Reader’s Links for September 28th, 2022

Here is a link to the VladTepesBlog social media Mastodon Pod. Please feel free to check it out and sign up for an account if you are sufficiently annoyed with Twitter and Facebook to try something new.

Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

57 Replies to “Reader’s Links for September 28th, 2022”

    • europravda -Scientists are manipulating the DNA of mosquitoes to fight the spread of malaria

      Scientists say they have managed to genetically modify mosquitoes so they are unable to spread the disease which kills over half a million annually.

  1. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) team on social media assured the Sunshine State that its officials are ready and willing to help all Floridians who will be impacted by Hurricane Ian, regardless of vaccination status, after President Biden deemed getting vaccinated a “vital part” of hurricane prep.

    “Let me be clear. If you’re in a state where hurricanes often strike like Florida or the Gulf Coast or into Texas, a vital part of preparing for hurricane season is to get vaccinated,” Biden stated ahead of Hurricane Ian’s anticipated landfall on the west coast of Florida.

    “Now, everything is more complicated if you’re not vaccinated in [sic] a hurricane or natural disaster hits,” he continued, making a bizarre connection between getting vaccinated and preparing for a massive storm:

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/09/27/desantis-team-hits-back-after-biden-deems-vaccination-vital-part-hurricane-prep/

  2. ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iran on Wednesday used suicide drones and missiles to strike several Iranian-Kurdish opposition parties stationed deep in the Kurdistan Region, killing at least seven and injuring over a dozen others, officials told Rudaw.

    On the fifth consecutive day of bombardment, Iran targeted the opposition Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), and Komala in both Sulaimani and Erbil provinces. The bombardment is ongoing.

    The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said “Fateh-360 missiles and suicide drones” were used in the attacks, Iranian state media reported.

    https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/280920221

    • The young woman murdered for improper hijab, Mahsa Amini, was a Kurd.

      Iran did not allow Mahsa Amini to use her Kurdish first name ‘Jina’

      Kurdistan – The young Iranian Kurdish women Mahsa Amini, 22, who died earlier this month after being arrested in Tehran by “morality” police enforcing the Islamic Republic’s strict restrictions on women’s dress, couldn’t officially use her Kurdish first name Zhina (Jina)…

      Since its founding in 1979, the Islamic regime has imposed discriminatory rules and laws on Kurds in all social, political, and economic spheres.

      The Kurdish minority in Iran is primarily concentrated in Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat), the country’s west and northwestern regions. They face discrimination in practicing their religious, economic, and cultural rights.

      Parents are prohibited from registering their children with certain Kurdish names, and religious minorities that are predominantly or partially Kurdish face stigma and isolation… Iranian Kurdistan is home to an estimated 12 million Kurds.

      https://ekurd.net/iran-not-allow-mahsa-amini-2022-09-27

      • Phyllis Chesler:
        Why Haven’t Linda Sarsour, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib Even Mentioned Iran’s Hijab Protests?

        Clearly, the Iranian women and their male supporters find their lives intolerable. They’d rather be dead than continue to live in the prison that Iran has become for all but the ruling mullahs and their hirelings.

        The demonstrations, however, are about more than women’s rights. Iranians have demonstrated in massive numbers before — in 2009 over election fraud, in 2017 over economic misery, and in 2019 over fuel prices. Each time, the government suppressed the uprisings with bullets, tear gas, beatings, arrests, torture, and murder. What might be required for a different outcome to occur?

        In a personal interview, my esteemed colleague, Ibn Warraq, points out: “The protesters lack leadership and above all they lack weapons.”

        Ibn Warraq also points out that “At some point the army would have to flip, refuse to kill their own people.”

        Is this possible? Can it ever happen? Are a people who were able to drive out the Shah also capable of driving out Khomeini’s mullahs? That is the question.

        For all its very serious faults, including using the American flag to fashion a hijab for the marchers, Sarsour was part of a Women’s March leadership that drew hundreds of thousands of people. Tlaib and Omar have run multiple successful campaigns.

        Imagine if they applied their organizational skills to rallying Americans to take to the streets in support the heroic Iranian women and men who are risking their lives for the freedoms we enjoy in America.

        It could show the Iranians that we stand with them, and that moral support might help keep them going. Sadly, we are unlikely to find out.

        https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/09/28/why-havent-linda-sarsour-ilhan-omar-and-rashida-tlaib-even-mentioned-irans-hijab-protests/

  3. Biased AT&T Immediately Blocks Hit New Conservative Site Then Warns Users

    The hit new citizen journalist news site that we reported on last week, TheRonald.win, grew in such popularity among anti-censorship users/readers that the site immediately landed in the crosshairs of agenda-ridden telecommunications giant AT&T. Within in a matter of just a couple of days from when the site went live last week, AT&T stepped in to stop their paying customers from reading news they didn’t want Americans having access to.

    A user at “The Ronald”, who is an AT&T customer, posted a memo on http://www.TheRonald.win to let people know what she had just experienced when trying to access the site. When it was suddenly no longer available to her, she contacted AT&T to determine what the problem was or if there was a glitch in their system. What she found out from an AT&T employee was there was no accident, in fact, it was intentional and sinister on AT&T’s part.

    The site user contacted TheRonald.win to inform the platform that they were intentionally being blocked by AT&T’s “Active Armor” system, which the telecom employee ultimately acknowledged was “inside sabotage.”

    https://republicbrief.com/biased-att-immediatly-blocks-hit-new-conservative-site-then-warns-users/

  4. ERBIL — Bases and headquarters of the Iranian Kurdish opposition parties in the Kurdistan Region were heavily bombarded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on Wednesday.

    The attacks, carried out with missiles and drones, targeted the positions of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, and Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) in different areas.

    There are unconfirmed reports of casualties.

    https://www.basnews.com/en/babat/775955

    • Seth Frantzman:
      Iran’s impunity to attack Kurds grows with massive escalation in Iraq

      Iran’s use of missiles, drones and artillery illustrates not only its new way of war, using precision drone and missile attacks, but also its sense of impunity that it can strike in Iraq, close to centers of power in Erbil, and destabilize the region. Iran knows that the Kurdistan Region is among the most wealthy and stable in Iraq and that it is close to US forces’ facilities.

      The Kurdish Peshmerga, the armed forces of the autonomous region, receives support from the US and the West. They have attempted to unify and reform their units, strengthening the region. Iran wants the region divided and weak. Its attacks are meant to show that the Kurdistan Region cannot defend itself. Many Kurds from Iran fled to Iraq to enjoy the freedom and opportunities it offers.

      Iran appears to be purposely terrorizing civilians now in the Kurdistan Region. Videos that were published on Wednesday afternoon showed terrified children and parents. The regime seems to be indicating that if it cannot crush protests at home, it will use its power to attack random people in Iraq.

      There are a number of Kurdish opposition groups from Iran that have supporters and bases in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Their houses and camps are usually spread out and quite small and modest. Iran has threatened to target these areas for years and likely knows the location of many of these groups and their supporters.

      It has also been sending agents to the Kurdistan Region for years, keeping tabs on the opposition and also engaging in assassinations and other types of attacks. This is well known to Iranians who live in northern Iraq, especially among Kurds. They know that Iran has tried to infiltrate their communities and spy on them.

      Opposition groups also know that Iran has threatened and carried out attacks, and it is clear that Wednesday’s attacks are an escalation of some sort. The number of missiles and drones used and the many locations that were targeted point to an expanding conflict and Tehran’s attempt to stamp out these groups in one fell swoop.

      https://www.jpost.com/international/article-718337

    • Doom-porn. Bezmenov’s KGB warning to America:
      #1 = Demoralization.

      In the last two decades has ZeroHedge ever acknowledged a positive trend in anything other than products sold by authors it publishes?

      It’s missed every bull market, yet it passes as a source for financial advice? ‘Nattering nodes of negativity’, USSR publications about Wall St., USA. This is exactly what they pitched. Elegant treatises on our impending doom.

      But who cares? In the long run we're all dead anyway…

      ugh

      • I have a very hard time getting straight financial news. Biases abound in the WSJ, Financial Times–you name it. Keynesian flacks tell us the world is rosy if we only we print more. Austrian perspectives are only found alternatively. Yes, ZH is likely a Russian hose–I don’t disagree. But I prefer sifting through its garbage for gold rather than CSNBC, for instance, who happily dismiss basics such as the unfashionable business cycle in the service of the Fed.

  5. US Treasury Official Says Process Of Setting Price For Cap Deal On Russian Oil Has Begun

    The process of setting a price for the price cap deal for Russian oil has started, US Assistant Secretary of Treasury for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes Elizabeth Rosenberg said during a congressional hearing on Wednesday

    When asked by lawmakers whether the price has been set for the price cap on Russian oil, Rosenberg said, “The process has begun to set the price.”

    “The process has currently begun in order to set that price ,” Rosenberg told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

    When further asked to answer by “yes” or “no” as to whether the price has been set, Rosenberg said, “We are in the process, senator, of doing so.”

    https://www.urdupoint.com/en/business/us-treasury-official-says-process-of-setting-1570068.html

    ===============================================
    Testimony of Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes Elizabeth Rosenberg Before the Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Senate

    September 28, 2022
    As Prepared for Delivery

    Chairman Menendez, Ranking Member Risch, and distinguished Members of the Foreign Relations Committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today and provide an update on the Department of the Treasury’s efforts to hold Russia accountable for its brutal and unjustified further invasion of Ukraine.

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury is a key agency working alongside others across the Administration to implement the U.S. government’s holistic response to Putin’s war. Since the further invasion began six months ago, we have been advancing President Biden’s promise to “squeeze Russia’s access to finance and technology for strategic sectors of its economy and degrade its industrial capacity for years to come.”

    Just recently, we imposed additional sanctions to further degrade Russia’s ability to rebuild its military, hold the perpetrators of this war accountable, and further financially isolate Putin. To date, Treasury has sanctioned hundreds of Russian individuals and entities, cutting them off from the U.S. financial system. This includes a majority of Russia’s largest financial institutions, key nodes in their military-industrial supply chains, and the oligarchs and cronies who steal from the Russian people to line their own pockets and help Putin perpetuate his war. For example, Treasury’s sanctions over the last few months, including our latest tranche, have targeted elites tied to the Kremlin, firms connected to Russian steel production and the military-industrial base, and sanctions evasion networks operating on behalf of designated Russian entities. They have also exposed Russian agents and entities involved with Russian government efforts to promulgate disinformation and election interference in the U.S. and Ukraine.

    Treasury has also implemented restrictions on dealings in Russian sovereign debt; prohibited economic dealings with the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic regions of Ukraine; prohibited new investment in the Russian Federation, and imposed services bans covering the provision of quantum computing, accounting, trust and corporate formation, and management consulting services to any person located in the Russian federation. We have also imposed prohibitions on importing certain commodities from Russia into the United States, including oil and natural gas, and similarly imposed prohibitions on exporting certain items like luxury goods and dollar-denominated banknotes.

    The United States has been joined by over 30 countries—representing more than half of the global economy—in imposing these measures. The G7, the EU, and other partners like South Korea, Singapore, and Australia have joined us in implementing the largest sanctions regime in modern history. To complement these targeted measures, Treasury has worked alongside colleagues at the Department of Justice to develop unprecedented and wide-reaching international information exchange activities with partner countries, including through the Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO) Task Force. These efforts facilitate our ability to share intelligence, law enforcement data, and relevant financial records in order to expose shadowy economic and commercial Russian evasion networks. We are also working with allies and the Government of Ukraine to examine how we may best use Russian assets that have been frozen and forfeited to support the people of Ukraine.

    In addition, Treasury has mounted an aggressive campaign to close the global financial policy and regulatory loopholes across jurisdictions that Russian aiders and abettors of this war, and other criminals, use to perpetuate their illicit activity. At home, this includes three key regulatory efforts: FinCEN’s work to stand up a beneficial ownership database pursuant to the Corporate Transparency Act, developing new disclosure requirements for non-financed purchases of real estate, and ongoing analysis related to the illicit finance risks presented by investment advisers and funds. FinCEN has also issued several Russia-related alerts, including on Russia’s attempts to evade sanctions. Abroad, Treasury is working to strengthen global standards for corporate transparency through the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and enhance its focus on using financial transparency tools to combat the scourge of corruption. This includes launching new efforts at the FATF to address abuse of Citizenship by Investment, or so-called golden passport programs, and the risks for money laundering, corruption, and evasion of sanctions posed by financial gatekeepers and Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs). Notably, FATF has also taken the unprecedented step of downgrading Russia’s standing within FATF as a result of its war in Ukraine, further delegitimizing it in the eyes of the international financial community.

    On the other side, Russian propagandists have been hard at work. In the style of the former Soviet Union, Moscow is aggressively attempting to bury any unfavorable news and push the paradoxical narrative—and misinformation—that sanctions are simultaneously not working and yet also cause food insecurity. In fact, Russia’s invasion spiked the price of energy earlier this year by 21 percent. Russia’s months-long blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, coupled with the purposeful destruction and theft of agricultural infrastructure, crippled Ukraine’s farming and export economy, dramatically drove up global grain prices, and outrageously deprived food-insecure recipients of much needed resources. Its attacks on a major food exporter produced similar shocks to global food prices. To detract focus from its brutal tactics, Russia continues to minimize the dislocations it has caused to global commodity markets and its inhumane deprivation of people in Ukraine and across the globe.

    This lies in stark contrast with the efforts of the U.S. and others to aid Ukraine and developing countries around the world suffering from Putin’s actions. Foremost among these efforts are the Congressional commitments to provide Ukraine with budget support and economic assistance to keep critical government functions going. In addition, we are pushing international donors to accelerate their complementary bilateral support. We thank Congress for already granting $8.5 billion for Ukraine assistance that has gone toward these efforts.

    The economic actions we have taken, both independently and jointly with our international partners, have had and will continue to have a significant effect on the Russian economy. Russia had been forced to impose draconian capital controls and is burning through its rainy-day fund, dramatically eroding its economic base and buffers in unsustainable ways. Russia will be in fiscal deficit by the end of this year. The IMF expects Russia’s economy will contract for at least the next two years, a sharp reversal from its 4.7 percent growth in 2021.2 Russia’s inflation rate after its invasion reached up to 21.3 percent, almost triple the rate from 2021, and remains in the double digits.3 The Russian stock market also reflects pessimism—its valuation remains depressed, sitting about 35 percent below pre-war levels.4 Further, the Central Bank Governor of Russia has started to advocate for “structural transformation.” The bottom line is that Russia’s economic picture is bleak and deteriorating.

    Significantly, these economic constraints are translating into real battlefield difficulties for Russia. The Russian Duma proposed wartime economic controls over the economy which would allow the state to commandeer private businesses as necessary and force employees of certain enterprises to work overtime. Struggling to import a host of industrial goods and technology, Russia has been forced to cannibalize its domestic industry to assemble battlefield hardware it can no longer buy from responsible countries. Russia has been forced to turn to outdated equipment and approach global pariahs like North Korea and Iran to source the tools to fight.

    Fundamentally, the challenge we face in using financial measures to hold Russia accountable while mitigating the effects of the war on third countries is of a different kind than we face in other sanctions programs. Russia is not North Korea, Iran, or Venezuela. Moreover, Russia is a sizeable international economy, a globally important energy producer, and over the last 30 years has grown closely tied—and in some instances inextricably intertwined—with some of our closest international partners and allies. Imposing financial costs on Russia for its brutal policies while mitigating the consequences of Russia’s actions has required extraordinary planning, coordination, economic analysis and diplomacy, and creative policymaking, all alongside a large group of international partners.

    In line with the 2021 Treasury Sanctions Review, we are constantly re-evaluating and reassessing our course of action. We ask ourselves: Do our policies achieve our intended goals? How has the target adapted to our measures? What adjustments do we need to make to increase our effectiveness and mitigate unintended consequences? How do we sustain and strengthen the international coalition of countries working together to hold President Putin accountable for his horrific war?

    Examples of the real time adjustment Treasury has made to our financial policies include the multiple fact sheets we have issued just this year, including Preserving Agricultural Trade, Access to Communication, and Other Support to Those Impacted by Russia’s War Against Ukraine in April 2022 and the Food Security Fact Sheet published in July 2022, which both offer expansive information about how sanctions are calibrated to avoid unintended impacts as well as to counter Russian disinformation. These public guidance documents also clarify, in writing, to both industry and the international community that agricultural and medical products are not the targets of U.S. sanctions. Rather, any impediments to the delivery of these vital commodities lie squarely with Russia and its war, theft of food products, and shelling of agricultural sites, in addition to Russia’s own export restrictions on food and fertilizer.

    We have also been keenly focused on Russia’s oil exports as we have implemented our evolving policy approach to deny Russia the money needed to sustain its war. At this point, these exports represent Russia’s primary source of hard currency. Moreover, Russia is reaping windfall profits from oil and petroleum products due to rising energy costs, spurred by the geopolitical uncertainty Russia caused by choosing to pursue a land war in Europe. We are concerned with the way energy revenues fuel Russia’s war efforts but the global nature of the oil market requires a careful approach.

    Energy security affects us all—including American households that have seen rising prices at the pump and elsewhere as the downstream effects of rising energy costs have applied inflationary pressures across the economy. Elevated energy prices hit the poorest the hardest, in our country and across the world. Simply put, applying financial pressure to curb Russia’s windfall energy profits requires a different, creative approach to make sure that Russian coffers, not regular citizens in our economy and the rest of the world, bear the costs we impose. That challenge—and the need for a carefully tailored policy approach—is urgent. We cannot allow Russia to continue to fund its atrocities, and we must do all we can to prevent the recessionary risks that follow extended painful, unaffordable energy prices.

    Our commitment to counter Russia’s energy war profiteering centers on our effort—alongside an international coalition, starting with the G7 countries—to impose a “price cap” on maritime Russian oil and product exports. Ultimately, the price cap policy is the most viable option to support the security and affordability of the global oil supply.

    The oil price cap mechanism is a tool for other importers—mainly developing and emerging economies suffering most as a result of Putin’s war—to demand a lower price for Russian oil that they purchase. We are already seeing this take place with Russia negotiating steep discounts for the oil it sells to buyers in Asia. These discounts are already depriving Russia of revenues it would otherwise use to finance its reckless war.

    As a technical matter, this policy creates a framework for companies in price-cap-coalition countries offering services for Russia’s maritime transport of oil: They can continue to offer these services for Russian oil priced below the cap, and may not for any Russian oil sold above that price. Given that premium service providers and the majority of providers of some maritime services—like insurance, payments, and trade finance—are located in G7 and EU countries, there is an overwhelming economic incentive for buyers to purchase under the price cap so they can engage these service providers. It will be cheaper and less risky to move Russian oil cargoes this way. We will continue to communicate closely with service providers, as we have already done in developing this framework, to collectively, constructively, and aggressively sustain participation in and the success of this policy.

    But make no mistake: This is and will remain very hard work. This is an entirely new way to use financial measures against a global bully. A price cap coalition requires unprecedented coordination with international partners, as well as close partnership with global maritime industries, and exceptional resolve in the face of hostile Russian bluster and threats, including the risk that Russia may seek to retaliate. I can tell you confidently that we at Treasury—and our partners across the U.S. Government—are extraordinarily diligent when it comes to these economic policies and the commitment to extensive and creative multilateral engagement. Moreover, we are laser-focused on the imperative to hold Russia accountable and support the people of Ukraine, to constantly understand the risk environment, and to advance a foreign and financial policy that embodies our goals and does not bend to the rants and coercion of a brutal bully.

    We know that Russia’s war in Ukraine is not the only challenge for which the Treasury Department will be called upon to act. Other threats demand our attention as well, and the illicit finance landscape continues to evolve. Additionally, while the U.S. dollar, U.S. financial institutions and services, and our capital markets are still dominant in international finance and trade, our adversaries are actively finding ways to attack this centrality and insulate themselves from touchpoints with the U.S. financial system. These are long-term challenges that we cannot sanction ourselves out of. We must continue to strengthen the U.S. financial system and innovate new ways to use economic policies and authorities to meet both our domestic and foreign policy objectives. The price cap—a bold policy never previously attempted by the U.S. Treasury—is the vanguard for a new form of economic statecraft, and I am proud to be a part of the team pushing these boundaries in the interest of U.S. national security.

    Lastly, I’d like to echo Secretary Yellen and Deputy Secretary Adeyemo’s sentiments and my gratitude for the additional resources Congress has provided in the Ukraine supplemental appropriations packages. Your timely actions are what allow me and the dedicated career staff at Treasury to surge on this urgent national security priority. The partnership between Congress and the Administration has always been very important to U.S. policy toward Russia, sanctions, and responding to the crisis in Ukraine. I would be happy to answer your questions and look forward to working with you as we move forward. Thank you.

    https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0977

    =======================

    ‘The Sanctions Are Worthless’: GOP Senator Blasts Biden Handling Of Russian Invaston Of Ukraine

    At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. James Risch (R-ID) spoke about Russia.

    • CNN – US Embassy warns Americans to leave Russia

      The US Embassy in Moscow issued a security alert overnight that again urged US citizens to leave Russia immediately while there are still options for departing the country.

      The alert comes in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order for partial mobilization of Russian men to fight in his war in Ukraine.

      “Russia may refuse to acknowledge dual nationals’ US citizenship, deny their access to US consular assistance, prevent their departure from Russia, and conscript dual nationals for military service,” the alert said.

      The embassy has consistently warned Americans not to travel to Russia and to depart the country immediately if there.

      The embassy alert urged US citizens to “avoid all political or social protests and do not photograph security personnel at these events,” noting that “the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression are not guaranteed in Russia.”

      The alert added, “Russian authorities have arrested US citizens who have participated in demonstrations.”

      It said that the embassy “has severe limitations on its ability to assist US citizens, and conditions, including transportation options, may suddenly become even more limited.”

      “If you wish to depart Russia, you should make independent arrangements as soon as possible,” it said.

      https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/28/politics/us-embassy-russia-warns-americans-leave/index.html

      ====================================
      CNN – Ex-CIA director shares the most likely suspect for Nord Stream leaks

      John Brennan talks about the recent unexplained leaks from the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

    • the telegraph UK – Why Putin would want to blow up Nord Stream 2, and the advantages it gives him

      The Russian leader has a record of weaponising fuel supplies and believes his people can endure economic pain longer than western Europe

      The suspected sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines could be a page ripped straight from Vladimir Putin’s playbook of panic, escalation and misdirection.

      The former KGB agent’s illegal war on Ukraine resulted in unprecedented Western sanctions against Moscow.

      But the Russian president is confident that his people can endure economic pain longer and better than Europeans.

      His calculation is that soaring gas prices and the cost of living crisis in a continent hopelessly addicted to Russian energy will turn the situation to his advantage.

      European gas prices have been dropping for the last four days. On Tuesday, after news of the suspected attack, they rose by 20 per cent. The British price was up 33 per cent.

      The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was filled with 117 million cubic metres of natural gas worth €213 million at current prices.

      But Putin has shown he is willing to sacrifice valuable gas and use it as a weapon before. Russia was burning £8.4 million of gas a day at a plant near its border with Finland, rather than exporting it to Europe in August.

      The Nord Stream 2 pipeline has never been operational, and the chances of it being so in the near future are extremely remote. Germany decided not to approve the huge project just before Putin launched his invasion.

      Nord Stream 1, which had for so long fed Europe’s gas addiction, is not what it once was. Russia hasn’t turned the taps back on since closing it, ostensibly for maintenance, in August.

      Why, though, might Moscow have chosen to strike at this moment, if it is indeed revealed to be behind the attack?

      The EU has begun work drawing up new sanctions against Moscow. Viktor Orban in Hungary is already calling for them to be ditched and existing measures removed, while the new government in Italy looks certain to be less hawkish than the last.

      It suits Putin to try to break morale so European governments are under pressure from angry voters fearful of the temperatures plummeting this winter.

      The timing was perfect. A new gas pipeline between Norway and Poland was inaugurated on Tuesday, very close to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, as news of the suspected sabotage emerged.

      Warsaw is moving to cut itself entirely off from Russian gas by the end of the year.

      The new Baltic Pipe is part of wider moves across Europe to find alternate suppliers to Moscow and build up gas reserves before winter bites.

      Norway’s new role

      Since the war in Ukraine, Norway has supplanted Russia as the EU’s main supplier of natural gas.

      These underwater explosions could be a warning of what Russia could do to pipelines from Norway if backed into a corner.

      The leak on Nord Stream 2 is close to the new Baltic pipe.

      Just last week Moscow warned that Ukraine was planning a “terrorist” attack on the Turkstream pipeline, which also brings gas from Russia to the Europe.

      Norwegian regulators have urged heightened vigilance after warnings from oil and gas companies that unidentified drones have been flying close to their offshore facilities.

      While ramping up threats of a nuclear war, the Kremlin may be signalling that it can indeed escalate in ways that were once considered unthinkable.

      Lose the Norwegian gas and this winter is certain to be long, cold, hard and expensive.

      Russia is relying once again on “General Winter” – responsible for the defeat of so many of its enemies in the past – to secure victory in its energy war with the West.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/09/27/putins-nord-stream-2-sabotage-sends-warning-will-blow-pipes/

      ==========================================

      WaPo – Tucker Carlson’s shoddy case linking U.S. to alleged Nord Stream sabotage

      Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s long-running quest to blame the Biden administration for the war in Ukraine hasn’t borne much fruit, despite his prominent perch on the most-watched cable news channel.

      But it’s not for lack of trying. And on Tuesday night, Carlson broke out his latest shoddily constructed theory: He strongly suggested the United States is responsible for explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines — and, at times, seemed to more explicitly blame the United States.

      We know very little about what happened to the pipelines, which carry natural gas from Russia to Europe, or who was responsible if the explosions were sabotage, which authorities say is likely. Anything seems possible at this point.

      But Carlson’s supposed evidence for this being a U.S. operation is decidedly weak.

      Carlson began his monologue by seeking to knock down the idea that Russia itself could have been responsible, which is the theory favored by some Western leaders. (Russia has denied responsibility.) He argued that cutting off its ability to supply energy to Europe would deprive it of leverage. “If you are Vladimir Putin, you would have to be a suicidal moron to blow up your own energy pipeline,” Carlson argued. “That’s the one thing you would never do.”

      Nonetheless, Carlson continued, that’s where some people are pointing. “The Washington Post got right to it,” Carlson said. “Putin, they declared, is now weaponizing the Nord Stream pipelines.”

      In fact, the piece he cited was an analysis from Bloomberg News, which The Post also ran on its website. And the piece didn’t outright say Putin had done this; it only raised the possibility. “Is Putin Fully Weaponizing the Nord Stream Pipelines?” the headline reads. That is a question, not an assertion of fact.

      But it wasn’t the only source for Carlson’s theory that wasn’t entitled to nuance.

      Perhaps the most prominent quote Carlson used was from President Biden in February: Biden had said that, if Russia invades Ukraine, “there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”

      Carlson treated this as no less than a smoking gun. He cast Biden’s comments as the president’s saying “that he might take out these pipelines.” Despite often casting Biden as a doddering old fool, Carlson assured that, in this instance, the president must have chosen his words carefully: “He said there won’t be a Nord Stream 2. We’ll put an end to it. We will take it out. We will blow it up.”

      You begin to see the rhetorical trick here. Biden did not say we would “blow it up,” unless you’re using that phrase metaphorically. (At the time, construction of the pipeline had been completed, but it was not operational and was awaiting approval from Germany and the European Union; a few weeks later, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Berlin would stop the pipeline’s certification.) But Carlson’s aim is clearly to make people think about it literally.

      Carlson then turned to another Biden administration official who he suggested publicly previewed just such a potential strike. It was top State Department official Victoria Nuland, who said in January, “If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.”

      Carlson highlighted the “one way or another” as being a potential threat to use sabotage — similar to Biden’s “bring an end to it.”

      But there is a very readily available, alternative explanation for these veiled and unspecific promises to halt Nord Stream 2: The fact that it wasn’t at all clear how the United States could actually achieve its goal of shutting it down if Russia invaded. After all, Europe would be giving up a key energy source, and the decision largely rested with Germany.

      Indeed, we wrote about exactly that just a day after Biden’s February comments. The administration kept saying it would halt Nord Stream 2, but Germany was publicly noncommittal. Harder commitments might have been made behind closed doors, but this was sensitive diplomacy that made it difficult for the Biden administration to say exactly how it would make good on its promise (which it ultimately did).

      Beyond that, there are many reasons to be skeptical of the notion of the United States conducting sabotage. High on that list is that such an action would strain relations with European allies who would like to have access to that pipeline at some future date, even as they’re currently forgoing Russian energy in solidarity with Ukraine. (A U.S. official told The Post’s John Hudson that the idea of American involvement in the attack on the pipeline is “preposterous.”)

      The last source Carlson cited was not a U.S. politician, but a European one. Radek Sikorski is a member of European Parliament representing Poland and is a former defense and foreign minister of the country. His Twitter account on Tuesday featured a photo of gas bubbling up to the surface of the Baltic Sea, with the brief message: “Thank you, USA.”

      Some reports cast Sikorski’s comments as explicitly accusing the United States of sabotage, and some Polish politicians suggested Sikorski was furthering Russian propaganda efforts. Prominent Russian officials promoted Sikorski’s tweet, but Sikorski is not known as a pro-Russian politician.

      But his meaning wasn’t entirely clear; it seems possible he was crediting the United States with rendering the pipelines moot by pressuring Europe not to take Russian natural gas. In later tweets, he seemed actually to point to Russian sabotage, citing a supposed Russian “special maintenance operation” on the pipelines.

      (The Post attempted to contact Sikorski through the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he holds a nonresident position, but has not received comment from him.)

      This is effectively the totality of the supposed hard evidence Carlson had for his theory. Beyond that, it was rank speculation and evaluating the various motives involved — motives that Carlson has long claimed that on the Biden administration’s side include exacerbating the war in Ukraine.

      He repeatedly qualified his comments by saying things like, “We don’t know for sure.” But, ultimately, he delivered his speculation as if it were fact and invited his viewers to do the same.

      “What will be the effect of this? Every action has a reaction, equal and opposite. Blow up the Nord Stream pipelines? Okay, we’ve entered a new phase, one in which the United States is directly at war with the largest nuclear power in the world,” Carlson said. “It doesn’t mean it will go nuclear immediately, but it does suggest there could be consequences.”

      He added: “Have the people behind this — the geniuses like Toria Nuland — considered the effects? Maybe they have. Maybe that was the point.”

      Carlson then invited his guest, former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), to join in the speculation. But despite Gabbard’s record of more sympathetic comments toward Russia than your average U.S. politician and her skepticism of U.S. foreign policy, she wasn’t going there.

      “I don’t have the evidence of who was responsible for this,” Gabbard said before proceeding to speak more generally about the dangers of the situation.

      Apparently even she wasn’t swayed by Carlson’s presentation.

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/28/tucker-carlson-nord-stream/

      ====================================
      NATO-US prime suspects in Nordstream gas leaks

      Increasingly, it is relatively easy to put two and two together and figure out who is behind certain cui bono operations. The latest case in point is the “mysterious” Nordstream 1 and 2 massive gas leaks.

      As of this writing, the corporate propaganda media has not blamed Russia for the dangerous leaks, but they will probably get around to it sooner before later.

      Meanwhile, here is blue check Radek Sikorski, a member of the European Parliament for Poland, expressing his gratitude on Twitter

      Now why would Mr. Sikorski post such a thing? Because he’s a Russian-hating neocon, a former resident fellow of the organized war crime outfit, the American Enterprise Institute. He was also the executive director of the New Atlantic Initiative, a “nonpartisan” organization determined to push NATO right up to all exposed sides of Russia.

      His wife, Anne Applebaum, is even more strident and anti-Russian. In fact, she has made a career trashing Russia. A “reformed Jew,” she was educated at the Quaker established Sidwell Friends School, described as “the Harvard of Washington’s private schools.” Sidwell has “educated” the children of notable war criminals, including Obama, Clinton, Al Gore, Nixon’s daughters, and the grandchildren of Joe Biden, no doubt to make sure their misanthropic agenda moves forward.

      Applebaum has spent a large portion of her despicable career thus far serving the empire. She covered the fall of the Soviet Union for The Economist and The Independent. She was neck-deep in neoliberal propaganda operations at The Spectator as deputy editor and also political editor at the Evening Standard. She was a member of The Washington Post (think CIA, Philip Graham, and Operation Mockingbird) editorial board. As if all of that was not enough, she is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and became a George Herbert Walker Bush/Axel Springer Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin, Germany. I wrote about Springer and his propaganda media operations in a previous post.

      Ambitious and aggressive in her hatred of Russia, Applebaum is the author of numerous anti-Russian books with titles such as Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine, and Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe. She routinely wins big-name literary awards for her anti-Russian propaganda.

      Considering the praise of methanol poisoning in the Baltic Sea by Applebaum’s Polish hubby — following seismic recordings of explosions near the pipelines — and the rabid hatred of Russia they both share in addition to their high and influential positions, it is fair to conclude NATO and the US are behind the explosions and release of toxic gas.

      Russia, which has spent billions on the Nordstream 1 pipeline and its as of yet (and possibly never) functional sister, Nordstream 2, has zero reason to blow up its own meticulously constructed pipeline.

      However, NATO and the apparatchiks at the EU have an interest in freezing Germany this winter. If they can get the German people angry enough and this antipathy spreads across Europe, we may very well see NATO directly confronting Russia on its own land, most notably the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine (following ongoing referendums to join the Russian Federation), the chance many of us will starve during a protracted nuclear winter increases ten-fold.

      I’m sure Sikorski and her neocon wife have a space reserved in the bunker. I’m not sure if they were told they may have to stay down there for the rest of their lives, maybe dining on those insects pushed by Bill Gates and the World Economic Forum. It is often said cockroaches will be the inheritors after a nuclear war.

      https://www.sott.net/article/472568-NATO-US-prime-suspects-in-Nordstream-gas-leaks

      ===================================
      John Kerry on Nord Stream Leaks, Climate Change Efforts

      John Kerry, the special presidential envoy for climate change, says he working on a new approach to drive billions of dollars into clean energy initiatives around the world. Speaking with David Westin, Kerry also comments on the the rupture of the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

    • UK TIMES – ‘World War III anyone?’: Trump shares video of Biden on Nord Stream 2 that Kremlin used to accuse US

      Donald Trump shared a video on Wednesday of President Joe Biden warning that he could try to ‘stop’ the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in early February if Russia invaded Ukraine. The same video was used by the Kremlin to suggest Biden was behind the recent leaks

      The US government is denying ‘preposterous’ allegations that it is behind a gas leak in the Baltic Sea on Wednesday.

      It comes as Donald Trump suggested that ‘World War III’ could be near while sharing a video of President Joe Biden threatening to stop Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

      Mysterious and alarming leaks were found in both Nord Stream pipelines this week, prompting the European Union to call it the result of a ‘deliberate act.’

      Multiple accusations have already been lobbed at the Kremlin amid ever-growing hostilities over its illegal invasion of Ukraine.

      Meanwhile Moscow is pointing the finger at the United States, declaring that Washington is ‘obliged’ to explain its alleged role in the ‘sabotage.’

      A US official denied the accusations, according to the Washington Post. DailyMail.com has reached out to the White House for comment.

      Trump also appeared to back Russia’s theory on Wednesday when he posted on his Truth Social app a video of Biden from early February pledging to ‘bring an end to’ Nord Stream 2 if Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine.

      ‘Wow, what a statement. World War III anyone?’ Trump wrote along with the video.

      The same video was also shared by the Russian government on Wednesday while suggesting Biden was behind the explosions that led to the Baltic Sea leaks.

      Asked for clarification on his stance, Trump’s spokesman Taylor Budowich said ‘the statements speak for themselves.’

      He also referred DailyMail.com to an earlier post where Trump offered to lead negotiations between Russia and Ukraine while warning current US leaders to not ‘make matters worse.’

      ‘U.S. “Leadership” should remain “cool, calm, and dry” on the SABOTAGE of the Nord Stream Pipelines. This is a big event that should not entail a big solution, at least not yet,’ the former president wrote.

      ‘The Russia/Ukraine catastrophe should NEVER have happened, and would definitely not have happened if I were President. Do not make matters worse with the pipeline blowup.’

      Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his brutal attack later that month. His government has been informally accused of being behind the pipeline leaks

      He ended with, ‘Be strategic, be smart (brilliant!), get a negotiated deal done NOW. Both sides need and want it. The entire World is at stake. I will head up group???’

      And just before that, Trump compared the pipelines’ gas leak to the potentially devastated storm heading for the state of Florida. He said Hurricane Ian was not as ‘important’ as the damage in Europe’s waters.

      ‘Everyone is talking about the big hurricane barreling into Florida, as they should be, but perhaps a far more important event in the longer term was the announcement that the Nord Stream I & II Pipelines out of Russia…has been SABOTAGED,’ he wrote in the earliest of the three posts.

      ‘This could lead to major escalation, or War!’

      In that statement Trump also stated he brought the pipelines ‘to the World’s attention as President when I explained how crippling reliance on it could be for Germany and other parts of Europe.’

      ‘Everybody laughed at the time, but they are not laughing anymore!’ he wrote.

      During his presidency Trump did approve sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Germany and Russia, which was near completion when the penalties were levied in December 2019.

      Trump’s earliest of the three Nord Stream posts on Wednesday morning appeared to compare the leaks with Hurricane Ian

      Biden waived US objection to the pipeline just several months into his White House term.

      But it was soon halted again, this time by Germany, whose government canceled the plans in opposition to Russia recognizing parts of eastern Ukraine as independent pro-Kremlin states.

      Putin launched his invasion just a few days later.

      Nord Stream 1 was similarly out of operation due to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

      Though Nord Stream 2 never begun operations, it was full with gas by the time it was halted. Climate scientists fear the repercussions of the leak could be disastrous.

      Sharing Biden’s early February warnings on stopping the pipeline, the Kremlin’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on social media: ‘Biden is obliged to answer the question of whether the US carried out its threat.’

      ‘We must be responsible for our words,’ the Putin puppet said, according to the Associated Press. ‘Europe must know the truth.’

      https://uk-times.com/news/world-war-iii-anyone-trump-shares-video-of-biden-on-nord-stream-2-that-kremlin-used-to-accuse-us/

      the sun – Expert outlines implications of Nord Stream leaks to the EU and UK economy

  6. France Is Hit by Strikes Over Pay at Multiple Oil Refineries

    A strike by workers at France’s oil refineries is disrupting fuel supplies in Europe’s third-largest economy, another blow to the country as it battles a sprawling energy crisis.

    Workers have gone on strike at oil refineries that handle more than half the country’s fuelmaking. Two have fully halted while a third is moving toward running at technical minimum levels. Together they account for more than half of France’s capacity to make diesel, gasoline and other fuels. There’s also a strike at a fourth plant that was hobbled by a fire anyway.

    The action stems from disagreement about pay and brings the impact of Europe’s cost-of-living crisis into sharp focus. The CGT union representing the workers is pushing the oil companies to improve their pay offers, pointing to the profit the firms made from soaring energy and oil prices.

    The longer the action endures, the greater the potential damage it can do to France as it grapples with the recent surge in energy costs. The nation’s nuclear reactors are set to undergo more work this winter than previously planned, and Russia has cut gas flows to Europe sharply. Both developments have led to a spike in energy prices across the continent.

    A prolonged strike could also have implications for France’s retail fuel prices, which have fallen sharply from their peaks earlier this year, tracking declines in oil prices and fuel markets elsewhere in the world.

    Two Exxon Mobil Corp. refineries at Gravenchon and Fos, which together can meet about a fifth of France’s daily fuel demand, remain halted several days after industrial action caused both to stop processing crude, Christophe Aubert, an official with the CGT union, said by email on Tuesday.

    Exxon confirmed as recently as Monday that both remained stopped.

    In addition, TotalEnergies SE is cutting production to a technical minimum at its Normandy oil refinery, the nation’s largest, according to Thierry Defresne, secretary of the European workers’ committee at Total, and an official at CGT.

    “In anticipation of the strike, TotalEnergies has taken the necessary logistical measures to be able to supply its service station network and its customers normally,” the company said in a statement.

    Here’s what’s currently known about how strikes are affecting France’s oil refineries (figures in thousands of barrels a day):

    NAME ALSO CALLED OWNER LOCATION CAPACITY STATUS
    Gonfreville Normandy TotalEnergies Northern France 247 Moving toward technical minimum due to strike
    Port Jerome Gravenchon Exxon Northern France 236 Fully halted by strike
    Donges TotalEnergies Western France 219 Normal; not on strike
    Feyzin TotalEnergies Southeast France, In-Land 109 Affected by previous fire; workers also on strike
    Fos Exxon Southeast France, Coastal 133 Fully halted by strike
    Lavera Petroineos Southeast France, Coastal 207 Unaffected
    Total 1,151
    Total affected by strikes 616
    Percentage affected by strikes 53

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-27/france-is-hit-by-strikes-over-pay-at-multiple-oil-refineries?leadSource=uverify%20wall

  7. reuters – EU executive proposes new sanctions against Russia

    BRUSSELS, Sept 28 (Reuters) – The European Union executive proposed on Wednesday fresh sanctions against Russia over its war against Ukraine, including tighter trade restrictions, more individual blacklistings and an oil price cap for third countries.

    The proposal will now go to the bloc’s 27 member countries, which will need to overcome their differences on the new sanctions in order to implement them.

    That may take time despite the EU being spurred into action by Russia’s military mobilisation, nuclear threats and moving to annex a swath of Ukraine more than 200 days after invading the former Soviet republic that now wants to join the EU.

    “We do not accept the sham referenda nor any kind of annexation in Ukraine. And we are determined to make the Kremlin pay the price for this further escalation,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters.

    “We are proposing a new package of biting sanctions against Russia.”

    The G7 group of industrialised countries – of which EU countries Italy, France and Germany are also members – already agreed to put such an oil price cap in place via insurers.

    https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-urges-eu-cap-russian-oil-price-now-under-new-sanctions-2022-09-28/

    EU proposes fresh sanctions on Russia after ‘sham referendums’ in Ukraine

    • Thousands rally to demand Czech government’s resignation

      PRAGUE (AP) — Thousands of protesters rallied again in the Czech capital on Wednesday to condemn the Czech government’s handling of the energy crisis and its support for Ukraine.

      Despite a national holiday, the protest that united the far right with the far left was smaller than the some 70,000 people who gathered for the same reasons at Prague’s central Wenceslas Square on Sept 3.

      Waving Czech national flags, the protesters demanded the resignation of the current pro-Western coalition government led by conservative Prime Minister Petr Fiala.

      “Resign, resign,” they repeatedly chanted during a demonstration held under the slogan “The Czech Republic first,” a reference to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s nationalist platform which he called “America first.”

      They criticized the government on a number of issues, including supporting the European Union’s sanctions against Russia, and dismissed as insufficient the government’s help for households and businesses affected by soaring energy prices.

      The organizers oppose Czech membership in the European Union and NATO and some other international organizations, such as the United nations and the World Health Organization.

      Smaller protests were held in several other major cities.

      Although the country’s opposition made some gains in the municipal elections last weekend, the five government coalition parties did relatively well in the separate first round of elections for one third of the seats on the Parliament’s upper house, the Senate. The runoffs are planned for the coming weekend.

      https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-donald-trump-prague-czech-republic-4a996262872d570ae105492da130c578

      ===================================

      reuters – Czechs protest handling of energy crisis, membership of EU and NATO

      PRAGUE, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Czechs gathered in Prague on Wednesday to protest against the government’s handling of soaring energy prices and the country’s membership of NATO and the European Union.

      The demonstration on a national holiday in Prague’s main square, organised by far-right and fringe groups and parties including the Communists, was estimated at “lower tens of thousands” by the police, compared to 70,000 on Sept. 3.

      The organising group “Czech Republic First!” opposes the European Union and NATO and calls for the central European nation of 10.7 million to be militarily neutral.

      Protesters held banners like “End the comedy” and many waved Czech flags as the sun appeared after morning rain.

      “This government is absolutely anti-Czech. It only serves Brussels (EU centre), American power and NATO. It has no regard for Czech citizens’ interests,” said Pavel Nebel, 53.

      The organisers, whose programme also demands an end to “planned dilution of the nation”, opened the protest with the national anthem performed by a far-right singer, after which speakers took to the stage denouncing the government.

      “A government has two duties: to ensure our security and economic prosperity. This government does not fulfil either of these duties,” one speaker said.

      Hundreds of people gathered in other cities, where they could watch online streaming of the protest held in Prague, media reported.

      High energy prices, fuelled by the war in Ukraine, have piled pressure on governments across Europe to cushion the blow of mounting energy costs for consumers and businesses.

      The Czech government has signed up to EU sanctions against Russia and taken a tough stance over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Miroslav Sevcik, a dean at Prague University of Economics and Business and the first speaker at the Prague protest, called for scrapping of the sanctions.

      The centre-right government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala this month adopted a string of measures, including financial aid for companies and price caps on electricity for households.

      https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/thousands-czechs-protest-governments-handling-energy-crisis-2022-09-28/
      ====================================
      PRAGUE – SEPTEMBER 28 2022

    • MSNBC – Neo-MAGA: Bannon Ally’s ‘Neo-fascist’ Win Tests U.S. And Italy

      As Giorgia Meloni is poised to be the next prime minister of Italy, MSNBC’s Ari Melber reports on Meloni’s connections to Trump ally Steve Bannon as well as her party’s neo-fascist ties to Mussolini.

      Melber reports Meloni is pitching a twist on right-wing authoritarian politics, but still attacking immigrants, minorities and democratic norms.

      She has also pushed the racist, anti-semitic “Great Replacement Theory,” which as Melber has previously reported, is now espoused by some prominent figures on the American right.

  8. europravda – LGBTQ and women’s rights advocates worried after Meloni’s win in Italy

    Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party states that is is against marriage equality, gay parents adopting children, and surrogate pregnancies.

    • Italy’s Jewish community isn’t worried about new ‘fascist’ PM

      World media has been intensively covering the Italian election and the victory of right-winger Giorgia Meloni as Italy’s first female prime minister and also a politician who heads what used to be a fascist party. But according to a Jewish community leader who spoke with The Jerusalem Post, her election is “a lot less dramatic than what the world media or Israeli media portrays it to be.”

      Meloni is president of the right-wing populist and national-conservative Brothers of Italy Party (FdI in Italian). FdI was the largest party in the 2022 Italian general election…

      [A]ccording to all sources in the Jewish community who spoke with the Post, Meloni told Jewish leaders she knows she has a challenge to deal with within her party, and she intends to do so. A few years ago, a number of party members celebrated former prime minister Benito Mussolini, who established Italian fascism, with fascist and Nazi memorabilia in their regional headquarters. Meloni supports Israel

      Meloni supported Israel when Hamas fired missiles at it from Gaza. As minister of youth about a decade ago, she visited the Jewish community and had positive ties with it.

      https://www.jpost.com/international/article-718351

  9. The Israel Guys: The Anti-Israel Lies Fox News Told On This Story is SHOCKING

    Fox News published a story about a terrorist that was killed in Nablus last week. There was just one problem. They got the story 100% wrong.

    Instead of calling the terrorist an attempted murderer who had shot live fire three days in a row at a Jewish community, Fox called him a “fighter” and an “armed suspect”. Fox even bought into the lie that the Palestinian Foreign Ministry called this terrorist a “defenseless Palestinian”.

    You don’t want to miss this cutting-edge story. How do we know what really happened? The Israel Guys team just happened to be in the same community that was fired on by this very same terrorist.

  10. Rashida Tlaib and the coming purge of progressivism

    Almost from its inception, American Jews have been associated with the progressive movement. For over 100 years, Jews have fought for social justice, social change, workers’ rights, racial equality and numerous other issues dear to the heart of the American left.

    One can view this as immensely admirable or appallingly foolhardy, depending on one’s ideological sympathies…

    [F]erociously anti-Zionist congresswoman Rashida Tlaib… recently said, “I want you all to know that among progressives, it has become clear that you cannot claim to hold progressive values, yet back Israel’s apartheid government.”

    This is quite bad enough, but Tlaib has often made it plain that she considers not just the Israeli government but the existence of a Jewish state itself as a form of apartheid. Her meaning is clear: If you support Israel’s existence as a Jewish state, you’re out of the club. Pro-exile Jews like the members of Jewish Voice for Peace are permitted entry. But when it comes to others, Tlaib decides whether they are Jews….

    Even more ominously, Tlaib pledged to conduct a purge of any Zionist members of the progressive movement, saying, “We will continue to push back and not accept this idea that you are progressive, except for ‘Philistine,’ any longer.”

    American Jewish progressives should take this threat extremely seriously. Left-wing movements are very, very good at purges, and have ruthlessly conducted them since the left’s birth in the French Revolution.

    Moreover, in embracing an antisemitic purge, Tlaib and those like her seek to transform progressivism into the most reactionary force imaginable, and this has enormous implications for the movement. History has long since proven that societies, organizations and movements that purge their Jews always, in the end, impoverish and ultimately annihilate themselves. Anti-Semitism inevitably destroys the vessel.

    Whatever one may think of the progressive movement, then, it ought to be clear to those who believe in it that it cannot survive Tlaib’s purge. It will render progressivism at best hypocritical and at worst monstrous. If they wish to save the movement for the century to come, then Jewish and non-Jewish progressives who reject Tlaib’s brand of privileged racism and hate…

    https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/rashida-tlaib-and-the-coming-purge-of-progressivism/

    Too late. Already hypocritical and monstrous, the progressive movement is too far gone.