The Great Cholesterol Scam and the Dangers of Statins

Posted on by
Reply

Don't be afraid of statins - Harvard Health

A Midwestern Doctor

Why statins fail, how their injuries are hidden, and what really causes heart disease.

Story at a Glance:

•There is a widespread belief that elevated cholesterol is the “cause” of cardiovascular disease. However, a large body of evidence shows that there is no association between the two and the real data shows lower cholesterol significantly increases one’s risk of death.

•An alternative model (which the medical industry buried) proposes that the blood clots the body uses to heal arterial damage, once healed, create the characteristic atherosclerotic lesions associated with heart disease.

•The evidence for the blood clot model is much stronger than the cholesterol hypothesis and provides many critical insights for treating heart disease.

•The primary approach to treating heart disease is to prescribe cholesterol lowering statin drugs (to the point, nearly a trillion dollars have now been spent on them).

•Unfortunately, the benefits of these highly toxic drugs are minuscule (e.g., at best taking them for years extends your life by a few days) and the harms are vast (statins are one of the most common pharmaceuticals that severely injure patients).

•Multiple 2026 studies have further shown statins do not extend the lives of the healthy individuals they are primarily prescribed to, while a new wave of expensive patented cholesterol drugs is being approved simply for lowering cholesterol—many of which are being marketed to the same “statin intolerant” patients the industry insists are imagining their injuries.

•In this article we will explore the specific injuries caused by statin drugs, the forgotten causes of cardiovascular disease, and our preferred treatments for heart and vascular diseases.

[…]

Within cardiology, I believe one of the most damaging falsehoods is that cholesterol causes heart disease and that taking statins (or their newer lucrative equivalents), which lower cholesterol, are the key to preventing heart disease. This is because, in addition to those “facts” being incorrect, statins are also some of the most dangerous and widely used pharmaceutical drugs on the market.

Cholesterol and Heart Disease

[…]

In the 1960s and 1970s, a debate emerged over what caused heart disease. On one side, John Yudkin effectively argued that the sugar being added to our food by the processed food industry was the chief culprit. On the other side, Ancel Keys (who attacked Yudkin’s work) argued that it was due to saturated fat and cholesterol.

[…]

Ancel Keys won, Yudkin’s work was largely dismissed, and Keys became nutritional dogma. A large part of Key’s victory was based on his study of seven countries (Italy, Greece, Former Yugoslavia, Netherlands, Finland, America, and Japan), which showed that as saturated fat consumption increased, heart disease increased in a linear fashion.

However, what many don’t know (as this study is still frequently cited) is that this result was simply a product of the countries Keys chose (e.g., one author illustrated that if Finland, Israel, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France, and Sweden had been chosen, the opposite would have been found).

[…]

Likewise, recently, one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world published internal sugar industry documents. They showed the sugar industry had used bribes to make scientists place the blame for heart disease on fat so Yudkin’s work would not threaten the sugar industry. In turn, it is now generally accepted that Yudkin was right, but nonetheless, our medical guidelines are still largely based on Key’s work.

However, despite a significant amount of data that now shows lowering cholesterol is not associated with a reduction in heart disease (e.g., this study, this study, this study, this review, this review, and this review) the need to lower cholesterol is still a dogma within cardiology.

[…]

Likewise, despite us endlessly being told to avoid saturated fats, the evidence does not show this prevents death.

[…]

Statin Marketing

[…]

In the case of statins, prior to their discovery, it was difficult to reliably lower cholesterol, but once they hit the market, research rapidly emerged stating that cholesterol was more and more dangerous, that lower and lower blood cholesterol levels were needed, and, hence that more and more people needed to be on statins.

[…]

In tandem, a cancel culture has been created where anyone who challenges the use of Statins is immediately labeled as a “statin denier” accused of being a mass murderer and effectively canceled.

[…]

In addition to doctors being forced to follow these guidelines, patients often are too. Doctors often retaliate against patients who do not take statins (similar to how unvaccinated patients were denied essential medical care during COVID-19). Employers sometimes require cholesterol numbers to meet a certain threshold for employment (although they never did anything on the scale of the COVID-19 vaccine mandates placed on workers around America). Similarly, life insurance policies often penalize those with “unsafe” cholesterol numbers.

Worse still (as the processed food industry intended by creating the war against cholesterol) even if we disagree with this dogma, its difficult to boycott it as the entire food supply has replaced healthy saturated fats (e.g., from animals or coconuts) with unhealthy vegetable oils. Fortunately, after decades of work, we’ve managed to bring enough attention to this subject (especially with RFK’s recent support for returning to saturated fats) that market pressure is at last emerging to make seed oil free foods become more widely available to consumers.

Statin Injuries

[…]

Statins in turn, are linked to a large number of complications that have been well-characterized (e.g., mechanistically) and described throughout the medical literature.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

One group of side effects are those perceived by the patient (which often make them want to stop using the medications). These include:

  • A high incidence of muscle pain1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
  • Fatigue1, 2 especially with exertion and exercise3
  • Muscle inflammation (whose cause remains “unknown”)1, 2
  • Autoimmune muscle damage1, 2, 3, 4
  • Psychiatric and neurologic issues such as depression, confusion, aggression, and memory loss1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
  • Severe irritability1
  • Sleep Issues2
  • Musculoskeletal disorders and injuries1, 2
  • Sudden (sensorineural) hearing loss1
  • Gastrointestinal distress1

The other group are those not overtly noticed by the patient. These include:

  • Type-2 diabetes,1, 2, 3, 4, 5 particularly in women 6, 7, 8
  • Cancer1, 2, 3, 4
  • Liver dysfunction and failure1, 2
  • Cataracts1, 2
  • ALS-like conditions and other central motor disorders (e.g., Parkinson’s disease and cerebellar ataxia)1, 2, 3, 4, 5
  • Lupus-like syndrome1
  • Susceptibility to herpes zoster (shingles)1, 2, 3
  • Interstitial cystitis1
  • Polymyalgia rheumatica1
  • Kidney injury1, 2
  • Renal failure1

[…]

Cholesterol

Cholesterol has a few different essential functions in the body. These include:

•It is the precursor to many different hormones.

•The brain’s synapses (which, amongst other things, form memories) require cholesterol to function. Since cholesterol is too big to enter the brain, glial cells (support cells of the nervous system) synthesize it within the brain. Statins, unfortunately, inhibit glial cell production of cholesterol.

•Cognition, in turn, is highly dependent upon cholesterol. For example, one study found that minor cognitive impairment could be detected in 100% of statin users if sufficiently sensitive testing was done (which again illustrates how minor injuries are more common than severe ones). Likewise, a variety of more severe adverse effects on cognition are also observed such as amnesia, forgetfulness, confusion, disorientation, and increased senility.

In addition to cognitive impairment, numerous studies have found a significant association between low or lowered cholesterol levels and violence. Likewise, statin dementia is often characterized by aggression.

Finally, one of the most concerning side effects of statins is their tendency to cause ALS (a truly horrible rare disease—curiously also seen in association with the COVID-19 vaccines). This correlation is further supported by many reports of statin ALS improving once the statin is stopped.

Unfortunately, while statin cognitive decline frequently improves when the statin is stopped, in many cases, it instead persists.

[…]

Some of the common energy-related side effects of statin CoQ10 deficiency include:

•Mitochondrial damage

•Lack of Energy

•Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

•Congestive Heart Failure and Fluid Retention

•Shortness of Breath

•Gout

Some of the side effects of statin CoQ10 deficiency weakening cell wall integrity include:

•Hepatitis (interestingly, Graveline noted that the enzyme threshold needed to diagnose statin-induced liver damage was significantly raised after this issue began being commonly reported following statin usage).

•Pancreatitis

•Rhabdomyolysis (rapid breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue)

•Tendon and ligament inflammation and rupture.
[…]

Two of the most common consequences of statins CoQ10 depletion are myopathy (muscle pain, tiredness, weakness, and cramps) and peripheral neuropathy (numbness, tingling, or burning sensations, particularly in hands and feet).

Although myopathy is the most commonly reported side effect of statin usage, much of it (e.g., myositis) goes undetected. This is because the symptoms are often not accompanied by blood work showing muscle enzyme elevations and can only be detected by biopsies (which are rarely done relative to blood work). In many cases, this condition is permanent (one expert in statin injury found it was permanent for 68% of her patients, while Graveline found it was for 25% of his). Sadly, in some cases, like statin neuropathies, the myopathies will continue to progress even if the statin is stopped.

One of the sadder things about statins is how aggressively they are pushed on diabetics (under the logic that since diabetics have an increased risk of heart disease, it is critical they take a statin to prevent them from having a heart attack). To highlight the absurdity of this, statins are well known to significantly increase your risk of diabetes (multiple studies have found this), which I suspect is again due to them impairing mitochondrial function.

Similarly, peripheral neuropathy is a condition diabetics are well known to be at a high risk of. In one study, it was found that the risk of neuropathy (i.e., burning pain with tingling or numbness of the extremities) was increased by 14 to 26 times (depending on the type) for long-term users of statins. Furthermore, other nerve issues, such as neurodegeneration, can be caused by statins.

Combinations of myopathy and neuropathy also occur in statin users, such as progressive pain, weakness, and incoordination throughout the body, alongside trouble rising from a seated position, unsteadiness, and a tendency to fall. Muscles are also observed to develop a distinctive weakened and mushy characteristic and gradually shrink.

Note: in addition to preventing adverse effects from statins, CoQ10 is also one of the more helpful supplements for preventing heart disease.

[…]

Nuclear Factor-Kappa B

The small cardiovascular benefit observed from statins may not be because they reduce cholesterol but rather because they have anti-inflammatory properties (inflammation causes heart disease), as they inhibit NF-kB, a vital part of the immune system.

[…]

In addition to this arguing that some of the benefit of statins “preventing heart attacks” is due to them causing a fatal cancer before you have time to have a natural heart attack . . .

“Cholesterol” Plaques

One of the cleverest campaigns I’ve seen within the medical industry is the widespread belief that heart disease is due to fat clogging the arteries much like they do for a drain pipe.

[…]

Presently, we believe cholesterol somehow gets into a blood vessel and then damages it, leaving an atherosclerotic plaque. Kendrick in turn argued that a competing model (that the medical profession largely buried) provides a much better explanation of the actual causes of heart disease. It is as follows:

1. Blood vessels get damaged.
2. The body repairs those damage with clots.
3. As clots heal, they are pulled inside the blood vessel wall, and a new layer of endothelium (blood vessel lining) grows over them.
4. As this occurs multiple times in the same area, the damage (plaques) under the blood vessel becomes more abnormal.

[…]

Via https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-great-cholesterol-lie-and-the

The Shingles Shot Scam: What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You About the Vaccine Cartel’s Latest Push

Posted on by
Reply
Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
Shingles vaccine is more potent than chickenpox shot, lasts only 3–5 years, causes serious inflammation, and has zero proven ancillary benefits — despite what the marketing campaign claims.

Please enjoy this episode of Stinchfield the Podcast dedicated to health and wellness.

🎙️ Stinchfield Podcast Summary: Dr. Peter McCullough on the Shingles Vaccine & the Vaccine Cartel

Could you imagine a business where you make a product and governments mandate that all their citizens take it and you are free of any product liability? If not covered by insurances, governments will buy it directly from you. That is the vaccine business, otherwise known as the “vaccine cartel.”

🩺 Shingles Vaccine: The Core Discussion

Stinchfield, 57, opens by noting his older gin rummy buddies at the club are “hell-bent” on him getting the shingles vaccine — but his own research raised serious concerns. He brings in McCullough to break it down.

Key points from McCullough:

  • Natural immunity matters. If you had chickenpox as a kid, you have a lower chance of getting shingles because your body maintains full natural immunity and suppresses the virus. By contrast, kids who got the chickenpox vaccine are at higher risk of shingles.
  • The Zostavax shingles shot is a massive dose. It’s about 14 times stronger than the chickenpox vaccine — a hefty load of live attenuated virus. The newer Shingrix is a recombinant subunit vaccine, not a whole-virus vaccine. Each 0.5 mL dose contains 50 micrograms of varicella-zoster virus glycoprotein E (gE), a single protein from the virus, plus the AS01B adjuvant system. It does not contain intact virions.
  • McCullough took Zostavax himself (pre-COVID, before he became the leading vaccine critic) and wouldn’t recommend it. His arm swelled to roughly three times normal size with intense injection-site pain.
  • Duration is short. Protection lasts only about three to five years, so any benefit is temporary.
  • Pleiotropic benefit claims are bogus. The vaccine cartel is pushing claims that the shingles shot reduces heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and other conditions. McCullough calls this invalid: these come from non-randomized ICD-code database studies with no verification of actual diagnoses. People more health-conscious in general take vaccines, creating a healthy-user bias. No large prospective double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial supports these claims.
  • Inflammation is the real mechanism. Shingles vaccine causes inflammation, and inflammation is linked to heart attacks, strokes, and Alzheimer’s progression — not protection from them.

🧠 The Dianne Feinstein Connection

  • Feinstein died from neuroinvasive varicella zoster — shingles that invaded her brain through her eye.
  • McCullough notes this is rare but happens in immunocompromised people.
  • He adds that 100% of Senate Democrats are assumed to be COVID-19 vaccinated, Feinstein among them.

📈 Shingles Cases Surging Post-COVID

McCullough reports seeing a ton of shingles cases in his practice since COVID — attributable to both the infection and the vaccines. Both provoke the immune system, letting the dormant varicella zoster virus reactivate.

His treatment protocol: Treat immediately with valacyclovir and prednisone. Don’t let shingles brew for weeks or the experience can be severe.

💉 No Vaccines He’d Recommend — With Nuance

Stinchfield asks point-blank:

McCullough’s answer: No, at this point in time. Improved sanitation, nutrition, and personal hygiene have dramatically reduced infectious disease rates. Even with measles — about 600,000 cases worldwide — you can’t find evidence of adjudicated measles deaths because treatment is effective.

The exception: His brother-in-law had his spleen removed and can’t fight encapsulated organisms (Haemophilus, pneumococcus, meningococcus). For him, McCullough strongly recommends those specific vaccines. Every patient is different — the problem is the one-size-fits-all mass vaccination approach driven by maximal revenue.

🧬 mRNA Technology: Fundamentally Flawed

Stinchfield asks if mRNA has any future validity. McCullough’s position:

  • Maybe for cancer — Moderna and Merck are running a melanoma trial producing about three dozen neoantigens targeting tumor proteins.
  • The Achilles’ heel: You can’t get mRNA out of the body and you can’t shut it off. It keeps producing protein indefinitely.
  • For melanoma proteins that are relatively benign, maybe tolerable. But producing spike protein (COVID), hemagglutinin (flu), or fusion protein (RSV) is dangerous.
  • He favors suspending the technology until they figure out how to shut it off and eliminate it from the body. As it stands, “these light up and now they’re forever working in your body.”

🏥 The Medical Establishment’s Collective Failure

McCullough’s pinned social media post summarizes what he never thought he’d see in his career: a US-Chinese collaboration creating a novel coronavirus at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, fear-based trance with lockdowns and masking, suppression of early treatment protocols, genetic vaccines with persistent spike protein causing disease, no government acknowledging the gravity, no recalls or safety evaluations, and the biopharmaceutical complex consuming trillions.

Stinchfield’s evolution: He was initially most angry at the deep state and big pharma — but he expected evil from those quarters. His deepest anger now is at the “zombie-like doctors” who blindly followed protocols based in nothing. They were the real catalyst for spreading the disaster.

McCullough agrees:

  • ~1 million doctors, ~500,000 NPs/PAs, ~7 million nurses — the majority bought the narrative.
  • Only a small fraction said “we’ve got to save lives now.”
  • Patients are waking up. They want doctors who level with them. Many took the shot, got blood clots, and their doctors responded with “I can’t help you, I don’t see it that way.”

Via https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-shingles-shot-scam-what-your?triedRedirect=true

 

Roy McGovern: Assange created the fifth estate

Posted on by
Reply
Assange created the ‘fifth estate’ – Ray McGovern (VIDEO)
RT
6 Oct, 2026 
The WikiLeaks co-founder played a key role in creating an alternative to the mainstream media, which has been controlled by intelligence services for decades, Ray McGovern said

Julian Assange is a key figure in the creation of alternative media, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern has said, expressing hope that the Australian journalist and activist is preparing to get back to work.

McGovern spoke to RT as WikiLeaks marks its 20th anniversary. The website, co-founded by Assange in 2006, has published some of the most explosive leaks of the past two decades, exposing CIA hacking tools, classified US war records, illegal mass surveillance, and other closely guarded secrets.

The platform became a global phenomenon, making Assange one of the most prominent contemporary publishers, while also embroiling him in more than a decade of conflict with the US and other governments. Ahead of the anniversary, Assange suggested that he will return to public life two years after striking a deal for his freedom with the US and securing his release from British custody.

Assange is a key figure in the creation of the alternative media, the “fifth estate,” McGovern said, adding that traditional media has lost its intended purpose, becoming closely controlled instruments for governments worldwide.

“The media in our country, and I dare say in many countries, the UK, Germany, is very tightly controlled. And so that’s the fourth estate, as Edmund Burke said, more important than Parliament itself. The fourth estate is co-opted now, it has been for decades,” he said.

“It’s very clear that the intelligence services have a lot of influence over what goes out into the media. And so you need an alternative. That’s why we placed great hope in what we call the ‘fifth estate,’ namely WikiLeaks and outfits like it that would encourage people to blow the whistle in a secure way and not endanger themselves.”

McGovern welcomed the prospect of Assange’s return to active work, calling it “salvation” for people willing to blow the whistle on dirty government secrets.

“He will find ways to make it possible for people like me and my colleagues, if we come upon information that needs to be spread out into the media or out into the public, to have a secure way of doing that. That was his success. He’s bright enough to do that again, I am convinced.”

Watch the full video below:

https://www.rt.com/news/646766-assange-wikileaks-fifth-estate/

Moscow clears $1bn loan to Iran, transfer delayed over ‘internal dispute’

Posted on by
Reply
(Photo credit: Anton Vaganov)

The Crade

OCT 6, 2026

The ruble-backed credit line is part of a wider push by both countries to break free of US-controlled financial systems 

Russia has cleared a $1 billion loan to Iran for release; however, the transfer is stalled amid an “internal dispute” in Tehran over spending, Fars News Agency reported on 6 October.

According to Fars, the Planning and Budget Organization is pushing to use the money to fund vehicle imports, while the Oil Ministry wants to buy equipment for the oil industry and the Agriculture Ministry wants to put it toward imports of essential goods.

With no final decision reached, the government has not submitted the account details needed to complete the transfer.

The $1 billion marks the first installment of a planned $20 billion Russian credit line to Iran, first reported in June, according to Fars.

That month, Tehran unveiled plans for a ruble trading board to strengthen banking ties with Moscow, and an Iranian lawmaker said the $20 billion would be issued in rubles at an annual interest rate of six percent.

The two countries have been deepening economic and financial cooperation, expanding the use of their national currencies in bilateral trade to cut their dependence on western-controlled financial systems.

Iran remains under sweeping US sanctions targeting its oil exports, banking sector, and access to the global financial system.

Washington has escalated its economic strangulation campaign against Tehran in recent months, imposing secondary sanctions on foreign entities it accuses of facilitating Iranian transactions or extending any sort of financial lifeline to the country.

In September, the US Treasury sanctioned Russia’s VTB Bank over alleged correspondent banking ties with blacklisted Iranian financial institutions.

Washington has also targeted financial networks it accuses of helping Iran move funds and evade sanctions.

Several US allies have since fallen in line with Washington’s economic siege on Iran, moving against Iranian banks and its national airline on their own soil.

Turkiye revoked Bank Mellat’s license on 18 September, ending its 44-year presence in the country, and moved to ground Mahan Air after Washington sanctioned three Turkish firms servicing the airline.

The UAE followed on 23 September, cutting off Bank Melli Iran’s local branches from all dealings with Iran.

Weeks earlier, the US Treasury had stripped the UAE branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr of dollar access over their transactions with Tehran.

On 4 September, it also sanctioned Turkiye-based Golden Global Bank and two of its Istanbul units, accusing them of moving tens of millions of dollars on behalf of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

These measures fall under Washington’s Operation Economic Outcast, a campaign to strangle the Iranian economy launched after the US failed to achieve its military objectives against the Islamic Republic.

[…]

Via https://thecradle.co/articles/moscow-clears-1bn-loan-to-iran-transfer-delayed-over-internal-dispute

Hackers Steal Data from 3,615 Trump Mobile Customers

Posted on by
Reply
(Credit: trumpmobile.com)
Michael Kan

A new hacking group claims to have stolen data on over 3,000 Trump Mobile customers by infecting an employee at a related company with malware.

Straight Arrow News first reported on the alleged hack, for which a group called BYOD has claimed responsibility. Last week, the gang’s site on the dark web published a file claiming to contain the personal data of 3,615 customers. “Trump Mobile was informed they had been breached, they then replied with ‘We have no team to handle this’ and that anyone who hacks them [is] a terrorist,” BYOD alleged on their website. 

There are signs that the breach is real. Three people in the leaked file confirmed to PCMag that they had interacted with Trump Mobile in the past. We were able to reach out to them because the leaked file contained their name, phone number, email address, and physical address. One customer was also surprised that the leaked file accurately showed they had canceled their Trump Mobile service for the “30 Day Unlimited Talk Text Data” plan.

BYOD told PCMag that they “ratted a Liberty Mobile employee,” a Florida-based MVNO known to power Trump Mobile. Ratting refers to installing a Remote Access Trojan on the target’s device, creating a way for a hacker to remotely hijack their computer.

The infection gave the cybercrime gang “no permissions except to look up prepaid numbers, so we pivoted to subdomains, which Trump Mobile was exposed, and decided to exfil that,” BYOD said in an email. “We only stole 3,615 customers due to the fact that’s all they have using their MVNO (different from the prepaid phone orders, these are people using the carrier),” BYOD added. The group also says it has “live access to the dashboard,” apparently TrumpMobile.com.

The gang says the stolen data shows “people who are currently or were previously using the MVNO as their cellular network.” But one affected customer told us she never successfully signed up for Trump Mobile or for a preorder for the long-delayed Trump-branded phone, even though her information appears to be in the file.

“They wouldn’t sell me the phone because my email was already in their system,” the customer said, who added that Trump Mobile’s customer service “sucked.” Still, she did give the company her email address and phone number, which would explain how her information ended up in BYOD’s leaked file. A Trump Mobile customer support rep also called her using the same number.

So far, neither Trump Mobile nor Liberty Mobile has responded to a request for comment. But it’s not the first time Trump Mobile has faced a security issue. In May, two YouTubers sounded the alarm about an exploitable software flaw on TrumpMobile.com that could be used to leak customer information, including names, phone numbers, and physical addresses. Trump Mobile later fixed the issue, saying it found no evidence its systems were ever compromised.

Still, there’s some speculation that BYOD —which has only been active for a week— may have stolen the data using the same exploit. Last month, another hacking group, Endzone, claimed to have stolen data from 4,000 Trump Mobile users.

In response, a rep for BYOD said: “No, we have no affiliation; a member from our group just knows a few people behind Endzone, so there could’ve been a hiccup regarding Trump Mobile & Eteam, although we have published both first… However, we wish them the best, of course.”

[…]

Via https://au.pcmag.com/wireless-carriers/120252/hackers-we-stole-data-from-3615-trump-mobile-customers

House Bill Would Ban Federal Use of Flock ALPR Data

Posted on by
Reply
Illustration of a solar-powered surveillance camera mounted on a pole against a colorful sunset sky.
By Ken MaconOctober 3, 2026

The Ban Flock Act would restrict federal use of Flock ALPR data and automated license plate readers.

A new US bill, Ban Flock Act, has been introduced, with the aim of stopping the federal government from using automated license plate readers (ALPRs).

“Flock is eviscerating the very notion of privacy by installing tens of thousands of cameras in communities across America without their consent,” said Senator Bernie Sanders, who is planning a Senate version.

“Going to the doctor? Flock knows. Dropping your kid off at school? Flock is tracking you. Flock is always watching,” he continued.

According to the text of the House bill, H.R. 10691, federal agencies and officials are to be banned from acquiring, possessing, accessing or using ALPRs, or data collected by these devices, without an Act of Congress that explicitly authorizes it.

This would include data collected by private security networks, homeowners’ associations, commercial parking operators, and data brokers.

Any such authorization must set data retention at no more than 48 hours, and “rigorous protections for due process, privacy, free speech and association.”

State and local governments that have ALPRs would not be eligible for grants from the Justice, Transportation, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Homeland Security departments.

The bill, whose sponsors in the House are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and in the Senate Jeff Merkley, also seeks to make sure that no federal money is used to buy, lease, or operate ALPRs, while evidence obtained in violation of the proposed legislation would be inadmissible in federal court.

Individuals would be able to sue for actual and punitive damages, while state attorneys general would be able to sue to enforce the ban.

Toll systems would be exempt from the ban, but the data collected would have to be deleted within 48 hours of payment, and could not be checked against a law enforcement hot list.

“AI-powered cameras are keeping track of our every move and weaponizing this data against working people to make record profits,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Merkley noted that the right to privacy includes the freedom to move around the community without every move being monitored.

The Ban Flock Act is not the first attempt of its kind – in early September, Republicans Thomas Massie and Eric Burlison introduced the Flock-Off Act, H.R. 10221, that also seeks to cut federal funding to state and local governments that use ALPRs, as well as biometric surveillance cameras.

In August, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ordered Flock cameras to be removed from state highways within 30 days, a year after the state approved $4.6 million for 440 of these devices.

Earlier in the summer, Senator Josh Hawley launched an investigation into Flock, and later expanded it to include Axon, Motorola Solutions, and Verkada.

“Flock does not stand alone in this industry; you and others are building large camera networks, assisted by artificial intelligence, that intrude on the privacy of all Americans,” Hawley said at the time.

Hawley has his own anti-Flock bill that has been announced but the text of the bill has yet to be filed.

Republicans and Democrats are now going after the same cameras, and the bill cuts off the federal money and the data trade, not just the cameras.

Via https://reclaimthenet.org/ban-flock-act-federal-alpr-data

Ukraine’s scam-call networks targeting Swiss

Posted on by
Reply
Ukraine’s scam-call networks targeting Swiss – anti-fraud squad
© Getty Images / Ton Photograph
RT

5 Oct, 2026 

Senior political figures in Kiev are accused of heading a predatory and illegal industry said to be worth billions

Swiss police are investigating a sprawling fraud operation with suspected links to Ukrainian scam call centers, an industry said to be worth billions to corrupt officials in Kiev, Neue Zurcher Zeitung (NZZ) has reported, citing law enforcement officials.

According to a report on Sunday, NEDIK, the police network coordinating Switzerland’s fight against digital crime, recently recorded an increase in fraud offenses suspected of having links to Ukraine. The network declined to provide nationwide figures “for tactical reasons,” but noted that at least four fraudulent call centers in Ukraine have been identified in international investigations involving Swiss authorities, with Swiss and German citizens among their main victims.

One investigation by Bern authorities, reportedly underway for years, concerns a man suspected of operating several call centers in Kiev. On just one platform allegedly linked to the operation, reported losses in Switzerland amounted to nearly 4 million Swiss francs ($4.8 million).

Several Ukrainian nationals have also recently been arrested in Swiss cantons for allegedly acting as cash collectors in telephone scams. In St. Gallen in early September, a person posing as a bank employee called a 93-year-old man and instructed him to withdraw and hand over a large sum of money. Police later arrested a 38-year-old Ukrainian who allegedly collected the cash.

Police in Aargau have similarly reported a growing number of suspected cash collectors holding Ukrainian citizenship. Authorities, however, have not established whether they are being directed by call centers in Ukraine or acting independently. NZZ noted that it remains unclear to what extent Ukraine-based operations are connected to fraud networks and cash collectors operating in Switzerland.

While Russians have long been portrayed as the main targets of Ukrainian scammers, sources cited by NZZ challenged that narrative. Brian Lee, head of the Eurasia Observatory at the Geneva-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), said Russians accounted for just 10%-15% of targets even at the height of the so-called “patriotic fraud” narrative, under which young Ukrainians were recruited into scam networks on the pretext of taking revenge for Moscow’s military operation against the Kiev regime. Victims have been identified in at least 29 countries, with scam centers increasingly targeting Europe and the US, according to a GI-TOC report published earlier this year.

Lee also reported that bribing Ukrainian officials for protection is central to the business model, saying GI-TOC investigations found that criminal elements “operate seamlessly and efficiently alongside law enforcement agencies, public officials and the private sector.” Such protection reportedly costs scam operators $10,000-$15,000 per month.

Scam networks and state structures

Corruption has long plagued Ukraine, with high-level scandals including last year’s $100 million Energoatom kickback scheme, reportedly led by Timur Mindich, a former business partner of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. Western-backed investigators have since uncovered further graft involving Ukrainian officials.

The scam call center network reentered the spotlight last month after Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko – a key pillar of Zelensky’s increasingly fragile governing structure – resigned amid the exposure of an industrial-scale network across the country with alleged links to senior figures in Kiev. Ukraine’s Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) accused Sergey Kropiva, head of the cybercrime unit at the Prosecutor General’s Office, of leading a ring that collected protection payments from notorious Ukrainian scam call centers. NABU said it identified assets worth almost $1 million allegedly purchased with proceeds from the scheme.

The sums involved in Ukraine’s wider scam industry are reportedly far larger. Ukrainian media earlier estimated that roughly 2,000 scam offices were operating nationwide as of early August, about half paying protection money to corrupt officials. Such payments were estimated at $240 million annually, while the industry itself has been valued at up to $1 billion a month.

The scam industry has also been linked to powerful security structures under Zelensky’s government. In September, personnel from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and military intelligence (HUR) exchanged fire in Kiev in a confrontation that left three servicemen injured. The clash centered on Stepan Kaplunov, a member of an HUR-linked armed unit detained by the SBU. A law enforcement source cited by Ukrainian outlet Strana said Kaplunov may have been involved in operating scam call centers, pointing to a broader struggle between rival security agencies over the lucrative industry. Ukrainian journalists have also reported that proceeds from criminal operations help finance parts of the HUR’s activities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described phone scams as a key tactic employed by Kiev to extract money from Russian citizens, suggesting the practice has effectively become state policy. Moscow considers the industry a national security threat and claims Ukrainian scam networks operate in coordination with the country’s intelligence services.

Russian forces have recently intensified strikes on Ukrainian telecommunications infrastructure, mobile operators, and data centers in response to Kiev’s botched “pressure campaign” of drone attacks on civilian infrastructure deep inside Russia. The strikes have disrupted internet access, digital television, and other services, including by hitting data centers in Kiev that Moscow says were used by Ukrainian military and intelligence services. Media reports late last month also claimed a Russian strike hit one of the scam call centers in Dnepropetrovsk.

Via https://www.rt.com/news/646725-switzerland-ukraine-scam-call-centers/

Violent student protests spread from France to Belgium

Posted on by
Reply
Violent student protests spread from France to Belgium (VIDEOS)
FILE PHOTO. Protesters burn trash bins during clashes with riot police near Paris on October 1, 2026 © Getty Images / Mohamad Salaheldin Abdelghani Alsayed/Anadolu

RT

5 Oct, 2026

Student protests have spread from France to Belgium, with demonstrations over over education conditions marred by vandalism, fires, and arrests in the Liege region on Monday.

Police have made arrests in Liege amid vandalism, fires, and attempts to damage school property.

The unrest follows weeks of violent school protests across France, where students began protesting in mid-September over teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating buildings, and long school days. Belgian students have raised similar grievances while also opposing local education reforms, higher public transportation costs, and rising tuition fees.

Hundreds gathered outside schools across Liege, blocking entrances and marching through the city. Shops in the center closed as a precaution, while protesters attempted to damage shutters at the Saint-Michel Institute. Firefighters also reported scooter fires in nearby Herstal and Chenee.

Police made 16 arrests on Monday, according to local media. Officers also found glass bottles and fabric in some protesters’ bags that they said could potentially be used to make Molotov cocktails, although no flammable substances were discovered.

In France, nearly 2,000 people were arrested last Thursday, while more than 300 law enforcement officers were injured. School staff and students also suffered injuries, prompting police watchdog investigations.

The disruption continued on Monday, with the French Education Ministry reporting protests at 413 secondary schools.

Despite the violence, student organizations say they intend to continue demanding more funding, replacement teachers, smaller classes, and lighter schedules. Supporters argue that neglected facilities and excessive workloads have made learning conditions unacceptable.

Critics, however, have questioned how vandalism and attacks on school staff advance their demands. Some have also mocked complaints about classes beginning at 8:00 AM, frequent tests, and restrictions on phone use, arguing that early mornings, studying, and following the rules are ordinary expectations.

The unrest has also sparked a political row in France, with the government accusing the left-wing France Unbowed party of orchestrating the protests after lawmakers visited school blockades. The party rejects the allegation and blames government neglect for students’ anger. Its leader, Jean-Luc Melenchon, has called for nonviolent action.

The student demonstrations overlap with broader public-sector protests against spending cuts involving teachers, healthcare workers, firefighters, and transportation staff. The movements have added pressure on President Emmanuel Macron, whose approval ratings have fallen to 16-18% in recent polls.

[…]

Via https://www.rt.com/news/646762-belgium-student-protests/

Inside Somaliland: The Israel-Turkey clash coming to the Horn of Africa

Posted on by
Reply
Somaliland
Somaliland military armed vehicles take part in a parade during the self-declared Independence Day, in Hargeisa, the capital of Somalia’s breakaway territory of Somaliland, on 19 May 2026 (Reuters)
Sean Mathews
 October 2026

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland has been framed as giving it a launchpad to strike Yemen’s Houthis across the Red Sea, but Israel could also be on a collision course with an even more strategic foe and US ally in the Horn of Africa: Turkey.

Officials and analysts in Somaliland say their diplomatic normalisation with Israel in January 2026 -widely condemned by the wider Muslim and Arab world – was, in part, motivated by the need to check Turkey’s growing military footprint in Somalia.

Somaliland wants Israel to provide air defence systems to counter a build-up of Turkish drones and warplanes next door, officials in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland’s republic, which is recognised only by Israel, say.

“We need air defence systems,” Mohamed Osman Fadal, a senior foreign affairs advisor to Somaliland’s president, said in an interview. “Turkey has F-16s in Mogadishu, and it wants to build a drone base in Somalia.”

“We want Israel to support us against Turkey,” he said.

In half a dozen interviews with this Middle East Eye journalist, officials and analysts in Hergeisa said they believe Somalia, backed by Turkey’s military, can be countered through closer security ties with Israel.

‘Engage the Houthis’

Mohamed Abdirahman Hassan is the director general of Somaliland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. He cuts a smooth figure in Prada glasses and an olive green suit. We met in his air-conditioned and LED-illuminated office, whose modern design contrasts with the cracked concrete foreign ministry building siting inside a garden of palm trees and bougainvillaea.

Hassan said Somaliland had no choice but to “get involved in regional rivalries” when asked about the risks of entering a diplomatic deal with Israel that was so deeply opposed by most Muslim states, with the exception of the UAE.

“We have been too good,” he said. “We had been reaching out to Arab and Muslim countries for recognition since 1991. We had to move on. Israel recognised a gap here. We are proud to partner with the Israelis.”

“We have a good army, but lack materials and equipment,” which he says the government hopes Israel supplies.

[…]

Posters of President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi shaking hands with his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog, were still visible in the capital weeks after the Somaliland president’s visit to Jerusalem. When this MEE journalist was in Hargeisa, the city’s elite were turning out for a seminar by pro-Israel US academic.

Many ordinary Somalilanders are sceptical of the ties, but when Israel’s recognition was announced, there were celebrations in the street, not protests.

“Can someone explain what Muslim country that dealt with Israel has actually benefited? Egypt? Jordan? Has Israel done anything for them? Let’s see,” Abdi, one Somalilander, said. Transactionalism seems to define how most Somalilanders view the deal.

Somaliland is located on the Gulf of Aden. Many analysts see a quid pro quo developing, in which Israel’s recognition allows it access to Somaliland’s strategic coastline to potentially move against the Houthis. But Hassan and other officials I met were far less hostile to the Houthis than Israel.

“The Houthis are not terrorists like al-Shabab. We reject that label. We are against confrontation in Yemen. The Houthis need to be engaged,” Hassan said.

Somalilanders say the common foe they share with Israel is Turkey.

‘Israel is here because of Turkey’

Israel and Turkey are wrestling for control in different spheres of the Middle East in the wake of the failed US-Israeli war on Iran. Their feud is escalating in hotspots like Syria, where Israel has pursued an expansionist agenda since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad government.

Somaliland’s rift with Mogadishu predates the tussle, but its entanglement underscores the complex web of alliances and rivalries reshaping the wider Red Sea.

[…]

In his Cold War-era classic, War Clouds in the Horn of Africa, American academic Tom Farer summarised how the region lends itself to such competition, when the Horn of Africa was a battlefield between the US and Soviet Union.

At the time, Somaliland was united with Somalia, which had just fought a brutal war with neighbouring Ethiopia. That conflict saw one of the great Cold War alliance flip-flops of all time when Moscow switched backing Mogadishu in favour of Addis Ababa, and the US reciprocated.

Somaliland has governed itself independently from Somalia since the end of the Cold War. Regional rivalries have only become more convoluted since then.

Somaliland is aligned with the UAE, which is expanding its air and naval bases in Somaliland’s port city of Berbera, where the Gulf state also has the majority stake in a commercial port. Somaliland’s close ties with the UAE make it a logical partner for Israel.

Israel and the UAE have deepened their cooperation in the wake of the US-Israeli war on Iran. On the opposite side, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey have signed a joint defence agreement that is seen as a rival to their smaller neighbours’ bloc.

‘Venue for confrontation by proxy’

The Somalis, a historically nomadic people who live across a swath of the Horn of Africa, are no strangers to outside powers trampling across their homeland as they jostle to control a key trade corridor.

The Ottomans and Portuguese battled for control of what is today’s Somaliland’s coast in the 16th century. The Ottomans were succeeded here by another Islamic empire, Khedival Egypt, which abandoned the region when its other colonial position, Sudan, erupted in a revolt led by Muhammad Ahmad, known as the Mahdi. Egypt’s retreat left a vacuum, and the land Somalis call home was carved up.

Britain swooped in and declared a protectorate in modern-day Somaliland. Not to be outdone, the French cemented their control of the Gulf of Tadjoura, where modern-day Djibouti lies, and Italy grabbed a Somali colony centred around Mogadishu. Menelik II, the future king of Ethiopia, took his own swath of land inhabited by Somalis, bringing them into a Christian kingdom.

That history still informs how officials in Hargeisa portray Somaliland to the outside world.

[…]

“We [Somalis] lost the Somali region of Ethiopia to Menelik because the Egyptians and Turks – two Islamic powers-abandoned it,” he said, referring to the Ethiopian king. “If Turkey came to Hergaisa, would the Arab powers boycott Turkey?”

Somaliland remains bitter at Turkey for brokering a compromise that blocked Ethiopia from recognising Somaliland in exchange for access to the port of Berbera and a military base in the Gulf of Aden. Visiting Addis Ababa in February, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel’s recognition “does not benefit Somaliland or the Horn of Africa”.

‘The Gulf states copied Turkey’

Turkey has emerged as Somalia’s most important external backer. The relationship goes back to 2011 when then-Prime Minister Erdogan became the first non-African leader to visit Somalia in two decades during a devastating drought.

Turkey started building hospitals, roads, and even clearing garbage in the war-ravaged state. As the relationship matured, Turkey gained outsized influence over Somalia’s economy and its security institutions. Somalia is home to Turkey’s largest overseas base and a sprawling beachfront embassy.

Muse is at loggerheads with Mogadishu, but credits the “Turkish aid model” for transforming Africa’s relationship to rising powers.

“After the Cold War, the West only saw Africa through the prism of aid. Turkey saw a land with a lot of potential that had been neglected. It approached aid and security together. The Gulf states came and copied Turkey. The UAE was the first,” he said, referring to Somaliland’s closest Arab partner.

Somaliland’s history of independence long predates modern Turkey and the Arab Gulf’s interest in the Horn of Africa.

Somaliland won its independence in 1960, five days before neighbouring Somalia. From the start, the two suffered from an uneasy union that culminated in Somali ruler Mohamed Siad Barre overseeing a military onslaught against Somaliland in the late 1980s.

[…]

Hergeisa’s chaotic revival is something Somalilanders are proud of given that Barre flattened the entire city in a 1988 bombardment. A Soviet MiG-17 Jet marks the onslaught in a downtown war memorial.

The Sarovar is pricey, but not too stuffy. Teenagers and families mingle in the cliffside garden snapping photos of Hergeisa at dusk.

“We have a middle class here. The people you see aren’t just rich families,” a friend of Muse’s at our table told me, gesturing to the crowd.

Somalilanders say one reason they avoided the civil conflict that engulfed Somalia is that about 80 percent of their self-declared republic is comprised of one Somali clan, the Isaaq. The Somali people identify by clan, not tribe. There are five main Somali clans.

Britain’s colonial legacy is also remembered differently here because it was so light-touch. The region was policed by the legendary Camel Corps whose main job was deferring to tribal law, called Xeer.

[…]

If Somaliland avoided the worst ravages of colonialism, its independence movement was also fortunate, Muse said.

Somaliland declared independence in 1991, as the Soviet Union collapsed. At the time, interventionists in the US were honing their sights on Mogadishu for a new military adventure abroad.

“The global powers focused on Mogadishu, and Hergaisa was spared intervention,” Muse said.

“Independence came during the ‘unipolar moment’. If Somaliland had claimed independence today, things would be totally different because of all these competing powers,” he added.

For two decades, Somaliland’s relative stability, and even free elections, contrasted with the instability in Somalia. But that is starting to change and, long term, could complicate Somaliland’s bid for global recognition.

“Mogadishu is becoming a walkable city again. The kidnapping and bombing characterisation is an orientalist mischaracterisation,” one Hergeisa resident who travels to the city told me.

Somalia took a major step in 2023 when the World Bank and International Monetary Fund forgave $4.5bn in loans, bringing Mogadishu’s debt-to-GDP close to zero.

The United Nations’ political mission in Somalia will close in October. “It’s Mogadishu that wants us out. They don’t like the idea of us advising them. They see themselves as a proper sovereign state,” one UN diplomat told MEE.

Somalia’s turn of fortune has come with Turkey entrenching itself in the poorer country’s security and defence institutions.

Turkey is training Somali commandos and coordinating strikes on al-Shabab with the country’s intelligence agency. Turkey has also deployed TB2 Bayraktar drones, F-16 fighter jets, and ATAK attack helicopters.

In 2024, Turkey signed a 10-year defence bill to build and train a Somali navy. The agreement places Somalia’s territorial waters – which include unrecognised Somaliland – under Turkey’s security umbrella.

Turkey has secured economic deals that some critics say lean on the extractive, given the imbalance between the two states.

Ankara has a twenty-year lease to manage Mogadishu’s seaport and airport. Somalia has also pledged Turkey 30 percent of the revenue from any marine resources found in its exclusive economic zone. Ankara has a foothold in Somalia’s fisheries and is exploring for oil. The agreement gives Turkey the option to exploit waters Somaliland considers its own.

“Turkey is a newcomer to the region. We have no issue with them. They have exploited Mogadishu’s resources,” Hassan, the director general of Somaliland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said.

“[But] Mogadishu is thinking of an [invasion], and Turkey would back them. We need to position ourselves for the future,” he added.

Somalilanders would not be the first looking to shore up their security by aligning with Israel.

When the UAE came under Iranian attacks earlier this year, Israel sent Iron Dome defence batteries to protect its Gulf ally. Greece, an old foe of Turkey, recently signed a $3.5bn deal to purchase a layered Israeli air defence system.

[…]

Ethiopia, which has close ties to Israel and the UAE, is battling rebel groups that it says are backed by Egypt and Eritrea. Asmara and Cairo deny the allegation, but both are wary of Ethiopia’s military links to Israel.

[…]

Via https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-turkey-clash-coming-horn-africa

Baghdad’s sovereignty runs through New York

Posted on by
Reply

Photo Credit: The Cradle

The Cradle

OCT 5, 2026

Iraq’s oil dollars pass through New York, while armed factions answer to pressures closer to home. A dispute over Iranian flights has brought both constraints into view.

 The Cradle has learned from informed sources about a phone call between a senior Iraqi diplomat still serving in the Foreign Ministry and former president Abdul Latif Rashid, with whom he has a personal friendship. 

The diplomat called to complain about current Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s handling of sensitive matters involving the ministry. What he told Rashid also sheds light on the discussions within Baghdad as it faced recent US pressure over Iran, Iranian aviation, and sanctions.

According to the diplomat, the Iraqi delegation attending the UN General Assembly (UNGA) did not know in advance that Zaidi would meet US President Donald Trump in New York. Its members learned of the meeting from the media after it had taken place. If so, the episode raises questions about coordination within the Iraqi state when decisions concerning Washington and Tehran are at stake.

Sources say the meeting was followed by an Iraqi directive restricting Iranian flights, amid US warnings that Baghdad could face Treasury measures if it failed to comply. After ministers were informed, they asked Zaidi for time to seek another way forward. They feared a swift response to Washington would bring political, security, and economic consequences that had not been fully assessed.

Ministers warned that a swift concession on Iranian flights could bring Baghdad into conflict with parties and armed factions already wary of its dealings with Washington. Their objections, relayed in the call to Rashid, show that the argument inside the government was over how much US pressure Iraq could absorb before the political cost fell on Baghdad itself.

Iraq nevertheless moved quickly against Iranian aviation. At first, political reactions were cautious. Lawmakers, analysts and forces close to the government defended compliance as a necessity, arguing that Iraq would bear the greater cost of a confrontation because of its dependence on the dollar system and oil revenues.

Najaf forces the issue back onto the table

That position became harder to sustain as the disruption reached the shrine city of Najaf. Harakat al-Nujaba, Kataib Hezbollah, and their supporters backed protests outside the airport, bringing the issue back into negotiations.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein met US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on 1 October; the Treasury’s account of their discussion specifically mentions Shia pilgrimages to Najaf alongside Washington’s pressure campaign against Iran.

A limited arrangement for Iraqi flights was discussed first. Negotiations then turned to Iranian carriers and conditions involving sanctioned passengers, passenger information, and scrutiny of transactions at Najaf Airport.

On 2 October, the Iraqi prime minister’s office announced an exemption allowing Iranian airlines to resume flights to Najaf, except Mahan Air. The airport had halted Iranian flights on 25 September.

Sources inform The Cradle that the Iraqi side had pressed for an initial conditional exemption for Iraqi carriers, which had stopped using Iranian airports on 28 February, before seeking relief for Iranian airlines. They describe proposed checks on travelers listed under US sanctions, passenger manifests and passport information, and the movement of money through Najaf airport.

According to their account, the American requirements also covered payments for fuel and ground handling and the retention of related records for up to ten years. Those conditions, if confirmed in the final authorization, would leave Baghdad administering a US sanctions regime at one of its principal pilgrimage gateways.

The reversal shows the competing demands on Baghdad. Compliance with US sanctions exposed the government to anger from factions and pilgrims at home. Restoring the flights required talks with Washington over the terms on which an Iraqi airport could receive aircraft from a neighboring country.

Why does Iraq respond so quickly to American pressure when doing so risks a confrontation with Iran-aligned forces? US troops and the political relationship between Baghdad and Washington are part of the answer. The financial system, and the oil revenues moving through it, may be the more powerful constraint.

Iraq’s oil dollars in New York

Oil exports supply the bulk of Iraq’s state revenue. The government’s ability to receive those proceeds in dollars and use them to finance imports and public spending is therefore tied to political stability.

The present arrangements partly trace back to the sanctions imposed after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the reorganization of its oil revenues after the 2003 US invasion. Iraqi oil receipts came to be held in accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, under arrangements administered by Iraqi institutions.

The system has outlived the circumstances in which it was established. Baghdad manages the funds, but its dollars still move through channels Washington can restrict. Any Iraqi leader considering a confrontation with the US must weigh what delays to bank transfers would mean for imports, salaries, and the oil-funded state budget.

Iraqi economist Ziad al-Hashimi has described accounts known as Iraq 1 and Iraq 2, belonging to the Finance Ministry and overseen by the Central Bank of Iraq. According to his account, the largest stream of dollars finances foreign trade, including import payments and letters of guarantee, through correspondent banks and the SWIFT messaging system.

A smaller stream supplies physical dollars for approved needs such as travel, treatment, and study. Surplus funds move from Iraq 1 to Iraq 2.

The central bank’s own records describe an Iraq 2 account at the New York Fed. Much of Iraq’s financial activity thus depends on channels exposed to US rules and oversight. Washington would not have to confiscate Iraqi money to exert pressure.

Restrictions affecting dollar transfers, correspondent banking, or access to the wider financial system could give Baghdad a powerful reason to avoid an open dispute. Any account of US influence in Iraq must consider those financial channels alongside troops, bases, the embassy and security cooperation.

The factions draw their own line

The weapons held by armed factions form the other side of Baghdad’s predicament. Ammar al-Hakim, leader of the Al-Hikma National Movement, has referred to strongly worded US messages over delays in bringing those weapons under state control.

Sources say Iraqi officials proposed their own timetable for several Iran-linked factions to hand over arms, seeking to present the process as an Iraqi sovereign decision.

Baghdad wants the timetable to appear Iraqi-led. If it looks like a response to an American deadline, factions that defend their weapons as protection against foreign intervention are less likely to accept it. Leaving the issue unresolved, however, gives Washington grounds to keep pressing the government. That argument over the factions’ weapons was already under way when the dispute over Iranian flights erupted.

The disagreement became visible during Iraq’s Sovereignty Day celebrations, held after the departure of US and coalition forces. Jafar al-Husseini, spokesperson for the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) and Kataib Hezbollah, told a large gathering on Baghdad’s Palestine Street that the factions had reached no final agreement with the government over their demands before talks on their weapons could proceed. Nearby, in the Green Zone, Zaidi and Iraqi officials were marking the withdrawal.

At a subsequent Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) parade in central Baghdad, vehicles passed over US and Israeli flags laid in Tahrir Square. The images drew criticism from US politicians. Zaidi ordered an investigation, and Iraqi authorities announced arrests over the incident.

Harakat al-Nujaba’s military deputy, Abdul Qader al-Karbalai, called the arrests a dangerous precedent. The group’s leader, Akram al-Kaabi, then posted a video of himself walking over a US flag.

The withdrawal is a victory for resistance factions that spent years confronting US forces and targeting American positions. It has not ended their dispute with Baghdad over who holds arms or who decides when they are used. Nor is the withdrawal viewed uniformly across Iraq.

In Erbil, Kurdish leaders viewed the withdrawal differently. They warned that the departure of US forces could leave the region more exposed to Iranian strikes, while Washington had long presented its presence there as part of the fight against ISIS.

For Tehran, the present strain does not amount to the loss of its influence in Iraq. Iran retains deep political relationships, party and economic networks, and extensive historical and security ties. Resistance Axis allies also retain the capacity to act with some independence from government decisions.

Baghdad must now contend with pressure from both directions. Washington can affect the financial and banking channels on which Iraq’s oil-funded state depends. Iran retains broad political, economic, and security ties, while armed factions resist surrendering their autonomy. The danger is that their contest is fought through Iraqi institutions and across Iraqi territory.

The measure of Baghdad’s success will extend beyond the number of weapons handed over. It will depend on whether the state can build security institutions capable of protecting Iraq and manage its relations with Washington and Tehran.

Political sovereignty will remain constrained while oil dominates public revenue and its dollar proceeds move through financial channels Washington can influence.

The next phase is unlikely to see either Iran leave Iraq or the US claim a clear victory there. It is more likely to bring another struggle over the distribution of power within the Iraqi state.

[…]

Via https://thecradle.co/articles/baghdads-sovereignty-runs-through-new-york