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About stuartbramhall

Retired child and adolescent psychiatrist and American expatriate in New Zealand. In 2002, I made the difficult decision to close my 25-year Seattle practice after 15 years of covert FBI harassment. I describe the unrelenting phone harassment, illegal break-ins and six attempts on my life in my 2010 book The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee.

The Importance of Gut Health to Immunity and Disease Prevention

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what lives in your gut

Dr Mercola

Story at-a-glance

  • Your gut is home to bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea and eukarya; bacteria make up the vast majority of microbes in your microbiome
  • While your highly acidic stomach may host only about 1,000 colony-forming units (CFU) of bacteria per milliliter (mL), your large intestine is home to up to 1 trillion CFU/mL
  • Bacteroides are the dominant microbe in your large intestine; the composition of these microbes, and those elsewhere in your gut, are linked to health conditions like obesity, depression, Alzheimer’s disease and inflammation
  • Your age, health status, diet and environment all influence the numbers and diversity of microorganisms in your gut
  • A healthy gut microbiome depends on the consumption of whole, fermented foods and the avoidance of unnecessary antibiotics and other environmental assaults; spore-based probiotics are one option to help

The human gut is finally receiving the respect it deserves — and so are its trillions of inhabitants.1 You are, at your core, a microbial being,2 and while microorganisms are found everywhere from your skin to your mouth and even your blood,3 it’s your large intestine where your body’s largest bacterial ecosystem resides.4

If you treat it and the rest of your microbiome well, good health — both mental and physical — is likely to result. By nourishing this complex microbial community, you can even influence your gut-brain axis, which regulates digestion, mood, immune function and much more.5

The Number of Microbes Living in Your Gut Is Staggering

Your gut is home to bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea and eukarya. The latter two resemble bacteria but are distinct groups of microorganisms. Bacteria, meanwhile, make up the vast majority of microbes in your microbiome. Three main phyla or groups of gut microbes make up the human microbiome and serve diverse structural, protective and metabolic functions:6

  • Bacteroidetes — Porphyromonas, Prevotella and Bacteroides
  • Firmicutes — Ruminococcus, Clostridium, Lactobacillus and Eubacteria
  • Actinobacteria — Bifidobacteria (the most prevalent type)

Broken down, the average person may host the following quantities of bacteria in different body regions.7 Remember that this is just an average — your age, health status, diet and environment all influence the numbers and diversity of microorganisms in your gut.8

Mouth — 100,000 colony-forming units (CFU) per milliliter (mL)

The digestion process begins in your mouth when you chew your food, making it easier to break down in your gut. Your mouth contains an impressive number of microbes to maintain oral health but if they become out of balance, disease may result.

For instance, the bacteria in your mouth are thought to play a role in blood pressure via nitric oxide (NO), a soluble gas stored in the lining of your blood vessels, called the endothelium. However, antiseptic compounds in mouthwash may destroy beneficial oral bacteria that are important for maintaining blood pressure, thereby contributing to high blood pressure levels.

In one study, the use of the mouthwash twice daily was associated with a significant increase in systolic blood pressure after one week, while once the mouthwash was stopped, “recovery from use resulted in an enrichment in nitrate-reducing bacteria on the tongue.”9

Differences in more than 10 species of bacteria living on the tongue were noted after mouthwash use, including lower microbial diversity after one week of use.10 As noted in a Frontiers in Bioscience review, nourishing and protecting your oral microbiome may reduce your risk of multiple diseases:11

“Recent studies show that one approach to reducing the risk of chronic infections, such as caries, gingivitis, periodontitis, and halitosis, is to control the ecology of the oral microbiome instead of completely removing both the harmful and beneficial microorganisms.

This is based on the knowledge that oral diseases are not caused by a single pathogen but rather by a shift in the homeostasis of the entire microbiota, a process known as dysbiosis.”

Pseudomonadota, which are present in higher concentrations in the mouth than in the gut,12 also play an important role in producing short-chain fatty acids and boosting the growth of beneficial gut microbes.13 Fusobacteriota represent another prominent type of microbes in the body. While they can help stimulate inflammatory responses to fight pathogens, they may also drive inflammation and are linked to periodontal disease.14

Esophagus — 10 Million CFU/mL

Firmicutes tend to be particularly abundant in the esophagus. While relatively low in numbers compared to elsewhere in the gastrointestinal tract, Firmicutes are useful for helping to break down sugars and carbohydrates from the foods you eat.15

Interestingly, Firmicutes, which are centrally involved in glucose and insulin metabolism, belong to the phylum most adversely affected by the artificial sweetener sucralose.16 Animal studies suggest the sucralose-altered gut microbiome could be involved in inflammation of the gut and liver, as well as cancer.17

Stomach — 1,000 CFU/mL

Your stomach’s low pH levels limit the growth of microbes. But even in this high-acid environment, some microorganisms survive. Actinomycetota tend to be the dominant microbes in the stomach, along with Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Peptostreptococcus and Lactobacillus.

Lactobacillus has been dubbed a “psychobiotic”18 because of its effects on mental health, particularly anxiety and depression. Lactobacillus bacteria — found in many fermented foods — helps dampen stress responses and prevent depression and anxiety, in part, by modulating your immune system.19

Small Intestine — 1,000 CFU/mL to 100 Million CFU/mL

The concentration of microbes in the small intestine gradually increases, starting with 1,000 CFU/mL in the duodenum — the first part of the small intestine — and rising to 100,000 CFU/mL in the second part, known as the jejunum. In the third part, the ileum, there are about 100 million CFU/mL.

Firmicutes are abundant in the small intestine, but actinomycetota, which help break down complex carbohydrates and produce vitamins B12 and K2, are another dominant species. They also help protect against pathogens.20

Bacteroides are also found in the small intestine. They also play a role in breaking down complex carbohydrates and producing vitamins, as well as helping to regulate the immune system.21

Large Intestine — Up to 1 Trillion CFU/mL

Bacteroides are the dominant microbe in your large intestine, the area of your body with the highest concentration of bacteria. Bifidobacteria are also present. The composition of these microbes, and those elsewhere in your gut, are linked to health conditions like obesity and inflammation.

As noted in a review published in Nutrients, obese individuals tend to have higher proportions of Firmicutes and Lactobacillus and lower proportion of Bacteroidetes and Bifidobacterium compared to normal weight individuals.22

Studies have also linked specific strains to specific health problems. For example, high levels of Bacteroides vulgatus, which is abundant in the human gut, appear strongly associated with inflammation, insulin resistance and altered metabolism. Low levels of certain bacteria in the Firmicutes phylum, including Blautia and Faecalibacterium, have been linked to the accumulation of trunk-fat specifically.23

Your Gut-Brain Axis Is an Information Highway

Gut microbes’ effects don’t only apply to your gastrointestinal tract. They interact with your central nervous system via the microbiota-gut-brain axis, a two-way information highway that involves neural, immune, endocrine and metabolic pathways.24 By promoting proinflammatory cytokines, bacteria may also play a role in damaging the integrity of the microbiota-gut-brain axis and the blood-brain barrier.25

There are also 10 gut microbiota genera with a significant link to Alzheimer’s. Six are negatively associated with Alzheimer’s, meaning they’re less common in people with Alzheimer’s than in those without the disease and may therefore have a protective effect.

The remaining four are positively associated with Alzheimer’s, meaning they’re more abundant in those with Alzheimer’s disease, making them a risk factor for the condition. Specifically:26

  • Bacteria protective against Alzheimer’s include Firmicutes phylum (Eubacterium nodatum group, Eisenbergiella and Eubacterium fissicatena group) as well as from Actinobacteria (Adlercreutzia, Gordonibacter) and Bacteroidetes (Prevotella 9)
  • Bacteria associated with Alzheimer’s include Firmicutes (Lachnospira and Veillonella), Actinobacteria (Collinsella) and Bacteroidetes (Bacteroides)

What’s Hurting Your Microbial Health?

Researchers are only beginning to tap the surface when it comes to unveiling the complex relationship microbes have with human health and disease. But it’s known that microbial diversity in your gut is a good thing, while decreased diversity in the gut microbiome has been linked to chronic conditions such as obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

In general, gut microbial diversity decreases with age,27 but even younger people are being affected. The overuse of antibiotics, elective C-sections and processed foods have been described as primary factors “driving the destruction of our inner ecology.”28 C-section delivery is associated with an increased risk of immune system and metabolic disorders, possibly due to altered microbes.29

Dramatic increases in chronic diseases, including Type 1 diabetes, asthma, obesity, gastroesophageal reflux disease and inflammatory bowel disease, are also linked to the loss of bacterial diversity in our guts — caused by the overuse of antibiotics.30 Consumption of whole foods, meanwhile, is linked to higher gut microbiota diversity,31 as is consuming herbs and spices, for instance.32

But processed foods, which are devoid of fiber needed to feed a healthy microbiome, contain chemicals such as the herbicide glyphosate that also disrupt microbes.33 From EMFs and air pollution34 to antibacterial soap, your microbiome is under constant assault from the world around you.

How to Optimize Your Gut Microbiome

Avoiding antibiotics, including those found in conventionally raised meat, is key to keeping your microbiome health intact. Ultraprocessed foods, artificial sweeteners, chlorinated and fluoridated water, elective C-sections and antibacterial products are other culprits that can worsen your microbial health.

A healthy gut microbiome depends on the consumption of fermented foods. A study assigned 36 adults to consume a diet high in fermented foods or high-fiber foods for 10 weeks. Those consuming fermented foods had an increase in microbiome diversity as well as decreases in markers of inflammation.35

If you do take antibiotics or are looking for another supportive measure for gut health, consider spore-based probiotics, or sporebiotics. These are part of a group of derivatives of the Bacillus microbe and have been shown to dramatically increase your immune tolerance.

Spore-based probiotics do not contain any live Bacillus strains, only its spores — the cell wall or protective shell around the DNA and the working mechanism of that DNA. As such, they are not affected by antibiotics and may be able to reestablish your gut microbiome more effectively when taken in conjunction with the antibiotic.

In your gut, the Bacillus species also convert sugar into vitamin C, a nutrient well-known for its anti-infectious effects and, according to Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, a long-time mentor of mine, sporebiotics also massively increase reproduction of acidophilus, bifidus and other beneficial microbes in your gut via the electromagnetic messages they send out.

This is entirely unique. When you take a regular probiotic, they primarily take care of themselves. Bacillus spores, on the other hand, enhance many other beneficial microbes. Bacillus spores also create 24 different substances that have strong antimicrobial properties. But they do not kill indiscriminately the way antibiotics do. As noted by Klinghardt:

“Seeding the gut with things that make it stronger, more resilient towards the offenses we present to it is a huge key to our time. We need to live through this insane time, and we need to use all the tools that give us more resilience, which is for me like a holy war.

Resilience means immune tolerance — tolerating the stresses of our time, and any tool that does it, that is healthy, that doesn’t have side effects, is important to have in our tool chest. [Sporebiotics] is one of the major ones.”

[…]

 

Israel’s war-battered economy plunges almost 20%

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Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terroriststake cover as a siren alert is sounded at the 'Hostage Square' outside the Art Museum of Tel Aviv, October 28, 2023. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terroriststake cover as a siren alert is sounded at the ‘Hostage Square’ outside the Art Museum of Tel Aviv, October 28, 2023. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

 

By Sharon Wrobel

Times of Israel

With the outbreak of the war, private consumption and investments dropped sharply, while government spending soared amid massive reservist callup and wide population displacements

Israel’s economy shrank by nearly one-fifth in the last three months of 2023, as war with the Hamas terror group in Gaza took a heavy toll on consumer spending, trade and investment, data released Monday showed.

The country’s gross domestic product recorded a 19.4 percent drop-off of its annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the preliminary figures published by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The decline marks the deepest three-month tumble since the second quarter of 2020, when the economy plunged almost 30% as the coronavirus pandemic-related lockdowns hurt consumer spending and left many businesses closed.

This time it was war that devastated the economy, following the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, in which Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped hundreds of others.

In response, Israel called up hundreds of thousands of reservists to join the fighting and evacuated large swaths of the Gaza and Lebanon border, with businesses shutting and people staying home under a rain of rockets as the country shifted to a war footing. Sectors that rely on foreign labor forces, such as construction and agriculture, were especially hard hit.

Though the war is ongoing, many reservists have returned home and economic activity has begun to recover as rocket fire from Gaza on Israeli cities has trailed off, though only some of that gradual recovery is reflected in the new numbers.

“To a large extent, the current GDP figure, which is an initial estimate, is based on data from the beginning of the quarter, that is October to November data,” said Yonie Fanning, chief strategist at Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank. “The level of local activity continued to recover in December, with the decline in rocket attacks raining on the country.”

“We will see this reflected significantly in the update of the local GDP figures, next month, as more data comes on,” Fanning added.

The double-digit contraction came after the economy grew by 2.7% in the third quarter of 2023. Much of the slide in gross domestic product stemmed from a 26.9% drop in private consumption in the October to December period, a sharp decline of 42.4% in the import of goods and services, an 18.3% dive in exports, and an 67.8% decline in investment in fixed assets, especially in residential building. Meanwhile, government spending surged 88.1% due to the war costs.

On a year-over-year basis, the preliminary data from the statistics bureau showed that Israel’s economy expanded 2% in 2023 after growing at a fast pace of 6.5% in 2022. The annual GDP figure is in line with forecasts by the Bank of Israel and is above the average growth rate of 1.7% among OECD countries.

Private consumption decreased by 0.7% in 2023 after a 7.4% increase in 2022. The import of goods and services fell in 2023 by 6.9%, after growing 12% in 2022. Exports of goods and services slid 1.1% in 2023 versus an increase of 8.6 in the year earlier.

The economic fallout from the war and expected downturn in private consumption and demand and investment in sectors such as construction, prompted the Finance Ministry, the Bank of Israel, and global credit rating agencies to cut their growth prospects for 2023 in recent weeks, as the fighting is estimated to cost the economy as much as NIS 255 billion.

The OECD lowered the GDP forecast for Israel to 2.3% in 2023 from 2.9% projected before the outbreak of the war. The Bank of Israel shaved its growth outlook in November and expects the economy to grow by 2% in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Going forward, the OECD forecasts the economy to grow at a rate of 1.5% this year, versus 3.3% previously, and expand by 4.5% in 2025.

Earlier this month, US ratings agency Moody’s cut Israel’s credit rating by one notch from A1 to A2, and changed its outlook to “negative,” citing the impact of the ongoing war with the Hamas terror group in Gaza on the government’s debt burden, as well as fiscal and political risks.

However, the ratings agency also commended that “so far the economy has managed the fall-out from the conflict reasonably well, with high-frequency indicators pointing to a swift rebound over the past three months.”

Bank Hapoalim chief strategist Modi Shafrir said that economic activity improved compared to the paralysis of the months of October to November, which can be seen in the data for credit card purchases, foreign trade, and in increase in demand for employees in January.

Bank Hapoalim expects the Israeli economy to return to positive growth in the first quarter of this year, but to be still below the level of the third quarter of 2023 before the outbreak of the war.

“What is now delaying the closing of the gap in economic activity is mainly the construction industry, which has slowed due to the absence of Palestinian workers, in addition to muted economic activity in areas of tourism and agriculture in the north of the country and southern communities around Gaza,” Bank Hapoalim wrote in a research note.

With the outbreak of the war, Palestinian workers, upon which the construction industry relies, disappeared overnight, as Israel enacted an immediate ban on workers from Gaza and restricted access to most of those from the West Bank. Thousands of foreign workers from China, Thailand, the Philippines and other countries also went home following the shock attack, as the economy ground to a halt. In recent weeks, some building sites are getting back to work after weeks of being shuttered.

Amid the ongoing war, some 200,000 Israelis have been evacuated from their homes in the destroyed south and the threatened north, facing long months of uncertainty as reconstruction plans slowly take shape.

[…]

Via https://www.timesofisrael.com/war-battered-economy-plunged-almost-20-marking-sharpest-contraction-since-pandemic/

Repeated annual flu vaccines increase your risk of getting flu

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Rhoda Wilson

Daily Dose: ‘Study Reveals Danger of Flu Vaccine’ with Dr. Peterson Pierre, 31 January 2024, (3 mins)

If you are unable to watch the video above on Rumble, you can watch it on America’s Frontline Doctors (“AFDLS”) website HERE.

Show notes:

In a newsletter, Dr. Simone Gold has the following to say.

As covered in an AFLDS Daily Dose episode [see above], a recent study co-authored by the CDC US Flu Vaccine Effectiveness Network Investigators found that repeat annual flu vaccines are associated with an INCREASED risk of getting the flu.

This is alarming news for anyone who has been repeatedly told by Big Pharma and their cronies that flu vaccines are safe and effective.

But the truth is, this information isn’t new. As far back as the 1970s, studies have shown that repeat flu vaccination was linked to reduced vaccine protection. The more a person is vaccinated against a particular strain of the flu virus, the less effective the vaccine becomes.

This means that the flu shots you receive every year are actually making you more susceptible to getting the flu.

My firsthand experience with this issue likely contributed to my advocacy over covid. As a board-certified emergency physician, I have taken care of hundreds of influenza patients. After just a few years, I noticed that every person I admitted into the hospital with influenza had taken the annual influenza shot. I myself took the flu shot because it was a job requirement, but I always knew it was foolish.

It is well known in the medical community that natural immunity obtained by contracting an infection is more effective than the short-term immunity gained from flu vaccines.

So, why the push each year for the vaccine? You guessed it: money.

The financial interests of Big Pharma drive the annual flu vaccine campaigns, prioritising profit over public health. As we’ve consistently cautioned, do NOT trust Big Pharma over your own natural immunity.

[…]

Via https://expose-news.com/2024/02/20/flu-vaccines-increase-risk-of-getting-flu/

Wikileaks Reveals Alexei Navalny’s US Funding as Washington Exploits His Death

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YouTube/Odysee

A GUIDE TO RUSSIAN POLITICAL YOUTH GROUPS: PART 1 OF 2

A GUIDE TO RUSSIAN POLITICAL YOUTH GROUPS: PART 2 OF 2

Via https://thechaoscat.wordpress.com/2024/02/20/wikileaks-reveals-alexei-navalnys-us-funding-as-washington-exploits-his-death/

US Changes Position on Gaza Ceasefire

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US changes position on Gaza ceasefire – Reuters

Palestinians inspect a building destroyed by Israeli bombardments in Rafah in the Gaza Strip on February 19, 2024. ©  Said Khatib / AFP<

Washington has reportedly proposed a UN resolution opposing Israel’s planned Rafah offensive

US President Joe Biden’s administration has reportedly dropped its opposition to a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and proposed a UN resolution calling on Israel to cancel its planned military offensive in the Palestinian enclave’s last refuge for displaced civilians.

The draft resolution noted that the planned storming of Rafah would harm civilians and displace more Gaza residents, potentially pushing many into Egypt, Reuters reported on Monday, citing a copy of the text.

Israel’s Rafah operation – targeting the last Hamas stronghold in the besieged enclave – “would have serious implications for regional peace and security, and therefore underscores that such a major ground offensive should not proceed under current circumstances,” according to the proposed resolution.

Washington’s UN delegation has previously opposed making demands for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and has twice vetoed UN Security Council resolutions since the conflict began in October 2023. Its new proposal comes in response to a draft resolution from the Algerian delegation, which demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield has said the Algerian resolution could undermine “sensitive negotiations” to broker a pause in the fighting. She indicated on Saturday that the US would veto the resolution if it came up for a Security Council vote on Tuesday.

About 1.4 million Gazans displaced by Israeli bombardments have been crammed into Rafah, a city on the strip’s southern border that normally has a population of around 280,000, according to the UN.

The UN has warned that Israel’s planned Rafah operation would have “dire humanitarian consequences.” Dozens of European countries issued a similar warning on Monday, following in the footsteps of such nations as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to completely eliminate Hamas in response to the deadly October 7 attacks by Palestinian militants that triggered the war. He has rejected international calls for a ceasefire and has insisted that only “total victory” will make Israel safe. “Those who want to prevent us from operating in Rafah are essentially telling us, ‘Lose the war,’” he told reporters on Saturday.

While publicly supporting Israel’s war effort – and providing US weaponry – Biden has reportedly clashed with Netanyahu behind the scenes. During a telephone call with Netanyahu on Thursday, Biden “reiterated his view that a military operation should not proceed without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of, and support for, the civilians in Rafah,” according to a White House statement.

The UN resolution proposed by the Biden administration also would condemn any efforts to reduce Gaza’s territory or move Israeli settlers into the enclave, Reuters said.

[…]

Via https://www.rt.com/news/592711-us-opposes-israel-offensive-in-rafah-gaza/

The French Revolution in Crisis – Summer 1793

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The Death of Marat by Jacques Louis David (1787)

Episode 27: Revolution in Crisis – Summer 1793

Living the French Revolution and Age of Napoleon

Dr Suzanne M Desan

Film Review

After the Girondins were purged from the National Convention, it set about writing a new constitution guaranteeing universal suffrage and direct elections by the people. They also wrote a new declaration of rights that included a right to education and subsistence (either via work or financial aid).

A record turnout (35-49% of those eligible) attended voting assemblies to approve the new constitution. Two million were in favor and 12,000 against. A few jurisdictions allowed women to participate in voting. Voting was impossible in 10% of the country, either due to civil war or foreign invasion.

Former Girondins and other republicans opposing the new constitution came together in the provinces to form Federalist clubs. Unlike American US federalists, French federalists wanted local government to have more political control. By early 1794, there were 6,000 local Federalists clubs. As local governments, became more and more Federalist, Jacobin officials appointed by the Convention had them arrested and thrown in prison.

The Federalist revolt in Lyon was the most tragic. Previously the center of textile manufacturing and trade, 22,000 weavers were unemployed in a city of 150,000. Initially the silk merchants controlled the local government, but this ended after the the Lyon aristocracy emigrated and demand for fine silks collapsed. The Lyons uprising resulted in the death of 17 non-juring priests (Catholic priests who refused to swear allegiance to the constitution – see The French Revolution Dismantles the Catholic Church) and rebel army officers. After winning control of the Lyon commune, Jacobin leaders price controls and began to prosecute hoarders of food, wood and other basic necessities.

In all thirteen departments* and the three biggest cities (outside Paris) participated in the Federalist Revolt. However they were unable to build armies or exert military power like the counterrevolutionaries in Vendée (see 1793: The French Revolution Faces Counterrevolution).

On July 17, 1793 Charlotte Corday, a Federalist of noble background who supported the Girondins, assassinated the Jacobin leader Jean-Paul Marat (later discovered to be a British spy). Although no one believed she acted on her own, she went to the guillotine as a martyr. The crowd also glorified Marat as a martyr, and paranoia about further assassination plots led to calls for Marie Antoinette’s death.

The same day as Marat’s murder, the Lyon commune guillotined the Jacobin leader Joseph Chatelier. In response French troops laid siege to Lyons a month later.

On July 22, the Jacobins arrested General Adam Custine, general-in-chief of the French army in the Rhine, after he called for a military dictatorship. He was guillotined a month later.

On July 30, Valenciennes in northern France surrendered to Austrian and British forces.

*The first (1791) French constitution divided France into 86 administrative units called departments.

Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/video/149323/149375

Biden offered prime time Russian TV slot

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RT

Prominent Russian journalist Dmitry Kiselyov has said that he has sent a request to the White House for an interview with US President Joe Biden. He argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin had already set a “worthy example” by addressing the US audience in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson.

Kiselyov, who is the head of Russia’s Rossiya Segodnya media group and also hosts the Vesti Nedeli analytical news program, revealed that he had approached the White House on Sunday while speaking on national TV.

In a letter dated February 15 and addressed to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the journalist said that Russians would appreciate the opportunity to hear Biden’s take on “how to stabilize the international situation, restore trust, and renew cooperation between the United States and Russia” amid the crisis in ties between the two powers.

Kiselyov went on to deplore that the US and Russia “are now short of opportunities to listen and to hear each other,” adding, however, that Putin “has set a worthy example by agreeing to an interview focused on an American audience.”

As a reciprocal gesture, he added, Rossiya Segodnya is ready to give Biden an “opportunity to reach the widest possible Russian audience,” promising that the interview would be translated into numerous foreign languages and distributed on various platforms.

The White House has yet to respond to the request.

Tucker Carlson released a much-anticipated two-hour interview with the Russian leader earlier this month in which Putin spoke at length about the reasons for the Ukraine conflict. He explained that modern Ukraine is largely an “artificial state” created from the territories of other countries.

Putin also maintained that the first seeds of the conflict were sown when NATO opened its doors to Ukraine in 2008 despite Russia repeatedly voicing concerns about the bloc’s expansion.

The crisis itself, he noted, started not in 2022 when Russia launched its military campaign, but rather in 2014 when the new Ukrainian government, which came to power as a result of a Western-backed coup, attempted to crack down on those who disagreed with its policies.

[…]

Via https://www.rt.com/russia/592635-biden-interview-proposal-russia/

How U.S. Intelligence Agencies Have Elevated Cybercrime in Ukraine into a Freedom-Fighting Cult

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[Source: hindustantimes.com]

Valerly Krylko

As we know, freedom ends where the freedom of another begins. That is why today, more than ever before, everyone simply needs to develop within themselves a self-control tuning fork—an analytical tool that allows them to evaluate what is happening in a sensible way. The battle for minds and souls is in full swing. This means that the truth often becomes an idea that can infect us. And here the main thing is not to miss the moment when the tantalizing, sweet word “freedom” becomes permissiveness and begins to sweep away social institutions and legal norms on its way.

I will not surprise anyone if I say that Ukrainian hackers use defacement (posting materials of a provocative and demoralizing nature), phishing, malware distribution and Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks. In addition, doxxing—the search for and publication of personal or confidential information—was actively used at the initial stages. In one way or another, information in the media about this for the past two years has been passed more than once and more than twice, because it is the information that Ukrainian propagandists pass off as victories at the front, and therefore not only do not hide, but PR on all available resources. The aim, of course, is to get into the Western media (as, for example, here).

Why are the terrible war crimes against humanity and no less dangerous cybercrimes in Ukraine not perceived as something outside the legal framework? Because the war will wipe everything out and the goals are “good”—to punish an aggressive common enemy…or maybe because someone authorized it? Unspoken. Gave them complete freedom of action. There is enough evidence of threats from the Ukrainian leadership to send their hacker activists to Russia on the Internet.[1] They are not shy anymore. But it was not always like this.

“IT ARMY OF UKRAINE”—perhaps the most numerous hacker group, according to the legend that was thrown into the media right after the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict was created as a volunteer movement funded by entrepreneur Egor Aushev. But this information is for lazy philistines. Reality, as always, is a little more complicated and interesting.

Within the NATO bloc, the Cyber Defense Systems Development Fund and the Armed Forces of Ukraine Command, Control and Communications Systems Modernization Fund were among the trust funds established to assist Ukraine in 2014.

According to information announced in April 2017 by the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Vasyl Hrytsak, the first stage of cooperation with the Ukraine-NATO Trust Fund in the field of cyber defense included a total of one million euros, which was used to purchase equipment and software to equip computer incident response centers of key Ukrainian state institutions, in particular, the Situation Center of the SBU and the Cyber Incident Response Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.[2]

However, the main support of the Ukrainian hack-movement is provided by the United States under its own government programs. This is not yet outside the legal framework but, you must agree, it is on the verge. Just imagine an American who has tracked where his taxes have gone…

The largest programs are those implemented through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which provided $10 million[3] in support of Ukraine’s information systems security and cyberattack prevention and response capabilities between 2014 and 2017. In March 2020 USAID announced $38 million in funding for a new project to ensure cybersecurity of critical infrastructure in Ukraine.

That’s not all. The AFU cybersecurity units have been participating in NATO’s multinational exercise Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise—CWIX—since 2018. As noted by Vladimir Rapko, head of the Main Directorate of Communications and Information Systems of the AFU General Staff, the exercise immediately “received high positive evaluations from partners.” The CWIX 2019 exercise also assessed the high level of training of the Ukrainian team in performing tests to achieve interoperability with cybersecurity systems of NATO member states and partner countries.[4]

As you can see, no one has ever been particularly secretive since 2014 (just like with the supply of weapons for terrorist attacks on Russian territory and the bombing of civilians in Donbas). In February 2018, for example, the U.S. Senate quite openly approved the Cybersecurity Cooperation with Ukraine Act, which provides for assistance to Ukraine in strengthening its cybersecurity capabilities, including improving its ability to respond “to Russian-backed disinformation and propaganda efforts in cyberspace, including through social media.” Well, that already sounds like hacking, doesn’t it? And the main thing is that the defenders against cyber threats turn into attacking units at the wave of a hand, because the best defense is offense…

You might say: But this may have nothing to do with the mass “IT ARMY OF UKRAINE.” And you would be right but only partially, because by the time Egor Aushev published[5] his appeal to all those who are not indifferent to become cyber-volunteers to protect the virtual space of Ukraine, the U.S. plans in this regard had taken a different shape. Let’s say, more economical. On the principle of “Wikipedia,” where articles that should not diverge from U.S. policy are written by ordinary citizens (freedom of speech, or not?), new mass cyberdruzhiny are now being recruited. Why keep people on the payroll who, moreover, have to be trained for a long and expensive time, when you can launch “cyber infantry” for an idea almost free of charge.

And here comes the moment when the feeling of permissiveness comes, because Ukrainians realize that they can violate their own and international laws whenever and wherever they want. The project “IT ARMY OF UKRAINE” was quickly supported by the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the announcement about “recruitment of cyber volunteers” appeared on Twitter and on hacker forums, and candidates were asked to fill out a questionnaire on the service “GoogleDocs” (usually the company “Google” prohibits the use of its products for illegal actions—but this is different). Soon about a thousand people from 150 countries signed up for the “IT ARMY OF UKRAINE.”

Let us now turn to the moment the “IT ARMY OF UKRAINE” was created: On March 2, 2021, one of Egor Aushev’s companies—“Hacken.io”—launched the project “DisBalancer.” This company is registered in Estonia, in the Tallinn area. There, in the capital of the Baltic republic, is located the “NATO Command Center for Countering Cyber Threats”—in fact, a unit of combat hackers, operating under a legal roof. It is difficult to believe that Aushev’s team did not interact with this institution.

The “DisBalancer” project has launched software designed to attack information resources of the Russian Federation using the same “collective principle”: You install the program on your device, press a button, and the generation of “garbage requests” for DDoS attacks begins. The more participants, the better the result.

[Source: disBalancer_Official]

A large American cryptocurrency service—Boxmining—posted a video urging its subscribers on YouTube to install an application from the DisBalancer project to participate in DDoS attacks on Russian websites.

[Source: youtube.com]

However, the cooperation between Boxmining and Egor Aushev started long before that: The Americans visited the Kyiv branch of hacken.io in 2020, and in 2021 interviewed its CEO, Dmitry Budorin, for their blog.

Needless to say, this entire American crypto-hack crowd is overseen by the U.S. National Security Agency, and some of its members have served or are serving in the Pentagon’s Cyber Command.

[…]

Via https://covertactionmagazine.com/2023/12/05/it-army-of-ukraine-how-u-s-intelligence-agencies-have-elevated-cybercrime-in-ukraine-into-a-freedom-fighting-cult/

Palestinians in Gaza Do Have Somewhere to Go

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By Sam Husseini

Many professing solidarity with Palestinians — including alleged legal experts — being slaughtered in Gaza have said they have “nowhere to go”.

It’s not true.

They do.

Somewhere they actually should go.

Their homes in what is now Israel.

The majority of families of Palestinians in Gaza were forced there by Israel in 1948.

See great thread by Hanine Hassan: “Who told you that the 1.5 million displaced Palestinians sheltering in Rafah have nowhere left to go? My family, now in Rafah, has a home in Jaffa, from which we were expelled by a fascist German family. The majority of our people in Gaza have homes to go to, all over Palestine.”

As Prof. John Quigley has noted: “They are entitled to repatriation under international law, including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination which Israel has signed and ratified.” See his writing on this subject here and here.

And of course there’s UN Resolution 194 of Dec. 11, 1948 which “Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return…”

The extremely pro-Israel Harry Truman would state the following year that if “Israel continues to reject the basic principles set forth” in that UN resolution, the US government “will regretfully be forced to the conclusion that a revision of its attitude toward Israel has become unavoidable.” (See below re JFK.)

UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte would report on September 18, 1948: “It would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes, while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine, and, indeed, at least offer the threat of permanent replacement of the Arab refugees, who have been rooted in the land for centuries.” Actually, Bernadotte wouldn’t report that, because the Stern Gang shot him six times the day before his report was issued. They shot his French assistant no less than 17 times. No one was ever brought to justice for killing the mediator.

The prospect of Palestinians going back to their homes continues to bring out the most murderous impulses in Israeli officials. AntiWar.com reports: “Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir said on Sunday that Israeli forces should shoot Palestinian women and children in Gaza if they get too close to the Israeli border. … ‘We cannot have women and children getting close to the border… anyone who gets near must get a bullet [in his head],’ Ben-Gvir said during an argument with Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi about the IDF’s open fire policies, according to The Jerusalem Post.

“After his comments leaked to the press, Ben Gvir doubled down. In a post on X, the Israeli minister said he ‘does not stutter and does not intend to apologize. All those who endanger our citizens by getting near the border must be shot. This is what they do in any normal state.’”

Indeed, in 2018 the “Great March of Return” began, as Palestinians in Gaza tried to simply walk back to their homes. On Aug. 31, 2023, The Palestine Chronicle reported: “Gaza to Resume Great March of Return Protests.” Maureen Clare Murphy at the Electronic Intifada noted in September:

Protests along the Gaza-Israel boundary resumed in August. Massive demonstrations dubbed the Great March of Return were held on a regular basis for nearly two years beginning in early 2018.

The protests were aimed at ending the Israeli siege on Gaza and allowing Palestinian refugees to exercise their right of return as enshrined in international law. Some two-thirds of Gaza’s population of more than two million people are refugees from lands just beyond the boundary fence.

More than 215 Palestinian civilians, including more than 40 children, were killed during those demonstrations, and thousands more wounded by live fire during those protests between March 2018 and December 2019.

A UN commission of inquiry found that Israel’s use of lethal force against protesters warrants criminal investigation and prosecution and may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Excessive use of force against Great March of Return protests is expected to be a major focus of the International Criminal Court’s Palestine investigation, should it move forward.

The recently slain Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer noted on Oct. 8, 2023: “The very Israeli snipers that gunned down hundreds of Palestinian marchers in the Great Return March in 2018/19 were neutralised by Palestinian freedom fighters.”

In a recent piece in the New York Review of Books — “Gaza: Two Rights of Return — Most Palestinians in Gaza are now displaced at least twice over. They have a right to choose where to return” — Sari Bashi from Human Rights Watch writes as a Jewish woman married to a Palestinian man whose family was forced from their homes in 1948 and again during the current assault: “I’ll be relieved if my in-laws are merely allowed to return to northern Gaza and receive support to rebuild a house there.”

[…]

Via https://informationclearinghouse.blog/2024/02/17/palestinians-in-gaza-do-have-somewhere-to-go/15/

Stella Assange – The Fight to Save My Husband

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Stella Assange

Day X is here! Julian Assange’s Final Appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice.

The new public hearing dates are upon us. We will be gathering outside the Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday and Wednesday, 20-21 February. It may be the final chance for the UK to stop Julian’s extradition.

Date: 20-21 February 2024
Location: Royal Courts of Justice
Time: 8:30 am GMT
On Wed 21 Feb, there will be a march to Downing St after the hearing.

Here’s what to expect on the two days.

Watch the trailer here.

 

Meet our presenters that will be live outside the Royal Courts of Justice:

Please come by and say hi and give us a little interview for our livestream!

Wear your support. Show your support.

JADC (The Committee to Defend Julian Assange), one of the oldest grassroots groups here in the UK will be helping us to sell T-shirts, bags, badges and our new hoodies. So, make sure to come by and say hi to Emmy and Jeannie who will be manning our table.

There will be speakers throughout the two days! Including:

Apsana Begum
Tim Dawson
John Hendy
Richard Burgon
Peter Oborne
Jeremy Corbyn
John McDonnell
Zarah Sultana
Chris Hedges
Andrew Feinstein
Andrew Wilkie
Tariq Ali
Rebecca Vincent
Ben Westwood
PEN International
Clare Daley
Mick Wallace
Chip Gibbons

Here’s how you can help.

1. Use your social media platforms to bring attention to this history defining case.
Take a picture of yourself and post it on your socials with this suggested copy and paste social media text:

It’s now or never. Free Assange. Free us all. His life and the future of journalism depend on it. Watch the livestream here: http://www.youtube.com/live/LvdTG56Ubdc?si=pctyKVNLAz5NYsU-
#NowOrNever #FreeAssangeNow #Journalismisnotacrime #DayX

2. Participate in our Livestream.

Send your videos to our dedicated Telegram channel. Join here.

Upload your videos with these guidelines:

•Film Landscape/Horizontal only (this is for Youtube)
•Tell us your NAME, LOCATION, a little about who you are/what groups you come from and why you’re speaking out for Julian.
•Please don’t use any profanity or show anything obscene etc. We want this to be family friendly.

3. Like, subscribe and share our link for our 24 hour countdown to DAY X and subsequent 2 Day Livestream!

Streaming only on YouTube.com/@StellaAssange and YouTube.com/@AssangeDefense from 8:30am GMT on Mon 19 Feb. Share this link and watch the trailer now here.

In this countdown, we will be providing a complete overview of what my husband, Julian Assange is facing at the two day public hearing that starts on 20 Feb at 8:30 am GMT. It will include special messages from journalists, thought leaders, academics, human right activists and supporters, documentaries, speeches, explainers and never before streamed interviews. It will then be followed by a two day livestream live from London and solidarity protests from all over the world.

4. Spread awareness by changing your profile picture on your platforms.

Use this graphic:

Download Graphics here.

5. Support our fight to free Julian Assange

Contribute to Julian’s legal fees: http://crowdjustice.com/case/assangeappeal…

UK Campaigning costs: http://crowdfunder.co.uk/p/free-assange

USA: https://assangedefense.org/donate/

EU-wide: http://wauland.de/en/donate/moral-courage… (select Julian Assange)

Australia: http://action.assangecampaign.org.au/donate

Wear your Support. Show your Support. Buy merchandise here.

Donate Subscriptions

[…]

Via https://stellaassangeofficial.substack.com/p/20-21-feb-what-to-expect