Fortunately, some people are, and have been for a while. A study in 2019, for example, estimated the carbon footprint of training a single early large language model (LLM) such as GPT-2 at about 300,000kg of CO₂ emissions – the equivalent of 125 round-trip flights between New York and Beijing. Since then, models have become exponentially bigger and their training footprints will therefore be proportionately larger.

But training is only one phase in the life cycle of generative AI. In a sense, you could regard those emissions as a one-time environmental cost. What happens, though, when the AI goes into service, enabling millions or perhaps billions of users to interact with it? In industry parlance, this is the “inference” phase – the moment when you ask Stable Diffusion to “create an image of Rishi Sunak fawning on Elon Musk while Musk is tweeting poop emojis on his phone”. That request immediately triggers a burst of computing in some distant server farm. What’s the carbon footprint of that? And of millions of such interactions every minute – which is what a world of ubiquitous AI will generate?

The first systematic attempt at estimating the footprint of the inference phase was published last month and goes some way to answering that question. The researchers compared the ongoing inference cost of various categories of machine-learning systems (88 in all), covering task-specific (ie fine-tuned models that carry out a single task) and general-purpose models (ie those – such as ChatGPT, Claude, Llama etc – trained for multiple tasks).

The findings are illuminating. Generative tasks (text generation, summarising, image generation and captioning) are predictably more energy- and carbon-intensive compared with discriminative tasks. Tasks involving images emit more carbon than ones involving text alone. Surprisingly (at least to this columnist), training AI models remains much, much more carbon-intensive than use of them for inference. The researchers tried to estimate how many inferences would be needed before their carbon cost equalled the environmental impact of training them. In the case of one of the larger models, it would take 204.5m inference interactions, at which point the carbon footprint of the AI would be doubled.

This sounds a lot but, on an internet scale, it isn’t. After all, ChatGPT gained 1 million users in its first week after launch and currently has about 100 million active users. So maybe the best hope for the planet would be for generative AI to topple down the slippery slope into Gartner’s “trough of disillusionment”, enabling the rest of us to get on with life.

[…]

Via https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/23/ai-chat-gpt-environmental-impact-energy-carbon-intensive-technology

Rhoda Wilson

While you’ve been distracted with Ukraine and Palestine, both the East and the West are fighting over natural resources in Africa – and Africans are paying a heavy price for it.  Not only are Africans paying with poverty and their lives but these raw material-hungry powers are stealing Africa’s future as well.

[…]

The following is adapted from a collection of articles published by Naqoyqatsi on a blog page titled ‘Proxy World War in Africa: USA vs China vs EU fighting for Rare Earth Minerals’

A new report details how the Wagner mercenary group uses gold mining in Africa to funnel money to the Kremlin.

According to The Blood Gold Report, Wagner has laundered some $2.5 billion to Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year in an effort to support its war effort.

This is in spite of global sanctions that have shut off the Russian economy from much of the world.

The report was produced by the Consumer Choice Centre, as well as Democracy 21 – a non-profit that tracks corruption and advocates for government transparency.

Jessica Berlin, a political analyst & co-author of the report joined All Things Considered host Scott Detrow to elaborate on their findings, and how far the scheme has gone.

While Moscow’s involvement in Africa lags behind other powers, it is increasingly tapping into anti-Western sentiment to bolster its influence on the continent amid geopolitical competition between Russia and the West.

Critics of growing involvement by Russia’s Wagner Group, a private military company, say Moscow is bolstering authoritarianism, driving conflict over resources, and threatening human rights.

With countries around the world pledging to zero-emission goals, the global demand for rare earth minerals has amplified.

Rare earths comprise 17 minerals that are indispensable to the manufacturing of smartphones, electric vehicles, military weapons systems, and countless other advanced technologies.

Africa holds the promise of large, high-grade deposits of rare earth metals. For three decades, China has managed to secure mining deals across the African continent with the availability of cheap labour and weak regulations. Currently, the global annual demand for rare earth elements (“REEs”) is largely met by China, which has devoted itself to increasing its presence in Africa guaranteeing ambitious energy and technological transitions. However, even with the abundant availability of rare earth deposits in southern and eastern African countries, the region has not yet reached its full potential.

Below are related articles listed by Naqoyqatsi.  Please note we have not included some of the resources.  You can view the full list, which appears to be updated from time to time, HERE.

1. Chinese firm regains control of DR Congo copper mine after agreeing to reach solution with government over royalty disputes, South China Morning Post, 3 April 2022

2. The United States releases signed Memorandum of Understanding with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to strengthen electric vehicle battery value chain, US Department of State, 18 January 2023

3. US counterterrorism efforts destabilising African nations. US-trained officers in Africa have attempted at least nine coups on the continent since 2008, The Intercept, 12 April 2023

4. Behind the secret US war in Africa, Politico, 7 February 2018

5. Even after acknowledging abuses, the US continued to employ notorious proxy forces in Cameroon.   An exclusive document sheds light on a classified Special Operations partnership with a Cameroonian unit implicated in atrocities, The Intercept, 9 March 2022

6. Russia in Africa: How disinformation operations target the continent.  A large social network that promotes anti-Western and pro-Kremlin ideas is helping Russia expand its influence at the expense of France in some of its former colonies in Africa,  BBC News, 1 February 2023

7. Putin wants fealty, and he’s found it in Africa.  Africa will account for a quarter of humanity by 2050. China spreads its influence through huge investments, construction and loans. Mr. Biden convened the US-Africa Leaders Summit “to build on our shared values” and announced $15 billion in new business deals, as the West scrambles to play catch-up and overcome a legacy of colonialism, The New York Times, 24 December 2022

8. Wagner mercenaries sustain losses in fight for Central African Republic gold.  Russian fighters clash with rebels as Kremlin tries to extend power in mineral rich country, The Guardian, 2 February 2023

9. US forces kill senior Islamic State Militant in Somalia, The Wall Street Journal, 26 January 2023

10. Somalia, extremists claim over 100 killed in intense battle, The Hill, 20 January 2023

11. EU building in Central African Republic ‘ravaged by fire’.  A former French colony, the Central African Republic has been the theatre of a civil war for a decade, and has recently become a source of tension over Russian and French influence on the continent, Politico, 19 December 2022

12. US cable: Russian paramilitary group set to get cash infusion from expanded African mine.  The Wagner Group’s mining efforts are becoming increasingly lucrative for the organisation, Politico, 19 January 2023

13. Smothered, poisoned and shot.  Nigerian Army massacred children in its war against Islamist insurgents, witnesses say.  More than 40 soldiers and civilians told Reuters they witnessed the Nigerian military kill children or saw children’s corpses after a military operation. Estimates totalled in the thousands, Reuters, 12 December 2022

14. Nigeria bets on Chinese-funded port to drive economic growth, AP News, 24 January 2023

15. Rebels killed hundreds in Democratic Republic of Congo, The Washington Post, 5 December 2022

16. Heaviest fighting in years breaks out in Congo as rivals seek control of minerals.  Clashes erupt between the Congolese army and Rwanda-backed militias as fighting for control of Congo’s vast mineral riches erupts again, The Wall Street Journal, 21 November 2022

17. Ukraine understandably in focus, but Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict is world’s largest, Wilson Centre, 25 October 2022

18. Mali: West out, Russia in, and then?  Unlike with violent upheavals and wars that have recently shaken the broader Middle East and North African region, in Mali, the West – specifically Europe led by France – decided to mitigate the crisis through a long-term military engagement, though not as extensive as in Afghanistan or Iraq, Atlantic Council, 18 November 2022

19. Biden seeks to catch up with Beijing in Africa.  US President Joe Biden invited around 50 African leaders to Washington this week as part of a broader campaign to play catch-up with its rivals China and Russia, who are vying for more influence on the continent, Foreign Policy, 15 December 2022

20. China’s scramble for Africa’s rare earth elements. China is the dominant global supplier of rare earths and has a significant footprint in Africa. However, its position is now being challenged, Observer Research Foundation, 1 September 2022

21. Apple and Google named in US lawsuit over Congolese child cobalt mining deaths.  Dell, Microsoft and Tesla also among tech firms named in case brought by families of children killed or injured while mining in DRC, The Guardian, 16 December 2019

22. The DRC mining industry: Child labour and formalisation of small-scale mining.  The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has some of the world’s most valuable minerals, such as copper, gold, coltan, cobalt, and diamonds, and has the earth’s second-largest forest after the Amazon. Yet, the DRC is one of the world’s poorest countries as poverty and humanitarian crises plague its citizens, Wilson Centre, 18 March 2014

23. The dark side of Congo’s cobalt rush.  Cell phones and electric cars rely on the mineral, causing a boom in demand. Locals are hunting for this buried treasure—but are getting almost none of the profit, The New Yorker, 24 May 2021

24. The scramble for Africa’s rare earths: China is not alone.  The African continent is home to numerous rare earth deposits, especially in eastern and southern nations like South Africa, Madagascar, Malawi, Kenya, Namibia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Burundi.  The United States more than anyone else is determined to minimise its vulnerability towards China.  The European Union too is determined to reduce its almost total dependence on China.  Australia and Japan, are also keen to increase their presence in Africa.  China, of course, is not going to be left behind. Beijing could well see itself obliged to increase its presence on the African continent, Italian Institute for International Political Studies, 4 June 2021

25. DR Congo military accused of bombing civilians.  DRC national army, FARDC and its coalition forces have been accused of bombing civilian territories causing mass displacements in the country’s restive eastern region. According to M23, the Congolese military used fighter choppers in their recent strikes to bomb areas with high concentration of civilian population, The New Times, 8 November 2022

26. Rebel offensive in eastern Congo threatens key border city.  As a renewed rebel offensive in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo nears the largest city in the region, Kenya is sending in forces and the DRC and neighboring Rwanda are exchanging tense accusations.  Resource-rich parts of eastern DRC – more than a thousand miles from the capital, Kinshasa, and largely outside the government’s control – have for decades been havens for illicit mining, proxy conflict, and rebel groups like the March 23 Movement (M23), which took control of several villages over the past two weeks, Axios, 7 November 2022

Although the following are not included in Naqoyqatsi’s list, we have to start questioning who and what is truly behind these atrocities:

1. At least 160 Christian farmers killed, 300 wounded in coordinated attacks across 20 Villages in Nigeria by Muslims on Christmas Day weekend, Gateway Pundit, 26 December 2023

2. The persecution facing Christians in Nigeria is extreme and often brutally violent, as Islamic militants and armed bandits attack with increasing impunity. This mostly affects believers living in the Muslim-majority north and Middle Belt, but it’s also spreading to the south. Although all civilians are subject to threats and violence, Christians are often specifically targeted because of their faith, Open Doors UK

3. Sudan conflict leaves thousands dead, millions displaced.  The UN says the conflict between ethnic groups in Sudan has killed hundreds in recent weeks. The violence comes against the backdrop of a civil war that started in April of this year.  More than six million people have since been displaced by the conflict. In the western state of Darfur, officials say non-Arabs have been targeted by paramilitary groups in attacks described as on the verge of ‘pure evil.’ DW News, 20 November 2023

4. How Sudan has become the world’s ‘forgotten war’. Aid organisations are warning of a hunger catastrophe in Sudan as a result of the conflict there, which they describe as a forgotten war. Much of the world’s attention has been elsewhere – on Russia’s fighting in Ukraine and the recent war between Israel and Hamas. In Sudan, out of nearly 25 million people in need of aid, the United Nations has only been able to reach a small fraction, and funding, even for that, is running low, DW News, 16 December 2023

[…]

Via https://expose-news.com/2023/12/29/china-russia-and-usa-cause-devastation-in-africa/

Pierre Kory, MD, MPA

Recent FOIA-obtained data from the Department of Emergency Services in Westchester, NY reveal a shocking number of vaccine emergency calls as well as requests for ambulances to be “on standby.“

Right before the recent Christmas holiday, I received a call from a friend and colleague named Louis Conte regarding a “contact” of his with knowledge of the inner workings of Emergency Medical Services in Westchester County, New York.

Louis’s contact had been monitoring EMS dispatches in Westchester County and saw, subsequent to the jab rollout in early 2021, what he felt was a frightening number of calls from vaccine clinics or homes where general or specific “vaccine reactions” were cited as the cause of the need for an ambulance.

Last year, the contact decided to submit a FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) request—similar to a FOIA—to the Westchester County EMS (and the adjoining Dutchess County EMS) asking for a record of all calls whose transcripts mentioned either the word “vaccine” or “Covid-19 vaccine” in 2021.

Louis asked me to look at the documents. As difficult as it is at this point to further distress me with data on the toxicity and lethality of the mRNA platform, this dataset still managed to do this.

Before I review the data, let’s review what we know about ambulance calls timed with the roll-out of the vaccination campaign, because this issue is NOT new.

For instance, we already know from ICAN and Aaron Siri’s FOIA request of the CDC’s V-Safe data that 7.9% of all 10.1 million vaccine recipients reported requiring medical care to treat a vaccine adverse effect. Of those requiring medical care, almost 11% (87,700 people) visited the emergency room or hospital. How many travelled for this high level of urgent /emergent care by ambulance is unknown, but historically, about 15% of ER patients arrive by ambulance, so this would come out to about 13,000 patients among a population of 10 million vaccinated.

Further, an article published in the journal Nature reported:

• There was an increase of more than 25% in the number of ambulance calls in response to cardiac arrests (CA) and acute coronary syndromes (ACS or “heart attacks”) for young people in the 16–39 age group during the COVID-19 vaccination rollout in Israel (January–May, 2021) compared with the same period of time in prior years (2019 and 2020).
  • They also found a robust and statistically significant association between the weekly CA and ACS call counts and the rates of 1st and 2nd vaccine doses administered to this age group. Note they found no observed statistically significant association between COVID-19 infection rates and the CA and ACS call counts.
  • They report that their findings aligned with previous studies showing that increases in overall CA incidence were not always associated with higher COVID-19 infection rates at a population level, and that the stability of hospitalization rates related to myocardial infarction throughout the initial COVID-19 wave compared to pre-pandemic baselines in Israel.
• Their findings above also mirrored reports of increased emergency department visits with cardiovascular complaints during the vaccination rollout in Germany as well as increased EMS calls for cardiac incidents in Scotland.

In line with the above, anecdotal data from social media described the following:

The import of the above data/anecdotes was further supported by new, massive demands for ambulances across the world, evidenced by this compilation of TV news and print reports of shortages, compiled in another favorite substack of mine by Marc Crispin Miller. Note that although some reports blame the issue on shortages of staff and ambulance parts, the vast majority also mention… increases in the number of calls for ambulances.

And then there’s even more anecdotal data by someone who has earned my deep trust in regards to accuracy of events on the “inside of the system” (recall she is a nurse colleague of mine that works at a major academic medical center who I referred to as “My Spy On The Inside” [MSOTI] in my prior multi-part series of posts called “Nursing Reports From the Front Lines of The Vaccine Catastrophe”).

[…]

So, with the above publications and observations in mind, let’s review this new “data dump.” Maybe what it reveals is not as statistically damning as what the New Zealand Whistleblower exposed but you will see that it is equally, if not even more alarming. To me, the most shocking discovery I made when reviewing the documents, is that I found evidence of 5 different occasions where calls were made to Westchester County EMS dispatch to have ambulances “on standby”:

1.    2021-02-21 07:38:16.000 E2105940 NOTIF EMS 355 PELHAM RD NE _ROCHELLE: @WILLOW TOWERS NEW_ROCHELLE ‘WILL BE ADMINISTERING THE COVID-19 VACCINE TODAY TO 220 PEOPLE’

2.    2021-03-20 08:19:58.000 E2108926 STAND-BY EMS 210 N BROADWAY SLEEPY HOLOW: @HIGH SCHOOL- SLEEPY HOLLOW “‘73B2 & 36M3 ON STANDBY FOR VACCINE DETAIL

3.    2021-03-20 08:46:43.000 E2108930 STAND-BY EMS 168 W BOSTON POST RD MAMARONECK_V : @STT HOMAS EPISCOPALC HURCH MAMARONECK_V “‘VACCINE STANDBY UNTIL APPROX 1300HRS’

4.    2021-05-20 09:07:15.000 E2115997 STAND-BY EMS 950 PALMER A MAMARONECK_V: @MAMARONECK HIGH SCHOOL-PALMER AVE MAMARONECK_V “‘EMS STAND-BY FOR VACCINE CLINIC

5.    2021-05-20 14:09:41.000 E2116032 ALS 950 PALMER AVE MAMAR @MAMARONECK HIGH SCHOOL-PALMER AVE SIDE MAMARONEC _V “‘EMS STANDBY FOR VACCINE CLINIC

Are you kidding me? Employees at vaccine clinics in Westchester County, as early as Feb 21, 2021, were calling EMS “to be on standby?” For “vaccine detail?” One caller informed EMS dispatch that they “will be administering vaccines to 220 people today?” Note they did that as early as February 21, 2021. That is how fast some front-line workers knew how dangerous the vaccines were.

Also note how, on 5/20/21, two calls from the Mamaroneck High School clinic asked for ambulances to be on standby, the first call was made at 9:07 AM and a later one was made at 2:09 PM. For a “safe and effective” vaccine?

Again, calls with requests of this nature were being made from clinics in New Rochelle, Sleepy Hollow, and two different ones in Mamaroneck? If I was living in Westchester County at the time, I damn well would have wanted to know these calls were being made (as an aside, I lived in that county from 2008-2015 and still have lots of friends with children there).

[…]

Now, let’s review the rest of the transcripts from EMS dispatch. One set of data is from Westchester County EMS. First, know that Westchester County has a population of about 1 million, but these EMS calls do not include the City of Yonkers which has a population of about 200,000. So, for 800,000 people, the total EMS calls which specifically mentioned the vaccine as a cause of distress in 2021 was 165 calls. For Dutchess County, population of 295,000, the number of calls was an almost equally proportionate 55 calls.

However, these 220 calls across these two counties likely represent a small subset of the severe, ambulance requiring vaccine reactions because sudden death was likely never reported as a vaccine reaction and many people calling ambulances may not have initially related their medical issue with the vaccine or, even if suspected, may not have mentioned it to dispatch – thus, this dataset represents only the most tightly “temporally associated” events, ones where it was more than 100% obvious the vaccine was causative, like when it happened within minutes or hours or 1-2 days of the vaccine being administered.

What was the nature of these “reactions” which triggered calls for an ambulance? Well, from the transcript log posted at the end of this post, most simply say “reaction to Covid-19 vaccine” or “vaccine reaction” but there are also many disturbingly detailed reactions such as seizures, inability to ambulate, unresponsiveness, altered mental status, etc.

I list the more specific and disturbing ones below (or you can also just read through the actual EMS transcripts that are at the end of this post):

• 2-16-21 92 YO F abnormal breathing from 2nd covid-19 vaccine
• 2-17-21 69 YO M unable to ambulate secondary to covid vaccine
• 2-21-21 73 YO unable to ambulate, reaction to Covid-19 vaccine
• 2-17-21 female reaction to vaccine – altered mental status (AMS)
• 2-22-21 88 YO F low oxygen saturation, possible reaction to Covid vaccine
• 3-10-21 unresponsive, reaction to vaccine
• 3-19-21 fever and confusion post covid vaccine
• 3-27-21 56 YO M cancer patient possible reaction to vaccine, altered mental status (AMS)
• 3-27-21 2nd vaccine, sudden hypertension (HTN), back and abdominal pain
• 4-2-21 46 YO M disoriented, recent covid vaccine
• 3-24-21 56 YO F abnormal breathing from 2nd Covid vaccine
• 6-18-21 12 YO F experiencing chest pain after 2nd vaccine
• 7-11-21 13 YO F feeling weak, reaction to vaccine
• 4-7-21 27 YO M possible seizure
• 4-2-21 passed out/ reaction to Covid vaccine
• 4-22-21 38 Y.O female not breathing secondary to recent vaccination
• 4-32-21 50 YO F passing out/covid vaccine
• 5-13-21 49 YO M labored breathing/reaction to recent vaccination
• 5-19-21 89 YO M weak/speech problems
• 5/24/21 27 YO F fell by pharmacy
• 6-17-21 39 YO F difficulty breathing from 2nd vaccine
• 8-31-21 31 YO difficulty breathing
• 11-19-21 18 YO M anxiety attack, difficulty breathing from a covid vaccination
• 46 YO F chest pain/labored breathing, body numbness/covid-19 vaccine booster yesterday
• 11-19-21 18 YO F leg numbness
• 12-21-21 46 YO F chest pain, labored breathing, body numbness – covid 19 booster
• 86 YO F low 02, chest pain radiating to the left arm post 2nd covid vaccine shot
• 4-11-21 50 YO M syncope (passing out)
• 4-18-21 57 YO F severe edema (i.e swelling, water retention) possible reaction to vaccine
• 5-22-21 16 YO reaction to vaccine shot, semi-responsive
• 5-31-21 48 YO M reaction to the 2nd vaccine, difficulty breathing, right sided numbness
• 6-2-21 passed out after receiving Covid vaccine
• 6-2-21 29 YO F reaction to vaccine, unconscious
• 6-18-21 12 YO F experiencing chest pain after 2nd vaccine
• 9-24-21 44 YO M seizures after vaccine
• 9-25-21 Male unconscious after getting covid vaccine
• 11-6-21 5 YO M difficulty breathing post vaccine
• 11-13-21 58 YO M reaction to covid vaccine, syncope and difficulty breathing
• 11-3-21 81 YO M Unable to ambulate post vaccine
• 12-8-21 syncope (passing out) post covid shot
• 2-11-21 73 YO M, reaction to Covid vaccine, unable to ambulate
• 4-21-21 reaction to vaccine AMS (altered mental status)

[…]

Via https://pierrekorymedicalmusings.com/p/new-foiaed-data-reveal-ny-vaccine

Internationalist 360°

Nearly half of the countries announced as part of the anti-Yemen alliance have refused to come forward to acknowledge their contributions, while most others have only confirmed the deployment of staff officers.

Ten days after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the formation of an international task force to patrol the Red Sea, about half of the nations named as participants have yet to acknowledge their role, while others have pushed back against Austin’s declaration.

Under the name Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG), Washington’s “coalition of the willing” was intended to confront attacks by the Yemeni armed forces against Israeli-linked ships attempting to cross the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

However, only two US allies have deployed warships to the Yemeni coast to support the coalition: the UK, which sent the navy destroyer HMS Diamond, and Greece, which announced the deployment of a Hellenic navy frigate.

Canada, Norway, and the Netherlands confirmed their participation in OPG but have so far committed only a handful of staff officers. Similarly, the Seychelles ratified their support for the coalition but clarified: “Our participation will not include putting boats or military personnel to patrol in the Red Sea. Our role is to help in providing and receiving information since many things that happen close by can have an implication for us.”

Authorities in Bahrain – the only Gulf nation named as part of the pro-Israel alliance – have not commented on their role in OPG, despite the fact that the US war chief announced the coalition’s creation from the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama. Last week, Bahraini police detained a prominent opposition figure who criticized the government for joining OPG.

Complicating matters further for the Pentagon, the last three NATO members named as part of the alliance – Spain, Italy, and France – have outright refused to hand over command of their ships to the US.

The French defense ministry said last week it supported efforts to “secure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.” Still, it highlighted that its navy already operated in the region and its ships would stay under French command. Italy took a similar approach, committing the naval frigate Virginio Fasan to patrol the Red Sea but emphasizing that this was part of “existing operations” and not OPG.

Spain has been the most vocal in its rejection of being named part of the anti-Yemen alliance, vetoing a vote at the EU that called for support of the coalition and making it clear that its forces committed to Operation Atalanta – a counter-piracy operation off the Horn of Africa and in the Western Indian Ocean – would not join OPG.

“Spain is not opposed to creating another operation, in this case in the Red Sea. We have communicated to our allies, both in NATO and in the EU, that we consider Operation Atalanta does not have the characteristics nor the nature that is demanded and needed in the Red Sea,” President Pedro Sanchez said on 27 December.

While the Pentagon last week proclaimed “over 20 nations” had joined OPG, reports have shown that more of Washington’s closest partners are balking at the idea of joining war efforts in the Red Sea.

On 21 December, Australia announced it would be sending personnel to join OPG, but no warships or planes. India has also balked at the plan, with a senior military official revealing to Reuters that New Delhi is “unlikely to join” the US alliance.

Nonetheless, earlier this week, the Indian navy deployed several warships to the Arabian Sea in response to an alleged drone attack on an Israeli-linked vessel.

Saudi Arabia has also shown no interest in the venture, as the Gulf kingdom is reportedly more interested in ending its eight-year war in Yemen than in re-starting hostilities.

Yemen’s Red Sea operations in support of Palestinians in Gaza have significantly hurt the Israeli import sector, as the vital Port of Eilat has seen an 85 percent drop in activity. According to Bloomberg, half of the container ships that regularly transit the Red Sea and Suez Canal are avoiding the route now.

However, marine traffic data shows that the transit of non-western tankers through the Red Sea has surged since the Yemeni armed forces began targeting Israeli-linked vessels.

[…]

Via https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/12/28/hesitation-among-us-allies-leaves-operation-prosperity-guardian-in-dire-straits/

(Photo credit: Egyptian Presidency/AA)

The Cradle

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi held a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Cairo on 27 December, where they once again rejected Israel’s plans for forced displacement of Palestinians in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

In a joint statement, the two leaders announced their “complete rejection of all attempts to liquidate the Palestinian issue and forcibly displace Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.”

The statement also urged the international community to push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and called for “uninterrupted delivery of sufficient humanitarian aid to Gaza” to alleviate the “tragic situation and the suffering of the people in the Strip.”

“The two leaders note the international community’s immense political and ethical responsibility towards implementing UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions to maintain the integrity of these international entities,” the statement read.

Since the start of the war, aid has trickled into Gaza at a pace nowhere near fast enough to address the dire humanitarian situation. The US has also vetoed two UN resolutions urging for an immediate truce.

A resolution was passed on 22 December, after having been held up for days and watered down significantly at Washington’s insistence. The resolution made no mention of a ceasefire.

King Abdullah’s visit to Egypt comes days after Cairo proposed a ceasefire plan to reform Gaza’s government on a technocratic basis and gradually release Israeli prisoners in exchange for detained Palestinians and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

However, Hamas has rejected the proposal, which also failed to gain traction on the Israeli side.

Tel Aviv continues to push for a mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. Israel recently ordered more Palestinians to evacuate from Khan Yunis to areas further south, as tens of thousands of displaced are already stranded in the southern border city of Rafah.

The Cradle’s William Van Wagenen details in his recent analysis Israel’s longstanding goals to forcibly displace Gaza’s population into the Sinai Peninsula, occupy the Gaza Strip, and re-establish the Jewish settlement bloc that was evacuated in 2005.

In the occupied West Bank, violent Israeli settlers with Israeli government backing also continue to drive Palestinians from their homes in attempts to expel them to Jordan, a practice which has been ongoing for years.

A decades-old Israeli initiative known as the ‘Transfer Plan’ – originally formulated by the Zionist militias operating in Palestine, and then endorsed by the government of Israel post-1948 – calls for mass expulsion of Palestinians to the Sinai desert.

After Israel’s occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the idea of pushing Palestinians towards Jordan became included in the ‘Transfer Plan.’

Israel forced many Palestinians to migrate to Jordan over the years, particularly after 1967 and with the rapid expansion of illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank.

The ‘Transfer Plan’ was never officially implemented, and is a violation of UN Resolution 194, which was issued in 1948 and which legitimizes the right of return for Palestinian refugees expelled from their homes.

A joint Egyptian-Jordanian statement issued in late October this year rejected the transfer plan.

[…]

Via https://new.thecradle.co/articles/jordan-egypt-renew-rejection-of-israels-forced-displacement-plans

By Jeff Smith

Griid

About 4 years ago, organizers with Grand Rapids Rapid Response to ICE held a protest at an Amazon Distribution Center in Walker, Michigan. Amazon and one of its subsidiaries Palantir were providing tech support and data to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to track down and deport immigrants. The protest in 2019, involved a blockade and shut down the ability of Amazon drivers to make delivers for about 2 hours.

Activists and organizers have now discovered that Amazon works with the State of Israel. According to a recent action done by organizers in Puget Sound, Washington, which also produced research, as was reported on It’s Going Down:

Amazon supplies the tech infrastructure for Israel’s Project Nimbus via a 1.2 billion dollar contract to both Amazon and Google to provide cloud infrastructure, machine learning and artificial intelligence for both governance and military capabilities to prop up the apartheid state and ultimately more efficiently engage in ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people.

This research is supported by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign (BDS), which states:

In 2021, while apartheid Israel was carrying out yet another massacre in Gaza and pushing Palestinian families from their homes in Jerusalem, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud signed a $1.22 billion contract to provide cloud technology, called Project Nimbus, to the Israeli government and military. Through this contract, the two companies are enabling apartheid and entrenching the oppression of Palestinians. They are supporting more surveillance, more military assaults, more home demolitions, more checkpoints and racist population databases- essentially supporting the ongoing Nakba of Palestinians, 75 years and counting.

Thus, the amazon Distribution Center, of which there are now two in the Greater Grand Rapids Area, could also be targets of a campaign in solidarity with the Palestinians. Check out the international BDS Campaign to see what other organized efforts there are to boycott or divest from corporations that are profiting from the Israeli assault on Gaza and the ongoing Israeli occupation.

[…]

Via https://griid.org/2023/12/27/amazon-is-also-profiting-off-of-the-israeli-occupation-of-palestine-and-the-current-assault-on-gaza/

AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Wendell Husebø
Breitbart

Three Republican state lawmakers are drafting legislation to remove President Joe Biden from ballots in Georgia, Arizona, and Pennsylvania, Breitbart News exclusively learned Friday.

If Biden is removed from the ballots, the president will have difficulty winning the Democrat primary and presidential election. Georgia, Arizona, and Pennsylvania are vital swing states.

The three state representatives who are drafting the three bills are:

• Pennsylvania Rep. Aaron Bernstine (R)
• Georgia Rep. Charlice Byrd (R)
• Arizona Rep. Cory Mcgarr (R)

The state representatives’ aim is to fight back against the Democrats’ so-called “lawfare” used to attack former President Donald Trump. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in a 4-3 opinion that the United States Constitution’s “Insurrection Clause” blocks Trump from appearing on the state’s presidential ballot.

“We are joining forces to introduce legislation to REMOVE Joe Biden from the ballot in Georgia, Arizona, and Pennsylvania,” the lawmakers told Breitbart News. “The absurdity of radical Democrat judges removing Donald Trump from the ballot in Colorado will be a stain on the American political system for decades. By their very own interpretation of the law, Joe Biden is 100% not eligible to run for political office.”

“Democrats’ insane justification to remove Trump can just as easily be applied to Joe Biden for his ‘insurrection’ at the southern border and his alleged corrupt family business dealings with China,” they continued.

“Colorado radicals just changed the game and we are not going to sit quietly while they destroy our Republic. To be clear, our objective is to showcase the absurdity of Colorado’s decision and allow ALL candidates to be on the ballot in all states,” they wrote. “To do that, we must fight back as Republicans against the communists currently running our great country.”

Republicans were immediately incensed by the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision. Many floated ideas to block Biden from various state ballots. Texas Republicans threatened to take action predicated on the Biden administration’s open border policies, but no action was taken.

“While GOP elites are asleep at the wheel, the Democrats are very serious about destroying the American Republic,” political strategist Cliff Maloney told Breitbart News. “Thank God for patriots like Aaron Bernstine, Charlice Byrd, and Cory McGarr for stepping up to FIGHT back.”

Via https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/12/22/exclusive-republicans-drafting-bills-to-remove-joe-biden-from-ballots-in-georgia-arizona-pennsylvania/

Episode 23 Etruscan Legacy in the Roman World

The Mysterious Etruscans

Dr Steven L Tuck (2016)

Film Review

During his regime, the emperor Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD) rebuilt much of Rome as a classical Greek city, replacing brick facades of its public buildings with marble. At the same time, most of the innovations the modern world credit to Romans are really Etruscan. The Romans bequeathed most of them to modern Western culture.

• road and bridge building
• bronze sculpture
• the chariot
• togas
• the lituus (the crooked rod carried by augers which became the bishop’s crosier in the Catholic Church)

lituus

crozier

• bullae, amulets male children war to protect them from harm
• the acceptance of women and children in public life.
• the helmet, breastplate, grieves (shinguards), sword and javelin, as well as the metallurgical technology used to produce them
• the battle trumpet (used to communicate with military legions)
• the rostrum (battering ram warships used to ram other vessels)
• the arch
• the atrium (front public room of private homes)
• the construction of cities on hills fortified with walls.
• the triumphal procession following military victories
• divination and augury
• the magistrates chair (photo)

• horse racing
• science education (Etruscan Platonic solids* predated the Greek scientists Plato and Pythagoras)
• temples and theaters (Roman theater originated from the dramas enacted in Etruscan temples as part of religious rituals).
• human sacrifice of enemies captured in battle.
• gladiators
• altars
• post and lintel door construction

Romans owe their excellent military unit organization, their love of marble in architecture and their pantheon of gods to the Greeks.

According to Tuck, uniquely Roman innovations are limited to concrete, public bath complexes and basilicas.

*In geometry, a Platonic solid is a convex regular polyedron in three-dimensional Euclidean space. A polyhedon is regular if all the faces are congruent (identical in size and shape) and the same number of faces meet at each vertex. There are only five such polyhedra:

Tetrahedron	Cube	Octahedron	Dodecahedron	Icosahedron
Four faces	Six faces	Eight faces	Twelve faces	Twenty faces
(Animation, 3D model)	(Animation, 3D model)	(Animation, 3D model)	(Animation, 3D model)	(Animation, 3D model)

**istrones, the Latin word for actor is derived from the Etruscan word hister.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/239710/239653

Image captured for criticism/review and reporting current events under Fair Dealing – The Copyright Act 1994

NZDSOS

Is the government using a “measles outbreak” to divert from the crumbling covid narrative and create fear for compliance again?

This week Dr Shane Reti announced that $50 million tax payer dollars would be given to Whānau Ora and unnamed partners to boost vaccination rates. Dr Reti said that the focus would be on “high risk groups” such as Maori, stating that vaccination rates were a key part of health targets.

As if on cue, a purported email from Reach Aotearoa to its former staff members started circulating on social media. The email offered temporary employment positions in relation to an outbreak response, “most likely measles”. The offer did not mention the possibility of an outbreak, but inferred that the company would be needed for a defined period to respond to this outbreak. Hmmmm….!

The job offer came with very defined dates of 23 December 2023 to 7 January 2024 to undertake tasks described as: confirming exposure events, creation of disease contact records and receiving inbound calls. While it is quite possible that permanent staff will be on leave during the period advertised, it is obvious that Reach Aotearoa want staff to be at capacity. This is the same company that provided the then Ministry of Health with contact tracing services as part of the covid response. Hmmm….do they have prior knowledge of something?

Have we been here before?

Trying to set aside the terrible 3 year covid jabicide, monkey pox was the last most visible attempt by WHO boss Tedros to force unilaterally another ‘panic-demic’ on us. Remember – and to especially those that think he is all sweetness, light and collaborative democracy – he over-ruled his entire advisory committee to push “MPox” as a high concern infection for all nations,  justifying yet another ill-tested vaccination. Never mind that the infection was quite hard to get, very rarely fatal and affected a known demographic practising specific behaviours.

Swirling in the background, to scare us all further, are persistent jostles from Marburg disease, bird flu and even the – as yet – unmanifested “disease X”. Perhaps this latter is the one that Mr Gates assured us “will really get our attention next time”.  God forbid if any of these are actually real and dangerous. The boy crying wolf comes to mind.

A bit about measles

Measles is a viral illness that usually occurs in childhood, most often resulting in a mildly miserable child with a characteristic rash, accompanied by fever and flu-like symptoms. It used to be called a ‘childhood disease’ until there was a vaccine to sell and then it became a serious, highly contagious, life-threatening disease.  In the vast majority of healthy children, this a self-limiting infection, a rite of passage even. While measles can rarely result in death, the mortality rate for measles was declining rapidly in the United States by the 2nd half of the 20th century, due to better living conditions, sanitation and nutrition amongst the global population, and antibiotic treatment of any secondary bacterial infections.

Not only were deaths from measles decreasing but so were deaths from all infectious diseases. For those wanting to see graphics of the decline in mortality, these can be found in the link above. You will need a free membership to download the pdf. The American Medical Association will not allow the graphs in a medical journal to be distributed without their approval. Hmmmmm…..

However, we have been given permission to use the following image from Dissolving Illusions. Note the decline of deaths from measles prior to the vaccine.  Researchers suggest that the decline was due to the factors mentioned above.

Lest we digress from the measles story, almost all Gen Xers (born 1965-1984) who were fortunate enough to grow up relatively well fed, and who missed out on the childhood measles vaccines, can confirm that measles was a benign disease that provides life-long immunity.

How to prevent severe measles

Yes, the vaccine will decrease your chances of contracting measles, mostly.  Some adults are now being advised to get top-ups if they have only had one jab.

Most women born after 1969 have been vaccinated against measles. However mothers who have recovered from measles infection appear to provide greater immunity to their infants than those who have never contracted measles but have had the vaccine. (This is exactly the situation with covid-19 virus of course, and the jab given for it: natural immunity is far safer and more effective).

Measles vaccination cannot be given to infants. This situation leaves infants now vulnerable to suffering severe disease as the immunity they receive from breastmilk from vaccinated, but not infected and recovered mothers, is incomplete. This is illustrated by a Chinese study describing that nearly 60% of children hospitalised with measles were under 9 months old. As hard as it might be for modern humans to face, the reality is that the best way to prevent severe measles is for healthy women to contract and recover from it – ideally in childhood when immune function is more robust and wide-ranging. Then, later on, passing that immunity on through breast milk to their infants who are too young to be vaccinated.

Concern in some sectors has been raised regarding the waning immunity to measles in those who are vaccinated compared to those who contract measles naturally. The solution proffered is to vaccinate child-bearing age women again.This is not currently advised in New Zealand.

Furthermore there is concern about the association of vaccination with outbreaks for virulent strains and questions still remain about short and long-term side-effects that range from mild to life-changing.

Once again viral illnesses are mitigated by a healthy terrain which is built by healthy, unprocessed food, exercise, sensible sun exposure and community engagement. Nutrients known to fight off viral infections include zinc and vitamins C, D and A.