USA
Later on, don't ever dare to complain about feeling totally insecure and fearful while attending colleges.
The first death could be deemed a bad decision based on personal issues the witness might have. Probably. Yet, the second one can't just be a mere coincidence. No way.
EUROPE
ASIA
Basically, what Turkey wants is to make everybody think Israel can't defend itself from attackers like Hamas, Hezbollah & Iran.
Move Against Importing Palestinians
Quote:Reps. Andy Ogles (R-TN), Tom Tiffany (R-WI), and Scott Perry (R-PA), as well as dozens of Senate Republicans, are moving to prevent President Joe Biden from resettling Palestinians in American communities.
In a letter to House Appropriators, Ogles, Tiffany, and Perry ask that a provision be included in the Fiscal Year 2025 spending bill that prohibits expenditures “of any funds to issue a visa or grant parole to any alien holding a passport issued by the Palestinian Authority.”
The House Republicans write:
Whatever fanciful leftist notion to the contrary, the United States of America cannot be expected to absorb the rest of the world’s problems. It would make much more sense for states in the region to take in those in need. If the administration is indeed working in concert with our allies in the region to pave the way for peace, that should come with the expectation that those allies are working in good faith to “do their part.”
Their letter comes as the Biden administration reportedly considers using the federal government’s refugee resettlement program to bring Palestinians to the United States. Last November, House and Senate Democrats circulated a similar plan.
“Mindlessly allowing hundreds of thousands of unvetted Palestinian aliens into our nation is an unacceptable threat to national security,” Ogles told Breitbart News. “The vast majority of Palestinian Arabs continue to support Hamas’ butchery on October 7 and hate our American way of life.”
Tiffany told Breitbart News, “It isn’t America’s responsibility, or in America’s best interest, to let Joe Biden continue treating our country as a dumping ground for the rest of the world’s problems,” and suggested Palestinians be resettled “in other countries in the region, not here.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) is among 35 Senate Republicans asking Biden to provide specifics about his Palestinian refugee resettlement program, including the number the administration is looking to import.
The Senators write to Biden:
Your administration’s reported plan to accept Gazan refugees poses a national security risk to the United States. With more than a third of Gazans supporting the Hamas militants, we are not confident that your administration can adequately vet this high-risk population for terrorist ties and sympathies before admitting them into the United States.
Need More Protests in US
Quote:On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) stated that the encampment on Columbia was “completely peaceful” and “Some of the images that we saw from UCLA and other places made it look like a bunch of disorder. But the majority of these protests are peaceful. When you send in hundreds of military-dressed law enforcement officers into a college, that brings the disorder and that brings the chaos.”
Bowman said, “We want the protests to be peaceful. We do not want violent protests. I visited the Columbia encampment last week, and they were completely peaceful. There was a space for mental health supports, there was a library, there was food, there was coffee, there was water, and they were crystal clear on their demands. They are protesting the collective punishment of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”
He added, “Some of the images that we saw from UCLA and other places made it look like a bunch of disorder. But the majority of these protests are peaceful. When you send in hundreds of military-dressed law enforcement officers into a college, that brings the disorder and that brings the chaos. And we just heard reports that a gun was fired [at] Columbia by a member of law enforcement. That’s the only gun that’s been fired at any protest. And so, we need educators and professors to do their jobs and create spaces for critical dialogue, critical discussion. And we can’t lose sight [of] what they’re protesting, U.S. dollars going to a country that is bombing and killing and starving children. That is what’s unacceptable.”
Bowman concluded, “We need more protests that are peaceful to hold us accountable towards what we should be working on in Congress.”
Later on, don't ever dare to complain about feeling totally insecure and fearful while attending colleges.
Biden Wants Convicts to Vote
Quote:An executive order signed by President Joe Biden has focused on registering convicts to vote and exclusively involved left-wing non-governmental organizations (NGOs), an investigation from the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project revealed.
In March 2021, Biden signed an executive order titled “Promoting Access to Voting,” which he billed as a “nonpartisan” government-wide effort to “expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process.”
Two months after the order was signed, the Biden administration held a “Listening Session” with several NGOs — all of which identified with the Democrat party or left-wing policy initiatives, according to an analysis from the Oversight Project.
The NGOs involved in the Listening Session were: [click on link above]
Likewise, the Oversight Project obtained unredacted notes from the Listening Session which revealed a heavy focus on registering convicts to vote.
In one particular note, an official with the Sentencing Project mentioned the importance of having the Bureau of Prisons notify “newly eligible voters of their right to vote.” That official also suggested that “felony disenfranchisement is voter suppression.”
Another official with the Campaign Legal Center said they want to see the Bureau of Prisons implement a voter registration system that informs convicts of their right to vote after they are released from prison.
Unauthorized Encampments
Quote:An anti-Israel encampment was established at Fordham University in New York City on Wednesday, hours after similar ones at other universities were raided.
Tents were seen set up inside a building on the university’s campus as part of a “Gaza solidarity encampment.”
Officers from the New York Police Department (NYPD), dressed in riot gear, began a raid on anti-Israel encampments at Columbia University and the City University of New York (CUNY) late Tuesday evening.
The raids came after anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University had seized control of Hamilton Hall in the early hours of Tuesday morning and smashed the glass doors of the building, carried barriers inside, and hung pro-Palestinian banners from the windows.
Video footage posted to X showed protesters gathered outside of Fordham University at the Lincoln Center campus in support of the encampment set up inside.
The crowd could be heard chanting, “Disclose. Divest. We will not stop. We will not rest. Disclose. Divest.”
USC Protesters
Quote:Pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Southern California (USC) took steel barricades destined for the university’s main graduation ceremony and used them for their encampment.
In a video posted to X, steel barricades were seen surrounding the anti-Israel encampment.
When asked by a reporter, what her response was to Jewish students at USC who say they do not feel safe, University of Southern California President Carol Folt expressed that she feels “awful.”
“You know, I feel really awful for every student feeling like that and I’m trying to do everything I can to come to a peaceful resolution,” Folt answered.
“They just stole steel gates from campus and they’re making a barricade and you’re just letting this happen?” the reporter asked.
This comes days after USC announced it was canceling its main graduation ceremony due to security threats.
USC had reportedly moved in on an initial encampment that had been set up on campus, using sponge batons and zip ties to make arrests.
The university also previously canceled the speech of Asna Tabassum, the valedictorian, after it was revealed she supported the annihilation of Israel.
Encampments and protests have popped up across the nation on college and university campuses such as George Washington University, Rutgers University, the University of California Los Angeles, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Columbia University, among others.
Biden: It Doesn't Mean Anything Goes
Honestly, I didn't catch him on video saying anything relatively close to what the next title claims.
Quote:President Joe Biden said Thursday that protests at college campuses across the country have not caused him to reconsider his policies in the Middle East.
After a press conference addressing the widespread anti-Israel protests at college campuses over Israel’s war with Hamas and its effect in Gaza, a reporter asked Biden if the “protests forced you to reconsider any of the policies with regard to the region.”
“No,” Biden responded before walking away from the podium.
“Mr. President, do you think the National Guard should intervene?” a reporter followed up.
“No,” the president said as he exited the room.
Notably, the first protests, which sprouted at Columbia University, began before Biden signed a $95 billion foreign aid package that allocates $26 billion in aid for Israel, including billions in military aid, on April 24.
In his remarks addressing the anti-Israel protests, Biden condemned both “antisemitism” and “Islamophobia.”
“There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it’s anti-semitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab-Americans or Palestinian-Americans. It’s simply wrong,” he said.
He also chided violent protests on campuses.
“Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations: none of this is a peaceful protest,” Biden said. “Threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not peaceful protest. It’s against the law.”
Japan is Xenophobic According to Biden
Quote:Japan is “xenophobic,” as well as Russia and China, President Joe Biden, 81, declared Wednesday in an unprecedented statement.
Japan is a longtime U.S. ally and a counterweight to China’s growing aggression in the Asia-Pacific. Biden recently worked to build trust with Japan. In April, he hosted Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a summit and state dinner.
While delivering live remarks at a campaign fundraiser in Washington to mark the beginning of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Biden said the United States’s economy was strong due in part “because we welcome immigrants.”
Biden then contrasted America to U.S. ally Japan and adversarial China, and Russia. “Think about it,” Biden said referencing why their economies allegedly struggle.
“Why is China stalling so bad economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia?” he questioned.
“Because they’re xenophobic,” he said. “They don’t want immigrants.”
Biden’s gaffe underscores his radical policy on immigration. The Biden administrates operates an unpopular economic policy of Extraction Migration. “This colonialism-like policy extracts vast amounts of human resources from needy countries, reduces beneficial trade, and uses the imported workers, renters, and consumers to grow Wall Street and urban economies, such as New York,” Breitbart News’s Neil Munro wrote:
Experts on China
Quote:Experts, including one of the world’s top researchers on the Uyghur genocide and a senior official in the Department of Labor, told Congress this week that legitimate audits to inspect for slave conditions and other forced labor in China, especially in the occupied Uyghur region, are “impossible.”
The experts spoke before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), a bicameral entity that largely focuses on the Communist Party’s human rights abuses against its people and other malign practices, during a hearing on Tuesday. The hearing, titled “Factories and Fraud in the PRC,” addressed if it is possible for American companies, and those in the greater free world, to conduct reasonable due diligence to keep their supply chains devoid of human rights abuses if operating in China.
The panelists concluded that social audits by third parties were highly unreliable, as the Communist Party has subverted all of society to make it impossible for workers to speak freely on the conditions in their factories and industrial parks. Furthermore, evidence is mounting that China is redirecting slavery-tainted products to third countries such as India and Vietnam to compromise supply chain tracking and ensure the products get sold in American and European markets.
The hearing focused largely on forced labor, the practice of making it impossible for a person to escape work environments. In many of these cases, individuals are forced into traditional slavery – with no legal rights as a person and no meaningful salary – though the panelists at the hearing stated that Chinese companies often offer meager wages to their workers, even when it is impossible for them to leave their jobs. The United Nations classifies forced labor as a form of “modern slavery.”
2nd Boeing Whistleblower Dies
Quote:A former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems who was among the first whistleblowers to allege Spirit leadership had ignored manufacturing defects on the 737 MAX died Tuesday.
Joshua Dean lost his life after a struggle with a sudden, fast-spreading infection, the Seattle Times reports.
He was aged 45 and reportedly in good health before his sudden demise after a two week fight for life in hospital.
The Times report details Dean’s role in the allegations against Boeing:
Dean had given a deposition in a Spirit shareholder lawsuit and also filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration alleging “serious and gross misconduct by senior quality management of the 737 production line” at Spirit.
Spirit fired Dean in April 2023, and he had filed a complaint with the Department of Labor alleging his termination was in retaliation for raising concerns related to aviation safety.
Dean told U.S. outlet NPR in February he believed he had been fired to send a message to others thinking of speaking out.
“If you are too loud, we will silence you,” he was quoted as saying.
Dean was represented by a law firm in South Carolina that also represented Boeing whistleblower John “Mitch” Barnett, the Times report sets out.
The 62-year-old was found dead in an apparent suicide in March.
The first death could be deemed a bad decision based on personal issues the witness might have. Probably. Yet, the second one can't just be a mere coincidence. No way.
Peloton Fires Employees
Quote:Peloton, the once-thriving fitness company, has hit another rough patch as it struggles to regain its footing in the post-pandemic era. CEO Barry McCarthy is now stepping down after the company’s share price dropped about 92 percent during his tenure.
The Verge reports that Peloton recently announced a fresh round of layoffs affecting approximately 400 employees, which amounts to 15 percent of its remaining global workforce. This marks the fifth time Peloton has had to resort to workforce reductions since its peak in 2021, highlighting the company’s tough journey to realign its operations with the shifting market dynamics.
With Peloton stock down approximately 92 percent from its high in 2020, the latest downsizing comes as a bitter pill to swallow, as it directly contradicts the assurances made by outgoing CEO Barry McCarthy during Peloton’s Q1 2023 earnings call, where he stated that the company was done with layoffs and that the “ship was turning.” McCarthy, a former executive at Spotify and Netflix, took the helm from founder John Foley just over two years ago, with the aim of steering Peloton through its turbulent times. He is now leaving the company after presiding over the company’s massive loss of share value.
The layoffs are part of a broader 12-month restructuring program aimed at reducing annual expenses by more than $200 million, a crucial step as the company seeks to refinance its debt. Karen Boone and Chris Bruzzo, both board members, have been appointed as interim co-CEOs until a permanent replacement for McCarthy is found.
EUROPE
First Amazon, Tesla is Next
Quote:A letter posted to an infamous left-extremist website claims responsibility for a mass-arson attack against Amazon delivery trucks this week, and promises an “exciting week of action against Tesla” for “the social revolution”.
16 Amazon vans were burnt in Berlin on Tuesday night, while around the city multiple left-wing protests progressed as part of the May 1st ‘May Day’ worldwide leftist day of action in remembrance of an 1889 meeting of the Marxist International Socialist Congress in Paris. As reported police suspected arson and “masked” individuals were witnessed nearby at the time, but now a prominent extreme-left website — often used in the past to call for extremist action or to claim responsibility for attacks — acknowledges the burning of the delivery vehicles was their doing.
It claimed: “we used 6 fire devices to slow down at least 16 Amazon vans… Our gasoline-containing barbecue is intended to incite the fight against the oppression of people and nature and to fuel the inevitable confrontation between the exploited and those in power.”
The “militarism” statement named what it says are businesses too large and harmful to reform, which instead need to be destroyed as “Amazon, Tesla, Apple, Facebook [and] Google”. There are “endless arguments and ways to attack companies like Amazon and Tesla”, it said, while apparently promising further action.
“That’s why we’re looking forward to an exciting week of action against Tesla. Hello Jeff! Is your ego as big as the Amazon Tower? Do you see the clouds of smoke from up there? Elon, your GIGANTIC ego won’t be able to protect your handcarts!”, the anonymous post declared. B.Z. states Berlin police have confirmed they are aware of the leftist confession note.
Germany’s Die Welt newspaper reports nine cases of arsons against cars in Berlin today, and while the particular makes of those vehicles burnt isn’t cited, it nevertheless notes “targeted arson attacks on Teslas are increasing in the capital”.
The threat to attack Teslas appears to be a considerably more destructive — especially given the characteristics of battery electric vehicles — version of a tactic used by UK green eco-extremists against owners of large trucks. Hundreds of SUVs have been vandalised, especially seeing their tyres let down or slashed, by activists who says they are too polluting to be permitted.
Cannes At Risk
Quote:With just two weeks to go before this year’s Cannes Film Festival in France, festival workers are reportedly planning to protest and strike in a move that threatens to upstage celebrity red carpet events and the premieres of several highly anticipated movies.
As many as 200 French film festival workers — including Cannes workers and those from other festivals across France — are planning protests at this year’s Cannes festival, according to a Deadline report. Because the French have labor unions for every conceivable profession, no matter how niche, these protests are being organized by a union that represents film festival workers — Sous Les Écrans La Dèche: Collectif Des Précaires Des Festivals De Cinéma.
Protestors plan to hold demonstrations on the Croisette — the main stretch through the city — throughout the 12-day Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off May 14, unnamed sources told Deadline. They will also make their presence known at sidebar events, including the opening ceremonies of the Directors’ Fortnight and La Semaine de la Critique.
Workers are reportedly upset with their compensation, arguing that they aren’t paid a living wage, especially in light of the large amounts of overtime they have to work. They are also unhappy that they don’t qualify for France’s unemployment insurance program for entertainment workers and technicians.
Macron Wants to Send Troops to Ukraine, Again
Quote:French President Emmanuel Macron restated a previous commitment of making troops available for Ukraine, using an interview published Thursday to detail the issue would “legitimately” arise if Russia broke through Ukrainian front lines and Kyiv made such a request.
The Economist magazine said Macron gave the interview after delivering a keynote speech last week where he declared that Europe is “mortal” and could “die” partly due to the threat posed by Russian aggression after its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“I’m not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out,” said Macron when asked if he stood by comments earlier this year not excluding the sending of Western troops that sent shockwaves around Europe.
Some analysts speculate Russia could be on the verge of launching a major new offensive in Ukraine, AFP reports.
Macron said “if Russia decided to go further, we will in any case all have to ask ourselves this question” of sending troops, describing his refusal to rule out such a move as a “strategic wake-up call for my counterparts.”
He described Russia as “a power of regional destabilisation” and “a threat to Europeans’ security” while stating, “I have a clear strategic objective: Russia cannot win in Ukraine.
London: Leftists Slashing Tires
Quote:Open borders advocates on the streets and within the government itself have stepped up efforts to derail plans to finally remove some illegal migrants from the United Kingdom in the wake of the passage of legislation supposedly clearing the way for aliens to be sent to Rwanda.
On Thursday morning, leftist activists clad in coronavirus-style masks surrounded a bus to prevent migrants from being removed to the Bibby Stockholm oil rig worker accommodation barge floating off the coast of Dorset, which in addition to Rwanda is being used in lieu of putting migrants up at taxpayer expense in British hotels while their asylum claims are being processed.
Although the migrants being taken to the Bibby Stockholm were not reportedly set to be removed to Rwanda, dozens of pro-mass migration protesters descended on the migrant transport bus, throwing electric bicycles under the front and back wheels before someone slashed the tyres of the coach.
The crowd was heard chanting: “No borders, no nations… stop deportations!” and “No detention, no flights… refugees have human rights”.
An anonymous member of the leftist mob told The Telegraph: “I don’t know how the tyres happened, maybe the tyres are comrades and let themselves down.”
Leftists Critize von der Leyen
Quote:European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is facing a leftist revolt after she suggested partnering with the conservatives such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in a bid to bolster her chances of clinging onto her leadership position after the EU Parliament elections.
Amid the rising tide of populist sentiment and anger over the failures of the neo-liberal agenda imposed by Brussels, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen is on the hunt for new allies as she seeks a second 5-year term as the president of the European Commission.
In a leadership debate hosted by POLITICO on Monday evening in the Dutch city of Maastricht, the German politician opened the door to joining forces with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), which are expected to see their ranks swell in the Strasbourg-based EU Parliament after the bloc-wide elections in June.
While opening the door to a partnership between her centrist European People’s Party (EPP) and the ECR, the Commission chief said that it would depend “very much on how the composition of the Parliament is, and who is in what group.”
Yet the mere suggestion of such a partnership of the group which is headlined by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party and the conservative Polish Law and Justice (PiS) party, has riled the anger of the leftist coalition partners from the Socialists and Democrats group and the Greens, upon whom von der Leyen relied upon to push forward a radical green agenda in Europe since 2019.
The socialist candidate for Commission chief, Nicolas Schmit said after the debate: “We will not be able to vote for a program which has been negotiated with the ECR.”
“Either you can deal with the extreme right because you need them, or you say clearly there is no deal possible because they do not respect the fundamental rights our Commission has fought for,” he added.
The candidate for the Greens, meanwhile, Dutch MEP Bas Eickhout said: “What I heard was that she’s not excluding [working with the ECR] … We Greens exclude them and I think this election will then be about this choice.”
“Within ECR you have the same people that want to weaken Europe, that want to water down our green policies,” he added.
Euronews warns the move could “totally backfire”.
ASIA
Turkey Hates Protests
Quote:Turkish police detained dozens of protesters in Istanbul on Wednesday for ignoring a ban on Communist “May Day” demonstrations and began tearing down barricades in the city’s Taksim Square.
Istanbul has generally restricted demonstrations in Taksim Square since May 2013, when a wave of unrest spread across the country for various reasons. The protest groups came together at Gezi Park in Taksim Square, one of the busiest venues in Istanbul.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had then been in power for about a decade and remains in office to this day, sent in a huge force of riot police to clear out the “Gezi Park Movement” of 2013, resulting in a furious battle between police and protesters.
Human rights groups denounced the Gezi Park crackdown as a cynical move by Erdogan to silence his opposition. Erdogan’s critics said the crackdown was an important milestone in Erdogan’s shift to Islamist authoritarianism and predicted it would be his downfall.
Erdogan’s government has been wary of mass gatherings in Taksim Square ever since, particularly on occasions like May Day, when the demonstrations tend to have a whiff of insurrection about them. The governor of Istanbul announced a ban on May Day demonstrations in the square last week, and it was seconded a few days later by the Interior Ministry. Istanbul did permit May Day demonstrations elsewhere in the city.
Amnesty International (AI) on Tuesday denounced the ban on “May Day celebrations” as “based on entirely spurious security and public order grounds,” and claimed it was a violation of recent decisions by Turkey’s Constitutional Court upholding the right of peaceful assembly:
Taksim Square is a place of huge symbolic significance and has long been a place where people gather in protest and in celebration. For more than a decade, the Turkish authorities have unlawfully restricted people’s right to assembly and criminalized peaceful protests that take place in the square. It is therefore vital that this year, May Day celebrations are allowed to proceed.
Turkey, South Africa & the Hague
Quote:The government of Turkey announced on Wednesday that it is seeking to become a party to a case accusing Israel of “genocide” against the terrorist organization Hamas at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The ICJ case, brought to the court by the radical leftist government of South Africa, claims that Israel’s self-defense operations in the Hamas stronghold of Gaza are actually targeting civilians and intending to exterminate the local population. South Africa has struggled to make its case coherent, on one occasion misquoting the Bible in a failed attempt to claim Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had declared genocidal intent.
South Africa welcomed representatives of Hamas — a terrorist organization that explicitly calls for the genocide of Israelis and Jews generally — in December for friendly meetings with government leaders.
Turkey has similarly welcomed Hamas leaders, most recently warmly welcoming Ismail Haniyeh, the “political” leader of the group, to Istanbul in April. Islamist Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan is an enthusiastic Hamas supporter who has repeatedly claimed in public that the group is “not a terrorist organization” and compared Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.
“After the decision to join (the case) is made by our esteemed President, we will submit our official application following legal work,” Cuneyt Yuksel, the chairman of the Turkish Grand National Assembly’s Justice Committee, announced on Wednesday, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency. “As we have done until today, we will continue our efforts with determination to ensure the condemnation of Israel, which has been condemned by the conscience of humanity, and also in the eyes of the law.”
...
Anadolu noted that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan confirmed the plan to join South Africa at the Hague.
Basically, what Turkey wants is to make everybody think Israel can't defend itself from attackers like Hamas, Hezbollah & Iran.
Iran Offers Scholarships
Quote:Shiraz University, a public institution in Iran, announced it would offer scholarships and jobs to American college students and professors facing disciplinary action for participating in violent pro-terrorist actions at home, the state-run Iranian propaganda site PressTV reported on Wednesday.
American campuses are facing a wave of violent activity most demonstrably characterized by “liberated zones” in which students and outsiders erect tent communities in the heart of campuses, disrupting activities at the universities and threatening students not participating.
The protests are meant to show solidarity with the Gaza Strip, the embattled Mideast region currently governed by the Iran-backed terrorist organization Hamas.
Hamas triggered a regional crisis by invading Israel from Gaza on October 7, engaging in widespread crimes against humanity in residential communities. Hamas terrorists paraglided into Israel and rampaged through neighborhoods in the early morning hours of the day, killing entire families in their homes, gang-raping any women they found, mutilating and killing children as young as infants, and desecrating the corpses of the deal.
The terrorists killed an estimated 1,200 people and abducted another 250, of which about 130 are believed to remain in terrorist captivity today.
Talibans Now Love $$$ Tourism
Quote:The Taliban junta is putting some effort into reviving tourism in Afghanistan, which seemed like an unlikely vacation getaway even before a band of hardcore Islamist fanatics took control of the country in 2021.
The Associated Press (AP) on Tuesday marveled that Afghanistan does have a functional tourism industry, even though its current rulers are “pariahs on the global stage, largely because of their restrictions on women and girls.”
The AP reported:
The economy is struggling, infrastructure is poor, and poverty is rife. And yet, foreigners are visiting the country, encouraged by the sharp drop in violence, increased flight connections with hubs like Dubai, and the bragging rights that come with vacationing in an unusual destination.
The outlet noted that a certain “buzz” has developed around Afghanistan as a venue for extreme tourism.
Although the tourist population remains small, it is increasing dramatically with every passing year — from 691 in 2021 to some 7,000 in 2023. Unsurprisingly, many of these tourists come from China, which has developed extensive business interests with the Taliban regime.
“They’ve told me they don’t want to go to Pakistan because it’s dangerous and they get attacked. The Japanese have said this to me also. This is good for us,” Mohammad Saeed, head of the Taliban’s tourism directorate, said of his Chinese customers.
Saeed said the Taliban wants to increase tourism to present a more positive image of its rule to the outside world.
Blinken in Israel
Quote:U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel on Wednesday as the world awaited an answer from Hamas on whether it would accept an Israeli offer on a hostage deal that grants almost all of the terrorist group’s demands.
Blinken called the deal “very generous” earlier this week, reflecting the view of other western nations. In the deal, according to reports, Hamas would release 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for thousands of convicted Palestinian terrorists. Israel would agree to withdraw from the sole corridor of Gaza that it currently holds, allowing Gazans who had evacuated from the north to return to the area. Further hostages could be traded for a long-term ceasefire.
The Israeli offer came after months of pressure on Israel from the Biden administration and other western nations.
Though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sworn that Israel will continue its mission of destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, doing so would be virtually impossible under the terms on the table.
A Hamas delegation departed Cairo, Egypt, earlier this week for Doha, Qatar, to discuss the proposal with the group’s leadership. Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition partners threatened to quit the government over the deal.
The ball is effectively in Hamas’s court. It could decide to reject the deal, hoping that growing international pressure on Israel to stop the war would prevent Israel from continuing to fight anyway. Or it could accept the deal, and force Israel to accept a disadvantageous end to the war that most Israelis would regard as a defeat — but possibly open the way for Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel, frustrating Hamas’s broader goal of destroying Israel entirely.
Blinken, meanwhile, stressed the need for a ceasefire and for more humanitarian aid to Gaza — drawing criticism from Israelis who noted that he no longer spoke about defeating Hamas or stopping terrorism more generally.
"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)
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HiddenChest & Roole
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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
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