stabilize the Middle East, where one could believe... [Presenter: Yes, but whose fault is it? I have a hard time following you, is it Hamas's fault?] But Ms. Malherbe, I am trained as a diplomat. The question of fault will be addressed by historians and philosophers. [Presenter: But you can't remain neutral, it's difficult, it's complicated, isn't it?] I am not neutral, I am in action. I am simply telling you that every day that passes, we can ensure that this horrific cycle stops... that's why I speak of a trap and that's why it's so important to know what response we are going to give. We stand alone before history today. And we do not treat this new world the way we currently do, knowing that today we are no longer in a position of strength, we are not able to manage on our own, as the world's policemen. [Presenter: So what do we do?] Exactly, what should we do? This is where it is essential not to cut off anyone on the international stage. [Presenter: Including the Russians?] Everyone. [Presenter: Everyone? Should we ask the Russians for help?] I'm not saying we should ask the Russians for help. I'm saying: if the Russians can contribute by calming some factions in this region, then it will be a step in the right direction. [Presenter: How can we proportionally respond to barbarism? It's no longer army against army.] But listen, Appolline de Malherbe, the civilian populations that are dying in Gaza, don't they exist? So because horror was committed on one side, horror must be committed on the other? [Presenter: Do we indeed need to equate the two?] No, it's you who are doing that. I'm not saying I equate the faults. I try to take into account what a large part of humanity thinks. There is certainly a realistic objective to pursue, which is to eradicate the Hamas leaders who committed this horror. And not to confuse the Palestinians with Hamas, that's a realistic goal. The second thing is a targeted response. Let's define realistic political objectives. And the third thing is a combined response. Because there is no effective use of force without a political strategy. We are not in 1973 or in 1967. There are things no army in the world knows how to do, which is to win in an asymmetrical battle against terrorists. The war on terror has never been won anywhere. And it instead triggers extremely dramatic misdeeds, cycles, and escalations. If America lost in Afghanistan, if America lost in Iraq, if we lost in the Sahel, it's because it's a battle that can't be won simply, it's not like you have a hammer that strikes a nail and the problem is solved. So we need to mobilize the international community, get out of this Western entrapment in which we are. [Presenter: But when Emmanuel Macron talks about an international coalition…] Yes, and what was the response? [Presenter: None.] Exactly. We need a political perspective, and this is challenging because the two-state solution has been removed from the Israeli political and diplomatic program. Israel needs to understand that for a country with a territory of 20,000 square kilometers, a population of 9 million inhabitants, facing 1.5 billion people... Peoples have never forgotten that the Palestinian cause and the injustice done to the Palestinians was a significant source of mobilization. We must consider this situation, and I believe it is essential to help Israel, to guide... some say impose, but I think it's better to convince, to move in this direction. The challenge is that there is no interlocutor today, neither on the Israeli side nor the Palestinian side. We need to bring out interlocutors. [Presenter: It's not for us to choose who will be the leaders of Palestine.] The Israeli policy over recent years did not necessarily want to cultivate a Palestinian leadership... Many are in prison, and Israel's interest - because I repeat: it was not in their program or in Israel's interest at the time, or so they thought - was instead to divide the Palestinians and ensure that the Palestinian question fades. This Palestinian question will not fade. And so we must address it and find an answer. This is where we need courage. The use of force is a dead end. The moral condemnation of what Hamas did - and there's no "but" in my words regarding the moral condemnation of this horror - must not prevent us from moving forward politically and diplomatically in an enlightened manner. The law of retaliation is a never-ending cycle. [Presenter: The "eye for an eye, tooth for tooth".] Yes. That's why the political response must be defended by us. Israel has a right to self-defense, but this right cannot be indiscriminate vengeance. And there cannot be collective responsibility of the Palestinian people for the actions of a terrorist minority from Hamas. When you get into this cycle of finding faults, one side's memories clash with the other's. Some will juxtapose Israel's memories with the memories of the Nakba, the 1948 catastrophe, which is a disaster that the Palestinians still experience every day. So you can't break these cycles. We must have the strength, of course, to understand and denounce what happened, and from this standpoint, there's no doubt about our position. But we must also have the courage, and that's what diplomacy is... diplomacy is about being able to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. And that's the cunning of history; when you're at the bottom, something can happen that gives hope. After the 1973 war, who would have thought that before the end of the decade, Egypt would sign a peace treaty with Israel? The debate shouldn't be about rhetoric or word choice. The debate today is about action; we must act. And when you think about action, there are two options. Either it's war, war, war. Or it's about trying to move towards peace, and I'll say it again, it's in Israel's interest. It's in Israel's interest!"

Arnaud Bertrand

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