This was no oversight. The UK, like other Western countries, remains willfully blind regarding the Palestinian determination to destroy Israel utterly, and blandly complacent even when that imperative is staring them in the face. #TeamUK joined thousands of Palestinian and international runners in the incredible Palestine Marathon to support #FREEDOMOFMOVEMENT for all Palestinians. Great energy []

British Army gave top honour to soldier who 'karate chopped and kicked' Iraqi detainees

Areeb Ullah Fri, 03/17/2023 - 13:00

March 17 is traditionally St Patricks Day, a day when Irishness is celebrated all over the world. This date is traditionally held to be the date of the death of St Patrick  (c.385 c.461), the patron saint of Ireland. It is marked by parades through the main cities and towns of Ireland, and in recent years it has become popular as a festival around the world with famous buildings being lit up green and major rivers being dyed green.

However, in recent decades the symbolism of St Patricks Day has changed dramatically and promotes negative stereotypes (e.g., leprechauns) of the Irish people to a world audience. This is not good for Ireland or the Irish people.

It must also be noted that St Patrick is seen as the patron saint of Ireland because he defeated pagan ideology in favour of Christianity. However, pagan ideology had a strong connection with nature and the cycles of nature that resulted in seasonal festivals such as Beltaine (1 May), Lughnasadh (1 August), Samhain (1 November) and Imbolc (1 February).

St Patrick

Not a lot is known about Saint Patrick except he is believed to have been a Romano-British Christian missionary who was kidnapped by Irish raiders and brought to Ireland as a slave. After six years as a shepherd he went home and became a priest. He then returned to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity. He is famously believed to have driven the snakes out of Ireland despite the fact there is no record that Ireland ever had snakes.

It is more likely that the snakes refer to the pagans themselves:

Scholars suggest the tale is allegorical. Serpents are symbols of evil in the Judeo-Christian traditionthe Bible, for exampl...

 

Saoedi-Arabi en Iran zetten Westen buitenspel na Chinese onderhandelingen

Bitcoin, the flagship stateless cryptocurrency, is a double-edged sword that can either strengthen or harm national power. As financial warfare becomes increasingly complex, this decentralized cybercurrency is acting as a versatile strategic instrument of statecraft that can play various roles under confrontational geopolitical circumstances. This under-researched subject matter needs to be clarified because it entails meaningful implications for national security, strategic intelligence, foreign policy and grand strategy, but also for the domain of high finance. In order to provide a sharper sense of situational awareness, the following article integrates strategic forecasts that attempt to predict the hypothetical usefulness of Bitcoin for conflicts with scrutiny of illustrative contemporary examples that point in a similar direction.

 

Analysis of Hypothetical Applications

BTC circuits as conduits to bypass sanctions

Bitcoin can offer a potential lifeline for states under sanctions that need to ensure the continuity of their international economic exchanges. Since the BTC grid cannot be controlled by the coercive or restrictive power of national states, its borderless circuitry provides secondary financial arteries worth harnessing to bypass sanctions that limit the ability to carry out cross-border transactions and transfer wealth through more conventional platforms anchored to major reserve currencies that enable international payments. An additional advantage of decentralized virtual currencies for sanctioned states is their discretion. They offer covert gateways to engage formal financial systems or even to avoid them altogether if necessary. In other words, it is difficult to determine if sanctions are being neutralized through cryptocurrencies like BTC.

Furthermore, despite their drawbacks including wildly volatile exchange rates nonstate cryptocurrencies like BTC are helpful to evade sanctions thanks to their growing transnational projection, their unsupervised channels, and their lack of centralized nerve centers that could be politically threatened, co-opted, or influenced. An academic essay written by US military officer Deane Konowicz for the US Naval War College identifies three strategies to use unofficial virtual currencies as asymmetric equalizers to diminish or overcome sanctions imposed by an enemy with superior financial firepower. Yet, the implementation of each comes with challenging caveats.

• The theft of wealth through acts of cybercrime against cryptocurrency exchanges or ransomware attacks to demand payments denominated in cryptocurrency. This approach requires sophisticated cyberwarfare know-how.
• Cryptocurrency mining on a large scale as an industrial activity which generates profits that do not flow through traditional financial......

 Daniel Dumbrill heeft geretweet

UK: Former NUS president sues student body for racial discrimination

Areeb Ullah Fri, 03/17/2023 - 12:28

 

Video Title: Irish Contributions to Understanding Consciousness with James Tunney. Source: New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove. Date Published: February 26, 2020. Description:

James Tunney, LLM, is an Irish Barrister who has lectured on legal matters throughout the world. He is a poet, a visual artist, and also author of The Mystical Accord: Sutras to Suit Our Times, Lines for Spiritual Evolution. In addition, he has written two dystopian novels -- Blue Lies September and Ireland I Don't Recognize Who She Is. His website is http://www.jamestunney.com. 

Here he reviews Ireland's enormous contributions to both psychological understanding and esoteric thought. This extensive conversation covers prehistoric folk and fairy lore, the idealistic philosophy of Bishop George Berkeley, as well as the literary contributions from William Butler Yeats, Oscar Wilde, and James Joyce. The discussion also touches upon violent conflicts related to Irish independence. 

Marking the four-year anniversary of the Christchurch massacre in New Zealand in which 51 people were killed and 40  injured, Germanys Muslim community is doubling down on its determination to combat  Islamophobia, which includes criticism of Islam. The Central Council of Muslims (ZMD) called for a more determined stance against Islamophobia, saying Muslims continue to []

New in PJ Media: The first thing you need to know about Chloe Barnes is that he is a boy. But he knows the quick path to fame and fortune in todays Age of Absurdity, and so he claims to be a girl. While Chloe might have been a mediocre male athlete, he is now []

Apache Wendsler Nosie greets Preston Arrow-weed, QuechanQuechan Blessings and Prayer, Apache Stronghold Convoy, Day 4Quechan Indian Community and Tribal leaders stand with Apache Stronghold to Protect Oak Flat. March 15, 2023. Photos by Steve Pavey and Bs Pike."Powerful Presentation tonight, March 14, 2023. All of Our Spirituality is at stake! We must stay connected spiritually to our mother.

New in PJ Media: Somewhere in his confused and deteriorating mind, Old Joe Biden knows that the only way that Democrats can win in 2024, other than shenanigans with ballot harvesting and mail-in ballots, is by running as far away as they possibly can from the disastrous record of his dumpster-fire presidency. Since Old Joe []

Israel's former spy chief warns that country could turn into a 'dictatorship'

MEE staff Fri, 03/17/2023 - 09:26

Tunisia: European Parliament condemns country's 'authoritarian drift'

MEE staff Fri, 03/17/2023 - 09:25

New in PJ Media: Politicians who bend the truth are as old as politics itself, but Kamala Harris bent it well beyond the breaking point on Stephen Colberts show Wednesday night when she hailed her chief, Old Joe Biden, as an extraordinary leader. As Old Joe himself might say, Come on, man! Would The Cackler []

We round out this week's blogging about the pushback movement from the states with this story from Tennessee shared by K.M.  This is another

The post TENNESSEE HOUSE BILL: STATE TREASURER MAY ACQUIRE GOLD TO PROTECT ... appeared first on The Giza Death Star.

By Timur Fomenko | RT | March 17, 2023

Earlier this week, a trilateral summit was held with the leaders of Australia, the United Kingdom and the US in San Diego to flesh out the details of an AUKUS deal providing Canberra with nuclear-powered submarines, with the intention of containing China in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

The pact will also create a rotational presence of UK and US nuclear submarines near Perth, Western Australia, starting from 2027. The goal is to integrate the US and UKs nuclear sub fleet while Australia builds the necessary operational capabilities of its own.

It is no coincidence that the deal was announced on Commonwealth Day, an annual celebration of the former dominions of the British Empire. On the same day, the UK government released its integrated review, whereby it vowed to increase defense spending. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak then proceeded to describe China as an epoch-defining challenge, framing the UK, and the AUKUS alliance at large, as a benevolent force dedicated to keeping the Indo-Pacific open and free. China reacted by harshly condemning the meeting, decrying it for a typical Cold War mentality that will only exacerbate [an] arms race, undermine the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and hurt regional peace and stability.

Chinas interpretation of the AUKUS submarine deal is correct. The Biden administration is aggressively expanding its alliance system in a bid to militarily contain Beijing. Along with the AUKUS pact, it is also pushing for trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan, something South Korean President Yoon Seok Yeol is open to, expanding its military presence in the Philippines, and taking part in other regional groups such as the Quad. However, AUKUS is unique because it consists solely of Anglosphere nations, and as such, embodies the neo-imperialist sentiment of Anglophone exceptionalism.

The UKs decision to pursue an increasingly anti-China foreign policy is, of course, influenced by the US and against Britains best interests. However, its foreign policy narrative, especially in light of Brexit, is clothed in imperial nostalgia, which reflects back on the British Empire as a force for good. It drums up not memories of enslavement, exploitation, or aggression against o...

Russian Navy Blockades Downed US Drone

Hal Turner March 16, 2023

The Russian Navy has located the downed US MQ-9 Reaper Drone in the Black Sea, about 50 nautical miles from Sevastopol and has created a blockade around the crash site.

The Russian Navy salvage Vessel Kumma is enroute to the location.

It is reportedly going to attempt to retrieve the drone, which is said to be under about 90 meters of water.

Source

Russia Wants to Recover Debris of US Drone from Black Sea

By Elena Becatoros and Darlene Superville Associated Press March 15, 2023

Russia wants to recover the fragments of a U.S. surveillance drone that American forces brought down in the Black Sea after an encounter with a Russian fighter jet, a Russian security official said Wednesday.

Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russias Security Council, claimed in televised remarks that Tuesdays incident was another confirmation of direct U.S. involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. He said Russia planned to search for the drones debris.

I dont know if we can recover them or not, but we will certainly have to do that, and we will deal with it, Patrushev said. I certainly hope for success.

U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the drone was flying in international airspace and over international waters when a Russian fighter jet struck the propeller of the MQ-Reaper drone.

U.S. officials accused Russia of attempting to intercept the unmanned aerial vehicle, although its presence over the Black Sea was not an uncommon occurrence.

It is also not uncommon for the Russians to try to intercept them, Kirby said, adding that such an encounter does increase the risk of miscalculations, misunderstandings.

Kirby said the drone had not yet been recovered and it was unclear whether it would be, but the U.S. took steps to protect the information and to pr...

March 15 2023 The explosive device that was planted on the side of the Route 65 highway in Megiddo has been described as very sophisticated in nature, and does not resemble those used by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank ByNews Desk A mysterious roadside bombing at the Megiddo junction in northern Israel on 13 []

Dr Andrew Kaufman SGT Report via Odysee.com Feb 20, 2023

Source

Visible Origami March 16, 2023

Dog Poet Transmitting.

On my way to a point beyond, I looked into the darkness below a number of times. Many strange and fascinating shapes continuously appear. The shining of The False Light on The Lower Nature creates a hypnotic pull that is difficult to break. It is a tractor beam on the unconscious, and before you know it, you are through the door. The objective of the attraction is to suck The Mind into a rolling darkness that is not unlike an angry sea.

Do not go down into The Dark Splendor;

or lose your way inside your own head

There were conspiracies ancient and modern; webs within webs wheels within wheels. There were entities behind sorcerers of every kind, and sorcerers behind the masks of the men and women that wear the faces of the time, to act as the channels for the darkness and as focus points for submission and longing; monkey see monkey do.

It all got old; who did what to whom. How they did it. Somebody said this way, and somebody said that way, and I? I didnt care. Thats not my world. I never really lived there in that place where nothing matters; that only matters to people who have skin in the game. The people below, in The Carnal Zone, have no idea about the people who live beyond it. The people beyond it must exercise caution when interacting with animal eyes.

It is possible to get lost for a very long time in The Hall of Appetites, in The Mirrors of Desire. When you are always reflecting on what you become in the image of what you pursue, where does that leave you? You literally have to die to the one to live in the other, and that is an act of faith in both directions. Its always easier to believe in what you can see. When you live where the only reality is what occurs on the bandwidth of the senses, how do you muster enough belief to escape it?

I practice The Presence. I rely on The Presence, and I love The Presence, with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind. Thats all I seek to do, and thats all I am essentially. Each time that I am sidetracked, my invisible friends remind me to pull back from the distractions and stop wandering about in them. I am like a passer-by in a curiosity shop who is not even remotely curious, having been that way enough times before.

You can be lost for some time before you realize you are lost. If you do not stay on track, with daily reminders on familiar roads, it is not difficult for the unfamiliar to be mistaken for the familiar; bad companions poor judgment the resident impurities of weak character. We all struggle with these conditions until we grow tired of the fight. We are boxing with our own shadows.

Th...

  This new Glazov Gang episode is hosted by Anni Cyrus and features Chris Elston, an activist known as Billboard Chris who is taking a stand against gender ideology and its vicious abuse and maiming of children. Billboard Chris discusses Cutting Off Childrens Breasts and Penises, reflecting on The New and Improved Bolshevik Revolution. Dont []

Introduction March 17, 2023

There is one key element to this story that Reuters omits to mention. The fact that Reuters doesnt note exactly why President Assad would welcome more Russian troops speaks volumes about Reuters and its objectivity.

Crucial to this story and pointedly omitted by Reuters, is the fact that the U.S. military is still in northeastern Syria.

Not only are they there illegally, they jointly occupy sites with militants who wrought havoc in Syria before Russia intervened in 2015. Prior to then they had been on the verge of ousting President Assad in a Western backed regime change operation.

The fact that they remain in northeast Syria with US support is probably the main reason Assad would welcome more Russian troops. Ed.

Syrias Assad would like more Russian bases and troops

Guy Faulconbridge and Caleb Davis Reuters March 16, 2023

-> Assad courts more Russian support
-> Assad would welcome more Russian troops
-> Assad suggests Russian bases should be permanent
-> Syria supports Putins war in Ukraine Assad

MOSCOW, March 16 (Reuters) Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said on Thursday that he would welcome any Russian proposals to set up new military bases and boost troop numbers in the Middle Eastern country, suggesting Russias military presence there should become permanent.

When Russia intervened in the Syrian Civil War in 2015, it helped tip the balance in Assads favour, ensuring the Syrian leaders survival despite Western demands that he be toppled.

Assad, who met President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Wednesday, has supported Russias war in Ukraine and told Russias state news agency RIA that Damascus recognises the territories claimed by Russia in Ukraine.

Syria, Assad said, would welcome any Russian proposals to set up new military bases and boost Russian troop numbers and said they need not be temporary.

We think that expanding the Russian presence in Syria is a good thing, Assad told RIA in an interview. Russias military presence in any country should not be based on anything temporary.

We believe that if Russia has the desire to expand bases or increase their number, it is a technical or logistical issue.

Assads years as president have been defined by the conflict that began in 2011 with peaceful protests before spiralling into a multi-sided conflict that has fractured the Middle Eastern country and drawn in foreign friends and enemies.

He has stitched much of his state back together with the help of Russia and I...

Thomas Lifson American Thinker March 16, 2023

Love him or hate him, Tucker Carlson has become the most important political analyst of our era.  The release to him of suppressed J6 Capitol footage that contradicted the Democrat/media narrative dominated political news until Carlsons questionnaire on Ukraine policy to the potential GOP presidential field knocked it out of the headlines.  Not since Woodward and Bernstein dominated the news with Watergate has a media source produced results that focused the national spotlight so completely as Mr. Tucker Carlson.  Unsurprisingly, many are the progressives who want to see him knocked off the air.

Last night, he began his top-rated hour-long program with the following startling statement: Youre going to get a hot war with Russia and China whether you want one or not.

He followed with analysis of the Black Sea drone incident and the calls for retaliation and escalation from Lindsey Graham and his friends in the war party that would likely lead to outright war.  And wartime, he noted at the end of the segment, leads to extraordinary suppression of political dissent.

[T]he second we actually go to war with Russia, they will use that as a pretext to crush all dissent. Dissent is not allowed in wartime. And thats what this is really about (in addition to their personal enrichment). Its about changing the domestic politics of the United States. The second we can all say that we are at war with Russia, not in effect but in reality in a hot war which is what they want, thats the moment you are no longer allowed to express your opinion. And the penalty is jail during war.

He linked the timing of the incident to the war skepticism over Ukraine voiced by many of the GOP respondents to his presidential field questionnaire.  He also claimed that a majority of both Republicans and the general public do not support war against Russia, yet expression of skepticism is characterized in the media as supporting Russia.  The video clip examples he provided were startling, as was his analysis of the worried look on the face of General Milley discussing the incident:

Mike Corder The Independent March 16, 2023

A new powerhouse of Dutch right-wing populism took political center stage Thursday after winning its first provincial elections, a victory that was seen as a resounding rebuke to Prime Minister Mark Ruttes ruling four-party coalition.

With counting of ballots from Wednesdays vote wrapping up, the Farmer Citizen Movement known by its Dutch acronym BBB was predicted to win 15 seats in the 75-seat upper house of the Dutch national parliament, level with the bloc formed by left-of center Labor and Green parties. The provincial lawmakers elected in Wednesdays vote choose national senators at the end of May.

Losses suffered by members of Ruttes coalition weaken the government but could also strengthen their resolve to sit out their four-year term in office that ends in 2025 rather than face an early national election. They also will compound problems for Rutte in his attempts to drastically slash pollution from the countrys agriculture, industry and transport sectors to protect vulnerable natural habitats.

Victories in provinces across the nation of nearly 18 million for a party whose leader Caroline van der Plas is its only national lawmaker underscore a deep-rooted resentment of mainstream politics in the Netherlands that spreads far beyond the partys farming power base. With the count nearing completion, the BBB was forecast to become the biggest party in every province except the central province of Utrecht.

We are all normal people and all the people who voted for us are normal citizens, Van der Plas said in a victory speech.

Normally, if people no longer trust the government, they stay home, she added. Today they showed they dont want to stay at home they want their voices to be heard.

The party that traditionally has represented many farmers and conservative rural voters, the Christian Democrats, which is one of the four coalition parties, was one of the big losers in the vote Wednesday.

Mid-term elections for the Netherlands 12 provincial legislatures are often used by voters to register their anger at sitting governments, but the success can be fleeting as fickle populist voters shift their allegiances. Four years ago, the far-right populist Forum for Democracy won the biggest share of the vote, but on Wednesday it was decimated.

Van der Plas describes her party as social right wing, with its initial focus on the future of farmers and rural communities now broadened to make it appealing to a far wider electorate. Political analyst Andre K...

Joseph Curl The Daily Wire March 15, 2023

After a train carrying highly toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, President Joe Biden hopped on Air Force One, transferred to a train and went to Ukraine.

You see, the U.S. president is worried about their border. He doesnt care about the U.S. border, mind you, just theirs. And hes now been to the Ukraine border as many times as hes visited our southern border: once.

But when billionaire bankers once again crashed and burned, Biden was on it fast.

Everything went south on Friday, when the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed the second largest in history. Biden actually did some work over the weekend, assuring the financial sector that hes got their back.

Then on Monday, 30 minutes before the New York Stock Exchange opened, Biden vowed that the federal government would hand out money just like the last time the banking world imploded, just 15 years ago.

I instructed my team to act quickly to protect these interests, the president said in an effort to stem massive market losses and widespread panic.

First, all customers who had deposits in these banks can rest assured I want to rest assured theyll be protected and theyll have access to their money as of today. That includes small businesses across the country that banked there and need to make payroll, pay their bills, and stay open for business, he said.

Americans can have confidence that the banking system is safe, Biden said at the White House. Your deposits will be there when you need them.

Of course, SVB has little to do with small businesses. Roblox, the online gaming firm worth $3 billion, had about $150 million in SVB. Streaming service Roku had nearly $500 million held in deposits with SVB. U.S. cryptocurrency firm Circle had $3.3 billion of its $40 billion of reserves at SVB.

Not exactly your mom and pop small businesses.

Meanwhile, SVB CEO Greg Becker sold $3.6 million of company stock less than two weeks before the bank collapsed, and, in another one of those amazing coincidences, Peter Theils Founders Fund worth $11 billion withdrew millions by Thursday morning, Bloomberg reported.

But Biden was there swiftly to help out his billionaire buddies a lot of whom donated to his presidential campaign. That was in stark contrast to what happened in Ohio. On February 3, a Norfolk Southern Railway train derailed in East Palestine, home to just 5,000 people. The cars, carrying vinyl chloride, ethyl acrylate, and isobutylene, spilled everywhere.

For two straight weeks, Bidens Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) did next to nothing, not showing up on site until Februa......

Blaze TV YouTube.com March 14, 2023

while data from the UK and Germany suggest you cause 22 serious injuries with the shot in order to prevent a single childs hospitalization

By Meryl Nass | March 15, 2023

We need to start charging the individual public health officials with crimes for acting outside their legal authority where is the US Pascal Najadi?

On December 8, 2022 the FDA authorized bivalent COVID boosters for children as young as 6 months old.

More children now have the opportunity to update their protection against COVID-19 with a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine, and we encourage parents and caregivers of those eligible to consider doing so especially as we head into the holidays and winter months where more time will be spent indoors, said FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D.

Yesterday, the FDA authorized a 4th dose of mRNA COVID vaccine for children aged 6 months to 5 years of age.

Risk-benefit assessment used to be the foundation of public health practice. Lets look at some recent data on vaccine risk and vaccine benefit.

The German Minister of Health, Dr. Karl Lauterbach, admitted that 1 in 10,000 COVID vaccine doses leads to a serious adverse event. He also appears to be building his alibi, claiming he did not sign the vaccine contract. Yet he did promote, cajole and enforce the vaccinations, nonetheless.

Family physician Dr. Scott Jensen, former Minnesota State Senator, noted th...

The March 7^th edition of the BBC World Services Global News Podcast was titled Six Palestinians killed in Israeli army raid in Jenin and its synopsis began:

Israel claims one of the dead killed two Jewish settlers

The programme and that lead item was introduced by presenter Gareth Barlow as follows: [emphasis in italics in the original, emphasis in bold added]

Barlow: and in the early hours of Wednesday the 8^th of March, these are our main stories. The Israeli prime minister defends a raid on a refugee camp in which six men were killed according to Palestinian health officials.

The event that is the topic of this BBC report took place earlier on March 7^th when the IDF carried out a counter-terrorism operation in Jenin with the aim of apprehending a terrorist suspected of the murders of Hillel and Yagel Yaniv on February 26^th. As noted here previously, the BBC News website did not produce any stand-alone reporting on that terror attack.

At 01:...

Sylvia Shawcross In the ghastly world where the mooing herds furiously and fulsomely flatulate in the forever future fields of Blackrock the murmurs of discontent are rippling and snippling and whippling at the breakfast trough. Although well aware of their role of do and die and not to question why some rogue bovines are unsettling