USA - Since the conflict in Ukraine and Russia began, high-profile elites have demanded that the United States back Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky with finances, food, weaponry, and even the threat of war against Vladimir Putin, but this is out of step with the will of the people. A majority of Americans do not want the US to go to war with Russia over Ukraine. Recent polling from The Washington Post and ABC News suggests that 72 percent of US adults “oppose the United States taking direct military action against Russian forces.”
VATICAN - A new documentary claims that Mother Teresa had a much darker side. The three-part Sky documentary titled Mother Teresa: For The Love Of God claims that the Nobel Peace Prize winner was not all that she seemed. After a 1969 BBC documentary of her work was shown to the world, Mother Teresa became an overnight celebrity as she was greeted by the likes of Princess Diana and President Ronald Reagan.
UK - Four more people have been diagnosed with monkeypox in the UK, bringing the total number of cases in the latest outbreak to seven. All four new patients are gay or bisexual men who were infected in London and had no travel links to Africa, health chiefs have confirmed after MailOnline broke the news earlier today. Two are known to each other but have no connection to any of the previous cases, in a sign the virus is spreading in the community for the first time. Nurses and doctors are being advised to stay 'alert' to patients who present with a new rash. Monkeypox is often mistaken for more common rash illnesses like chickenpox, measles, scabies and syphilis, which makes it difficult to diagnose early. The rare tropical disease, which causes flu-like symptoms and blisters on the skin, is caused by a virus spread by monkeys, rats, squirrels and other small mammals.
USA - Astonishing DailyMail.com photos lay bare the devastating effects of severe drought conditions on Lake Mead in Nevada. Decaying carp and catfish now lie on the dry, cracked earth where only a few months ago boats and pleasure craft were setting out from a busy launch area on the country's largest man-made lake. The water level of the reservoir is now just 1,052ft above sea level, compared to 1,085ft in January last year, with every foot drop representing roughly 30ft of lost shoreline.
UK - In his classic dystopian novel 1984, George Orwell famously wrote, “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — for ever.” This striking image served as a potent symbol for totalitarianism in the 20th Century. But as Caylan Ford recently observed, with the advent of digital health passports in the emerging biomedical security state, the new symbol of totalitarian repression is “not a boot, but an algorithm in the cloud: emotionless, impervious to appeal, silently shaping the biomass.”
SRI LANKA - “We have run out of petrol … At the moment, we only have petrol stocks for a single day,” said newly elected Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. On Twitter, Wickremesinghe warned his fellow Sri Lankans that they would face the “most difficult” time of their lives. “The next couple of months will be the most difficult ones of our lives. I have no desire to hide the truth and to lie to the public. Although these facts are unpleasant and terrifying, this is the true situation,” wrote Wickremesinghe. Sri Lanka’s electrical grid is primarily fueled by oil, and according to Wickremesinghe, there could be rolling 15-hour blackouts every day for the country’s population of 21 million. Protests have been raging across Sri Lanka for nearly a month.
USA - From record gasoline prices to higher airfares to fears of diesel rationing ahead, America’s runaway energy market is disquieting both US travelers and the wider economy. But the chief driver isn’t high crude prices or even the rebound in demand: It’s simply too few refineries turning oil into usable fuels. More than 1 million barrels a day of the country’s oil refining capacity — or about 5% overall — has shut since the beginning of the pandemic. Elsewhere in the world, capacity has shrunk by 2.13 million additional barrels a day, energy consultancy Turner, Mason & Co estimates. And with no plans to bring new US plants online, even though refiners are reaping record profits, the supply squeeze is only going to get worse. “We are on the razor’s edge,” said John Auers, executive vice president at Turner, Mason & Co in Dallas. “We’re ripe for a potential supply crisis.”
USA - The Texas grid operator this weekend asked residents to conserve power after six generators failed. “We’re asking Texans to conserve power when they can by setting their thermostats to 78-degrees or above and avoiding the usage of large appliances (such as dishwashers, washers and dryers) during peak hours between 3 pm and 8 pm through the weekend.” Texas grid operator ERCOT said in a statement. ERCOT manages electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers and represents 90% of the state’s electric load, according to the company. Temperatures soared into the 90s with a triple-digit heat index in parts of Texas this weekend.
UKRAINE - This was my assessment in the immediate wake of the EuroMaidan Coup in February 2014: “The World is at a dangerous crossroads: The structures and composition of this proxy government installed by the West do not favor dialogue with the Russian government and military. A scenario of military escalation leading to confrontation of Russia and NATO is a distinct possibility. The Ukraine’s National Security and National Defense Committee (RNBOU) which is controlled by Neo-Nazis plays a central role in military affairs.
ZIMBABWE - Massive flocks of the red-billed quelea bird — a notorious African crop pest — have decimated grain harvests across farms in western Zimbabwe in recent weeks, causing fears of a local food shortage in the near future, the online newspaper New Zimbabwe reported Monday. “Farmers in Umguza and Bubi farming areas in Matebeleland North province are struggling to contain a massive outbreak of quelea birds which are feasting on their crops, mainly small grains,” the publication reported on May 16. Zimbabwe’s recent food shortages are noteworthy because the nation was previously known as the breadbasket of Africa before the devastating rule of Robert Mugabe, who occupied the nation’s office of the prime minister from 1980 to 1987 and the nation’s office of the presidency from 1987 to 2017. Mugabe’s nearly 40-year rule over Zimbabwe’s government was characterized by extreme mismanagement and corruption.
SWITZERLAND - “The science is clear: to maximize the health and resilience of the global ocean, at least 30% of it must be protected through a network of 'highly' and 'fully' protected Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by 2030,” writes the World Economic Forum in an article. To achieve this goal, a new treaty for the conservation and management of marine life in the high seas must be concluded to ensure that human activities are managed to prevent significant adverse impacts, with robust oversight mechanisms and provisions to establish fully protected MPAs in the high seas.” According to the Forum, government officials who’ve joined the “Blue Leaders” campaign will meet and rally for other countries to join them at an upcoming convention in China, as well as at the UN Ocean Conference from June 27 to July 1.
SWITZERLAND - A new report from the Bank of International Settlements estimates that up to 90% of national central banks are at least in the planning stages for launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC): “Nine out of 10 central banks are exploring central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and more than half are now developing them or running concrete experiments. In particular, work on retail CBDCs has moved to more advanced stages”. This echoes a March report from the IMF, which claimed over one hundred nations are at least in the planning stages of releasing their own CBDC.
ISRAEL - Amman now claims "custodianship" of all Muslim and Christian holy places in Jerusalem, a claim that it invented out of thin air. Israel never has recognized Jordanian "custodianship"over any holy sites in Jerusalem. Israel has good reason to fear that Jordanian King Abdullah and US President Joe Biden are cooking up an attempt to impose new pro-Arab arrangements on the Temple Mount, with Biden coming to Israel in late June to ride herd on this issue.
EUROPE - Business and political leaders meeting at the World Economic Forum’s Davos gathering this month will explore the opportunities for personal and business growth in psychedelic drugs, Bloomberg reported. The psychedelic showcase is a sign of the growing interest in still-illegal substances among the architects of ‘The Great Reset.’ When world leaders and their colleagues in the business and nonprofit sectors arrive in Davos, Switzerland, next weekend, the agenda is typical of the World Economic Forum’s annual meetings.
CHINA - A Secret recording of a Chinese military meeting planning the invasion of Taiwan and the defeat of regional US forces has reportedly been uncovered. In the past week, in response to the instruction of the “Central Military Commission of the State Council” in Beijing on “transitioning to a war time system,” a meeting took place involving senior officers of the People Liberation Army’s Guangdong Military Region of the Southern Command and the principal officers in Guangdong Province administration and the regional Chinese Communist Party committee.
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.