04-10-2024, 04:53 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-10-2024, 05:09 AM by kyonides.
Edit Reason: European News
)
USA
Sometimes I get the impression MTG is simply getting too far or too unrealistic on these negotiation issues.
How is it possible to be a member of the White House administration after blatantly committing such a crime!?
EUROPE
MTG & Mike Johnson
Quote:Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) escalated her war against Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) Tuesday with a missive that will greet weary lawmakers returning to the Capitol for a tense two-week legislative burst that might be the most treacherous period of Johnson’s speakership.
Greene’s letter is the latest attack in her weeks-long crusade against Johnson that gained legislative legitimacy when she filed a motion to vacate the chair on March 22. That motion could strip Johnson’s gavel just as the House did to then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in October.
She filed her motion the day Johnson passed a massive $1.2 trillion government funding plan over the objections of the majority of House Republicans, a move Greene says “broke our conference rules and the promises we made to our voters.”
The House adopted rules at the beginning of the 118th Congress intended to allow members at least 72 hours to review all legislation before voting. The 1,000-plus page spending bill was presented to members before 3:00 a.m. Eastern on Thursday morning, less than 36 hours before the vote.
More significantly, the bill was opposed by 112 Republicans, with only 101 Republican votes in support despite significant pressure from Johnson and his leadership team. By passing a bill under suspension of the rules – bypassing the Republican-controlled Rules Committee – and relying on Democrat support to pass a bill opposed by the majority of his party, Johnson violated the Hastert Rule, an informal rule that Republican speakers should never bring forward a bill opposed by the majority of his party.
Greene opposed that minibus – the second part of a two-tiered, or “laddered” omnibus spending bill – on its merits as well. She writes, “There is little daylight between Nancy Pelosi’s omnibus in the 117th Congress and Mike Johnson’s omnibus in the 118th Congress, in spite of Americans giving Republicans the majority in order to stop the Democrats’ ‘America Last’ destructive agenda.”
But her concerns with Johnson’s speakership are much broader than the months-long funding fight which culminated in the omnibus – almost six months after the original deadline, which occurred before Johnson grabbed the gavel.
Sometimes I get the impression MTG is simply getting too far or too unrealistic on these negotiation issues.
Trump
Quote:A New York appeals court judge on Tuesday permitted the full Appellate Division First Department to consider relaxing a sweeping gag order against former President Donald Trump.
The appellate court could reportedly decide to delay the criminal trial while it considers Trump’s gag order appeal.
Trump sued New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan in an appeals court on Monday to challenge the judge’s sweeping gag order. Merchan, who is presiding over the New York criminal case, imposed the gag order after news surfaced about a connection between Merchan’s daughter and conspiracy theorist Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
The gag order, as Breitbart News’s Nick Gilbertson reported, prevents Trump from making public comments about witnesses participating in the trial, counsel other than Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), “members of the court’s staff and the District Attorney’s staff, or … the family members of any counsel or staff member, if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with … counsel’s or staff’s work” on the case. It also encompasses prospective jurors.
As soon as Monday, the day the trial is set to begin, the full Appellate Division First Department could rule on Trump’s request to lift the gag order, CBS News reported...
Quote:A seven-page juror questionnaire was released by the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s upcoming criminal trial in Manhattan.
Judge Juan Merchan released a questionnaire on Monday, consisting of 42 questions he will ask jurors as part of the process of selecting the jury for the trial, according to ABC News. The trial, which begins on April 15, centers around alleged hush-money payments Trump made to adult entertainment star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.
In one question on the questionnaire, jurors are asked which “print publications, cable and/or network programs, or online media” they read or have watched. Answers to the questions include the New York Times, USA Today, Huffington Post, Facebook, New York Post, Fox News, or Newsmax.
Another question asks if jurors, or a relative or close friend, have “ever worked or volunteered for a Trump presidential campaign, the Trump presidential administration, or any other political entity affiliated with Mr. Trump.”
“Have you ever attended a rally or campaign event for Donald Trump?” another question asks.
Senate
Quote:A group of anti-Israel protesters calling for Congress to support a ceasefire and end military aid to Israel shut down the Senate cafeteria.
The group of protesters, Christians for a Free Palestine, was captured on video in the Dirksen Senate Office Building and could be heard chanting, “We are Christians for Free Palestine,” “We are here to pray for the food of Gaza,” and “Our Scriptures say, ‘Woe to you! To eat while others go hungry,’ and ‘Woe to you! For there is famine in Gaza.'”
“Congress and their staff will not eat today,” the protesters can be heard saying in one video. “Until Gaza eats.”
The protest comes as the people of Gaza face mass famine as fighting between Hamas, a U.S.-designated Islamic terrorist organization, and Israel continues. Countries such as Britain, the United States, Egypt, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates have conducted airdrops of food into Gaza.
U.S. Capitol Police confirmed to Breitbart News that “approximately 50 people” had been arrested for “illegally demonstrating” in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The protesters were charged with Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding under D.C. Code § 22–1307.
“It is illegal to demonstrate inside any of the Congressional Buildings,” the U.S. Capitol Police told Breitbart News in a statement.
Open Editorial
IMHO, I can tell you that no actual Christian has any excuse to support Palestine. The land is Israeli territory from a legal standpoint. Palestinians came from Jordan and Syria. A former King of Jordan killed thousands and expelled a lot more from his kingdom after a Palestinian revolution. This group truly wanted to overthrow the government. Nobody took their side back then. Jordan prefer to watch how this group and other Arabs, that would later become Hezbollah, invaded and took control over Lebanon.
The Palestinians got to the so called West Bank, actually it's Judea & Samaria, only because Jordan had invaded that portion because Israel had not taken effective control over that region. Egypt did the same with Gaza. The Egyptians ruled over Gaza from 1949 to 1956 and again from 1957 to 1967. Nobody cared if Jordan or Egypt mistreated or even killed the Palestinians at that time.
So were any of those lands actual Palestinian territory? Nope, they never were in the first place. The Palestinian State never came to be. All of this madness started when a certain guy called Yasser Arafat establish a connection with the KGB. Then all of this Palestinian propaganda we know very well by now emerged from nowhere all of a sudden.
Now I gotta ask you an important question here. If you'd never ever trust the KGB, now known as FSB, nor Putin and his allies, why do you buy the Palestinian narrative they invented decades ago? And keep in mind that Putin was an actual KBG agent himself!
The Palestinians got to the so called West Bank, actually it's Judea & Samaria, only because Jordan had invaded that portion because Israel had not taken effective control over that region. Egypt did the same with Gaza. The Egyptians ruled over Gaza from 1949 to 1956 and again from 1957 to 1967. Nobody cared if Jordan or Egypt mistreated or even killed the Palestinians at that time.
So were any of those lands actual Palestinian territory? Nope, they never were in the first place. The Palestinian State never came to be. All of this madness started when a certain guy called Yasser Arafat establish a connection with the KGB. Then all of this Palestinian propaganda we know very well by now emerged from nowhere all of a sudden.
Now I gotta ask you an important question here. If you'd never ever trust the KGB, now known as FSB, nor Putin and his allies, why do you buy the Palestinian narrative they invented decades ago? And keep in mind that Putin was an actual KBG agent himself!
Romanian Skimmer Sentenced for ATM Theft
Quote:An illegal alien from Romania has been convicted of using electronic devices to break into ATM machines to steal money from public assistance benefits accounts meant to help low-income families in California.
Marius Oprea, 38, was handed 75 months in a federal prison for using the devices to skim money from the accounts by creating counterfeit debit cards in the names of welfare program enrollees, the Justice Department announced in an April 1 press release.
United States District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong handed down the sentence on March 29 and ordered Oprea to pay $28,974 in restitution.
Last June, the convicted thief pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and admitted that he and his cohorts used counterfeit cards to fraudulently make withdrawals from the accounts of Californians on assistance.
Oprea was accused of being the ring leader of the skimming crew and prosecutors showed that he had the devices shipped to a P.O. Box he rented. Prosecutors also presented evidence that Oprea maintained a database of accounts and names from which they could steal the money meant for low-income residents of Los Angeles:
Yes, Iran Spends Unfrozen Funds in Violent Activities
Quote:Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo inadvertently admitted to Congress on Tuesday that the $6 billion that the Biden administration unfroze for Iran last year in exchange for the return of five American prisoners likely went to fund violent activity.
During his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, Adeyemo said:
Senator, you’re right that in a democracy, money is fungible. But what we’ve seen time and time from the Iranian regime is they failed to feed their people and they put the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] first. Any dollar they have will go towards their violent activity before they deal with their people. That’s partially why almost none of the humanitarian money has been used for humanitarian purposes.
They don’t care about getting drugs and food for their people. But the difference is that the United States of America has made as a values proposition that we are always willing to provide humanitarian relief for people and that’s what we’ve said is the only purpose for this money. So while in our country, money is fungible in Iran, they’ve proven that any dollar they get that they have direct access to in the country will be used for the IRGC before it’s ever used for their people.
Last August, the Biden administration unfroze the funds for Iran in exchange for the Americans, arguing that the money would only go towards humanitarian needs.
Republicans said that since money was fungible, it would free up other money for Iran to support terrorist proxies in the region.
Biden Not Abbott Paying Your Plain Ticket... If You're an Immigrant
Quote:A review of available federal records shows the Biden administration has secretly flown 33,000 illegal aliens into New York City and an astounding 326,000 into the state of Florida over the last several years.
The number of illegals that Biden has flown around the country dwarfs the number that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) sent via bus to deep blue cities, even though it is Abbott who suffers the barbs of the left-wing media for the practice and Biden’s human trafficking is wholly ignored by the press.
According to a report by Todd Bensman, a senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, Biden imported more than 800,000 illegals into the country via a program called the “CHNV Program” or the “Advanced Travel Authorization Program.”
These programs send planes directly to foreign airports, load them up with people who have not gone through the normal immigration process, and then fly them directly to U.S. airports where they are dumped into the American populace. And all this is done without any notice or coordination with the local government officials.
Under Biden’s plan, “sponsors” fill out online applications for the illegals to apply for permission to fly into the U.S. The approval process for these applications has not been made public, but once an application is approved, the illegals make their way to a designated airport in the U.S. where they are allowed into the country.
The two programs identified by Bensman seem to have directly imported 800,000 illegals into the country and then disseminated them all across the land, often in flights that arrived in the middle of the night.
None of these records are exactly in the public, though. According to Bensman, Biden’s Department of Homeland Security refused to comply with Freedom of Information Act records requests, and the numbers Bensman cites have had to be parsed from a disparate number of government reports.
The Biden administration is doing its best to keep these flights a secret, Bensman charged.
Lack of Acts to Halt Shooting
Quote:Jennifer and James Crumbley, parents of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbly, were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison on Tuesday.
Ethan shot and killed four people at Oxford High School on November 30, 2021.
His parents were charged following the shooting. The Associated Press pointed out “the Crumbleys were accused of not securing the newly purchased gun at home and acting indifferently to signs of Ethan’s deteriorating mental health, especially when confronted with a chilling classroom drawing earlier that same day.”
The Guardian reported that as the case played out in court, prosecutors argued that Jennifer and James might have prevented the shooting via “tragically simple actions” which were not taken.
On February 2, 2024, Breitbart News reported that Jennifer gave testimony in which she admitted to having an extramarital affair and claimed her husband bought the handgun her son used in the attack on Black Friday 2021.
The AP noted Jennifer and James both denied knowing their son had brought the gun to school with him on the day of the attack.
On Tuesday in the courtroom, Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews said, “These convictions are not about poor parenting, these convictions confirm repeated acts, or lack of acts, that could have halted an oncoming runaway train.”
The Crumbleys were each convicted of “four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each of the students their son killed,” NBC News reported.
Biden on the Ceasefire
Quote:President Joe Biden called Tuesday for Israel to accept a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza for six to eight weeks — before any of the remaining Israeli hostages are set free by Hamas, undermining Israel’s military and diplomatic position.
Biden’s remarks were aired by Univision, though they were taped last week. As Breitbart News reported, Biden had demanded an “immediate ceasefire” last Thursday, after the accidental killing of seven aid workers in Gaza. He had also allowed a United Nations Security Council resolution to pass that separated a ceasefire from the release of the hostages. But the White House insisted that its policy had not changed, and still wanted the two issues to be linked.
Now, that is over. The Times of Israel reported on the “major policy shift” by the president on Tuesday:
“What I’m calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into the country,” Biden tells the Univision, a US Spanish-language TV network.
“I’ve spoken with everyone from the Saudis to the Jordanians to the Egyptians. They’re prepared to move in,” Biden says. “They’re prepared to move this food in. And I think there’s no excuse to not provide for the medical and the food needs of those people. It should be done now.”
...
Hours before the interview aired, Biden’s top aides went on record presenting a very different approach to how the US wants to see a ceasefire come about, insisting that it was Hamas, not Israel that is holding up a deal that would see an extended pause in fighting, the hostages released and aid surge into Gaza.
Biden’s statement aired as Israeli negotiators are in Cairo, Egypt, trying to convince Hamas to release 40 of the 133 remaining hostages, in return for a temporary ceasefire and the release of a far greater number of terrorists.
WH Says It's Not Good Enough
Quote:As Breitbart News reported earlier Tuesday, Israel moved a record number of aid trucks into Gaza on Sunday, and again on Monday, when the number of trucks reached 419. Prior to the war, 70 food trucks entered Gaza daily.
The increase in aid has been occurring throughout the war, but accelerated after President Joe Biden demanded an “immediate ceasefire” from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week after the accidental deaths of seven aid workers. Israel pulled its ground troops out of southern Gaza and took steps to open additional crossing points into Gaza for humanitarian aid — including the Erez Crossing, which Hamas terrorists attacked on October 7.
Still, Sullivan was not satisfied. “That is good; it is not good enough,” he said. He did not say what else Israel had to do to satisfy the concerns of the administration, but suggested that U.S. policy toward Israel would depend on Israel’s compliance with the White House’s yet-to-be-defined demands.
The United Nations claimed that Israel had not actually increased aid to Gaza, because the trucks that entered Gaza were half-full. However, as the United Nations itself admitted, that has been a standard requirement by Israeli authorities to enable the screening of the trucks. Israel says that the United Nations is failing to distribute enough of the aid, much of which is stolen by Hamas.
Sullivan also urged Congress to pass a renewal of the government’s Section 702 surveillance authority — the powers that were abused in 2016 and 2017 to spy on members of the Trump campaign. That improper surveillance came after Sullivan and other Hillary Clinton campaign staffers spread the “Russian collusion” hoax, which in turn prompted the FBI to target Trump associates. Sullivan has never apologized for his role in misleading Congress and the media.
How is it possible to be a member of the White House administration after blatantly committing such a crime!?
NPR & Russia-Gate
Quote:Senior NPR business editor Uri Berliner admitted in an explosive op-ed published Tuesday that the public radio station’s RussiaGate reporting was a bust, and that it did not fess up to that after no “Russian collusion” was found between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Furthermore, Berliner admitted that then-California Senate candidate Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) became the news outlet’s “guiding hand” in this fruitless endeavor, and expressed regret in hitching its wagon to him. Schiff was the main pusher of the Russia collusion hoax in Congress and had repeatedly insisted there was “circumstantial evidence” of collusion.
Berliner, in his op-ed published in the Free Press, wrote that the rise of advocacy at NPR “took off” with the election of former President Donald Trump in 2016.
“As in many newsrooms, his election in 2016 was greeted at NPR with a mixture of disbelief, anger, and despair,” he wrote. “But what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency.”
He said “persistent rumors” that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia “became the catnip that drove reporting.”
“At NPR, we hitched our wagon to Trump’s most visible antagonist, Representative Adam Schiff,” Berliner wrote, adding:
Schiff, who was the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, became NPR’s guiding hand, its ever-present muse. By my count, NPR hosts interviewed Schiff 25 times about Trump and Russia. During many of those conversations, Schiff alluded to purported evidence of collusion. The Schiff talking points became the drumbeat of NPR news reports.
But, Berliner writes, when Special Counsel Robert Mueller “found no credible evidence of collusion, NPR’s coverage was notably sparse.”
“Russiagate quietly faded from our programming,” he wrote, before admonishing the NPR newsroom.
EUROPE
UEFA Champions League & ISIS
Quote:Police across Europe are on high alert after Islamic State-linked media published calls to attack high-profile football quarter-final matches taking place this week and expected to be attended by tens of thousands of fans.
Messages including “destroy their meetings” and “kill them all” have been broadcast with images of European football stadiums due to host Champions League quarter-final matches this week. Four matches this week, at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, the Cívitas Metropolitano in Madrid, the Emirates Stadium in London, and the Parc des Princes Paris, are to be played on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings this week.
British newspaper The Daily Mail reports the Islamic State-linked Al Azaim Foundation called for killings at the matches. The Times, citing a different communication, noted a call for “my brother from Al Andalus, destroy their meetings”, a reference to the name given to Spain — Al Andalus — used during the period of Islamic occupation of the Iberian Peninsula before the Reconquista in the 15th century.
Spanish government spokesman Francisco Martin said there is going to be an “extraordinary level” of security at the matches. Some 3,500 officers are to be deployed including sniper units. Fans will be searched before entering the stadium. Some 85,000 fans are expected in Madrid tonight, a preview states.
London’s Metropolitan Police also stated their readiness, per reports, with the force’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan saying he wanted to reassure the public that a “robust policing plan in place for tonight’s match”. He asked the public to remain vigilant and to report suspicious goings-on to police.
Per the BBC, the French government vowed a “considerably reinforced” security presence for the match to be played in Paris. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said: “I will remind you that only 10 days ago, IS shared a picture of the Munich stadium and said action should be taken against sports venues that host football games – although all sports can be targeted. Given how important the Champions League is for football, we are of course talking to our partners”.
David Cameron's Address to US Congress
Quote:Former British Prime Minister David Cameron told America that “it’s profoundly in your interests” to shovel more money into Ukraine while saying he would like to meet with any members of Congress in need of persuading as he visits Washington.
For Ukraine, “perhaps nothing is more important than the supplemental the Congress is looking at the moment” former Prime Minister David Cameron — who quit the post over losing his own Brexit referendum, but is now back in government as Britain’s chief diplomat — said on Tuesday.
Now Lord Cameron — after he was elevated to Britain’s largely appointed House of Lords — tried to claim that he would not “lecture” Americans on how to spend their money while at the same time appealing for U.S. taxpayer money on behalf of Ukraine.
The comments came after meetings with his American counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and former President Trump. While Cameron didn’t reveal what he discussed with Trump on Tuesday morning, the British Foreign Office disclosed they had touched on Ukraine and NATO.
Lord Cameron batted down criticism of the meeting with Trump, asserting that it was perfectly normal for British ministers to have private discussions with presidential candidates in the run-up to an election. Similar talks had happened with Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney as candidates, he noted.
“These things are entirely proper. But it was a private meeting”, he said.
Electric Plant Goes Kaboom
Quote:An explosion Tuesday at a decades-old hydroelectric plant in northern Italy killed at least three workers and injured five others, a regional fire chief said. At least four other people were missing.
The explosion at power company Enel’s Bergi plant south of Bologna during maintenance work collapsed part of the nine-story underground structure, provoked a fire and caused flooding at depths of up to 60 meters (200 feet), regional fire chief Francesco Notaro told SKY TG24.
Search efforts were proceeding with care due to the risk of additional collapsing. Divers were aiding the search, which was expected to go through the night.
Video provided by firefighters showed smoke rising from underground at the lakeside power plant.
“This is a historic power plant for us,” Marco Masinara, the mayor of the nearby town of Camugnano, told SKY. “It has been managed by Enel for 50 years, providing jobs for many families. Until today, nothing ever happened. Today, a drama occurred. Our world collapsed.”
He said three of the hospitalized were in serious condition, while the other two suffered lesser injuries.
The artificial Suviana Lake was formed by the construction of a dam from 1928-32 and located in a regional park at an altitude of 500 meters (1,640 feet) some 70 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of Bologna.
Mother Stabbed to Death
Quote:A 25-year-old man has been arrested after police launched a nationwide manhunt for a suspect over the knife slaying of a young mother out with her baby.
Kulsuma Akter, a 27-year-old woman was stabbed to death “in broad daylight in a busy area of Bradford” in an attack “witnessed by a number of people” while she pushed her baby in a pram on Saturday, sparking an urgent manhunt by police for a suspect. Now a man, reported to be 25-year-old Habibur Masum who police had named as their prime suspect, has been arrested, West Yorkshire Police say.
A second individual, a 23-year-old man, has also been arrested “on suspicion of assisting an offender”.
The Daily Telegraph reports Masum was arrested in Aylesbury in the early hours of Tuesday morning. West Yorkshire’s deputy mayor for policing and crime Alison Lowe had previously said of the investigation and relationship between deceased and suspect: “We don’t think this was a random killing, the police know the two people were known to each other.”
Detective Chief Inspector Stacey Atkinson said: “We understand that the murder of a young woman in such shocking circumstances has caused considerable concern in the local community. Residents can expect to continue to see a significant police presence in Bradford as we make further enquiries and conduct reassurance patrols in the area.”
Police say they already had contact with Kulsuma Akter before her death.
BLM & Stolen Charity Donations
Quote:A Black Lives Matter activist fraudster will only have to pay back £1 of the tens of thousands she stole from a charity intended to help disadvantaged black children after pleading poverty at the Bristol Crown Court.
Xahra Saleem, 23, previously known as Yvonne Maina, was sentenced to two and half years in prison last year after being found guilty of using GoFundmen donations intended to send local black children on a trip to Africa on herself, using the stolen £70,000 to on hair and beauty treatments, taxis, takeaways, Amazon purchases, and a new iPhone and Mac laptop.
However, the fraudster will — at least for now — only have to pay back £1 to the charity she had defrauded. It was revealed that Saleem’s prison sentence was more lenient than normal, with Judge Michael Longma saying that he took into account her immaturity and age when sentencing her, the Daily Mail reports.
“There is remorse. I have no doubt you have remorse now looking back at that period of time,” the judge said.
Following the hearing, Jay Daley and Deneisha Royal, representing the youth group Changing Your Mindset, said that they did not feel as if justice was done, saying: “It feels like we are being punished,” adding that they believed it was unlikely that they would ever receive the money stolen by Saleem.
“If we were to get the money back we would go on the trip and members of the group would reestablish the group and make changes to the community and use time on the trip to plan for this,” they said.
German Troops Being Deployed Abroad
Quote:Lithuanian leaders hailed a “historic event” as Germany on Monday began deploying troops in the Baltic country – a NATO member – marking the first time since World War II that German forces will be based outside the country on a long-term basis.
About two dozen soldiers arrived in Lithuania, laying the groundwork for a further 150 to join them later this year. The deployment is expected to be up to its full strength of 5,000 by the end of 2027.
“This is the first time that we have permanently stationed such a unit outside of Germany,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in Berlin at a farewell ceremony for the preliminary command of Germany´s Lithuanian brigade, according to German news agency dpa. Pistorius called it “an important day for the German army.”
In the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas said that the move was “a great example” for all the countries on NATO’s eastern flank, on the border with Russia and its ally, Belarus.
“We will create such a defense and deterrence architecture that no adversary from the east will even think about testing NATO´s Article 5,” he told reporters.
Article 5 on collective defense is at the heart of the 32-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It states that an armed attack against one or more of the members shall be considered an attack against all.
Some 4,800 soldiers and around 200 civilians with the German army will be stationed permanently in Lithuania, which is increasingly worried by its aggressive neighbors.
Under an agreement, Lithuania is preparing military bases for the German brigade to be deployed in this Baltic state bordering Russia´s Kaliningrad exclave to the west and Belarus to the east.
The German army, the Bundeswehr, has taken part in long-term operations abroad since the 1990s, first in the Balkans and then in combat operations in Afghanistan. At the moment, the Bundeswehr says German soldiers are deployed in Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as in the Mediterranean.
However, this is the first permanent standalone German deployment, not on rotation as part of a multinational force.
Kasciunas said the German brigade is expected to reach full operational capacity by 2027.
Russian Diplomat, Yellen, Blinken & China
Quote:Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping on Tuesday, paving the way for a meeting between the top Communist Party leader and Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and arriving in between expected visits from American officials Janet Yellen and Antony Blinken.
Xi celebrated relations between Beijing and Moscow as being at their peak as the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations approaches. Russian officials stated that Lavrov’s visit was in part to prepare for Putin to visit China soon as well as meet with Xi at multiple international events such as the BRICS summit expected in October.
Lavrov arrived in Beijing on Monday as American Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen departed the country. Yellen’s visit was marked by the American official claiming that the “great majority” of trade between China and America is “uncontroversial” and holding to the position of the administration of leftist President Joe Biden that the U.S. government should protect bilateral trade despite China’s rampant intellectual property theft, espionage, use of slavery to flood the American market with cheap goods, and other malign behavior.
In a phone conversation with Xi in early April, Biden reportedly confirmed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will follow Yellen to China in the near future, though neither the Chinese Foreign Ministry nor the State Department have confirmed dates for the expected trip.
Lavrov reportedly met with both his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, and Xi. The Russian news agency Tass quoted Xi as saying at the opening of their meeting that China and Russia were indispensable in “ensuring international justice.”
“This year marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Russia. Over that period, our countries have embraced peaceful co-existence and mutually advantageous cooperation as two large neighbors,” Xi reportedly said, “which not only brought tangible benefits to the two countries and their peoples but also played a constructive role in ensuring international justice.”
As Lavrov arrived on Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry offered few details on what he would be discussing.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
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Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE