End Times Headline News. August 16 2024
Fri 9:45 am +00:00, 16 Aug 2024 One-time or recurring donations can be made through Ko-Fi: CIA Sees Kursk Raid As Having ‘Punctured The Hubris’ Of PutinBiden says he’s in “constant contact” with the Ukrainians related to operation… President Joe Biden said this week that he was in “constant contact” with the Ukrainians related to the ongoing invasion of Kursk oblast. “I’ve spoken with my staff on a regular basis probably every four or five hours for the last six or eight days,” Biden told reporters about the fighting in Kursk, which is now at a week-and-a-half. “And it’s — it’s creating a real dilemma for Putin. And we’ve been in direct contact — constant contact with — with the Ukrainians,” he added. “That’s all I’m going to say about it while it’s active.” From the start, US officials have acted like they were in the dark the whole time as to Ukraine’s plans, likely for the purpose of plausible deniability and so Kiev isn’t seen by Moscow as having been directly backed by NATO in the brazen cross-border operation. US lying about involvement in Kursk attack – Putin aideWestern intelligence services helped Ukraine plan the raid, Nikolai Patrushev has insisted Kiev would never dare to stage a large-scale incursion into Russian territory without Washington’s blessing and NATO support, former Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said. Last week, Kiev launched its largest attack on Russian territory since the outbreak of conflict in February 2022. Western officials have voiced their supportfor the incursion into Kursk Region but denied any prior knowledge or involvement in the operation. The US leadership’s claims of non-involvement in Kiev’s actions in Kursk Region do not correspond to reality… Without their participation and direct support, Kiev would not have ventured into Russian territory,” Patrushev told Izvestia in an interview published on Friday. West knew about Ukraine’s Kursk incursion plan – Zelensky aideKiev’s key supporters, including the US, have denied prior knowledge of the attack on Russian territory Kiev discussed its plan to launch a cross-border attack into Russia with its Western backers, a top adviser to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has admitted. Western officials have said they supported last week’s incursion into Kursk Region, but have denied any prior knowledge of the operation. However, Zelensky aide Mikhail Podoliak has told The Independent that these disclaimers were not accurate, the British online newspaper reported on Thursday. “There are certain things that have to be done with the element of surprise, and that have to happen on a local level,” he was quoted as saying. “But there were discussions between partner forces, just not on the public level.” Western Battle Tanks Are Invading Russia: Sky NewsBritish Challenger 2 tanks have crossed into Russia for Ukraine’s Kursk offensive… In a first which hasn’t been witnessed since World War 2, Western battle tanks have been operating inside Russian territory. Sky News is reporting Thursday that Ukrainian troops have used British Challenger 2 tanks during the ongoing cross-border offensive in Russia’s Kursk region. “While the UK and Ukraine governments remain tight-lipped on operational details, a source has signaled British tanks have crossed into Russia for Ukraine’s Kursk offensive,” the publication writes. Zelensky gave initial order for Nord Stream attack – WSJThe paper claims the CIA pressured the Ukrainian leader to withdraw permission to target the key pipelines in 2022 Vladimir Zelensky approved a Ukrainian plan to sabotage the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, before trying to call off the operation under US pressure, but it was too late to do so, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing people allegedly involved in the plot. The energy infrastructure, built to deliver Russian gas to Germany and the rest of Europe, was ruptured by blasts under the Baltic Sea in September 2022. Early the following year, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh reported that explosives were planted on the Nord Stream pipelines by US Navy divers under the cover of a NATO exercise, and detonated on orders from US President Joe Biden. Top officials in Moscow, including President Vladimir Putin, have also pointed the finger at Washington, arguing that it stood to gain the most from the disruption of Russian gas supplies to the EU. Why Western Media Suddenly Found Ukrainian Connection in Nord Stream BombingMedia outlets such as the WSJ recently started to peddle a narrative that the Nord Stream pipeline destruction in 2022 was allegedly orchestrated by a group of high-ranking Ukrainian officers led by Gen. Valery Zaluzhny. Despite Western media efforts to implicate Ukraine, the United States still looks like the “main beneficiary and customer of the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline,” says German political analyst and independent journalist Dr. Gregor Spitzen. “This has been clear from the very beginning, both in terms of the basic Roman law principle of ‘Cui bono?’ [who benefits?] and the statements by President Joe Biden and Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland that the US would not allow the pipeline to go into operation,” he tells Sputnik. John Kirby: Iran has not backed down from its threat to attack IsraelWhite House National Security Council spokesman tells CNN that US intelligence indicates that Iran has not backed down from its threat to attack Israel. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNNon Thursday that US intelligence indicates that Iran has not backed down from its threat to attack Israel. “Hopefully it doesn’t come to that,” Kirby added. Kirby also commented on Thursday’s talks on a ceasefire and hostage release deal which were held in Doha, Qatar, saying that the US “urges all parties” to participate. Earlier this week, Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder told reporters that an attack by Iran on Israel is “certainly possible” this week, adding that the threat needs to be taken seriously so more resources are being maneuvered to the region. Ayatollah Khamenei faces tough dilemma when it comes to retaliating against IsraelOpinion: The 85-year-old despot is keenly aware of the repercussions of a major strike on Israel and, given the delicate timing of Masoud Pezeshkian’s first steps as president, it’s somewhat likely Iran’s Supreme Leader will opt for a more prudent approach Two weeks after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, senior Iranian officials continue to make serious threats against Israel, but no action has materialized. Earlier this week, Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards, emphasized in an interview with the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese TV channel Al-Mayadeen that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had given “clear and explicit” instructions to avenge Haniyeh’s death, to be executed in the best possible manner. The Revolutionary Guards’ spokesperson also declared that the assassination violated the UN Charter and that the “Zionist regime” would face repercussions for this “foolish act” at an appropriate time. Trump: The hostages are largely deadFormer US President and Republican presidential nominee speaks at “Fighting Antisemitism” event in New Jersey: When I’m back in the Oval Office I will support Israel’s right to win its war on terror. I will give Israel the support that it needs to win. Former US President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump claimed on Thursday night that the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza “are largely dead”, though he did not say if he had any proof of this. Speaking at a “Fighting Antisemitism” event in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump said, “If you’ve been watching over the last few days, Hamas is really being difficult to negotiate with and the reason is they’re dead, not all but almost all a lot…but I think you’re going to have very few people left. A lot of people that they think are alive are not going to be alive. These are very savage people.” Trump slams Harris for ‘always demanding ceasefire,’ says he’d deport ‘pro-Hamas thugs’At an event about tackling antisemitism, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump criticizes US President Joe Biden and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris’ months-long calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, not long after saying he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to quickly defeat Hamas because “the killing has to stop.” “From the start, Harris has worked to tie Israel’s hand behind its back, demanding an immediate ceasefire, always demanding ceasefire,” Trump says, adding it “would only give Hamas time to regroup and launch a new October 7 style attack.” ‘They should be afraid right now’ Bennett says to New York Times over Israel’s Iran strategyWith sharp criticism, Bennett provides practical alternatives to Israel’s short and long-term strategy. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett shared his thoughts on the current government’s approach to the multi-front war Israel faces in an interview with Bret Stephens of The New York Times in August. Bennett, throughout the Israel-Hamas war, had created a four-part plan concerning the presence of the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza strip: take hold of Gaza’s peripheries and not their cities, provide the civilians with sufficient humanitarian aid, continue with precisely targeted attacks on Hamas, and provide the groundwork for the release of the hostages. China is now goading Iran into attacking IsraelChina’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on August 11 told Iran’s acting foreign minister that Beijing supports the Islamic Republic defending its “sovereignty, security, and national dignity.” Wang said that killing Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh, the terrorist group’s political leader, in Tehran violated Iran’s sovereignty and threatened regional stability. As countries around the world pressure Iran not to strike Israel — Tehran blames the Jewish state for the bomb that killed Haniyeh on July 31 — China was, in effect, publicly goading Iran to act. Why would the Chinese foreign minister do that? Perhaps because Beijing believes that its proxy, Iran, is losing a war and has to act fast. The Cuban Dictatorship’s Next Repression Targets Small and Medium Business OwnersA campaign has emerged now against small businesses known as MIPYMES, where Cubans can only purchase with dollars, and everything is very expensive. However, at least in these shops, Cubans are not subjected to waiting hours under the sun to buy basic food and products like soap and toilet paper. For Cuban people who continue to suffer from a shortage of medicine and basic necessities, these small stores at least provide a stable supply of goods. From an economic perspective, it is a mistake to control the prices of MIPYMES because private businesses do not operate like state-run ones, and they should not be fined for adjusting their prices as necessary. But it is clear that those who do not have access to dollars depend on the state for their food. “It’s Communism”: Kamala’s First Economic Plan Proposes Price Controls To “Combat Inflation”“Literal communist economics. Holy crap, we have an example 90 miles from Florida of what that leads to.” After the unoriginal Vice President Kamala Harris stole former President Trump’s proposed ‘no tax on tips’ policy, she’s at it again with yet another recycled idea. This time, she’s echoing President Biden’s actions and rhetoric to crack down on sky-high food prices by proposing the first-ever federal ban on “corporate price-gouging in the food and grocery industries”—a move that reeks of socialism. “There’s a big difference between fair pricing in competitive markets, and excessive prices unrelated to the costs of doing business,” the Harris campaign wrote in a statement, adding, “Americans can see that difference in their grocery bills.” Biden CONFIRMS Harris’ economic plan will not deviate from his..Kamala’s Democrats Would Be ‘Unrecognizable’ to John and Bobby Kennedy: RFK Jr.Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is signaling he will not be endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris at any point. He insists her Democratic Party “would be unrecognizable” to his father, Robert ‘Bobby’ Kennedy Sr., and uncle, President John F. Kennedy. “I cannot reconcile it with my values,” he says. “The Democratic Party of RFK [Sr.] and JFK was the party of civil liberties and free speech. VP Harris‘s is the party of censorship, lockdowns, and medical coercion,” Kennedy warns in a statement posted on social media. “Kennedy Democrats were anti-war,” he continues, adding: “Kamala’s [party] is riddled with neocon warmongers.” UK Man Arrested For Social Media Posts Containing “Anti-Establishment Rhetoric”The BBC reports that a 40-year-old man has been arrested and criminally charged for social media posts that contained “anti-establishment rhetoric.” Yes, really. Wayne O’Rourke becomes the latest example of the wave of authoritarian hysteria to impact free speech in the UK following the recent anti-mass migration riots. O’Rourke was arrested on Sunday in connection with “posts made from a social media account,” according to Lincolnshire Police. “Nottingham Magistrates’ Court heard the posts were alleged to contain anti-Muslim and anti-establishment rhetoric,” reports the BBC. Two-Tier Policing: UK Has Arrested More Anti-Mass Migration Protesters Than People-Smugglers.Over a thousand people taking part in or supporting anti-mass migration protests in the United Kingdom have been arrested—far higher than the number of people-smugglers detained last year. On Tuesday, British police boasted that over 1,024 people had been arrested and 575 charged for taking part in or inciting disorder or “stirring up hatred” on social media. In some cases, protesters have been convicted for as little as shouting at police. Others have been arrested for posting “inaccurate information” about the migration-background suspect in a deadly mass stabbing in Southport, which sparked the current unrest. Some of those arrested are children, including at least two boys aged 12 and another aged just 11. WATCH: Pakistanis Take Over British Streets to Celebrate Independence from Britain.Pakistani migrants, dual nationals, and British citizens of Pakistanidescent took over streets in several British cities on Wednesday to celebrate Pakistan’s independence from Britain. In some cases, the rowdy celebrations were actively facilitated by the police shutting down roads for them—angering English soccer fans who were subjected to an anti-social behavior dispersal order when the national team played in the European Football Championship finals in July. Media coverage of the celebrations, which come as Britain is wracked with anti-mass migration demonstrations and Muslim and far-leftcounter-demonstrations, is limited. However, footage uploaded to social media by revelers shows crowds with Pakistani flags and cars wrapped in Pakistani colors cheering their independence from Britain, lighting fireworks, and honking horns long into the night in cities including London, Birmingham, and Manchester. WEF mercenaries entering their WEF military base…. migrant replacement centers are an act of war….Michael Yon: The Life You Had Before is Over…Mpox vaccine maker ready to produce 10 million dosesCopenhagen (AFP) – Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic said Thursday it was ready to produce up to 10 million doses of its vaccine targeting mpox by 2025 after the World Health Organization declared a surge in the virus in Africa a global public health emergency. Alarmed by a rise in cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the spread of mpox to nearby countries, WHO experts said Wednesday that the “situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern”. “We have additional manufacturing capacity of two million doses for 2024 and (a total of) 10 million doses by 2025,” Rolf Sass Sorensen, vice-president of Bavarian Nordic, told AFP. The company is awaiting orders from the countries concerned before starting manufacturing. “We need to see the contracts,” Sorensen said. The Danish laboratory says it has some 500,000 doses in stock. Monkeypox Mythology“Monkeypox” – who could have seen it coming? Well, apparently the organisation founded by Ted Turner in 2001 called the ‘Nuclear Threat Initiative’ (NTI) saw it coming when they published a report in November 2021 called, “Strengthening Global Systems to Prevent and Respond to High-Consequence Biological Threats.” The report states that in March 2021, they partnered with the Munich Security Conference to run an exercise scenario involving a, “deadly, global pandemic involving an unusual strain of monkeypox virus that emerged in the fictional nation of Brinia and spread globally over 18 months…the fictional pandemic resulted in more than three billion cases and 270 million fatalities worldwide.” Hackers may have just stolen the Social Security numbers of every AmericanAbout four months after a notorious hacking group claimed to have stolen an extraordinary amount of sensitive personal information from a major data broker, a member of the group has reportedly releasedmost of it for free on an online marketplace for stolen personal data. The breach, which includes Social Security numbers and other sensitive data, could power a raft of identity theft, fraud and other crimes, said Teresa Murray, consumer watchdog director for the U.S. Public Information Research Group. “If this in fact is pretty much the whole dossier on all of us, it certainly is much more concerning” than prior breaches, Murray said in an intervie w. “And if people weren’t taking precautions in the past, which they should have been doing, this should be a five-alarm wake-up call for them.” The Federal Reserve Does Not Own GoldHistorically—as during the days of the classical gold standard—central banks maintained stocks of gold to facilitate the conversion of gold-backed national currencies. Those days are long gone, but in modern times, many central banks continue to own gold, and many central banks buy gold as part of their open-market operations. For example, in his article last week— ”Central banks purchase gold to offset their own money destruction“—Daniel Lacalle writes: The rising purchases of gold by central banks are an essential factor justifying the recent increase in demand for the precious metal. Central banks, especially in China and India, are trying to reduce their dependence on the dollar or the euro to diversify their reserves. Vast Stretches Of America Are So Depressed That They Look Like Something Out Of A Horror MovieThe wealthy are doing just fine at the moment, but they don’t seem to understand that much of the country is deeply hurting right now. 59 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. economy is currently experiencing a recession, and that is because most of them are personally experiencing economic pain. Literally just about everything is substantially more expensive in 2024, more major layoffs are being announced with each passing day, and thousands of businesses are going bankrupt. We haven’t seen a tsunami of economic suffering like this in a long time. If you live in a wealthy area in a good part of the country, you may wonder what all of the fuss is about. If you and everyone around you is still doing well, life may still seem quite good. “I’m Not Leaving”: Kim Dotcom Defiant After NZ Approves Extradition For Trial In United StatesInternet mogul Kim Dotcom says he’s not going anywhere after New Zealand’s justice minister said on Thursday that he will be extradited to the Untied States on charges related to his defunct file-sharing website Megaupload. Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced that he had signed an extradition order for Dotcom, saying in a statement: “I considered all of the information carefully, and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the US to face trial,” adding “As is common practice, I have allowed Mr Dotcom a short period of time to consider and take advice on my decision.” Rare ‘doomsday’ oarfish sighted near La Jolla shores, California – Second sighting for the Americas in a weekA rare oarfish, also known as a “doomsday fish,” was found in the waters off the coast of La Jolla Shores — and it may have brought an ominous warning. This is the second sighting for the Americas (North and South) within a week. Is something bigger brewing up? If you’re not familiar with oarfish, they are a fish species known for having an elongated body and a length up to 30 feet. They are also rarely encountered by humans, given that they typically live deep under the sea. On Saturday, Aug. 10, a group of scientific researchers found a dead oarfish in the waters of La Jolla Cove. The oarfish was carried back to shore and turned over to professional marine biologists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. 2024 sees Southern California’s highest M4+ earthquake count since 1988, return to long-term averageSince 1932, Southern California has averaged 10 – 12 M4 earthquakes annually. However, in the last 20 years, this number dropped to around 5 per year. In 2024, with 13 M4s already recorded, the region is seeing a return to its long-term average. Southern California is experiencing a significant increase in seismic activity this year, with two notable M4+ earthquakes occurring in the past week alone. A M4.4 earthquake struck near Highland Park on Monday, August 12, 2024, shaking areas across Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties. This followed an M5.2 quake centered near Bakersfield, felt across the region less than a week prior. 2024 is on track to be one of the most active years for earthquakes in Southern California since 1988, according to Dr. Lucy Jones, a seismologist with the California Institute of Technology. What goes on at Bohemian Grove?Bohemian Grove is a 2,700-acre private campground and summer retreat located in Monte Rio, California. It is said to be a summer retreat for some of the most prominent men in the world. But is it simply a summer retreat? Bohemian Grove belongs to the Bohemian Club, an elite invitation-only all-male club founded in 1872. The club’s membership consists of artists, musicians and professionals from various fields, as well as prominent business leaders, government officials and former US presidents. The Grove was established in 1878, six years after the club, and has been hosting an annual summer encampment since then. One of the most notable events at Bohemian Grove is the “Cremation of Care” ceremony, which has been a tradition since 1881. This ritual, performed in front of a large concrete owl, symbolises the club’s commitment to leaving their worldly cares behind during the summer retreat. But is that all there is to it? MPOX EmergencyThe WHO (World Health Organization) declares an MPOX emergency of international attention. Notice the symbolism. Enjoy the weekend! |