US issues nuclear warning to ally
AUSTRALIA - Washington insists that Australia will ruin its “deterrence relationship” with the US if it signs a landmark treaty. The US has urged Australia not to sign a treaty seeking to ban all nuclear weapons, claiming the agreement will reinforce “divisions” between world powers, while failing to address “prevailing security threats” around the globe.
In a statement to The Guardian on Tuesday, the US Embassy in Canberra said Australia’s signature on the treaty “would not allow for US extended deterrence relationships,” referring to the US ‘nuclear umbrella’ which vows to protect some non-nuclear states with America’s massive atomic arsenal.
The comments come after the Australian government signaled a shift in position toward the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations, with Canberra’s envoy choosing to abstain from a vote on the measure after previous administrations consistently voted against it.
The US is officially in a flu epidemic
USA - If it is not Covid, it’s the flu… The US has “crossed the epidemic threshold” when it comes to flu, federal health officials said Friday, as they outlined plans to deploy troops and FEMA personnel, and supplies like ventilators, if needed, in response to a nationwide surge of respiratory illnesses that also includes RSV and COVID.
US flu hospitalizations are higher now than they’ve been at this point in every other flu season since 2010-2011, officials with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on a press call.
The country is seeing a resurgence of non-COVID respiratory illnesses like flu, RSV, rhinovirus, and enterovirus, with background levels of COVID, according to Dr José Romero, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
Flemish Conservative Party Demands the Government Cancels its WEF Membership
BELGIUM - The Flemish government legitimizes and subsidizes a worldwide lobby organization openly pursuing globalism, states MEP Sam van Rooy. The Flemish conservative party, Vlaams Belang, is demanding that the government cancel its World Economic Forum (WEF) membership. This year, the Flemish government will pay almost EUR 200,000 in membership fees to the WEF and approximately EUR 27,000 as a participation fee in their annual meeting in Davos.
In a press release by Vlaams Belang, Flemish Member of Parliament Sam van Rooy stated that “the Flemish government is legitimizing and subsidizing a worldwide lobby organization that is openly pursuing a well-defined ideological agenda, namely that of globalism.”
This agenda seems to have recently crystallized into the so-called “Great Reset,” which aims to create “a safer, more equal and more stable world” by “acting collectively and swiftly to renew all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions.” They are striving for a world government based on climate hysteria and social control.
PM Sunak Opens Door to Climate ‘Reparations’
UK - Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government has signalled it is open to discussing climate “reparations” for the likes of Pakistan, as he prepares tax hikes and public service cuts at home in the name of fiscal responsibility. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is leading a bloc of countries demanding climate change “reparations” from the West, despite their own less than environmentally friendly behaviour, and British business secretary Grant Shapps MP said the Sunak administration was “accepting the principle there’s a discussion to be had about this” at the COP27 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt, according to The Times.
“We industrialised first and we appreciate the rest of the world needs to be able to bring themselves along as well,” Shapps added, indicating that the Sunak administration is happy to continue the status quo in which China and other non-Western nations can continue to burn coal and enjoy relatively cheap energy while the likes of Britain cripple their industries with anti-carbon policies.
US to Station More Nuclear Assets on Korean Peninsula
USA - The White House has authorized employing strategic assets in South Korea more frequently. The announcement comes as Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington conduct unprecedented aerial war games. At a news conference with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, Lee stated Austin pledged to set up deployments of nuclear-capable weapons. He said the US promised, "to effectively respond to any DPRK provocation by employing US strategic assets to the level equivalent to constant deployment through increasing the frequency and intensity of strategic asset deployment in and around the Korean Peninsula."
Netanyahu Ally Says Israel Will Attack Iran
USA - Both the Pentagon’s recently released Nuclear Posture Review and National Defense Strategy say Tehran has no nuclear weapons. Washington believes Tehran "is not pursuing one." If Washington does not secure a new nuclear deal or take military action itself, incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will attack Iran, according to Tzachi Hanegbi, a longtime member of Israel’s Likud party. The former settlement minister issued the warning while speaking with Channel 12 news on Friday.
Hanegbi declared that Netanyahu “will act, in my assessment, to destroy the nuclear facilities in Iran.” He said “Israel will for the first time be facing a regime with nuclear weapons” and went on to describe the alleged Iranian threat as a “fire that’s been burning inside [Netanyahu] for more than 25 years.” Hanegbi previously claimed his country would go to war with Tehran if Joe Biden won the 2020 election and tried to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal with Iran.
In recent weeks, State Department spokesman Ned Price and Biden’s special envoy for Iran Robert Malley have said the nuclear deal is no longer the administration’s “focus.” Malley went so far as to say “It is not on our agenda” and that officials will not “waste time” attempting to revive the JCPOA.
However, despite an endless stream of nuclear rhetoric emanating from Washington and Tel Aviv, the Pentagon’s latest Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) notes that “Iran does not currently pose a nuclear threat,” instead claiming it continues to “develop capabilities that would enable it to produce a nuclear weapon should it make the decision to do so.”
Homosexuality is 'damage in the mind'
QATAR - A Qatar World Cup ambassador has told German television broadcaster ZDF that homosexuality is 'damage in the mind', as the Gulf state prepares to host the global tournament in less than two weeks. In an interview filmed in Doha and to be screened later on Tuesday, former Qatari international Khalid Salman addressed the issue of homosexuality, which is illegal in the conservative Muslim country.
Some football players have raised concerns over the rights of fans travelling to the event, especially LGBT+ individuals and women, whom rights groups say Qatari laws discriminate against. The country expects more than one million visitors for the World Cup.
'They have to accept our rules here,' Salman said, in an excerpt of the interview. '(Homosexuality) is haram. You know what haram (forbidden) means?' he said. When asked why it was haram, Salman said: 'I am not a strict Muslim but why is it haram? Because it is damage in the mind.'
The interview was then immediately stopped by an accompanying official. Qatar's World Cup organisers, when contacted by Reuters, declined to comment. World football's ruling body FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Strategy for a Decisive Decade
GERMANY - While Germany’s new China strategy is being drafted, the dispute between the German foreign ministry and the chancellery is escalating over the intensity of the confrontation policy toward Beijing. Chancellor Olaf Scholz is pushing for maintaining a certain degree of economic cooperation despite the growing rivalry with the People’s Republic – in the interests of important branches of the German industry, which depend on China as a sales market and a research and development site. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is pushing for aggressive political attacks against Beijing – under the pretext of fighting for human rights.
She does not even hesitate to publicly attack the chancellor, himself, while abroad. At the same, time, the USA is intensifying pressure in Berlin to scale back its economic cooperation with Beijing, interfering directly in concrete German-Chinese business deals. US President Biden sees a “decisive decade” ahead in the competition with China. In this context Berlin announced a new China strategy for the first quarter of 2023.
While the chancellery seeks stronger consideration for the interests of German business, the Baerbock-led foreign ministry, is more oriented on the foreign, but especially, the military policy interests of the main ally, the USA. It “is not yet clear, whether the foreign ministry or the chancellery will prevail in setting the tone for Germany’s new policy toward China.”
Germans reveal fears for financial survival
GERMANY - Half of Germans asked in a survey have said they’re afraid they might not have enough money to financially survive the coming winter, a poll commissioned by the tabloid Bild revealed on Sunday. Most people also believe the government’s relief measures to alleviate the fallout of the ongoing energy crunch are not enough. Only 36% of respondents believe that government measures will help them get by, according to the survey carried out by the INSA polling agency. In late October, another INSA poll also showed that more than half of Germans believed that Chancellor Olaf Scholz was not up to the challenges the nation was facing.
World is on ‘highway to hell’ – UN chief
UNITED NATIONS - The world must choose whether to cut emissions or condemn future generations to a climate catastrophe, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned while speaking at the COP27 summit in Egypt on Monday. “Humanity has a choice: cooperate or perish,” Guterres told delegates gathered to discuss how to combat change amid an ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine and rising global inflation and energy shortages.
“Greenhouse gas emissions keep growing. Global temperatures keep rising. And our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible,” Guterres said, proclaiming that “we are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.”
You’re Being Monitored
USA - Today, if you use Big Tech’s products, as almost everyone in the US does, your actions and speech are being monitored. If you use a mobile device such as a cell phone, and/or a laptop or desktop computer connected to the Internet, or anything else connected to the Internet such as your front door bell, or your thermostat, or if you drive a late-model car that is connected to the Internet, you are being monitored. I am not saying that you are necessarily actively being spied upon and listened to, but your actions and speech are being recorded and stored in a database in the Cloud somewhere, where it can be retrieved and analyzed at any time by a real person.
All of that data they collect on you, which today can include everything you say and share on social media, or devices like “Alexa,” what you buy including where and when you buy it, what programs and videos you watch, where you drive to, when you turn your lights off at night or turn your thermostat down, and even what you thought were “private” communications, such as social media “private” chats, conversations on your cell phone, or email correspondences on Big Tech’s “free” email platforms – ALL OF THIS DATA IS FOR SALE, for the right price.
‘Insane’ Democrats ‘Talking About Jailing Parents for Protecting Their Children’
USA - Virginia Republican congressional candidate Yesli Vega rallied supporters on the eve of the election, saying, “We have to take our country back. It’s insane that we’re talking about jailing parents for protecting their children.” To Vega, Democrats have “lost sight of what matters - that we running for office are public servants and that you all are the bosses and you’re in charge.” “It’s insane that you have to be over 18 years of age to get in a tanning bed, but it’s okay for a 12-, 13-year-old to mutilate their bodies,” she continued, speaking of the issue of transgender-identifying children. “We’re sick and tired of a government telling us how to live our lives, how to spend our money, and how to raise our children,” she continued. “We see the heavy hand of government interfering in our daily lives like never before.”
The US Military Is Operating in More Countries Than We Think
USA - US military forces have been engaged in unauthorized hostilities in many more countries than the Pentagon has disclosed to Congress, let alone the public, according to a major new report released late last week by New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice.
“Afghanistan, Iraq, maybe Libya. If you asked the average American where the United States has been at war in the past two decades, you would likely get this short list,” according to the report, Secret War: How the US Uses Partnerships and Proxy Forces to Wage War Under the Radar. “But this list is wrong – off by at least 17 countries in which the United States has engaged in armed conflict through ground forces, proxy forces, or air strikes.”
“This proliferation of secret war is a relatively recent phenomenon, and it is undemocratic and dangerous,” the report’s author, Katherine Yon Ebright, wrote in the introduction. “The conduct of undisclosed hostilities in unreported countries contravenes our constitutional design. It invites military escalation that is unforeseeable to the public, to Congress, and even to the diplomats charged with managing US foreign relations.”
US midterm elections begin
USA - All of the House of Representatives, a third of the Senate and 36 state governors are at stake. Polling places across the US opened for the midterm elections on Tuesday, traditionally considered a referendum on the ruling party’s performance. With most Americans worried about the difficult economic situation, some of the policies favored by President Joe Biden – such as giving billions in aid to Ukraine – may lead to Democrats losing control of Congress to their Republican challengers, many endorsed by former president Donald Trump.
All 435 seats in the US House of Representatives are being contested, as are 35 seats in the Senate. Democrats currently have a five-seat majority in the House and Vice President Kamala Harris is the deciding vote in the 50-50 Senate. Also at stake are the governorships of 36 out of 50 US states, with Republicans currently controlling 28 and the Democrats 22.
Poll aggregator Real Clear Politics has predicted the Republicans will end up with 227 seats in the House to the Democrats’ 174, and with a 53-47 Senate favoring the GOP.
Early voting turnout has seen a drastic increase from the 2018 midterms, with more than 42 million ballots already cast. Democrats and major US media outlets have already warned that the final results may not be known for weeks, depending on how long it takes to process all the mail-in votes.
Fire on the Mount?
ISRAEL - Otzma Yehudit leader MK Itamar Ben Gvir is a well-known advocate of increased Jewish rights on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, where the activities of non-Muslims — including the right to prayer — are strictly limited. The far-right leader and his party are set to be a crucial part of the governing coalition put forth by Benjamin Netanyahu, in which Ben Gvir is seeking to be public security minister...
The 14 seats held by the Religious Zionism-Otzma Yehudit alliance will give Ben Gvir and his allies leverage to push for increased Jewish rights on the Temple Mount. Ben Gvir said during his election campaign that Jews deserve equal rights to Muslims at the site. Critically, it is the Israel Police that largely determines policy on the Temple Mount regarding Jewish prayer and visiting hours. If Ben Gvir is awarded the public security ministry, which controls the Police, he will in effect have authority over such decisions.
Ahead of Tuesday’s general election, Ben Gvir repeated his call for equal Jewish rights on the Temple Mount. “There is a problem of racism on the Temple Mount, which violates the status quo,” he told The Times of Israel, pointing out the large discrepancy in visiting hours for Jews and Muslims. “A Jew who prays on the Temple Mount gets arrested,” he continued. “Why are Arabs allowed to pray and Jews are forbidden to pray? This is racism against Jews. I want equal rights. It can’t be that [the rights] of Jews are harmed just because they are Jews.”
Dramatically changing the status quo on the Temple Mount would create a severe diplomatic crisis with Jordan, whose informal status as custodian of the Muslim holy places in Jerusalem — and the al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock sites in particular — is critical to the legitimacy of the Hashemite regime, which rules the country. Netanyahu will also be acutely aware that Israeli actions on the Temple Mount have on numerous occasions led to severe outbreaks of violence.
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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.
