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Hier — 28 mars 2024Vos flux RSS

Terror in Moscow: what went down

Par : AHH

Ukraine, ISIS, and the Moscow Concert Attack: What really happened? Pepe Escobar joins us to examine the complicated spider web of connections between Ukrainian intelligence, jihadist groups, and Western governments.

hosted by Dimitri Simes Jr. at the New Rules.

Ukraine, ISIS, and the Moscow Concert Attack: What really happened?

Pepe Escobar joins us to examine the complicated spider web of connections between Ukrainian intelligence, jihadist groups, and Western governments.
#NewRulesPodcast @RealPepeEscobar pic.twitter.com/oiNQgd7eLP

— NewRulesGeopolitics (@NewRulesGeo) March 28, 2024

#NewRulesPodcast

 

Cartouche de Vu Du Droit : analyse de la résolution du Conseil de sécurité

Le Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU a adopté une résolution exigeant un cessez le feu immédiat pendant le mois de ramadan à Gaza, demandant la libération, sans condition de tous les otages et exigeant le rétablissement de la fourniture des… Lire la suite

Plucked Peacocks in Françafrique..

Par : AHH

Lost in the thunder of the two incendiary battlegrounds of the Ukraine and the Holy Land, the end of the western Age of Plunder is vividly demonstrated in the West African Sahel. Calm business arrangements are conducted with friendly states, even as the last US garrisons are dismantled, one by one.


💠 @Intel Slava Z:
⭕ 🇷🇺🇫🇷🇸🇳 SENEGAL: how Russia is destroying French neocolonialism

Historical events are brewing in another West African country, Senegal. Getting rid of the country’s neocolonial dependence on its former official metropolis – France.

Over the weekend, presidential elections took place here, in which the opposition candidate Bashiru Jumaye Faye is confidently leading (and may even win them in the first round, which will become known tomorrow), who, as part of his election promises, promised to review oil and gas deals with Western campaigns, including agreements with British Petroleum, Endeavor Mining and Kosmos Energy.

He also advocates a radical revision of relations between Senegal and France. And as part of this, Faye is going to follow neighboring Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso to leave the French currency system (by abandoning the CFA franc). And the French military will have to leave the country. By the way, sensing something was wrong, Paris had already announced a little earlier that it was sharply reducing the military contingent in the country (probably so that it would not be so shameful later). In return, he promises to take a course towards rapprochement with Russia.

Thus, France’s next major foreign policy defeat on the African continent looms on the horizon. Moreover, Senegal was a key player in the issue of the blockade of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, which had previously freed themselves from the influence of Paris. And the departure of Senegal from the CFA franc zone puts a final and fat cross on this system (which brought huge profits to France) and on which the entire system of French neocolonialism was essentially built.

And hence all of Macron’s current anti-Russian hysteria. He, like a plucked rooster, understands that he is losing to Russia and therefore becomes hysterical. And Ukraine for him is the last chance to spoil Moscow. But I think he will be disappointed here too.


💠 @Russian MFA:
⭕ 🇷🇺🇳🇪📞 President Vladimir Putin spoke over the phone with President of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland of the Republic of Niger Abdourahamane Tchiani, who expressed solidarity with the Russian people and heartfelt condolences over the numerous victims of the heinous terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall.

In discussing the bilateral agenda, the Leaders expressed determination to step up political dialogue and develop mutually beneficial cooperation in various spheres.

They also exchanged views on the developments in the Sahel-Sahara region with an emphasis on coordination of security and counterterrorism efforts. 

💠 @Sputnik Africa:
⭕ 🇳🇪 US will plan for the “disengagement” of troops from Niger after its military pact with Washington ends, Niger’s interior minister says.

The statement was published on social media after Mohamed Toumba hosted US Ambassador Kathleen FitzGibbon for talks.

A spokesperson for the Nigerien military said in mid-March that the country’s transitional government, which took power in a coup last July, ended the agreement with immediate effect, citing the interests of the Nigerien people.

💠@Africa Intel:
⭕ 🇷🇺🌍 Putin discusses security cooperation with West and Central African leaders.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed security and economic cooperation with Mali’s junta leader Assimi Goita by phone on Wednesday, both countries said, a day after Putin held a similar call with the junta leader in neighbouring Niger.

“We discussed bilateral issues, particularly the security and economic areas,” Goita said. “We agreed to cooperate further in the fight against terrorism.” The Kremlin confirmed.

The call appeared to be part of a round of diplomatic exchanges Putin has made with West and Central African leaders since his re-election earlier this month.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday Putin and the leader of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, had agreed in a phone call to deepen political, economic and humanitarian ties.

On Tuesday, Putin spoke by phone with Niger’s junta leader, Abdourahamane Tiani and discussed a need to reinforce their security cooperation, according to Nigerien state television.


💠 @Arab_Africa:
⭕ 🇺🇸 The US is worried that Niger will replace its military with Russian mercenaries

This was stated by the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Mike Rogers, at a hearing on the US military posture in the Middle East and Africa.

According to him, the recent expulsion of the US military from Niger may be linked to security talks with Iran and Russia that took place the day before.

“It looks like Niger will soon join Mali, Libya, Sudan, Mozambique and Burkina Faso in welcoming Russian troops and mercenaries into their country,” Rogers suggested. He also noted that China is at the same time seeking to expand its military presence beyond the PLA naval base in Djibouti.

“And they set up bases on the west coast to give the PLA strategic access to the Atlantic. China has already built and currently operates several major trading ports along the west coast of Africa,” the Republican reported.

Finally, Rogers warned that the US could lose the initiative due to inaction on the continent.

“Africa is of vital strategic importance to the United States. We cannot allow China or Russia to become their preferred security or business partner,” the American worries.
#нувыпонимаете
LOL


💠@Sputnik Africa:
⭕ “Atomexpo-2024,” the largest international forum on nuclear energy, was held on March 25-26 in Russia. Here are our publications not to be missed
🔸 Atomexpo-2024 nuclear industry forum breaks attendance record;
🔸 Rosatom signs roadmaps for developing cooperation on nuclear energy with Mali, and Burkina Faso and AlgeriaNOTE: the first two are members of the Sahelian Junta Belt..
🔸 “Russia will be able to better support Burkina Faso towards its energy independence,” a Burkinabe minister reveals details of the roadmap with Rosatom;
🔸 “Gold mined in Mali should be processed in Mali,” Malian minister of mines comments on the gold processing plant project with Russia;
🔸 Cooperation with Russia can help eliminate power shortages in Africa and advance Zimbabwe’s healthcare system, says minister;
🔸 Russia attracted Africans’ interest in nuclear energy because it’s a reliable partner, says a Rosatom official;
🔸 With the help of the agreements with Rosatom, Burundi intends to have a nuclear power plant that will help launch the country into industrial production, says a minister from the African country.

Mory Sacko, porteur d'une cuisine "qui n’existe nulle part ailleurs"

Mory Sacko a banni le mot « fusion » de son vocabulaire. « Nous ne mélangeons pas les gastronomies, il s’agit plutôt d’un dialogue entre différentes cultures », explique-t-il à propos de MoSuke, son premier restaurant qui a ouvert ses portes à Paris en 2020. Les cuisines française, africaine et japonaise y sont au menu et chaque plat est une œuvre d’art à trois volets avec ses propres ingrédients, saveurs et textures.  

« C’est une cuisine qui n’existe nulle part ailleurs, parce qu’à travers elle, je raconte ma propre histoire », poursuit Mory Sacko. Cette dernière, il l’illustre également avec sa tenue. Au travail, il porte la veste de cuisine blanche dont sont traditionnellement vêtus les chefs mais il a fait personnaliser celle-ci : elle est ornée de tissu wax africain et, au lieu d’un double boutonnage classique, elle enveloppe son corps comme un kimono japonais.

Mory Sacko est le premier d’une fratrie de huit enfants nés en France. Son père, d’origine malienne, travaillait dans le bâtiment, tandis que sa mère, élevée au Sénégal, était femme de ménage. Il a grandi en Seine-et-Marne, dans la banlieue parisienne. Ses parents parlaient deux langues à la maison, le soninké et le bambara, et cuisinaient essentiellement des plats d’Afrique de l’Ouest. Parallèlement, le jeune Mory Sacko a nourri une passion pour les mangas et les animés japonais. Des bols de ramen et des onigiris étaient constamment consommés dans les œuvres comme Naruto, Pokémon et One Piece, et il ne pouvait s’empêcher de se demander si les plats de ces programmes diffusés à la télévision étaient aussi bons dans la vraie vie qu’ils le semblaient à l’écran. 

Au milieu de son adolescence, Mory Sacko s’est inscrit dans un établissement d’enseignement secondaire spécialisé dans l’hôtellerie et la restauration, avant de commencer sa carrière en cuisine. C’est en travaillant avec le chef Hans Zahner dans un restaurant de l’hôtel cinq étoiles le Royal Monceau – Raffles Paris, et en étant mis au défi de créer un nouveau plat, qu’une étincelle s’est animée en lui et qu’il a vraiment pris goût à la cuisine. « J’ai commencé à penser à la gastronomie et à m’endormir en imaginant des plats », raconte-t-il.

Inspiré par sa passion d’enfance pour le Japon, il a commencé à faire des expérimentations avec des ingrédients tels que le miso, le yuzu et le shichimi togarashi, un mélange d’épices, en complément de sa formation en cuisine française classique. Il a également puisé dans son héritage africain en tentant à plusieurs reprises, en vain, de recréer le mafé, un ragoût à base d’arachides, de sa mère. « Je me suis dit : "au lieu de rechercher cette saveur spécifique, crée ta propre recette" », se souvient-il. Mory Sacko a donc décidé d’utiliser de la pâte miso pour épicer, ce qui a permis de réinventer ce plat typique, conservant ainsi le côté réconfortant du mafé tout en l’alliant à la complexité de l’umami, la cinquième saveur japonaise. 

Désireux de consacrer plus de temps à l’expérimentation et au développement de son propre style de cuisine, Mory Sacko a ouvert MoSuke. Le nom du restaurant est une combinaison de son prénom et de Yasuke, un Africain du 16ᵉ siècle, probablement originaire du Mozambique, qui a échappé à l’esclavage en devenant samouraï dans le Japon féodal. Yasuke est estimé comme avoir été le seul samouraï noir de l’histoire. Mory Sacko a voulu intégrer ce récit historique à l’âme de son établissement pour symboliser le rapprochement des cultures africaine et japonaise. Cette vision s’est avérée très populaire : les tables sont prises d’assaut dès que les réservations sont ouvertes, des mois à l’avance.

Mory Sacko fait partie d’une nouvelle génération qui introduit la diversité culturelle dans la gastronomie française. Il est l’un des rares chefs de couleur à être sous les feux des projecteurs en France. Il a participé à l’édition 2020 de Top Chef et anime sur France 3 sa propre émission de cuisine, Cuisine ouverte. En 2022, lorsqu’il a fallu sélectionner le chef qui cuisinerait pour le président Emmanuel Macron lors d’un Sommet Afrique-France, c’est Mory Sacko qui a été choisi. 

Toute la reconnaissance qui lui est aujourd’hui montrée est bien loin de l’image que donnait la scène gastronomique française à ses débuts, lorsqu’il cherchait en vain des chefs à la peau noire comme modèles. « S’il y a une chose que je peux faire, c’est inspirer les autres et montrer qu’être un chef noir et viser une étoile Michelin n’est pas quelque chose d’extraordinaire », déclare-t-il. Le restaurant de Mory Sacko a reçu son étoile en 2021. Aujourd’hui, le chef est inspiré par ses confrères noirs tels que Marcel Ravin, dont le restaurant Blue Bay de Monte-Carlo a reçu la première de ses deux étoiles Michelin en 2015, ou encore son amie Georgiana Viou, dont le restaurant Rouge de Nîmes en a reçu une au début de l’année.

Outre la promotion de la diversité raciale, Mory Sacko s’engage également en faveur du développement durable. « Si nous voulons continuer à exercer ce métier dans les trente prochaines années, nous devons trouver des solutions », affirme-t-il. Si Mory Sacko tire son inspiration d’autres continents, celui-ci tient néanmoins à importer le moins d’ingrédients possible. Il expérimente par exemple la fabrication de son propre miso, plutôt que de le commander au Japon. Au lieu d’utiliser le traditionnel koji de haricots, son équipe travaille sur la fermentation de niébés, originaires d’Afrique. Le processus dure deux mois et fournira au restaurant suffisamment de miso pour un an. Pour les agrumes japonais tels que le yuzu et le sudachi, Mory Sacko travaille avec un agriculteur situé aux alentours de Carcassonne. Lorsque certains produits doivent être importés, il s’assure que ceux-ci sont de saison et conservés de manière à durer le plus longtemps possible. C’est le cas des piments de Côte d’Ivoire, qui sont séchés, puis fermentés.

Bien qu’il soit à la tête d’un établissement gastronomique et qu’il ait même été accueilli en résidence au restaurant de la marque de luxe Louis Vuitton à Saint-Tropez l’été dernier, Mory Sacko tient à ce que sa cuisine soit aussi accessible que possible. « Il y a vingt ans, les restaurants étoilés étaient réservés à une élite. Aujourd’hui, la bonne cuisine se partage beaucoup plus facilement », explique-t-il. « Les réseaux sociaux ont démocratisé la gastronomie. »

En effet, certains de ses followers l’ont contacté pour lui dire qu’ils désiraient goûter sa cuisine mais qu’ils n’avaient pas les moyens d’aller dîner chez MoSuke. C’est ce qui l’a incité à lancer MOSUGO, un restaurant qui propose de la street food et pour lequel des pop-up stores ont également vu le jour dans tout Paris. Le concept consiste à réimaginer de manière gastronomique la nourriture classique de fast food, comme un hamburger au poulet frit avec de la mayonnaise au miso, des pickles de concombre et de l’emmental. « Je ne veux pas être perçu comme un chef gastronomique perché dans sa tour d’ivoire proposant un menu à 200 euros », déclare Mory Sacko. « Je veux que ma cuisine soit accessible au plus grand nombre, pour que tout le monde puisse y goûter. »

Cet automne, le chef a ouvert un nouveau restaurant au centre de Paris, le Lafayette’s, qui sert des plats d’inspiration française et américaine dans un décor de brasserie. Dans le même temps, il continue à cuisiner au MoSuke, fermant même l’établissement lorsqu’il est absent. Malgré un dévouement évident à son métier, il se détache de ses plats une fois ceux-ci présentés à ses clients. « Dès que le plat est servi, il ne m’appartient plus », en convient-il. « Il appartient au client, qui y trouvera ce qui résonnera en lui. »

Cet article a initialement paru dans le magazine National Geographic Traveller en langue anglaise.

Suède : ce train de nuit vous emmènera tout droit aux aurores boréales

Les voyageurs qui prennent le train de 17 heures reliant Stockholm à Abisko ont un objectif commun : voir des aurores boréales. Cette petite ville, située à 250 kilomètres au nord du cercle polaire arctique, est l'une des localités les plus septentrionales d'Europe, au ciel particulièrement dégagé, ce qui en fait une destinaion de choix pour les chasseurs d'aurores. Le microclimat unique du village produit un phénomène de « trou bleu », des courants-jets dégageant le ciel et augmentant les chances d'observer des aurores.

Installée dans mon siège côté fenêtre, je plonge mon regard dans l'obscurité. Les amateurs d'aurores boréales ont tout intérêt à se rendre à Abisko. En 2024, les experts affirment que l'activité solaire atteindra un pic (appelé « maximum solaire ») qui se produit tous les onze ans environ.

« Quand l'activité solaire est forte, les aurores envahissent le ciel nocturne, un véritable kaléidoscope de couleurs en perpétuel mouvement », décrit l'astronome John Mason

 

LUMIÈRE NATURELLE

Le train part de Stockholm à 18 heures tous les jours et arrive au petit matin, quand une douce lumière rose enveloppe les plaines enneigées de Sápmi, le territoire traditionnel du peuple sami, qui englobe le nord de la Norvège, la Suède, la Finlande et la péninsule de Kola, en Russie.

Quelques tour-opérateurs organisent des excursions de jour à partir d'Abisko, notamment pour la pêche et l'escalade sur glace, des expériences culturelles samies, l'observation des élans et des excursions photographiques dans les fjords norvégiens avoisinants.

Mais les activités proposées ne s'arrêtent pas là. La nuit, vous pouvez observer la Voie lactée et tous les autres phénomènes célestes depuis la fenêtre de votre hôtel ou vous rendre dans des zones reculées du village, comme la jetée du lac Torneträsk, pour une visite guidée. « Nous n'avons pas beaucoup de pollution lumineuse », explique Niklas Hjort, directeur de l'Abisko Mountain Lodge. « Il vous suffit d'ouvrir la porte et de regarder dehors pour voir les aurores boréales. »

En passant la porte de mon hôtel, elles étaient bien là, tels des rubans verts iridescents.

Chad Blakley, fondateur de Lights Over Lapland, explique que le phénomène du trou bleu distingue le village des autres destinations où l'on peut observer des aurores. « Le ciel d'Abisko est l'un des plus clairs de la planète », explique-t-il. 

Ce petit trou bleu quasi permanent crée un effet coupe-vent, les montagnes dispersant la couche nuageuse pour offrir des nuits claires à la ville située en contrebas. En l'absence de couverture nuageuse, il y a 88 % de chances de voir une aurore boréale lors d'une visite de trois jours à Abisko.

« C'est un exemple de ce que l'on appelle un microclimat, un ensemble de conditions atmosphériques localisées qui diffèrent de celles de la région environnante et créent un modèle météorologique propre à cet endroit », explique John Mason. « Le parc national d'Abisko, dans le nord de la Suède, bénéficie de nuits plus claires que la plupart des autres endroits situés dans l'ovale auroral nord. » Les visiteurs du parc peuvent observer le jeu de lumières au-dessus de la vallée d'Abisko et du lac Torneträsk depuis la grande terrasse extérieure de l'Aurora Sky Station (à environ 900 mètres au-dessus du niveau de la mer).

Ceci étant, la meilleure façon de voir les aurores est sans doute de prendre le train de retour vers Stockholm. À peine une trentaine de minutes se sont écoulées que déjà une annonce retentit dans les haut-parleurs du train : « Chers passagers, si vous observez le paysage par les fenêtres de droite, vous verrez de magnifiques aurores boréales ». La poignée de touristes présents dans le wagon se précipite près des fenêtres, pour assister à ce spectacle qui devait durer plusieurs heures.

Eibhlis Gale-Coleman est une journaliste de voyage indépendante originaire du Royaume-Uni. Suivez-la sur Instagram.

Cet article a initialement paru sur le site nationalgeographic.com en langue anglaise.

Point de vue sur l’attaque terroriste au Crocus City hall de Krasnorgorsk

Il est hasardeux de prétendre commenter un évènement de guerre clandestine surtout « à chaud ». La petite expérience de l’auteur lui

L’article Point de vue sur l’attaque terroriste au Crocus City hall de Krasnorgorsk est apparu en premier sur STRATPOL.

UN MONDE QUI CHANGE ENTRETIEN AVEC ERIC DENECE

Eric Dénécé est un spécialiste français du renseignement et de l’intelligence économique. Directeur du Centre français de Recherche sur le Renseignement, qu’il a fondé. SOMMAIRE : I) Analyse de l’attentat de Moscou II) Instabilité stratégique et dissuasion nucléaire III) Le… Lire la suite

Le conseiller de Zelensky, Podolyak, regrette la stagnation du front

stagnation front

stagnation frontL’armée ukrainienne est confrontée à une stagnation au front. Le conseiller du chef de cabinet du président ukrainien, Mikhaïl Podolyak,

L’article Le conseiller de Zelensky, Podolyak, regrette la stagnation du front est apparu en premier sur STRATPOL.

Poutine : “La Russie ne va pas se battre avec l’OTAN”

poutine otan

poutine otanLa Russie ne va pas se battre avec l’OTAN, c’est tout simplement absurde, la différence dans les dépenses militaires est

L’article Poutine : “La Russie ne va pas se battre avec l’OTAN” est apparu en premier sur STRATPOL.

West’s Geoeconomic Gamble behind Gaza Genocide

Par : AHH

After blocking Russian and Iranian gas pipelines to Europe and working to decouple from China, the combined West put their eggs into the Leviathan basket off Gaza and the IMEC connectivity corridor over the revitalized ancient Silk Roads…

To Rafah, or not to Rafah, that is the question

Par : AHH

All eyes are on Rafah as Israel prepares to mount an invasion to expel Palestinians or decimate them. It is this pivotal battle that will either force Israel into a ceasefire or thrust the region into an all-out, multi-front war.

By Tawfik Chouman at The Cradle.

The Battle of Rafah: a short step to regional war

The temporary truce struck on 24 November between the Hamas resistance movement and the Israeli government could have paved the way toward successive truces and potentially a sustainable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

But the opportunity was squandered by Tel Aviv, who viewed the continuation of its genocidal war as a means to reshape Gaza’s political and security landscape under the guise of ‘restoring deterrence’ and mitigating domestic fallout from Hamas’ 7 October Al-Aqsa Flood Operation.

Now, nearly six months since the commencement of what Israel calls a ‘war of survival and existence’ against Gaza, it has become clear that the occupation state’s military aggression cannot unseat Hamas from either the Strip or the broader Palestinian political arena.

The recent flurry of indirect Hamas–Israel negotiations held in Paris, Cairo, and Doha have revealed a stark political reality: Hamas is the primary Palestinian negotiating party where Gaza is concerned. This tacit acknowledgment by Tel Aviv marks the strategic failure of one of Israel’s dual objectives set forth last October, aimed at eradicating Hamas and its allied resistance factions in the Strip.

Bibi’s political interests v domestic backlash

This reality raises questions about the potential pathways available to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he struggles with immense international pressure to stop the carnage. Will he persist with the war on Gaza and risk global pariah status, or will he be compelled to pursue a politically costly settlement? The latter option, it should be noted, will not be an easy fix. It could potentially unleash a storm of domestic backlash within Israel, with various political factions eager to hold him accountable from multiple angles.

Since Netanyahu abandoned the truce in November, prominent Israeli political commentators and even former prime ministers have been surprisingly unanimous in their assessment. They argue that Netanyahu’s decision to prolong the war serves mainly his personal political interests, allowing him to project an illusion of victory while evading political, security, and judicial scrutiny.

Accordingly, Netanyahu’s stance remains firmly opposed to a war settlement. He has instead doubled down on the necessity of eliminating the military capabilities of Hamas and its allies, and is ostensibly pursuing an ‘absolute victory’ through total war.

The prime minister’s roadmap hinges on continuing the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. In this scenario, he envisions the Battle of Rafah as the decisive climax that will definitively render the already terminal ‘two-state solution’ obsolete and permanently sever any ties between Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The Battle of Rafah thus emerges as a pivotal juncture, delineating two competing trajectories: one driven by regional and international efforts towards a negotiated settlement, and the other dictated solely by Netanyahu’s ambitions.

Regional ramifications and Egypt’s dilemma

This raises complex questions about whether Netanyahu can prolong the war and influence regional and international actors – to buy time, if you will – all while factoring in the delicate balance of power involving Egypt and the wider regional war against other members of the Axis of Resistance.

Indeed, the Battle of Rafah presents a multi-level challenge for Egypt, encompassing political, security, and popular dimensions. Should the Israeli army invade Rafah, it will have significant implications for Cairo’s relations with Tel Aviv, in addition to severely impacting Egypt’s domestic security landscape.

A recent poll by the Washington Institute for Near East Studies revealed that three-quarters of Egyptians view Hamas positively. This popular sentiment influences Egyptian policy regarding potential Israeli actions in Rafah.

On 10 March, The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported warnings from Egyptian officials on the potential suspension of the Camp David Accords if Israel were to attack Rafah.

Diaa Rashwan, head of the Egyptian Information Service, emphasized the seriousness of Israel’s occupation of the Philadelphi Corridor – a buffer zone on the Sinai–Gaza border designated by the Camp David agreement – stating it poses a grave threat to Cairo–Tel Aviv relations.

Dealing with the potential mass influxes of Gazan civilians seeking refuge and Palestinian fighters crossing into Egyptian territory also poses significant logistical and security challenges. This scenario also raises questions about the Israeli army’s potential incursions into Egyptian territory and how the Egyptian military would respond.

Moreover, any intensification of pressure on Rafah or a full-scale Israeli invasion will lead to widespread regional ramifications, potentially including the unraveling of the Abraham Accords. The Axis of Resistance has made it clear that the elimination of Hamas is unacceptable and, if threatened, may trigger a regional war.

Complicating matters further is the lack of substantive US pressure on Israel to halt its actions in Gaza. While the Biden White House seeks a ‘credible operational plan,’ it has not unequivocally opposed an attack on Rafah. This ambivalence enables and even emboldens Netanyahu to continue his military operations.

Rafah could reshape the region 

Regardless of the outcome of the Battle of Rafah, both Israeli and US perspectives interpret it as a campaign directed against Hamas, which they view as an extension of Iranian influence in the region. This narrative aligns with what Thomas Friedman, writing for the New York Times, referred to as the new “Biden Doctrine,” which emphasizes confronting Iran and its allies in West Asia. This marks a significant shift in US strategy since 1979.

The convergence of US and Israeli interests casts suspicion on ongoing efforts to bring about a long-term ceasefire, with all eyes focused on the current round of talks in Doha. Amos Harel, writing for Haaretz, frames the discussions as a race toward either a negotiated ceasefire or a potentially expansive regional conflict involving multiple fronts.

Yemen’s Ansarallah movement, which last week expanded its naval operations into the Indian Ocean, has issued a stark warning against a Rafah invasion, threatening a sharp escalation in both sea and air operations, including the closure of the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Similarly, the Lebanese front remains sensitive to developments in Rafah. Despite the northern front’s expansion since the onset of 2024, recent Israeli attacks targeting Baalbek, over 100 kilometers from the southern border, suggest Tel Aviv’s misguided willingness to escalate.

This possibility could spill over into reality if Israel invades Rafah, as the occupation army may resort to preemptive actions to mitigate perceived threats from Lebanese resistance forces.

Overall, the Battle of Rafah will likely reshape the regional conflict, adding new layers to existing pressure fronts. Importantly, it challenges the notion that Hamas stands alone, abandoned in Rafah, as various regional actors, including Iran and its allies, are closely watching and prepared to intervene.

À partir d’avant-hierVos flux RSS

Today’s 13 minute interview on WION, Indian television: “Russian FSB says US, UK and Ukraine behind Moscow attack / What’s the truth?”

I am very pleased that WION, India’s premier English language global news broadcaster took the initiative and discussed with me the significance of the statements yesterday to Russian television by FSB boss Alexander Bortnikov.

Bortnikov alleged that the the United States, the United Kingdom and Ukraine were the plotters and planners of the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert hall in a Moscow suburb. What is the scenario of the crime emerging from the investigation being conducted by Russian intelligence services?

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RMFLQVym7M

Translation below into German (Andreas Mylaeus)

Das heutige 13-minütige Interview im indischen Fernsehen WION: “Russischer FSB sagt, dass die USA, Großbritannien und die Ukraine hinter dem Angriff auf Moskau stecken / Was ist die Wahrheit?”

Ich freue mich sehr, dass WION, Indiens führender englischsprachiger globaler Nachrichtensender, die Initiative ergriffen und mit mir über die Bedeutung der gestrigen Äußerungen von FSB-Chef Alexander Bortnikow im russischen Fernsehen diskutiert hat.

Bortnikow behauptete, dass die Vereinigten Staaten, das Vereinigte Königreich und die Ukraine die Verschwörer und Planer des Terroranschlags auf die Konzerthalle Krocus-Stadthalle in einem Moskauer Vorort waren. Welches Verbrechensszenario ergibt sich aus den Ermittlungen der russischen Geheimdienste?

Siehe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RMFLQVym7M

Transcript below by a reader

Interviewer: 0:00
The director of Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, said on Tuesday that the US, UK and Ukraine were behind the Moscow concert hall attack that killed at least 139 people on Friday. Despite repeated claims of responsibility by Islamic State and repeated claims by the West that Islamic State was behind this, this is the claim which comes from the Russian FSB. Now Russian president has also insisted on an alleged Ukrainian involvement here.

No proof has been provided for these claims. Then why is Russia insisting that there was a Western hand behind those attacks? What is the FSB basing its remarks on? To discuss matters further, we are being joined by Dr. Gilbert Doctorow. Always a pleasure speaking with you, sir. He is a political analyst, professional Russia watcher, author and historian joining us from Brussels.

Sir, I want to get to it immediately. An IS affiliate claimed it carried out the attack on Moscow. A US intelligence report said that it had information confirming the group was responsible. French President Emmanuel Macron said France also has intelligence pointing to an IS entity as responsible for the attack. And Ukraine obviously has claimed that it has no involvement in this. Why is Mr. Putin insisting on an alleged Ukrainian involvement? Why is the FSB saying that US, UK and– US Ukraine were involved here as well?

Doctorow: 1:24
First I’d like to explain that Mr. Bortnikov is not a public figure on Russian television. He sits by his desk at the FSB, unlike his counterpart in the international intelligence agency, service of Russia, that is, Mr. Naryushkin, who we see on television quite often. Mr. Bortnikov sits in his office, and for him to have come and taken an interview with a state television journalist, Pavlo Zarubin, was extraordinary.

What he said was still more extraordinary. And it’s amazing that major international media have not picked up on this. I’m very pleased that you have. The fact is that Mr. Bortnikov is a close associate of Mr. Putin. He has been in that position as head of the FSB for 15 years. And it is unthinkable that he would say what he said yesterday without the approval of his boss. Now, what does this mean and why is this remarkable?

Because going back two years to the bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines, which was the most spectacular act of terrorism against civilian global infrastructure in 50 years, the Russians said nothing about. They didn’t point a finger at anyone. There was innuendo the United States was involved, Britain was involved, other countries, but never a direct accusation. What we had yesterday was a direct accusation. At the same time, Mr. Bortnikof explained– he was very, very calm, he had great poise and he chose his words carefully– he said that he is not speaking out of emotion.

3:02
He’s speaking on the basis of preliminary findings, and that when all the findings are ready, when he has solid facts, he will present them. But he expects to find those. And this is in connection with something else which has been very little reported in Western media. That is to say, the discovery that two of the assailants went to Istanbul in the last days of February and were there until the 2nd of March. It has also been revealed on Russian television that the objective of this terrorist attack had been for a strike against a major venue, probably the same Crocus, but it’s not relevant, a major venue for 8th of March, International Women’s Day, a day that is sacred in Russian calendar and a day that is one week before the presidential elections. The whole logic of this operation would have been to devastate the proceeding Russian elections on the 15th to 17th of March.

However, the United States intelligence, this according to the Russians, discovered that this was not feasible, that Russian security was very tight for the 8th of March, and the mission would fail. We note that several related facts, Madame Nuland, Victoria Nuland, was fired on the 5th of March. It’s highly interesting that this coincidence. I and others have spoken of her connection with the German generals plotting a strike on the Kerch Bridge using their cruise missiles.

4:40
However, it is more likely that she was fired because the mission that she had supervised to attack Russia, a terrorist attack, using Islamic extremists on the 8th of March was no longer operable. We are told the Ukrainians are saying that the– that is, the Russians are saying that the Ukrainians proceeded with a terror attack against the objections of the United States because it had lost its rationale. It was supposed to take place before the elections. Instead the Ukrainians staged it one week after the elections, and there is a point of dispute. But when you say that the Russians are … accusing Ukraine, I think it’s missing the bigger issue: the Russians are accusing the United States, and Great Britain. And that puts us in a situation as critical as we were in the worst days of the Cuban missile crisis.

Interviewer 5:59
Dr. Doctor, I just want to comment here. Now, essentially what you’ve made a lot of major points here. The attack was essentially aimed to kind of throw off the Russian elections, which were scheduled from the 15th to the 17th of March, where President Putin was expected to win, and there was no doubt on that. But this was essentially planned for the 8th of March, Women’s Day, an important day in Russia. And since they were unable to execute it then, Ukraine did not have enough– that’s what you’re claiming– that Ukraine was wanting to go ahead with it still. It did not have the blessing of the U.S. And they continued with it and went ahead with it after the elections.

There are a lot of claims here. As far as Mr. Bortnikov coming out and making these claims, somebody who doesn’t come in the public eye, I understand that aspect. Is there something more substantial to put all of this together, or to use as proof as of now, or just the fact that they were heading into Ukraine– I’m talking about the four gunmen who were detained in Briansk while they were on route to Ukraine– is that the only bit of solid evidence we have at the moment to suggest a Ukrainian involvement?

Doctorow:
That’s precisely so, and Mr. Bortnikov was not beating around the bush. He said precisely what you have said. They are working on expanding further the information leads they have now on the connections with ISIS in Istanbul on the timing of the American warning to Russia that a terrorist attack could take place. Let’s remember: that was on the 7th of March. That’s to say two days after Victoria Nuland was fired, and one day before the planned execution of the terrorist attack in Moscow.

So the bits and pieces, the dots, are taking are falling into place. I repeat that Mr. Bortnikov would never dare to say what he said yesterday without the blessing of Mr. Putin. And Mr. Putin has always been a very cautious player.

Interviewer: 7:44
Mr. Doctorow, I also wanted to get your thoughts on this. Now, Lukashenko from Belarus, he had mentioned that they were trying to escape to Ukraine because Belarus, their border security wasn’t one that they could have been able to infiltrate, and they inevitably chose to go towards Ukraine. There is another interesting aspect here. When you talk about the getaway plan for these gunmen, there are not two nations but three nations which are in immediate vicinity.

There is Belarus which is right in the line of escape, then there is Ukraine where they eventually were trying to head towards because Briansk is, if you look at the map, it is diagonally towards Ukraine. And if they were caught in Briansk, that means their getaway plan was clear to go towards Ukraine. They did not take a detour later on.

There is also Latvia, which also could have been an option for them to get away. And Latvia and Russia, they share a border which is somewhere 180 to 190 kilometers and it is not very well supported, it is not very well built. Half of it, nearly 50 kilometers, doesn’t even have a barricade over there. And over 150 kilometers is yet to be developed properly. Wasn’t that an easier way to get away from– wasn’t that an easier option for them? Given the fact that there is lesser security in the borders since they refused to go towards Belarus. Latvia, of course, being a NATO nation, would have complicated it far beyond belief. But do you think Latvia was an option for the getaway?

Doctorow: 9:14
There are many unanswered questions, one of which, which hardly ever is raised, is what would await these terrorists when they cross the Ukrainian border? It’s assumed they would be treated like heroes. I think it’s more likely they would have been shot dead on the spot, to eliminate all sources of information.

If they went to Latvia, it’s not clear what would happen. They could very well be held in custody. And that’s the last thing that the plotters wanted, that is, the foreign plotters wanted, was for these people to be alive and well and able to talk to the Russians. So there is a drawback here.

But I’d like to call attention to something that’s otherwise not noted in our coverage. That is the nature of the escape plan. It would have been logical, more logical in a way, for these assailants to have disappeared into the Russian Metro. They would be anonymous. They would be very hard to track. But that’s not what happened. Instead, they got into the same white Renault car that brought them from about six kilometers away from where they were lodging to the Crocus venue. They got back in that car. The emphasis in the whole escape was on speed, to do with blinding speed so that the Russians wouldn’t catch up with what was happening until these assailants crossed the frontier into Ukraine.

10:37
It is remarkable they were in the same car, because the car had been, obviously had been taken on video recorders, that of security devices that all of these major venues have around them. That was ignored. The assumption was that the Russians would be too slow and too uncoordinated to put all this together in an actionable way. But that was a mistake. They were so coordinated.

Interviewer: 11:03
Dr. Doctorow, of course, the most pertinent question at the moment, among the many other pertinent questions, how do you feel this is going to impact the ongoing war in Ukraine?

Doctorow:
Disastrously for Ukraine, and I hope not disastrously for us. The discussions now on the premier Russian talk shows– and I have in mind the Vladimir Solovyov show of last night– have taken a radical turn towards violence. One of the Duma members, a member of a key committee on relations with the former Soviet Union, said last night openly, it’s time to raze Kharkiv to the ground.

We should give– Kharkiv is where the terrorist attacks, the Russians call them terrorist attacks; they are missile and artillery attacks, and also border incursions on the Belgorod frontier region of Russia. They’re coming from Kharkiv. They are intolerable. Dozens of Russian civilians are being killed each week. And that makes very bad news on Russian television. And there are patriots who say,

“Time to finish this. The Ukrainians are no longer our friends. They never again will be our friends. And it’s time to give a notice to Kharkiv that everyone should get in their car, pack their cars and head west, because we’re going to level Kharkiv to the ground.”

That language did not exist until after this terrorist event. There’s also talk yesterday on the Solovyov show,

“It’s time to flatten the presidential palace in Kiev, time to flatten all of the decision-making military and civilian institutions in Kiev.”

That violent language did not take place until now.

Interviewer: 12:47
All right, that was Dr. Gilbert Doctorow, sharing a lot of insights on us. He’s a keen professional Russia watcher, and of course has a lot of insights on things that most media houses are not discussing at the moment. There is a perspective which does not make it to the rest of the world. And that is what we are bringing to you right here on WION World is One. Thank you so much for your time, Doctor.

Doctorow:
Thanks for the invitation.

gilbertdoctorow

Aïd al-Fitr : comment le jeûne du Ramadan est rompu à travers le monde

Lorsque le soleil se couchera le 9 avril, les musulmans du monde entier regarderont vers le ciel pour apercevoir un croissant de Lune - la conclusion du mois sacré du Ramadan.

Commençant et se terminant avec la nouvelle lune, le ramadan est observé durant le neuvième mois du calendrier lunaire arabe. Ce serait à ce moment-là que les premiers versets du Coran auraient été révélés au prophète Mahomet, il y a plus d'un millénaire. Du lever au coucher du soleil, les musulmans s'abstiennent de manger, de boire et de commettre des vices comme le commérage et le mensonge. Il s'agit non seulement d'une période d'introspection, mais aussi d'un rappel à la charité envers les plus nécessiteux.

L'Aïd al-Fitr, qui signifie en arabe « fête de la rupture du jeûne », est célébré pendant trois jours à la fin du ramadan par des prières, des festins, des défilés, des cadeaux et des dons de charité. Voici un aperçu de la manière dont il est célébré dans le monde entier.

Cet article a initialement paru sur le site nationalgeographic.com en langue anglaise.

Yesterday’s remarkable statements to journalists by Alexander Bortnikov, director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB)

To the uninitiated, I explain first that the FSB is the successor organization to the Soviet Union’s well-known and much feared KGB.  However, the FSB today might be better compared with the FBI in the United States. It deals with domestic criminality of all kinds and with threats to Russian civilians such as terrorism. The agency and its head are rarely in the news.

In this respect, the FSB is less visible both at home and abroad than the Foreign Intelligence Service  headed by Sergei Naryshkin, a state figure who spent five years of this millennium as chairman of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of the legislature, and also three years as head of the Presidential Administration. In both positions Naryshkin was very often seen on television performing his duties.

By contrast, Bortnikov spent the past 15 years in his FSB offices out of sight.  However, the spectacular attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue has propelled him to center stage and yesterday he met with the Russian state television journalist Pavel Zarubin for an interview and then allowed himself to be questioned further by a gaggle of other journalists on his way out along a corridor. This spontaneous Q&A was later broadcast on the television news. What Bortnikov had to say was extraordinary and bears directly on whether you and I should now be looking for bomb shelters. Regrettably you will not find any of it in the lead stories of today’s mainstream media.  The Financial Times, for example, features an account of Xi’s meeting with CEOs of American businesses to mend ties: interesting, but not very relevant if we are at the cusp of WWIII.

                                                                           *****

Bortnikov is by definition a member of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle of advisors. He, Putin and Naryshkin are all roughly the same age. At 72, Bortnikov is just several years older.

I was struck in particular by his poise and prudent, carefully weighed choice of words while setting out where the investigation is heading with transparency and a ‘let the chips fall where they may’ unaffected demeanor.

The journalists were all probing the question of who stood behind the terror attack. Bortnikov told them…and us: standing behind the terror act committed by Islamist extremists are the United States, Great Britain and Ukraine.

Bortnikov said that the preliminary findings indicate that the four perpetrators of the slaughter were headed by car to the border with Ukraine where they were awaited on the other side. He very calmly explained that the involvement of foreign powers is being clarified and that he will say nothing out of pure emotion now but will wait for the facts to be solidly collected before being presented.

Nonetheless, it was entirely newsworthy that he named the United States, Great Britain and Ukraine as the likely puppet masters of the terror act. Let us remember that following the bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines, the most significant attack on critical civilian infrastructure globally in the last 50 years, Russian officials did not point the finger directly at any country. There was innuendo but no direct accusations such as we heard from Bortnikov yesterday.

                                                                           ****

Meanwhile, quite apart from Mr. Bortnikov’s chat with journalists, a lot of new elements to the terror attack at Crocus City Hall were posted yesterday on the Russian state television news and analysis program Sixty Minutes. In particular, we learned that in the last days of February and first couple of days of March two of the four attackers were in Istanbul. The departure and arrival of one at a Moscow airport was recorded on video. We were told which hotels they stayed in, and the selfies and other photos taken by one in Istanbul were put up on the screen. It is still not clear with whom they met in Turkey. However, the timing itself is very important, because the point was made that they returned to Moscow to carry out a terror attack on 8 March, International Women’s Day, a sacred date on the Russian calendar. Had they done so on that day, the effect would have been catastrophic for the presidential elections in Russia one week later.

However, per Sixty Minutes, it was determined that Russian state security on 8 March was too tight for the terrorist mission to succeed and the United States decided to pull the plug on that operation. Note that this is approximately the time when Victoria Nuland tendered her resignation at the State Department (5 March).  The possible causal link here surely deserves attention by my peers in the U.S. ‘dissident’ community.

In any case, the scenario which was explored later in the day on the Evening with Vladimir Solovyov talk show is that the Ukrainians decided to proceed with the terror attack a week after the Russian presidential elections, when it lost most of its rationale.  They did so over the objections of Washington.

                                                                    *****

From time to time, readers ask why I pay attention to talk shows like Vladimir Solovyov’s.  These skeptics tend to ignore that Solovyov invites not just the usual irresponsible academics and journalists who can amuse the public but also some very serious statesmen who are close to the center of power in Russia and exert influence on the conduct of foreign and domestic policy, including in particular committee chairmen and other key personalities from the State Duma.

So it was last night when we heard from a member of the Committee on Relations with the Commonwealth of Independent States (Former Soviet Union). With reference to the never ending terror attacks on civilians in the Russian border region of Belgorod coming from nearby Kharkiv (Ukraine), he said it is time to raze Kharkov to the ground: issue a warning to the population to get in their cars and head West, then blow it all to bits.  Kharkiv is, by the way, Ukraine’s second most populous city after Kiev.

In general, the mood of panelists and of the host Solovyov himself is now changing in a cardinal manner: Ukraine is seen as an enemy state and the sooner it is finished off the better. There was talk last night on the need for missile strikes to flatten the presidential palace in Kiev along with all military and other decision making government centers in the capital.

As we have observed repeatedly over the past two years. President Putin has been a voice for moderation and restraint, resisting actions that might precipitate WWIII.  That is clearly coming to an end when his own FSB director names the United States and the UK as planners of the biggest terror attack in Russia in 20 years.

©Gilbert Doctorow, 2024

Translation below into German (Andreas Mylaeus)

Die gestrigen bemerkenswerten Äußerungen von Alexander Bortnikov, Direktor des russischen Föderalen Sicherheitsdienstes (FSB), gegenüber Journalisten

Für Uneingeweihte erkläre ich zunächst, dass der FSB die Nachfolgeorganisation des bekannten und gefürchteten KGB der Sowjetunion ist. Allerdings könnte man den FSB heute eher mit dem FBI in den Vereinigten Staaten vergleichen. Er befasst sich mit inländischer Kriminalität aller Art und mit Bedrohungen für die russische Zivilbevölkerung wie dem Terrorismus. Die Behörde und ihr Leiter sind nur selten in den Nachrichten zu sehen.

In dieser Hinsicht ist der FSB im In- und Ausland weniger sichtbar als der Auslandsnachrichtendienst unter der Leitung von Sergej Naryschkin, der in diesem Jahrtausend fünf Jahre lang Vorsitzender der Staatsduma, des russischen Unterhauses der Legislative, und drei Jahre lang Leiter der Präsidialverwaltung war. In beiden Positionen war Naryschkin sehr oft im Fernsehen bei der Ausübung seiner Pflichten zu sehen.

Bortnikow hingegen verbrachte die letzten 15 Jahre in seinen FSB-Büros im Verborgenen. Der spektakuläre Anschlag auf das Konzerthaus am Krokus hat ihn jedoch ins Zentrum der Aufmerksamkeit gerückt. Gestern traf er sich mit dem Journalisten des russischen Staatsfernsehens, Pawel Zarubin, zu einem Interview und ließ sich dann auf dem Weg nach draußen auf einem Korridor von einer Schar anderer Journalisten weiter befragen. Diese spontane Fragerunde wurde später in den Fernsehnachrichten ausgestrahlt. Was Bortnikov zu sagen hatte, war außergewöhnlich und hat direkten Einfluss auf die Frage, ob Sie und ich jetzt nach Luftschutzbunkern suchen sollten. Bedauerlicherweise werden Sie nichts davon in den Leitartikeln der heutigen Mainstream-Medien finden. Die Financial Times zum Beispiel berichtet über Xis Treffen mit den CEOs amerikanischer Unternehmen, um die Beziehungen zu verbessern: interessant, aber nicht sehr relevant, wenn wir uns an der Schwelle zum Dritten Weltkrieg befinden.

                                                                           *****

Bortnikow ist per definitionem ein Mitglied des inneren Beraterkreises von Wladimir Putin. Er, Putin und Naryschkin sind alle ungefähr gleich alt. Mit 72 Jahren ist Bortnikov nur einige Jahre älter.

Besonders beeindruckt haben mich seine Gelassenheit und seine besonnene, sorgfältig abgewogene Wortwahl, mit der er die Richtung der Ermittlungen transparent und ungekünstelt nach dem Motto “Wir werden ja sehen…” darlegte.

Die Journalisten gingen alle der Frage nach, wer hinter dem Terroranschlag steht. Bortnikov sagte ihnen… und uns: Hinter dem von islamistischen Extremisten begangenen Terrorakt stehen die Vereinigten Staaten, Großbritannien und die Ukraine.

Bortnikov sagte, dass die ersten Erkenntnisse darauf hindeuten, dass die vier Täter mit dem Auto zur ukrainischen Grenze fuhren, wo sie auf der anderen Seite erwartet wurden. Er erklärte sehr ruhig, dass die Beteiligung ausländischer Mächte geklärt werde und dass er jetzt nichts aus reiner Emotion sagen werde, sondern abwarten werde, bis die Fakten solide gesammelt seien, bevor er sie präsentiere.

Nichtsdestotrotz war es durchaus berichtenswert, dass er die Vereinigten Staaten, Großbritannien und die Ukraine als wahrscheinliche Drahtzieher des Terroraktes benannte. Wir sollten uns daran erinnern, dass russische Beamte nach dem Bombenanschlag auf die Nord-Stream-Pipelines, dem weltweit bedeutendsten Angriff auf kritische zivile Infrastrukturen in den letzten 50 Jahren, nicht direkt mit dem Finger auf ein Land gezeigt haben. Es gab Andeutungen, aber keine direkten Anschuldigungen, wie wir es auch gestern von Bortnikow gehört haben.

                                                                           ****

Abgesehen von Herrn Bortnikovs Gespräch mit Journalisten wurden gestern in der Nachrichten- und Analysesendung “Sechzig Minuten” des russischen Staatsfernsehens viele neue Informationen über den Terroranschlag auf das Krokus-Zentrum veröffentlicht. Insbesondere erfuhren wir, dass sich zwei der vier Angreifer in den letzten Februartagen und in den ersten Märztagen in Istanbul aufhielten. Der Abflug und die Ankunft des einen auf einem Moskauer Flughafen wurden auf Video aufgezeichnet. Wir erfuhren, in welchen Hotels sie sich aufhielten, und die Selfies und anderen Fotos, die einer von ihnen in Istanbul machte, wurden auf dem Bildschirm gezeigt. Es ist immer noch nicht klar, mit wem sie sich in der Türkei getroffen haben. Der Zeitpunkt selbst ist jedoch sehr wichtig, denn es wurde darauf hingewiesen, dass sie nach Moskau zurückkehrten, um am 8. März, dem Internationalen Frauentag, einem heiligen Datum im russischen Kalender, einen Terroranschlag zu verüben. Hätten sie dies an diesem Tag getan, hätte dies katastrophale Auswirkungen auf die eine Woche später stattfindenden Präsidentschaftswahlen in Russland gehabt.

Laut “Sechzig Minuten” wurde jedoch festgestellt, dass die russische Staatssicherheit am 8. März zu streng war, um die terroristische Mission zum Erfolg zu führen, und die Vereinigten Staaten beschlossen, diese Operation abzubrechen. Man beachte, dass dies ungefähr der Zeitpunkt ist, an dem Victoria Nuland ihren Rücktritt im Außenministerium einreichte (5. März). Der mögliche kausale Zusammenhang verdient sicherlich die Aufmerksamkeit meiner Kollegen in der amerikanischen “Dissidenten”-Gemeinschaft.

Das Szenario, das später am Tag in der Talkshow “Abend mit Vladimir Solovyov” erörtert wurde, besagt jedenfalls, dass die Ukrainer beschlossen haben, den Terroranschlag eine Woche nach den russischen Präsidentschaftswahlen durchzuführen, als er den größten Teil seiner Berechtigung verlor. Sie taten dies gegen die Einwände Washingtons.

                                                                    *****

Von Zeit zu Zeit fragen mich Leser, warum ich Talkshows wie der von Wladimir Solowjow Aufmerksamkeit schenke. Diese Skeptiker neigen dazu, zu ignorieren, dass Solowjow nicht nur die üblichen nicht verantwortlichen Akademiker und Journalisten einlädt, die das Publikum unterhalten können, sondern auch einige sehr ernsthafte Staatsmänner, die dem Machtzentrum in Russland nahe stehen und Einfluss auf die Gestaltung der Außen- und Innenpolitik ausüben, darunter insbesondere Ausschussvorsitzende und andere wichtige Persönlichkeiten der Staatsduma.

So war es auch gestern Abend, als wir von einem Mitglied des Ausschusses für die Beziehungen zur Gemeinschaft Unabhängiger Staaten (ehemalige Sowjetunion) hörten. Mit Bezug auf die nicht enden wollenden Terroranschläge auf die Zivilbevölkerung in der russischen Grenzregion Belgorod, die aus dem nahegelegenen Charkiw (Ukraine) kommen, sagte er, es sei an der Zeit, Charkiw dem Erdboden gleichzumachen: eine Warnung an die Bevölkerung auszusprechen, in ihre Autos zu steigen und nach Westen zu fahren, und dann alles in die Luft zu jagen. Charkiw ist übrigens nach Kiew die zweitgrößte Stadt der Ukraine.

Generell hat sich die Stimmung der Diskussionsteilnehmer und des Gastgebers Solowjow selbst grundlegend geändert: Die Ukraine wird als feindlicher Staat betrachtet, und je schneller sie vernichtet wird, desto besser. Gestern Abend wurde über die Notwendigkeit von Raketenangriffen gesprochen, um den Präsidentenpalast in Kiew sowie alle militärischen und anderen entscheidungsrelevanten Regierungszentren in der Hauptstadt zu zerstören.

Wie wir in den letzten zwei Jahren immer wieder beobachten konnten: Präsident Putin war eine Stimme der Mäßigung und Zurückhaltung und hat sich gegen Aktionen gewehrt, die den Dritten Weltkrieg auslösen könnten. Damit ist nun eindeutig Schluss, wenn sein eigener FSB-Direktor die Vereinigten Staaten und das Vereinigte Königreich als Planer des größten Terroranschlags in Russland seit 20 Jahren nennt.

gilbertdoctorow

Geoengineering – Weapon of Mass Destruction

Par : AHH

Solving the ‘Climate Crisis’ is Bad for Business and Worse for Politics

For GlobalSouth.co by Peter Koenig
25 March 202

The article Harvard Shuts Geoengineering Project by Cauf Skiviers, explains Bill Gates, funder of the project, stopping Harvard from carrying out the study to Preserve the Climate Narrative.

How is this relevant?

That Bill Gates calls the shots on what should and should not go forward, is nothing new. Surprising is that he was willing to finance such a study in the first place. – Why?

The honest results of the research would have shown the outright “climate change” fraud humanity has been exposed to for more than three decades.

The study’s outcome would have gone in the complete opposite direction of the current western globalist plan, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Great Reset and the UN Agenda 2030, One World Order, One World Government. Their success being largely based on the ”climate” lie.

Geoengineering serves two purposes, falsely demonstrating the Green Agenda’s fake CO2 emissions-based climate change, and – of equal importance – making weather and climate into Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).

The outcome of the study would have been against those who want to destroy the world’s economy and social structure as we know it – to rebuild it afresh, according to the elites’ desire. See Club of Rome’s “First Global Revolution” (1991); and this.

The revelation of the now canceled Harvard research, would have allowed just about anyone marginally aware of what is happening to Mother Earth’s climate, to see through the scam. It would have been difficult to avoid leaking the study’s outcome of such a hyped-up topic, like “climate change”, to the public.

Imagine! – Harvard research would destroy a political agenda, as well as Big Business. It would reveal that the climate narrative of the “Green Agenda”, is a lie, and that the weather almost everywhere on the globe is manipulated – or to use the scientific term “geoengineered”.

More than three decades of intense “fake science” and media manipulation about humans’ CO2, methane, and similar greenhouse gas emissions, is the culprit for “climate change”, have left most people, even non-active, often “bought”, so-called scientists, under the impression that doomsday is just around the corner, if we keep using hydrocarbons (oil and gas) to fuel our economy and keep using agriculture to feed humanity.

These alarm bells are constant calls to decarbonize civilization. Yet, the use of hydrocarbons (mostly oil and gas) to run the world’s economies has hardly changed in the last three decades. In the early 1990s about 87% of all energy used worldwide came from oil and gas. The figure is almost the same today.

It is a big lie. The climate is NOT changing, at least not more than it has always changed over the past 4 billion years – normally by small increments, so that life on earth can adapt and adjust.

According to Spain’s State Meteorological Agency (Spanish Acronym – AEMET), there are currently more than 50 countries which have at least some technologies to change the weather and climate. See this.

Those with the most sophisticated knowledge are the United States, Russia, and China.

It is fair to assume that the 50-plus nations are “modifying” the weather or climate according to what benefits them most. It is also fair to assume that today there is worldwide almost no weather completely natural, but influenced either directly, or indirectly, through modified weather patterns elsewhere in the world, the collateral effect of geoengineering.

In olden times, it was called “the butterfly effect” – meaning the butterfly flaps its wings and will have an effect somewhere in the world. You do not know where and what. With geoengineering that can be very dangerous.

Obviously, weather modifications, so far, serve primarily the fake climate change agenda. When a super hurricane hits the Caribbean, or a prolonged Monsoon floods and destroys two thirds of Pakistan, including her economy, it exponentially exceeds the “normal”. Blame it on “climate change”.

But most often there is an economic and / or political agenda behind it. Take Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans on 29 August 2005. Some 1,800 people died. With 230 km / hour, Katrina made landfall in Southeast Louisiana and destroyed New Orleans.

While the State of Louisiana evacuated about 1.5 million people before the hurricane hit, 150,000 to 200,000 stayed behind, mostly black people in “old” New Orleans, often run-down, but potential prime real estate for developers; was to be razed for luxury-style rebuilding.

The original owners were later force-evacuated to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) provided “emergency” camps (shacks), all over the country. So, the force-refugees could not organize. The properties were taken over by the state and city. – This served both, an economic and political agenda.


In June through August and into September 2022, Pakistan received about three times as much rain as normal. The deadly disaster was blamed on “climate change”. See this.

In reality, the catastrophe is suspected of having been geoengineered, and had a political agenda. On 10 April 2022, the popular, democratically and by a landslide elected President, Imram Khan, was ousted through a parliamentary non-confidence vote, instigated and “influenced” by the US, because Mr. Khan refused to follow orders from Washington, but instead intended to be President for an independent Pakistan and for the People of Pakistan.

For weeks people took to the streets by the millions, creating national unrest, wanting their President Imram Khan back. Creating or geoengineering the destructive Monsoon floods was a means to stop the social upheaval, so that the country could follow the western / Washington imposed political agenda, which meant foremost no political or business relations with China.

This is weaponized geoengineering.

When geoengineering serves as a weapon for Super-Powers, the dangers may be equivalent or worse than from nuclear weapons. Because most people have no clue that these weather “disturbances” and climate disasters are manmade and targeted for specific purposes at an “enemy”.

To get this right, geoengineering is NOT manmade in terms of what the Green Agenda interprets manmade “climate change”, as in CO2 emissions, greenhouse gases and more of the like. Geoengineering is dangerous. The Green Agenda climate change claims are sheer bullsh*t.


Geoengineering has been developed since the early 1940s. It started out with simple cloud-seeding, to prompt rainfall, mostly for agricultural purposes. It then moved to more sophisticated weather and climate manipulations, using the infamous chemtrails, white “vapor” stripes emanating from airplanes, crisscrossing the blue skies, disseminating poisonous chemicals and microscopic heavy metal particles, to influence the climate – but also, and possibly more important, to affect people’s health in very negative ways.

There are hundreds if not thousands of patents out there for these chemicals and heavy metals coming down from the planes into the ground, into the water, into plants and vegetables and finally into our bodies, killing our Pineal Gland and gradually weakening our bodies.

Geoengineering also includes the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) and similarly sophisticated technologies. HAARP, created by the Pentagon-linked thinktank, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), is controlled by the US Airforce. HAARP is possibly the world’s most capable high-power, high-frequency electromagnetic waves transmitter, acting on the ionosphere.

HAARP technologies often applied from satellites, can emit electromagnetic waves piercing deep into the earth, creating earthquakes. It is suspected that HAARP technologies were used to cause the 6 February 2023 Turkey – Syria earthquake of 7.8 Richter scale strength, killing more than 60,000 people.

The seism happened shortly before Recep Tayyip Erdogan was reelected in May 2023 as President of Turkey. The earthquake’s epicenter was in Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province, with seismic movement taking place along the Conjugated Tectonic Faults. Strangely and remarkably, however, the tremors defied the natural patterns and do not fit into the usual mainshock–aftershocks sequence.

This was also the time when President Erdogan refused to approve Sweden and Finland into NATO, despite the tremendous pressure of all 29 other NATO countries – to put NATO even closer to Russia, the western-made non-conform enemy that needed to be “subdued.”

This would be weaponized political geoengineering, with an economic side effect.


The 12 January 2010 Haiti earthquake of 7.0 magnitude, left the capital city, Port-au-Prince, devastated and killed about 220,000 people. Sizable off-shore oil and gas deposits are all over the Caribbean, and also off-shore of Port-au-Prince.

These petrol reserves, are so deep that it is uneconomical to exploit them at current depths. A seismic event will break the tectonic plates, so that the earth’s core pressure pushes the oil to higher levels, where exploitation is easier and more economical.

Haiti has been in chaos ever since. The Clinton Foundation set up allegedly to help rebuild Haiti, has been a disaster, causing more harm than good, and making the Clintons richer. Destabilizing the country is a good reason for the US to maintain steady control.

Haiti is the world’s first and only country inhabited by black slaves that fought for and obtained independence 220 years ago (January 1, 1804). Washington pretends, Haiti could become a national security threat – like Cuba! – and must be controlled. See this.

The giant Haiti tremor also served two interests: Economics, as in oil; and politics, as in control.

Geoengineering is a convenient and highly effective weapon to dominate or coerce countries into submission. The geo-weapon’s potential could explode exponentially during the coming years, decades, if people remain ignorant about its menace for humanity.

A Harvard study divulging what geoengineering does and can do would not only derail the entire fake “climate change” narrative, but might also risk taking steam out of the growing geo-weapons industry.

Therefore, “Solving the ‘Climate Crisis’ is indeed Bad for Business- and bad for Politics”, and even worse for strategic warfare planning. So, Bill Gates was right in stopping the Harvard Geoengineering Project. Geoengineering may, therefore, prosper, bringing rain, shine and – war.

—-

Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst and a former Senior Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for over 30 years around the world. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for online journals and is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and  co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020)

Peter is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University, Beijing.

Ce poisson-chat Goliath a fait une migration historique

Voici plusieurs décennies, lorsque Ronaldo Barthem a commencé à étudier le Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii, un type de poisson-chat Goliath, dans un estuaire de l’Amazone, au Brésil, il a été intrigué par l’absence de poissons adultes. Il s’est demandé où cet animal de couleur dorée, qui peut atteindre jusqu’à deux mètres de long, allait frayer.

Des années d’enquête ont mené à une réponse étonnante : le Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii traverse plusieurs pays, jusqu’aux contreforts de la Cordillère des Andes, de l’autre côté du continent, pour achever son cycle de vie. Selon des recherches récemment publiées dans la revue Fish and Fisheries, ce voyage aller-retour de plus de 11 000 kilomètres est de loin la plus longue migration effectuée par un poisson d’eau douce dans le monde.

Cette épopée est probablement bénéfique à la croissance et à la survie du Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii car ces jeunes animaux peuvent jouir, au cours de leur déplacement, d’une alimentation très diversifiée, allant des algues aux insectes. Toutefois, cette longue traversée de frontières en frontières a également rendu l’espèce, pouvant peser plus de quatre-vingt-onze kilogrammes, plus vulnérable aux menaces humaines, de la surpêche aux barrages hydrauliques.  

C’est pour ces mêmes raisons que la population des poissons migrateurs d’eau douce a diminué de 76 % depuis 1970, ce qui les classe parmi les groupes d’animaux les plus menacés au monde. 

Malgré leur situation désastreuse, ceux-ci n’ont jamais bénéficié d’une grande protection. Sur les 1 200 animaux répertoriés dans la Convention sur la conservation des espèces migratrices appartenant à la faune sauvage, un traité environnemental du Programme des Nations Unies pour l’environnement, seuls deux sont des poissons migrateurs : le poisson-chat géant du Mékong (Pangasianodon gigas), en danger critique d’extinction, et l’esturgeon jaune (Acipenser fulvescens), quant à lui en danger d’extinction.

Ce nombre a toutefois doublé en février, lorsque le Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii et un autre poisson-chat Goliath de l’Amazone, le Brachyplatystoma vaillantiisont devenus les deux premières espèces de poissons de l’hémisphère sud à être couvertes par le traité.

La nouvelle a été accueillie avec enthousiasme par de nombreux ichtyologues, dont Ronaldo Barthem, écologue au Musée Goeldi de Belém, au Brésil : « c’est peut-être l’initiative la plus prometteuse pour encourager la préservation des écosystèmes aquatiques de l’Amazone », déclare-t-il.

Selon Susan Lieberman, vice-présidente chargée de la politique internationale à la Wildlife Conservation Society, organisation non gouvernementale américaine qui a pour but de protéger des espaces naturels, l’inscription sur la liste pourrait par exemple favoriser la collaboration entre les gouvernements situés le long de la voie de migration de l’espèce, permettant ainsi d’améliorer les programmes de préservation.

 

DES POISSONS MIGRATEURS EN ABONDANCE

En tant que prédateurs au sommet de la chaîne alimentaire, les sept espèces de poissons-chats Goliath de l’Amazone jouent un rôle fondamental dans l’équilibre de son écosystème. De plus, les poissons migrateurs représentent 80 % de la production de poissons de l’Amazone destinée au commerce ; les pêcheries artisanales et industrielles suivent de près les mouvements saisonniers du Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii et du Brachyplatystoma vaillantii.

Pour cette nouvelle étude, les chercheurs se sont également appuyés sur des statistiques de prises, des études sur des larves et des observations de terrain afin de mieux comprendre les mouvements de ces poissons. 

Le cycle de vie du Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii commence près de la Cordillère des Andes, où les individus naissent avant de dériver, au stade larvaire et juvénile, vers l’embouchure du fleuve. Ceux qui peuvent vivre jusqu’à dix-sept ans retournent ensuite en tant que subadultes à l’ouest de l’Amazone pour frayer, traversant plusieurs pays, dont le Brésil, la Bolivie, la Colombie, l’Équateur et le Pérou. Le Brachyplatystoma vaillantii, plus petit, effectue des migrations similaires, quoique plus courtes, mais la localisation exacte de ses frayères reste inconnue.

« Le homing, un comportement qui pousse ces poissons à revenir à l’endroit où ils sont nés pour frayer, indique qu’il est peut-être question d’une forme de mémoire résistant à la distance parcourue et aux différents environnements le long de leurs voies de migration », explique Guillermo Estupiñán, expert en poisson-chat Goliath auprès de la Wildlife Conservation Society au Brésil.

Les inondations annuelles massives, à l’origine de crues qui transforment l’Amazone et ses plus de mille affluents, submergeant les zones humides couvertes de forêts et créant une mosaïque d’habitats différents, favorisent également le comportement migratoire des poissons à la recherche de zones de reproduction ou d’alimentation.  

La récente étude parue dans Fish and Fisheries a montré qu’il existait au moins 223 espèces de poissons migrateurs dans l’Amazone mais le nombre réel est probablement bien plus élevé.

Pour les poissons-chats Goliath, la surpêche reste une préoccupation majeure : en 2007, les scientifiques ont estimé que la pêche annuelle de Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii s’élevait à au moins 10 500 tonnes dans le bassin amazonien. Le Brésil n’a pas mis à jour ces statistiques depuis, bien qu’il soit prévu de reprendre la surveillance, indique Lisiane Hahn, une ichtyologue qui dirige une entreprise brésilienne appelée Neotropical Environmental Consulting.

Les barrages hydrauliques peuvent, quant à eux, représenter une menace plus importante. Alors qu’il n’en existe aucun sur le bras principal de l’Amazone, des projets de longue date prévoient la construction de centaines d’entre eux sur le reste du réseau hydrographique, des structures qui pourraient couper les voies de migration du poisson-chat Goliath. 

Lisiane Hahn a passé huit ans à marquer et à suivre des centaines de Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii et de Brachyplatystoma vaillantii dans le rio Madeira après la construction de deux barrages hydrauliques en 2012. Elle a constaté qu’aucun d’entre eux ne pouvait contourner ces installations. Ses recherches montrent qu’en conséquence la population de Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii a considérablement diminué dans les cours supérieurs du rio Madeira en Bolivie.

 

CE N’EST QUE LE DÉBUT

La Convention sur la conservation des espèces migratrices appartenant à la faune sauvage tient deux listes : l’une pour les espèces menacées d’extinction et l’autre pour les espèces qui traversent des frontières et dont la survie dépend de la coopération internationale. Les deux poissons-chats Goliath, qui ne sont pas encore menacés d’extinction, ont été ajoutés à la seconde liste.

Les scientifiques ont appelé à la création de « couloirs de migration » à l’échelle mondiale, à l’instar des corridors de migration des animaux terrestres, qui protégeraient les principaux habitats des poissons migrateurs. Ronaldo Barthem et d’autres scientifiques espèrent également que davantage de ces animaux seront inscrits sur la liste de la convention, près de 900 espèces effectuant des migrations au moins partielles en eau douce.

L’écologue, qui a contribué à la cartographie de l’épopée migratoire des Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii, ajoute que les nouvelles technologies permettront de mieux comprendre les voyages extraordinaires des poissons de l’Amazone.

« Nous commençons à peine à comprendre ces migrations », déclare-t-il.

Stefan Lovgren collabore régulièrement avec National Geographic et a co-écrit, avec Zeb Hogan, le livre « Chasing Giants: In Search of the World’s Largest Freshwater Fish », paru en 2023.

Cet article a initialement paru sur le site nationalgeographic.com en langue anglaise.

Belgique : à la découverte de Gand, ville rebelle et méconnue

Construite autour de rivières et de canaux, Gand était au 16e siècle la seconde plus grande ville d’Europe, juste derrière Paris. Mais lorsque Charles Quint, empereur du Saint-Empire qui régnait alors sur la Belgique, a augmenté les impôts pour financer une campagne militaire à l’étranger, la ville a refusé de payer. Les habitants estimaient qu’ils avaient déjà donné plus que leur juste part et pensaient que Charles, né à Gand, se montrerait clément avec sa ville de naissance. Grossière erreur : l’empereur marcha sur la ville avec son armée, dépouillant les rebelles de leurs atours et faisant défiler les chefs dans leurs sous-vêtements, corde autour du cou.

Les traces de cet illustre passé sont aujourd’hui visibles dans le centre historique de la ville, où se trouvent un beffroi inscrit au patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO et le Gravensteen, une forteresse en pierres dont l’architecture s’inspirerait des châteaux croisés. Bien que l’âge d’or de la ville soit aujourd’hui révolu, les Gantois racontent avec fierté l’histoire de leur disgrâce, preuve de leur révolte.

Cette détermination a perduré, signe d’un lieu en phase avec son identité, socialement engagé et regorgeant de nouvelles idées. Des initiatives, comme celle du Nucleo, repensent les espaces vides pour les transformer en studios d’artistes que le public est invité à visiter une fois par an (en 2024, les portes ouvertes ont lieu le 5 mai). Des chefs testent de nouvelles choses avec les produits de la Terre, faisant de Gand une capitale européenne de la cuisine végétarienne. Ce dynamisme s’explique en partie par le fait que Gand est la principale ville étudiante de Flandres ; plus d’un quart de ses 267 000 habitants sont des étudiants. Cela garantit une offre presque inépuisable de café de spécialité dans le quartier étudiant d’Overpoort ainsi qu’une vie nocturne diversifiée, allant des bars à vin éclairés à la bougie aux entrepôts où flotte une odeur de transpiration et où l’on écoute de la techno semblant venir tout droit de Berlin.

C’est donc sans surprise que la ville a été nommée Capitale européenne de la jeunesse 2024 par le Forum européen de la jeunesse. En avril, elle célèbrera cette distinction lors du Festival international de Gand, qui a lieu tous les deux ans. Au programme de cette édition : opéras et spectacles de danse sur rollers. Les évènements se poursuivront tout au long de l’année, et les habitants sont invités dès l’âge de quinze ans à soumettre leurs idées de programmation. Tous les paris sont donc ouverts.

 

QUE VOIR ET FAIRE À GAND

1. Les quais historiques

Si vous avez déjà vu des photos de Gand, il y a de fortes chances qu’elles aient été prises sur le Graslei (quai aux herbes) et le Korenlei (quai aux grains). Autrefois centre du commerce de la ville, ces quais, bordés de terrasses de café et de zones d’amarrage pour les bateaux touristiques, sont aujourd’hui encore très animés. Ils constituent la porte d’entrée du centre historique, ainsi que de Patershol, ancien quartier ouvrier transformé en haut lieu de la gastronomie, et de Prinsenhof, zone résidentielle où vivait autrefois la royauté.

2. L’Adoration de l’Agneau mystique

Cet autel réalisé par les frères Van Eyck est l’œuvre d’art la plus volée au monde (Napoléon l’a lui-même volée), qui a fait l’objet de nombreuses copies et a failli être détruite. Elle marque la transition du Moyen Âge à la Renaissance dans l’art flamand : admirez ses détails représentatifs de son genre à la cathédrale Saint-Bavon. Des visites guidées vous permettant d’en savoir plus sur son histoire y sont proposées.

3. Art urbain

Depuis l’instauration dans les années 1990 d’une zone libre dans une rue du centre historique, surnommée « la ruelle aux graffitis », les peintures murales se sont multipliées dans Gand. La carte « Sorry, Not Sorry », disponible en téléchargement gratuit, localise quelques-unes des plus connues. Parmi les œuvres d’artistes locaux figurent des lapins de ROA visibles à Tempelhof et des renards sur Napoleon Destanbergstraat, qui ont permis à Kitsune de se faire connaître.

4. Dok Noord

Dans la partie nord de la ville, un ensemble d’anciennes usines a été rénové et accueille désormais Dok Noord, l’un des derniers projets d’aménagement de bureaux et d’infrastructures de loisirs de Gand. Sa principale attraction, Hal 16, est un food hall niché dans un ancien entrepôt en briques. Goûtez aux plats de viande grillée ou aux spécialités italiennes comme les pâtes mafaldine accompagnées de ragoût de poulpe, et étanchez votre soif à Dok Brewing Company, où vous pourrez choisir parmi 30 bières pression. La Waar is Loca, une pale ale brassée sur place, est la préférée des clients.

5. Le musée de l’Industrie

C’est en Belgique qu’a commencé la Révolution industrielle en Europe. Le musée, qui occupe une ancienne filature de coton, raconte comment Gand est devenue un acteur majeur de l’industrie du textile. La star de la collection est le premier métier à filer de Belgique, une machine créée pour accélérer la production de fil. Il était interdit à l’époque d’importer une telle machine dans le pays, ce qui a contraint le Gantois Lieven Bauwens à faire entrer illégalement du Royaume-Uni ses différentes pièces.

 

OÙ MANGER À GAND

1. Knol & Kool

Ce café vegan situé à quelques encablures du beffroi propose des lasagnes de légumes au pesto de roquette et au parmesan d’amande ou encore des bánh mì garnis de tofu, de pickles de carottes et de chou rouge. Dans sa petite boutique vegan, vous pourrez aussi acheter de la bière à l’hibiscus, de la pâte miso à base de vert de poireau et du fromage de noix fabriqué localement.

2. Lepelblad

Ce restaurant moderne situé dans le quartier paisible d’Onderbergen, à deux pas du centre historique, travaille avec des éleveurs et des petits producteurs du coin pour mettre à l’honneur les produits de saison. Le menu change en fonction de l’approvisionnement du jour, mais vous pourrez notamment y déguster une tarte Tatin d’endives à la crème d’oignon accompagnée d’une salade de moutarde ou du bœuf mariné servi avec des salsifis, du soja et des herbes. L’établissement propose un accord mets et vin ou bière pour chaque plat.

3. Oak

Pour célébrer ses 10 ans, ce restaurant 1 étoile s’est refait une beauté, tout en conservant une décoration minimaliste aux couleurs sombres qui met en lumière le menu en plusieurs plats du chef brésilien Marcelo Ballardin. Ce dernier s’inspire de ses expériences à l’étranger pour créer des assiettes uniques, comme du maquereau au calamondin (citron des Philippines) ou encore du bar accompagné d’une sauce tucupi, un jus extrait de la racine de manioc de la forêt amazonienne.

 

OÙ FAIRE DES ACHATS

1. Home Linen

Cette boutique située le Korenlei fabrique ses propres créations depuis le 19e siècle. Une odeur de lavande flotte à l’intérieur, où vous pourrez acheter des nappes en lin brodées de homards, des chemises de nuit rétro et des robes pour enfant brodées de boutons de rose. Les prix sont raisonnables, bien que le lin belge soit connu pour sa douceur.

2. Les antiquaires

Gand regorge de boutiques vintages. Se faisant face sur Baudelostraat, une rue du centre de la ville, Antiek-Depot vend des curiosités en nombre tandis que Moca a des chaises et des tambourins suspendus au plafond. Si vous préférez farfouiller dans un désordre plus organisé, la Galerie St-John propose, dans sa boutique installée dans une ancienne église baroque, une sélection de premier choix de couverts, de porcelaines et de tableaux belges.

3. Les magasins de confiseries et condiments

Si la Belgique est connue pour ses gaufres et ses chocolats, les Gantois vous recommanderont sans doute d’autres spécialités. Achetez un paquet de cuberdons, ces bonbons durs en forme de nez remplis de sirop de fruits, à la Confiserie Temmerman située dans le quartier Patershol et en activité depuis 1904. Encore plus ancienne, la boutique Tierenteyn-Verlent située dans le centre historique, où vous pourrez acheter une fameuse moutarde locale élaborée à partir d’une recette tenue secrète.

 

OÙ SORTIR

1. ‘t Dreupelkot

Voilà plus de quarante ans que Paul Rysenaer a ouvert ce pub minuscule à quelques pas du Graslei. Les tonneaux y servent de tables hautes et derrière les vitrines des armoires en bois se cachent des verres à liqueur. Allez-y pour goûter le genièvre, une eau-de-vie belge et néerlandaise parfumée aux baies de genévrier. Il y en a quelque 200 sortes sur les étagères, dont certaines ont été distillées par Paul lui-même.

2. The Cobbler

Entrez dans l’hôtel 1898 The Post et montez l’escalier en colimaçon pour accéder à ce bar à cocktails à l’ambiance tamisée. Cette adresse est l’une des plus tendance de la ville. Difficile de dire ce qui nous plaît le plus entre son emplacement sur le Graslei, qui donne sur l’église gothique Saint-Nicolas, ou ses concoctions signatures. Goûtez au fruité Pear Sonata, à base de vodka, de Cointreau, de cassis et de poire ou optez pour le Downstairs Harry, un mélange de rhum, de cognac, de vermouth, de Chartreuse, de sirop d’érable et de sauge.

3. Les clubs de jazz

Labellisée Ville de musique par l’UNESCO, Gand a une affinité particulière avec le jazz. Tous les ans en juillet, le festival Gent Jazz s’installe dans un ancien hôpital du 13e siècle et met à l’honneur des artistes comme Gregory Porter et Norah Jones. Mais le restant de l’année, la ville accueille des sessions de jam. Hot Club Gent, un bar intimiste, et Missy Sippy, « juke joint moderne » autoproclamé, sont d’excellentes d’adresses pour écouter un concert dans le centre historique de Gand.

 

COMME UN LOCAL

1. Portus Ganda

Le nom de Gand provient du mot celte « ganda », qui signifie « confluence ». La ville a été fondée à l’endroit où se rencontrent la rivière de la Lys et le fleuve de l’Escaut. Si vous souhaitez éviter la foule du Graslei et du Koreneli, suivez les canaux jusqu’à cet endroit, où se trouve désormais une marina paisible. Si vous visitez la ville aux beaux jours, faites un détour par l’abbaye Saint-Bavon, dont la forme a été reproduite avec des arbrisseaux de charme.

2. The Bakery

Ouverte en 2011 par le chef pâtissier Joost Arijs, cette chocolaterie située dans le SoGo, le quartier commerçant de Gand, a rapidement été désignée comme la meilleure de Belgique par le guide gastronomique Gault & Millau. En 2023, le chef a ouvert un peu plus loin dans la rue une boulangerie qui a attiré les curieux. Mais un an après, l’attente est toujours aussi longue le matin. Venez tôt pour avoir du choix parmi les viennoiseries croustillantes proposées.

3. Les jeudis végétariens

En 2009, Gand est devenue la première ville au monde à mettre en place une journée sans viande, une initiative qui a depuis été reprise partout dans le monde, de Los Angeles à Taipei. Participez-y chez Boon, un restaurant à la décoration scandinave chic et aérée ouvert uniquement le midi, et situé en face du Gravensteen. Les soupes, salades et parts de quiche de saison vous donneront envie d’y retourner n’importe quel jour de la semaine.

 

OÙ DORMIR À GAND

1. Ganda Rooms and Suites

Vous aurez du mal à trouver un logement offrant un meilleur rapport qualité/prix que ce B&B occupant une maison de ville du 18e siècle et situé dans le quartier historique. Ses huit chambres ont toutes une cheminée d’origine et des poutres en bois apparentes. Les propriétaires ont fait appel à des artisans pour les meubler avec des lits faits sur mesure et des œuvres d’art belges.

2. Pillows Grand Hotel Reylof

Fidèle à sa vie antérieure de résidence seigneuriale, cet hôtel quatre étoiles éblouissant par son spectaculaire escalier et son hall en marbre de style néoclassique. Les 157 chambres, qui se trouvent dans un autre bâtiment, sont quant à elles plus minimalistes. L’hôtel possède plusieurs espaces communs, dont une bibliothèque et un petit spa niché dans l’ancienne remise, et se trouve à un jet de pierres du Graslei, si bien que vous ne vous ennuierez pas.

3. Hotel Verhaegen

Avec ses peintures murales, son jardin paysager et ses bains au plafond voûté, ce palais ne fait pas dans la demi-mesure. Situé à quelques minutes à pied du centre historique, il a été transformé en maison d’hôtes dotée de quatre chambres par deux décorateurs d’intérieur, qui ont associé des objets anciens à des touches plus modernes. Faites une folie et réservez la Suite des Années 1940 qui, avec ses 70 m², relève davantage de l’appartement.

Cet article a été rédigé par la rédaction de l’édition britannique du magazine National Geographic Traveller, en langue anglaise.

Macron-Zelensky : le baiser du scorpion ?

Par : STRATPOL

En écoutant les déclarations de Macron et d’autres sur l’envoi de troupes françaises au sol en Ukraine, j’ai été surpris

L’article Macron-Zelensky : le baiser du scorpion ? est apparu en premier sur STRATPOL.

What are the Russians saying now about the organizers and implementers of the Crocus City Hall massacre?

Today’s edition of The New York Times tells us triumphantly that “President Vladimir Putin of Russia acknowledged for the first time that ‘radical Islamists’ had carried out the attack on a concert hall near Moscow…,” meaning that the Russians have accepted the American version of who was responsible. And yet, they noted, Putin was still ‘insisting that Ukraine could still have played a role,’ as if it was pure obstinacy on the part of the Russian president to justify a politically more convenient explanation leading to escalation of the war.

Meanwhile, doing its part to convey the narrative provided by Washington, The Financial Times front page tells us “How Ukraine war distracted Moscow from Isis-K threat: Russia’s security services have shifted focus away from Islamist terror.” This same line happens to be among the points made by Ukrainian president Zelensky in his first comments on the attack just hours after it occurred. Once again, I say, ‘hats off’ to the propaganda department in Washington for close coordination of what the general public reads and hears everywhere on planet Earth.

                                                                *****

Meanwhile, among Russia’s chattering classes there is a lot of speculation on who was really behind the concert hall attack and whether the terrorists were genuinely members of the Afghanistan-based Isis-K.

The premier talk show Evening with Vladimir Solovyov last night gave voice to these thoughts. Specialists on the Middle East and Islamic issues told us that the attack did not follow the usual pattern of Isis and other Muslim extremist groups. It was staged in the middle of Ramadan, which normally is not violated by the Jihadists, and also on a Friday, for a double measure of exceptionality. The attackers made no attempt to take hostages or to make political demands, which usually has been the case. They were only interested in killing as many innocent people as possible, for which they were being paid onto their bank cards. What could they do with such payments? They could send the money to their relatives in Tajikistan, where even the $5,000 ruble equivalent paid out would be useful. And they appeared not to be seeking martyrdom. The perpetrators sere keen on escaping, and the vector of their escape route was straight to Ukraine from which they were about 100 km distant when apprehended.

The assumption of the panelists speaking on the Solovyov show was that the escape path to Ukraine indicates Ukrainian involvement. What no one has said on television or elsewhere is what fate would have awaited the terrorists had they made it to Ukraine. Would it have enabled them to evade the clutches of the Russians or would they have been murdered upon arrival to silence them and show good faith to the international community on the part of Kiev?

I did not hear among the Solovyov panelists mention of Washington as the overall director of the attack.

Otherwise, discussion of the atrocity moved on to the questions of whether the death penalty should now be reintroduced in Russia and what to do to fix the obviously failed controls on immigration from Central Asia, a failure that is in large part blamed on corruption among the Russian law enforcers.

But let us not dwell on what Mr. Solovyov’s talk show promoted. Yesterday I read an essay by Dmitry Trenin on what the ongoing investigation into the perpetrators and paymasters of the Crocus City Hall atrocity may lead to. Considering who Trenin is and what he says, this article, which was published on RT, is worth our time.

See “The American explanation for the Moscow terror attack doesn’t add up. Russian foreign policy could change significantly, depending on the results of the investigation into the atrocity.”

https://nexusnewsfeed.com/article/geopolitics/dmitry-trenin-the-american-explanation-for-the-moscow-terror-attack-doesn-t-add-up

For those who are not familiar with Trenin, allow me to explain that he is a leading Russian analyst and commentator, a member of all the most authoritative security and foreign affairs institutions in Moscow, with a background of high service in the Russian military going back to the 1990s and with more than a decade at the helm of the Carnegie Center Moscow, a U.S. sponsored think tank. Trenin left the Carnegie shortly after the start of the Special Military Operation and, in short order, the Carnegie Center was closed down. He has since then been making amends for his past coddling of anti-Putin Liberals, but always within the bounds of solid academic reasoning. In this respect, Trenin’s evolution since 24 February 2022 is very similar to that of the former director of The National Interest foundation (formerly The Nixon Center) in Washington, Dmitry Simes, who moved back to Moscow from the United States after the start of the SMO to defend Russian national interests as opposed to U.S. interests.

From the very title, it is clear that Trenin is directing attention to possible United States involvement in the atrocity. The fact that Washington was publicly identifying the terrorist group within minutes of the attack in damning. However, he holds open the possibility that Kiev ‘conceived, planned and organized’ the attack.

Trenin acknowledges that at this point ‘nothing is firmly established,’ but he insists that the conclusions ultimately reached can greatly impact on Russia’s conduct of the war with Ukraine.  If it becomes clear, for example, that Kiev did it all, then it is assumed that President Zelensky gave it his approval. In this case, all prior guaranties by President Putin not to touch the Kiev leadership are withdrawn.

Kiev will be identified than as a terrorist state, which constitutes an inadmissible neighbor.

Moreover, establishing Kiev’s responsibility would necessarily implicate the United States as having had at a minimum advance knowledge and hence been complicity. Under these circumstances, says Trenin, we may now expect Russia to carry out strikes against airfields in NATO countries if they are used by the Ukrainian air force. We may expect Russia to annihilate any French expeditionary force. Andwe may expect a ‘head-on collision’ between Russia and NATO.

This is food for thought from a restrained and knowledgeable source. Is anyone in Washington, London or Brussels paying attention?

©Gilbert Doctorow, 2024

Translation into German (Andreas Mylaeus)

Was sagen die Russen jetzt über die Organisatoren und die Täter des Massakers im Krokus-Konferenzzentrum?

In der heutigen Ausgabe der New York Times heißt es triumphierend, dass “der russische Präsident Wladimir Putin zum ersten Mal eingeräumt hat, dass ‘radikale Islamisten’ den Anschlag auf eine Konzerthalle in der Nähe von Moskau verübt haben…”, was bedeutet, dass die Russen die amerikanische Version der Verantwortlichen akzeptiert hätten. Und dennoch, so stellten sie fest, bestehe Putin immer noch “darauf, dass die Ukraine eine Rolle gespielt haben könnte”, als sei es reine Sturheit des russischen Präsidenten, eine politisch bequemere Erklärung zu rechtfertigen, die zu einer Eskalation des Krieges führt.

Währenddessen trägt die Financial Times auf der Titelseite ihren Teil dazu bei, das von Washington vorgegebene Narrativ zu verbreiten: “Wie der Ukraine-Krieg Moskau von der Isis-K-Bedrohung abgelenkt hat: Russlands Sicherheitsdienste haben den Fokus weg vom islamistischen Terror verschoben.” Dies ist zufällig auch einer der Punkte, die der ukrainische Präsident Zelensky in seinen ersten Kommentaren zu dem Anschlag nur wenige Stunden nach dem Vorfall angeführt hat. Ich sage noch einmal: Hut ab vor der Propagandaabteilung in Washington, die das, was die Öffentlichkeit überall auf dem Planeten Erde liest und hört, genau koordiniert.

                                                                *****

Unterdessen wird in Russland viel darüber spekuliert, wer wirklich hinter dem Anschlag auf die Konzerthalle steckt und ob es sich bei den Terroristen tatsächlich um Mitglieder der in Afghanistan ansässigen Isis-K handelt.

In der wichtigen Talkshow Abend mit Wladimir Solowjow wurden diese Überlegungen gestern Abend zum Ausdruck gebracht. Fachleute für den Nahen Osten und islamische Fragen erklärten uns, dass der Anschlag nicht dem üblichen Muster von Isis und anderen muslimischen Extremistengruppen entsprach. Er wurde mitten im Ramadan verübt, der normalerweise von den Dschihadisten nicht verletzt wird, und außerdem an einem Freitag, was eine doppelte Ausnahme ist. Die Angreifer versuchten nicht, Geiseln zu nehmen oder politische Forderungen zu stellen, was normalerweise der Fall ist. Sie waren nur daran interessiert, so viele unschuldige Menschen wie möglich zu töten, wofür sie mit ihren Bankkarten bezahlt wurden. Was könnten sie mit solchen Zahlungen tun? Sie könnten das Geld an ihre Verwandten in Tadschikistan schicken, wo selbst der Gegenwert von 5.000 Dollar, der ausgezahlt wird, von Nutzen wäre. Und sie schienen nicht auf den Märtyrertod aus zu sein. Die Täter wollten unbedingt fliehen, und ihre Fluchtroute führte direkt in die Ukraine, von der sie zum Zeitpunkt ihrer Festnahme etwa 100 km entfernt waren.

Die Podiumsteilnehmer in der Solowjow-Sendung gingen davon aus, dass der Fluchtweg in die Ukraine auf eine ukrainische Beteiligung hinweist. Niemand im Fernsehen oder anderswo hat gesagt, welches Schicksal die Terroristen erwartet hätte, wenn sie es in die Ukraine geschafft hätten. Hätten sie sich so den Fängen der Russen entziehen können oder wären sie bei ihrer Ankunft ermordet worden, um sie zum Schweigen zu bringen und der internationalen Gemeinschaft den guten Willen Kiews zu beweisen?

Ich habe nicht gehört, dass die Teilnehmer des Solovyov-Panels Washington als Gesamtleiter des Angriffs erwähnt hätten.

Ansonsten ging die Diskussion über die Gräueltat zu den Fragen über, ob die Todesstrafe in Russland wieder eingeführt werden sollte und was zu tun ist, um die offensichtlich fehlgeschlagenen Kontrollen der Einwanderung aus Zentralasien zu beheben, ein Versagen, das zu einem großen Teil auf die Korruption unter den russischen Strafverfolgern zurückgeführt wird.

Aber halten wir uns nicht mit dem auf, was Herrn Solovyovs Talkshow propagiert hat. Gestern habe ich einen Aufsatz von Dmitry Trenin gelesen, in dem es darum geht, was die laufenden Ermittlungen gegen die Täter und Auftraggeber der Gräueltat im Krokus-Zentrum ergeben könnten. Wenn man bedenkt, wer Trenin ist und was er sagt, ist dieser Artikel, der auf RT veröffentlicht wurde, unsere Zeit wert.

Siehe “The American explanation for the Moscow terror attack doesn’t add up. Russian foreign policy could change significantly, depending on the results of the investigation into the atrocity” (“Die amerikanische Erklärung für den Moskauer Terroranschlag geht nicht auf. Die russische Außenpolitik könnte sich je nach den Ergebnissen der Untersuchung der Gräueltat erheblich ändern.”)

Für diejenigen, die mit Trenin nicht vertraut sind, möchte ich erklären, dass er ein führender russischer Analyst und Kommentator ist, Mitglied aller maßgeblichen sicherheits- und außenpolitischen Institutionen in Moskau, mit einem Hintergrund von hohen Diensten im russischen Militär, die bis in die 1990er Jahre zurückreichen, und mit mehr als einem Jahrzehnt an der Spitze des Carnegie-Zentrums Moskau, einer von den USA geförderten Denkfabrik. Trenin verließ das Carnegie Center kurz nach dem Beginn der militärischen Sonderoperation, und das Carnegie Center wurde kurz darauf geschlossen. Seitdem hat er sich von seiner früheren Verhätschelung der Anti-Putin-Liberalen abgewandt, aber immer im Rahmen einer soliden wissenschaftlichen Argumentation. In dieser Hinsicht ähnelt Trenins Entwicklung seit dem 24. Februar 2022 sehr der des ehemaligen Direktors der Stiftung The National Interest (ehemals The Nixon Center) in Washington, Dmitry Simes, der nach dem Beginn der SMO aus den Vereinigten Staaten nach Moskau zurückgekehrt ist, um die nationalen Interessen Russlands im Gegensatz zu den Interessen der USA zu verteidigen.

Schon der Titel macht deutlich, dass Trenin die Aufmerksamkeit auf eine mögliche Beteiligung der Vereinigten Staaten an der Gräueltat lenkt. Die Tatsache, dass Washington die Terrorgruppe innerhalb weniger Minuten nach dem Anschlag öffentlich identifiziert hat, ist belastend. Er hält sich jedoch die Möglichkeit offen, dass Kiew den Anschlag “konzipiert, geplant und organisiert” hat.

Trenin räumt ein, dass zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt “nichts feststeht”, aber er besteht darauf, dass die Schlussfolgerungen, zu denen man letztlich gelangt, erhebliche Auswirkungen auf Russlands Verhalten im Krieg mit der Ukraine haben könnten. Wenn sich beispielsweise herausstellt, dass Kiew alles getan hat, dann wird davon ausgegangen, dass Präsident Zelenski seine Zustimmung gegeben hat. In diesem Fall werden alle vorherigen Zusicherungen von Präsident Putin, die Kiewer Führung nicht anzutasten, zurückgenommen.

Kiew wird dann als terroristischer Staat identifiziert, der ein untragbarer Nachbar ist.

Außerdem würde die Feststellung der Verantwortung Kiews zwangsläufig bedeuten, dass die Vereinigten Staaten zumindest im Voraus davon wussten und somit mitschuldig waren. Unter diesen Umständen, so Trenin, können wir nun erwarten, dass Russland Flugplätze in NATO-Ländern angreift, wenn sie von der ukrainischen Luftwaffe genutzt werden. Wir können damit rechnen, dass Russland jedes französische Expeditionskorps vernichtet. Und wir können mit einem “Frontalzusammenstoß” zwischen Russland und der NATO rechnen.

Dies ist ein Denkanstoß von einer zurückhaltenden und sachkundigen Quelle. Hört irgendjemand in Washington, London oder Brüssel zu?

gilbertdoctorow

Daily Chronicles … OT March 26

Par : AHH

The Russian population has handed to the Kremlin total carte blanche to exercise brutal, maximum punishment – whatever and wherever and against whomever the journey takes.

“What was the main reason for this [Crocus terrorism] attack? Using Muslim (Tajikistan) people to kill scores of Russians and then flee to Ukraine. The classic MI6 scheme (UK) has been used for centuries to sow discord between usually brotherly people. The Russians would now be expected to hate all immigrants from the Central Asian “Stans” and even more hatred against the Ukrainians, to finally start killing Ukrainian civilians.

An overreaction by the Russians was the goal. To start killing civilians and to provoke a more aggressive Russian offensive, which would claim thousands of Russians more than necessary.”

Ain’t gonna happen. Russians will focus on the customer and completing the Victory in the larger war. Specific individuals involved throughout the chain should buy hefty life insurances for the benefit of their families…


March 28

💠 @Intel Slava Z:
🇷🇺 Putin about the third world war.

  1. Russia has no intention of fighting NATO;
  2. Falsifications about a possible attack on Poland, the Baltic states and the Czech Republic are a way to deceive the population of these countries;
  3. Russia will destroy F-16s in Ukraine in the same way as it destroys Western tanks and other equipment;
  4. If F-16s are used against the Russian Armed Forces from airfields in third countries, then these airfields will become a legitimate target for the Russian Federation

💠 @Sputnik Africa:
⭕ ❗Sergey Naryshkin, director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), has visited the DPRK, where he held negotiations with North Korea’s minister of state security.
🔸The international situation, regional security, and deepening cooperation under pressure from external forces were discussed, the SVR press bureau reports.
🔸Previously, there have previously been no reports of visits by Russian foreign intelligence heads to the North Korea.
@geopolitics_live

⭕ Main world events by the morning of March 28: 
🔸The Ministry of Emergency Situations published a list of victims of the Crocus City Hall incident, totaling 143 people;
🔸The Chancellor of Germany, Scholz, stated that the German intelligence services knew nothing about the preparation of the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall;
🔸Russian Air Defense systems shot down 16 Vampire rockets over the Belgorod region, the Ministry of Defense reported;
🔸Russian prisoners of war were subjected to torture in Ukraine from December to February; their stories deserve trust, the UN stated;
🔸Russia will assess the risks from the construction of a NATO base in Romania and take them into account in military planning, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced;
🔸The UN reported that in Ukraine, clergy and parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, are being intimidated and beaten;

💠Russia’s Investigative Committee: Significant amounts of crypto currency was transfered from Ukraine to the attackers of the Crocus City Hall – TASS


March 27

💠 West not acting out of love for Ukrainians – Borrell”
The conflict is about preserving the US’ role in the world, the EU’s top diplomat has said
You have to love Jungle Borrell. He speaks quiet parts out loud. Most helpful!

🔹EU, West supporting Ukraine based on its own interests, Borrell

The European Union is supporting Ukraine based on its own interests rather than out of love for the Ukrainian people, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell told CNN.

“We cannot afford for Russia to win this war. Otherwise, US and European interests will be damaged. It’s not a matter of generosity alone; it’s not a matter of support for Ukraine because we love the Ukrainian people. It is in our own interests, and it is also in the interests of the US as a global player, the one who has to be perceived as a reliable partner and a security provider to the allies. This is why we call on the US to open and approve the supplementary budget,” he pointed out.

Borrell added that the EU was making every possible effort “to support Ukraine more and quicker.”

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova referred to what Borrell said. “It is the first time ever that a representative of the Western regime has told the truth about what is happening,” the diplomat wrote on her Telegram channel.

💠 Russian MFA:

#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy: “We cannot afford Russia win this war. Otherwise, the US and European interests will be very damaged. It’s not a matter of generosity alone. It’s not a matter of supporting Ukraine because we love Ukrainian people. It’s in our own interests, and it’s also in the interests of the US as a global player – someone who has to be perceived as a reliable partner, a security provider to the allies.”

💬 Maria Zakharova: This is the first time that a representative of the Western regimes has been so explicit about the nature of current developments. It’s not about love for the Ukrainians, whom the West has practically wiped out. It’s about the United States being eager to maintain its hegemony and preserve its diminishing role in international affairs. There is hardly any trace left of the former constructive approach of the US towards international relations. The liberal democrats can only bring ruin, seeing this skill as a guarantee of domination. As for the EU, its task at this stage is to obediently fetch the ammunition bought with the money of its own citizens, whose opinion has not been asked.

💠@Sputnik Africa:
⭕ Main world events by the morning of March 27:

🔸[Czech] MLRS Vampire reactive missiles were destroyed over Russia’s Belgorod region, the country’s Defense Ministry reported;
🔸One man was injured in the shelling of Belgorod, he has shrapnel wounds, the local governor reported;
🔸There are no people trapped under the rubble after the fire at the “Crocus City Hall”, the search operation is over, the head of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry (EMERCOM) reported;
🔸EMERCOM has published a list of those killed as a result of the terrorist attack, which includes 120 people;
🔸Russia has requested a new meeting of the UN Security Council on NATO aggression against Yugoslavia and is awaiting the response of the chairman, the permanent representative’s office reported;
🔸Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic reported that he had received important information about threats to his country’s “vital national interests” in the past 48 hours. He did not provide further details;
🔸The US base at the [illegally occupied] Conico gas field in Deir ez-Zor province in eastern Syria was attacked by two drones;
🔸A Russian EMERCOM cargo plane humanitarian aid for Gaza civilians is en route to Egypt;

⭕ Vladimir Putin launches initiative to create a ranking of universities in BRICS countries

🎓 The Russian president has entrusted this task to the Russian Rectors’ Union, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Russian Academy of Education, which are to prepare their proposals by April 15, according to the Kremlin website.

The bodies will have to send them to the organizing committee responsible for overseeing Russia’s BRICS presidency in 2024.

The rector of Moscow State University had already indicated in February that the members of the group were interested in such a ranking. He added that the necessary methodology was being worked out. President Putin, for his part, welcomed the idea.

This is extremely important. Just before she died, Borrell complained to Madeleine Albright that China (and non-western powers) were reconfiguring international standards. These contrived (western elevated) metrics, such as GDP, help maintain the global fiction of western “superiority” eventhough overtaken in any objective analysis. All scales and standards in all fields need to be honestly and objectively reclassified, and within the multipolar world that cares for such integrity. Without ability to dominate through military supremacy or weaponized dollar system, the Global Majority can resume functioning according to Reality.


March 26

Following the grudging abstention by the USA in yesterday’s United Nations Security Council resolution for an immediate ceasefire (albeit for two weeks), this was the messianic jewish response:


💠@Hamas/Tsahal:
Israeli FM Cohen: The State of Israel will continue fighting until the safe return of the hostages and the eradication of Hamas. Any ceasefire proposal lacking these stipulations serves as fodder for terrorist organizations around the world, inevitably bringing terrorism to the West.
[a helpful threat tacked on to the refusal too]

💠@DDGeopolitics:
Lee: Do you expect Israel is going to announce a ceasefire?
Miller: I do not
Lee: What’s the point of the UN? |video|

💠@Sputnik Africa:
⭕ ❗Israel refuses to stop fighting in the Gaza Strip despite Security Council resolution calling for ceasefire
🔸The IDF will continue its operation until all the hostages are released, the Israeli foreign minister said.
🔸The death toll in Gaza Strip stands has climbed to over 32,000 after the start of Israel’s operation in the enclave, according to the local authorities. The campaign was launched as a response to an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
[the real toll was said by many analysts to be 40-50,000 killed before the new year… the problem is the conservative listing of daily statistics, which still has not factored in 10-20k+ still buried in rubble… Also the daily statistics list merely those killed directly the prior day. Not the thousands who succumbed to wound infections, malnutrition, lack on meds for chronic disease, blooming epidemics, etc etc..]

⭕ ❗The defendants in the Crocus terrorist attack provided detailed testimony about the instigators and those who assisted in its preparation, Russian Investigative Committee head Bastrykin said.

⭕ Key points from Putin’s speech at the meeting on the case of the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall:
🔸The Russian Armed Forces are holding the initiative along the entire front, the “counteroffensive” of the Ukrainian troops has failed, Kiev is trying to get money for itself, and those who support the Kiev regime do not want to be accomplices in terror, but there are a lot of questions.
🔸Those supporting Kiev regime do not want to be accomplices to terror, but there are many questions, Vladimir Putin said.
🔸We need to answer the question why the terrorists tried to go to Ukraine after committing a crime in the Crocus City Hall, who was waiting for them there?
🔸A new ‘Hitler Youth’ is being created in Ukraine.
🔸Putin called the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been fighting Russia since 2014 at the hands of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime.
🔸Through various channels, the United States is trying to convince everyone that there is allegedly no trace of Kiev in the bloody terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall, that it was ISIS.
🔸We know who committed the attack in Crocus City Hall, we are interested who the ordering customer is.


💠@worldpravda:
From now on, Russia will mention NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia at every session of the UN Security Council, said Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyansky.

After France blocked the UN Security Council session on the 25th anniversary of the bombing, there will no longer be “any business as usual in the Security Council”, Polyansky added.

“This is a very serious moment – in fact, at the instigation of France, one member of the Security Council was denied the right to convene a meeting. By such an action, our Western colleagues seriously deceived themselves. Instead of holding a peaceful meeting where they would mutter theses about ‘Russian propaganda’, now before every meeting of the Security Council, until we agree on how to avoid a similar situation in the future, NATO aggression will be mentioned in front of the cameras, which will also be included in the minutes of all upcoming meetings,”
stressed Polyansky.

Tenir la distance : l'extraordinaire odyssée des oiseaux migrateurs

Retrouvez cet article dans le numéro 295 du magazine National Geographic. S'abonner au magazine

Nous nous trouvons à 250 mètres d'altitude, à bord d'un hélicoptère, avec une équipe de scientifiques, au-dessus de la forêt boréale englobant le parc national de Wood Buffalo, au Canada, quand l’un d’entre eux s’est écrié: «Oiseau à 9 heures ! » Paul Spring, le pilote, a alors viré sur la gauche, inclinant l’appareil pour mieux voir l’un des innombrables plans d’eau s’étendant à perte de vue. Au milieu de la zone marécageuse, nous pouvions distinguer deux taches blanches, hautes d’environ 1,50 m au-dessus du niveau du sol. 

«Je vois un gruon», a signalé John Conkin, biologiste de la faune d’Environnement et changement climatique Canada (ECCC), en braquant ses jumelles sur un oiseau couleur rouille, légèrement plus petit que ses parents, qui marchait à grandes enjambées dans le marais. Le pilote a repéré un terrain où se poser et John Conkin, son collègue écologue de l’ECCC Mark

Bidwell, Dave Brandt, biologiste au Service géologique des États-Unis (USGS), et Sandie Black, vétérinaire canadienne de la faune sauvage, ont déboulé de l’hélicoptère. 

Ils ne disposaient que de douze minutes pour retrouver et capturer l’objet de leurs recherches : un poussin de grue blanche sauvage parfaitement à l’aise dans une boue épaisse et collante, au milieu de ronces et de joncs. En restant plus longtemps, l’équipe risquait de trop stresser les oiseaux. 

Pendant que les chercheurs disparaissaient dans la végétation, Paul Spring et moi avons redécollé pour les assister depuis les airs. Sentant l’approche des humains, les parents grues ont battu de leurs ailes géantes aux extrémités noires et se sont enfuis, laissant derrière eux leur progéniture incapable de voler. Par talkie-walkie, Paul Spring informa le groupe: «Je surveille le petit. Il est juste en dessous de l’hélico. Venez vers l’appareil. »

Aussitôt renseignée, l’équipe s’est lancée dans les broussailles, avançant aussi vite que le terrain détrempé le lui permettait. Dans une manœuvre parfaitement rodée, John Conkin s’est approché du gruon, a saisi son bec, sa tête et ses pattes, et l’a soigneusement calé sous son bras.

Coup d’œil sur le chrono : 6  minutes et 36 secondes. L’oiseau était maîtrisé, mais la partie plus technique restait à venir. En sueur, le groupe a déballé son matériel. Dave Brandt, biologiste chevronné, tenait le gruon sur ses genoux, guidant John Conkin pendant que celui-ci fixait un émetteur sur une patte et des bagues de couleur (bleu, jaune, vert) sur l’autre. En même temps, la vétérinaire Sandie Black lui faisait un bilan de santé, vérifiant ses yeux et son état corporel. Elle effectua plusieurs prélèvements –sang, plumes, salive et matières fécales– pour les analyser ensuite en laboratoire afin de déterminer son sexe et savoir s’il avait été exposé à des produits chimiques ou à des maladies, dont la forme hautement pathogène de la grippe aviaire (IAHP). Il fut aussi pesé. 

Tous parlaient à voix basse. Une fois le travail terminé, Dave Brandt a porté l’animal jusqu’au bord du marais et l’a posé délicatement sur le sol avant de filer. Ce gruon – désormais connu sous le nom de 15J – s’est enfui dans la direction opposée, s’enfonçant dans le marais pour y retrouver ses parents. 

Formation des « attitudes » : le formatage national des élites

Par : STRATPOL

Vous vous êtes toujours demandé pourquoi le bon sens semble s’estomper à mesure que l’on s’approche du sommet de l’état?

L’article Formation des « attitudes » : le formatage national des élites est apparu en premier sur STRATPOL.

Sommaire du magazine National Geographic du mois d'avril 2024 : parcourir la Terre à pied

Laissez vous glisser dans le sillage des circuits enneigés du parc national de Sarek en Suède. Vous pourrez aussi embarquer pour l'Italie et vous délecter du sentiment enivrant que procure l'air pur des majestueux sommets des Dolomites. A quelques kilomètres de là, bien plus à l'est en Suisse, pourquoi ne pas gouter à la douceur d'une après-midi ensoleillée au cœur des vignobles qui surplombent le lac Léman et en savourer l'agréable nectar, produit de paysages d'une beauté à couper le souffle ? 

 

Enquêtes inédites et photographies poignantes vous attendent dans le numéro d'avril 2024 du magazine National Geographic :

De l'Alaska, aux Etats-Unis, des hautes terres solitaires du Kirghizistan, aux montagnes surnaturelles d'Ethiopie, voyagez dans des paysages aux couleurs et lumières aussi époustouflante que singulières.

 

 

 

Ce numéro nous embarque ensuite dans un tout autre décor. Dans ce reportage, la vie des vêtements que nous portons prend fin en des paysages chiliens désolés et jonchés de kilomètres de monticules de textiles. Cette décharge à ciel ouvert est devenue un véritable cimetière des affres de la consommation occidentale.

 

 

 

 

Vous aurez également l'occasion d'en apprendre plus sur le monde merveilleux des champignons, fascinants organismes sans lesquels la quasi-totalité de la vie sur Terre telle que nous la connaissons n'aurai pas pu se développer. 

 

 

 

Envolez vous ensuite aux côté de l'une des rares grues blanches vivant à l'état sauvage. Chaque année, elles entreprennent un long et périlleux voyage de milliers de kilomètres, guidées par l'instinct de perpétuation de l'espèce. 

 

 

 

Enfin, dans toute nouvelle série documentaire, les photographes et explorateurs de National Geographic vous exposent les coulisses de leurs travaux passionnants. Ces récits sont ponctués de quelques unes de leurs plus belles photographies.

The Nuland – Budanov – Tajik – Crocus connection

Par : AHH

The Russian population has handed to the Kremlin total carte blanche to exercise brutal, maximum punishment – whatever and wherever it takes.

By Pepe Escobar at Strategic Culture Foundation.

Let’s start with the possible chain of events that may have led to the Crocus terror attack. This is as explosive as it gets. Intel sources in Moscow discreetly confirm this is one of the FSB’s prime lines of investigation.

December 4, 2023. Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Mark Milley, only 3 months after his retirement, tells CIA mouthpiece The Washington Post: “There should be no Russian who goes to sleep without wondering if they’re going to get their throat slit in the middle of the night (…) You gotta get back there and create a campaign behind the lines.”

January 4, 2024: In an interview with ABC News, “spy chief” Kyrylo Budanov lays down the road map: strikes “deeper and deeper” into Russia.

January 31: Victoria Nuland travels to Kiev and meets Budanov. Then, in a dodgy press conference at night in the middle of an empty street, she promises “nasty surprises” to Putin: code for asymmetric war.

February 22: Nuland shows up at a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) event and doubles down on the “nasty surprises” and asymmetric war. That may be interpreted as the definitive signal for Budanov to start deploying dirty ops.

February 25: The New York Times publishes a story about CIA cells in Ukraine: nothing that Russian intel does not already know.

Then, a lull until March 5 – when crucial shadow play may have been in effect. Privileged scenario: Nuland was a key dirty ops plotter alongside the CIA and the Ukrainian GUR (Budanov). Rival Deep State factions got hold of it and maneuvered to “terminate” her one way or another – because Russian intel would have inevitably connected the dots.

Yet Nuland, in fact, is not “retired” yet; she’s still presented as Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs and showed up recently in Rome for a G7-related meeting, although her new job, in theory, seems to be at Columbia University (a Hillary Clinton maneuver).

Meanwhile, the assets for a major “nasty surprise” are already in place, in the dark, and totally off radar. The op cannot be called off.

March 5: Little Blinken formally announces Nuland’s “retirement”.

March 7: At least one Tajik among the four-member terror commando visits the Crocus venue and has his photo taken.

March 7-8 at night: U.S. and British embassies simultaneously announce a possible terror attack on Moscow, telling their nationals to avoid “concerts” and gatherings within the next two days.

March 9: Massively popular Russian patriotic singer Shaman performs at Crocus. That may have been the carefully chosen occasion targeted for the “nasty surprise” – as it falls only a few days before the presidential elections, from March 15 to 17. But security at Crocus was massive, so the op is postponed.

March 22: The Crocus City Hall terror attack.

ISIS-K: the ultimate can of worms

The Budanov connection is betrayed by the modus operandi– similar to previous Ukraine intel terror attacks against Daria Dugina and Vladimir Tatarsky: close reconnaissance for days, even weeks; the hit; and then a dash for the border.

And that brings us to the Tajik connection.

There seem to be holes aplenty in the narrative concocted by the ragged bunch turned mass killers: following an Islamist preacher on Telegram; offered what was later established as a puny 500 thousand rubles (roughly $4,500) for the four of them to shoot random people in a concert hall; sent half of the funds via Telegram; directed to a weapons cache where they find AK-12s and hand grenades.

The videos show that they used the machine guns like pros; shots were accurate, short bursts or single fire; no panic whatsoever; effective use of hand grenades; fleeing the scene in a flash, just melting away, almost in time to catch the “window” that would take them across the border to Ukraine.

All that takes training. And that also applies to facing nasty counter-interrogation. Still, the FSB seems to have broken them all – quite literally.

A potential handler has surfaced, named Abdullo Buriyev. Turkish intel had earlier identified him as a handler for ISIS-K, or Wilayat Khorasan in Afghanistan. One of the members of the Crocus commando told the FSB their “acquaintance” Abdullo helped them to buy the car for the op.

And that leads us to the massive can of worms to end them all: ISIS-K.

The alleged emir of ISIS-K, since 2020, is an Afghan Tajik, Sanaullah Ghafari. He was not killed in Afghanistan in June 2023, as the Americans were spinning: he may be currently holed up in Balochistan in Pakistan.

Yet the real person of interest here is not Tajik Ghafari but Chechen Abdul Hakim al-Shishani, the former leader of the jihadi outfit Ajnad al-Kavkaz (“Soldiers of the Caucasus”), who was fighting against the government in Damascus in Idlib and then escaped to Ukraine because of a crackdown by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – in another one of those classic inter-jihadi squabbles.

Shishani was spotted on the border near Belgorod during the recent attack concocted by Ukrainian intel inside Russia. Call it another vector of the “nasty surprises”.

Shishani had been in Ukraine for over two years and has acquired citizenship. He is in fact the sterling connection between the nasty motley crue Idlib gangs in Syria and GUR in Kiev – as his Chechens worked closely with Jabhat al-Nusra, which was virtually indistinguishable from ISIS.

Shishani, fiercely anti-Assad, anti-Putin and anti-Kadyrov, is the classic “moderate rebel” advertised for years as a “freedom fighter” by the CIA and the Pentagon.

Some of the four hapless Tajiks seem to have followed ideological/religious indoctrination on the internet dispensed by Wilayat Khorasan, or ISIS-K, in a chat room called Rahnamo ba Khuroson.

The indoctrination game happened to be supervised by a Tajik, Salmon Khurosoni. He’s the guy who made the first move to recruit the commando. Khurosoni is arguably a messenger between ISIS-K and the CIA.

The problem is the ISIS-K modus operandi for any attack never features a fistful of dollars: the promise is Paradise via martyrdom. Yet in this case it seems it’s Khurosoni himself who has approved the 500 thousand ruble reward.

After handler Buriyev relayed the instructions, the commando sent the bayat – the ISIS pledge of allegiance – to Khurosoni. Ukraine may not have been their final destination. Another foreign intel connection – not identified by FSB sources – would have sent them to Turkey, and then Afghanistan.

That’s exactly where Khurosoni is to be found. Khurosoni may have been the ideological mastermind of Crocus. But, crucially, he’s not the client.

Oleh Tyahnybok, with McCain and Nuland

The Ukrainian love affair with terror gangs

Ukrainian intel, SBU and GUR, have been using the “Islamic” terror galaxy as they please since the first Chechnya war in the mid-1990s. Milley and Nuland of course knew it, as there were serious rifts in the past, for instance, between GUR and the CIA.

Following the symbiosis of any Ukrainian government post-1991 with assorted terror/jihadi outfits, Kiev post-Maidan turbo-charged these connections especially with Idlib gangs, as well as north Caucasus outfits, from the Chechen Shishani to ISIS in Syria and then ISIS-K. GUR routinely aims to recruit ISIS and ISIS-K denizens via online chat rooms. Exactly the modus operandi that led to Crocus.

One “Azan” association, founded in 2017 by Anvar Derkach, a member of the Hizb ut-Tahrir, actually facilitates terrorist life in Ukraine, Tatars from Crimea included – from lodging to juridical assistance.

The FSB investigation is establishing a trail: Crocus was planned by pros – and certainly not by a bunch of low-IQ Tajik dregs. Not by ISIS-K, but by GUR. A classic false flag, with the clueless Tajiks under the impression that they were working for ISIS-K.

The FSB investigation is also unveiling the standard modus operandi of online terror, everywhere. A recruiter focuses on a specific profile; adapts himself to the candidate, especially his – low – IQ; provides him with the minimum necessary for a job; then the candidate/executor become disposable.

Everyone in Russia remembers that during the first attack on the Crimea bridge, the driver of the kamikaze truck was blissfully unaware of what he was carrying,

As for ISIS, everyone seriously following West Asia knows that’s a gigantic diversionist scam, complete with the Americans transferring ISIS operatives from the Al-Tanf base to the eastern Euphrates, and then to Afghanistan after the Hegemon’s humiliating “withdrawal”. Project ISIS-K actually started in 2021, after it became pointless to use ISIS goons imported from Syria to block the relentless progress of the Taliban.

Ace Russian war correspondent Marat Khairullin has added another juicy morsel to this funky salad: he convincingly unveils the MI6 angle in the Crocus City Hall terror attack (in English here, in two parts, posted by “S”).

The FSB is right in the middle of the painstaking process of cracking most, if not all ISIS-K-CIA/MI6 connections. Once it’s all established, there will be hell to pay.

But that won’t be the end of the story. Countless terror networks are not controlled by Western intel – although they will work with Western intel via middlemen, usually Salafist “preachers” who deal with Saudi/Gulf intel agencies.

The case of the CIA flying “black” helicopters to extract jihadists from Syria and drop them in Afghanistan is more like an exception – in terms of direct contact – than the norm. So the FSB and the Kremlin will be very careful when it comes to directly accusing the CIA and MI6 of managing these networks.

But even with plausible deniability, the Crocus investigation seems to be leading exactly to where Moscow wants it: uncovering the crucial middleman. And everything seems to be pointing to Budanov and his goons.

Ramzan Kadyrov dropped an extra clue. He said the Crocus “curators” chose on purpose to instrumentalize elements of an ethnic minority – Tajiks – who barely speak Russian to open up new wounds in a multinational nation where dozens of ethnicities live side by side for centuries.

In the end, it didn’t work. The Russian population has handed to the Kremlin total carte blanche to exercise brutal, maximum punishment – whatever and wherever it takes.

Double Crossing of the Red Line

Par : AHH

Moscow’s Terror Explosion – Macron’s NATO Troops to Ukraine

Peter Koenig
23 March 2024

Automatic gun-shooting by 5 men in black took place Friday evening 22 March in the Crocus City Concert Hall, attached to a shopping mall, at the outskirts of Moscow. The terror attack preceded a concert. The hall was therefore crowded with people, panicking for leaving it. The assault was followed by a massive explosion.

The official fatality as of 23 March stands at 133. Dozens of people were injured.

The Islamic State (IS) – a CIA creation – claimed credit for the attack.

However, the political end of this attack is more complex.
On March 7, 2024, the US Embassy in Russia warned Moscow that a terror attack may take place in Moscow within the next few weeks. No further details.

Is it one of the now fashionable “predictive planning” stunts?

On the same day, the same US Embassy in Moscow warned US citizens in Moscow not to visit shopping malls. How much did the US know?

Speculations abound. Was this an empty warning to destabilize Russia and Russian elections? Or was it one more provocation to pull Russia into a larger conflict?

On the day of the attack, John Kirby, spokesman for National Security at the White House said in a Press Conference that there were no indications that Ukraine had anything to do with the attack. In early March Washington just had some indications that a terror assault may hit Moscow.

“Some indications”? – Why then the warning on the same 7 March to US citizens in Moscow not to visit any shopping malls?

It could not be more obvious that a hidden agenda is being played by Washington – and, may be added, by NATO and Europe?

Whether the Islamic State, Al Qaeda or another CIA / MI6 terror creation – or even Kiev directly, was involved in this mass-killing is irrelevant, because whoever acted, did so on behalf of US / NATO and the collective West.

Admiral John Kirby, spokesman for National Security at the White House

It is no coincidence that French President Macron practically simultaneously sends officially 2,000 French NATO troops to Ukraine. “Officially”, because western / NATO military advisers, trainers and coaches for Kiev’s Nazi-military have been in Kiev for quite a while.

Polish Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski has called it an open secret that Western soldiers are in Ukraine. German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz said, “there are already some troops from big countries in Ukraine.” (See this)


This is clearly the crossing of President Putin’s Red Line. Mr. Macron knows it, those who mandate the crossing of the Red Line, like the WEF and those dark Deep State Cult forces behind the WEF, know it – and Moscow knows that they know it.

Is it a provocation to pull Moscow into a hot war?
And the Moscow Concert Hall assault being a doubling-up of the Red-Line crossing?

This happening in the Ides of March, and just after the confirmed landslide re-election of President Putin on 17 March 2024.

Ides of March, is the day in the ancient Roman calendar that falls approximately on Mid-March and is associated with misfortune and doom. The date is also known as the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. Most US wars were initiated in March. Is it a symbolic cult ritual of the west?

It would perfectly fit into the Death Cult of the Great Reset (WEF) and the UN Agenda 2030, which are currently plaguing humanity – worldwide.

There are other non-coincidences. The 24 March 2024 is the 25th anniversary of the 1999 US-NATO assault on Yugoslavia (Ides of March) – currently being commemorated by a three-day Conference 22-24 March 2024, in Belgrade.

The destruction and dismembering of Yugoslavia were also planned by a long hand. After Josip Tito’s death in May 1980 (he served in several leadership positions of Yugoslavia from 1943 – 1980) – there were some lesser communist successors, who were vulnerable to western / NATO “pressures”, and let what was a solid Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) deteriorate, western-style.

In 1990 Slobodan Milošević, President of Serbia became de facto President of the SFR Yugoslavia attempting to hold the federation together – which in the ten years after President Tito’s departure was financially destabilized by the west. In the 1990s the SFR Yugoslavia was one of the first “cases” where the World Bank, IMF Washington Consensus was applied full-scale – indebting to destabilize, create internal unrest – and divide.

Mr. Milošević was captured, detained at the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prison in The Hague. He was poisoned on March 11, 2006 in his prison cell – shortly before his scheduled appearance at the International Criminal Tribunal on Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Once divided with constant civil unrest, there was “justification” for western rescue, i.e., bombing Yugoslavia literally into bits and pieces – leaving what we have today, numerous so-called independent former Yugoslavian Federal States – being economically and with “sanctions” controlled by the west.

This is the strategy Washington wants to apply to the Russian Federation – destabilizing it, fracturing it, Regime Change, and then taking it over.

Imagine! – The world’s biggest riches in the world’s largest country, absorbed or subdued by the (still) wannabe US Empire – and its European vassals.

It looks like the west wants a hot war with Russia, come hell or high water. Yes, it would be hell for Europe – for the third time in just over 100 years, and three-times for the same purpose – taking control of Russia, WWI, WWII and now WWIII?

A war – possibly nuclear – of which nobody can predict the outcome. As President Putin repeatedly said – there will be no winners, just absolute destruction.

Under no circumstances will Russia allow a take-over by an arrogant, criminal west. With Russian military’s far-superiority over US and NATO forces, this will not happen.

In the current Middle-East scenario, western leaders are supporting and funding the Israeli-Zionists, literally destroying and mass-killing – wiping out – Palestine, depicting an arrogance blinded by the zest for unlimited might, possibly driving humanity into a bottomless abyss.

A cleansing of this genocidal western “superiority” may bring birth of a new civilization – an evolution to a more spiritual and less material humanity.

—-

Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst and a former Senior Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for over 30 years around the world. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for online journals and is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and  co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020)

Peter is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University, Beijing.

Un nouveau type d’orques mangeuses de baleines prospèrerait en haute mer

La plupart des orques tendent à rester près des côtes, qu’il s’agisse des orques de l’Antarctique, qui créent de grosses vagues pour faire tomber les phoques de leur banquise, ou des deux orques vivant près de Cape Town, qui extraient le foie de leurs proies. Or, des scientifiques ont découvert ce qui pourrait être une toute nouvelle population d’orques : des animaux qui sillonnent la haute mer et se nourrissent de baleines et d’autres proies de grande taille. 

Selon une récente étude parue dans la revue Aquatic Mammals, ces orques vivant en haute mer auraient été repérées à plusieurs endroits au large de l’Oregon et de la Californie, souvent bien au-delà du plateau continental, où le plancher océanique peut descendre jusqu’à 4 500 mètres de profondeur.

« Il n’y a pas eu de véritables études sur les orques en haute mer, du moins dans le Pacifique Nord », explique le responsable de l’étude Josh McInnes, doctorant à l’Institut des océans et des pêches de l’Université de Colombie-Britannique. 

« Nous avons été très étonnés de découvrir ces animaux en pleine mer, qui diffèrent par ailleurs grandement des autres écotypes connus. »

Il existe trois écotypes d’orques du Pacifique : les résidentes, qui vivent près des côtes et se nourrissent de saumon et d’autres poissons, les hauturières, qui vivent plus au large et se nourrissent également de poissons, et les transientes, également appelées Bigg’s, que nous croyions être les seules orques à se nourrir de mammifères. 

Les scientifiques n’ont pas pu établir de correspondances entre les 49 orques à l’étude et les orques déjà connues et identifiées à l’aide de photos et de descriptions de leurs nageoires dorsales et de leurs taches en forme de selle, ce motif gris ou blanc situé à califourchon derrière leur nageoire dorsale.

Cela signifie que ces orques constituent soit un sous-groupe de l’écotype transient, soit une population distincte, explique McInnes, qui est également chercheur associé à la Pacific Wildlife Foundation.

L’équipe a également pu différencier la population dite océanique des autres orques connues grâce à leurs cicatrices ou aux traces de morsures d’un requin parasite appelé squalelet féroce, qui ne vit que dans les profondeurs de l’océan et laisse des trous béants dans la chair de ses victimes.

Au-delà des variations propres à chaque individu, les orques océaniques ne ressemblent pas aux autres écotypes connus, comme peuvent en témoigner leur grande tache en forme de selle grise ou, à l’inverse, leur absence de tache de selle.

« On ne trouve pas énormément de grands prédateurs en haute mer (que l’on décrit souvent comme un gigantesque désert), c’est pourquoi nous ne nous attendions pas à y trouver autant d’animaux différents. Nous sommes impatients de poursuivre nos recherches », explique McInnes.

« Pour l’instant, nous ne savons pas ce que font ces orques en haute mer. C’est ce que nous aimerions étudier par la suite. »

 

SUR LA PISTE DES PRÉDATEURS

Nos connaissances sur les orques vivant en haute mer sont limitées, car il est rare de croiser ces animaux à l’aire de répartition très étendue depuis un bateau.

Pourtant, le récent article, qui mêle littérature scientifique et nouvelles observations, recense neuf cas lors desquels des chercheurs spécialisés dans les mammifères marins, des pêcheurs et des touristes ont indiqué avoir observé des orques dans le nord de l’océan Pacifique entre 1997 et 2021.

Le premier évènement, relaté par des chercheurs, fait mention d’un grand pod d’orques qui aurait attaqué un groupe de neuf cachalots femelles adultes, et aurait réussi à isoler l’une d’entre elles pour ensuite la tuer. D’autres pods auraient également chassé et mangé un éléphant de mer, un cachalot pygmée, un dauphin de Risso et une tortue luth.

Grâce aux rapports détaillés de chaque rencontre, les chercheurs de la nouvelle étude ont relevé des emplacements géoréférencés, déterminé la profondeur de l’eau et comparé des photos dans des bases de données, et, selon leurs observations, les 49 orques observées pourraient constituer un nouvel écotype.

Cette nouvelle population pourrait s'être formée au fur et à mesure que les proies l'attiraient loin du rivage.

« Les orques mangeuses de mammifères se portent bien. Leur nombre est en augmentation, car les populations de phoques et de baleines se sont reconstituées depuis que leur chasse est devenue illégale », explique Robert Pitman, écologiste marin à l’Institut des mammifères marins de l’Université d’État de l’Oregon, qui n’a pas participé à l’étude.

Si les proies sont globalement moins nombreuses en eaux profondes, les orques pourraient préférer cet habitat au rivage, où elle se retrouveraient en compétition avec les grandes populations d’orques résidentes, ajoute-t-il.

McInnes et ses collègues espèrent que cette étude incitera les scientifiques à étudier la nouvelle population d’orques par le biais d’un échantillonnage génétique, d’un marquage par satellite, d’un suivi acoustique, d’une identification photographique plus poussée et d’observations supplémentaires sur le terrain.

 

VIVE LES ORQUES

Le changement climatique affecte certaines populations d’orques, comme celles de l’Antarctique qui dépendent des phoques vivants sur une banquise qui fond à vue d’œil. Sur la côte ouest des États-Unis, le déclin des populations de saumons a réduit la population d’orques vivant au large de Puget Sound, dans l’État de Washington.

À l’échelle planétaire, cependant, l’espèce prospère et entre de plus en plus en contact avec les habitants des zones côtières. Les orques qui ont heurté et même coulé des bateaux au large de l’Espagne ont fait la une des journaux en 2023, et ont amené certaines personnes à soutenir les animaux dans leur prétendue quête de vengeance face à la domination humaine.

« Les orques sont probablement les vertébrés les plus répandus sur la planète. Elles sont partout », explique Pitman.

Considérant les nombreuses croisières touristiques proposées dans le monde entier, il encourage tout le monde à, au moins une fois dans sa vie, aller observer des orques, dont les mâles peuvent atteindre 8 mètres de long.

« Il s’agit actuellement du plus grand super prédateur de la planète. Il n’y a plus rien eu de tel depuis les dinosaures. »

Cet article a initialement paru sur le site nationalgeographic.com en langue anglaise.

Fallout from Moscow’s Crocus City Hall

Par : AHH

Was the US behind the Moscow terror attack? The US and Ukraine will pay a high price. And that, I have been reliably informed, will extend to our Arab world.

By Abdel Bari Atwan at Rai Al Youm.

The Ukraine war could be poised to take a dramatic new turn

The terrorist operation in Moscow’s Crocus City Hall centre, which killed 143 people and injured hundreds of others, mostly concertgoers, was clearly carried out by a group that had been given serious military training. It could mark a paradigm shift in the Ukraine war presaging a strategic escalation and NATO’s official entry into the war.

Two weeks earlier, the US embassy in Moscow had warned its citizens that extremists were planning imminent attacks on large gatherings, including concerts, in the Russian capital, and warned them to stay away. That foreknowledge of the planning and execution of the operation raised suspicions about a degree of complicity. Washington’s denunciation of the atrocity, and swift disavowal of involvement, cannot be taken at face value.

When the initial warning was made, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova remarked that if the US had information about terrorist actions of such enormity, it should have shared it with Russia. That was the first official hint from Moscow of suspected American complicity.

Two years into the Ukraine war, the US has begun to sense defeat. Russia has made a succession of gains, taking control of the Donbas region and annexing it after holding referendums.

Large-scale US and NATO intervention — on the material, military, and intelligence fronts — failed to achieve any major success. Russia did not collapse under the weight of draconian sanctions. Its economy remains strong. The predicted colour revolution never happened, nor the anticipated military coup to depose Putin.

The opposite occurred, with the Russian president getting re-elected with an 87% majority on a 74% turnout.

The resort to terrorist attacks in Moscow could be a mark of the US’ frustration and a response aimed at expanding the scope of the war. But that would not only be a losing bet. It could bring the prospect of a catastrophic nuclear war closer.

Putin announced on Saturday night that the eleven people involved in the attack, including four direct participants, had been apprehended.
Meanwhile, the editor-in-chief of the Russia Today broadcast network, Margarita Simonyan, published video excerpts of the interrogation of one of the suspects. He identified himself as Feredoun Shamsedin, born in 1988, who arrived in Russia from Turkey on 4 March. He said he had been recruited via Telegram after following an extremist preacher, by someone who offered him 5 million roubles ($5,000) to conduct a mass killing in Moscow. Half of the money was transferred to him in advance.

I met Ms. Simonyan when I visited Moscow recently. She was constantly accompanied by a security detail because she had been subjected to death threats. She said she believed the Crocus atrocity was masterminded by the Ukrainian regime, rather than by ISIS as the US media were claiming. Putin’s subsequent assertion that the perpetrators were arrested while heading towards the Ukrainian border reinforced that accusation.

Russia’s fingers of blame pointed at Ukraine were a portent of fierce retaliation. It seems to have already begun. Former president and current deputy national security chief Dmitri Medvedev warned immediately after the massacre that Russia would hunt down any Ukrainian leaders proven to have been involved.

Reading between the lines, that may imply that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky could be top of the target list.

Two days before the Crocus attack, Putin threatened Ukraine with ”war’—abandoning the term special military operation’ — in response to French President Emanual Macron’s hint that NATO could send 90,000 fully equipped troops to Ukraine. Under Russian military doctrine, a declaration of war authorises the use of all available means, including nuclear weapons.

The US administration, disoriented and defeated in Ukraine and (so far) the Middle East, is fueling this escalation against Russia. It is the primary beneficiary of the Crocus attack. Not just to destabilise Russia by stoking ethnic tensions, but also to divert international attention away from its collusion in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and the failure of its cynical attempt at the UN Security Council to sustain it under the guise of favouring (but not actually calling for) a cease-fire.

Putin won’t forgive this assault on his capital while it was celebrating the renewal of his presidential term. He is likely to make the US and Ukraine pay a high price. And that, I have been reliably informed, will extend to our Arab world.

VVP’s Announced Telephone Conversations in Last Two Days

Par : AHH

Per Newton’s third law, Hell cometh to the demented Anglo-Zionist satanists in Greater Syria….


🇷🇺🇧🇾📞 Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.

The President of the Republic of Belarus expressed his heartfelt condolences on the monstrous terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, conveyed words of sympathy and support to the victims’ families and wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured, emphasising that the people of Belarus stand together with the people of Russia in this time of sorrow.

Alexander Lukashenko offered any assistance that may be needed, and expressed his confidence that the organisers and perpetrators of this heinous crime will face inevitable punishment.

For his part, Vladimir Putin informed his counterpart about the detention of the terrorists directly involved in the attack, as well as about the ongoing investigation.

🤝 Both leaders expressed mutual readiness to continue close cooperation in the fight against terrorism.


🇷🇺🇰🇿📞 Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

During his telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed his deep condolences over numerous victims of the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, stressing that he resolutely condemns this barbaric crime, and asked to convey words of sympathy and support to the victims’ families and wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured.

Both Leaders reaffirmed their intention to step up anti-terror cooperation.


🇷🇺🇺🇿📞 Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev

Shavkat Mirziyoyev strongly condemned the heinous terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, expressed his sincere condolences in connection with the tragedy, and asked to convey words of support to the victims’ families and wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured.

Both Sides reaffirmed their intention to continue close cooperation to counter terrorism.


🇷🇺🇹🇷📞 On March 23, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone conversation.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his deep and heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the heinous terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall. He noted that the Republic of Türkiye stands with the people of Russia in this dark hour.

Vladimir Putin emphasised that Russia appreciates the support of the Turkish people and informed his Turkish counterpart on the status of the investigation into the terrorist attack.

During the conversation, the Turkish Leader stressed the urgent need for closer bilateral cooperation in the fight against the terrorist threat.

President Putin expressed gratitude for the condolences and supported the idea of stepping up cooperation in countering terrorism.


🇷🇺🇸🇾📞 On March 23, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of the Syrian Arab Republic Bashar al-Assad held a telephone conversation.

The President of Syria strongly condemned the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, stressing that Syrian citizens share the pain and grief of the Russian people. He wished fortitude to the victims’ families and friends and a speedy recovery to the injured.

Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad discussed the ongoing crisis in the Middle East and the current situation in Syria, which is directly facing the terrorist threat.

🤝 The Leaders agreed to intensify contacts both in addressing counterterrorism and in all other areas of bilateral cooperation.

ADDENDUM:


🇹🇯 🇷🇺 President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon telephoned Vladimir Putin to express deep condolences and solidarity with the Russian people over the death of innocent civilians in the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall. The President of Tajikistan emphasised that there was no nor could not be any justification for that crime.

During the conversation, Vladimir Putin and Emomali Rahmon noted that the security services of Russia and Tajikistan were working closely together to counter terrorism and that they would build up their cooperation.

Tajikistan’s President Rahmon during phone conversation with Russia’s Putin condemns terrorist attack in Russia, says terrorists have neither nationality nor religion

During the conversation, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev strongly condemned the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, which claimed the lives of over 100 innocent civilians, expressed deep condolences to their families and friends, and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

Ilham Aliyev stressed that the people of Azerbaijan stand together with the Russian people on this day of national mourning and expressed confidence that the severe punishment of the criminals and those who masterminded that crime was unavoidable.

Vladimir Putin thanked the President of Azerbaijan for his words of support and expressed readiness to further strengthen practical interaction in the spirit of strategic partnership and alliance between Russia and Azerbaijan.

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