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Or should I say Latin Russia or Latin Wing of BRICS here?
OCEANIA
Nancy Pelosi on the National Guard
Quote:New video footage provided to House Republicans reveals then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) admitting responsibility for not having the National Guard protect the Capitol building ahead of protests on January 6, 2021.
The footage, Politico notes, was “was shown in a video shot by the former speaker’s daughter, documentarian Alexandra Pelosi, and recently provided to congressional investigators by HBO.” It was never aired — nor did Alexandra Pelosi provide it to the January 6 Committee when it was supposedly investigating the Capitol riot.
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The January 6 Committee also never subpoenaed Speaker Pelosi or her daughter for documents about the riot.
The video substantiates claims by former President Donald Trump that Pelosi was responsible for failing to prepare sufficient security ahead of the protest. Trump offered the National Guard in the days before the “Stop the Steal” rally 6, but was refused. (Trump was later faulted by critics for not intervening quickly to send the Guard during the riot.)
In the video, Pelosi is shown lamenting: “We have responsibility … we did not have any accountability for what was going on there. And we should have. … Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with?”
She continues: “I take responsibility for not having them [the National Guard] just prepare for war.”
Pelosi later rejected Republican nominees for the minority positions on the January 6 Committee — the first time in congressional history that the leader of the majority party had done so — and instead hand-picked two anti-Trump Republicans. The result was a completely one-sided investigation that declined to question Pelosi’s role in events.
Despite the one-sided nature of the investigation, prosecutors have used its proceedings in criminal cases against Trump and his supporters.
Hunter Biden Guilty
Quote:Hunter Biden has been found guilty on all three charges in his federal gun trial, becoming the first son of a sitting US president to be criminally convicted.
Prosecutors said Biden, 54, lied about his drug use on a federal form when he bought a handgun in 2018.
Biden pleaded not guilty, claiming he was in recovery from drug addiction at the time and was therefore truthful on the gun application form.
A panel of 12 Delaware jurors reached their verdict after about three hours of deliberations.
Biden showed little emotion as he learned his fate on Tuesday. He stared ahead with arms folded before turning around to hug some of the associates on his legal team.
He faced two charges related to lying about his drug use on a federal background check, and one for possessing a gun while addicted to or using drugs.
Once court was adjourned, he kissed and embraced his wife before walking out of the room, escorted by Secret Service agents.
Biden said in a statement that he was "disappointed by the outcome", but "grateful today for the love and support I experienced this last week from Melissa, my family, my friends, and my community".
Several members of Biden's family had supported him in court throughout the trial. However, only two were present for sentencing: his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, and James Biden, his uncle, and US President Joe Biden's brother.
US First Lady Jill Biden arrived in the lobby of the court minutes after the verdict was read, and left with her step-son past throngs of photographers and journalists.
Experts say it is possible Hunter Biden could face prison time - although it would be highly unlikely for him to receive the maximum sentence of 25 years.
The judge did not set a date for sentencing, but noted that it would usually take place within 120 days of conviction.
Abbe Lowell, the defence lawyer, said he would "vigorously pursue all the legal challenges available to Hunter".
Speaking after the conviction, special counsel David Weiss said the case was not about addiction, but about "the illegal choices the defendant made" while in the throes of addiction - echoing the words of the trial prosecutors.
"No-one in this country is above the law," Mr Weiss said. "Everyone must be accountable for their actions, even this defendant."
Joe Biden Says He Will Respect The Verdict
Quote:US President Joe Biden has said he will respect a jury’s decision to find his son guilty of gun crimes, after a week-long trial that laid bare a tumultuous time for the family.
The 12-person jury found Hunter Biden, 54, guilty of lying about his drug use on a form while purchasing a handgun in 2018. He faces possible jail time following the verdict, which marked the first criminal prosecution of a sitting president’s child.
His conviction on all three felony counts comes as President Biden campaigns for re-election in November, and less than two weeks after his election rival Donald Trump was himself convicted of a crime in New York.
While President Biden did not attend the trial in Delaware, many family members including First Lady Jill Biden did so regularly. Hunter Biden’s wife, sister and uncle were all present at times to support him during proceedings.
President Biden flew to Wilmington, Delaware, after the verdict where he greeted and hugged his son on the tarmac.
“I am the president, but I am also a dad. Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today,” he said in an earlier statement. Mr Biden added that he would “accept the outcome of this case and… continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal”.
President Biden earlier ruled out pardoning his son, whose trial surfaced embarrassing details as prosecutors sought to show the extent of Hunter Biden’s crack cocaine addiction at the time he bought the gun. Jurors heard from his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, and a former girlfriend, Zoe Kestan, who described frequent long drug binges.
Déjà vu: Biden & Gun Control
Quote:President Joe Biden delivered a speech in which he pushed more gun control for the American people Tuesday afternoon, just hours after his son Hunter was convicted on gun charges.
The speech was delivered at an event sponsored by Mike Bloomberg-affiliated Everytown for Gun Safety.
Biden said, “In two weeks we’ll mark the second anniversary of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.”
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) is the gun control bill which Republican Sen. John Cornyn helped Democrats fashion and pass in 2022.
The president went on to outline how the BSCA has opened the door for his administration to spend millions upon millions for more gun control and the promotion of more firearm regulations. And he noted the establishment of the “first ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.”
He said the office was created to send a “clear message” about how important the fight against gun violence is to him.
Referencing his ATF’s actions against the guns that Democrats describe as “ghost guns,” he then made clear that he wants yet more gun control put in place.
Biden said, “It’s time once again to do what I did when I was Senator, ban ‘assault weapons.’ I mean it.”
His comments came three hours after his son, Hunter, was convicted on three gun charges.
One of the things for which Hunter was convicted centered on making a false statement in the course of purchasing of a firearm. On June 3, 2024, Breitbart News noted that the penalty for that one crime is fines up to $250,000 and/or ten years of imprisonment.
Trump Campaign on Hunter Biden
Quote:Hunter Biden’s guilty verdict is a “distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement following the conviction.
Biden family members and Biden business-linked entities received more than $15 million from individuals in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Romania, and China, according to the House impeachment inquiry.
“Crooked Joe Biden’s reign over the Biden Family Criminal Empire is all coming to an end on November 5th, and never again will a Biden sell government access for personal profit,” Leavitt said.
A Delaware jury on Tuesday found Hunter guilty on all three gun charges after only several hours of deliberating.
Testimony from several witnesses during the trial said Hunter used drugs in 2018, the timeframe that he worked on foreign business deals with his family.
One of the biggest deals came when Biden’s family members accepted money from CEFC China Energy Co, an organization with close ties to the CCP. The House Oversight Committee revealed in 2023 that CEFC controlled State Energy HK Limited, a company linked to $1.3 million collective payments to the Biden family members.
US Lifted Weapons Ban on Azov Brigrade
Quote:The US has lifted its long-standing ban on weapons supplies and training to Ukraine's Azov brigade, whose origins were mired in controversy over alleged links to far-right groups.
A state department spokesman told the BBC a vetting process "found no evidence of gross violations of human rights" by the brigade.
The Azov brigade, now a unit within Ukraine's National Guard, hailed the move, saying Russia's "lies... received a devastating blow".
Moscow condemned the decision, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the US was "even prepared to flirt with neo-Nazis" to suppress Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly made false claims about a "neo-Nazi regime" in Kyiv to try to justify first the annexation of Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula and backing of pro-Moscow fighters in the east in 2014, and then his full-scale invasion launched in 2022.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the state department spokesman told the BBC that Washington applied a vetting process to the National Guard of Ukraine's 12th Special Forces Azov Brigade and "found no evidence of gross violations of human rights committed".
"Russian disinformation attempts to conflate Ukraine's National Guard Unit of 12th Special Forces Brigade Azov with a militia formed to defend Ukraine against Russia's invasion in 2014, called the 'Azov Battalion'," the spokesman added.
Under America's "Leahy Law", sponsored in 1997 by then-Senator Patrick Leahy, a finding that a foreign military unit has committed gross violations of human rights means it can be cut off from US military assistance.
The US government says it considers torture, extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance and rape as such types of violations when implementing the law.
Rep. Jim Banks on Ukrainian NGOs
Quote:Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) in a letter on Tuesday urged Republican leaders on the House Appropriations Committee to stop the U.S. government from partnering with Ukrainian actors targeting Americans, after a Ukrainian non-governmental organization published an enemies list consisting of American lawmakers, think-tanks, and media figures who questioned or opposed sending more taxpayer aid to Ukraine.
Banks sent letters to Americans on the list — including X and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk — informing them that he has asked Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) and State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mario Diaz Balart (R-FL) to stop the State Department and USAID from partnering with any actors overseas who encourage the harassment of Americans.
Banks comes a day before the committee is marking up its bill to fund the State Department and USAID in fiscal year 2025.
As Breitbart News’s Kurt Zindulka recently reported, the list was compiled by the Ukraine-based DATA Journalism Agency (TEXTY), and comprised 388 individuals and 76 organizations. It included Breitbart News as one of the organizations on its list. It also included Banks, a Navy veteran and chairman of the House Armed Services Military Readiness Subcommittee.
The NGO also published a report about the list, which was titled “Roller Coaster: From Trumpists to Communists. The forces in the U.S. impeding aid to Ukraine and how they do it.”
Zindulka reported:
…the TEXTY website claims to be “independent” and that its project into supposed anti-Ukrainian sentiment in America was funded “exclusively by the readers”. However, TEXTY is listed as a partner of the Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services (TAPAS) Project in Ukraine, which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and UK International Development (UK Dev).
TEXTY’s co-founder and current deputy editor, Anatoly Bondarenko, is also listed as a trainer for the American State Department’s “TechCamp” program, which claims to provide “hands-on, participant-driven workshops that connect private sector technology experts with key populations — journalists, non-governmental organisations, civil society advocates, and more — to explore and apply innovative tech solutions to global issues.”
While the report admits that most mentioned in the study “do not have direct, proven ties to the Russian government or propagandists” it continues to paint a conspiratorial and supposedly interconnected web of 390 individuals and 76 organisations, with a heavy focus on those “affiliated with the Trump wing of the Republican Party.”
Mass Amnesty Request
Quote:The investors who helped elect President Joe Biden in 2020 want a last-minute amnesty for roughly 1 million illegal migrants, even as multiple polls show rising public opposition to cheap-labor migration.
The Democrats’ pro-migration donors and investors recognize that Biden is losing the election and “they’re just absolutely desperate,” Kevin Lynn, the founder of U.S. Tech Workers.
If Trump is elected, “he will have the mandate to deport 21 million people,” said Lynn, because Biden’s vast inflow of roughly 10 million legal and illegal migrants has discredited the establishment’s claim that migration is good for America and Americans.
The establishment’s pro-migration “narrative is collapsing, and they’re doubling down again” shortly before the election, Lynn said.
Any Biden amnesty late in the campaign would draft diverse party activists to defend the investors’ single cause of migration instead of their varied progressive causes, he said. The amnesty push is also an “insane” threat to Biden and his other left-wing non-migration interest groups because it raises their chance of collectively losing in November, he said.
But Biden and his campaign staffers may be unable to stop White House policy staffers from declaring the amnesty giveaway, he said, because “the old man is out to lunch.”
Bosses Hoped Workers Would Quit
Quote:A recent study by software company BambooHR has shed light on the harsh realities of return to office (RTO) mandates, suggesting that at some companies they are merely a back-channel approach to layoffs.
The Register reports that the survey, which included responses from over 1,500 employees, with a third working in HR, has exposed the poorly-executed failure of the return to office movement. One startling revelation from the study is that 25 percent of executives and 20 percent of HR professionals hoped that RTO mandates would lead to staff leaving voluntarily.
While this admission confirms long-held suspicions, the study also found that people did indeed quit when RTO mandates were enforced at many of the largest companies. However, the number of voluntary departures was not enough to satisfy management’s expectations. As a result, 37 percent of respondents in leadership roles believed that their employers had resorted to layoffs in the past 12 months due to insufficient numbers of employees quitting in protest of RTO mandates.
The study suggests that the end result has been the emergence of a different office culture, one that is even more performative, suspicious, and divisive than before the coronavirus pandemic. Employees, both working remotely and in-person, feel the need to demonstrate productivity, with more than a third believing that being seen socializing and moving around the office is necessary. This intense need for visibility may actually be harming productivity, according to study author and BambooHR’s head of HR, Anita Grantham.
The data also reveals that remote employees and in-office employees both report spending around two hours of every day not working, with those in the office likely spending those ten hours a week trying to appear as busy as possible. Remote workers, on the other hand, feel the need to demonstrate presence by being hyper-available and never going offline, a phenomenon termed the “green status effect.”
Don't Neglect Your Pistachios or You Might Get Sued!
Quote:A New York woman is taking legal action against Cold Stone Creamery for alleged deceptive advertising because she thought its ice cream contained pistachios.
The Farmingdale woman, identified as Jenna Marie Duncan, filed a class action lawsuit against Cold Stone Creamery after she bought pistachio ice cream from one of the company’s locations in Levittown in 2022, USA Today reported Monday.
Duncan apparently believed the ice cream contained pistachios, but, when she looked on the company’s website, she realized there were no pistachios in the treat.
Per the lawsuit, the food contains “pistachio flavoring made of water, ethanol, propylene glycol, natural and artificial flavor, Yellow 5 and Blue 1.”
The Today article continued:
The lawsuit claims that had Duncan known the product did not contain pistachios, she “would not have purchased it, or would have paid significantly less for it.”
…
The defendant in the case is Kahala Franchising LLC, a company that owns franchises of chains such as Cold Stone Creamery, Wetzel’s Pretzels, Baja Fresh and Blimpie, among others.
According to Cold Stone’s website, its ice cream is made fresh in its stores daily with the finest ingredients.
A federal judge in the state has permitted the lawsuit to move forward, the Today article said.
Queen City News Chief Legal Analyst Khalif J. Rhodes Esq. pointed to the fact that pistachios are expensive, then said he reviewed the judge’s order and laughed:
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Dangerous Getaway Illegal Alien
Quote:An illegal alien “got-away,” who successfully crossed the United States-Mexico border, is accused of raping a child in the sanctuary state of Massachusetts.
Yader Alexander Morales-Quevedo, a 24-year-old illegal alien from Guatemala, crossed the southern border without Border Patrol detecting him — entering the U.S. as one of the millions of “got-aways” whom the federal government has little-to-no information on.
In August 2022, Morales-Quevedo was arraigned in New Bedford District Court on child rape charges. Those charges were eventually upgraded to be heard before the Bristol County Superior Court.
In January 2023, Morales-Quevedo was arraigned in the Bristol County Superior Court on child rape and posing or exhibiting a child in a state of nudity or sexual conduct charges.
On May 28, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Morales-Quevedo. ICE officials said he will remain in their custody pending the outcome of the child rape charges against him.
“Yader Alexander Morales-Quevedo will have his day in court, but he is facing some very serious charges,” ICE official Todd Lyons said in a statement. “He posed a significant threat to the children in our Massachusetts communities.”
Since President Joe Biden took office in early 2021, nearly two million illegal alien got-aways have successfully crossed the southern border.
Shooting in Atlanta
Quote:Three people were injured when shots were fired at an Atlanta mall food court Tuesday afternoon.
A fourth person was injured as well; that fourth individual is believed to be the shooter.
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USA Today reported the location of the shooting was 235 Peachtree St NW, which was elsewhere described as the Peachtree Center Food Court.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted the investigation and lockdown that followed the shooting do not impact “the Peachtree Center MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) station, which is a short walk from the shooting location.”
EUROPE
Macron Won't Quit
Quote:President Emmanuel Macron threw down the gauntlet to the French people and the right-populist opposition on Sunday, calling a snap election to save his leadership, but now says he won’t resign even if he loses.
France will elect a new Parliament on June 30th after an astonishingly short election campaign of just three weeks after the fresh vote was called on Sunday just hours after President Emmanuel Macron’s political faction was handed a humiliating defeat in the European elections. The National Rally (RN) right-populists of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella got twice as many votes as Macron’s group, the highest proportion of any French political party in 40 years.
Macron’s ‘put up or shut up’ challenge to the French people could risk everything if the RN wins, particularly now a putative unite-the-right coalition to win the election is coalescing around Le Pen. But high-stakes or not, Macron has now insisted even if he suffers a second massive defeat, he won’t surrender the Elysée Palace and will attempt to continue to govern a country clearly opposed to him, and without the support of parliament.
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Per Le Parisien, Macron invoked the French constitution to insist that while two back-to-back mega defeats may feel like the right time to bow out, nevertheless he’d cling on. He said: “It is not the RN which writes the Constitution, nor the spirit of it. The institutions are clear, the place of the president, whatever the result, is also clear.”
He had called the election to “clarify” the political situation in the country, Macron said, while calling on the French to make sure they vote, stating: “I’m [doing this] to win!”.
As things stand, if RN outright won the election, which will be held in two rounds at the end of this month and on July 7th Macron would probably have little choice but to appoint RN president Jordan Bardella as Prime Minister. With so much still up in the air, it remains unclear what this would mean for France and its political fortunes.
French Presidents have governed with an opposed Parliament before, and Macron does not even control Parliament now. It has also been floated that Macron envisions Bardella and Le Pen taking power in Parliament as part of his long-game plan, a trap set for the right by giving them a taste of power, which the centrist-globalist would presumably be relying on them messing up.
French Right Wing
Quote:In a stunning development that has sent shockwaves through Paris, the head of the centre-right Les Républicans party has backed an alliance with Marine Le Pen’s populist National Rally in the snap election called by President Emmanuel Macron.
The cordon sanitaire that has surrounded the National Rally for decades may be “disappearing”, with Les Républicans leader Éric Ciotti saying on Tuesday that he is in favour of dropping the longstanding position of his party to not work with the populist party and forming an electoral alliance which could fundamentally reshape the French political landscape.
“I believe that there is a need to serve the country that is in danger,” Ciotti pronounced according to Le Figaro, warning that on the political left, there is an “unnatural alliance of rebels” who defend “ideas which border on anti-Semitism” and then there is the “Macronist bloc which has led the country to where it is today”.
Therefore, he argued, that for his centre-right party to preserve its influence and steer the country back in the right direction: “We need an alliance while remaining ourselves… an alliance with the National Rally.”
Germany Hosts Conference for Ukraine
Quote:Germany is hosting a conference on Tuesday to gather support for Ukraine’s recovery from the destruction wreaked by Russia’s war, sending a new signal of solidarity with Kyiv at the start of a week of intense diplomacy.
The two-day Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin, following up on a similar gathering in London a year ago, comes before the Group of Seven summit of Ukraine’s leading Western allies in Italy and a global peace summit in Switzerland this coming weekend.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who last week attended events marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France, is expected at the gathering, which the German hosts say will bring together 2,000 people from politics, business and other areas.
“Even during the current times of war, Ukraine needs to continually rebuild houses, water pipelines, hospitals and power grids,” German Development Minister Svenja Schulze said in a statement. “People want to keep on living in their country, and to do so they need electricity, water and a roof over their heads.”
The task of supporting Ukraine’s recovery in the short and long term “is too big to be tackled by governments alone – which is why we are expressly inviting companies, civil society and municipalities to the conference,” Schulze added.
Among other immediate problems Ukraine faces, sustained Russian attacks on its power grid in recent weeks have forced leaders in Kyiv to institute nationwide rolling blackouts.
In London last year, Ukraine´s allies pledged several billion dollars in nonmilitary aid to rebuild the country´s infrastructure, fight corruption and help pave Kyiv’s road to membership in the European Union.
That focus on reforms remains central this year.
“We are pulling out all the stops so that Ukraine can soon take a seat at the table of the European Union – because, in addition to our military support, that´s the best protection there is,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.
On Monday, the head of the State Agency for Restoration of Ukraine, Mustafa Nayyem, announced his resignation on Facebook. He cited “systemic obstacles that prevent me from exercising my powers effectively” and accused the government of bogging his agency down in red tape.
Prosecutors on Suspects of Islamic Terrorism
Quote:A liberal, women-led Berlin mosque known as a haven for gay Muslims was a target for an Islamic State terror cell in Germany, prosecutors say as the group goes to court.
A group of seven immigrants arrested in 2023 across Germany and the Netherlands will soon see their day in court, and German prosecutors allege before their incarceration the men prepared to build bombs and researched targets including a liberal mosque, Jewish citizens, and a fair.
The men, who originated in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan came to Germany from Ukraine as part of the refugee flow that immediately followed the Russian invasion in 2022. One of the group is alleged to have led an Islamic State terrorist cell in Kyiv, Ukraine, and some of the group are said to have already killed in Ukraine, including by beating. Members of the group have allegedly had contact with Islamic State figures elsewhere in the world who launched successful terror attacks, or who were arrested while in the planning phase.
Now the German prosecutor claims this group of seven discussed the liberal Ibn-Rushd-Goethe Mosque in Berlin as a target in July 2022. They are also alleged to have monitored Jews to learn their daily routines. Die Welt, a German broadsheet which claims to have seen the prosecutor’s court documents, notes the group had experimented with building a suitcase bomb, some had received military training from the Islamic State, and that members of the group were already under unfulfilled deportation orders.
Despite the claims, it appears that no concrete plans for an attack were in place at the time of the arrests and these allegations are yet to be tested in court.
The Ibn-Rushd-Goethe Mosque in Berlin reportedly targeted by the group was founded by Seyran Ates, a Muslim woman who has lived under 24-hour police protection for ten years, such is the threat to her life from fundamentalist Islam. The mosque is known for being one of the few where men and women can worship together, and where homosexuals are also welcomed.
Orbán on Western Powers
Quote:Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has claimed that Ukraine supporters in the West are merely seeking to exploit the country for its natural resources while saying that the war could be over in a day if Europe coalesces around the position of peace.
In an interview with HírTV, Prime Minister Orbán said that the main aim of Western backers of the proxy war with Russia in Ukraine is to expand “wealth and influence” rather than the vague notion of protecting democracy or stemming Moscow’s supposed imperialistic ambitions.
“Ukraine is a rich country in its resources, and that is what they want to acquire. At the end of the matter, there is money, power, agricultural land, and economic opportunities,” the Hungarian leader said.
Orbán also asserted his belief that the West is playing a dangerous game in escalating the conflict, noting that at the outset of the conflict, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz would only commit to “sending helmets” and now “we have German tanks running around Ukraine, German air defence systems being delivered and the entire European economy cut off from the Russian energy system, which otherwise provides a cheap and reasonable supply.”
“War is not a compulsion of fate or a plague of God or an inescapable curse, war is a consequence of human decisions,” he said.
The populist prime minister — who has been a leading advocate for peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow — argued that “war can be stopped and a cease-fire reached in twenty-four hours”.
ASIA
China on EU Elections
Quote:The Chinese state media outlet Global Times concluded Monday that the results of European Parliament elections, which saw expected poor results for leftist and “green” parties, would likely “overturn Europe’s policies on immigration, green transition and its support for Ukraine.”
Some of Europe’s most influential economies — notably, France and Germany — witnessed preliminary vote tallies resulting in left-wing parties losing seats and apparent significant gains for both popular right and establishment conservative parties. While, as the Global Times observed, “moderate” and socialist parties will likely maintain control of the European Parliament, the dramatic gains that conservative parties expected indicate that many voters are disillusioned with the status quo and open to alternatives.
The Global Times, citing its usual roster of Chinese “experts,” blamed “remote elites” for losing sight of issues important to working- and middle-class Europeans for the results of the election. The “experts” predicted that the results were not outliers but “foreshadowed the continent becoming more conservative and far-right leaning.”
“This trend will likely overturn Europe’s policies on immigration, green transition and its support for Ukraine,” the state newspaper predicted.
“Europe is mired in deep crisis now. The continent’s current political elites’ rule has failed to solve its problems,” one “expert,” Professor Wang Yiwei, was quoted as saying, lamenting that “remote elite” leaders had failed to retain the trust of the public.
Another expert, Professor Cui Hongjian, suggested that the results were not just a protest vote against the left but that “Europe will continue turning conservative and right-leaning, as the mainstream parties have failed to curb the right-wing forces in the past five years.” Cui did not offer any suggestions for how to “curb” unwanted political groups; in China, the Communist Party maintains an unchallenged stranglehold on power backed by the use of brute force against suspected political dissidents.
The experts predicted a “significant impact on Europe’s immigration, security and green transition policies, as those are the topics the public is mostly unsatisfied with” — suggesting that European governments would begin limiting how many people they allow in their countries from abroad and curtail excessive spending on anti-climate change “green” projects.
The Global Times notably, however, predicted the results of the election would not have any major impact on Europe’s relationship with China despite “far-right” parties increasing their influence and China’s government being a totalitarian communist entity.
“Who becomes next US president will have more direct and influential impact on EU’s ties with China than the EU parliamentary elections,” the government mouthpiece anticipated.
China on Israel But Not on Hamas
Quote:The BRICS coalition representing several rogue states including China, Russia, and Iran issued a statement following its foreign minister meeting on Monday condemning Israel for attempting to defend itself from the Iran-backed terrorist organization Hamas, specifically its operations in Rafah, Gaza.
Hamas, which is one of several jihadist groups believed to receive $100 million a year in funding from BRICS member Iran, invaded Israel from its Gaza stronghold on October 7, killing an estimated 1,200 people and abducting about 250 people, of which about 128 remain in captivity today. The October 7 siege featured outrageous acts of torture, gang rape, infanticide, and other atrocities, committed by terrorists swarming residential communities and targeting entire families in their homes.
The BRICS countries did not mention Hamas in their statement condemning Israel.
BRICS foreign ministers met on Monday and Tuesday in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, in preparation for the annual summit of its heads of government, scheduled to take place in October this year. The summit brought together the top diplomats of the original BRICS members – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – alongside representatives of its newest member countries: Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Ethiopia. Saudi Arabia also received an invitation to join BRICS but, as of February, has not formalized its membership.
The foreign minister meeting was also open to representatives of countries interested in joining the group, including rogue states such as Cuba and Venezuela, but also critical regional powers such as Turkey.
Simple Mistake?
Quote:The government of South Korea confirmed on Tuesday that between 20 and 30 North Korean soldiers crossed the inter-Korean border, violating the sovereignty of the country.
The leadership of the South Korean military, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), confirmed that South Korean soldiers fired at the Northern soldiers, prompting them to rapidly return to their country. The incident reportedly occurred on Sunday.
JCS spokesmen appeared to dismiss the illegal entry into the country as an error and told reporters that the North Korean soldiers in question were not all armed and were navigating in an area where the exact location of the border, formally known as the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), is difficult to delineate due to plant growth. The JCS revealed the exchange during a time of heightened tensions between the two Koreas, however, as communist North Korea launched a campaign in May to flood the Southern border areas with balloons full of trash and feces.
In response, the South Korean government began broadcasting anti-communist messages via a loudspeaker on the border, a policy that it had stopped for six years following agreements made during the term of American President Donald Trump, who prioritized reducing tensions with Pyongyang. Kim Yo-jong, a top North Korean official and the sister of dictator Kim Jong-un, vowed ceaseless trash balloon campaigns indefinitely in response to the loudspeakers.
The soldiers reportedly crossed the border hours before the South Korean loudspeaker broadcast.
“Some North Korean soldiers working within the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on the central front crossed the MDL at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, and headed north after our military’s issued a warning broadcast and fired warning shots,” the JCS explained on Tuesday, according to the South Korean newspaper Korea JoongAng Daily. “Our military is closely monitoring the movements of the North Korean troops and taking necessary measures in accordance with operational procedures.”
JoongAng, citing South Korean officials, described the incursion as “accidental.”
“They were moving through bushes where there was no path, and we were observing them even before they approached the MDL,” South Korean Col. Lee Sung-jun reportedly said in a briefing on Tuesday, describing the illegal crossing as a “simple mistake.”
LATIN AMERICA
Or should I say Latin Russia or Latin Wing of BRICS here?
Venezuela & BRICS
Quote:Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov welcomed the interest of Venezuela’s socialist Maduro regime in joining the BRICS anti-Western bloc on Wednesday in remarks given on the sidelines of the group’s foreign ministers’ meeting.
BRICS is a China-led trade and security group originally made up of Russia, China, Brazil, India, and South Africa. The bloc agreed to expand in 2023 and as of January 2024 includes Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran. Saudi Arabia is reportedly in the process of finalizing its membership.
Russia currently holds BRICS’ annual rotating chairmanship seat and will host the group’s annual summit in the Russian city of Kazan in late October. The foreign ministers of BRICS member states gathered in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, this week for a two-day ministerial meeting that will conclude on Tuesday.
The BRICS members also invited representatives of Cuba, Belarus, Venezuela, and Turkey, all of whom have expressed interest in applying to join.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil participated in the encounter as part of socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro’s efforts to attain “expedited” entry into the BRICS bloc in 2024 and, according to him, to support “the creation of a more equitable and multipolar world.”
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Gil and his Russian counterpart conversed on the sidelines of the encounter, where the Venezuelan foreign minister reiterated the rogue socialist regime’s intention to join BRICS, which, according to Gil, “is making great efforts to build a new world order.”
“On behalf of President Nicolás Maduro, we thank you for inviting Russia today as a friend of the BRICS,” Gil said. “This is a great honor for us, an opportunity to declare our will, the will of Venezuela to join this important bloc, which is making great efforts to create a new world order based on the desire for the well-being of our peoples.”
Lavrov expressed on behalf of Russia government support for Venezuela’s interest in joining the group and added that, as chairman of the group, Russia will “contribute to the strengthening of relations.”
“We are creating financial and logistical mechanisms that are resistant to external influence and ensure the independence of our relations, progressive development and protection from illegitimate actions, primarily by Washington and its allies,” Lavrov said.
Venezuelan Gold &Turkey
Quote:Venezuela’s socialist regime signed an agreement with the government of Turkey on Friday that will allow the Middle Eastern nation to mine gold in Venezuela’s Orinoco Mining Arc, an area devastated by illegal mining and plagued with human rights abuses.
Socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro signed the agreement during a Friday evening event that state media broadcast. The Venezuelan leader claimed that the agreement is part of the “win-win” alliance between Venezuela and Turkey, which Maduro’s predecessor, late dictator Hugo Chávez, first established.
Maduro — accompanied by representatives of the Turkish government and his alleged top money launderer, Alex Saab, whom U.S. President Joe Biden released from prison and sent back to Caracas in December — described Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as his “older brother” and claimed that “Turkish investment is coming to keep developing the Mining Arc.”
“We are going to develop these gold fields, and I wish the best of luck so that what we are signing in gold becomes an example for ecological development, respectful of nature, and very productive, building a productive economy,” Maduro said.
The socialist dictator, in addition to the gold mining agreement, signed joint agreements with Turkey for the construction of an ammonia refinery and for the exploitation of gas fields.
The Orinoco Mining Arc (AMO) is a roughly 43,180-square-mile area adjacent to the southern bank of the eponymous Orinoco River, which covers parts of the Venezuelan states of Amazonas, Bolívar, and Delta Amacuro. The AMO encompasses roughly 12 percent of Venezuela’s land area.
Angry Bolivian Truckers Hit The Road
Quote:Bolivian truckers and local transport organizations called for an indefinite strike of heavy transport next week against the government of socialist President Luis Arce and ongoing shortages of diesel fuel and foreign currency.
The indefinite strike, which is scheduled to begin on Monday, June 17, will include road blockades and border closures nationwide.
Bolivian truckers have for months protested an ongoing shortage of diesel fuel that has severely impacted their ability to work, forcing them to spend days searching for a stocked gas station to be able to work. Additionally, the truckers have denounced that the ongoing difficulties in obtaining foreign currency, a product of socialist Bolivia’s precarious economic state, have affected their ability to purchase spare parts for their vehicles’ repairs and their ability to import and export products.
The situation prompted a group of truckers to carry out a two-day blockade of some of Bolivia’s main roads last week, demanding solutions from the Bolivian government while President Arce was visiting Russia to participate in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Bolivian Public Works Minister Édgar Montaño called for talks with trucker representatives, last week, who reportedly rejected the offer and demanded to speak to Arce directly.
The decision to escalate the protests to an indefinite strike was reportedly reached on Monday following an assembly held by different representatives of Bolivia’s national and international transport industry in the city of Oruro. Attendees reportedly said they were “tired” of waiting for a response from the government.
OCEANIA
Cows Free To Fart For The Time Being
Quote:New Zealand is scrapping a scheme to price gas emissions from livestock — squelching a so-called burp and fart tax initiated under the previous left-wing government led by now departed authoritarian Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
New legislation will be introduced to parliament this month by the ruling conservative coalition to remove the agriculture sector from a new emissions pricing plan, thus responding to farmer pressure that the plan would make their business unprofitable.
“The government is committed to meeting our climate change obligations without shutting down Kiwi farms,” said Agriculture Minister Todd McClay.
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“It doesn’t make sense to send jobs and production overseas, while less carbon-efficient countries produce the food the world needs.”
The New Zealand economy is driven by agriculture with around 10 million cattle and 25 million sheep roaming the nation’s pastures.
As Breitbart News reported, the Ardern government proposed taxing the gasses farm animals create from burping, farting, and peeing as part of a plan to reset agricultural production and “tackle climate change.”
Her Labour administration claimed what it called a farm levy would be a world first and farmers should be able to recoup the cost by simply charging consumers more for their products.
Critics saw it simply as a punitive tax on farmers and their produce.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
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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
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
