News of the World
05-07-2024, 08:21 AM
USA
Now even I suspect he gotta be 100% RINO at this point.
Later on Politico posted a slightly modified version of the same report.
CANADA
LATIN AMERICA
MIDDLE EAST
EUROPE
House Speaker Johnson
Quote:Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) failed to concede to Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) after a two-hour meeting Monday in which the duo continued pressing for Johnson to resign and end his coalition government with Democrats.
Greene told reporters after the meeting that she and Massie “had a very long discussion with Speaker Johnson. We’ll be meeting with him again tomorrow based on the discussion and then I’ll have more information.”
The two conservative lawmakers have insisted that Johnson is compromised and will not be Speaker next Congress. They called for him to step down so Republicans can begin moving forward, arguing Johnson’s unofficial lame duck status will hurt Republicans as they fundraise and campaign for November’s elections.
“I have been patient, I have been diligent. I have been steady. And I’ve been focused on the facts,” Greene said. “And none of that has changed.”
The meeting came one day after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) bragged on CBS about controlling the House floor agenda — a characterization many conservatives agree with.
“Even though we’re in the minority, we effectively have been governing as if we were in the majority because we continue to provide a majority of the votes necessary to get things done,” he said. “Those are just the facts.”
Quote:Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Monday said she supports Democrat efforts to keep Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in power.
Pelosi said she backs House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s plot to keep Johnson as the Speaker of the House.
Pelosi said that they are backing Johnson to “support the integrity of the House of Representatives and will not let it be littered up by nonsense.”
Pelosi’s comments come as the Speaker faces a motion from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to remove him as the leader of the House. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) have backed Greene’s motion.
The Speaker reportedly told donors on Sunday that he would support kicking members who block his Democrat-Republican coalition government’s legislative agenda off committees. He also signaled that he would favor changing House rules, such as the motion to vacate, at the end of the congressional term.
Massie has listed Johnon’s “three betrayals”: He has stopped working to pass 12 separate appropriations bill, he rammed through warrantless surveillance of Americans, and he passed a bill containing $95 billion of foreign aid without securing America’s border, which he had promised would not happen.
Jeffries now claims that he and the Democrats are in power, not Johnson and the Republicans, who took control of the House after the 2022 midterm elections.
Now even I suspect he gotta be 100% RINO at this point.
Biden's Donors
Quote:The pro-Palestinian, antisemitic protests on university campuses across the nation are funded by President Joe Biden’s own political donors — which could explain why he hesitates to condemn them and won’t investigate them.
Biden equivocated last month when asked to react to the protests, saying that he condemned the antisemitism but also condemned those “who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” which puzzled observers.
Research by NGO Monitor and others into the donors behind the protests has turned up familiar names from the Democratic Party bankroll — including George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and other liberal philanthropies.
Biden’s Department of Justice has notably refused to investigate the civil rights abuses being committed by the “encampments” — against Jews, journalists, and others — and has also refused to consider RICO conspiracy charges.
The reason may be that he does not want to subject his own political donors to investigation or embarrasment.
Politico reported Sunday (original links):
Two of the main organizers behind protests at Columbia University and on other campuses are Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. Both are supported by the Tides Foundation, which is seeded by Democratic megadonor George Soros as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and it in turn supports numerous small nonprofits that work for social change. (Gates did not return a request for comment, and Soros declined to comment.)
Another notable Democratic donor whose philanthropy has helped fund the protest movement is David Rockefeller Jr., who sits on the board of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. In 2022, the fund gave $300,000 to the Tides Foundation; according to nonprofit tax forms, Tides has given nearly $500,000 over the past five years to Jewish Voice for Peace, which explicitly describes itself as anti-Zionist.
Several other groups involved in pro-Palestinian protests are backed by a foundation funded by Susan and Nick Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt Hotel empire — and supporters of Biden and numerous Democratic campaigns, including $6,600 to the Biden Victory Fund a few months ago and more than $300,000 during the 2020 campaign.
Later on Politico posted a slightly modified version of the same report.
Biden Doesn't Want to Send Ammo to Ierael
Quote:A shipment of U.S. ammunition bound for Israel last week was halted by the Biden administration for reasons yet to be made clear, a report Sunday claimed.
Israeli officials were left scrambling as to why the shipment was withheld, Axios reported, while CNN declared the decision was unrelated to U.S. opposition to an invasion of the Hamas terrorist stronghold of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
The Biden administration recently signed off on $26 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Israel in its war against Hamas terrorists but officials have repeatedly warned against moving into Rafah, where over a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering from the war.
The National Security Council said in a statement to The Hill the Biden administration’s backing of Israel has not changed, outlining:
The United States has surged billions of dollars in security assistance to Israel since the October 7 attacks, passed the largest ever supplemental appropriation for emergency assistance to Israel, led an unprecedented coalition to defend Israel against Iranian attacks, and will continue to do what is necessary to ensure Israel can defend itself from the threats it faces.
This is the first time since the Oct. 7 terrorism attack the U.S. has stopped a weapons shipment intended for the Israeli military.
The White House has made clear on a number of occasions it does not support a move by Israel into Rafah.
Last month National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stated that it’s “not clear” that it’s even possible for Israel to have “a credible plan” for an invasion of Rafah that the White House would support, as Breitbart News reported.
Japanese Buyers on US Steel Corp.
Quote:Nippon Steel said Friday it has postponed the expected closing of its $14.1 billion takeover of U.S. Steel by three months after the U.S. Department of Justice requested more documentation related to the deal.
Tokyo-based Nippon Steel Corp. said the deal, already approved by U.S. Steel’s shareholders, is still expected to go through.
“Nippon Steel will continue to fully cooperate with the examination of the relevant authorities,” it said in a statement.
The sale has drawn opposition from President Joe Biden’s administration on economic and national security grounds, and from former President Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential candidate in November’s election.
The new timing could push the closing beyond the election, but Nippon Steel denied the delay was related to that.
Initially the deal was supposed to have closed by September. Now it will close by December, meaning it could still close as early as September, according to a company spokesperson, who requested the anonymity customary at Japanese companies.
More than 98% of the Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel Corp. shares voted at a special investor meeting in April approved the takeover. Nippon Steel has said it has prepared adequate financing to go through with the deal.
CANADA
Crime Surge in Canada
Quote:Firearm-related crime is surging in heavily gun-controlled Canada, according to a report from Toronto Star contributor Shaquille Morgan.
Morgan pointed to data from Canadian police, noting “there were 9,198 victims of gun-related crime” in Canada in 2022.
The 2022 figures represented a ten percent jump in the rate of gun-related crime compared to 2021 and a 60 percent jump compared to 2013.
Morgan zeroed in on handguns, explaining that “63 per cent of gun-related homicides were committed with a handgun.”
Canada has stringent gun controls, and Morgan indicated they have gotten even more stringent during the past years. During that time frame “the federal government has expanded background checks, banned 1,500 models of assault weapons, imposed a national handgun freeze and committed $250 million to address the root causes of gun and gang violence.”
Public Safety Canada noted the handgun freeze prohibits “the sale, purchase or transfer of handguns by individuals within Canada, and…bringing newly acquired handguns into Canada.”
One must acquire a license to legally own a gun in Canada, and the process for getting the license requires applicants to take an approved gun safety course.
3 Arrests, 1 Sikh & the Canada-India Row
Quote:Canadian police said they arrested three suspects Friday in the slaying of a Sikh separatist leader last June that became the center of a diplomatic spat with India, and are investigating possible ties between the detainees and the Indian government.
Three Indian nationals in their 20s identified as Kamalpreet Singh, Karan Brar and Karampreet Singh were arrested in Edmonton, Alberta on Friday morning in the slaying of 45-year-old Hardeep Singh Nijjar by masked gunmen outside Vancouver, police said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sparked a diplomatic feud with India in September when he said that there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the slaying of Nijjar.
India had accused Nijjar of links to terrorism, but angrily denied involvement in the slaying. In response to the allegatio ns, India told Canada last year to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country. Tensions remain but have somewhat eased since.
The three suspects had been living in Canada as non-permanent residents, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Mandeep Mooker said Friday at a news conference in Toronto.
“We are investigating whether there are any ties to the government of India,” Mooker said, adding that it was an “ongoing investigation.”
LATIN AMERICA
Elections in Panama
Quote:José Raúl Mulino, a last-minute conservative candidate in Panama’s 2024 presidential race, was elected in Sunday’s general election with a nearly ten percent lead over his closest rival.
Mulino, a 64-year-old lawyer and former minister of security in the country, campaigned on implementing a crackdown on migration by “closing” the dangerous Darien Gap jungle trail that Panama shares with Colombia, which thousands of migrants from South America and other regions use to reach the United States. Mulino has also vowed to improve Panama’s economy.
The now president-elect ran as a stand-in candidate for former President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), who was banned from running for a new term after local courts sentenced him to ten years in prison on money laundering charges in 2023.
Martinelli, whose appeal was denied by the Supreme Court of Panama, sought asylum at the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama City in February and has remained sheltered in it since then as local authorities have not granted Martinelli a safe passage out of Panama.
Mulino will take office for a five-year term on July 1, succeeding current center-left President Laurentino Cortizo. Cortizo was not eligible for reelection, as Panama’s constitution states that a president may not be reelected in two consecutive presidential terms.
With more than 98 percent of the votes tallied by Panama’s Electoral Tribunal at press time, Mulino, who ran as the candidate for “Save Panama,” a coalition composed of Martinelli’s conservative Realizing Goals party and the centrist Alliance Party, obtained 34.32 percent of the votes.
Ricardo Lombana, who ran for the Another Way Movement (MOCA) “green” party came in second place with 24.75 percent of the votes, while Martín Torrijs, of the center-right Popular Party, received 16.01 percent of the votes. The voter turnout rate was estimated at 77.63 percent.
Bolivian Party Against Evo Morales
Quote:Bolivia’s ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party ousted former President Evo Morales from party leadership on Sunday, seven months after ousting incumbent President Luis Arce.
Morales had Arce banned from the MAS party in October in a power struggle between the two to appear as the MAS candidate on the 2025 presidential election ballot. Morales is term-limited out of running for president as per the Bolivian constitution, a ban the Bolivian Constitutional Court affirmed in January. His time in power, from 2006 to 2019, was marked by promoting the cultivation of coca, the plant used to produce cocaine; accusations of pedophilia, including Morales allegedly fathering a child with a minor; and rampant persecution of political opponents.
Morales resigned voluntarily and fled to Mexico in 2019 after “winning” the last standard presidential election; he fled the country along with most of the pro-Morales leadership of MAS after the Organization of American States (OAS) revealed evidence of fraud in the election.
He has since repeatedly insisted that he was the victim of a “coup” and that he is eligible to run for a fifth term in spite of Bolivia’s constitution establishing a maximum two-term limit for a president and vice president. Morales was able to bypass the constitutional term limits in the past through a series of court rulings, one of which essentially gave him a “free” first term that did not “count” towards the two-term limit.
This weekend, Morales insisted he would be on the ballot regardless of the law and threatened to organize mob actions if the government enforced the law.
At an event in Cochabamba on Saturday preceding his removal from MAS leadership, Morales declared that he would run for president “a las buenas o las malas,” an idiom roughly translating to “by hook or by crook” or “by any means necessary.” Morales threatened to organize riots and road blockades if the country respected its constitution and kept him off the ballot.
MIDDLE EAST
Hamas Suddenly Remembers They Were Negotiating a Ceasefire in Gaza
Quote:The Palestinian Hamas terror organization rushed Monday to claim that it had accepted a ceasefire — just hours after Israel warned residents of Rafah, the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza, to evacuate due to an imminent invasion.
International media reported Monday evening local time that Hamas had suddenly declared that it had accepted the Egyptian and Qatari terms for a temporary ceasefire, after holding out for weeks against agreeing to a deal with Israel.
But Israeli officials reportedly said that Hamas was “agreeing” to terms that Israel had not proposed or accepted.
The sudden urgency may have had everything to do with Israel’s pending attack, as thousands of Palestinian civilians began leaving Rafah, a strategic town on the Egyptian border and the last place in Gaza Israel has not fully entered.
As Breitbart News reported earlier Monday, Israel dropped leaflets on Rafah and used text messages, phone calls, and other method to warn residents to escape to the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone at the coast and other places nearby.
An Israeli government spokesman, asked whether the warnings were a bluff designed to pressure Hamas to accept a deal, suggested that the invasion plans were very real, and were what Israel had promised to do for several months.
Hamas, suddenly facing its final destruction, appears to be much more eager to real a deal — if one is still possible.
The sticking point in previous negotiations was Israel’s insistence on destroying Hamas militarily and politically so that it cannot return to power in Gaza again. Hamas wanted Israel to commit to ending the war in any hostage deal.
Now, with Israel showing that it is willing to attack Hamas even before the hostages are released, Hamas leaders may be focused on self-preservation. It remains to be seen whether a true ceasefire agreement can actually be reached.
Israel Wants to Enter Rafah
Quote:The Israeli war cabinet voted unanimously on Monday to continue the attack on Hamas’s last stronghold in Rafah — while also sending diplomats to Cairo, Egypt in an effort to explore whether Hamas is really interested in ceasefire.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office posted on Twitter / X (with some translation via Google Translate):
Prime Minister’s Office:
The War Cabinet unanimously decided that Israel continues the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to promote the release of our hostages and the other goals of the war.
At the same time, although the Hamas proposal is far from Israel’s necessary requirements, Israel will send a delegation of working-level mediators to exhaust the possibility of reaching an agreement under conditions acceptable to Israel.
The war cabinet’s decision came after Hamas announced that it had agreed to a ceasefire — under terms that Israel said were not on the table. That, in turn, came after Israel began warning residents of Rafah to begin to evacuate.
The White House seized on the news of Hamas’s “agreement” — though national security spokesman John Kirby could not tell reporters what was in the agreement, nor could he say whether the “ceasefire” was a “trick” by Hamas.
Israel, Gaza & UNRWA
Quote:The government of Israel confirmed on Sunday that it had discovered a terrorist “Hamas command and control center” in a complex run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the U.N.’s agency for Palestinian issues.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel Security Agency (ISA), or Shin Bet, issued a joint statement confirming an airstrike Subday on the facility, which they said intelligence confirmed was being used as “a staging ground for multiple attacks on IDF troops located in Gaza’s central corridor in recent weeks.”
The strike reportedly occurred shortly before Israeli officials confirmed that the country had begun dropping flyers to civilians in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, urging them to evacuate before a military operation against Hamas.
The Hamas terrorist organization has controlled Gaza since 2007. The current military operations against the terrorists are a response to an unprecedented siege of the Israeli homeland on October 7, 2023, in which terrorists invaded the country and engaged in rampant violence against civilians, including the killing of infants, widespread instances of gang-rape, torture, mass executions of entire families in their homes, and the desecration of corpses on camera, filmed and sometimes uploaded to the social media profiles of their victims. Hamas terrorists acted with especially wanton violence against women, the elderly, young children, and the disabled.
Foreign Aid Overflowing in Gaza
Quote:Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) agency reported Sunday that it had been told by international organizations that there was too much aid being sent to northern Gaza, and it should be reduced.
The Jerusalem Post reports, citing a lengthy COGAT thread on X (formerly Twitter):
COGAT added that “In talks between Israeli and UN representatives, including [the] WFP, none of the entities indicated a risk of famine in northern Gaza. They noted that the humanitarian situation is improving and that there is a variety of goods in both warehouses and markets in the north.”
COGAT added that “In talks between Israeli and UN representatives, including [the] WFP, none of the entities indicated a risk of famine in northern Gaza. They noted that the humanitarian situation is improving and that there is a variety of goods in both warehouses and markets in the north.”
“Noting the improved situation, [international organizations] stated last week that the volume of goods transported to northern Gaza must be reduced since the quantities are too high in relation to the population,” wrote COGAT.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer added Monday that 100 aid trucks had been heading into northern Gaza on a daily basis, and reiterated that international organizations have said there is no risk of famine in Gaza.
Markets “both in the north and the south are bustling,” Mencer said, adding that Israel had been told that the amount of goods traveling to northern Gaza “must be reduced” because Israel had been told “the quantities are too high.”
“The issue has never been about getting aid into Gaza, but about getting aid to the civilians in Gaza before it is stolen, and looted, by Hamas,” Mencer said.
The Biden administration has confirmed recently that the supply of aid has increased into Gaza, following an accidental IDF attack on a convoy of World Central Kitchen vehicles last month that killed seven aid workers.
Iran & Iraqi Kurds
Quote:The president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani, traveled to Tehran on Monday to meet with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who warned him to prevent “anti-revolutionary elements” from getting too friendly with the autonomous Kurdish region.
The warning appeared to be a threat intended to dissuade Kurdish cooperation with the United States and any potential cordial ties with neighboring Israel. The KRG maintains friendly relations with the United States and cooperates militarily with Washington, particularly against the Islamic State (Isis) jihadist organization. The KRG’s Peshmerga forces were pivotal in the ouster of the ISIS “caliphate” from its regional stronghold in northern Mosul, and the KRG’s capital, Erbil, took in a large number of persecuted Christians fleeing the Islamic State genocide.
The KRG is an entity in northern Iraq that operates largely independently from Baghdad, though it is not sovereign and attempts to establish a nation of Kurdistan have failed catastrophically. In 2017, following the collapse of the Islamic State “caliphate,” then-Kurdish President Masoud Barzani held a referendum that found the majority of KRG residents wanted to secede from Iraq and found their own country.
Despite the KRG’s key role in helping fight ISIS, the administration of then-President Donald Trump opposed the referendum, ensuring its failure amid a wave of attacks by Iranian proxy forces on the KRG. Barzani stepped down from the office shortly thereafter. Iran, meanwhile, celebrated the KRG defeat as an American failure to establish a “second Israel” in the Middle East, meaning an administration friendly to America and its values.
Prior to traveling to Tehran, Barzani hosted two American senators, Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Ted Budd (R-NC), to discuss security cooperation, underscoring Erbil’s relationship with Washington.
Iranian Warship
Quote:Iran announced that Shahid Mahdavi, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warship, crossed the equator into the Southern Hemisphere for the first time.
The Shahid Mahdavi is on a “long-distance mission” in international waters, the Iranian state-owned PressTV propaganda outlet reported.
The Shahid Mahdavi is a more than 2.1-ton and roughly 787-foot long container ship that the IRGC, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization and formal arm of the Iranian military, converted into a multi-purpose warship capable of carrying helicopters, unmanned aerial drones, and speedboats.
According to Iranian state media, the Shahid Mahdavi is equipped with a three-dimensional phased array radar, sea-to-sea and sea-to-air missiles, and advanced communication systems for electronic warfare. The ship was commissioned into the IRGC Navy in March 2023.
Iranian state media claimed that the warship was “conducting its biggest mission in terms of distance and operation,” without specifying further. Iranian authorities have not publicly disclosed the nature of the warship’s mission at press time.
The deployment of the warship was accompanied by a video that Iranian authorities released on social media to demonstrate the vessel’s capabilities, allegedly showing it launching a Dezful-class ballistic missile capable of striking targets up to 620 miles away.
In February, Iran tested the warship’s missile-launching capabilities by launching a Zolfaqar-class ballistic missile that, according to the Iranian regime, hit its designated target in a desert in central Iran. The Zolfaqar-class missiles reportedly have an approximate range of 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles).
“Our oceangoing warships can be present in every location across the world, and when we can fire missiles from them, there is, accordingly, no safe spot for anyone intending to create insecurity for us,” IRGC Commander Major General Hossein Salami said during February’s ballistic test.
EUROPE
Russia Detained an American Soldier
Quote:The United States Army confirmed reports on Monday that Russia has detained an American soldier.
“On May 2, 2024, Russian authorities in Vladivostok, Russia, detained an American soldier on charges of criminal misconduct,” Army Spokeswoman Cynthia O. Smith said in a statement:
The Russian Federation notified the U.S. Department of State of the criminal detention in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The Army notified his family, and the U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia. Given the sensitivity of this matter, we are unable to provide additional details at this time.
The soldier was detained in Russia after he had traveled there on his own from South Korea, where he was stationed, according to NBC News, which first reported his detention.
The soldier was not on official business, according to the network. He is accused of “stealing from a woman,” officials said.
The soldier joins fellow Americans — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan — as detainees in Russia. Gershkovich was detained and jailed in March 2023, and Whelan was arrested in 2018.
Tensions are high between the U.S. and Russia. The U.S. is flowing billions in military and economic aid to Ukraine, which is engaged in a hot war with Russia.
The detention of a U.S. soldier in Russia threatens to bring relations even lower and weaken U.S. support for Ukraine, during already growing opposition.
Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) said he was “deeply concerned” by the detention.
“I am deeply concerned by reports that a U.S. Army officer has been detained in Russia. Putin has a long history of holding American citizens hostage. A warning to all Americans—as the State Department has said, it is not safe to travel to Russia,” McCaul said in a statement.
Russia's Upcoming Nuclear Weapon Drills
Quote:The Russian Military district responsible for occupying eastern Ukraine is to respond to “inflammatory statements… by some Western officials” by drilling with tactical nuclear weapons, Moscow has said.
Russia claims Western provocations while launching a nuclear provocation of its own, saying it will drill its nuclear missile troops, air force, and ships to “practice employing non-strategic nuclear-weapons”. Also known as tactical weapons, the lower-yield atomic bombs are intended for battlefield use to destroy opposing armies and fortifications, rather than whole cities or industries, as with long-range strategic missiles.
A statement by the Russian ministry of defence expressed the intentions of the exercise, while blaming Western states for it happening at all. Russian state media quoted the Kremlin as having said:
The exercise aims to maintain the preparedness of troops and equipment for the combat employment of non-strategic nuclear weapons to react and unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats by some Western officials against the Russian Federation…
Kremlin media paraphrased this as the exercise being intended to be a retaliation against what it called “inflammatory statements and threats by some Western officials”
Russia’s nuclear forces exercising isn’t exactly unheard of, the Associated Press notes, but this is the first time such a thing has been announced in advance, making clear the apparent intent to intimidate.
Russian Barrage of Drone Strikes
Quote:As Ukraine marked its third Easter at war, Russia launched a barrage of drones concentrated in Ukraine´s east where the situation on the front line is worsening. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians in an Easter address to be united in prayer and called God an “ally” in the war with Russia.
Ukraine’s air force said Sunday that Russia had launched 24 Shahed drones, of which 23 had been shot down by air defenses.
Six people, including a child, were wounded in a drone strike in the eastern Kharkiv region, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said.
Fires broke out when debris from drones that were shot down fell on buildings in the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region. No casualties were reported.
Officials in Kyiv urged residents to follow Orthodox Easter services online due to safety concerns. Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city administration, warned that “even on such bright days of celebration, we can expect evil deeds from the aggressor.”
Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians to unite in prayer for each other and soldiers on the front line.
Kremlin's Most Wanted: Zelensky & His Ex-Officials
Now Peskov believes Zelensky is a terrorist. 
Quote:Russia has issued arrest warrants for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as several high-ranking former officials including former President Petro Poroshenko.
The wanted list published by Moscow’s Interior Ministry was updated on Tuesday to include President Zelensky. The arrest warrant states that the Ukrainian leader is wanted over a violation of the Russian Criminal code, however, the exact alleged offence has not been published.
Russian state-run media RT suggested that the arrest warrant may be in response to unconventional tactics used by Ukraine, noting that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last month in the wake of a suspected Ukrainian attack on the Crimean bridge that threats made by Zelensky to destroy Russian infrastructure demonstrated the “terrorist” nature of Kyiv.
The wanted list was also updated to include former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who came to power following the Western-backed 2014 Euromaidan protests described by Moscow as a coup against Viktor Yanukovych, who was forced out of office by the violent movement after seeking closer economic ties with Russia and rejecting overtures for further EU integration. As with Zelensky, the charges levied against Poroshenko have not been made public by the Kremlin.
The announcements come after multiple other former Ukrainian officials face arrest warrants issued on Friday, including former Finance Minister Aleksandr Shlapak and former central bank chief Stepan Kubiv.
The head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, Aleksandr Litvinenko, also had an arrest warrant taken out against him.
Scholz on NATO
Quote:While visiting German troops in Lithuania on Monday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany was prepared to defend every centimeter of NATO-allied territory in the face of any new threats.
The visit underscores the strategic importance of Lithuania, as well as the other Baltic states of Latvia and Estonia, in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Why is Scholz in Lithuania?
Scholz was visiting as Germany prepares to permanently deploy a Bundeswehr brigade of some 4,800 soldiers to support Lithuania's security. It is the first time that postwar Germany is to permanently station troops outside its borders.
"Germany stands unwaveringly on the side of the Baltic states," said Scholz, underlining that Berlin would adhere to its Article 5 commitments as part of NATO.
The three NATO and EU Baltic countries are ardent supporters of Kyiv and fear they may one day be targeted by the Kremlin's military aggression. All thee Baltic nations share a border with Russia and were once part of the Soviet Union.
The Washington Treaty, the founding basis of NATO, stipulates in Article 5 that an armed attack on any member will be deemed an attack against all.
"This means that we protect each other and that every state can rely on us to protect every centimeter of their territory."
The Bundeswehr division will start to arrive in 2025 and is planned to reach full fighting readiness in 2027.
Scholz met Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda at the Pabrade Training Area, a major military facility near the Belarusian border. The troops he met were taking part in NATO exercises taking place there.
Xi Jing Ping in France
Quote:Genocidal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping landed in Paris on Sunday for a European tour beginning in France and including stops in Communist Party-friendly Hungary and Serbia.
France is the first European to establish diplomatic ties with communist China and Xi’s visit will mark the 60th anniversary of that event. It is Xi’s first visit to Europe in five years, since the onset of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic paralyzed most diplomatic engagement around the world.
Xi’s first major engagement on his European tour was a trilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who welcomed him warmly despite overwhelming evidence that Xi is currently conducting the largest-scale genocide of the 21st century. Genocide is a crime that falls under the peremptory norms, or jus cogens, standard, meaning all countries have jurisdiction to arrest and prosecute those credibly accused of committing it. At press time, no reports suggest that French police are preparing to arrest Xi.
Xi emphasized in several statements since landing in Paris that he is looking forward to expanding cooperation with France, particularly in the economic sector – where human rights experts have argued that the ongoing Uyghur genocide makes it impossible for foreign companies to do the due diligence necessary to prevent slave-tainted products from entering their market.
Orange Terrorists Attack Once Again
Quote:Two radical climate change alarmist activists were arrested on Saturday after defacing France’s famed Palace of Versailles with orange powder.
In the latest stunt targeting works of art and historic sites, two activists from the Riposte Alimentaire (Food Response) collective threw orange powder throughout the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, the Baroque style gallery in the former seat of power for the French monarchy.
According to Le Figaro, citing police sources, the two green activists were arrested and taken into custody by police in Versailles. Fortunately, no permanent damage to the palace or artwork in the gallery was sustained during the incident.
Claiming responsibility for the stunt, the Riposte Alimentaire group said in a statement: “Two citizens involved in the Food Response campaign threw orange powder while running into the famous Hall of Mirrors at the Château de Versailles.
“The Hall of Mirrors is the indecency of a minority which monopolizes power and money while the people die. 350 years later nothing has changed!
“Through this action, Riposte Alimentaire wishes to raise awareness of growing inequalities, allowing a privileged minority to monopolize part of the resources, while the majority of citizens collect the crumbs.”
"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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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
