Farmergeddon SPREADS across Europe!
EUROPE - Major European cities in France, Germany and Belgium were placed under siege by militant farmers across the continent tonight. Armoured cars and 5,000 extra police surrounded Paris on Monday as a 'quasi-military' blockade swung into action, while police in Hamburg, Germany, were called out to deal with farmers who have been protesting Chancellor Olaf Scholz's decision to cut subsidies. Over in Belgium, a minister was forced to evacuate the site of a protest on a major highway in the Walloon region.
As night fell, some 1,500 tractors were in place at six major junctions entering Paris, while agriculture workers called for more protection against rising costs, and for an end to the EU's green net zero policies. Protesting farmers started the operation by blocking the A13 highway to the west of the capital, the A4 to the east and the A6 on which hundreds of tractors rolled towards Paris from the south.
By mid-afternoon they appeared to have met their objective of establishing eight choke points on major roads into Paris, according to Sytadin, a traffic monitoring service. Another target was the Rungis International Market - nicknamed the 'belly of Paris' - which serves the majority of the capital's restaurants, cafés and supermarkets. 'This is a battle for our lives,' said Gilles Balland, who had travelled from his farm in the south west of the country, close to the Spanish border.
In recent weeks farmers' protests have also grown in Poland, Romania and the Netherlands. The wave of protests came as British group Get Fair About Farming also said UK agriculture is 'on its knees'.
Social networks are triggering a major war in Africa
AFRICA - How information technology became a powerful tool for provoking armed conflicts on the continent. All wars on the African continent fall into one of four categories:
- Inter-ethnic conflicts - these are caused by the fact that virtually all African states, with few exceptions, are multi-ethnic and the peoples living on their territories encounter contradictions that come to be resolved by force of arms.
- Border conflicts - caused by the fact that in most African countries, national borders do not coincide with the borders of settlement which separate tribes and nationalities, because the European colonizers, when they divided Africa, did not take into account the borders between the ancient territories of different peoples.
- Religious conflicts - associated with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and extremism.
- Socio-economic conflicts - many countries in Africa have socio-economic problems that are a source of growing protest. Information technology - especially social networks and artificial intelligence - is a powerful tool capable of igniting armed conflict in virtually any state on the continent.
China Mocks Biden for Requesting Help with Houthis
CHINA - Chinese state media on Friday mocked the Biden administration for requesting China’s help with the Red Sea shipping crisis. A group of anonymous Iranian officials told Reuters that while Beijing is not interested in helping the United States, it has informed the Iranians that attacks by their Houthi terrorist proxies in Yemen must not damage China’s interests in any way. Biden administration officials have been flummoxed that China did not take action on its own when rising shipping costs began hurting Chinese companies. The administration has grown increasingly explicit over the past few weeks about asking Beijing to exert its influence with Iran to make the Houthis back down.
China is clearly suffering from the Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping, which have largely cut off a shipping line essential to fast, affordable freight services from Asia to Europe. Chinese export companies are growing increasingly nervous about loss of profit, and possibly even the destruction of entire business models, from skyrocketing freight costs.
The Chinese Communist Party has seemingly been content to absorb these losses because the political and economic damage from the Red Sea crisis is so much worse for the United States and its allies. China put out a few weak statements calling for all parties to respect the safety of shipping, but also insisting that only Israel calling off its military operation against Hamas in Gaza could truly make the Red Sea safe again.
Freight Through Suez Canal Down 45%
UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) reported on Thursday that the volume of freight passing through the Suez Canal has dropped by 45 percent in two months due to relentless attacks on Red Sea shipping by the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen. UNCTAD said 39 percent fewer ships have passed through the Suez Canal thanks to Houthi terrorism, a major blow to one of the world’s most important shipping routes. The decline has intensified in the new year, with an astounding 82 percent reduction in container shipments through the Canal in the month ending January 19. This reduction in shipping supply naturally caused prices to skyrocket, although, thankfully, they still have not reached the devastating heights of the coronavirus pandemic. Shipping costs are rising sharply even in routes not directly connected to the Red Sea or Suez Canal.
The "soft invasion" of the United States
USA - Ten retired FBI officials and experts in counterintelligence sent a letter to Congressional leaders warning that the Biden administration's policies have facilitated a "soft invasion" of military-age men into the United States from terror-linked areas of the world. The letter, written on January 17, before Texas Governor Greg Abbott invoked the invasion clause of the US Constitution, suggests that a terrorist attack is likely imminent. "The threat we call out today is new and unfamiliar. In its modern history the US has never suffered an invasion of the homeland, and, yet, one is unfolding now," the letter reads.
"Military age men from across the globe, many from countries or regions not friendly to the United States, are landing in waves on our soil by the thousands – not by splashing ashore from a ship or parachuting from a plane bur rather by foot across a border that has been accurately advertised around the world as largely unprotected with ready access granted." Of the more than 10 million illegal border crossers who have entered the US since Biden took office, more than 1.7 million are "gotaways" - those who have illegally entered and evaded capture since Biden has been in office. The majority of these are reportedly military age men.
"In light of such a daunting, unprecedented penetration by uninvited foreign actors, it is reasonable to assert that the country possesses dramatically diminished national security at this time. The nation's military and laws and other natural protective barriers that have provided traditional security in the past have been thoroughly circumvented over the past three years," the former FBI officials wrote. The letter calls on Congress to secure the border "against these young men and those already here illegally must be identified and removed without delay."
According to the Gazette, the authors include;
- Kevin Brock, former assistant director of intelligence and former principal deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center;
- Chris Swecker, former assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division;
- Timothy Healy, former director of the Terrorist Screening Center;
- Ruben Garcia Jr, former executive assistant director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch;
- Mark Morgan, former assistant director for training at the FBI, former acting commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection and former US Border Patrol chief;
- David Szady, former assistant director of counterintelligence;
- Jody Weiss, former special agent in charge in Philadelphia;
- David Mitchell, former special agent in charge in Milwaukee;
- William Gavin, former assistant director of the FBI’s Inspection Division;
- Timothy McNally, former assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles division.
Governor Abbott Tells Tucker He's Not Backing Down
USA - Texas Governor Greg Abbott spoke with Tucker Carlson on Friday, telling him that he's going to "do as much as possible to put up more border barriers and deny illegal entry," and that "our head is down, we are working regardless of what the Biden Administration is doing." Abbott told Carlson that he's "prepared" in the event that Biden tries to take over the Texas National Guard. "That would be a boneheaded move on his part, a total disaster," he said. "We are prepared, in the event that that unlikely event does occur." "We do have other armed state employees on the border as we speak right this minute, and that’s the Texas Department of Public Safety, as well as other law enforcement officers, as well as National Guard from other states. And you can be assured there will be more National Guard from other states and more law enforcement officers within the state of Texas and other states."
Farmers in Germany force government to renegotiate planned cuts
GERMANY - The rebellion by farmers against tax hikes and subsidy cuts in Germany closed down Berlin on Monday, as an estimated 10,000 farmers and 5,000 tractors descended on the capital and blockaded key roads. Now, the farmers have temporarily suspended their protests, forcing the government to negotiate. The German government, a globalist coalition between the Social Democrats, Greens, and neoliberal Free Democrats, was already forced to water down some of its policies. Finance Minister Christian Lindner even attended a farmer rally earlier this week to parley with the protestors, crushed by bureaucracy, net-zero climate policies, and the sanctions war with Russia even before the tax and subsidy changes.
What Fuels the Single Motherhood Epidemic
USA - The benefits of a two-parent household have been researched and documented for some time now. Everyone knows that the best environment for children to live in is one where their mother and father are married and live in the same household. Unfortunately, that is becoming a rarity in the US.
According to the Single Mother Guide:
- There are 10.89 million single-parent-led homes
- 79% are led by single mothers
- 51% were never married
- 29% are divorced
- 3.6% are widowed
Feminism has taught women that women can do anything a man can do. While this can sometimes be true, for the most part it is not. This mentality also “benefits” men because it teaches them to abdicate their responsibilities. That’s not the benefit they think it is.
Women and men are uniquely designed to be different. This is why marriage is the only institution that allows for children to experience how men and women complement each other in parenthood. Mothers focus on feelings and care while fathers focus on discipline, competition, and play.
It’s time for women to stop pretending we don’t need men. We need strong, masculine men who will become good husbands and fathers.
What happens if Putin WINS in Ukraine?
USA - What happens if Putin WINS in Ukraine? 'Catastrophic' change to world order 'would lead to the fall of NATO, economic carnage and inevitable nuclear war once autocrats see that US and the West are beatable'. Victory for Russia wouldn't just mean the 'destruction' of Ukraine and its people - it would be 'catastrophic' to the West and turn global world order on its head, military experts tell MailOnline. With Ukraine's much anticipated counteroffensive stalling and Western military support waning, there are now real fears that Vladimir Putin could be victorious and destroy the nation.
Any move to halt or reduce aid packages to Ukraine - as we've already seen with US Republicans blocking $50 billion of funding - would play into Putin's hands by kneecapping Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield against advancing Russian troops. A victory for Russia wouldn't just mean the 'destruction' of Ukraine and its people - it would be 'catastrophic' to the West and turn global world order on its head, warns Oleksandr Danylyuk, an associate fellow at the defence and security think tank RUSI.
Indeed, a win for Russia against Ukraine would 'undoubtedly' result in the fall of NATO, 'economic carnage' for the West as well as the rise of foes including China, Iran and North Korea, retired US General Ben Hodges tells MailOnline. At the crux of this is the fact that Russia and the Global South would see a Ukrainian defeat as a military loss for the West - it would show the world that NATO, led by the US, is capable of sacrificing a European nation in order to avoid a nuclear conflict.
And once autocrats realise that the US and the West are beatable, a nuclear war would be 'inevitable' and the world would be consumed in bloodshed, Danylyuk says in a terrifying prediction.
Iran Is A ‘Legitimate Target’ For Air Strikes
ISRAEL - Nir Barkat, Israel’s economy and industry minister and the leading candidate to replace Benjamin Netanyahu as leader of the ruling Likud Party told the Telegraph : “Iran is a legitimate target for Israel. They will not get away with it. The head of the snake is Tehran. My recommendation is to adopt the strategy that President Kennedy used in the Cuban missile crisis. What he basically said then was a missile from Cuba will be answered with a missile to Moscow.” He continued: “And we should very very clearly make sure the Iranians understand that they will not get away with using proxies against Israel and sleep good at night if we don’t sleep good at night,” he added. “We believe them when they say they want to destroy Israel. If anything, what we have learned from October 7 is believe our enemies and the wickedness in their evil, their goals, thoughts and actions and we are not going to allow another Holocaust.”
'Doomsday Clock' Update
USA - AI joins nuclear threats and climate change as a key concern on the Doomsday Clock, highlighting its potential global impact and risks... The infamous Doomsday Clock was updated on January 23 by atomic scientists to reflect the planet’s imminent danger, set only 90 seconds from midnight due to an array of factors, including artificial intelligence (AI). The clock is set based on “existential risks” to the planet and humankind, which include nuclear threats, climate change and disruptive technologies. Midnight on the clock represents an “apocalyptic” state. Therefore, the 90-second mark is deemed “a moment of historic danger.”
Sodom and Gomorrah is being imposed on citizens...
USA - Paul Craig Roberts: Sodom and Gomorrah Is Being Imposed on Citizens by Allegedly Representative Governments. The collapse of Western civilization and its replacement with woke Satanism has proceeded so rapidly that not even I, who expected it, can keep up with it. Stephen Karganovic writing in Global Research brings to our attention five of the many insane woke policies that have been implemented in Canada, California, and Great Britain. This is not a joke. This is very real:
- In order to maintain the fiction that in their attributes men and women are physiologically indistinguishable, the Canadian government has mandated the installation of tampon dispensers in men’s bathrooms. The empirical fact that men have no use for tampons is trumped by ideology, which dictates categorically that they do because it is dogmatically prescribed that men do menstruate and are furthermore able to give birth to babies.
- “Mother” and “father, “expressions that allude to the manifestly different roles of parents in the process of conception and nurture of offspring, in the woke-controlled universe have been forcibly replaced by designations “parent #1” and “parent #2,” invented to hide those facts. Now the Methodist Church of Great Britain has gone a step farther, to label terms “husband” and “wife” offensive.
- The avant-garde state of California has passed a law that takes effect this year, AB 1084, requiring large retail stores to include gender neutral toy sections or face fines and other punishments. The new law will place an additional undue burden on retailers and will have the foreseeable economic impact of raising the price of toys generally for normal families and their children.
- In Britain, the country where the novel 1984, which introduced the notion of thought crime, was written, the first literal thought crime prosecutions have recently been instituted. Isabel Vaughan Spruce, Director of UK March for Life, so far has been cited by the police three times and taken to court for silently praying in front of abortion clinics. Readers should note that her arrests were triggered not by speech or conduct but for an “objectionable” activity that was purely mental. Even the KGB in the old days could not have made this up.
- Returning to avant-garde California, award-winning Glendale fifth-grade teacher Ray Shelton was suspended for refusing to acquiesce to male students who “identify” as girls stripping naked in front of female students in the girls’ changing room. For opposing the transgender agenda in his school Shelton lost his job. It made no difference that female students and their parents fully supported him and also vehemently objected to these aggressive displays of opposite sex nudity.
If I may, I will tell you what this means. It means that everything previously considered normal, moral, legal, and totally defensible is now suspect, indefensible and criminalized. The most massive coup in world history has been accomplished. No one in the West has any rights except those our woke conquerors approve, and they are the rights of the abnormal, the immoral, and the sexually perverted. Christians and adherents of Islam are regarded as terrorists against the Satanic order. If you don’t believe that male humans menstruate and can have babies, you are guilty of placing biological fact higher than woke ideology and are an enemy of the people
Ban lobbying. It’s bribery
USA - Lately, there’s been a growing chorus calling for the ban of lobbying, branding it as a subtle form of bribery. Whether it’s Big Oil, the NRA, Big Pharma, or even anti-gun groups, the sentiment is strong – lobbying appears to wield significant influence over our representatives. The big question looming is whether a blanket ban on all lobbying is the solution, breaking free from what some perceive as puppetry in our political system. You can’t have a representative democracy and lobbying (bribery). They can’t exist together...
‘This Is Not Over’: Abbott Vows To Defend Texas
USA - Governor Greg Abbott (Republican for Texas) vowed to continue to fight for his state’s right to secure the southern border after the Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration on Monday, ruling that federal officials may cut through razor wire that Texas installed to repel illegal immigrants.
After Texas installed around 30 miles of razor wire along the southern border, the US Border Patrol repeatedly cut through the wire to allow illegal immigrants to enter the country. Texas filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration, saying the federal government damaged state property and was trespassing, according to NBC News. Since President Joe Biden took office three years ago, Customs and Border Protection has encountered around eight million illegal immigrants, and the federal government has released more than 2.3 million illegal immigrants into the country.
Is war coming to the Korean peninsula?
NORTH KOREA - With nothing to lose and limited time to achieve certain geopolitical goals, Kim Jong-un might opt for conflict as his only option. A few days ago an analysis piece appeared on the North Korea research website 38North with the headline asking the question: “Is Kim Jong-un preparing for war?”
38North is a respected source of analysis and does not push an agenda or sensationalism. This particular piece was authored by Robert Carlin and Siegfried Hecker, who are also not known to be alarmist.
Their argument is as follows: North Korea has attempted to pursue a process of normalization with the US, particularly during the Donald Trump administration in 2018-2019, and failed after Trump walked out on the February 2019 meeting in Hanoi. After that effort failed, Pyongyang has now effectively “given up.” It believes it has no options left, and has continued developing its nuclear program and increasingly hardening its position, emboldened by the geopolitical context in respect to Russia and China.
Indeed, even though Kim Il-sung started the Korean war in 1950 and subsequently faced defeat from the US and its allies, China still saved him – and back then it was much weaker than it is now. So, would Kim Jong-un fancy his chances in unleashing a full-scale war again on the Korean peninsula on the premise China would be forced to intervene? That isn’t beyond the realm of possibility.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this section are not our own, unless specifically stated, but are provided to highlight what may prove to be prophetically relevant material appearing in the media.
